Chapter 103 Yuwen Che is scolded for being shameless

Yuwen Che returned to the Sizheng Hall and said to Li Dehai and the guards who followed him, "Wait outside. No one is allowed to enter without my permission."

"Yes," Li Dehai replied with a bow, then gently closed the palace door.

As soon as Yuwen Che turned around, he saw Bai Xiao sitting casually on his desk, his long legs swinging leisurely, and he was munching on a pastry that he had somehow found.

Seeing Yuwen Che enter, Bai Xiao not only didn't come down, but instead pointed with the hand holding the snacks to the black armor and sword on the shelf next to him, and said indistinctly, "Look at your old buddy, it's almost rusted, isn't it? What a pity, a hero with no place to use his skills, he can only stay at home serving his wife."

Yuwen Che rolled his eyes at him, then walked to the head seat and sat down: "Enough nonsense. Let's get down to business."

Bai Xiao stuffed the pastries into his mouth in a few bites, patted the crumbs off his hands, jumped down from the table, and said in a relaxed tone as if he were saying that the weather was nice today: "It's all done. Helian Bobo slit his own throat, and Han Ying led his men to clean the palace inside and out, making sure not even a mouse was left behind. The Marquis of Zhenbei is probably cleaning up the mess right now."

He leaned closer to Yuwen Che and winked: "How about it? My intervention was efficient enough, wasn't it? It didn't keep you from spending time with your beautiful Empress, did it?"

Yuwen Che ignored his teasing and asked directly, "Was the process smooth? Did you encounter any problems?"

"Trouble?" Bai Xiao scoffed. "What trouble could there be? Those good-for-nothings in the Northern Kingdom's court aren't even worth Han Ying's time. I just watched the show for a bit, and incidentally... did you a small business deal."

Yuwen Che raised an eyebrow: "What kind of deal?"

Bai Xiao chuckled, a hint of smugness in his eyes: "I promised Helian Bobo that as long as he takes his own life, I'll leave a bloodline for the Helian family. How about that, merciful enough?"

Yuwen Che's eyes instantly turned cold: "You agreed?"

Bai Xiao waved his hand dismissively: "Relax! I made the promise on my own behalf, not on your behalf. Han Ying, that stubborn fellow, strictly carried out your order to leave no one alive. So, the promise is my personal act, Bai Xiao, and has nothing to do with you, the Emperor of Great Zhou."

Looking at his shameless demeanor, Yuwen Che was momentarily at a loss for whether to be angry or amused. This guy always managed to annoy him while completing his mission, although... each time the annoyance seemed harmless.

"Alright, get out of here once you've finished your business." Yuwen Che began to shoo people away.

Bai Xiao immediately protested, "Hey! You're kicking me while I'm down! Where's my reward? That 50-year-old jar of Zui Xiaoyao!"

"Have Li Dehai deliver it to you tomorrow." Yuwen Che rubbed his temples. "Now, immediately, disappear from my sight."

"Understood!" Bai Xiao, having achieved his goal, beamed with joy. In a flash, he darted out the window and disappeared into the night.

Yuwen Che sat alone in the hall. The great threat to the Northern Kingdom had finally been completely eliminated, and a huge weight was lifted from his heart. Now, he could wholeheartedly await the arrival of his and Xue'er's child.

Yuwen Che had just picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and was preparing to calm down and think carefully about the children's names when he heard a noise by the window.

Bai Xiao's handsome face peeked in again, grinning mischievously.

Yuwen Che slammed down his pen in annoyance: "Why did you come back again?"

Bai Xiao sidled up to him, casually extending his hand in front of him, and said in a high-pitched voice, "Brother Che~"

Yuwen Che felt a chill run down his spine from the way he was called, and glared at him: "Get to the point, don't disgust me."

Bai Xiao immediately returned to normal, grinning as he said, "I'm out of money."

Yuwen Che was too lazy to waste words with him, so he simply took out a thick stack of silver notes from the drawer and threw them at him.

Bai Xiao caught it, his eyes lit up, and he jumped up in satisfaction. He then sat back down on the imperial desk, swinging his legs as he began to count: "One hundred, two hundred... Tsk tsk, as expected of the richest emperor since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so generous!"

Looking at his unserious behavior, Yuwen Che lightly kicked his dangling leg: "If there's nothing else, you can get lost."

Bai Xiao stuffed the silver notes into his pocket and patted them: "Something came up, something came up. I almost forgot about the important matter."

He toned down his joking expression and looked at Yuwen Che: "I'm saying, this time we've made things so bad for the Northern Kingdom, Helian Bobo committed suicide, and the royal family was slaughtered. Once the news gets out, won't the surrounding countries, like Xiliang and Nanzhao, be on edge, worried that you'll be the next to deal with them? If they unite against you, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"

Yuwen Che slowly sipped his tea, raised an eyebrow, and spoke in a calm tone as if he were discussing a trivial matter:

"Helian Bobo committed suicide... The Helian family is wiped out completely. Wasn't that done by Bai Xiao, the infamous assassin in the martial arts world, out of personal vendetta? The evidence is conclusive, and you yourself have confessed to the murder. What does that have to do with my Great Zhou, or with me?"

"The General Who Guards the North merely... seized the opportunity to take over the Northern Kingdom."

Bai Xiao was so choked by his self-righteous attempt to shift the blame that he almost choked on his breath. He jumped down from the imperial desk and pointed at Yuwen Che: "You...you..."

Yuwen Che glanced at him, and Bai Xiao immediately withdrew his hand, which was pointing at him, feeling guilty, but he still complained aloud:

"Yuwen Che! You're shameless! So I did all the bad things, but you got all the credit?!"

Yuwen Che put down his teacup and smiled slightly: "Otherwise what? What use are you?"

Bai Xiao was so angry at his self-righteous attitude that he jumped up and down, but he was helpless. He could only stomp his foot angrily and say, "You're ruthless! I admit defeat!"

Having said that, fearing that Yuwen Che would try to frame him again, he vanished in a flash, faster than a rabbit.

Yuwen Che looked at the palace, now quiet again, shook his head, and picked up his pen once more. He had naturally considered these potential troubles long ago. But now he needed to think about a name for his child.