A Smile from the Villain - Chapter 83

The following days of Qin Kaiyi’s life were dull and tedious. 

His depression became more and more serious. Just when his suicidal ideations dominated his thoughts, Qin Kaiyi suddenly discovered that Shen Feixiao had some abnormalities.

Yes, abnormalities. Unlike in the past, when he would stay with him almost every day in the room, Shen Feixiao seemed to have some other matters. His face was somber for many days in a row, and he stayed in the room for shorter periods. His expression carried more unpleasantness. 

However, Qin Kaiyi was not interested in investigating these changes in Shen Feixiao. If it were the past, he would probably still think about what actually was going on, but now… 

Qin Kaiyi yawned, rubbed his eyes, rolled to his side, and then slept again.

Shen Feixiao didn’t say anything, and Qin Kaiyi didn’t ask. Matters that should have been easy to figure out became more and more severe, to the point that at the moment when Qin Kaiyi knew what happened, everything was already too late. 

When Ziyang Pei brought others and charged into the room where Qin Kaiyi was, Qin Kaiyi was completely stunned. He sat on the bed blankly, and his mouth opened slightly. He appeared to have no clue about the situation at all. 

“Qin Shi.” Ziyang Pei was wearing all black, and he seemed to be rather travel-worn. (T/N: lit. covered in dust). When he saw a white-haired Qin Kaiyi, there was a trace of subtle pain in his gaze: “Are you all right?”

Are you all right? What a strange hello. Although Qin Kaiyi’s mind was a bit sluggish, that did not prevent him from noticing some dramatic changes: “You… what about Shen Feixiao?”

“Why concern yourself about him?” As soon as Shen Feixiao was mentioned, Ziyang Pei’s tone sunk: “Don’t worry, he doesn’t have the spare time to manage you now.” 

“…Oh,” Qin Kaiyi foolishly replied. Then he again felt that something wasn’t quite right: “That can’t be, what do you mean he doesn’t have the spare time to manage me? What’s going on with him…” 

“Why do you still care about him.” Ziyang Pei saw that Qin Kaiyi kept mentioning Shen Feixiao, and his improved mood from seeing Qin Shi was swept clean away: “You’ve been imprisoned by him and tortured to this state, shouldn’t you hate him!” 

“Still fine.” Qin Kaiyi smiled with embarrassment. Although he disliked Shen Feixiao, he still didn’t walk to the point of hatred. After all… these matters were all brought about by his own self.

“Don’t talk so much,” Ziyang Pei said with an anxious expression. “Quickly follow me.”

“…Why should I go with you.” Qin Kaiyi sighed upon hearing Ziyang Pei’s words. “At that time it was you who sold me out to Shen Feixiao, now what are you doing pretending to be a good person.” 

Hearing Qin Kaiyi hitting the nail on the head, Ziyang Pei’s expression slightly twisted. He took a deep breath and said hoarsely, “Little Stone, that time was not of my own volition. Now I have paid off the debt in full, I won’t again…”

“Stop.” Qin Kaiyi hurriedly made a pause gesture: “Don’t get emotional with me. Ziyang Pei, frankly speaking, I don’t believe you at all, and I won’t go with you.”

“…” Ziyang Pei’s complexion instantly became overcast after hearing Qin Kaiyi’s words. He looked at Qin Kaiyi and gave two low chuckles, his tone full of gloom: “Goodness, Qin Shi, you’re really refusing a toast only to be forced to drink as punishment. (T/N: fig.: to hesitate to do something until forced to do even more). I’m not asking for your opinion now. If you want to suffer less, just hurry and follow me.”

… Knew it. Qin Kaiyi observed Ziyang Pei exposing his true colors, and yawned carelessly. The expression with which he looked at Ziyang Pei was full of indolence: “Just do whatever you want.”

Ziyang Pei still had a sullen face. He stepped forward to Qin Kaiyi, who was sitting on the bed, and lifted him into a princess carry.

“Hey, I say.” Qin Kaiyi expressed that he really disliked this position: “I can walk by myself.”

Ziyang Pei simply ignored Qin Kaiyi’s words and, hugging Qin Kaiyi, he hurried out of the room. Seeing his appearance, he seemed to be fighting minutes and grasping at seconds. (T/N: idiom meaning racing against time). 

Qin Kaiyi, who was carried out by Ziyang Pei, only then found out what had happened.

Shen Feixiao’s formation seemed to have already been broken, and Qin Kaiyi suddenly realized that the place where he was trapped had always been inside the Lingshan Sect… and at this time, injured and collapsed Lingshan and Hua Lian Sect disciples lay all around. 

“Are you attacking the Lingshan Sect?” His mind hadn’t been so clear in a long time. Qin Kaiyi looked at Ziyang Pei with a face full of astonishment. “You haven’t gone crazy ba?”

“Of course not.” Ziyang Pei’s expression was very indifferent. He glanced at Qin Kaiyi and then said: “If Shen Feixiao weren’t here, the Lingshan Sect would have long been in my pocket.”

“…” Qin Kaiyi really felt a bit cheap at this moment; he actually worried a bit for Shen Feixiao’s safety after listening to Ziyang Pei’s words. After all, if something really happened to Shen Feixiao, he was afraid that there was no way for the Lingshan Sect to continue to exist.  

“What, could it be that you are still worried about him?” Ziyang Pei looked at Qin Kaiyi and frowned, but felt that it was a bit funny: “He is like that to you, yet unexpectedly you are still worried about him.”

“…” Qin Kaiyi didn’t speak anymore. He directly reached out a hand and covered his own eyes. 

Ziyang Pei saw Qin Kaiyi appearing too lazy to speak, and snorted. He didn’t delay further and immediately prepared to fly away from the Lingshan Sect. However, before he flew out of the broken large formation, he heard an incredibly cold voice. 

“Ziyang Pei.” Shen Feixiao  appeared behind Ziyang Pei in a miserable state. He held a long sword in his hand, and his lengthy black hair was a bit messy. “Where are you going?”

Not expecting that Shen Feixiao would escape from Ziyang Shi’s restraint in such a short amount of time, Ziyang Pei narrowed his eyes in displeasure–he was originally unafraid of Shen Feixiao, but the blame lay with the soul contract he had made with Qin Kaiyi. If he really hurt Shen Feixiao, it would definitely be a stupid move where he killed a thousand of the enemy and harmed eight hundred of his own (T/N: meaning a victory on the surface while harming himself, something not worth doing), and furthermore… judging by Shen Feixiao’s current strength, the outcome of their battle was not clear.

“Where else can I go?” Though Shen Feixiao caught up, Ziyang Pei was not in a hurry. He looked at Shen Feixiao, whose face was full of viciousness, with a trace of laughter: “Naturally I was going to take Little Stone away.”

“Let him go, and I will spare your life.” Shen Feixia’s mood was quite bad. He knew that Ziyang Pei had always had other ideas about the Lingshan Sect, but he didn’t think that he would show his hand within such a short amount of time! 

“No can do.” Ziyang Pei lowered his head and glanced down at Qin Kaiyi with tenderness, and then laughed grimly: “If I let him go, what do I use to restrain you?”

“…” Hearing this sentence, Shen Feixiao’s ink-black eyes flashed with cold light.

Qin Kaiyi listened to the conversation between the two, and helplessly discovered that he had again become cannon fodder. He just knew that this guy Ziyang Pei coming to find him couldn’t be anything good. Who knew how much suffering one could incur from pissing off Shen Feixiao. 

“Shen Feixiao, if it wasn’t for Qin Shi striking a soul contract with me back then to protect you, I would not be afraid of you.” Ziyang Pei’s hands holding Qin Kaiyi slightly tightened, such that Qin Kaiyi felt a little pain. “Your shixiong is so good to you, but you hardened your heart and let him suffer Gu poison, and even whitened his hair… you’re really a wolf cub that can’t be raised right.” (T/N: wolf cub means brutal/ungrateful young person). 

“How shixiong has treated me, I am very clear on.” Shen Feixiao was completely indifferent to Ziyang Pei’s provocation. His long hair flowed and scattered without any wind as his Nascent Soul stage qi madly swelled: “It’s just a pity that you will die here today.” 

“Oh?” Ziyang Pei didn’t care about Shen Feixiao’s threat at all. He cheerily squeezed Qin Kaiyi’s chin up, and then forcefully pressed a kiss on his lips. “Even your shixiong’s life, you no longer want?” 

“…” The purple light in Shen Feixiao’s eyes flourished. 

“Really worth investing the capital.” Seeing Shen Feixiao’s unusual reaction, Ziyang Pei quickly understood. He swept off the Rain-Soaked Bell attached to Qin Kaiyi’s wrist and sneered, “Your own heart demons are so serious, yet you still worry about Qin Shi… but Shen Feixiao, you really underestimate me. Did you really think that what was leading Qin Shi astray was a heart demon?” (T/N: author wrote “what was leading Qin Kaiyi astray,” but I assumed that was a mistake, as ZYP shouldn’t know MC’s real name). 

“What do you mean?” Shen Feixiao’s pupils contracted. 

“What I mean is.” Ziyang Pei lifted a lock of Qin Kaiyi’s hair and looked at Shen Feixiao with a smile that was yet not a smile: “You don’t… really think that the Gu I gave you is the mother Gu of the one in Qin Shi’s golden core?” (T/N: I changed Qin Kaiyi to Qin Shi again in ZYP’s dialogue). 

“……” Shen Feixiao’s expression instantly twisted. 

“Hey.” As a member of the society of spectators of rough mud horses (T/N: rough mud horse = sounds like/euphemism for f*ck your mom), Qin Kaiyi suddenly felt exhausted physically and mentally, and felt that he could not love anymore (T/N: think it’s a joke, because it’s common to say that you are tired and can’t love anymore): “Can you not pull me into this fight between you two?”

“No.” Speaking in unison, at this time those two very much had a mutual understanding. 

“Okay, then you guys continue.” Qin Kaiyi knew that his words had no weight so, full of self-awareness, he decided to shut his mouth. 

“Don’t be afraid Little Stone, just know that Shen Feixiao shouldn’t try to stop me.” Ziyang Pei looked at Qin Kaiyi seriously, and didn’t look like he was joking: “I will take you out of here.”

Qin Kaiyi wanted to express that he really was not comforted at all.

“Put down shixiong.” Looking at Shen Feixiao, he seemed to be itching to smash Ziyang Pei to bits and wrap him into dumplings to eat: “Ziyang Pei, get rid of the Gu in my shixiong’s body, and I will let you go.”  

“Shen Feixiao, you really… think too much.” Zi Yangpei hummed and then laughed once: “To whom the deer falls isn’t yet a foregone conclusion.” (T/N: “to whom the deer falls” is an idiom referring to who will win a prize/emerge victor). 

“Brother.” Ziyang Shi had, at who knows what point in time, appeared behind Ziyang Pei: “Everything is ready.”

“…” Qin Kaiyi felt that there was something strange in this atmosphere. 

“Don’t hurt him.” After transferring Qin Kaiyi from his arms to Ziyang Shi, Ziyang Pei placed all his attention on Shen Feixiao. He sneered: “Shen Feixiao, it seems that today we’ll settle this matter without courtesy.”

“Hmph, don’t tell me I should be scared of you?” Shen Feixiao knew that Ziyang Pei wouldn’t touch Qin Shi for the time being, and gave himself free rein. “Then come on.” 

After saying this, Shen Feixiao launched a killing move, attacking Ziyang Pei ruthlessly! 

“I’m really jealous of you.” Ziyang Shi watched the two men ferociously fighting and coldly said to the Qin Kaiyi in his arms: “What on earth kind of advantages do you have that it would be worth it for them to be like this for you? Qin Shi, sometimes when one’s life is too good, that can incite the jealousy of the Heavens.” 

“Oh.” Qin Kaiyi didn’t react to Ziyang Shi’s provocation. He responded casually and cast his attention to the two people fighting.

He didn’t know why, but he was very uneasy, as if he knew that something would happen…