Shangguan Wanning was so shocked that her pupils dilated involuntarily and she stood there in a daze for a moment.
After Qi Yanbei wiped off the flame pattern on her wrist, he took the initiative to let go of her hand.
He looked at her surprised expression and found it very amusing, and couldn't help but smile.
"Although you used some tricks on me, I can understand your reluctance to marry far away, so I will let bygones be bygones and pretend that nothing happened. You can also forget about this matter completely."
"How did you know?" Shangguan Wanning gradually calmed down, staring into Qi Yanbei's eyes and asked.
Qi Yanbei smiled mysteriously and moved closer to Shangguan Wanning. "If you were me, would you tell me?"
Shangguan Wanning sneered inwardly, and felt that her question was too naive.
"But I have a question that I really hope you can answer."
Shangguan Wanning stood up and stepped back, keeping a distance from Qi Yanbei.
"You can ask if you want, but I may not tell you."
Qi Yanbei saw in Shangguan Wanning the unique pride and self-esteem of a woman, which was something that no other woman he had met before had.
He liked it even more.
He walked behind Shangguan Wanning, stretched out his hands and hugged her from behind.
Shangguan Wanning struggled hard. "Your Majesty, please respect yourself and let me go."
Qi Yanbei increased the strength of his arm and whispered in her ear: "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you now. I just want to know if you really have the tattoo you mentioned."
Shangguan Wanning was shocked and frightened.
"If you're rude to me again, I'll..."
"Let her go."
A cold voice was heard, and when Qi Yanbei looked up, he already felt a strong murderous aura.
While he was distracted, Shangguan Wanning pushed her away and ran towards Mu Jingrui, hiding behind Mu Jingrui, grabbing his arm and trembling.
Mu Jingrui's heart ached fiercely. Although he clearly wanted to hate Shangguan Wanning, he couldn't help but pat the back of her hand to comfort her gently.
"You go out first, my people are waiting for you outside. I will handle this." Mu Jingrui's deep voice made Shangguan Wanning feel strongly reassured.
"Be careful."
She didn't try to be stubborn, and wanted to escape from this embarrassing situation, so she turned around and walked out.
Mu Jingrui and Qi Yanbei's eyes met, staring at each other with hostility and contempt.
"I heard that she was supposed to marry you."
"It's not originally, it's just that."
Mu Jingrui sat down calmly, not taking Qi Yanbei seriously at all.
Qi Yanbei also knew where Mu Jingrui's calmness came from.
During their fight, they got to know each other's strength.
Qi Yanbei chose to come to the Central Plains to seek peace and marry after weighing the interests of all parties.
Because, if he continued to fight, he had already foreseen that failure was only a matter of time.
Mu Jingrui picked up the tea that Shangguan Wanning had just drunk and took a sip.
"Your Majesty, I came here today in the hope that you can give up the idea of marrying Ning'er."
"Hmph, okay." Qi Yanbei also sat down, "Give me a reason to give up."
"Your Majesty, don't be anxious. I will let Your Majesty see someone first." Mu Jingrui clapped his hands, and his two followers pulled a ragged, messy-haired man over.
Qi Yanbei took a closer look and his expression suddenly changed.
"Brother-in-law...Brother-in-law, please save me..."
As soon as the man saw Qi Yanbei, he rushed over and hugged his legs.
Qi Yanbei's eyes were burning with anger. He kicked the man away impatiently and then looked at Mu Jingrui.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean? Your Majesty and I should have a tacit understanding, right?"
This man is the cousin of the Queen of Qi Yanbei and the eldest son of the head of one of the four major families in Qi State.
The reason why Qi Yanbei was able to defeat all his brothers and ascend the throne to become king was that he relied most on the power of his wife's maternal family.
After he successfully ascended the throne, he had outstanding military achievements, but most of the military power in the country was still controlled by the queen's mother's family.
Because their power was too great, the queen was not only capricious and domineering in the harem, but also very arrogant towards Qi Yanbei.
She even secretly met with her childhood sweetheart, her cousin.
In fact, Qi Yanbei knew all of this, but as the king of a country, how could he expose such things?
He thought about killing the queen and the man who brought shame upon him, but their family was too powerful and he had no chance to do it.
When Mu Jingrui first arrived at the southwestern border, he sent spies to sneak into Qi to secretly collect intelligence. These secrets were actually known to many people in the court of Qi.
"Take him away."
After Mu Jingrui finished speaking, his followers pulled the man away.
"Your Majesty, I have no interest in your family affairs. Let's make a deal."
At this time, Qi Yanbei's face had turned ashen. He secretly clenched his fists and stared at Mu Jingrui coldly.
"What deal?"
"I will help you kill the person you want to kill the most but cannot kill, and give you peace from now on; and you can give up the idea of marrying Ning'er, how about that?"
Qi Yanbei's thoughts were constantly churning, and he was weighing the pros and cons in a short period of time.
"I know that he is the heir of their family. If he dies, you can support other children to take the throne. In the future, it will be beneficial for you to control the four major families. Your Majesty is a smart man and should know how to make choices."
Qi Yanbei gradually calmed down.
He knew that Mu Jingrui was right.
Although the benefit of marrying Shangguan Wanning is to gain peace on the border, the same goal can be achieved by marrying another woman.
It’s just that she no longer has the blessing of being the prime minister’s daughter.
If I could make this man disappear completely, wouldn't it be more comfortable to just ignore him in the future?
He was even worried that if the queen became pregnant in the future, he wouldn't know whether the baby was his.
"Okay, deal." Qi Yanbei gritted his teeth and agreed.
Mu Jingrui raised a faint smile, raised his teacup and said with a smile: "I will offer tea to Your Majesty instead of wine."
After saying that, he drank the tea in the cup, stood up and walked out.
Qi Yanbei watched Mu Jingrui's back disappear, and with a wave of his hand, he swept all the tea sets on the table to the ground.
This transaction was also a great humiliation for him.
Mu Jingrui walked out of Zizhu Tower and saw Shangguan Wanning's sedan still parked at the door. She was pacing back and forth anxiously beside the sedan.
"What's the matter?" Shangguan Wanning saw Mu Jingrui coming out and hurried to greet him.
Mu Jingrui looked at her clear eyes filled with sorrow, and felt a little distressed.
"It's okay, go back."
"Really?" Shangguan Wanning was a little bit unbelievable.
"What? You don't believe me?"
"No..." Shangguan Wanning lowered her head and avoided eye contact with Mu Jingrui.
He helped her again. "Thank you."
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