Title: After the Villainess Awakens
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 3 - Thank you Brother Xiao (1)
When Leng Mushi woke up, she was in a swaying carriage. She was sure that Xiao Mian had attacked her out of exasperation. He had used a lot of force when he struck her. The first thing she did upon waking up was touch her sore neck.
Very good, her head and neck were still connected.
Groaning, Leng Mushi opened her eyes and saw that her half-sister, Leng Tianyin, was sitting next to her.
Leng Tianyin's head was lowered, and she was sewing something. Her delicate fingertips were holding a needle. Using the light coming through the carriage's small window, she was carefully threading the needle.
Leng Tianyin always looked like she was attending a funeral. She was clearly a concubine's daughter, and yet she kept showing an aloof, noble, and virtuous appearance in front of her.
Leng Mushi couldn't stand to look at her. And of course, she refused to admit that Leng Tianyin was prettier than her. It annoyed her to death that Leng Tianyin always looked like she was going to a grave to burn paper money.
It was rare to see Leng Tianyin looking so gentle. Her head was lowered to be closer to the object she was holding, showing off her slender, delicate, and white neck. She looked very focused.
Leng Mushi propped herself with her hand and saw that the object was Xiao Mian's belt.
Ha! No wonder.
Leng Mushi opened the small window. She narrowed her eyes and looked outside. In front of the carriage, there were three young immortals dressed in white robes. High above, the sun was shining brightly, and the road was flat. She couldn't tell where they were. It was probably noon. She must have been unconscious the rest of last night and half the day today.
Her eyes locked on the back of that young immortal, who was still wearing the willow branch as a belt. Of the three riders, his back was particularly straight. Even when he was riding a horse, he looked meticulous with his feet properly in the stirrups.
In that aspect, the male lead and her sister were exactly the same, extremely dull. No wonder they became a couple later in the novel. Let that improbable event happen!
Silently baring her teeth, Leng Mushi touched her neck and muttered, "He's so ruthless. I just tore his belt…"
She closed the carriage's small window. She turned her head and saw that Leng Tianyin had finished mending the belt. Leng Tianyin's expression relaxed a bit. Leng Tianyin pursed her lips and pulled back the curtain to take a look outside.
Leng Mushi felt goosebumps from seeing her sister's shy and timid appearance.
That rotten couple, ugh.
At this time, the carriage stopped.
Outside, someone said, "There's a mountain stream up ahead. Let's take a rest here."
Since the carriage had stopped, Leng Tianyin held the belt and was about to leave the carriage.
Leng Mushi suddenly felt warmth from inside the storage bag and heard a voice that only she could hear. The voice told her - in the following scene, grab the belt, give it to Xiao Mian, and claim that you mended it.
Damn it! It was too good at choosing an embarrassing, but not dangerous action.
Despite her silent cursing, she was very quick to move. She pulled back the curtain and grabbed the recently mended belt out of Leng Tianyin's hand while jumping out before her.
By the time Leng Tianyin recovered from the shock and opened and closed her mouth, Leng Mushi had already run away.
Leng Mushi dashed towards Xiao Mian. As she ran, she quietly asked, "I don't remember this scene from the novel…"
The novel's law, which took the appearance of a stone and was inside her storage bag, didn't immediately answer her. It was only when she caught up to Xiao Mian, blocked his path, and dangled the belt in front of him while panting, that it finally replied - the plot requires you to show goodwill to Xiao Mian at every opportunity and at all costs.
Leng Mushi curled her lips in derision. Fine, she had the bad luck to be the villainess that facilitated the emotional drama between the two protagonists.
She held up the belt to Xiao Mian and forced herself to enter into the necessary persona.
Mimicking Leng Tianyin's recent shy and timid look, she raised her voice to say to Xiao Mian, who had taken a step back and seemed alarmed that she had blocked his way, "I want to give you back your belt. I'm sorry about last night. I was too excited. I didn't mean to be rude. I mended your belt. Brother Xiao, don't be angry with me anymore."
Before Xiao Mian said anything, the two nearby immortals, who were about to go up the mountain to fetch water, smiled. These two people were Xiao Mian's shixiong (senior disciple brother). They already misunderstood their relationship because they saw him coming back last night carrying Leng Mushi with his belt torn. Leng Mushi's words would only further that misunderstanding.
Xiao Mian wasn't good at explaining himself. His ears were red from embarrassment. He couldn't keep his usually solemn and steady expression.
Humiliated, he shouted, "Stop saying nonsense!"
His two shixiong laughed as they headed up the mountain. They didn't say anything to tease Xiao Mian, but his neck still turned red. He looked at Leng Mushi as if she was a scourge. He had already taken his pocket space storage buckle off the belt and hung it on his neck, so he wasn’t in a rush to accept the belt.
Instead, he frowned and asked, "Why do you have the belt?"
A beauty was beautiful even if they frowned.
Leng Mushi, who was standing on the higher part of the slope, looked at Xiao Mian. The sun was shining down along the mottled tree shadows. When the wind blew over Xiao Mian, his immortal face looked more like an ordinary human's face. And yet, that only made him look more alluring.
Unfortunately, he belonged to someone else. He wasn't hers.
Leng Mushi looked behind Xiao Mian and saw that Leng Tianyin was hesitantly walking over.
She silently recited a Buddhist prayer. What sin had she committed in her past life to have to go through this?
And then, she said, "Of course, I have it. Where else would it be? It couldn't be that Brother Xiao is hoping that my sister will mend your belt, right? She would never touch male strangers' things or even take an extra look at those men. If she mended your belt, wouldn't that tarnish her reputation?"
She was telling the truth. Leng Tianyin abided by the traditional virtues of women. Leng Tianyin wouldn't glance at even the most romantic and elegant of young lords. In contrast, she would go out to mess around. Even though she was the daughter of the legitimate wife, and her sister was born to a concubine, her sister's reputation was significantly better than hers.
This was why her father would use Leng Tianyin as a reason to scold her every time.
Hearing this, Xiao Mian reached out to grab the belt. He didn't want to say a word to Leng Mushi. However, when he was about to touch the belt, she flipped her hand, and he ended up touching the back of her hand.
Xiao Mian: "…"
T/N: The author specializes in writing novels where the heroine and the other younger characters go through character growth, so Leng Mushi's view of the other characters isn't 100% accurate and will change.