How To Survive as a Villain

As soon as he said those words, two burly, expressionless and oppressive Imperial Bodyguards immediately surrounded Xiao YuAn, from left to right.

The Eunuch was still smiling as he said: “His Majesty is extremely busy with government affairs, and he doesn’t have the time to see you. Xiao Jun Wang, listen to my advice and go peacefully. You must go, even if you don’t want to. So please, don’t make things more difficult for us or embarrass yourself.”

Xiao YuAn forced himself to calm down, and said: “Alright, I’ll leave. But as a Jun Wang, my intention was to come pay tribute to the Southern Yan Kingdom, so how can I leave so hastily? At least, let me report my leave to His Majesty.”

The Eunuch shook his head and finally lost all his patience. As he waved his hand, several Imperial Bodyguards came forward and tried to restrain Xiao YuAn, to forcibly take him away.

When Tian Xiang saw this, she hurriedly rushed over to protect Xiao YuAn, waving her arms and shouting: “What are you doing?! This is Xiao Jun Wang!”

An Imperial Bodyguard came forward to pull Tian Xian away, but Xiao YuAn wrenched his wrist free and threw him away. Then, Xiao YuAn said: “Don’t touch her.”

Knowing that to keep persisting like this would only bring more and more difficulties, Xiao YuAn took a long breath, and said: “Enough! I’ll go, I’ll go with you.”

“Xiao Jun Wang…..” Tian Xiang looked at him as her hands were tightly clasped together, feeling extremely uneasy.

Xiao YuAn patted her head to appease her, then walked up to an Imperial Bodyguard, and said: “Daxiongdi, let me borrow that dagger on your waist.”

The Imperial Bodyguard didn’t react nor did he move for a while. Xiao YuAn lost his patience and pulled out the dagger himself. He then cut off a corner of his robe, and looked around to find something that he could use to write with, but since he couldn’t find anything, he simply cut his finger with the dagger.

“Xiao Jun Wang!” Tian Xiang shouted.

Xiao YuAn used his blood to write the sentence “I Love You” in English, on the piece of robe. Then he folded it, and handed it to Tian Xiang: “Tian Xiang, please help me and bring this to His Majesty.”

“Is this for His Majesty?” Tian Xiang was puzzled: “Xiao Jun Wang, what am I going to do after giving this to His Majesty?”

“As long as His Majesty sees the calligraphy and painting on this cloth, he’ll know everything.” Xiao YuAn said solemnly.

The Eunuch couldn’t understand what Xiao YuAn was trying to do, but since he didn’t want to keep pestering Xiao YuAn, he simply winked at the Imperial Bodyguards. The Imperial Bodyguards, after receiving the order, went forward and restrained Xiao YuAn.

“Xiao Jun Wang, Xiao Jun Wang!!!” Tian Xiang shouted in vain, as she helplessly watched Xiao YuAn being escorted away.

…

The next morning, Tian Xiang was keeping watch on Yan HeQing’s way back to his bedchamber after the morning Court. As she clutched the cloth in her hands, she looked extremely nervous, to the point where her hands began to sweat. Last night she stared at the blood stains on the cloth more than a dozen times, over and over again. However, she couldn’t understand what that painting was, and inevitably her heart began to waver, feeling at a loss at what to do.

‘What if it makes His Majesty angry?’

Xiao YuAn and her got along only for a few days, was it really worth risking her life for him like this?

Suddenly, she remembered the way Xiao YuAn looked at her when he was being taken away. His eyes were full of desperation and powerlessness, as if he had put all of his eggs in one basket¹. As Tian Xiang shook her head, throwing these thoughts out of her mind, she focused on waiting for Yan HeQing to pass by.

Tian Xiang’s unusual behaviour had long aroused the suspicion of the Imperial Bodyguards. As an Imperial Bodyguard stepped forward, he asked fiercely: “You! What’s your name?! What are you doing here?!” Tian Xiang was startled and unconsciously covered the cloth in her hand.

“I- my name is, I, I, I-I’m just walking around.”

“Walking?” With a sneer, the Imperial Bodyguard suddenly reached out to grab the cloth from Tian Xiang’s hand!

Tian Xiang’s reaction was quite fast as she clutched the cloth with both hands, and yelled: “This is mine! What are you doing?! What are you doing?! Stop, let me go!”

But, how could she compete with an Imperial Bodyguard? After a few pulls, the cloth was taken away by him!

As the Imperial Bodyguard examined the cloth over and over again, he couldn’t find anything weird, only finding that the blood on the cloth was a quite frightening sight: “What a piece of shit! All right, go back now. His Majesty is going to pass through here.”

After reminding Tian Xiang, the Imperial Bodyguard left and threw the cloth into the small pond next to him!

Tian Xiang shouted and jumped over to pick up the cloth, but the cloth was already wet. The blood on it was blurred by the pond water, leaving only a vague image.

Tian Xiang held the wet cloth for a long time, unable to come back to her senses for a while.

Nooooo!!! No the cloth with the message!

Poor Tian Xiang how dare that guard treat my girl like that

Footnotes

1. 孤注一掷 gū zhù yī zhì; Chinese idiom, used as a metaphor for using all of your energy to take one last risk at a time of crisis. From《宋史·寇准传》(sòng shǐ·kòu zhǔn zhuàn), “History of the Song Dynasty: Kou Zhun’s Biography”, by (脱脱 tuō tuō) Toktoghan [1314-1355], a Mongol politician during the Yuan Dynasty [1279-1368].