Transmigrated as the Villain and Driven Crazy by the Vengeful Male Lead - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Borrowing the Command Token – Why do you want to cure me so badly?

Lü Shuyao smiled and said, “You decide for yourselves.”

He gestured to his own body. “But, could someone first tell me where the baths are in Zhuohua Palace?”

Only then did the girls notice how disheveled he was—practically covered in grime and blood. Qinzhu hurried forward: “Young Master, please follow me.”

When Lü Shuyao came out clean, he saw them busily organizing the bodies. They were weeping so hard they couldn’t stand straight, yet they stubbornly refused to rest, like sunflowers struggling to stand tall in a sudden storm.

He silently looked at those “Jade Souls.”

Most of the corpses had their throats ripped open, leaving dark, hollow wounds. Their limbs were a bruised purple, and white bone was visible through the skin, as if their meridians had been sucked dry.

If this was done to kill ghosts, the execution was remarkably cruel. Lü Shuyao thought that if it had been him, he would have done what Su Qingyang did to the raccoon ghost: force the spirit out of the body first, then strike. He wouldn’t have been this brutal.

But then, he suddenly remembered.

These… weren’t they his handiwork?

A cold shiver like an electric shock raced up his spine.

What on earth happened?

He didn’t dare linger at his own “crime scene” any longer and went alone to the small kitchen of Zhuohua Palace.

“System, calling the System.”

[System online. Visitor, please speak.]

Lü Shuyao took off his usual wrist guards, rolled up his sleeves, tied his hair into a high ponytail, and began washing and chopping in the kitchen.

“What exactly happened last night?” He took advantage of the solitude to interrogate while cooking. “I seem to have absolutely no memory of killing those evil ghosts…”

He rinsed the purple rice, mixed it with sugar and osmanthus, then coated it in flour and put it in the steamer. “Is there a problem with that incantation… I mean, that command?”

[The issue is unclear. Visitor, please rephrase your query.]

Lü Shuyao: “…”

He skillfully peeled the cassava. “That command was too strong; it almost took me out. And it was too bloody, too inhumane—look at those girls, they didn’t even get to leave this world looking beautiful.”

“Next time, make some adaptive adjustments… Wait, where’s my cleaver?”

System: “…” System: “[The issue is unclear. Visitor, please rephrase your query.]”

“…” Turning a blind eye to the corpses now?? How cold-blooded!!

By the time he was nearly finished, night had fallen again, and Qinzhu walked in.

“Young Master? Why are you here?”

“I saw you were all busy, so I made some food.” Lü Shuyao looked up briefly. “Help me carry it?”

“Okay. I was going to make something for them myself, but I didn’t expect you…” Qinzhu felt a bit embarrassed. “You and the Second Young Master are guests; how can we let you work in the kitchen?”

“We’ve all been through life and death together; what’s this talk of hosts and guests?” Lü Shuyao said decisively. “Let’s serve the food.”

The girls, having buried the bodies, sat exhausted in front of the pavilion, huddling together. Some had fallen asleep; others watched the sunset in silence.

Qinzhu led everyone to the main hall. Lü Shuyao pushed Su Cheyue in, and they sat across from each other, just as they had on their first day at Zhuohua Palace.

Only this time, Jiang Zhiqing’s “sister” was gone, as were Manman and Muling, who used to joke with Qinzhu. Gone, too, were the disciples who had long since lost their souls and sat in numb despair.

And gone was the one-of-a-kind Palace Master Chang.

The main seat was empty; the red robes had vanished.

In the silence, Qinzhu said, “Let’s all eat something.”

She took the lead, picking up a piece of rose pastry. The moment she tasted it, her eyes turned red again. She kept her neck straight, but swallowing was difficult because of her sobbing. Her surging emotions and the dry food both stuck in her throat, and she hurriedly grabbed a wine flask.

Lü Shuyao stopped her. “Can you even drink?”

Qinzhu couldn’t speak. She waved him off and poured the wine down.

“That’s not how you drink wine,” Lü Shuyao shook his head.

Qinzhu coughed from the spice of the alcohol. Once she caught her breath, she said, “I’ll have to learn sooner or later. Might as well dive in. What’s the harm in taking a tumble?”

Lü Shuyao thought for a moment. True. He didn’t try to stop her again.

Qinzhu said, “Young Master, your cooking is delicious. It tastes just like the Palace Master’s… no, I mean…”

She pursed her lips, looking resentful, yet seemingly longing to mention that name. “Just like what he made.”

After Chang Huichen left, it was Jiang Zhiqing (disguised as his sister) who handled the daily meals. He was a contradictory man: honey in one hand, arsenic in the other. He made these girls hate him, yet they often thought of him.

Lü Shuyao turned and asked Su Cheyue, “Is it good?”

Su Cheyue had been eating silently, not saying a word. …Still angry.

“I made so many things you like. Second Young Master, please don’t be mad at me, okay?” Lü Shuyao said gloomily. “I’ve washed myself clean and applied the medicine. I shouldn’t be ugly anymore, right?”

He had specifically checked the mirror before picking up Su Cheyue.

Su Cheyue kept his eyes down, taking tiny bites of the purple rice cake. His expressionless, pouting face was actually quite cute.

“If you’re angry, I can’t eat,” Lü Shuyao leaned his head on his hand. “If I starve to death, who will take the Second Young Master to get his legs treated?”

Su Cheyue swallowed the rice cake and pushed the cassava soup toward Lü Shuyao. “Eat.”

“So you’re not angry?”

“I’m not angry at you.”

If not at him, then at whom?

“…Just angry that I couldn’t help…” Su Cheyue muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

…Could it be he’s angry at Jiang Zhiqing? Or the Bounty Order? He sighed inwardly again: Cheyue’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the ocean.

As Lü Shuyao listlessly stirred his soup, he heard Qinzhu ask, “There is something I’d like to hear your opinions on.”

“What is it?”

“The sisters have all been buried in the valley. But in the bedchamber, there is still the Palace Master, and…” she bit her lip, eventually naming him again, “Jiang… Zhiqing.”

“I don’t know if the Palace Master had a place he loved or couldn’t let go of. And I don’t know… how to handle Jiang Zhiqing’s body.”

Lü Shuyao asked Su Cheyue, “What do you think?”

Su Cheyue thought for a moment. “The banks of the Huai River? The bamboo grove by the courtyard?”

That was also the place that caused Chang Huichen the most pain. Would he really want to go back? Perhaps the moment he chose to die, he had already decided to give everything—body and soul—to Jiang Zhiqing. Wherever Jiang Zhiqing went, he would go.

But what about now? Would he still think that way? Would he continue to love Jiang Zhiqing unconditionally, or would his love turn to hate, wishing never to see him again in this life or the next? No one would ever know.

Long ago, Lü Shuyao had thought that when he died, he didn’t want to be buried in one spot like a permanent resident. That was too boring and lonely. He’d rather have his ashes scattered—preferably from the top of Mount Everest.

If his friends weren’t up to the task, he’d pay some hikers to do it at Tanggula Pass or the Zheduo Mountains… even the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau would do. That way, he could go anywhere the wind blew freely. Turkey today, Malaysia tomorrow. He’d listen to Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen when he was happy, watch drunkards by the Seine when he wasn’t, chase the Aurora in Iceland when he felt energetic, and sleep in the ancient forests of the Ailao Mountains when he was tired.

“And what about Jiang Zhiqing?” Su Cheyue asked.

Lü Shuyao felt Su Cheyue was a bit too concerned with this villain. Wasn’t he usually the type to eradicate evil entirely? Why keep asking about Jiang Zhiqing?

“How about… cremation, and then scattering the ashes?” Lü Shuyao shared his thoughts.

Qinzhu was startled. “Cremation? Burning them?”

“Yes.” The more Lü Shuyao thought about it, the more it made sense. “The Palace Master too. That way, they can choose for themselves.”

Choose whether or not to be together.

Qinzhu was full of resistance. “No, burn the Palace Master? No, no, that would be a sin!”

Her refusal was understandable. This was an ancient setting where cremation was equivalent to total desecration.

“Then—”

“I agree.”

“Huh?” Lü Shuyao looked over in surprise.

Su Cheyue’s dark brown pupils shimmered with a faint light. “I said, I agree.”

In a strange world, amidst the differing eyes of thousands, the feeling of being understood by just one person was actually wonderful. Lü Shuyao couldn’t help but praise him internally: As expected of the male lead—such a broad perspective, such forward-thinking, such great taste!

Qinzhu looked at Lü Shuyao and then at Su Cheyue in disbelief, as if questioning whether her worldview was the one at fault. Lü Shuyao suppressed a smile. You’re fine, Qinzhu; it’s just that the Second Young Master has been led astray by me.

After a long internal struggle and finishing the food, Qinzhu stammered, “I’ll think about it… let me think…”

The dead belonged to the past; the living had to look forward. Lü Shuyao hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this trip. After dinner, he invited Qinzhu over and asked to borrow the Zhuohua Palace Bounty Order.

Qinzhu said, “The Bounty Order… the Palace Master mentioned it to us. He said if he were ever gone and the Palace was bullied by humans or ghosts, we should use it to issue a command. Someone would always come to help us…”

He had left them an escape route long ago.

“But the Bounty Order is the Palace Master’s possession. I don’t know what the consequences of an outsider using it would be…”

“Since he told you that, he wouldn’t let it harm anyone,” Lü Shuyao said. “I implore the Palace Master to lend it to me.”

Qinzhu was startled by his respectful address of “Palace Master.”

“Since the Young Master asks… Zhuohua Palace must naturally oblige.”

…

The vermilion jade tablet hung below his palm, glowing brightly in the candlelight. Su Cheyue sat on the bed and asked, “What exactly do you need the Bounty Order for?”

“You’ll know in a few days,” Lü Shuyao said. “I’m taking you to find a cure.”

Su Cheyue: “…” Su Cheyue: “Ordinary medicine is useless. It’s not like we haven’t tried.”

“You can’t dismiss all future attempts just because the previous ones failed.” Lü Shuyao, holding the “God script,” insisted on lecturing the Second Young Master. “Even if there’s only one method left in the world, we have to try it, even if we have to go to the ends of the earth.”

Su Cheyue suddenly asked, “Why do you want to cure me so badly?”

What kind of question is that? If I don’t cure you, am I supposed to harm you?

“Lü Shuyao, do you want to leave that badly?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” Su Cheyue turned his gaze away, watching him quietly. Seeing that the wounds on Lü Shuyao’s face and arms hadn’t fully healed, Su Cheyue’s beautiful brow furrowed again at the sight of the blood-seeping bandages.

“Hey, don’t frown.” Angry again?

“I’m serious about this, don’t worry.” Lü Shuyao swore to the heavens. “I will absolutely, positively make sure you can stand up again.”

“…Okay.”

Once Su Cheyue fell asleep, Lü Shuyao returned to his room and got to work.

“System, I’ve got the Bounty Order. What’s next?”

[Initiating the ‘Ninety-Nine Segment’ dungeon acceleration program.]

Lü Shuyao: “A cheat! But Su Cheyue is already asleep. Let’s start tomorrow.”

The System teased: [Visitor, you even care if an NPC needs to sleep?]

Of course he wouldn’t normally. Back when he played Civilization VI, he’d make NPCs build houses in the middle of the night without blinking.

But…

Lü Shuyao said, “He’s not an NPC.”