How To Survive as a Villain-Chapter 152: Of Course I Choose To Go To Him.
Now that Huang Yue’s face was punched, he no longer tried to pretend in front of Xiao YuAn and attacked back. Even though the body of the former Northern Emperor was too weak, and even though Huang Yue was an experienced General, Xiao YuAn was able to deal with Huang Yue’s several moves with the self-defense skills he learnt in his previous life. However, in the end, he was still trampled by Huang Yue after all.
Huang Yue mercilessly kicked Xiao YuAn’s body twice, and then he stepped on Xiao YuAn’s head.
Xiao YuAn’s chest and lungs hurt after being kicked with such great power, and suddenly he began to cough fiercely. Just when he was about to struggle to free himself, he heard Huang Yue sneer: “Former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom, your goal has already been achieved, you don’t need to keep acting anymore. Look at you, showing the appearance of someone who’s in love even now. I wonder, how will the deceased Emperor feel when he finds himself under the Nine Springs1?”
Xiao YuAn, who was stepped on by Huang Yue, suddenly stopped struggling and his body stiffened. His face showed disdain as he laughed out loud, as if he had just heard a big joke: “Destined to die? Yan-ge is destined to die? Are you kidding me?!2”
Huang Yue didn’t have the intention to entangle with him anymore, so he fiercely kicked Xiao YuAn’s lower abdomen. After he kicked him with great force, Xiao YuAn ended up rolling several meters away. At that moment, Huang Yue called the soldiers who were outside the tent.
That kick was so heavy that Xiao YuAn felt an immeasurable amount of pain, as if his abdomen was being stabbed a hundred times by a sharp knife. He had to press down on his abdomen, laying on his side to slowly inhale and exhale air, trying to relieve the pain.
Before the pain could disappear, Xiao YuAn was sent to where the captives were held. His hands and body were tied up with ropes, and his whole body was suspended in the air.
He didn’t know how long it had been, but at that moment, Xiao YuAn’s eyes were extremely blurry, and he felt sick. He could feel a burst of nausea coming from his aching abdomen all the way to his throat. To make things worse, his hands were tied on the hook from which he was hanging from, and the ropes were rubbing his wrists raw, making him feel tremendous pain.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside, and when Xiao YuAn raised his head, the person he saw in front of him wasn’t the one he wished to see.
Chen Ge walked slowly towards Xiao YuAn, until he stood in front of him. His face was pale and he seemed to be thinking about what to say for a while before he finally said: “Physician Xiao, you…. are you really the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom?”
Xiao YuAn slightly smiled at him, but he didn’t reply.
‘So what if I am? So what if I’m not? Even if I want to be myself, even if I want to tell everyone that my actual name is Xiao YuAn, I’m still stuck inside this body. Even if I could explain everything, all the sins that this body has made are still on my shoulders.’
When Chen Ge saw that he didn’t want to answer, he slowly drew out a long sword from the scabbard around his waist, and with his eyes lowered, he asked: “Physician Xiao, answer me. Are you really the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom?”
However, Xiao YuAn remained silent, and Chen Ge’s expression collapsed a little. He clasped his head with one hand and said anxiously: “Physician Xiao, are you really the spy they said you are? Why aren’t you trying to defend yourself? You can say something, even by shaking your head!”
Xiao YuAn laughed, and raised the corners of his mouth with a trace of bitterness: “If you don’t believe me, will it be useful for me to say anything? If you believe me, is there anything that you need me to say?”
Chen Ge froze in place as he put down his hand holding his head, hesitated for a while, looked straight into Xiao YuAn’s eyes, and slowly raised his sword. The silver light crossed over the blade, its glow was so piercing that one couldn’t look directly at it.
Chen Ge tightly squeezed the hilt of the sword, and his hands were vaguely trembling because of his inner struggle. However, in the end, he finally made a decision.
Chen Ge took a deep breath and dropped the sword violently.
As soon as the sword fell down, Xiao YuAn’s hands were loosened and he fell to the ground. Chen Ge then put the sword away and reached out to help him.
At that moment, Xiao YuAn regained consciousness and looked at Chen Ge with slight surprise: “You…”
“Physician Xiao, even though I don’t know if you’re the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom or not, I’ve seen you treat the wounded soldiers of the Southern Yan Kingdom for the past couple of days, and I can clearly see that you’re sincere. Our Southern Yan soldiers aren’t ungrateful, so there must be some kind of misunderstanding.” Chen Ge said seriously.
“I…. forget it….” Xiao YuAn removed the rope from his hands and slowly rubbed the red marks on his wrists.
“Physician Xiao, you can’t stay here. General Huang thinks that you’re a spy, and he will probably issue a military order to get rid of you tomorrow. The guards at the door were already distracted by me, so you better go right now.” Chen Ge urged.
When Chen Ge was about to lead the way for him, away from the land of right and wrong3, Xiao YuAn suddenly grabbed his arm: “I can’t go. Where’s Yan-ge? When will he come back? Is there any news from the front line? I want to see him.”
Chen Ge’s face showed a complicated expression for a moment. He took a deep breath, mumbled something for a while without knowing what to say, and then he finally replied: “Physician Xiao, it’s better for you to not ask about it. You must leave quickly, if you don’t, then it will be too late.”
At that instant, Xiao YuAn remembered what Huang Yue had said earlier and realized that something must have happened at the front line. He grabbed Chen Ge’s hand and refused to go: “What is it? What happened?”
Chen Ge couldn’t stand being questioned at this, and he hesitantly said: “His Majesty…. he…. something bad happened to him.”
Xiao YuAn pressed Chen Ge’s shoulders with both hands, straightening him up. His tone of voice was anxious as he spoke: “Is he hurt? Is it a serious injury? Is he unconscious in his tent?”
Chen Ge took a deep breath, having to use all of his courage to blurt out: “Physician Xiao! His Majesty is dead! There was a spy in our barracks, and the team led by His Majesty was ambushed. All… all of them are….” Chen Ge suddenly clenched his fist and his face turned pale, not being able to say another word anymore.
However, there was no shock or denial coming from Xiao YuAn as Chen Ge expected, nor was there any crying as he had anticipated. Instead, Cheng Ge saw how Xiao YuAn slightly opened his mouth and slowly withdrew his hands from Chen Ge’s shoulders.
As if he could finally understand the meaning behind Chen Ge’s words after a long time, Xiao YuAn took a deep breath and then looked straight at Chen Ge: “No, Yan-ge will not die.”
Even though Xiao YuAn’s voice was trembling, his words and eyes were firm. As if the faith and adoration that had been firmly established for many years, couldn’t be easily shaken by a mere statement without any basis.
“Something must have happened to Yan-ge. I have to go find him. Where was he ambushed? Tell me right now.” Xiao YuAn’s voice was still faintly shaking, and yet it carried a sobbing calmness. He was anxious but not desperate.
“Physician Xiao….” Chen Ge’s voice was helpless and sorrowful.
“Or you can simply show me the direction, indicating to me which way I should go.” Xiao YuAn said while walking out. If not for the fact that Xiao YuAn’s eyes began to gradually turn red, Chen Ge would actually believe that Xiao YuAn was as calm as usual.
“Anyway, I can’t stay here any longer. Give me directions, is it in the South, West, East or North? Yan-ge is really not dead, you have to believe me. He can’t die, but he must be in trouble right now. Maybe he’s seriously injured and he’s not able to move anywhere, so he might be waiting for someone to find him.” Xiao YuAn gradually lost his voice, and when he saw Chen Ge standing in place looking at him with indifference, he said: “Chen Ge, just tell me in which direction I should go. I’ll go by myself, I…. I beg you.”
“Physician Xiao don’t…. don’t do this….” Chen Ge rudely rubbed his own hair, only to finally ruthlessly say: “Well, Physician Xiao, to be honest, there are many Generals who don’t believe that His Majesty has died.”
Chen Ge took out a scroll from his pocket, in which the surrounding terrain was scribbled, spread out the map, and pointed at a certain point: “His Majesty fell off the cliff here, but the terrain of the cliff isn’t high, and there are several caves underneath. As the saying goes, we must see the body of the dead to know they’re dead. Until we see the dead body of His Majesty, we won’t believe that he died. However, because General Huang is afraid that the troops would be ambushed again by the enemy, considering that the enemy’s troops are still nearby that area; we decided that instead of sending a large army, we should send one single person to search under the cliff, since it won’t attract the attention of the enemy-….. Hey! Physician Xiao, where are you going?! Physician Xiao don’t be in a hurry! Hey! Don’t pull me, I will stop talking bullshit, alright? Let’s go. Ah, by the way, you can’t ride a horse, right? I’ll take you. Wait a minute, I remember that last time…. Alright, alright, I won’t force you. Let’s hurry up and get going.”
Chen Ge believing in our boi is so… hhhhhh soft (∩˃o˂∩)♡
And XYA belives that YHQ isn’t dead! He must be alright! He’s the Male Lead!! Go XYA, go look for you hubby (ෆˊ͈ ु꒳ ूˋ͈ෆ)
Footnotes
九泉 jiǔ quán; The Underworld in Chinese mythology.Alright, I think that Xiao YuAn is misunderstanding what Huang Yue said here. Huang Yue stated that Yan HeQing is dead, but Xiao YuAn might have heard that ‘Yan HeQing is destined to die’. Huang Yue said 命陨的皇上 (mìng yǔn de huáng shang), which can also be translated as “The Emperor’s fate is to perish”, because 命 (mìng) means “fate” and 陨 (yǔn) means “to perish”. To Xiao YuAn, the notion of Yan HeQing being destined to die is ridiculous because he knows that he’s the Male Lead, and the Male Lead can never die(?是非之地 shì fēi zhī dì; It’s a Chinese idiom, it refers to a place that’s filled with trouble and disputes. / A place where one can get into trouble. From《胡雪岩全传·平步青云》(hú xuě yán quán zhuàn·píng bù qīng yún), “The complete Biography of Hu Xueyan: A meteoric rise”, written by (高阳 gāo yáng) Gao Yang [1926-1992].
