I am the villain in the book

Regarding how to deal with Chu An, Wei Changtian thought about it all night yesterday and realized he only had three options.

First, release him.

Second, kill him.

Third, seize his fortune.

Since Chu An didn't have much of a relationship with him, Wei Changtian ultimately rejected the first option.

This also meant that he was determined to obtain the 1500 system points and Chu An's fortune beast.

However, wanting to "seize treasure" didn't necessarily mean having to "kill someone."

Wei Changtian could also just plunder Chu An's fortune.

And the only two known ways to plunder fortune were:

The first method was the same as plundering the fortunes of Ning Yongnian, Shen Ran, and others, which required "taking away" what they valued most.

For example, Ning Yongnian undoubtedly sought the world and its power, so each time he thwarted Ning Yongnian's plans, he could seize a portion of his fortune.

Shen Ran was walking the path of literature, and Wei Changtian's nine masterpieces at the Spring Dragon Poetry Conference greatly damaged his literary heart, so he also seized a portion of his fortune.

Through this method, Wei Changtian could also plunder all of Chu An's fortune without killing him.

But the problem was that Wei Changtian didn't know what Chu An valued most.

Qin He?

Possibly.

Perhaps killing Qin He would allow him to plunder a portion of Chu An's fortune.

But this was undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse, and it was just his guess, not necessarily true.

Fortunately, there was another, simpler "plundering method."

That was to directly kill Chu An's fortune beast.

Previously in Fengyuan, Wei Changtian had injured Gu Diao with the Tiaoyue Sword, and he immediately plundered a portion of Bai Youheng's fortune, earning several hundred system points.

From this, it seemed that killing the fortune beast was also a way to plunder fortune.

At first glance, this method seemed quite suitable for Wei Changtian's current situation.

He could both seize the divine beast, earn points, and not harm Chu An's life.

After all, compared to 1500 system points and a fortune beast, the harm of using the Tiaoyue Sword again was probably insignificant.

But right now, he had another option.

Which was actually his initial plan –

To kill him directly.

After several hesitations and struggles, Wei Changtian finally made this decision with a heavy heart.

And perhaps because he felt guilty, he didn't directly kill Chu An, but instead had Zhang San put on a show of "saving someone" so that the former could go back and see Qin He one last time.

To be honest, whether for Qin He or Chu An, it might have been better if they hadn't met.

After all, this kind of torment from great joy to great sorrow, from hope to despair, was undoubtedly extremely cruel.

But Wei Changtian still did it.

He himself didn't quite understand why he did this, he could only say that perhaps this way he could feel a little more at ease.

In his previous life, there was a professional term for this kind of psychology, called the "compensation effect."

In a ball game, when the referee makes a wrong call, his subsequent calls tend to favor the side that was harmed by the wrong call.

In an unfinished relationship, when one party commits an act of infidelity, his or her attitude towards the other party suddenly becomes gentle and considerate.

These are all examples of the "compensation effect," and they are all similar to Wei Changtian's current psychology.

And this also meant that no matter what decision Wei Changtian made now, he still subconsciously believed that what he was doing was wrong.

Knowing it was wrong, but still doing it.

When interests and right and wrong conflict, everyone's choices may be different.

And this may be the complexity of human nature.

You Shi (5-7 PM), Zhuwu Inn.

From dawn to dusk, Qin He had been sitting in the front hall for a whole day.

She hadn't eaten anything all day, only drank a few sips of water.

The shop assistants, seeing her like this, had repeatedly tried to persuade her.

But each time, Qin He would just shake her head and softly say the same thing.

"I'm not hungry."

“.”

In this way, after several unsuccessful attempts to persuade her, the shop assistants gave up, only taking away the food in front of her every so often, taking it to the back kitchen to heat it up, and then bringing it back.

In one day, these few dishes of green vegetables and a bowl of white porridge had been heated back and forth countless times.

But Qin He never looked at them, staring at the open courtyard door in the distance at all times.

She watched the endless stream of pedestrians on the street outside the courtyard, watching the vendors carrying goods, the children running around, and the peasant women carrying bamboo baskets, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

Then, a familiar carriage slowly stopped at the courtyard door.

Standing up abruptly, Qin He recognized that it was Wei Changtian's carriage.

She subconsciously wanted to run over, but after hesitating for a moment, she stopped.

Qin He was afraid that asking too many questions would make Wei Changtian impatient, so she endured the worry in her heart and stood there at a loss.

But the next moment, when she saw the man walking down from the carriage –

“Chu, Chu An.”

Gasping for breath, her eyes widened, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

Qin He muttered in disbelief, then ran towards the courtyard door regardless of everything.

"Thump!"

Not noticing the threshold under her feet, she fell awkwardly on the bluestone road, and blood oozed from her palm.

But Qin He didn't care about these things, she just struggled to get up, and with disheveled hair, continued to run towards the man.

At this moment, the man was also running towards her.

“Chu An!!”

“Qin'er!!”

In two calls full of joy and excitement, two figures finally embraced tightly on the bamboo-lined path, the afterglow of the setting sun golden and gentle.

Although less than a day had passed since last night's "farewell," this day felt like ten years, and they both had countless things they wanted to tell each other.

However, Qin He and Chu An didn't say much, and after trembling and hugging each other for a moment, they turned around together and knelt in front of Wei Changtian, who had approached.

“Thank you, Young Master!”

“Wuwuwu, thank, thank you, Young Master!”

“We will never forget your life-saving grace!”

“Wuwuwuwu.”

Qin He with a face full of tears, Chu An with an extremely sincere expression.

The two of them knelt in front of Wei Changtian like this, kowtowing heavily, one after another, not even caring that their foreheads were already red.

It could be seen that their gratitude to Wei Changtian could not be more genuine.

As for Wei Changtian...

“Young Master Chu, Miss Qin, please rise quickly.”

“I was just doing it casually, you don’t have to be like this.”

His expression was calm, and he said some polite words.

Wei Changtian's reaction was not wrong, but he inadvertently turned his body slightly, seemingly intentionally avoiding the direction of the two people's kowtowing.