Could it be that I am the cruel villain?

"Master, you shouldn't go over there, please just..."

"Get out of my way!"

He lifted his foot and kicked the servant blocking his path.

Onlookers gathered around, whispering among themselves. Some wore faces of schadenfreude, while others looked mournful. Within just one hour after dawn, the entire Qingshui County was buzzing with significant news.

"Master, Master!"

Seven or eight servants and house servants were pulling at the Master, but in his rage, he merely shrugged them off. His face, already worn from toil, now furrowed with wrinkles, but one could still discern that he was quite handsome in his youth.

He bore a resemblance to Master Xue, about seventy percent similar.

Shoving his way through the crowd roughly, the surrounding onlookers were jostled and about to curse out loud, but upon seeing the the ashen-faced middle-aged man, they clamped their mouths shut, silently cursing to themselves before grudgingly dispersing.

The Xue family, in fact, had a relatively good reputation in Qingshui County over a decade ago, considered a local family business. Apart from developing locally, they reached out to other towns and cities. Although they were a bit arrogant, they were ultimately businessmen, often making things convenient for local people.

But everything changed after the birth of a restless young master.

According to Mr. Xue's nature, he wouldn't have raised his son to be so frivolous. However, Lady Xue died in childbirth and the boy was her only blood relative. Perhaps feeling that he owed his son a lot, he became much more lenient in discipline.

Moreover, Mr. Xue had businesses in other cities and it was his prime time for commerce, so he was often away, leaving the servants unable to control matters at home.

A child is like a blank slate; 'those who are near vermilion get stained red, and those who are near ink get stained black.' Under peer influence, he developed his current character. He even had a house servant beaten to death for forcing him to study.

Even though Mr. Xue knew about this, he could only slap the unfilial scoundrel a few times, but what was the use? The other servants, afraid of trouble, ultimately left him completely unsupervised.

What becomes of a child from a wealthy and influential family who grows up without discipline?

He demonstrated the answer.

At eight, he would fight with peers in school, bullying classmates, retaliating, and behaving arrogantly.

By ten, he began harassing the maids and servants at home, not sparing even married women.

From the age of twelve, he stopped going to school and spent his days with a group of equally ignorant friends. Although Qingshui County was small, it was still a border area with plenty of wealthy people.

Such a gang, even among them, Master Xue was particularly notorious.

Of course, notorious in a derogatory sense.

Such as discussing which family had attractive members, whose daughters were beautiful, or coming up with ideas to torment people, like setting someone's house on fire and watching these commoners kneel and weep bitterly was, to these youngsters, like the tastiest delicacy.

And what punishment could they get?

None at all.

At least in little Qingshui County, the Xue family could still protect him, no matter what he did. First, they used silver, and if silver didn't solve it, his father would handle it.

What if they caught him? As long as he insisted it was the servants' doing, it would be the servants, not him, who ended up in the magistrate's office. At most, he'd be confined for a few days.

Ever since he was little, whenever he did something wrong outside, his father would defend him, saying, "He's still young and ignorant. Why would anyone bother arguing with a child?" and brushed everything under the rug.

With that excuse, Xue Wuwei acted lawlessly, as if he had found an amulet that made him untouchable, pursuing 'thrills' that outraged gods and men alike, even having servants kill people on several occasions.

But knowing his son's problematic character, Mr. Xue started to worry about retaliation. So to protect his son, he thought of another idea.

That meant finding a way to reconnect with relationships from over a decade ago, finding Wang Qi's parents, giving them a sum of Silver, and moving them with emotions and convincing them with reasons to repay the favor.

Thus, Wang Qi protected the young lad closely for three whole years. Of course, he did not know Wang Qi's true intentions in his heart, but it was also because he felt invincible that he became increasingly unscrupulous; fortunately, this hopeless son actually fell in love with the brothel.

Logically, any father who learns that his son frequents the brothel every day should be angry, yet Mr. Xue felt a sense of surprise and even placed no restrictions on the Silver Tael when it came to his son.

It's better to spend days in the brothel than causing havoc by killing and arson outside, right?

Only in recent years did things quiet down a bit, since he was completely absorbed with women. The only outrageous thing he probably did was to have someone kill Jiang Feng in order to snatch the Miss Yan.

Yet, who could have expected that this was the only outrageous thing over the years that would ruin his son's life.

"Wu Wei, Wu Wei..."

Muttering his son's name under his breath, even though he had mentally prepared himself, he still felt weak at the knees when he truly saw the bloated corpse lying in the water.

He almost fainted on the spot.

Pedestrians quickly made way, as anyone with a brain would not provoke him at this time for fear of getting involved; with the soldiers dispersing the crowd, they managed to keep the onlookers dozens of meters away.

In the middle of the spacious street was a damaged carriage and Wang Qi's body, and at the doorway of another house lay Mr. Xue's body.

Wang Qi's chest and abdomen were densely packed with wounds like a beehive, his eyes filled with strong reluctance, dying with eyes open.

While Xue Wuwei was stuck in the motion of hammering a door, his eyes wide open, his expression full of resentment as if waiting for the last drop of blood in his body to dry up, especially the despair in his pupils, it's hard to imagine what he endured before death.

"Wu Wei..."

Stumbling over, his eyes void of focus, he appeared to have aged ten years instantly; the bystander wisely stepped back a few steps.

"Wake up, Wu Wei. Your father, your father is back, I've brought back the Immortal Pill for you…"

"When you were a child, didn't you say you wanted to become an Immortal in the heavens?"

"I asked you why, and you said that once you became an Immortal, you could bring mother back."

"Here… here, Wu Wei, look, your father has fulfilled your wish."

"Wake up, take a look, the Immortal Pill, the Immortal Pill! Was it because father returned too late? Once you have trained properly and are chosen by the Immortal, you will meet the mother you never got to see..."

"Oh Heaven, why are you so unfair! You took Ah Qiao away, why did you also have to take my only flesh and blood!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

The last string in his heart snapped, and he finally fell into madness howling up to the sky, the heart-wrenching sound making any listener weep.

Although everyone felt schadenfreude towards the death of Mr. Xue, when they saw the proud and fierce Mr. Xue kneeling on the ground like a child, embracing his son's corpse and wailing bitterly, no one present could laugh.

They silently left.

But nobody noticed that among the crowd, a young man with groggy eyes crossed the street from both sides, even carrying a hint of rouge scent.

When he saw the miserable state of Mr. Xue, he just sneered.

"You planted the seeds of evil with your own hands, and now it takes root and sprouts in your bosom."

"Blaming Heaven and Earth, why not blame yourself?"