Flirting with the Villain's Mother - Chapter 4

Hearing her soft, tearful sobs, Shen Su glanced over, seeing only the misty haze of her tears, as fragile as if she might shatter at any moment.

As her tears flowed more freely, Shen Su instinctively clutched her chest, but the tormenting pain she had expected never came. Earlier, as she had gradually heard the Beauty’s sobs, the soft flesh of her chest had felt as if it were being twisted. Now, watching her cry, the pain had vanished.

She was moved by the sound, but when the Beauty was right before her, her chest didn’t ache.

Could it be because she could now touch Shen Su?

With the Beauty so close, her voice seemed to soften.

Shen Su was a thoughtful, contemplative person with a sharp mind. As this hypothesis surfaced, she stared at the Beauty, lost in thought.

The Beauty still gripped Shen Su’s hand tightly, Shen Su’s palm wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief, the Beauty’s hand bound in cloth strips. Shen Su suddenly wanted to ask, “Does it hurt?”

And she did.

The sudden, unexpected concern startled both Shen Su and the Beauty. Shen Su was stunned by her own uncharacteristic kindness, while the Beauty seemed to have long forgotten what it felt like to be cared for, to be asked such a question.

She had grown accustomed to it.

Accustomed to daily hardships, to walking on all fours, to living as a wandering little beast rather than a person.

Her palms had bled raw more than once, and her body was repeatedly scraped and bruised.

The Beauty finally released Shen Su. She opened her palm, staring blankly at the bandaged cloth. A tear rolled down her cheek, quickly soaking a small patch of the fabric. Her voice was soft, but Shen Su could hear her clearly: “It doesn’t hurt.”

It doesn’t hurt? How could it not hurt?

Just as Shen Su was about to say something more, the Beauty’s stomach let out a loud growl. She startled, then lowered her hand to her abdomen, looking slightly embarrassed. “Oh, I… I’m sorry. I think I’m hungry.”

Her voice grew even softer, as if she were losing strength.

Shen Su became increasingly convinced that this was Wei Nanyi.

The once-revered Goddess had been reduced to livestock, stripped of her spiritual power and now experiencing the pangs of hunger. Yet she hadn’t completely lost her mind. She wasn’t truly Bai Ma, and she couldn’t bring herself to eat the dry hay meant for horses. Since being taken from Jiang Xu’s side, she likely hadn’t eaten a single thing, and Shen Su wondered how many days she had gone without food.

But hunger was a natural human condition. There was no need for her to apologize.

Shen Su’s plan had been to stay far away from the Male and Female Leads and the villain, clinging to life in the shadows. The Beauty before her was almost certainly the villain’s mother, which meant Shen Su should immediately send her away and distance herself. But…

Shen Su gazed at the Beauty’s frail, pale face, her heart softening once more.

She instructed the kitchen to prepare a bowl of delicate dishes. Under Cui Tao’s astonished gaze, she personally helped the Beauty out of bed.

The vast Shen Manor naturally had more than just Cui Tao as a servant, but in recent years, the original owner had neglected her duties, leaving Cui Tao to manage all household affairs. Not a single breeze or rustle of leaves escaped her notice. Upon hearing that the Beauty had awakened, Cui Tao rushed over immediately, only to find her usually delicate and fragile Miss, who resembled a tender flower, half-supporting and half-embracing the willow-like, frail Beauty, who seemed as if she might collapse with a single gust of wind, as they moved from the bed.

Cui Tao opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but hesitated.

After a long silence, when the Beauty finally stumbled and nearly fell completely into Shen Su’s arms, causing Shen Su to stagger two steps, Cui Tao finally blurted out, “Miss, she has legs and feet of her own! Why must she lean on you to walk?”

As a demon, Cui Tao likely couldn’t comprehend how difficult it was for an ordinary person with injured limbs and extreme hunger to move.

Shen Su remained silent, wordlessly guiding the Beauty to the table and helping her sit down. After serving her a bowl of rice, she finally said, “Cui Tao, she’s hungry.”

Cui Tao glanced sideways at the Beauty, who was eating slowly and deliberately, taking tiny bites of rice. It was impossible to tell how hungry she truly was.

Cui Tao huffed softly, disliking this woman whose origins remained a mystery. She still couldn’t fathom how Bai Ma, once a powerful being, had transformed into a frail, powerless woman devoid of spiritual energy.

The Beauty, on the other hand, seemed somewhat afraid of Cui Tao. Whether this was due to Cui Tao’s constant harsh words or because she sensed the Demonic Creature’s aura emanating from her, the Beauty lowered her gaze after her hunger was slightly appeased and whispered, “Thank you, Miss.”

Shen Su’s keen observation skills allowed her to notice the Beauty’s fear of Cui Tao. With Cui Tao present, she couldn’t press the Beauty for her identity. Instead, she rose to her feet. “Madam, please enjoy your meal. I’ll take a stroll in the courtyard for some fresh air.”

The Beauty startled, her eyes widening as she looked up. Her lips parted slightly, but no sound escaped. Her eyelashes trembled gently, and the mist in her eyes deepened.

Suppressing the urge to wipe away her tears, Shen Su turned away, a strange feeling stirring within her.

Could she truly be Wei Nanyi? She seems rather prone to tears, yet Wei Nanyi was the Goddess herself.

Still, even if Wei Nanyi had become tearful, it seemed understandable. Now she was merely a shattered piece of jade porcelain, having lost everything that defined her as a Goddess.

Shen Su didn’t linger. She instructed Cui Tao, “Cui Tao, come accompany me to the courtyard.”

Cui Tao responded promptly. As Shen Su led Cui Tao toward the door, a slow, hesitant voice finally emerged from within the room: “Miss, I…”

Hearing the sound, Shen Su immediately returned to the Beauty’s side.

She lowered her gaze to find the Beauty looking up at her.

Her ink-black pupils were veiled in a misty sheen, crystal-clear and brimming with fragility. Shen Su had never seen such an overwhelming sense of vulnerability in anyone before—as if a mere touch could crush her into dust.

Even speaking to her, Shen Su couldn’t help but soften her voice. “Madam, what is it?”

A flicker of hesitation crossed the Beauty’s eyes, but it quickly hardened into resolve. “Miss, I must leave.”

Shen Su suddenly recalled the Beauty’s earlier words: I don’t want to harm you. Now, having barely regained some strength, she was already preparing to leave. Shen Su could sense both the Beauty’s sincerity and her frailty.

Shen Su was a cautious woman who valued stability above all else. But… looking at this woman who seemed as if a gust of wind could topple her, where could she possibly go alone?

Having seen through the Beauty’s intentions—knowing she was acting out of concern for her—Shen Su couldn’t possibly let her leave.

After a moment’s contemplation, Shen Su declared, “I bought you and saved you. You can’t leave.”

The Beauty blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting such a response. “Miss, but…”

Shen Su calmly corrected the Beauty, “Madam, my surname is Shen, and my given name is Su.”

Without waiting for the Beauty’s reaction, she led Cui Tao out of the room, though she caught the Beauty’s gaze lingering on her from the corner of her eye. Shen Su surmised that the Beauty was both afraid of Cui Tao and unwilling to be left alone. Putting herself in the Beauty’s shoes, Shen Su reasoned that if she were in such a completely unfamiliar place, she too would crave the companionship of someone trustworthy.

Does she trust me?

Her heart skipped a beat.

Cui Tao, who had been holding back for so long, finally burst out after they left the room, “Miss, I truly don’t understand why you’re being so kind to that strange woman.”

Cui Tao’s words disrupted Shen Su’s thoughts, and a flicker of annoyance crossed her face, though she quickly concealed it.

Shen Su was adept at masking her emotions. For instance, despite her deep fear of demonic creatures, she maintained a normal demeanor around Cui Tao. Similarly, though she was terrified of those larvae, her first reaction upon their appearance wasn’t to flee in panic but to devise countermeasures.

She pursed her lips slightly. “I don’t know either. Perhaps because she’s Wei…”

Shen Su abruptly stopped, realizing this wasn’t yet a certainty.

Cui Tao only caught half of Shen Su’s words and, thinking she had misheard, quickly pressed, “Miss, what did you say?”

Shen Su heard the fluttering of wings near her ear. She had noticed this before: whenever Cui Tao became agitated, she would hear such sounds. It was never a good thing when a Demonic Creature’s emotions became unstable. Shen Su clenched her fist, suppressing her inner panic, and calmly shifted the conversation. “Cui Tao, don’t you think she’s remarkably beautiful?”

Cui Tao didn’t respond immediately, pausing for a moment, likely picturing the beauty in her mind.

Shen Su remained patient, gazing at the flourishing flowers and leaves in the courtyard. Her inner turmoil gradually subsided. Suddenly, Cui Tao exclaimed, “Miss, she has no spiritual power at all! Even the most beautiful face will wither! Only by seeking immortality through cultivation can one’s beauty endure forever! You are already so beautiful, Miss. For the sake of preserving your beauty, you should embark on the Immortal Path!”

Hmm?

Her compliment of the beauty had inadvertently given Cui Tao another opportunity to urge her toward cultivation. But why was Cui Tao so insistent on her cultivating? And if Cui Tao had always wanted her to seek immortality, why hadn’t she urged the original owner to do so? The original owner was far more receptive to Cui Tao’s advice than Shen Su herself.

After rummaging through the original owner’s memories, Shen Su discovered that Cui Tao hadn’t just started urging her to seek immortality recently. Cui Tao had been urging her to pursue the Path of Immortality ever since the death of the original owner’s parents. But the original owner, consumed by grief and longing to join her parents in death, had refused to consider such a path.

It had been over four years of repeated pleas and rejections, yet Cui Tao persisted relentlessly.

This made the situation even stranger.

Cui Tao was a demon. If she truly wanted the original owner to seek immortality, why hadn’t she simply bound her and used her demonic powers to force her compliance? It should have been an easy task for her.

Before Shen Su could ponder this further, the door connecting to the rear courtyard suddenly burst open. A dark figure hurtled toward her. She stumbled back two steps in panic, and with a deafening crash, a man lay sprawled at her feet.

Shen Su recognized him immediately: he was the owner of the horse market who had sold her Bai Ma. He had clearly been hurled toward her with tremendous force, his body contorted in pain. Numerous gashes, likely from a longsword, crisscrossed his flesh, and bl00d seeped steadily from the wounds.

Gone was the shrewd calculation of a businessman; he was now utterly disheveled. His fingers curled weakly, grasping the hem of Shen Su’s skirt as he whispered hoarsely, “Miss Jiang… Miss Jiang… she’s the one who bought the horse!”

“Miss Jiang.”

The moment the words left his lips, Shen Su’s vision blurred. A red-clad girl suddenly appeared before her, a jade-white longsword in her hand, its tip stained with dripping bl00d.

The girl glanced at Shen Su before forcefully plunging the sword into the horse market owner’s neck. “In your next life, don’t be a horse thief.”

Though the girl’s features were striking and her frame slender, her voice was icy and her actions ruthless. With a flick of her wrist, she nearly severed the horse market owner’s head.

Bl00d.

Splattering bl00d dyed Shen Su’s robes crimson, and a few drops landed on her soft, pale face, filling her senses with the metallic tang of bl00d.

Death. A person had died.

This was the first time Shen Su had ever witnessed a murder.

Her bl00d seemed to freeze in her veins. She shuddered, suddenly realizing that even the demonic creature Cui Tao wasn’t as terrifying as the girl before her. Her fingernails dug into her palms as she whispered, “Cui…”

Shen Su struggled to turn her head, but Cui Tao, who should have been by her side, was nowhere to be seen.

Cui Tao had vanished.