Chapter 122: "Trust Me, Your Man Isn’t That Useless.
Chapter 122: Chapter 122: "Trust Me, Your Man Isn’t That Useless.
Xie Jinbai’s gaze remained fixed on her. Seeing her obediently drinking water, a faint gentleness bloomed in the depths of his eyes.
He leaned over and ruffled the top of her head, asking her softly, "How are your mother’s funeral arrangements going? Did the Pei family give you any trouble?"
"No," Cui Lingyao said. "The Pei family knows about my engagement to Shen Tingyu. They’re all incredibly attentive to me, so they wouldn’t cause any trouble."
His spies in the shadows had already reported all of this to him in great detail.
Finding some comfort from her, Xie Jinbai, for once, didn’t explode at the mention of Shen Tingyu’s name.
He took the empty cup from her, smiled, and asked again, "Then what is your impression of the Pei Family? They’ll be your mother’s clan in the future. If you’re willing, I can..."
"There’s no need,"
Sensing that he wanted to elevate the Pei Family, Cui Lingyao cut him off. "The Pei Family is not my mother’s clan. When you and I marry in the future, it will have nothing to do with them. At most, we can guarantee their family won’t fall for three generations. Any other honors or favors are unnecessary."
He was the future Emperor.
And that would make her the Empress.
If the Empress’s maternal clan were truly elevated, they would become a Duke at the very least.
It wasn’t that Cui Lingyao was being stingy. It was just that, from what she had observed these past few days, the character of the Pei Family, from top to bottom, was simply not worthy of such a high position.
If they were rashly pushed into the ranks of the nobility, the overwhelming wealth and power would only bring them ruin.
It was better for them to continue hiding away in Pingzhou, living their comfortable lives as wealthy country squires.
At this, Xie Jinbai said no more.
He turned to put down the teacup.
This Prince, who had been pampered and raised in the lap of luxury since birth, was surprisingly deft at performing menial tasks like serving tea for her.
It had been the same in the past. Even with that cold, emotionless face of his, he had always been able to take care of her down to the smallest detail.
He’d even used his Inner Strength to peel walnuts for her on more than a few occasions.
And in bed, he was even more willing to cast aside his pride...
Cui Lingyao pushed the messy thoughts from her mind. Staring at his back, she said, "You came today. Does that mean you’ve finished dealing with those matters?"
Xie Jinbai grunted in affirmation, returned to the bedside, and sat down. In one fluid motion, without the slightest pause, he reached out and pulled her into his arms.
Only after he had her back in his embrace did he have the patience to explain everything in detail.
"A lot of people made a move this time. It took me a while to clean them up. There are still a few small fry on the run, and as it happens, they’ve fled to Pingzhou."
That’s why the city was sealed.
Cui Lingyao clutched his sleeve and looked up from his embrace. "Were the Qiang people really involved?"
She had thought it was just a struggle for the throne back in the Capital City, with a few officials who had chosen sides early on at most.
’How could foreign powers get involved?’
Xie Jinbai snorted. "I offed the Qiang Clan’s High Priest two years ago. For the past two years, they’ve been scrambling to get revenge on me. As it happens, the Empress also hates my guts. Since they’re both desperate to kill me, they’ve become partners with a common interest and teamed up."
’Colluding with a foreign power.’
’Logically speaking, even if members of the Royal Family fought to the death amongst themselves, they should never bargain with a tiger.’
But the Empress was afflicted with Frost Kiss, and he had destroyed every last bit of the antidote.
She had been tormented on her sickbed for three long years.
How could she possibly have any of her former composure left? She was consumed with a single-minded desire to see him dead and avenge these three years of suffering.
As for whether his three Imperial Brothers had a hand in it?
Xie Jinbai didn’t care.
’In the end, the result is the same.’
He spoke of his situation—being surrounded by enemies on all sides—with such nonchalance, exuding the calm confidence of a master strategist who had everything under control.
He had an air of utter composure, as if the sky itself could fall without bothering him.
Cui Lingyao’s heart pounded. She still found it perilous.
’It’s as if the glint of countless blades and the shadows of swords are tangible things, swirling all around us.’
Her brow was tightly furrowed. "Don’t underestimate your enemies."
"Alright," Xie Jinbai said softly, lowering his head to press his forehead against hers. "You can rest easy. They’re just a pack of stray dogs. They can’t stir up any real trouble."
Although it felt good to be cared for by her, he couldn’t bear to see her worry.
Xie Jinbai chuckled and coaxed her in a low voice, "Trust me. Your man isn’t that useless."
As he spoke, he couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her again.
"..." Cui Lingyao let him peck kisses on her face, not saying a word.
’It was true. Countless precedents had already proven it.’
’His arrogant confidence was well-founded.’
’The historical Emperor Qianyuan, who had intimidated foreign invaders for so many years, was by no means an empty title.’
While he lived, the foreign tribes reined in their ambitions and prostrated themselves in submission.
The moment he died, the foreign tribes’ iron cavalry smashed through the border passes and ravaged the Great Yue.
This dynasty was not from the history of Cui Lingyao’s own world.
She had learned all of the above from the system.
According to the system, not long after Xie Jinbai’s death, this world’s history was plunged into a century of great chaos.
During this chaos, the civilized and prosperous Yue Dynasty became a vast stretch of scorched earth littered with bleached bones. The Yue People were treated as less than livestock, casually cooked and consumed by the foreign tribes.
In the end, not even one in ten survived, and civilization itself collapsed and fractured.
Even the most inhuman vision of hell could not be worse than this.
To motivate her to work harder on her mission, the system would even provide accompanying pictures from time to time as it explained these things.
The combination of images and text was vivid and deeply immersive.
Even though Cui Lingyao at the time had been focused solely on saving her own brother, she had still felt sickened upon seeing those gory images.
She truly did want to change the course of this world’s history and prevent that hell from recurring.
Thinking of those disturbing images, Cui Lingyao’s brow furrowed, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Do the Qiang Clan and the Ba Clan really have a habit of cannibalism, as the books say?"
Xie Jinbai’s lips had just landed on the corner of her mouth and were about to deepen the kiss. He paused at her question and gave a muffled grunt of affirmation. "It’s not just the Qiang and Ba Clans. The other Barbarians are the same. Aside from the nobility, the common people are all uncivilized savages."
On one side of the city gates are the foreign tribes who eat raw flesh and drink blood.
On the other side are the Yue People, who have undergone years of education and possess a deep sense of morality and honor.
Over these years, Xie Jinbai had fought far and wide, seeing tens of thousands of foreigners. Seeing her curiosity, he said seriously, "You must not think of the uncivilized Barbarians as our kind. They have not been educated. They are like beasts of the forest—bloodthirsty by nature, with no concept of good and evil."
’What’s a little cannibalism to them?’
A cold light glinted in Xie Jinbai’s eyes. "Do you know why, after a battle is over, the most important thing to recover from the battlefield isn’t the armor or the weapons, but the bodies of our soldiers?"
Cui Lingyao’s scalp tingled with horror as she listened.
Her hand gripping his sleeve tightened and tightened again, her knuckles turning white.
"Don’t be afraid. These are not things you should have to face," Xie Jinbai said, patting her shoulder. He sounded amused. "You’re so timid. Why would you be curious about such things?"
’A little lady coddled in her chambers like you should be soaking in a honey pot, carefree. No matter how great the crisis, I’ll shield you from it.’
’It will never reach you.’
"..." Cui Lingyao held back for a moment, but couldn’t stop herself from saying, "You have to try your best to hold those foreign tribes back. Don’t let them break through."
Xie Jinbai was taken aback. He lowered his gaze to stare at her for a moment, then smiled. "You have that much faith in me?"
Cui Lingyao nodded. "On this matter, you’re the only one I trust."