When the Villainess Transmigrates as the Heroine of a Sadistic Novel [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Wuxia Arc

WARNING! WARNING! THE MALE LEAD IS DEAD. THE WORLD IS DESCENDING INTO TURMOIL!

As the warning blared, the room Ning Yunqing was in began to shake. Ornaments crashed to the floor, sending a chill through her heart. World turmoil? Was the world going to be destroyed? What about the people living in it?

“Fengxuan!” Ning Yunqing dashed across the falling debris from the roof. She rushed forward and pulled the woman facing away from her into a tight, protective embrace.

THE MALE LEAD IS DEAD. SELECTING A NEW MALE LEAD. PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST.

VOTE COUNT COMPLETE. THE NEW MALE LEAD IS XIE YUSHAN, HEAD OF THE XIE FAMILY IN JIANGNAN.

NOW COLLECTING NEW STORY OUTLINES. IF INTERESTED, PLEASE SUBMIT TO THE GREAT GOD.

SUBMISSION REVIEW COMPLETE. CONGRATULATIONS TO NO. 1551. THE CHOSEN PLOT DIRECTION IS: LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP (ENEMIES TO LOVERS).

PLOT INPUT COMPLETE. WORLD ORDER RESTORED.

“Fengxuan, Fengxuan…”

Inside the Cloud Pavilion, Ning Yunqing lay on the couch, murmuring the name. Sweat soaked her hairline, and her brows were knitted in a painful grimace.

Jiang Chenyue sat by the bed, gently dabbing the sweat with a handkerchief. Suddenly, her hand was grabbed. She looked down to see Ning Yunqing’s eyes open as she cried out, “Fengxuan!”

Jiang Chenyue’s brow furrowed. She forced her hand back, her gaze turning cold. “Who is Fengxuan?”

Ning Yunqing gazed at Jiang Chenyue and took a quiet breath. At the mention of this topic, her expression became incredibly tender. “Fengxuan is my life.”

Jiang Chenyue stared at her, her attitude ambiguous. “I think you’ve lost your mind. Is that Xie Sanlang truly so important to you?”

Ning Yunqing found it laughable and gave a cold sneer. “Senior Sister, are you joking? How could I care for someone like him? I wish nothing more than for him to die.”

“Oh?” Jiang Chenyue eyed her with a mix of coldness and suspicion. “If that’s the case, why did you save him back then?”

“That was likely the thing I regret most.” Ning Yunqing sighed. “I originally intended to use him to ease relations with the martial arts world. Who knew the man was an ungrateful wretch with ulterior motives? Bringing such a disaster into the palace nearly put you in danger, Senior Sister. It was indeed my mistake. It’s only right that you are displeased; Yunqing will go to the Hall of Discipline now to request punishment.”

Seeing her junior sister’s pale face as she struggled to rise, Jiang Chenyue frowned and lightly pressed her back down. “Why are you moving? Did I give you permission to go?”

Tsundere. Ning Yunqing glanced at her and lay back down with a hint of feigned timidity. “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

“Hmph.” Jiang Chenyue looked at her with a cold smile. “Aside from that face, Xie Sanlang has no redeeming qualities. Even if he stood before me, he couldn’t harm me in the slightest.”

“Senior Sister is right.” Ning Yunqing agreed, finding the logic sound.

Jiang Chenyue snorted again. “Let’s not talk about him. What exactly happened just now? Why did you rush over to hug me the moment Xie Yushu died, calling for ‘Fengxuan’ over and over?”

Noticing her senior sister’s slightly flushed face and scrutinizing gaze, Ning Yunqing thought for a moment before replying, “To be honest, I don’t know why either. It was probably because the toxins hadn’t fully cleared.”

Jiang Chenyue stared at her, reached out to check her pulse, and after a moment, withdrew her hand. She raised her chin slightly and said, “The poison is gone.”

“Senior Sister…” Just as Ning Yunqing was about to explain, Jiang Chenyue cut her off with a sharp glare. “You only need to remember what happened to Xie Sanlang.” With that, she flicked her sleeve in a fit of minor pique and walked out.

The words carried a hint of warning. Ning Yunqing, however, heard them with joy. Jiang Chenyue’s words could be interpreted in two ways: One, anyone like Xie Sanlang who tried to harm her must die. Two, the Xie Sanlang you liked is dead; if you like someone else, watch yourself. To Ning Yunqing, the second interpretation was clearly more accurate her lover was obviously jealous.

“No need to worry, my heart is very small; it can’t hold anyone else,” she whispered to herself. She then opened the system to review the previous footage. She saw herself rushing to protect her senior sister in an embrace before fainting, waking up just in time for the current conversation.

Looking at the plot… Ha, it had completely collapsed. Even the male lead had been replaced.

The current male lead wasn’t Xie Yushu, but the supposedly peerlessly righteous eldest brother of the Xie family, Xie Yushan. Her miserable luck continued; this time, the one to fall in love with her was Xie Yushan. It was love at first sight for him, but for the sake of his brothers’ revenge and martial honor, he had to personally kill the two Masters of the Nether Palace.

Meanwhile, she was supposed to be moved by Xie Yushan’s heroism, hesitating between killing and sparing him, causing friction on both sides.

Love-hate relationship? Ning Yunqing curled her lip with disdain. According to the premise of “The Villainess inhabiting the body of a tragic female lead,” whether she loved someone was entirely up to her. Facing this kind of plot, she could simply turn the new male lead into cannon fodder before he even attacked. She really didn’t know what those people were thinking was it just to give her double points?

“Truly, thank you all,” Ning Yunqing smiled mischievously. Thinking of Xie Yushu’s strange behavior before he died, she murmured, “Who was it that sent the news of the second brother’s death to him?”

After resting in the Cloud Pavilion for a while, Ning Yunqing summoned Yunshi to ask about the Hidden Pavilion’s affairs. She found nothing out of the ordinary no messenger pigeons, no intruders. The mistake must have been the work of an insider. Suddenly, a certain person came to mind. Ning Yunqing’s lip twitched as she walked out.

“So I broke two plates, so what? Why punish me by making me scrub toilets? It stinks so much.” Duan Linglan rolled up her coarse cloth sleeves, revealing her forearms. She secretly felt the silk handkerchief tucked into her waist; she had wanted to tie it around her face like a bandit to block the stench, but the moment she saw the senior maids who looked exactly like the infamous Nanny Rong—she withdrew her hand in fear.

“This is terrifying. Is this a wuxia world or a palace drama?” Lifting a wooden bucket with both hands, she ran to the well to draw water and lugged it back. Scooping a ladle of water into the foul-smelling bucket, she held her breath and began scrubbing vigorously, chanting in her head, “Scrub-a-dub-dub, scrub-a-dub-dub.” But after two rounds, she couldn’t hold it anymore and took a sharp breath.

“Ughhh.” Duan Linglan bared her teeth in a pained grimace. She wailed piteously, “Is this the fate of those who try to mistreat a Great God? The Great God didn’t end up cleaning toilets, but I’m here scrubbing bedpans. Waaaah, I regret everything!”

Thinking of this, she suddenly let out a sob and widened her eyes. “Ning Great God isn’t coming to save me. Did she find out?”

“Linglan.” At the sound of the gentle female voice, Duan Linglan’s tears broke through her eyelids. Seeing the visitor, her cries turned into a laugh as she sobbed, “Great God!”

The head maid’s expression darkened. Duan Linglan immediately shrunk back and lowered her head. “Don’t hit me, I’ll scrub the bedpans, okay?”

Ning Yunqing was speechless. Looking at the girl suffering her retribution, she laughed quite unsympathetically. “Linglan, the smell on you is truly awful.”

 Duan Linglan really wanted to pounce over and complain, but with the head maid watching, she had to hold back.

Ning Yunqing had a slight obsession with cleanliness. She only came here to mock the person who had once wanted her to scrub toilets. Seeing Duan Linglan having a hard time made her happy. “Take her to wash up thoroughly before bringing her to see me,” she instructed the head maid before returning to the Cloud Pavilion.

“Yes.” The head maid glanced at Duan Linglan with disdain and scolded her to get moving.

Half an hour later, Duan Linglan was brought before Ning Yunqing. Dressed in coarse cloth, her head hung low, her face a picture of misery. She looked far more pathetic than when they first met.

Ning Yunqing dismissed the others. Duan Linglan perked up and tried to run toward Ning Yunqing, but Ning Yunqing didn’t stand on ceremony; she used a bit of internal power to wave her to the ground. Lightly covering her nose, she said, “You still have a scent. Stand over there.”

“Wuu.” Duan Linglan sniffed her sleeve and blinked in confusion. “It doesn’t stink.” Propping herself up, she stood to the side.

Ning Yunqing got straight to the point: “Linglan, was it you who told Xie Yushu about the death of the second Xie brother?”

Duan Linglan’s gaze darted around. “No… no.”

She practically had “lying” written all over her face. Ning Yunqing ignored her and asked again, “How did you know about the second brother’s death?”

“Because you just said it, Great God.” Duan Linglan gave a sycophantic smile. “I really didn’t know he was dead before.”

“Then you sent a letter to Xie Yushu?” Ning Yunqing sneered.

Duan Linglan was in an awkward spot and wanted to keep fabricating stories, but seeing Ning Great God’s half-smile, her legs went weak and she flopped to the ground. She said with a bitter face, “Great God, don’t scare me, I’m timid. My life is miserable enough. You kicked me out of the Hidden Pavilion; I can’t eat well, I can’t dress well, and those ‘Nanny Rongs’ beat me for no reason. I broke two plates in the kitchen and they sent me to scrub toilets… waaaah.”

“Be quiet.” Ning Yunqing glanced at her coldly and asked without any warmth, “Tell me, can you see the live stream here too?”

Duan Linglan shook her head. “I can’t. Great God, I’ve been quite well-behaved. I only… did a little thing after you left. I wrote a random note, stuffed it into a steamed bun, and a maid sister took it into the Hidden Pavilion. I just wanted to stir up a little conflict between you and Brother Yushu to earn a few small points. Wasn’t I thinking for your sake, Great God Sister? Once you resolve the conflict, you get more points!”

Duan Linglan smiled flatteringly, while Ning Yunqing smiled brightly. “Mhm, you did well. Xie Yushu is dead, and now my points have doubled.”

 Duan Linglan was stunned. “What… Brother Yushu is dead?” Holy crap! The male lead is dead! Then she might as well not live either!

“Great God, why don’t you just kill me too?” Duan Linglan tried to pounce on Ning Yunqing. At that moment, a gust of palm wind blew in from the doorway, striking Duan Linglan directly.

Before she could react, a mouthful of blood sprayed out. Duan Linglan fell to the ground, her eyes half-closed, motionless, appearing to be dead. Jiang Chenyue walked in with elegant steps. Bypassing the girl, she looked directly at Ning Yunqing, her eyes icy. “You certainly are close with this servant.”

Ning Yunqing glanced at Duan Linglan’s “corpse,” then turned back with a slight smile. “Senior Sister has actually helped me remove a traitor. Yunqing just found out that this servant was the one who sent word to Xie Sanlang.”

“Hmph.” Jiang Chenyue swept a look of disgust over Duan Linglan and looked at Ning Yunqing. “To think she dirtied your room.”

Ning Yunqing’s heart stirred. She leaned close to Jiang Chenyue and looked at her pleadingly. “Senior Sister, you know I love cleanliness. Now that this room is dirty, I have nowhere to go.”

“Then…” Jiang Chenyue was about to suggest moving rooms, but Ning Yunqing took her arm, shaking it gently as she said in a coquettish voice: “Then how about letting Yunqing stay with Senior Sister?”

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