I’m Competing With The Male Lead For A Woman[Gl] Chapter 102: We are the same kind of people

Facing Chu Shao, the black-clothed men looked at each other but still tried to remain calm and shouted, “You’re just one person, and you’re injured. Why should we listen to you?”

“Exactly! Why should we listen to you?”

“Indeed, you shouldn’t listen to me.”

Although Chu Shao’s face was pale, she still had a smile on her lips.

The next moment, her fingers pinched the neck of the black-clothed leader and exerted force.

“Crack!”

The bones in his neck suddenly broke.

The leader of the black-clothed men opened his mouth wide, as if trying to breathe his last breath of fresh air.

Then his head tilted and his broken neck spilled out a lot of blood, and he collapsed on the ground.

For a long time, there was only the sound of the cold wind whistling by the cliff, which made it especially desolate.

Chu Shao stopped smiling and looked at his fingers stained with blood with a hint of disgust.

She whispered, “It’s not nice when it’s dirty.”

“If it’s dirty, she won’t like it either.”

Several black-clothed men saw this scene, trembled, and could only think of one thing in their hearts.

Madman.

This person is a madman!

After killing the leader, Chu Shao let go of his neck.

As if throwing a stone, she elegantly lifted the black-clothed men’s blood-stained collar and gently threw him off the cliff.

Chu Shao’s voice was still gentle, but there was a rare hint of ruthlessness in her words. “My patience is limited. You all better think quickly.”

Blood dripped from her fingertips.

Like raindrops falling along the strings of a piano, even the sound of it hitting the ground was extremely crisp and pleasant.

The black-clothed men saw this, but their faces showed fear, and they kept retreating.

But they also understood that it was too late to escape now.

Chu Shao did not stop them, just smiled and picked up her sword. “If you can’t figure it out for a while, I’ll help you think.”

As they watched Chu Shao approach with her sword step by step, one of the black-clothed men turned pale and finally couldn’t help but say, “I’ll tell you… I know where the Prince of Yan is.” 

 ….

Actually, Xiao Jin also knew where she was – at the bottom of a cliff.

Every protagonist on the path to greatness must experience a rebirth after falling off a cliff, but unfortunately, Xiao Jin was not the protagonist.

She was merely a cannon fodder with a halo.

She did not meet a gray-robed old man to teach her martial arts, nor did she stumble upon a cave full of treasures.

All she got was a free fall and a crazy person attached to her.

Even the only reliable healer, Bai Zhu, disappeared during the fall.

Xiao Jin suspected that she might have fallen elsewhere because she prematurely opened her parachute.

 Xiao Jin confirmed with the system that Bai Zhu was still alive, which temporarily relieved her.

She then surveyed her surroundings and saw a dense forest beneath the smoking mountain.

She couldn’t quite tell what kind of trees grew there, but she knew that the mountain was high enough and secluded enough to hide from anyone for a while.

While it was fortunate in the present circumstances, it would be a problem in the long run.

Enemies couldn’t find them, but neither could their allies.

Xiao Jin worried about Chu Shao, who might go crazy and kill their own people when she realized she was missing.

Despite her worries, Xiao Jin knew that the most critical concern was the dark forest.

The shopkeeper had told them that most of the beasts in the Smoking Mountain lived at the foot of the mountain and often came out at night. 

Xiao Jin did not believe that she was the protagonist, but after experiencing so many coincidences, she started to believe in mysticism and probability. 

There are some things that may not necessarily happen, but it’s better to be prepared just in case.

Thinking this way, Xiao Jin lowered her head and looked at Empress Ning who had fainted at her feet.

In her arms was an nameless sword. Despite being struck by Shen Lang’s sword on the cliff, she not only survived but was still alive now. Not everyone has such good fortune.

After a brief consideration of the pros and cons, Xiao Jin made a decision.

She had saved her so many times already, it would be a shame not to ask for something in return.

Taking advantage of the remaining hour of activity time, Xiao Jin tore off a piece of her sleeve and roughly bandaged Empress Ning’s wounds.

Then she carried her on her back and went to find a cave to hide in.

….

Empress Ning didn’t expect to wake up.

Even more surprising was that when she opened her eyes, there was someone sitting next to her who seemed familiar.

Using the faint moonlight shining in from outside the cave, Empress Ning could see the slim figure and the dark hair scattered on their shoulders.

For a moment, Empress Ning almost thought that the person sitting on the rock pile was not the Prince Yan, but someone else she knew.

It wasn’t until Xiao Jin turned her head slightly that Empress Ning’s blood began to circulate again.

Xiao Jin noticed Empress Ning’s momentary confusion, but didn’t pay much attention to it.

She always maintained extreme indifference and apathy towards people and things that were irrelevant.

She saved Empress Ning not out of pity for her, but because there was something to gain. 

Looking at the woman’s aging face and the deep wound on her back, Xiao Jin said expressionlessly, “You’re going to die.” 

That was the truth.

She didn’t have any hemostatic medicine, and the other person’s injuries were too severe.

Death was only a matter of time.

Perhaps because death was imminent, Empress Ning suddenly became calm. “I should have died a long time ago.”

“From the moment when Shangguan Xun put me on the carriage, the Blood Rain Pavilion people poisoned me with a deadly poison. I couldn’t have lived past tonight anyway.”

Xiao Jin asked, “The Blood Rain Pavilion poisoned you in advance? Aren’t they curious about the whereabouts of half-jade seal?”

“So what if they are curious?” Empress Ning coughed violently, and some blood overflowed from her lips. “Let them be curious. I won’t tell them.”

At this moment, Xiao Jin felt that Empress Ning’s mental state seemed to have improved a lot, except for her frightening appearance.

But she didn’t care much.

She only cared about one thing. “If the Blood Rain Pavilion didn’t have any intention to inquire about information, why did they send you to the Prince Yan Mansion residence?”

In fact, Xiao Jin already had some guesses.

Since the Blood Rain Pavilion was not under the control of Xiao Shuang, sending Empress Ning to the Prince Yan’s mansion was probably to spread the news of her death.

Then – let Xiao Shuang know.

Sure enough, a strange smile appeared on Empress Ning’s scarred face. “When the ambitious people in the world are numerous, Xiao Shuang is one, and the Blood Rain Pavilion’s Master is also one.”

Xiao Jin calmly looked at Empress Ning, knowing that she currently didn’t know that the Blood Rain Pavilion’s Master was probably the Crown Prince or the Emperor.

Otherwise, she would not be able to say the word “ambitious.”

At this point, Empress Ning’s lips curled into a sinister smile. “Prince Yan, if two people both want a secret book, and one person gets it but cannot open the box containing the secret book, what do you think he would do?”

Without hesitation, Xiao Jin replied, “Find a way to destroy the secret book and prevent the other person from getting it.”

Empress Ning seemed a little surprised. “Why do you think so?”

Xiao Jin thought to herself, “It’s not that I think so.”

It’s everyone in those ancient internet novels. If you can’t have it, destroy it. They’re all paranoid.

However, Xiao Jin didn’t explain it this way. Instead, she reasoned, “This is just one reason. Another reason is that the innocent suffer for the guilty.”

“If someone gets hold of the book, it will surely attract the attention of others. Since we can’t open it anyway, we might as well destroy it and spread the news so that those who covet the book will give up.”

Empress Ning was surprised at first but then burst out laughing. “The Prince Yan from Qi is indeed meticulous. If you have already figured it all out, why bother asking me?”

“It’s just a guess,” Xiao Jin said, still puzzled about many things.

Empress Ning laughed and shook her head. “But there’s one thing you haven’t guessed yet.”

“What is it?”

Empress Ning’s eyes were bloodshot, and she grinned. “Actually, Xiao Shuang also wants to kill me because I know some of her secrets, some… unspeakable secrets.”

Xiao Jin was curious and asked, “What secrets?”

At this point, Empress Ning slyly smiled and said, “I don’t want to tell you.” 

“…” 

If she didn’t want to tell her, then she didn’t have to. 

There was no need to say it out loud.

“What’s the point of saying it?” Xiao Jin coldly glanced at the Empress Ning and didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

However, the Empress Ning suddenly spoke more, closed her eyes, leaned against the rock wall, and sneered, “We are both dying people. What’s the use of exploring these secrets? We can’t take them to the coffin with us when we die.”

Xiao Jin was speechless and said, “Who said this prince is going to die?”

The Empress Ning chuckled softly, “Prince Yan, don’t treat this palace as a fool. Many wild beasts live in this forest. Once the smell of blood spreads, those beasts will find us and bite our flesh, and eat our bones.”

She said this to scare the young man in front of her and see her reaction, but Xiao Jin took her words seriously.

She then took out a dagger from her waist and smiled, “You are right. That’s why this prince should kill you first, dismember your body, throw out each joint to attract the attention of those wild beasts.”

“In that case, this prince may be able to live a little longer, waiting for the people from the palace to come to rescue.” 

Empress Ning fell silent.

Xiao Jin also felt that talking to the ancient elders of the previous generation was dull and uninteresting.

So she sat on a rock and looked up at the moon.

The moon was so good.

It doesn’t calculate or speak nonsense.

After a while, Empress Ning smiled and her hoarse voice echoed in the cave again: “Prince Yan, I will tell you where the Half-jade Seal is.”

Xiao Jin moved her fingers in her sleeve but still asked calmly, “Oh? Why do you suddenly want to tell this prince?”

“Because I am dying, and you are also about to die.” Empress Ning laughed a few times with delight, “Besides, you destroyed Yao Country, killed Shen Lang, so I should thank you.”

Xiao Jin didn’t understand what Empress Ning was talking about and only hinted, “Then thank me sincerely.” 

Don’t keep hiding and teasing us.

Unexpectedly, Empress Ning was really good at teasing, and her ugly and horrible face pulled out a smile, “Before I tell you, listen to a story.” 

“…”

Xiao Jin resisted the urge to draw her sword and said calmly, “Please tell.” 

Empress Ning was a perverse person, but the story she told was relatively normal.

The protagonist of the story was a disciple of the Shen family, named Qingcheng, who ranked second in the family.

Shen Erniang was not beautiful when she was young.

With such a name as “Qingcheng,” she inevitably suffered criticism, ridicule, and disdain.

However, Shen Erniang’s mother would always raise her hand and wipe away her tears, gently coaxing her, “What’s with all this talk about being beautiful or not? In Mommy’s eyes, my daughter is the prettiest.”

Shen Erniang stopped crying and asked softly, “Mother, is it true?” 

Shen’s mother tapped Shen Qingcheng’s forehead and smiled, “Of course, Mommy thinks you are the prettiest, even prettier than the third young lady in our family.”

But later, Shen Erniang’s mother left.

In the chaos of the fight, Shen’s mother accidentally killed her husband, who was going to take a new lover and divorce her.

She looked at the corpse on the ground, took out a handkerchief, wiped the bloodstains off Shen Erniang’s face, and trembled with laughter, “Erniang, your father doesn’t want you, and Mommy doesn’t want you either.”

Some people say that after Shen Erniang’s mother killed someone, she left the Shen family and found another place to live.

Others say that she went to the master of the family to defend herself and was then dealt with.

Anyway, suddenly, Shen Erniang lost her father and mother. 

She lived a difficult life during those days, but later she realized that people’s lives only become more difficult. 

Shen Erniang gradually grew up.

She turned into Shen Qingcheng, a beautiful and elegant lady who stood tall and straight.

At this time, Shen Qingcheng became quiet and reserved, but she still attracted many admirers.

The most outstanding of them was the eldest son of the Ning family, who was gentle and kind and seemed to be a good match for her.

Shen Qingcheng did not like the young master of the Ning family, but even more, she disliked those who had dirty thoughts about her behind her back.

Therefore, she agreed to his proposal of marriage.

However, on the day before the wedding, while taking a walk outside, she accidentally overheard a conversation between the young master of the Ning family and the landlord.

It turned out that the Ning family was secretly colluding with the national teacher Nan Jin and intended to select a woman to send to the emperor as a spy. And Shen Qingcheng was the one they planned to use.

That night, Shen Qingcheng disappeared.

She disguised herself as a servant girl and sneaked into a group of servants who were about to leave for Tianya Sect.

Only then did she realize that this group was for selecting maidservants for the eldest son of the Shen family, Shen Lang.

She did not quite understand why Shen Lang specifically selected maidservants instead of attendants.

Shen Qingcheng guessed that Shen Lang was probably no different from those vulgar and lascivious people.

Just when she felt that she had escaped the tiger’s lair and entered the wolf’s den, Shen Lang said to her, “Look up.”

She looked up and met his clear and gentle gaze.

It was then that she knew what it meant to have a breathtaking appearance.

Shen Qingcheng only stayed at Tianya Sect for a year.

In spring, she liked the young master of the Shen family’s eyebrows and eyes.

In summer, she liked his slender and snow-white wrists.

In autumn and winter, throughout the four seasons, she liked the young master of the Shen family every day, not because of the seasons, but because he made her start to like the days that she used to find unbearable.

If her life could continue like this, she felt that it wouldn’t be too bad.

But she knew it wouldn’t happen because it was too good and too beautiful to be true.

Until the moment when everything was exposed, and Shen Qingcheng was pressed to the ground by the Ning family’s people, with her hairpin falling to the ground and her vision blurred by blood, she only had one thought in her mind – whether she could or could not let Shen Lang see her in this miserable state. 

She wished she could die right there and then.

But Shen Qingcheng didn’t die in the end.

Young master Shen saved her and promised to send her back to Shen’s Manor, where she could marry brilliantly.

On the day of her departure, Shen Qingcheng did not reveal her heart to young master Shen because she was of humble birth and unworthy of the bright moon in the sky.

Young master Shen did not say much either, just washed the clothes that Shen Qingcheng had dirtied with blood and handed them to her, saying, “Everyone has their own path. Until it comes to an end, we won’t know which way is good or bad. Don’t worry too much, just walk it.”

There was no consolation or too much concern, but Shen Qingcheng remembered those words for a lifetime.

Even when Shen Qingcheng changed her surname to Ning and became the favored concubine of the palace, she still remembered young master Shen from Tianya Sect.

It was just later when she met someone else – the national teacher who held power over the court.

At first, Shen Qingcheng had no good impression of the National Teacher Nan Jin.

Until one day, Nan Jin lay on the bed, looking at her as she took off one piece of clothing after another.

She admired the scenery in front of her, but didn’t smile with any desire, and whispered to Shen Qingcheng, “We are the same kind of people.”

Shen Qingcheng did a lot for Nan Jin.

It was because of that one false lie, which was pleasant enough to make her like her.

Unlike young master Shen, who was like the bright moon, admired by the world, Nan Jin was as humble as her, rolling in the dust.

When Shen Qingcheng looked at Nan Jin, she saw herself.

She was willing to help Nan Jin achieve her ambition, but also to achieve her own.

Nan Jin killed the former emperor, and Shen Qingcheng didn’t care.

Nan Jin destroyed Shen’s Manor, and she didn’t care either.

She just heard that Shen Lang and Shen Lan had fled in defeat while Shen San(Shen Ronglian) guarded the manor alone with her sword.

Shen Qingcheng suddenly felt that she might have made a mistake.

She picked up the seriously injured and dying Shen Ronglian behind Nan Jin’s back.

When she saw the other person’s face, the beads in her hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

She wouldn’t make a mistake about this face because the person lying on the bed, dying, was young master Shen, who was even more beautiful than spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

It was like the breeze blowing in her face when she wandered by the stone bridge in her dreams, and the bright moon hanging high in the sky.

After learning the truth of the past, Shen Qingcheng did something that no one expected.

She took out the precious Kunlun drunk and gave it to Shen Ronglian to drink. 

After all, Shen Qingcheng knew that Nan Jin was not a kind person. 

The simple principle of uprooting weeds and destroying roots had been practiced by her for many years.

If Shen Ronglian had not forgotten the past, how could she have survived under Nan Jin’s hands? 

Shen Qingcheng reached out her hand and gently stroked Shen Ronglian’s black hair, as if treating a fragile treasure. 

If not for this, how could this person forget the deep-seated hatred and the humiliating and miserable self of the past?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Translator’s note: Do you remember that Shen Lang gave his name to his sister, Sheng Ronglian? So, perhaps she thinks that “Shen Lang” is actually Shen Lang himself. However, it is actually Shen Ronglian, disguised as a man, who is using her brother’s name to enter the Tianya Sect. Therefore, Shen Qingcheng is shocked when she sees Shen Ronglian’s face.

Yeah, I’m confused so if I’m wrong correct me, so I can edit it, and so on.

TO BE CONTINUE…