Chapter 76, Jade Book, you can't give me any more...

“Your mother really spoils you.” Meng Jing waved for everyone to leave, leaving only Xie Jianing behind. He said to her with almost disappointment, “I thought you were just feeling uneasy and throwing a childish tantrum because you had just come home, and that you would be fine after a while. I didn’t expect you to still be acting stupid today.”

Xie Jianing had never been reprimanded by her aunt like this before. She felt both wronged and angry: "Am I stupid? Aunt has been used by Xie Yushu all along, yet you still favor her. Before, she flattered you to use you and the Meng family to raise her own status. Now that she has been made a princess and attracted the emperor's favor, she doesn't want to enter the palace and is trying to use Aunt to get out of trouble. Aunt has been used as a pawn!"

"So why did you come all this way to tell me this?" Meng Jing asked her as he sat down on the side couch.

"I'm doing this for my aunt, for the Meng family, and not to offend the Emperor for Xie Yushu," Xie Jianing said without hesitation. Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the Emperor; how could a woman whom the Emperor has taken a liking to escape?

"Not for any other reason?" Meng Jing asked again.

Xie Jianing was stumped by the question.

Meng Jing, as if seeing right through her, said with a mocking tone, "Aren't you going to take this opportunity to kick me when I'm down?"

"Why does Aunt view me like that?" Xie Jianing was instantly angered and heartbroken. "In Aunt's heart, am I just a despicable person who kicks someone when they're down? I grew up by your side since I was a child. Don't you know better than anyone what kind of person I am? Yet now you suspect me like this because of Xie Yushu..."

As she spoke, her throat tightened and her eyes reddened.

Looking at the child she had raised, Meng Jing softened her tone and said, "It's not that your aunt is suspicious of you, but if you weren't trying to deal with Xie Yushu, why did you send people to follow her and eavesdrop on her conversations?"

Xie Jianing was stumped by the question. She knew very well that she had sent A-Kui to follow Xie Yushu in order to find an opportunity to deal with her...

“Jia Ning,” Meng Jing said slowly, “You have suffered for two years outside. If you are still like a child, fighting for petty favors in the courtyard, then all the suffering you have endured for these two years will have been in vain.”

Favoritism based on petty gains?

Xie Jianing was a little confused. How could the favoritism of her mother and aunt be called petty favoritism?

“You have the blood of the Meng family flowing in your veins, which no one can compare to. No matter what, your mother and I will protect you at all costs.” Meng Jing said firmly, “You just need to remember this, and you will find that Xie Yushu is not your enemy at all, but your ally.”

“She didn’t steal your mother’s love from you. She took care of your mother when you were away and dealt with Widow Ye on your mother’s behalf,” Meng Jing said. “She also didn’t steal your status as Miss Yong’an, because she didn’t even look down on you.”

Xie Jianing was shocked by these words. She wanted to refute them but couldn't find the words. Xie Yushu had indeed fallen out with his father and refused to step into the Yong'an Marquis's mansion. Now that she had just been granted the title of Princess, how could she possibly be interested in the status of a young lady from the Yong'an Marquis's mansion?

"Think carefully, what do you have that makes her want to fight you for it? Which of the things she did harmed your or your mother's interests?" Meng Jing asked her calmly, "Besides dealing with your unfaithful father, what else has she done to you?"

Xie Jianing stood frozen in place, unable to utter a single word.

Meng Jing beckoned to her, inviting her to come to his side.

Just like when she was a child, Xie Jianing couldn't help but snuggle into her aunt's arms. Her aunt gently stroked her back and said with a sigh, "Jianing, you should grow up now. You should understand that you, Jin Yue, your mother, and I are the only family with true blood ties. Your father and your future husband are just outsiders. What you should do is not to compete with those who help you, but to use them to gain more power for yourself."

Xie Jianing couldn't hold back her tears and said to her aunt with a hint of resentment, "What can Xie Yushu do to help me? She hates me so much, how could she possibly help me?"

She still didn't understand.

Meng Jing lifted her face with his large hand, looked at her and said, "She can, and she can too."

Xie Yushu was able to support Xiaodao to become a prince, and she also had Song Jie and Pei Heng working for her. She had that ability.

"Jianing," Meng Jing said softly in a low voice, "Don't be like your mother, confining yourself to a small courtyard and staying with a man. Wouldn't it be better for you to inherit the title of Marquis of Yong'an?"

Inherit the title of Marquis?

Xie Jianing was stunned. How could a woman possibly inherit the title of marquis? No woman had ever inherited a family business, let alone a marquisate…

"Madam." A voice called softly from outside the door, "Jinye has brought you dried fruit."

Meng Jing told her to come in, and the old nanny brought a bag of dried fruit and handed it to Meng Jing.

#

"You're going to leave Bianjing with Pei Heng?" Song Jie asked Xie Yushu with a frown in the study.

In the small, elegant room, a dim candlelight flickered. Xie Yushu sat at one end of the table, not answering him immediately, but instead asking, "Has your cold poison flared up again since the Frost's Descent?"

Song Jie's furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and the chill in his chest seemed to melt away a little.

"I can't see you these days, so remember to take the medicine I gave you on time." Xie Yushu hadn't seen Song Jie for quite some time, not for any other reason than that Song Jie was her most important tool for killing the emperor, and she had to be careful to avoid being implicated with the traitor Song Jie if things came to light later.

The reason I came to see him tonight is because I have something important to tell him.

It wasn't about instructing Song Jie to take his medicine on time; it was just about giving him some incentive.

"Do you know?" she asked Song Jie in the candlelight.

Song Jie couldn't help but reach out and grasp her fingers resting on the table. "I know." He then lowered his voice and asked, "Why did you leave Bianjing with Pei Heng? Was it because the Emperor pressured Pei Shilin to divorce you?"

She didn't pull her hand away, so he gripped it tighter: "You don't really need to worry, he won't live much longer."

“I know.” Xie Yushu let him hold his fingers and said, “I left Bianjing with Pei Heng so that the relationship between the emperor and his minister would deteriorate more quickly.”

Song Jie fell silent for a moment, because he knew that it was indeed the most advantageous step for her to leave Bianjing in accordance with Pei Heng's wishes, but he secretly did not want her to leave with Pei Heng, as he vaguely felt that Pei Heng liked her.

"There's something I need you to do after I leave," Xie Yushu said, squeezing his fingers in return.

Song Jie looked up at her.

She suddenly leaned closer and whispered something in his ear. Before she could finish speaking, Song Jie lowered his face and rested his nose on her shoulder, as if he were gently inhaling her scent.

"Did you hear that?" She moved her shoulder slightly, and Song Jie's hand went up from her arm and grabbed her shoulder.

"I heard you." Song Jie buried half his face in her shoulder, closed his eyes and sniffed again. "I'll take care of it... You haven't seen me for too long. I wish the poison would take effect like before."

It sounded like a complaint, or perhaps a sigh of helplessness. Since he switched to Xie Yushu's medicine, he hadn't had any more bouts of poisoning, but he also had no reason to see her again or be so "intimate" with her.

In the candlelight, his ears and neck were a pale red.

Xie Yushu smelled the bitter medicinal scent on him and hugged his back. He seemed to have lost even more weight.

He tentatively moved his face under her palm, his nose and lips gently brushing against her neck. A desire to go further was stuck in his throat, yet he dared not. He wanted to kiss her, but he was afraid she wouldn't like it.

The room was so quiet you could almost hear your own heartbeat.

Xie Yushu felt a ticklish sensation from his rubbing and slowly turned her face to give him a light kiss on the earlobe.

He froze, as if flattered, then pulled her into a tight embrace, his lips pressed against her neck, and whispered as if holding her neck in his mouth, "May I kiss you?"

Her response was a kiss on his cheek.

Song Jie trembled involuntarily, his mind blank as he turned his head to look at her face and her lips. Did she want to kiss him too? Did she... like him even a little bit?

Xie Yushu's lips pressed against his cold lips and kissed him.

He sat there stiffly like a fool, cupping her face and only daring to peck at her lips cautiously, one peck at a time, not daring to go any deeper.

Even so, his body heated up, and his breathing became erratic, spraying onto her face.

Xie Yushu placed her hands on his knees and gently parted his clumsy lips to kiss him. His fingers unconsciously tightened around her hand, as if all his desire had nowhere to go but to be released, and he could only kiss her until he was breathless.

"Host, you have gained 4 points of Popularity Points from Song Jie." The system reminded you: "You now have 59 Popularity Points, which surpasses the original female lead Xie Jianing. You now possess the luck of the female lead. The more you bond with the villain Song Jie, the more luck he will gain. If you choose him, he will become the new male lead."

These reminders were given by the system when Song Jie was unconscious in this hermitage during the previous incident with King Song.

At that time, the system told Xie Yushu that if Song Jie became the male lead, his cold poison would have a chance to be cured.

So Xie Yushu kissed Song Jie that time.

In fact, the medicine prescribed by Yu Miao could not cure the poison, but Xie Yushu's kiss and the good fortune that Xie Yushu brought to Song Jie awakened him and prevented the cold poison from recurring until now.

The candlelight flickered and swayed.

Song Jie couldn't help but pull her onto his lap, kissing her lips, then her neck, before Xie Yushu stopped him.

Xie Yushu covered his hot lips, her breath coming in gasps. Their eyes were glazed over in the candlelight as they kissed, but she hesitated. She had only kissed Song Jie to wake him up so he could help her continue her work.

And today's kiss was somewhat influenced by her own desires.

But the person she chose was not Song Jie, but Xiao Dao. She wanted Xiao Dao to become emperor and pave the way for her to ascend to heaven. She could not allow Song Jie's fortune to surpass that of Xiao Dao.

"Can't I?" In the candlelight, Song Jie's cheeks were unusually flushed. He supported her back and looked at her as if drunk, asking, "Yu Shu, can't you give me more sweetness?"

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Author's note: Xie Yushu's proudest achievement is his self-control.