The Birth Of A Villainess

There seems to be some error in this chapter... I don't know if it's Webnovel but when I tried to edit it or delete it, it won't work.

Lin Xiaofei didn't know what he was planning to show her. As far as she knew him, the thing he was excited to show her was not ordinary. He might have bought a beast from another continent that could swallow a human whole or show her another garden he had planted with poisonous seeds.

While she was thinking about the horrendous possibilities that he could show to her, one of the servants under Qu Xing Xu's employ walked over to them, bowing his head towards the two of them, "Your Grace, the preparations are done. Should we start lining the players up or let them go in one by one?"

Qu Xing Xu thoughtfully gave the servant a glance before he looked beside him where Lin Xiaofei stood. "What do you think should we do?"

Not knowing what the servant meant by his words and pushed to the front line to partake in giving the final decision, Lin Xiaofei said without much thought, "Let them in one by one."

The servant hearing this had his eyes lit up. He was actually expecting the former and let the people who were brought in yesterday night by lining them up because that was the usual way of how they handle people who insulted their master. However, deep inside him, he wanted to let these people in one by one.

By doing that, won't the test subjects not run out too soon before they could utilize every torture methods they learned in the tower?

"What does he mean with his words?" asked Lin Xiaofei when the man walked away and disappeared after taking a turn.

Qu Xing Xu smiled and told her, "Follow me. You'll know the answer by then."

He walked ahead of her and when he saw that she didn't take a step forward, not intending to follow him, he waved at her. "Let's go. There will be something fun for us to watch later."

Taking the turn that the man took earlier, Lin Xiaofei found that instead of a well-made courtyard, or a garden filled with poisonous flowers, there was only a well in the wide space of concrete floor. The trees a few meters away from the well shook when the rebellious wind swept against them, pulling out the dead leaves that fell on the ground.

"Where did he go?" she asked the duke in front. She clearly saw the servant taking the turn just a few seconds ago but when the two of them arrived there, the man was nowhere. It was like he disappeared without much leaving a trace for them to follow.

Instead of responding to her, Qu Xing Xu stepped even further ahead. He reached the well faster than her because of his long stride and legs, his right hand extended towards below and when Lin Xiaofei came over next to him, a faint click sounded.

The protruding well about 3 feet above ground was made up of grey brick stones. The gritty surface of it was as hard as it looks. Peering down into the volant well of an endless blackness, Lin Xiaofei wondered where the sound came from.

"Come," she heard her husband's voice from behind her. When she moved her head aside to look at him, she saw a stair leading downstairs at the spot where he once stood.

The secret passage appeared when she was distracted by the old, plain looking well. With a side glance, she looked askance at Qu Xing Xu. He was obviously ignoring her, avoiding her questioning eyes and walked down the stairs.

Since he wasn't going to tell her but show her the answers to her questions, Lin Xiaofei silently followed behind him. Like a déjà vu playing before her eyes, Lin Xiaofei thought of the twisted stairs that lead her to an underground room in Hong Pei Luo.

But instead of a room with a huge gemstone erected at the back of the room, lighting up the entire room with a soft glow of blue lights, and a room looking like a garden, the place under the well was completely different. The stairs led them down to a long hallway and with only the torches attached to the walls on either side of the hall, their way would be swallowed with a tunnel without an exit or light coming from the end of the tunnel.

The further they got in, the more Lin Xiaofei realized where they were. Her light brown eyes flickered on the thick metal bars that were attached to the walls that caved in to make a small room.

The rooms that was behind the metal bars were far too familiar with Lin Xiaofei. She was once locked up inside of these although a different location and time. They were cages. And the place where her husband took her was an underground dungeon.

Understanding flashed in Lin Xiaofei's mind. She guessed that the 'players' whom the man from before was talking about was none other Yu Fangzhu and his men. That also means that the thing that Qu Xing Xu wanted to show her was them.

"You kept Yu Fangzhu inside this place?" she said disbelievingly. She thought that at best, he would keep appearance or stick to a level of control since the other person was a prince. And yet, Qu Xing Xu treated the crown prince of the empire where he served and lived in like he as a heinous criminal.

Of course, Lin Xiaofei would do the same as she had no morals left nor was she a woman of principle. However, Qu Xing Xu was different. He is currently the Duke of the Zheng Empire, a position just below the royal family and the emperor.

Qu Xing Xu nodded. "I had no choice. The crown prince did not like the room I prepared for him to stay and kept on complaining like a bitch. So, I thought that this place would be the perfect place to keep him in his good manners."

***

This is the Error I was talking about. The chapter became a repeat from the previous one. I will try to contact my CE as soon as possible but they're on a break because of the Holy Week. I'm really sorry about this. I'll probably be able to fix this next week after the holiday.

Lin Xiaofei stared dumbly at him. The upper corners of her lips twitched at how difficult he could be.

"But shouldn't we offer them some tea or snacks before they leave?" she asked with her voice lowered, worried that these old men would think badly of her for not taking good of them when they nicely visited their residence.

Qu Xing Xu leaned towards her and with a slightly raised voice, enough for the old men to hear him say, "Don't worry… they won't break a bone by just missing one cup of tea. Just in time, I want to save as much money as well."

She almost rolled her eyes at the way he was acting. He said that he was saving money but from what she witnessed after he bought her a couple of dresses worth thousands of gold, he was definitely not saving money, and squandering all of it by throwing it on her way instead.

In the end, the Qu elders were evicted from the Qu residence and was forced to go back to their respective manors with a sour look on their faces. They even came so early in the morning just to see the young bride who finally took down the mighty duke feared by many. Yet, before they could spend some time with her, they got into the husband's radar.

But even with their dissatisfaction after being thrown out, the Qu elders were not as angry as they looked like. The grins that refused to be wiped out from their faces remained as they thought that these newlywed couple was really sweet with each other.

Earlier, when the two of them weren't looking, the Qu elders observed their relationship from a distance. They feared that this young bride was trick into a loveless marriage and got catfished by Qu Xing Xu. However, their insane thoughts were soon proved wrong as Lin Xiaofei and Qu Xing Xu got along with each other naturally. Pink bubbles even appeared around them when they were speaking with each other.

"Weren't you being a bit too rude towards the Qu elders?" Lin Xiaofei told him after seeing off the old men. "They may not have come to see you, but they did especially took time to visit the young bride whom you married."

Qu Xing Xu shrugged his shoulders, not feeling remorseful at his actions. "They shouldn't have run off their mouths then. They want their sons to meet you? Ha! They should meet my sword first before they can meet you."

"Ahh… so that was why you're acting like this?" Finally, Lin Xiaofei got to put a reason why he was acting like a child whose candy was about to be taken from him.

"Yes!" He proudly said, his eyes glinted mercilessly as he imagined if any of their son appeared before him to see Lin Xiaofei, he would readily unsheathe his sword and ram it in their chests.

Shaking her head, Lin Xiaofei pushed the fact that Qu Xing Xu was consuming a jar of vinegar to the back of her mind. She really didn't mind that he was acting so jealous over something that hasn't happened yet. He had nothing to worry about her getting involved with any other man for as long as he does the same.

Lin Xiaofei was already tired from chasing after a man who will have someone else in his arms while she was already existing in his life. That life was the ugliest and dirtiest taint that she wished she could erase and forget. At least, in this lifetime she had someone who will feel jealousy from time to time.

"I'm sorry…" she heard him say as he put his arms around her. "I shouldn't have acted like that when they especially came for you. It's just that I was irritated that they wanted to become matchmakers for you and their sons."

Lin Xiaofei laughed. She wondered just how many times he has said 'I'm sorry' to other people that saying these words would make him look like he swallowed a whole lemon while forcing himself to look normal.

"You don't really have to apologize," she told him. "But maybe next time… you should mention if anyone was about to come to our residence so that I can be on time when seeing them. What would happen if someone else other than the Qu elder came and witnessed that the young bride you married was this disrespectful?"

Qu Xing Xu was silent for a few seconds. He knew what she was talking about. Since a lot of people who wanted to see them make mistakes after their marriage and want to use it against them. He did not mind any dirty rumors that will be poured over him, but Qu Xing Xu didn't have the patience to let the same thing happen to Lin Xiaofei.

"Alright…" he says. "From now on, I will remember to accept guests only in the afternoon." Before she could say anything, he pulled her to her feet and added, "Let's finish this discussion. I have something nice for you to see. Maybe, you'll even give me a kiss after seeing it."

With that, the two of them were out of the main hall and was already heading towards outside of the front entrance of the main hall.

Author's Note:

I would like to announce that I will be setting up the 2nd tier of my privilege chapters. These are the two tiers that I will be releasing next month at the start of April 01:

1st tier is 1 coin = 2 chapters. (PS. I changed it from 10 coins to 1 coin starting next month.)

2nd tier is 200 coins = 5 chapters.

What is Privilege Chapters?

--These are the advance chapters that privilege buyers/readers can only read ahead of regular readers. If you buy one or two of the tiers mentioned above, you will have the ADVANTAGE to read and get an EARLY ACCESS of chapters ahead of everyone else reading the normal premium chapters.

Of course, this is NOT MANDATORY and I'm NOT FORCING you guys to buy it. If anything, it's a way to further support me as an author and make me feel more inspired to write so I'll be really glad and happy if you buy it.