Quick Transmigration: The Villain Is Too Pampered and Alluring - Chapter 53

Sheng Nuan couldn’t contact customer service and didn’t know what else to do. With her incredible combat skills, she simply stayed in the Cold Palace¹ with the little princess.

The little princess said her name was Xiaoyu², and Sheng Nuan, with a mischievous smile, told Xiaoyu to call her Ghost Sister… Then, like a ghost, she flitted around the palace, gathering all sorts of daily necessities and food.

When Xiaoyu saw that the single, tattered quilt had been replaced by a brand-new cotton one in the dilapidated palace, she was stunned.

Sheng Nuan, as if performing magic, then brought out a tray from behind her. On the tray was fragrant braised pork, stir-fried cabbage, and two bowls of white rice.

Xiaoyu pursed her lips and said nothing. Sheng Nuan grabbed her, and gently forced her to sit down. “Go ahead, eat, it’s fine.”

Xiaoyu’s face turned slightly pale, with fear and suspicion in her eyes… Sheng Nuan suddenly realized something and asked, “Are you afraid I poisoned the food?”

The little girl shuddered, paused, and quietly said to Sheng Nuan, “I’ve been poisoned before. It hurt a lot… If you’re here to kill me, can you just kill me directly instead of using poison?”

She added, “I’m not afraid of dying, I’m just afraid of the pain… it hurts too much.”

Sheng Nuan was suddenly stunned, and an even deeper sense of sadness filled her heart.

She lowered her head, took a couple of bites of the food with her chopsticks to show her, and after a moment, said to the little girl, “See? If it were poisoned, I’d already be poisoned by now.”

The little girl hesitated and said, “But… aren’t you a ghost?”

Sheng Nuan couldn’t help but laugh. “If I were a ghost, why would I need to poison you to kill you?”

If it weren’t for the fact that this little girl reminded her of herself when she was younger, she wouldn’t have bothered to intervene at all…

Sheng Nuan grabbed Xiaoyu’s little paw and pressed it against her chest. “Feel this. Do ghosts have heartbeats?”

With a whoosh, the little girl on the other side jerked her hand back as if frightened, eyes wide with shock. Her pale, thin face flushed a deep red as she stammered, “Y-you… how can you be like this?”

Sheng Nuan raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

The little girl bit her lip and looked away. “If you’re human, why are you dressed like that? It’s… improper.”

Sheng Nuan looked down at her spaghetti-strap dress, thought for a moment, then stepped outside. When she came back, she was wearing a palace maid’s robe.

She looked helplessly at the little girl. “Is this better?”

Xiaoyu hesitated, then bit her lip and asked, “Are you not a ghost? Then who are you?”

Sheng Nuan smiled brightly. “I’m a fairy, here to help you.”

Xiaoyu froze again… then lowered her head and started eating, ignoring her.

Sheng Nuan thought she had fooled her, but after the meal, the little brat suddenly asked, “Do fairies get food stuck in their teeth too?”

Sheng Nuan was startled and darted over to the cracked bronze mirror that was only half intact. She opened her mouth and saw a bit of green stuck between her teeth… She gritted her teeth in frustration for a moment, but couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

And so, Sheng Nuan, the “fairy,” and Xiaoyu relied on each other in the Cold Palace, surviving solely on stolen supplies.

Worried about drawing attention, Sheng Nuan didn’t dare steal too much, just enough to keep them alive in the Cold Palace.

Xiaoyu was easy to care for; she ate whatever she was given, and was both obedient and clever. When she had to go out and interact with people, she would still pretend to be as weak and pitiful as she had been before.

The only problem was that she didn’t care about hygiene.

One time, Sheng Nuan discovered the imperial consort’s hot spring. Late at night, she brought Xiaoyu to bathe, but after Sheng Nuan undressed and entered the water, the little girl refused to follow, clutching her clothes as if bathing would cost her life.

Sheng Nuan had no choice but to soak in the water herself and wash Xiaoyu’s hair… so that the little brat wouldn’t stink as bad.

Sheng Nuan stayed in the Cold Palace for several months, and she nearly despaired when she remembered that time flowed differently between the system space and the small worlds.

If that dog customer service woke up after a nap and realized the mistake, would she already have died of old age in the Cold Palace? How is that different from being consigned to the Cold Palace like the palace concubines?

What was even more troublesome was that Xiaoyu fell ill just before the New Year.

Many people in the palace had contracted typhoid. Wherever she ghosted around, she heard nothing but “cough cough cough.” However, there was a silver lining to the widespread illness: it made it easy for her to steal medicine.

At first, she stole medicinal herbs, but after several failed attempts where she coughed painfully and couldn’t brew them properly, she decided to steal already-prepared medicine instead. She would then swap the stolen medicine with the herbs she had taken, adding water to the mixture.

The little girl lay curled up on the bed, burning with fever and breathing rapidly, caught in the throes of a nightmare. Sheng Nuan sighed, wrapped herself in a quilt, and sat by the bed, singing ‘Fireflies Fly’³ to her.

It took five whole days for the little brat to finally recover. When Sheng Nuan woke up by her bedside, she found Xiaoyu lying there quietly, staring at her.

“What are you staring at? If you’re awake, hurry up and wash. You’re so stinky…”

Then, Sheng Nuan eagerly wrapped Xiaoyu in the quilt and carried her to the hot spring.

“A hot spring will help drive away the cold.”

Knowing the little girl’s strange temperament, Sheng Nuan backed off a little. “You can wash yourself. Don’t worry, I won’t peek… I’ve got everything you have, and what you don’t have, I still have. I don’t get what you’re so afraid of…”

Hearing Sheng Nuan muttering, Xiaoyu bit her lip and lowered her eyes, her lashes trembling slightly. After a long hesitation, she finally turned around, facing away from Sheng Nuan, and slowly removed her filthy, foul-smelling clothes.

It wasn’t clear how long had passed, but eventually, the little girl called out to her from behind, “Fairy Sister.” Sheng Nuan snapped out of her distraction, having been brooding over customer service, turned around, and then widened her eyes in surprise. “Wow, you’d better stay a bit dirty. Otherwise, with that face of yours, you might be sent off for a marriage alliance soon.”

The little girl lowered her head, gave a small “mm,” grabbed a handful of dirt, and smeared it on her face before looking up again.

The little pretty girl had turned into a little dirty kitten, and Sheng Nuan burst out laughing…

On the way back, the little girl suddenly asked her, “Fairy Sister, will you leave?”

Sheng Nuan hesitated for a moment before saying, “I probably will.”

The little girl in her arms was silent for a moment, then asked, “If you’re going to leave, can you tell me beforehand?”

Sheng Nuan felt even more uncertain. But when she looked down at the little dirty kitten staring unblinkingly at her, she had no choice but to nod. “Okay.”

Two days later, New Year’s Eve arrived.

Sheng Nuan stole enough food to fill a table and even sneaked away with a jug of wine, preparing to celebrate the New Year in the Cold Palace with Xiaoyu.

But just as she warmed the wine and walked into the now clean Cold Palace hall, she suddenly heard the voice of customer service sounding in her ear.

“Sorry host, the main system malfunctioned. The timeline is being updated and corrected…”

Sheng Nuan locked eyes with the young girl, who was sitting at the table, looking expectant yet somewhat reserved. Instinctively, she said, “I need to…”

Before she could finish her sentence, her vision went black, and when it cleared again, she heard a high-pitched, contemptuous voice ringing in her ear.

“Madam Sheng, why are you dawdling? Are you expecting the princess to wait for you?

Sheng Nuan looked up and found herself being led along a corridor by a little eunuch with eyes full of contempt and maliciousness. Lanterns hung along the corridor, casting shadows over the flowerbeds on either side, making it seem like ghostly figures were lurking within, ready to pounce.

She realized instantly that she had returned to the time point where she was supposed to appear: the first day she was being brought into the Duke of Zhenbei’s manor.

And now, as the prince consort’s “favored concubine,” she was being summoned by Princess Lin’an to serve her on her wedding night…

She left so abruptly, and she didn’t know if Xiaoyu would be scared.

Never mind. She couldn’t think about that now. Let’s just get through tonight first.

1. Cold Palace – refers to a place within the imperial palace where disgraced or unfavored concubines and other imperial women were sent. ↵
2. Xiaoyu – can be literally translated into ‘Litte Fish’. ↵
3. Chong Er Fei aka Fireflies Fly – a well-known Chinese folk song that’s often used to soothe and calm someone. ↵

This is the lyric:

黑黑的天空低垂
The dark sky hangs low

亮亮的繁星相随
The bright stars follow

虫儿飞 虫儿飞
The fireflies fly, the fireflies fly

你在思念谁
Who are you longing for?

天上的星星流泪
The stars in the sky shed tears

地上的玫瑰枯萎
The roses on the ground wither

冷风吹 冷风吹
The cold wind blows, the cold wind blows

只要有你陪
As long as you are with me

虫儿飞 花儿睡
The fireflies fly, the flowers sleep

一双又一对才美
Two together make the beauty complete

不怕天黑 只怕心碎
Not afraid of the dark, only afraid of heartbreak

不管累不累 也不管东南西北
No matter how tired, and no matter which direction, north, south, east, or west