After Transmigrating, the Female Lead Went Dark (GL) - Chapter 27

Once the hot water was ready, Xiao Xinyue gently undid Zhou Zhuying’s clothes, wiped the sweat from her body, and then wiped her body down again.

Throughout this process, Zhou Zhuying did not wake up at all. Xiao Xinyue gazed at her, her fingertips gently smoothing the strands of hair on her forehead that were damp with sweat, seemingly tending to a fragile piece of porcelain with great care.

After tucking her into the blankets, Xiao Xinyue’s gaze swept over the Sect Leader’s pale lips. Thinking of the Sect Leader’s physical condition, her eyes darkened slightly. A moment later, she got up to bathe and change.

Zhou Zhuying was deeply asleep. She couldn’t tell if she had passed out or if the subsequent easing of the pain allowed her to fall into a deep slumber.

She suspected it was the former, because in her semi-conscious state, she felt like her head was about to explode. Countless strange images and sounds flooded her brain, giving her no chance to sort them out.

It was as if she had accidentally stumbled into a chaotic, yelling scene, with countless people screaming at each other in her ear. She wanted to escape but couldn’t, and the clamor almost drove her to a mental breakdown.

Suddenly, the strange images faded, and a pale-faced, sinister-looking man raised his hand and slapped her across the face.

Zhou Zhuying was stunned. She stared blankly at the man who hit her, but her reaction only enraged him. He shouted fiercely, “Everything you have today was given by me! Your True Qi, your martial power, were passed on by me! Your life was saved by me, and you were raised by me… Everything, including you, belongs to me! Without my permission, how dare you, how dare you give it to someone else?!”

The man flew into a rage, pushing his palm toward a nearby chair, which immediately exploded into pieces from a distance.

Zhou Zhuying instinctively recoiled. The man stared at her, his red eyes looking poisonous, so venomous it felt like a snake was crawling on her spine.

At that moment, Zhou Zhuying heard herself laugh softly. “So, I should thank you for killing my parents, slaughtering the village, and then pretending to save me, should I?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the man suddenly appeared in front of her and violently clutched her throat. He looked incredulous and furious at having his lie exposed. “What are you talking about? How do you know that? Who told you!”

Zhou Zhuying couldn’t breathe, and her whole body ached as if she’d been run over by a carriage. Liquid uncontrollably poured from her mouth. Bright red blood overflowed from the corners of her lips and dripped onto the man’s hand.

The man let go as if stung. Zhou Zhuying fell weakly to the ground, gasping for air. However, her movement seemed to open a floodgate, and more blood spewed out.

She gave a dry laugh and said, “You only targeted me because I had rare bones suitable for cultivating the Black Glazed Moon Devouring Technique. To make me trust you, and to ensure I had no attachments, you killed my whole family and slaughtered the village while I was out, fabricating a scenario where you saved me. This forced me to rely on you, depend on you, and trust you. Then you only had to wait for me to master the Black Glazed Moon Devouring Technique, and then you would—”

“Silence!” The man struck out with his palm.

“Help!” Zhou Zhuying shuddered in terror and woke up completely.

Outside the red silk curtain, the red candle was only a finger joint long, not yet burned out. The candlelight flickered, seeming to respond to the howling wind outside.

Zhou Zhuying was still shaken. The dream was so real, and the pain in her body felt genuinely experienced, no less severe than the level of her menstrual pain.

Just then, an arm was draped over her side. She was gently pulled into a warm embrace.

“Sect Leader, did you have a nightmare again?” Xiao Xinyue asked close to her ear.

Zhou Zhuying froze for a moment. Her mind quickly pieced together what was happening, and the anxiety caused by the nightmare suddenly subsided.

Leaning her back against Xiao Xinyue’s embrace, she said, “Mmm. This time, I dreamt of a very terrifying man.”

Though she called it a dream, she knew this was likely the original owner’s delayed memory surfacing.

Xiao Xinyue frowned. “A man? What did he look like?”

“About twenty-seven or twenty-eight, pale-faced, like a person suffering from consumption. His eyes were red, like a ghost… Is that what they call a consumption ghost?” As she spoke, she managed a nervous laugh.

Xiao Xinyue, however, did not smile. Her arm tightened, and she asked, “What did he do to you?”

“He hit me!” The Sect Leader felt a surge of anger in her chest at the thought. “He dared to hit me! Saintess sister, if you enter my dream again, you must help me beat up that consumption ghost!”

Xiao Xinyue was silent for a moment, then did not continue to ask about the “consumption ghost.” Instead, she asked, “How is that? From what the Sect Leader says, have I entered your dream before? What did you dream of me doing?”

The Sect Leader immediately felt guilty.

She couldn’t exactly say she dreamt of sleeping with her.

Besides, the female lead in the dream was too passionate and seductive, inconsistent with her real-life dignified and aloof persona. If the female lead knew she was objectifying her like that in a dream, she would definitely be killed.

“I, I dreamt Saintess sister… gave me a lot of money to spend, and lots of delicious food. I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I didn’t know what to do.” Zhou Zhuying lied casually.

Xiao Xinyue heard the falsehood in her words and knew she was lying, but she didn’t probe further. Instead, she said, “Dreams are often the opposite of reality.”

Zhou Zhuying: “… So Saintess sister doesn’t plan to give me money to spend?”

“Nothing comes for free. If the Sect Leader wants me to give you money to spend, you must put in the labor.”

Zhou Zhuying squirmed and turned around, still snuggled against Xiao Xinyue. She blinked. “Selling myself works, doesn’t it?”

Xiao Xinyue was lying on her side, her back to the candlelight. The light only reached her ear, and her face was in shadow. But at Zhou Zhuying’s question, she smiled, like a night-blooming cereus in full bloom, so beautiful it made Zhou Zhuying’s heart pound.

“Yes,” Xiao Xinyue said, propping up her upper body and pinning Zhou Zhuying beneath her. Then, she captured the lips that had regained a little color.

Zhou Zhuying’s eyes widened, but her mind drifted elsewhere.

Wait, my lower abdomen doesn’t hurt anymore, does it? But why does it feel clean and comfortable, without any sign of my period starting?

If Aunt Flo isn’t coming, is it okay to engage in some bedroom activities?

Xiao Xinyue stared at her, her gaze deep and meaningful. “Sect Leader, you’re not paying attention.”

“Huh?” The Sect Leader thought for a moment and said, “Saintess sister, can we do this another day? I feel sweaty and dirty all over. To leave each other with a beautiful memory of our first night activity, we should choose a day that combines the right timing, location, and people…”

“Mmm, the Sect Leader is right,” Xiao Xinyue agreed. Seeing that Zhou Zhuying’s complexion was much better, she followed her lead and lay back down. “However, I already wiped away the sweat on your body and changed your clothes.”

Zhou Zhuying: “?!”

She pulled at the inner shirt she was wearing. It had indeed been changed.

Realizing that Xiao Xinyue had seen her naked and even touched her, a wave of heat rushed to her head. Her entire face turned as red as a freshly cooked shrimp ball.

The female lead truly is ruthless and a woman of few words. If she can act, she won’t hesitate. No room for discussion—she just goes for it!

Zhou Zhuying covered her face, thoroughly annoyed. Damn it, why didn’t the female lead do this while I was awake? I didn’t feel anything! Such a loss!

Xiao Xinyue was amused. “Is the Sect Leader shy?”

“No!” the Sect Leader said, trying to sound fierce despite her lack of courage.

Xiao Xinyue gently rubbed her flushed ear, saying suggestively, “Then does the Sect Leader feel short-changed?”

The Sect Leader’s ears felt a pleasant, itchy sensation, and she couldn’t help but squint her eyes.

Xiao Xinyue thought she looked like a cute cat right now. She freed a hand and rubbed her lower abdomen. “Does the Sect Leader’s abdomen still hurt?”

“Not much anymore.” But there was definitely residual pain. The previous bout of agony had truly taken half her life.

Thinking of this, she pushed her luck, immediately hugging Xiao Xinyue’s waist and whining affectionately. “Saintess sister, I was so badly hurt; my vitality is greatly diminished. I need to be properly nourished.”

“The Sect Leader has a point. However, the expenses must come from the Sect Leader’s private funds.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“Has the Sect Leader forgotten the profits from the sewing machine?”

The Sect Leader: “…”

Even trying to scam me out of that small amount of money? The female lead is truly a Scrooge!

The fuss significantly reduced her fear of the nightmare. Sleepiness washed over her, and she quickly drifted off again. Xiao Xinyue no longer teased her, letting her sleep peacefully.

The red candle burned out, and everything fell silent.

At dawn, Xiao Xinyue woke up. Seeing that Zhou Zhuying was still asleep, she reached out and touched her forehead. It wasn’t hot, she had no symptoms of illness, and her period hadn’t even started.

“The problem indeed doesn’t stem from her period,” Xiao Xinyue thought.

She sighed lightly, got up, and washed herself.

Zhou Zhuying slept until noon. When she woke up, her whole body was sore, and her neck felt stiff, as if she had slept in an awkward position. She simply rolled up in the quilt and pretended to be dead.

Xiao Xinyue came in from outside, pulled back the bed curtains, and saw she was awake. Her lips curved slightly. “Did the Sect Leader wake up because she was hungry?”

Before she even finished, Zhou Zhuying’s stomach rumbled.

“I’m hungry.”

“Then get up.”

Zhou Zhuying groggily spread her arms wide. “I need a kiss from Saintess sister before I can get up.”

Xiao Xinyue: “…”

She only hesitated for a moment before leaning down and kissing Zhou Zhuying. The latter immediately became wide awake. “!!!”

“Wait, Saintess sister! I need to go wash up first.”

She quickly got out of bed and washed up, then looked at Xiao Xinyue with great anticipation. Xiao Xinyue had brought her breakfast while she was washing. Seeing her expectant look, she couldn’t help but flick her forehead and say, “If you don’t eat it while it’s hot, it will get cold. Your body shouldn’t eat cold things.”

“My body is too weak,” Zhou Zhuying said.

She wasn’t pretending. Xiao Xinyue saw her floating steps and knew she was telling the truth. So, she scooped her up again, placed her back on the bed, tucked her in, brought the breakfast to the bedside, and spooned the hot porridge to feed her.

Zhou Zhuying, with all her limbs intact, felt a little embarrassed by such preferential treatment. At the same time, she couldn’t help but recall her first encounter with the female lead.

She realized she could barely remember the female lead’s cold demeanor. Since being brought back to the Moshan Sect, although she had been imprisoned and subjected to the female lead’s coldness, her treatment had improved day by day. The female lead had become increasingly attentive and caring toward her—though most of it was obtained through her own persistent and shameless flirting.

If she hadn’t recalled the original owner’s memory, she could continue to convince herself that she wasn’t the original owner, not the wicked Demon Sect Leader, and not the culprit behind the female lead’s family massacre.

But knowing that she was the real Demon Sect Leader, she felt she had deceived the female lead. The female lead must believe I am not the real Demon Sect Leader, which is why she tolerates me so much and treats me with such care. She felt she didn’t deserve the female lead’s kindness.

“Saintess sister, you don’t have to be so good to me,” Zhou Zhuying looked at Xiao Xinyue, her nose inexplicably stinging with emotion.

Xiao Xinyue paused. “Am I good to you?”

“The way Saintess sister treats me is clear as a mirror to my heart! Since I came here, Saintess sister has been the only one who has shown me kindness.”

Xiao Xinyue raised an eyebrow, deliberately saying something that would poke at her. “You possess something I want. Naturally, I treat you well.”

To her surprise, the Sect Leader’s indignation wasn’t about that at all. She asked, “Ah? Besides me as a person, what else is worth Saintess sister’s attention? Could it be that what Saintess sister wants is me as a person? I know! Saintess sister desires my body!”

Xiao Xinyue: “…”

She expressionlessly shoved the spoon into her mouth. “Drink your porridge. You’ll take your medicine when you’re done.”

“What medicine?”

“A decoction of Motherwort.”

Zhou Zhuying didn’t want to experience a second bout of menstrual cramps, so she obediently kept quiet and didn’t complain about the bitter Chinese medicine.

After finishing her breakfast and medicine, she remembered something. “Shouldn’t I go pay my respects to our Master with tea?”

She was quick to adopt the identity of the Moshan Sect’s daughter-in-law, the Saintess’s Wife, or “Saintess Madam,” and even smoothly referred to Ling Guqing as “our Master.”

Xiao Xinyue recalled the words her Master spoke when she saw her this morning and said, “No need. Master prefers not to be disturbed in her cultivation and said the Moshan Sect has no such complicated rituals. She won’t summon you to set any rules, so those customs of wealthy families can be skipped.”

Zhou Zhuying breathed a sigh of relief. She was still terrified by Ling Guqing’s intimidating test and didn’t want to deal with any mother-in-law issues. The less interaction, the better.

As they were talking, a female disciple reported from outside, “Saintess, the Demon—the Qianyue Sect’s Left Protector is outside and wishes to see the Saintess’s Wife.”

Zhou Zhuying rejected the request without thinking. “I won’t see him.”

Xiao Xinyue took the tableware outside to the female disciple and instructed, “Tell him the Madam is too tired and ask him to come back tomorrow.”

The female disciple turned crimson, clearly imagining something. She retreated and relayed the message to You Ronglin, who was instantly furious. “What did your Saintess do to our Sect Leader?!”

The female disciple rolled her eyes at him. “It was their wedding night, the night of the bridal chamber. What do you think the Saintess and the Saintess’s Wife would be doing?”

You Ronglin choked. His mind stalled for a moment before he understood. His face flushed slightly with embarrassment. “Then I will come back tomorrow. If you see your Saintess, tell her… to go easy tonight. I don’t want to be unable to see our Sect Leader tomorrow either.”

The female disciple: “…”

Good heavens! I’m an unmarried maiden! Discussing such things with that smelly man from the Demon Sect is embarrassing!

“Understood! Just leave already!”

You Ronglin returned to the courtyard where the Qianyue Sect disciples were lodged. A group gathered around him. “Well, what did the Sect Leader say about our next course of action?”

“I tried to find out where our sect members are being held, but the Moshan Sect people are truly vigilant and tight-lipped. I couldn’t find an opportunity!”

“But Left Protector, why did you come back so quickly?”

After listening to their barrage of questions, You Ronglin straightened his face. “I didn’t see the Sect Leader.”

“What?! Did they imprison the Sect Leader? Move aside! I’m going to rescue her!”

You Ronglin stopped them. “No, the Sect Leader is… ahem, she indulged in excessive passion and cannot get out of bed right now.”

Everyone: “…”

Someone muttered, “The Sect Leader truly lives up to her name. She’s uninhibited and acts on impulse, even in bed.”

Someone else said indignantly, “But why is our Sect Leader the one being tormented? That Saintess is taking advantage of her! We’ve been utterly cheated!”

“Alas, who told our Sect Leader she was inexperienced!”

“With the Sect Leader’s background—founding the Qianyue Sect and traveling the martial arts world since she was eight—she’s inexperienced?!”

“I meant inexperienced in that area! Think about it, the Sect Leader knew nothing of passion when she was young. Later, she focused solely on cultivation and sect affairs, and she’s been in seclusion for the past four years. She has no experience in matters of the bedroom! She’s like a blank slate! She can only be manipulated by that cunning Saintess on the bed!”

Everyone agreed with this sentiment. You Ronglin said, “This won’t do! How can the Sect Leader of our Qianyue Sect be subjugated like this? Quickly find all the pictures, books, and pamphlets you’ve been reading and give them to the Sect Leader! Let her study up so she can flip the script and dominate the Moshan Saintess!”

“But the ones we read are all about a man and a woman, the union of Yin and Yang. They’re not suitable for the Sect Leader and the Moshan Saintess.”

“So, you’re just going to let our Sect Leader be bullied?”

Everyone widened their eyes. You Ronglin said, “Let’s go! Let’s scour every bookstore outside! We’re bound to find something suitable!”

The group stormed out in a rush. The Moshan Sect disciples were startled, thinking they were about to cause trouble, and quickly rushed to notify Xiao Xinyue.

Xiao Xinyue hurried over, just as You Ronglin and his group were being stopped from leaving and were about to clash with the Moshan Sect disciples.

“Stop fighting!”

“Saintess, you finally arrived!” The Moshan Sect disciples felt reassured and were full of confidence.

“What is the meaning of this? Is imprisoning our Sect Leader not enough? Do you intend to imprison us too?” You Ronglin demanded.

Xiao Xinyue said, “Since my wife and I are married, she is half a Young Master of the Moshan Sect. How could the Moshan Sect imprison her? As for you all, we have no intention of keeping you captive. However, since you are suddenly leaving, I would like to know if the Moshan Sect’s hospitality was somehow lacking?”

You Ronglin said, “That’s not it. We just want to go out and buy something.”

“Since you are guests here at the Moshan Sect, you need only ask for what you need. Why must you go buy it yourselves?”

You Ronglin looked at her sideways. As members of the Demon Sect, with their unconventional behavior and unique values, they had no shame in stating their request directly. “That would be great. You are the host and familiar with your territory. I believe you know where to find what we need. We would like you to find us some books and pamphlets about the union between women.”

Xiao Xinyue: “…”

Moshan Sect Disciples: “???”

What? What did they just hear?

A group of grown men asking for explicit drawings of two women together?

Perverts!

They quickly realized: The Qianyue Sect is the Demon Sect, devoid of basic propriety and morality! We can’t use normal thinking to understand the behavior of Demon Sect members!

One disciple thickened his skin and asked, “Shouldn’t you… look for books about the union between two men or a man and a woman? Why two women?”

“This is all for our Sect Leader! Alas, you men wouldn’t understand! Will you buy it or not? If you won’t, then don’t stop us from going to buy it ourselves!”

The disciples: “…”

As if you all aren’t men!

Xiao Xinyue finally understood what the Demon Sect members were planning.

She rubbed her forehead and said, “This is a matter within my wife’s and my private chambers. Even if you are her subordinates, you cannot extend your reach into our bedroom!”

“Hmph! You took advantage of our Sect Leader’s inexperience in that area, bullying her so badly that she can’t get out of bed! We won’t stand for it!”

The Moshan Sect disciples’ eyes widened: Explosive!

Xiao Xinyue: “…”

To prevent these people from saying more vulgar and offensive things, she quickly assigned a disciple. “You go buy it.”

The disciple was stunned for a moment, then inwardly pleased. How exciting! Buying explicit books openly! Maybe I can sneak a few glances!

“Yes!”

“Are you all satisfied now?” Xiao Xinyue asked You Ronglin.

The Demon Sect members were satisfied, but the Moshan Sect disciples were still processing the shocking news they had just heard.

After You Ronglin and his group left, Xiao Xinyue faced the disciples’ gossiping stares alone. She said sternly, “Is there anything else?”

“No!” The disciples immediately scattered like frightened birds under her icy gaze.

Xiao Xinyue had a headache. It goes without saying how exaggerated the rumors will be after today!

However, this way, the Demon Sect remnants will likely be fully convinced of the peace talks, and bringing them under control might be smoother.