The wind blew, stirring the stray locks of hair scattered across Jiang Jingyue’s temples. She pressed her lips together and reached out to tug at the young woman’s sleeve.
Li Chenghuan lowered her gaze, her eyes landing on those slender, delicate fingers. She tried her best to maintain a stern expression and turned her head away once more.
She couldn’t soften her heart. She would help Jiang Jingyue secure a letter of divorce, but she was unwilling to agree to absolute obedience and complete transparency thereafter. If she had no spine at all, the moment this woman decided to go dark and “blacken,” having a cheat code system would be utterly useless—it would only leave her bound hand and foot.
If she ever had to face someone in a real battle only for her gun to vanish at any moment, that would be far too disastrous.
Jiang Jingyue grasped her sleeve, giving it a gentle tug. “Chenghuan, I didn’t mean to make things difficult for you. If you agree to my conditions and I’m in a good mood, how is that not a win-win?”
Hearing this, Li Chenghuan couldn’t stay silent any longer.
“A win-win? I listen to you everywhere and get manipulated by you every second—where do I win?”
She could listen to Jiang Jingyue, and she had been doing just that these past few days. After all, Jiang Jingyue was the female protagonist of this world, making it convenient for her to farm cheat code rewards.
However, the premise was that she wanted to do so, not that she was forced to. The difference between initiative and passivity was massive.
Jiang Jingyue met her gaze, her expression turning cold: “If you don’t listen to me, you won’t get anything at all, will you?”
As long as this person’s supernatural ability still required her, that was her bottom line. Since the chips were in her hands, striving for the right to speak and maximizing her benefits was entirely reasonable.
Li Chenghuan couldn’t help but laugh, a mocking tone in her chuckle. “Are you threatening me?” So this was what a blackened female protagonist looked like. She had just put on a pitiful act a moment ago, only to turn around and threaten someone. She had certainly learned a thing or two.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t someone who scared easily.
Jiang Jingyue remained silent, her expression steady and detached, effectively acknowledging it.
Seeing this, Li Chenghuan jerked her sleeve away and sneered, “My good sister-in-law, you seem to have forgotten that if I’m not willing, you won’t get anything either.”
Coming from the modern era, she indeed didn’t understand the political landscape of this dynasty, and her understanding of the world’s rules came entirely from the original owner’s memories.
Yet she wasn’t a fool. The cheat system did revolve around the female protagonist, and obtaining rewards was inseparable from Jiang Jingyue. But if she wanted those rewards actually materialized, she was just as indispensable.
In other words, whether for the sake of a win-win or mutual threats, she shouldn’t be the one falling at a disadvantage.
Jiang Jingyue furrowed her delicate brows. The girl really was hard to coax, completely immune to both soft and hard approaches… A gust of cold wind swept past, and she took hold of the young woman’s hand.
Li Chenghuan was momentarily startled. Just as she was about to shake the hand off, she found herself pulled straight into a warm embrace.
Jiang Jingyue slowly tightened her arms, leaning close to the young woman’s ear, her breath warm and sweet like orchids: “Chenghuan, if you feel I’m being too overbearing, then from now on we can discuss everything together. Neither of us will keep secrets from the other, okay?”
Li Chenghuan: “…” Today she had truly witnessed what a blackened female protagonist was like—her face changed awfully fast.
Seeing that she remained unresponsive, Jiang Jingyue held tightly to her waist. “I am not someone skilled at expressing myself. Just like right now—I wanted to hold you, so I did. Don’t you understand yet?”
The woman’s voice was low, hoarse, and gentle, sounding exceptionally lingering. If she hadn’t been so used to seeing her usual cold and aloof demeanor, Li Chenghuan might actually have believed it.
The way a cold beauty acted spoiled felt… well, slightly stiff.
Then again, if they could discuss everything amicably, Li Chenghuan was willing to cooperate. “I will help you persuade Grandmother to write the letter of release, and I can listen to you in everything, but I have one condition.”
“Go ahead.” Jiang Jingyue silently hooked the corners of her lips. So she wasn’t completely immune to hard and soft tactics after all…
[The female protagonist’s corruption/blackened value has decreased by 3. Reward: One bison submachine gun.]
The familiar mechanical sound rang in her mind, and Li Chenghuan couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Good thing another gun was returned; now she had two guns in her possession.
She steadied Jiang Jingyue’s arm, pushing her back slightly, and said with a serious expression: “Sister-in-law, you need to control your emotions. Try not to let your mood sour for no reason, and especially don’t generate hostility toward people at random.”
Actually, she had wanted to say malice—that would better fit the meaning of “blackening”—but when the words reached her lips, she changed them.
As the saying goes, never judge someone’s suffering until you’ve walked in their shoes. She didn’t know why Jiang Jingyue had blackened, nor did she want to make excessive demands, but for the sake of acquiring cheat code rewards and achieving a win-win situation, some things simply had to be said.
The least she could do was phrase it a bit more tactfully.
Jiang Jingyue’s eyes flashed momentarily, and she said softly, “Alright, I promise you.” She had finally managed to coax the person back.
With the two of them reaching a consensus, Li Chenghuan returned to the business at hand: “Are we going to enter the city with that Master Xu tonight?”
Jiang Jingyue shook her head: “Master Xu clearly wasn’t telling the truth. Taking us along looks like an act of repaying a favor, but in reality, he probably has ulterior motives.”
Putting everything else aside, even if Prime Minister Wu was behind all of this, Master Xu wouldn’t be able to protect them anyway.
Because Prime Minister Wu would never let Wang Yue live, and those whose families had defected to Wang Yue wouldn’t survive either.
Li Chenghuan massaged her brow. So should they follow him or not?
“Master Xu is either deceiving us or keeping us around for some alternative use. If we were completely out of water and food, we would naturally have no choice but to follow him to survive, but he missed one thing.” Jiang Jingyue looked deeply at the young woman in front of her. “We can survive without following him.”
As long as she was willing to cooperate, the young girl’s supernatural ability could guarantee that they wouldn’t lack water and food, which meant there was no need to cling to Master Xu as their only option.
Li Chenghuan understood her meaning: “Then we go back first and watch how things develop?”
Jiang Jingyue nodded: “Let’s head back and act according to circumstances.”
Over in the prison convoy, the convicts were gazing anxiously toward the city gates. They had been without food and water for two days now. If they couldn’t enter the city today, they would have to endure another agonizing night, and how on earth would they manage to hold on tomorrow?
Boss Gu swept a glance over the restless, uneasy convicts, feeling a growing wave of anxiety in his heart. If they could enter the city, would their safety inside be guaranteed?
And if they couldn’t enter, these people might very well start a riot.
After all, who wanted to sit around waiting to starve or die of thirst? Hopefully, that kid Zhou Yuan could bring back some good news.
Just as he was thinking this, three figures appeared in his line of sight. Boss Gu’s heart leaped with joy, and he took long strides forward to greet them.
As they drew closer and saw Zhou Yuan’s furrowed brow and gloomy expression, his heart plummeted right back down. That look on his face didn’t resemble good news at all.
“What’s the situation at Youlong County? Can we get in?”
Zhou Yuan shook his head: “The city gates are tightly shut, and the city walls are lined with guards. We didn’t dare get too close, so we just shouted a few times at the top of our lungs…”
When those soldiers heard they were a convoy escorting exiled prisoners, they told them to wait in place. They must have gone to report to someone in charge before finally returning with the message that Youlong County prohibited outsiders from entering and ordered them to take another route.
Yet Youlong County was a mandatory stop on the road north. If they didn’t go through it, they would have to enter the mountains. Those mountains stretched for hundreds of li; if they went in, they might not even find a way out, having zero confidence in safely crossing through them.
The heart that Boss Gu had been holding in his throat hit rock bottom. “Then what do we do?”
Zhou Yuan shook his head. He had originally thought that since Youlong County was in chaos and they had Wang Yue—the former “Crown Prince”—with them, they would have plenty of leverage. He hadn’t expected the people inside not to care at all, refusing even to open the city gates.
However, this also pointed to one problem: Youlong County refusing to let people in meant the place was indeed in turmoil, but they hadn’t openly rebelled. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have passed up on using Wang Yue as a ready-made banner.
Boss Gu furrowed his brow in deep thought for a moment. “Go call those few people over again and see if we can discuss a solution.”
Zhou Yuan nodded; asking around was all they could do at this point.
At the rear of the convoy, Li Chenghuan and Jiang Jingyue had just returned when they heard Zhou Yuan calling for people.
Old Mrs. Li didn’t say a word before directly calling out to Li Chengle and Xie Yuwan to follow along.
Once everyone had gathered, Boss Gu looked toward Zhou Yuan, signaling him to speak.
Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: “The city gates of Youlong County are tightly shut. It’s estimated the place is in chaos, but they haven’t rebelled. What do we do if we can’t get in?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Yue chimed in first: “Since they haven’t rebelled, we have official government documents. Why can’t we enter?”
Zhou Yuan cast a glance at her and said unceremoniously: “You should go ask Youlong County that question.” How naive. If official documents were of any use, they wouldn’t be sitting here helpless right now; they would already be inside the city.
“Preposterous! This Crown Princess will go ask Youlong County—”
“Shut your mouth!” Boss Gu impatiently interrupted Wang Yue. She did nothing but talk nonsense. At a time like this, she was still thinking about reasoning with people—Crown Prince, Grand Princess, pah! In his eyes, she was nothing more than an idiot.
Wang Yue choked on the retort, her face turning red and neck swelling with anger. Just as she was about to speak again, she saw Boss Gu abruptly draw the saber at his waist.
Boss Gu brandished the blade at her before pointing the tip at the rest of the group, his face filled with murderous rage: “I don’t give a damn what status any of you had in the past. Right now, you’re worth less than dirt. Cut the useless crap and come up with a decision immediately.”
If they couldn’t enter the city today, everyone was going to starve to death. He was truly sick of it—not a single thing had gone his way.
The crowd looked at each other in dismay, falling into silence.
Seeing that no one uttered a sound, Boss Gu fixed his wide eyes on them, feeling both furious and helpless. A bunch of useless trash! Was Heaven really trying to destroy him?
Amidst the heavy silence, Li Chenghuan casually chimed in: “I heard that Magistrate Tong of Youlong County is an old classmate and close friend of Master Xu. Why don’t we have Master Xu go give it a try? Perhaps he can manage to get the city gates opened.”
As soon as those words were spoken, all eyes turned toward Master Xu.
Master Xu looked at Li Chenghuan in disbelief. This woman… this woman lacked all sense of honor; she had just sold him out like that?
Li Chenghuan blinked with an innocent expression: “I remember correctly, right, Master Xu?”
Her cold beauty sister-in-law had said that this Master Xu wasn’t telling the truth and had ulterior motives toward them anyway. So why hold back? Whether his scheme was overt or covert, she was going to drag him out into the open to see what happened.
Master Xu swept a gloomy gaze over Li Chenghuan and Jiang Jingyue, stroking his beard in silence.
Boss Gu swiveled the tip of his saber to point straight at Master Xu: “I asked you a question. Hurry up and answer—did she remember wrong?”
Master Xu’s face stiffened. He sighed and said, “Xu and Tong Dongshan are indeed classmates, but our friendship is truly mediocre. Me going there personally probably won’t be of much use.”
Boss Gu didn’t care what kind of friendship they had; knowing each other was enough. Whether it was useful or not, they wouldn’t know until he went.
He lifted his chin, pressing the tip of the saber directly against Master Xu’s throat: “Then I’ll have to trouble Master Xu to make a trip.”
Master Xu’s lips parted. “My dog of a son is still young…” Halfway through, seeing the unfriendly look on Boss Gu’s face, he quietly swallowed the rest of his words. It was clearly impossible to bring his son along.
Seeing him hesitate while bringing up his son, Boss Gu used a double entendre: “Rest assured, your son will be looked after by yours truly.”
Master Xu gritted his teeth, turning instead to Jiang Jingyue: “I wonder if Miss Jiang would be willing to accompany me.”
Jiang Jingyue neither agreed nor refused, asking in a calm voice: “Reason?”
She seemed to already understand what Master Xu’s ulterior motives were aimed at. So he was coming after her…