一夜情

Xie Heng nodded and said, “Her mother was a servant previously. But she still lived a better life than your mother.”

“They were born with different statuses. You didn’t tell me all these for fear that I might try to seek revenge on the Xia clan?”

“I didn’t really know you back then, so I didn’t want you to be involved in this messy situation. But now, I’m not afraid anymore. I know that you can judge the situation for yourself. Besides, you would have found out about these things eventually. So I’d rather tell you about it now than let you find out yourself.”

Zhao Chuchu smiled and patted his shoulder. “Da Lang, I like how you’re so honest with me. I wouldn’t like it if you were someone who’d do things in roundabout ways and hide everything for me in the name of protecting me.”

“I want you to be happy, forever.”

“With you here, I will.”

Xie Heng told Zhao Chuchu quite a lot more about the different powers and factions in the Guangqing Province so that she could have a rough understanding of the place.

The battles between ancient families were silent yet equally ferocious and deadly.

After learning numerous secrets about the Xia clan, she had a bad impression of them.

Even Madam Yang had some good qualities compared to the Xia clan. Unfortunately, the Xia clan seemed to have no redeeming qualities.

Perhaps they had become extremely arrogant because of the wealth that they had accumulated over generations. On top of this, the emperor today was incompetent and inept. As a result, the Xia clan became accustomed to solving any problem with money, and they never valued human lives!

The Xia clan was just a merchant family, yet they dared to behave that way. Things must be even worse with other clans which were more powerful.

No wonder the governing bureau issued orders to burn infected individuals alive during the plague. The current emperor of the Wei Dynasty simply depended on the solid foundation that his predecessors had built. Otherwise, no country would be able to withstand such a disastrous regime!

Even if there were no external threats, the people would start a revolution.

“How long will the emperor be in power?” Zhao Chuchu asked softly. She was actually considering the possibility of eliminating the current emperor and replacing him with Xie Jun.

Assassinating the emperor was extremely easy for Zhao Chuchu.

“Three more years.”

“Will any disastrous events happen in these three years?”

“Nothing major, but many small-scale, unfortunate events will happen.”

“I see. Never mind then.”

“You want to kill him right now?”

“I was thinking about it. But he won’t be able to fool around like this for much longer. So I think I shouldn’t throw the Wei Dynasty into turmoil.”

If the emperor suddenly died, there would surely be chaos internally in the dynasty.

The emperor didn’t have many years left anyway. So Zhao Chuchu was okay with letting him live out the rest of his tenure in peace.

“What I just said must be shocking. But you seem so calm after hearing that.” Zhao Chuchu turned to look at Xie Heng.

Xie Heng laughed and said, “You were only talking about it, but I’ve done countless deeds that are equally horrifying.”

He paused for a while, then laid his fair, smooth-skinned hands out. “I don’t know how many people’s blood is on these hands, and I don’t know how many people have cursed me to die the most gruesome death before burning eternally in hell. I don’t know what hell looks like, but I came back.”

“Do you regret it?”

“I’ve never regretted any decision that I’ve made. I will have whatever consequences caused by my decisions because I made them myself.”

Zhao Chuchu pinched Xie Heng’s face and said, “You are an honorable man.”

She firmly believed that whatever Xie Heng did, he did it for the sake of the Wei Dynasty.

Otherwise, after reincarnating, he could have easily used the knowledge from his previous life to replace the current emperor!

After all, Xie Heng could reach the peak of power in the dynasty despite having extremely humble beginnings.

Xie Heng looked at Zhao Chuchu and said, “Perhaps one day, you will realize that I’m an absolutely despicable man.”

“I only believe in my own judgment. Da Lang, if you really did those things for selfish reasons, you wouldn’t be Mr. Xie of Lengshui Village by now!”

Xie Heng didn’t speak for quite a while.

He reached his arms out and pulled Zhao Chuchu into his embrace. He mumbled softly, “Chuchu, why do you trust me so much?”

Zhao Chuchu had never felt so secure as she listened to his heartbeat. She said, “Maybe it’s because I like to judge books by their covers.”

Zhao Chuchu couldn’t hold in her laughter after she said that.

Xie Heng’s lips curled up. He said, “Then should I work hard to become the man that you want me to be?”

“I think you’re amazing as you are. Da Lang, I’m not a particularly ambitious person. All I want is to find someone who truly resonates with me. As long as you remain open and honest with me like you are now, I will feel satisfied.”

“I will!” Xie Heng promised Zhao Chuchu.

He didn’t want much from her either. He just wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and grow old together.

Three days later, Yuan Hui returned to Lengshui Village.

When she returned, Zhao Chuchu was laying out the soybeans that she had just brought back from the sun-drying field. She was talking to the carpenter in the village about a simple tool called air-drying cabinets. This tool could filter out the soybeans that were shriveled up as well as other impurities. Moreover, it’d be much faster than slowly tossing the beans with baskets.

“Yup. It’s operated by grabbing the handle and turning it. It’s a lot easier and much faster than the method you’ve been using previously. It’s also quite cheap since the only material required is wood.”

“I’ll try to figure it out and make one as soon as I can.”

“You can come to me if you have any questions.”

“Okay!”

The carpenter walked away happily, thinking about the air-drying cabinet.

Yun Hui walked toward Zhao Chuchu.

“Your skin is quite fine. You should stand further away. Otherwise, if the hair from the beans gets on you, you might get itchy.” Zhao Chuchu hurriedly stopped her. “Go there and wait for me.”

“It’s fine; let me help you,” Yuan Hui smiled and said.

...

“No, I don’t want to spend time undoing what you’ve done. That’s really troublesome.”

Zhao Chuchu rejected her.

Yuan Hui had no choice but to stand aside and watch as Zhao Chuchu laid out the soybeans that were brought back together with their stalks.

“Chuchu, I thought you only needed to pluck the pods of the beans?”

“How long is that going to take? It’s much faster to harvest everything like this and sun-dry them. Then, the pods will open up automatically when they dry up.”

Yuan Hui felt a little embarrassed. She said, “I’ve never seen it before. That was stupid of me.”

“Well, now you know,” Zhao Chuchu said loudly.

“Chuchu, go talk with Miss Yuan. We’ll settle the rest,” Old Mrs. Chen and Madam Kong said simultaneously. “We got this. There’s not much left.”

Zhao Chuchu saw that only a small portion of the beans hadn’t been laid out yet, so she left the rest to them and went off with Yuan Hui.

After leaving the sun-drying field, the smile on Yuan Hui’s face completely disappeared. She said, “Chuchu, I managed to find out about some things in the past few days. I’ll tell you now, but please don’t get mad.”

“Go ahead. I will control my emotions.”

...

What Yuan Hui said was a far cry from what Xie Heng told Zhao Chuchu.

It was almost the same as what she had previously told Zhao Chuchu.

The Xia clan had done their very best to hide the truth behind Zhao Chuchu’s mother’s disappearance. They even used it to their advantage by twisting the story in their favor!