Transmigrated as the Villain and Driven Crazy by the Vengeful Male Lead - Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Long Distance (Part 3) — Lyu Shurao’s heart was suddenly cupped by someone…

“To Second Young Master Su Cheyue:

I hope this letter finds you well. Please don’t be mad at me.

Remember when I mentioned falling into the Lyu River last time? I encountered a strange thing there; it felt like a dream.

I also obtained a mysterious key.

I can’t make sense of it myself and urgently need your help.

I wonder how you are doing over there? Are you feeling better? Does the acupuncture still hurt?

If it still hurts a lot, pretend the blanket is me and bite down hard. It might hurt less if you bite me.

By the way, that fish I caught in the river last time escaped later. What a shame; I was planning to raise it for you to see. I hope I encounter it again later.

Eat well and sleep well at the He Mansion. Focus on your recovery. Don’t be mad at me. Stay safe and happy at all times.

In fifty days, I will bring you home.

Hand-written by Lyu Shurao.”

After staying with Lyu Qingsong at Xifeng Ferry for a few days, Lyu Shurao set out on the road once again with light luggage.

The events at the Lyu River felt like a dream, yet the key tucked in his sleeve—given to him by the donkey-masked man—served as a constant reminder. That place where lava surged, that barrier door made of interlaced human arms, and those ambiguous conversations seemed to truly exist.

The original soul’s mother had long since passed away, yet after the Snow Demon froze the river and forcibly abducted him, he was able to meet that poor mother once more.

The original Lyu Shurao was portrayed in the book as an evildoer who tormented the protagonist, yet there were still so many people in this world who missed him, loved him, and longed for his return—Yun-niang, Lyu Qingsong, Lyu Qingcheng…

Lyu Shurao couldn’t help but mock himself. It turned out that being loved or not had nothing to do with whether a person was good or bad.

The Snow Demon said Yun-niang refused to enter reincarnation for decades because she didn’t want to forget her child. So, was the place he visited the normal Underworld for the deceased, or was it the appalling Ghost Purgatory?

Regardless of which it was, it reminded Lyu Shurao of one thing.

Because he had struggled to save Su Cheyue at the edge of the Ghost Purgatory when he first arrived, the time the gate remained open had lengthened, and more malicious ghosts had escaped into the human world.

In the less than one week he stayed at Xifeng Ferry, Lyu Qingsong had already set out five times to suppress chaotic spirits.

Although Lyu Shurao didn’t want to admit he had brought this trouble, the matter ultimately started because of him. Furthermore, as Lyu Qingsong’s son and the First Senior Brother of the Lyu family, his sense of responsibility wouldn’t let him just lounge around and play dead.

If Su Cheyue were here, he would surely be out from dawn till dusk, tirelessly fulfilling his duties to the cultivation world. Having been by the Second Young Master’s side for so long, Lyu Shurao felt he should at least possess a fraction of that concern for the common folk.

Consider it as accumulating some good karma in this world before leaving.

Speaking of leaving, Lyu Shurao began to worry. The Hatred Value broadcasts were still malfunctioning. The value fluctuated at a high frequency like a never-stopping little motor, but without specific numbers, he had no idea what Su Cheyue’s status was.

Worrying while lying in bed only made the worry grow. It was better to head out and find something else to do to distract himself.

Lyu Shurao was worried that Lyu Qingsong wouldn’t want him to leave, so he took advantage of the Sect Master’s absence to leave a short note and slipped out of Luzhou alone.

Since this was a typical “power fantasy” web novel with millions of long-winded words, the author had inevitably constructed a massive world map. If he and Su Cheyue truly had to finish all ninety-nine “dungeons,” they would likely have to travel through a thousand places and visit nearly a hundred sects from Yangshuo to Huailing, and from Huailing to Kunlun.

He hadn’t had time to sightsee back then, but now, with twenty days left, Lyu Shurao felt the time was long. He rode Duan-you—the little purple snake—stopping and going as he pleased, fighting wherever there was trouble.

The dregs that escaped from the Ghost Purgatory possessed formidable power, and ordinary small sects struggled to deal with them. Whenever Lyu Shurao appeared, everyone realized the Lyu family not only protected Luzhou but also helped the whole world. He was met with widespread assistance and praise.

“Young Master Lyu is a youthful hero, possessing both talent and courage. A blessing for our generation!” said the Sect Master of the Wangyue Sect.

“Sect Master Lyu has raised his son well, and the Second Young Master had a keen eye for people!” remarked an elder from Yunli Hall.

“It’s just a pity that the Second Young Master fell in his prime; otherwise, if the two of them worked together, the destruction of the Ghost Purgatory would be just around the corner…”

“What a pity, a true pity! They say extreme brilliance is easily damaged; perhaps being less outstanding is a blessing in disguise!”

“The Second Young Master’s pride was higher than the heavens. When trouble broke out at the Ghost Prison, he didn’t even know to seek outside help. Who would have thought that despite his divine skills, he couldn’t protect himself alone…”

…Here it was again.

Lyu Shurao heard these words when he was whipping ghosts, he heard them when people thanked him, and he heard them wherever he went.

Whenever they praised him, they invariably tacked on a lament for “his” Su Cheyue. Whether intentional or not, it always carried a derogatory tone of schadenfreude.

True compassion never requires day-after-day of pity and lamentation; it only requires turning a blind eye and keeping one’s mouth shut.

Such a simple truth was something neither ancients nor modern people had truly learned.

Every time he heard these things, Lyu Shurao felt like an inflating balloon. He didn’t even want to share a meal with them and would leave hurriedly after solving the problem.

Until one day, he spotted a familiar figure on the street. He chased after him and tapped the person’s back with the hilt of his whip.

“Eldest Brother?”

Su Qingyang, dressed in green with a sword at his waist, turned around. He was first stunned, then habitually darkened his expression: “Lyu Shurao!”

Lyu Shurao had called him so affectionately, yet the other still addressed him by his full name. Some people were truly ungrateful “white-eyed wolves.”

“Why are you here? How have you been these past months, Eldest Brother?” Lyu Shurao forced a smile, thinking he should be nicer to him.

After all, this was Su Cheyue’s elder brother, someone Su Cheyue cared about. He should try his best to maintain a good relationship and not give the Second Young Master any reason to be unhappy.

He had convinced himself, but Su Qingyang didn’t think the same way, immediately launching into a lecture.

“Past months… so you know it’s been months! Didn’t we agree you’d return after burying the Raccoon Slave?! Did you deliver it all the way to the Underworld?”

His mouth was faster than his brain, and he felt it was inappropriate after saying it: “No, not the Underworld. Lyu Shurao, where did you kidnap A-Yue to? Why didn’t you use the Voice Transmission Charm to contact us?”

How can he call it kidnapping?

Lyu Shurao asked: “Did the Second Young Master not write to the Baoshan Sect?”

“No,” Su Qingyang said crossly.

He didn’t write to his own family, yet he wrote to the Lyu family.

Lyu Shurao’s heart was suddenly cupped by someone; it felt warm, with a secret joy of being protected.

“I took the Second Young Master to find a doctor,” he said softly. “The distance was too far for the Voice Transmission Charm to work.”

Hearing this, Su Qingyang’s handsome brows relaxed slightly. He said: “My father and I tried to take him down the mountain several times, but he refused. I didn’t expect him to be willing to go with you.”

Because he doesn’t fully trust the Su family, Lyu Shurao thought proudly.

“Where is A-Yue? Which inn?” Su Qingyang’s gaze bypassed him, looking around. “Take me to see him.”

“Uh…” Lyu Shurao found himself in a difficult position.

How was he supposed to explain that he had left Su Cheyue alone at the remote foot of Kunlun Mountain? And how could he explain why only going there could cure him?

He could neither reveal the whereabouts of the Tao family nor clearly explain why Su Cheyue could only achieve a complete rebirth after he left.

Even he himself didn’t know the full reason.

“I… well…”

“What’s wrong with you?” Su Qingyang became suspicious again, stepping closer. “Is my brother not with you? Where is he?”

Lyu Shurao looked at his features, which somewhat resembled Su Xun’s, and said cautiously: “I can’t say right now.”

“Why can’t you say now? When can you say?”

“…”

Su Qingyang’s sword scabbard began to rattle: “Lyu Shurao, I thought that after what happened last time, the Su family could trust you. It was already suspicious for the sole heir of the Lyu family to willingly marry in as a ‘wife.’ Now you’re telling me you lured your husband away from home, and now his whereabouts are unknown?”

“His whereabouts aren’t unknown…” Lyu Shurao defended himself in a small voice. When he used the bounty orders at Zhuohua Palace, he deliberately avoided the Su family because he didn’t want the ill-intentioned Sect Master Su to find them too quickly.

“Do you know that every New Year’s Eve, A-Yue personally pays respects to his parents? He has never missed a year. You’ve made it impossible for him to return home even at a time like this; you truly lack filial piety!”

Paying respects every New Year’s Eve? No wonder Su Cheyue was in such a low mood that night.

Since he brought up New Year’s Eve, Lyu Shurao looked up, his “puppy eyes” flashing with a touch of coldness: “Then do you know that your so-called ‘home’ made him experience an unprecedented humiliation on that very night?”

As he said this, the memory of that night—drowning in a sea of desire—was unsealed once more. Like a giant wave, it flooded every organ and cell of Lyu Shurao’s body in the middle of the bright day, absurd yet profound.

He thought that as time passed, he would gradually forget, but no—not at all. As soon as it was mentioned, he remembered everything.

At this moment, Lyu Shurao seemed to understand a little why he had left so decisively when Tao Xuanxuan told him to. He was still running away.

Su Qingyang: “What? What are you saying?”

Su Qingyang likely didn’t know about the aphrodisiac effect of the parasite. Since Su Cheyue trusted him, then Lyu Shurao could trust him too. But trusting him was one thing; standing with him was another.

Lyu Shurao suppressed his emotions: “It’s nothing.”

“Just know this, Eldest Brother: even if everyone in the world wanted to hurt Su Cheyue, I—Lyu Shurao—would never do a single thing to make him sad.”

Word for word, his pronunciation was clear, leaving Su Qingyang stunned for a few moments.

“Su Qingyang!”

A crisp female voice broke their standoff. Upon hearing this voice, Su Qingyang’s gaze flickered. He turned around: “Over here.”

A woman with striking features walked out of the crowd. She looked younger than Su Qingyang; her clothes were simple, but she couldn’t hide her elegance.

“And this is…?”

Su Qingyang looked embarrassed, but the woman was very steady: “Qingzhi.”

“Miss Qingzhi?” The tense atmosphere from before vanished instantly. Lyu Shurao stepped back and bowed. Qingzhi turned her head and said naturally: “When are we going back?”

Su Qingyang: “…”

Lyu Shurao: “Eldest Brother, are you taking Miss Qingzhi back to the sect?”

They hadn’t seen each other for only a month or two. While he and Su Cheyue were still exhausted and running for their lives, had this blockhead Su Qingyang already won the heart of a beauty?

The Heavens are unfair! The Old Man under the Moon is unfair! Cupid is unfair!

Su Qingyang panicked: “No!”

Lyu Shurao pressed on: “What ‘no’? No what?”

The tables had turned; it was finally his turn to interrogate him!

Qingzhi said: “I came to find my brother.”

Finding her brother? Lyu Shurao’s eyes widened. She was already calling the Second Young Master “brother”? Should he follow Su Cheyue’s lead and call her… Sister-in-law?

He shook his head. What nonsense am I thinking?

Su Qingyang: “…Her brother is Qingsang! Lyu Shurao, put your eyeballs back in your head.”

“Qingsang?”

Lyu Shurao thought for a moment before remembering. “The Qingsang from Tianjin Alley? Wasn’t he scratched by the Raccoon Ghost and sent back to Baoshan Sect for treatment?”

At the mention of this, Su Qingyang instantly withered, his face full of shame: “It’s my fault. I returned too late. People in the sect had already sent him down the mountain, but…”

His gaze shifted to the side, landing on Qingzhi. Qingzhi said: “My mother and I have been waiting for him. He never returned home.”

Su Qingyang said: “I said I would definitely find him; you don’t have to keep following me…”

“I’ve already followed you for this long,” Qingzhi looked over frankly, “Is there any point in saying this now?”

“You haven’t found him after all this time?” Lyu Shurao said in shock. “He’s just a child; where could he go while injured and in pain if not home?”

Qingzhi’s eyes instantly turned red from the wind. As soon as Su Qingyang saw her cry, he couldn’t even hold his sword steadily: “You, I—I’m sorry! It’s my fault.”

Like Su Cheyue, he rarely apologized to people, yet in just a few sentences, he had already apologized to Qingzhi twice.

“Righteousness comes first, righteousness comes first…” he muttered. “I shouldn’t have left him alone on the mountainside that night… but my brother was being hunted by ghosts and could barely move. I…”

He hung his head, looking as if he had suffered a great blow.

“But the disciples in the sect told me for certain that they had picked him up… why didn’t he go home…”

This conversation had likely been repeated many times between them. Qingzhi blinked away the sadness in her eyes and said: “You did your best, I know, Eldest Young Master.”

“It is my own incompetence as a sister. I have no magic and can only follow behind you in hopes of finding him sooner.”

She turned around: “Let’s go back. This place is very close to Yangshuo. We’ll go back and look again. Maybe Qingsang has already made his own way home?”

“…Alright.”

Lyu Shurao only then realized that, without noticing, he had arrived in Yangshuo again—the place where Su Cheyue had lived all his life.

“I will go with you,” he said.

…

“To Second Young Master Su Cheyue:

I hope this letter finds you well. Please don’t be mad at me.

I’ve traveled to many places these past days and killed some evil spirits.

I didn’t use spells this time; I relied on Duan-you and my restored cultivation. Impressive, right?

Spring has arrived. There are many pear trees along the road, and some early ones have already bloomed.

I have a gift for you. Are you excited?

Eat well and sleep well at the He Mansion. Focus on your recovery. Don’t be mad at me. Stay safe and happy at all times.

In thirty-seven days, I will bring you home.

Hand-written by Lyu Shurao.”