Chapter 111: Became a Family Man
Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Became a Family Man
He stared at her for a moment, then suddenly said, "To be fair, Shen Tingyu is handsome and talented enough. He also has that gentle temperament girls adore. You’ve spent all this time with him—have you developed any feelings?"
"..." Cui Lingyao fell silent. Her tone was complicated as she said, "If I said I have, would you let us be?"
’Let them be.’
Xie Jinbai’s eyes turned cold. "In your dreams!"
’Tsk...’
"Since you’re not giving me any other choice, why do you even care?" Cui Lingyao said irritably. "You’re all-powerful, anyway. Who could possibly defy you?"
"It’s not the same."
’Her feelings were something he couldn’t obtain no matter how hard he schemed. How could he not care?’
’Even though he’d resolved not to let her go, regardless of whether she’d fallen for someone else...’
’He still couldn’t bring himself not to care.’
Xie Jinbai tightened his arms, holding her closer as he murmured, "In any case, we will resolve our own issues. Just don’t fall for anyone else."
’Not Shen Tingyu. Not anyone else.’
’He wouldn’t allow it.’
’He’s losing his mind again. This conversation will never end if I let it continue.’ Cui Lingyao closed her eyes, too lazy to engage with him any further.
The tent fell silent once again.
The two held each other in a tight embrace, as if savoring this rare moment of warmth.
Outside, the raging storm slowly began to subside. The patter of rain on the tent’s roof grew faint, and the clamor from the servants and guards also died down.
A moment later, the sound of footsteps stopped outside the tent flap.
"Your Highness," Liu Yue’s voice came through. "The Shen Family’s tents have all been set up."
Cui Lingyao froze and hurriedly tried to get up to return to her tent, but an arm clamped tightly around her waist.
"Have you forgotten? Your bedding is soaked. What would you sleep under if you went back now? Just be good and sleep here tonight."
Cui Lingyao resisted. "If anyone finds out..."
Before she could finish, Liu Yue’s voice came again. "Everyone’s been exhausted all night and has gone to rest. As for Miss Pei, Liu Rong has seen to things personally. No one has gone in."
’So, no one will know I’m not in my tent. And since everyone is exhausted after that night, no one will be paying me any mind.’
Xie Jinbai’s brow arched. He gave her soft waist a squeeze and smiled. "Be good. Just rest here tonight. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in days. Let me hold you and sleep for a while."
’He said he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days.’
Only then did Cui Lingyao notice the dark circles under his eyes, and her brow furrowed deeply.
’Didn’t the Imperial Physician say his injuries required plenty of rest?’
’He looks like he’s been on the run.’
’He vanishes for days without explanation and doesn’t even get any sleep.’
’And he just said he’s leaving again tomorrow.’
Cui Lingyao’s mind raced through a dozen different reasons before she finally asked hesitantly, "...Did you run into some kind of trouble?"
Xie Jinbai took this as a sign of her concern and couldn’t resist kissing her again.
His warm lips pressed against her brow as he said softly, "Not really trouble. I just cleaned up some trash."
He had no intention of hiding anything from her and explained methodically, "I’ve been away from the Capital City for too long this time, making it hard to conceal my movements. So I decided to leak the information myself and use this as an opportunity to purge the court and the ’allies’ in my own camp."
The grief of losing his wife had turned him into a walking corpse for three years. He cared about nothing, focused only on finding a master who could summon her soul and bring her back to life. He spent the rest of his time waging wars and slaughtering his enemies.
He rarely returned to the Capital City, much less cared about the court’s political situation. His one act of intervention was to poison the Empress with Frost Kiss, giving her a taste of her own medicine.
With their master acting so unhinged, it was inevitable that the loyalties of his subordinates—generals who hoped to earn the glory of helping a new emperor ascend the throne—would begin to waver.
Xie Jinbai knew this, of course, but he hadn’t even had the inclination to clean house.
In short, he was a man with nothing left to lose. He didn’t care about anything—not betrayal from his subordinates, not even his own death.
But now things were different.
Now, his Yaoyao had returned.
He was a family man once more. Now, not only did he have to live, he had to ascend to the highest seat of power so the girl he held dearest to his heart would never have to bow her head to anyone.
He remembered how she had told him that during her three years as Princess Consort Yu, she had to be cautious with every word and deed whenever she attended a banquet, terrified of making a misstep that would cause trouble for him. The memory filled him with both helplessness and a pang of heartache.
’It was his own lack of power that made his wife feel that way.’
If Cui Lingyao knew that this man before her, a man whose power shook the very foundations of the court, was currently blaming himself for not being capable enough, she probably would have laughed in exasperation.
But she had no Mind Reading Technique.
She could only hear his words. Hearing them now, she looked up in surprise. "Some of your own men betrayed you?"
Xie Jinbai grunted in affirmation. Meeting her astonished gaze, he smiled. "What’s so surprising? In the eyes of the world, I’ve spent the last three years completely demoralized, ready to live or die for a woman, utterly devoid of ambition. I didn’t even return to the Capital City—just a reckless brute shouting about fighting and killing out in the provinces."
"A worthy official chooses a worthy master to serve, just as a fine bird chooses a fine tree to roost in."
"My performance these last three years has hardly been that of a worthy master."
"So it’s only natural for some of my subordinates to change their allegiance."
Cui Lingyao was still shocked. Others didn’t know his future, but she had seen it. She had jumped a thousand years ahead and read of his achievements in the history books, so she couldn’t quite believe...
She frowned. "Which master did they switch to?"
’Who else could possibly compare to him?’
That was what her eyes seemed to be saying.
Xie Jinbai found it amusing. For the first time, he realized this girl seemed to harbor a bit of admiration for him.
’Not the way one admires a husband.’
’But rather...’
Xie Jinbai’s brow furrowed slightly. He pushed the strange speculation from his mind, his knuckles gently kneading the back of her neck. "My three Imperial Brothers have been busy. Then there’s the Empress. Although she’s been afflicted by a powerful poison, the Phoenix Seal is still in her hands. Her power in the Inner Court is considerable."
The moment he administered the Frost Kiss Poison, their superficial mother-son relationship had been completely shattered.
The Empress must now hate this ’son’ of hers to the very bone.
’The three Princes and the Empress have joined forces, and on top of that, there are traitors in his own ranks...’
’One could only imagine how difficult things must be for him.’
’No wonder he’d vanished for days without even having time to leave her a message.’
Cui Lingyao’s expression was grim.
Xie Jinbai said, "Besides a few of my most trusted men, no one knows I left the Capital City to accompany you to Pingzhou. So... until I’ve dealt with these matters, we’ll have to maintain our distance publicly."
"..." Cui Lingyao was rendered speechless.
’He said it as if I was the one who couldn’t bear to be apart from him.’
Then a thought struck her, and she added, "Then why were you so indiscreet outside tonight?"
’Eating her leftovers, holding her hand with your fingers intertwined, and laying everything bare right in front of Shen Tingyu... None of that looked like ’maintaining our distance’.’
’But then, Cui Lingyao recalled that their position by the bonfire was quite clever. No one else could have seen any of his actions.’
’So, he really had done it all on purpose, just to make things clear in front of Shen Tingyu.’
’Because for the next two days, he wouldn’t be able to watch her every second, and he was afraid she’d actually develop feelings for another man.’
’Which meant that during the days he was gone, he must have been imagining all sorts of scenarios of her getting close with Shen Tingyu... He must have been worried sick.’
’No wonder he acted like a madman when he showed up tonight.’