How to Survive As a Villain

SIDE STORY 8: Gold Wind And Jade Dew (The End).

Hurrying along the dusty road, Chen Ge and his party finally returned to the North.

That day, the Imperial Palace hosted a banquet. The soldiers who delivered the disaster relief were invited to the main hall to meet the Emperor, where their meritorious service will be rewarded.

After the banquet came to an end, Yan HeQing hurried to the Imperial Bedchamber. In the morning, he was discussing Court affairs with the Ministers, so he couldn’t make it to meet Xiao YuAn when he arrived. Moreover, Xiao YuAn didn’t attend the banquet, so the two of them hadn’t met yet.

Unexpectedly, when Yan HeQing walked into the inner room, he couldn’t find Xiao YuAn.

Yan HeQing asked several people, but no one really knew where he had gone. At this, Yan HeQing frowned slightly.

At that moment, Tian Xiang suddenly remembered something and informed Yan HeQing: “Your Majesty, today is February 281….”

February 28 was late Winter and early Spring, which meant that snow would sometimes fall and sometimes not.

On the hillside of the Temple of Heaven, beside the pale green pines and cypresses, there was a grave.

Xiao YuAn was half kneeling on the ground, weeding the grave as the sun set in the horizon, painting a beautiful scenery in the sky.

After pulling out the weeds, Xiao YuAn patted off the mud from his hands, sat down next to the grave, and propped up his hands. Then he smiled at the grave and said: “I’m here again.”

“This year, it became cold earlier than usual, but it hasn’t been snowing much lately. Tian Xiang said that this Spring is going to be a bit cold, so the cold will remain for a while.”

“Speaking of Tian Xiang, I know that you wouldn’t have wanted her to enter the Palace, but when I asked her about it, she said that she didn’t want to leave the Palace. I didn’t try to persuade her anymore, but don’t worry, I won’t let anyone bully her.”

“By the way, I went to Taoyuan Village, and everyone is doing quite well. I also went to the Western Shu Kingdom to see PingYang and Yongning.”

“I don’t know if you mind my nagging, but if you do think I’m being too noisy, just tell me in a dream. Next time, I’ll speak less.”

“Alright, it’s time to go back. I’ll see you next time.”

Then, Xiao YuAn got up, patted off the mud on his body, and walked down the mountain. Since the sun was setting, it became hard to walk on the rugged mountain.

The sky was getting darker and darker, making Xiao YuAn unable to see the road clearly. He was walking extremely slowly, but when he saw that he was about to reach the foot of the mountain, he stumbled across a deep pit. In the next second, Xiao YuAn’s feet met with air, and he stumbled forward, falling miserably on the ground.

“Hiss!”

Xiao YuAn was laying on his back on the ground, and it took him a long time to recover. After he patted off the sand from his reddened palms, he supported himself and tried to stand up. Unexpectedly, when he motioned to get up, he felt a strong pain coming from one of his knees.

When Xiao YuAn fixed his eyes on his knee, he found that his right leg had accidentally knocked against a big stone. Not to mention the pain coming from that area, there was even some blood coming out.

Sighing with annoyance, Xiao YuAn rubbed his head with exasperation. As he thought that he couldn’t stay here, he dragged his injured leg and tried to find two fairly straight branches. Once he found the branches, he clamped them to the injured knee and tied them tightly with his belt. Then he propped up with the help of a tree and struggled to stand up. Little by little, he walked down the mountain.

After taking two steps, the feeling of the wound sticking to his clothes became more and more obvious. It was so painful that Xiao YuAn could hardly walk. As he was lamenting helplessly, he suddenly saw a light ahead of him.

Someone was coming this way with a lantern.

When Tian Xiang saw Xiao YuAn looking so miserable, she couldn’t stop herself from shouting: “Aiya! Xiao Jun Wang! What happened, why are you injured again?”

“Again…. I don’t understand why I keep bumping into things like this…. It’s so hard for me.” Xiao YuAn sighed a long, exasperated breath.

With the help of Tian Xiang, Xiao YuAn avoided the tragedy of dying in the wilderness of the mountain. Since Tian Xian’s strength wasn’t enough to support Xiao YuAn, and given that the two of them had to walk for a painstakingly long period of time, the injury on Xiao YuAn’s knee became even more miserable, swelling to the point of it almost looking like a steamed bun.

Seeing that it was already late at night, with the breeze turning stronger, as well as the weather getting colder and colder, Tian Xiang realized that with their current speed, they would return to the Imperial Bedchamber by tomorrow morning. When the two of them passed by a Pavilion, Tian Xiang said to Xiao YuAn: “Xiao Jun Wang, sit in this Pavilion for a while, I’ll go search for an Imperial Guard and ask them for help.”

“Alright, don’t worry.” Xiao YuAn said.

Tian Xiang nodded her head as she helped Xiao YuAn sit down in the Pavilion. Then she trotted off to find someone.

It was February 28, so it was still a cold day. As Xiao YuAn leaned against a pillar in the  Pavilion, he tried to warm his hands with his breath. All of a sudden, a cold wind blew by and a tiny glittering snowflake fell in his hands.

“Ah….” Xiao YuAn looked up.

The desert was misty again, and the snowflakes fell, one after the other.

At that moment, in Taoyuan Village, Zhang Baizhu had just sent away the last patient in the medicinal shop, who thanked him repeatedly. After closing the door, he stretched himself.

When Zhang Baizhu turned around, he saw his son babbling and shouting ‘Grandpa!’ from Lin Shenling’s arms, only to pounce at Zhang Changsong right the next moment. Zhang Changsong, who was always showing a serious appearance, had an affectionate expression on his face.

At the same time, Xiao Fengyue was writing down the accounts, when someone suddenly took a coat and wrapped it around him. When Xiao Fengyue raised his head, his gaze met with Yang LiuAn’s. With a gentle smile on his face, Xiao Fengyue said: “LiuAn.”

Yang LiuAn then approached the window and said: “It began to snow. It’s so cold outside, you should rest early.”

“Mm.” Xiao Fengyue nodded his head, as he tightly wrapped the coat Yang LiuAn had put on him. Then he got up to close the window.

The moment the window was closed, a window was suddenly pushed open in the Western Shu Kingdom.

As she held the window frame, Yongning, who was overjoyed, turned her head to shout at Xiao PingYang: “PingYang, look! It’s snowing!”

Right after saying that, Yongning pulled Xiao PingYang and trotted out of the wing room. As Yongning tilted her head to meet with the falling snow, she held Xiao PingYang’s hands, twirling around twice in excitement.

Xiao PingYang’s skirt, which was decorated with peonies embroidered by Yongning herself, flew in the air with this motion.

In another world, inside a sanatorium, Xiao Wangye was writing down his brother’s medicine for today’s treatment in his diary. When Xiao Wangye raised his head, he found that his brother, who was still in the wheelchair, fell asleep with his head tilted to the side.

Xiao Wangye quickly got up to stuff his brother into the warm quilt. After that was done, he turned his head to look at the diary, only to write down: ‘My brother’s mental state is gradually stabilizing. Perhaps…. I’m not as weak and useless as I thought.’

In another world, Hong Xiu had just arrived home from a tiring day at work. As soon as she opened the door, Tian Xiang and their brother, who were here to spend winter vacation together, shouted ‘Welcome back!’ in unison.

“Sister! You’re back! Brother and I made dinner. Come on in, let’s eat!”

“Alright, I’ll go, I’ll go.” Hong Xiu looked at the noisy warm home, bent her eyes and smiled. All of the fatigue she felt just now dissipated.

At the same time, Xie Chungui, who had just finished training, was about to return to the dormitory, when his shoulder was suddenly grabbed by a Xiongdi: “Captain Li Wuding did a meritorious job today! Let’s go and celebrate his victory!”

At that moment, the military exercise field was filled with young men in the prime of their life.

Those two were still carrying the faith on their shoulders, as well as their loyalty and righteousness.

The only difference was that, this time, they’ll have a prosperous and peaceful life.

Right now, the glittery snowflake, blown by the wind into Xiao YuAn’s palm, melted into water. At that moment, Xiao YuAn heard the sound of hurried steps coming from the snow. Sure enough, when Xiao YuAn looked up, he saw Yan HeQing coming his way, with a worried expression on his face.

In the end…. When the gold wind met the jade dew金风玉露 jīn fēng yù lù; Chinese idiom, from《辛未七夕》by (李商隐 lǐ shāng yǐn) Li Shangyin [813-858] from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. (金风 jīn fēng) Gold wind refers to the autumn wind, while (玉露 yù lù) Jade dew refers to the early-morning dew in Autumn. It refers to the Autumn scenery in general.'>2, the indecisive young man finally found his way back home.

As Xiao YuAn curved his eyes, with a beautiful smile adorning his face, he suddenly felt incredibly at ease.

“Yan-ge, I accidentally fell down and my leg hurts.”

“I’ll help you.”

“Don’t help, carry me.”

“Hmm.”

It’s done!!! I can’t believe it’s actually done!

I started translating this novel last year, just after the quarantine had been announced, and I lost my job because of that. I can’t believe that more than a year has passed since then, nor can I believe the day when I finally get to publish the last chapter has arrived. It feels like yesterday when I was just starting in this world, and now not only have I finished my first project, but I’m also translating 3 other novels at the same time!

I want to thank all my readers, because without you, I don’t think I would have had the patience to translate so many chapters!

Thanks for everything and don’t forget to support the author if you can, here is the link where you can buy the book!

See you all in my other and future projects!

It’s the anniversary of Hong Xiu’s death.金风玉露 jīn fēng yù lù; Chinese idiom, from《辛未七夕》by (李商隐 lǐ shāng yǐn) Li Shangyin [813-858] from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. (金风 jīn fēng) Gold wind refers to the autumn wind, while (玉露 yù lù) Jade dew refers to the early-morning dew in Autumn. It refers to the Autumn scenery in general.