The Villain's Counterattack Chapter 8

Chapter 8

He had transmigrated to a point before the main plot had even begun.

To show how much importance they placed on Xu Kaixuan, the marquis household had directly requested an imperial edict for his marriage. It was also because of this imperial edict that after Song Yue ran away from the wedding, the Song family could only resort to a desperate move and make Song Yao the substitute bride.

Counting on his fingers, there was still one month until the wedding.

Thirty days, give or take, and the marquis household, which claimed to value Xu Kaixuan so highly, still had not made the slightest move.

The so-called betrothal rites — presenting the proposal, asking for the name, sending betrothal gifts, and matching the birth characters — should have been completed long ago. The request for the wedding date had been set by the Emperor himself, and the time for the personal welcome had not yet arrived.

Calculated this way, the marquis household had indeed completed all the proper formalities. So even though there were only thirty days left until the wedding, the groom had yet to return to the capital, and the household was making no preparations and buying nothing at all — could you really say they had done anything wrong?

You could only say one thing: impressive.

Xu Kaicheng did nothing out of the ordinary, just followed his usual "habits" and drifted aimlessly every day. After three days, even that servant could not be bothered to come find him at noon.

By feeding Song Yao once a day, he somehow still steadily gained twenty Affection Points every day.

He specifically went to test it out. Even the thin, small beggars in the outskirts, after he fed them for three days straight, could no longer produce Affection Point.

Tsk tsk tsk. Just one steamed bun a day, and these little beggars were already starting to take it for granted.

Honestly, it was infuriating.

Sure enough, Song Yao was still more adorable. At least that grateful, pure heart of his was one hundred percent adorable.

Was Xu Kaicheng anxious? Xu Kaicheng was more anxious than anyone.

When there was a choice, who would not want to live a better life? Moreover, as a great good person like him, his greatest dream was to bring benefit to all under heaven.

The marquis household currently gave him twenty taels of silver as a monthly allowance. The old woman who used to take care of him had been transferred away. Word even came from the East Courtyard: since the money for servants and errand boys had already been given to him, from now on his expenses were naturally his own responsibility.

Yang Wanhe's face probably still hadn't healed. Xu Kaicheng found chances to pass by her courtyard gate several times, but each time she made an excuse not to see him.

However, every day after he left, his courtyard would be swept clean and neatly arranged. Thinking about it, anyone could guess whose doing that was.

A competent maidservant cost twenty-five taels at the brokerage, and an errand boy at twelve taels. A woman who swept and washed cost ten taels, and a strong man cost twenty taels. And buying a person didn't mean everything was settled for good. Even with their indenture in your hands, you still had to pay them a monthly allowance.

One steamed bun cost only one copper coin, and a meat bun only three copper coins. With twenty taels of silver a month, it seemed you could live quite well.

But a hairpin Xu Kaicheng had casually glimpsed in a silver shop and found rather pretty cost one hundred taels.

He wanted to eat three meals a day, every meal with meat. Pork ribs were cheap, only ten copper coins per catty, but he did not know how to cook. Eating outside, a catty of ribs cost fifty copper coins or more. And that was just at a small street-side eatery.

The Old Marquis had not died yet, so the two branches of the family had not yet divided. But after the Old Marquis passed away, how much family property would he and his mother receive when they were split off?

Other wealthy families might care about appearances and could not go too far. But with Wei Cai'e and Wei Daya (Old Madam Xu), it was not impossible for them to make him leave with nothing.

Prices in the capital were exorbitant. Even a single-courtyard house on the most remote outskirts could go for three hundred taels. After the family division, the safest thing to do would be to buy some land — one mu of ordinary, mid-grade farmland in the capital region cost ten taels of silver.

Money, money, money. Food, drink, daily necessities — which of them didn't require money?

And that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst part was this — at the very least, he had to stay alive.

At least in the original novel, when Yang Wanhe was split off from the family in the grand finale, he, the great villain, was already dead.

Calculating by the largest timeline, Song Yao still had one month before marrying into the marquis household, would become pregnant three months later, suffer a miscarriage seven months after that, and then give him a little more time to jump around. Would his death countdown really be only one year?

One year, three hundred and sixty-five days. To be safe, if you counted three hundred days as safe time, then the time he had left to fight for his own life was only two or three days.

One had to be cautious. Calculated this way, there was nothing wrong with that.

Xu Kaicheng performed being muddled and dazed for five days, and that servant completely stopped following him. After all, he had only performed for five days, but the soulless person in the book had already lived like this for twenty years. Every day after following him out, that servant would go straight into a gambling den, then come back at roughly the same time each day and just wait outside the marquis's residence.

The servant tailing him finally let his guard down, and Xu Kaicheng could at last take his first step.

In the bright spring of the fourth lunar month, even the capital in the north was full of tender green leaves. Land in the capital was worth its weight in gold. Apart from inside each household's gates, not many flowers or trees were planted along the roads outside.

He directly rented a carriage from a carriage shop and rode at full speed to the foot of Baiyun Temple's mountain. 

The nearest Buddhist temple to the capital's outskirts. Because nothing there was particularly efficacious, even for a suburban temple, it saw few visitors.

The hill it sat on was not high. After climbing one or two hundred steps, he reached the temple gate. Xu Kaicheng entered the temple and, under the very direct guidance of a little novice monk, went straight to the main hall and donated ten copper coins for incense.

Without even stepping inside the main hall, he fanned himself and leisurely skirted along the edge toward the back of the mountain.

The little monk, whose heart held no respect, rolled his eyes behind him, pursed his lips, and did not continue following. Although Baiyun Temple was efficacious in nothing, the back mountain had hills, water, flowers, and trees, and could be considered a scenic spot.

The monks in the temple were all used to it. Worshippers who came here would go wander around the back mountain.

After leaving the temple and reaching the back mountain, Xu Kaicheng recalled the book's introduction to the male lead's cheat-like opportunity — after being ambushed and severely injured, he accidentally entered Baiyun Temple's back mountain, and was then discovered by the shadow guards kept there by the marquis household.

"..." Let's be honest here, this male lead really is pretty pathetic.

Once in the back mountain, Xu Kaicheng deliberately reined in his playboy aura, his expression turning nervous. The hand holding the fan kept waving it, but anyone watching him in secret with even a little care would have no trouble noticing — his whole body was taut with extreme nervousness.

Baiyun Temple's back mountain wasn't exactly gentle terrain. There were two small paths, left and right, that looped around and led to the same peach grove. Peach grove in name only — there were just two or three trees in total, but they were old and looked rather lush.

Past the grove, a small stream blocked the way, only about a meter wide. Any grown man could clear it with a running start, no matter what. But for a woman, it wouldn't be so effortless.

Across the stream was a stretch of sandy ground, with a winding path leading down to the village at the foot of the mountain.

The scenery could be taken in at a glance. There seemed to be nowhere to hide a person.

Xu Kaicheng had a clear goal. He crossed the stream directly and walked for a ways toward the sandy ground on the east side. Both the west side and the east side had roads down the mountain. The difference was, the west side led to the village at the foot of the mountain, while the east side would roughly take you out of the capital.

Xu Kaicheng looked around furtively and nervously. He couldn't see a single soul. He was so anxious his face flushed red, his hands and feet weak. After a long while, as if burning his bridges, he just started shouting.

"Zhao, Zhao, Zhao Guangming, Zhao, Zhao, Zhao, Zhao, Zhao Guangming..." His voice went from soft to loud. The "Zhao" was not loud, but "Guangming" gradually turned into a shout at the top of his lungs.

Inside the hollowed-out mountain body, several people observed the person shouting by the stream through some coverings set up in front of them.

After all, they were shadow guards of the marquis household. Even if they paid little attention to the inner courtyard of the marquis household, they still knew how many masters there were. As long as the family hadn't yet divided, then even if Xu Kaicheng was an unlearned wastrel, he still counted as part of the master's family.

The marquis household's shadow guards were different from the royal family's shadow guards. They were more like loyal family retainers. It was just that most of them had retired from the battlefield, so they carried martial skills.

Big-bearded Xiong Hong poked Zhao Guangming beside him and looked at the shouting person outside in confusion. "How does the Second Young Master know you are here? Ah no, the Second Young Master should not have seen you before. How does he know your name is Zhao Guangming?"

Zhao Guangming, who was clearly very handsome but whose phoenix eyes held only viciousness and coldness, glanced sideways at Xiong Hong upon hearing this. Just one glance made the burly Xiong Hong shrink his neck and not dare say anything more.

"He knows there is a person called Zhao Guangming. That does not mean he knows that person is me."

When it came to matters of the marquis household's inner courtyard, Zhao Guangming knew more than his colleagues. At this moment, seeing Xu Kaicheng, he also instinctively thought in the direction of maximizing benefits. Although he had no idea how this young master knew about him, he had no interest at all in the infighting of the marquis household's inner courtyard.

Moreover, the one who had saved him back then was the eldest young master. How could he possibly...

The corner of Zhao Guangming's mouth lifted slightly, scaring Xiong Hong into rubbing the goosebumps on his arms and exaggeratedly scooting to the side.

"Zhou Qi, you go." No matter what, the person still counted as a proper master's family. It would not be good to really leave him hanging.

Zhao Guangming tilted his chin toward a person behind him. Zhou Qi, who had also struggled through battlefields but was weaker and more like a scholar, nodded and slipped out from another exit.

"Second Young Master." Zhou Qi went around from the other side and appeared in front of Xu Kaicheng.

He cupped his hands and slightly bent forward, which counted as a salute. "Why is Second Young Master here? Are you lost? Do you need this subordinate to send you back?"

"..." Xu Kaicheng nervously swallowed, clutched his fan, and tried hard to inconspicuously step back, wanting to widen the distance. "You, you, you are Zhao Guangming?"

Zhou Qi's expression did not change in the slightest. He once again respectfully cupped his hands and saluted. "Yes."

Xu Kaicheng swallowed another mouthful of saliva and sized up the person who had come out. His height was very ordinary, around one hundred seventy-five. His appearance was also very ordinary, the proper and upright type. He wore a blue short outfit, and the slight weakness brought by his thinness could, if one insisted, be called scholarly.

After all, everyone who knew Zhao Guangming knew that he was a scholar who had almost passed the provincial examination.

"They said Zhao Guangming looks like someone you can tell at a glance is no good. You are not lying to me, are you..." Xu Kaicheng took another big step back, looking as if he was ready to run at any moment.

The corner of Zhou Qi's mouth twitched suspiciously. Inside the mountain cave, Xiong Hong exaggeratedly covered his mouth with both hands to keep from laughing out loud. Zhao Guangming did not change in the slightest, except for the malice that flashed through his eyes.