Chapter 34

The night is dark and cold. In the east wing of the small courtyard, a candle is lit with incense. The system lay silently in Rong Tang’s arms for half the night, watching its host copy Buddhist scriptures silently since returning to the room.

During the time when he was first reborn, Rong Tang copied a lot of Buddhist scriptures, and the system was aware of what it was for the sake of. Although Rong Tang continued to copy scriptures after he met Su Huaijing, the frequency was much lower, and he would often drag Su Huaijing to do other things to pass the time while he copied.

The system also thinks that the main villain is rather good.

At least it can accompany its host.

But today, Rong Tang copies the Buddhist scriptures late into the night, with a grave look on his face. His writing is fast and smooth, as if he is copying the Buddhist scriptures out of remorse, but the system would never believe it.

Yet its standpoint really does not permit it to say anything to Rong Tang at this time. All it can do is accompany Rong Tang so that he will not be lonely at night.

The candlelight gradually dims, and the wick is constantly spitting out crackling noises. Rong Tang made the last stroke and finally puts down the brush.

The system silently releases a long exhalation of electric waves.

Rong Tang heard the sounds of movement and lightly smiled.

After sitting for too long, his body feels a little sore. He stood up, opened the door, and went out, wanting to take advantage of the evening breeze to admire the stars for a while.

There was no one in the loft, only lanterns hanging at the four corners. Rong Tang originally wanted to go up, but when he scanned around, he caught a glimpse that the lights were still lit in Su Huaijing’s room.

A very weak light leaked through the window’s edge and trickled out, only a little brighter than the stars in the night.

Rong Tang’s footsteps altered direction.

After copying Buddhist scriptures for a long time, he still feels bored, so he wants to take a look at the flourishing night stars. But since Su Huaijing is awake, Rong Tang’s first choice is to seek him out.

There is no reason or justification.

Rong Tang knocks on the door, takes a step back, and waits patiently.

The sound of footsteps came from inside, and the door opened. Su Huaijing appeared enveloped in the dim yellow light; his expression rendered more gentle.

The moment he saw Rong Tang, he seemed startled, then subconsciously turned sideways to welcome him into the room, shielding him from the cool night winds.

“You didn’t sleep?” Su Huaijing asked.

Rong Tang shook his head, his eyes falling on the lighted desk and the ink prepared on the table. In that instant, he felt a little regret.

He thought Su Huaijing was writing a secret letter and turned around, intending to go out. But Su Huaijing had already automatically poured him a glass of warm water and said, “It’s hard to fall asleep after drinking tea at night; Tangtang, drink some water.”

There was a hint of sweetness in the water, as if honey had been added. He was surprised the moment it entered his mouth. He took a sip and said to Su Huaijing, “You really like eating sweet things.”

Su Huaijing smiled: “That’s why I really like Tangtang too.”

He said similar words many times. Sometimes Rong Tang was immune, and sometimes his ears would turn red. At this time, he probably had matters weighing on his mind, so he easily ignored what he heard and didn’t take it to heart.

He put down the teacup and said, “I just wanted to go out for a walk. I saw the light in your room and came over to knock on the door. There’s nothing important. You still have things to do, so I’ll go back first.”

Rong Tang turned around and wanted to leave, but Su Huaijing stopped him and frowned a little. “It’s very damp in the middle of the night. Is Tangtang wearing such thin clothes to go for a walk?”

Rong Tang paused slightly and glanced down at the spring clothes he had on.

Su Huaijing doesn’t wait for him to say anything and leads him to the desk: “It’s nothing important originally, but it still needs some finishing touches. If Tangtang can’t sleep, can you stay with me for a while?”

Rong Tang blinked. He watched helplessly as Su Huaijing brought him to the desk, pulled him a chair, then pressed his shoulders to make him sit down while he sat opposite… and copied Buddhist scriptures?

Rong Tang was awestruck for a long time. He’s close to thinking that he’s not left his room at all; otherwise, there would be no way to explain that what he assumed ought to be a bunch of important secret letters had turned into more than half of the Buddhist scripture that he’d copied.

Su Huaijing’s eyes are lowered, and he is calm. His expression is very friendly and leisurely. When his countenance wasn’t cold, he appeared like a gentle and kind-hearted moon deity, not any sort of tyrant.

Rong Tang stared for a long time. It wasn’t until one page had been used up and Su Huaijing replaced it to continue copying that he came back to his senses and asked in a very soft voice, as if he were afraid of being a disturbance, “Why are you copying Buddhist scriptures?”

Isn’t this a task for me to do?

Rong Tang is exceedingly confused.

His thoughts have even gone to the extent that the main villain might have aspects of violence trembling in his bones at this time. He wanted to kill but had to restrain himself, so he had to copy Buddhist scriptures to suppress it.

But this is clearly not in tandem with common sense. Rong Tang rejected the idea almost as soon as it arose.

His Boyboy is not this type of person.

His Boyboy is the best and gentlest person in the world.

After mulling about it, Rong Tang heard Su Huaijing chuckle and reply, “Because I don’t know why Tangtang is unhappy.”

Rong Tang is dumbfounded: “Aaa?”

Su Huaijing continued to lower his gaze as he copied the scriptures. There was no emotion in his eyes, and they were devoid of any unnecessary sentiment.

If we were to actually analyse it, it’s most likely indulgence and pampering.

He isn’t copying Buddhist scriptures for himself, just like Rong Tang has never copied Buddhist scriptures for his own sake.

Su Huaijing said: “In the past few days since I’ve entered the household, I’ve occasionally observed Tangtang copying scriptures. I don’t know why you worship Buddha, but I know you are unhappy.”

“If you don’t want to say it, I won’t ask, but it seems a bit tiring for one person to bear too much. We are husband and wife, and I should help you bear half of it.”

Su Huaijing whispered, “Tangtang, no matter what it is, you can ask me to bear it along with you.”

Whether it’s sin or guilt, whatever you can’t bear, I shall bear it all for you.

As long as you are happy and always remain my carefree little Buddha.

Don’t be unhappy; otherwise, I’ll be even unhappier.

And if I’m unhappy, many, many bad things will occur, and I won’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it.

Therefore, Rong Tang, you’d better be a bit more obedient, sensible, and well-behaved, as well as a little bit more wilful, arrogant, and unrestrained.

What do you feel guilty about? I can make the other party scared to find fault with you.

Whatever sins you have, I don’t mind taking them all upon myself. Anyway, I’ll be consigned to eternal damnation for what I want to do.

But you are different. You need to be clean, you need to be happy, your existence needs to be more dazzling than this spring radiance, and you need to be by my side all the time.

Su Huaijing raised his head and looked at Rong Tang. His eyes were filled with thick, dark ink that could not be dissolved, just like the paper scriptures dancing beneath the lamp or like the moonless shadows outside the window in the night.

“Tangtang, can you tell me why you are unhappy?”

Rong Tang sat opposite Su Huaijing and doesn’t regain his senses for a long time.

Su Huaijing rarely gives off a sense of superiority in his presence. One isolated time was when he saw Chen Feiyi return to Yong’an Lane, and the other time was after he finished talking to Rong Zheng in Tanghua Courtyard.

In the former, Rong Tang knew that he was suspicious of him, but in the latter, he still hasn’t figured out the reason.

But he knows that Su Huaijing is someone who is easy to coax.

Show his weakness, be coquettish, and nuzzle him obediently. Act like a domesticated cat that bears no falsity, and the main villain will automatically withdraw his anger.

Rong Tang doesn’t know if he is like this to others or if this is an exclusive privilege reserved solely for him. Initially, all he felt was that he wanted to protect Su Huaijing out of some unexplained guilt and that the main villain should regard him as a tool that he could use as he liked.

Everyone knows who isn’t being sincere, so it’s good to have peace of mind.

There’s no need to explore the meaning behind every sentence, nor is there a need to investigate whether the other party has done you wrong.

He protects Su Huaijing to relieve his guilt; Su Huaijing uses him to speed up the progress of revenge.

Everyone takes what they need, and being able to become friends or even confidants in the process is already an incredibly wondrous thing, so it’s not necessary to overthink.

But Su Huaijing told him, “We are husband and wife, and I should help you bear half your burden.”

But without his knowledge, Su Huaijing has copied Buddhist scriptures that are supposed to be copied by Rong Tang.

The villain of “The Emperor’s Journey” is supposed to be a person who neither believes in ghosts or gods nor Buddhas. Otherwise, how can we explain that while there are higher powers watching over him, his whole family died tragically?

It’s unexplainable; therefore, it’s not to be believed.

Even if it truly existed, Su Huaijing should be thinking about dragging the deities down from their elevated standing and bringing about chaos in the Heavenly Law.

If he is in chaos, then he’ll be in chaos until the end.

There’s no way he believes in Buddha.

He does not need anyone to redeem him, nor does he need to wash away his so-called sins.

But just because Rong Tang is momentarily unhappy, he spent half the night here copying Buddhist scriptures?

Rong Tang finds that his mind has some difficulty thinking otherwise.

He doesn’t even know what kind of reaction he should have.

His throat is a little itchy, but it’s seldom that he doesn’t want to cough. He unconsciously swallows and looks through the candlelight at Su Huaijing—his wife in name.

Readers said: This is the most profound and ruthless villain in the whole book.

The system said: This is the villain who will destroy this country.

Heavenly Law said: This is a villain who breaks away from the character’s fate, causing the protagonist’s fate to dissipate and the whole world to be annihilated.

Everyone tells him that Su Huaijing is a villain, evil, and sinful. He’s a villain who escaped from the mountain of corpses and sea of fire by luck but turned into a ferocious spirit who brings calamity and chaos to the world.

But in Rong Tang’s eyes, he‘s a better person than the protagonist by a thousand and one times.

He is smart, calm, generous, strategic, ambitious, and principled. He knows what he wants and what he is striving for.

He will waste time to accompany him to see spring flowers, and he will also allow many poor people worrying about their livelihoods to go to work in his house because of what he’d said casually.

He may not treat this world with much benevolence, but he definitely has unparalleled patience with Rong Tang.

Why is this?

Just because I’m the first person to reach out and pull him out of the abyss?

When Li Changfu took Su Huaijing away from the Duke Xian’s Mansion, he wasn’t aware of his true identity. He only knew that he was a relative of his that shared a common ancestor; he was fatherless and motherless, but he was rich. Since it was a sporadic trip to the capital for him, he originally wanted to get some benefits from the Duke’s Mansion and return to Sichuan. Perhaps he could, even in one fell swoop, be transferred to the capital as an official, but his trip was in vain and he was narrowly implicated. After much difficulty, he finally encountered a child who could be exploited by him, and he took him back without even hesitating.

Li Panyan knows that Su Huaijing likes to eat sweet things. Even though she didn’t know why, she knew that he liked to eat lotus pastries. She then planted the drug in the lotus cakes without any psychological stress, hoping to use Su Huaijing to exchange imperial favours for her entire family and even obtain a Shizi Fei title for herself.

Then, what about Rong Tang?

From the moment they met until now, the house, the carriage, the title, the safety talisman… He’d given everything to Su Huaijing without asking for a smidgen.

He doesn’t want to ask for anything.

He just wishes for Su Huaijing to live a peaceful and smooth life.

But Su Huaijing said: No matter what it is, you can ask me to bear it along with you; Su Huaijing said: You can’t be unhappy; and Su Huaijing also said: Tangtang, you have to live a long life.

Since Rong Tang transmigrated to this world, he has long been accustomed to giving, giving, and giving without expecting anything in return.

He treats Sheng Chengli well because he has tasks from the system, readers’ filters, and his own ‘Saintly Father’ mentality. He’s never thought of asking the male protagonist to give him anything in return.

He treats Su Huaijing well because he is motivated by guilt, appreciation for talent, and compassion for justice. But indeed, he’s never thought about asking the main villain to give him anything in return.

The most is that his kindness is remembered and he will give his mother a good and peaceful death in the future.

But Su Huaijing told him: We are husband and wife, and I should help you bear half your burden.

Naturally.

There is no such “naturally” in the world.

They aren’t a couple who truly love each other.

What he has to bear denies the existence of Su Huaijing himself, so where does the obligation to share come from…

There was still a bit of hoarseness in his throat. When Su Huaijing copied until he reached the end of the scripture, Rong Tang picked up the tea cup and took another sip of the slightly sweet tea. The inexplicable astringency that appeared in the corners of his eyes was scattered in the night sky.

He didn’t answer Su Huaijing, but he stood up and walked to the door. He stretched out his hand to feel the night temperature and suddenly heard extremely weak chirping of cicadas in the grass.

Rong Tang zoned out for a moment and said, “Huaijing, it’s already summer.”

He smiled slowly and said, “That’s great; we have gone from spring to summer.”

We’ve gone from blooming flowers to the intense, scorching sun.