Chapter 85: Smooth-Tongued

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Amidst the booming Heavenly Thunder.

Lei Qing bent his legs and knelt weakly before Wuzhui. He hugged the horse’s leg, his body trembling, and tears were about to flow. Thinking of the miserable life after marriage that would be like hell, Lei Qing trembled from the bottom of his heart. Now he finally understood what it meant to be too clever for one’s own good.

Curse your sweet mouth, curse your ability to coax people, Lei Qing couldn’t help but slap himself twice. This time, he was surely dead, right?

“Lei Qing, stop blaming yourself. Although I am also very pained by the things you did before, the past is, after all, the past.” Yu Shanshan came over with light steps and comforted him softly, saying, “Don’t torture yourself anymore, okay?”

“Shanshan, thank you, I am truly ‘grateful’ to you.” Lei Qing finally turned his head back, truly unable to hold back a trace of “happy” tears from successfully winning the Goddess.

“You, you don’t need to thank me, this is what I should do.” Yu Shanshan lowered her head shyly and said softly, “My father taught me that as a woman, I need to treat my husband wholeheartedly. Lei Qing, although there have been various conflicts and misunderstandings between us, I believe that as long as we work hard together, everything will get better.” Her appearance really looked like a gentle and virtuous wife. She really got into character quickly; she must have thought about this a lot over the past seven or eight months.

“Then, can you not send my friends to the border? Otherwise, I won’t have any brothers left in the Imperial Capital.” Lei Qing asked cautiously with tears and runny nose, probing for a sliver of possibility. But thinking back carefully, what kind of friends had he made in the past twenty years? Counting them carefully, there really weren’t many good ones. According to Yu Shanshan’s standards, probably not even half would be left.

“No.” Yu Shanshan’s pretty face stiffened. Her gentle and virtuous appearance was stripped away, revealing her true domineering queenly aura. She said resolutely, “Those people are all full of bad ideas. None of them learn to be good; they run wild in the markets and bully men and women. I asked my father to arrange for them to guard the border. Firstly, it’s for your sake, and secondly, it’s for their own good. If they don’t go through some tempering, how can they become talents? How can they be employed? How can they serve the glory of the Empire?”

Lei Qing’s entire face turned bitter. Brothers, I have failed you. Clearly, many of those bad ideas were mine, Lei Qing’s, and now not only do you have to take the blame, but you also have to suffer at the border?

“Yes, yes, Shanshan, you are very right, and thank you for disciplining my brothers for me.” Lei Qing showed a look of extreme gratitude for his brothers, but then his face gradually became serious, and he looked straight at Yu Shanshan, “But I still can’t go back with you to get married.”

“Why?” Yu Shanshan’s expression instantly became a bit ugly. A trace of killing intent gradually showed in her eyes, “Lei Qing, you, what do you mean? You, are you trying to toy with me and then abandon me?”

T-toy with me and abandon me? Lei Qing almost fainted. He was kidding; he just peeked at her bathing, he didn’t actually do anything with her. If he had to marry every woman whose naked body he had seen, chopping himself into dozens of pieces wouldn’t be enough to go around.

But he definitely couldn’t say this out loud. Lei Qing didn’t dare guarantee that Yu Shanshan wouldn’t make him bleed on the spot in a fit of rage.

“Shanshan, you misunderstood.” Lei Qing said with a serious and proud face, “Yes, Lei Qing is disappointing. I wasn’t a good person before. I liked romance and pleasure all day, eating, drinking, and having fun. I was a prodigal son, a second-generation heir. You are willing to marry me just because I have seen your naked body.”

When the naked body was mentioned, Yu Shanshan’s face turned shy again. After stomping her foot, she said in a low voice, “Then, then what do you want?”

“Even if I am a pile of mud, I, Lei Qing, have my own dignity.” Lei Qing’s face gradually became sad, and he said with some grief and indignation, “The woman I want to marry must be a woman who truly falls in love with me wholeheartedly, not someone being pitied, sympathized with, or even someone forced by circumstances to marry me for the sake of reputation and chastity. Yu Shanshan, you can kill me, but you cannot insult me.”

“I, I didn’t insult you. Lei Qing, you, you misunderstood.” Yu Shanshan said anxiously.

“Shanshan, do you dare to swear to the heavens?” Lei Qing questioned with a look of despair, “Do you dare to swear that you didn’t choose to marry me because you were forced? Do you dare to say that you truly love me, sincerely and wholeheartedly, with no other thoughts, wanting to marry me?”

Yu Shanshan’s pretty face instantly turned slightly red and slightly pale. Lei Qing’s words were like a thunderclap exploding in her heart. That’s right, the reason she was willing to accept him and marry him was mostly because she felt her purity had been tainted by him. If she didn’t marry him, who else could she marry? It was just for the sake of her own and her father’s reputation. Yu Shanshan also felt that Lei Qing wasn’t entirely annoying and could be saved, and it seemed he was deeply in love with her, so she just went along with it.

Facing Lei Qing’s questioning, Yu Shanshan stuttered and couldn’t answer. Indeed, she couldn’t forget Lei Qing; he was deeply branded in her mind and couldn’t be wiped away. But did she really love him? Love him enough to live and die for him?

For a moment, Yu Shanshan was confused by Lei Qing’s words and felt ashamed. Indeed, this was an insult to Lei Qing. Although in her heart, she kindly felt that something was vaguely wrong.

“Shanshan, even if I, Lei Qing, am disappointing, I am a man, and I have dignity.” Lei Qing sighed softly, “Yes, I admit it. I love you. I want to marry you so much it hurts. But, but right now, I really can’t accept your kindness. I want to take advantage of my youth to go out and venture, to hone myself, to make myself a truly mature man, to achieve great deeds and make a name for myself. After I achieve success and fame, I will come back with a new self to pursue you and win your heart.”

Lei Qing’s words were spoken with sonorous force and extreme heroism. Gradually, they moved Yu Shanshan’s heart. Her heart pounded like a deer, and her gratitude increased. It seemed she also felt that such a heroic and ambitious man was indeed the man she truly liked.

For a moment, her impression of Lei Qing improved greatly, and her gaze softened a lot. She looked at Lei Qing with a bit of sweetness in her heart and said softly, “Alright, you go out and venture. Remember to stay safe at all times. If you get tired, or run into any difficulties, feel free to send someone to give me a message, and I will come to help.”

“Okay, Shanshan.” Lei Qing got on the horse with Zuo Qianqian without looking back and murmured in a low voice, “I dare not look back. I’m afraid, afraid that if I look into your eyes, I won’t be able to leave. Shanshan, take care. Giddy up.”

He clamped his legs against the horse’s belly. Wuzhui understood, let out a long neigh, and started to run.

After running for over a dozen feet, Lei Qing felt slightly relieved in his heart and wiped a handful of cold sweat from the bottom of his heart. J-just kidding. He finally saved his life. Although deceiving her like this made Lei Qing feel very guilty, firstly, his life was important, and secondly, he really wasn’t willing to go back and get married now, only to live a miserable life afterwards.

Based on Lei Qing’s experience of reading countless people, Yu Shanshan appeared weak on the outside and knew traditional female virtues, but she was actually soft on the outside and tough on the inside, with a fiery temperament and her own ideas. If the two really lived together, he feared he would be trained into a henpecked husband.

However, what Lei Qing said was three parts false and seven parts true. If he really made a name for himself out there, and one day returned home in glory to the Imperial Capital, it wouldn’t be impossible to actively pursue her. Because at that time, his status and position would be different, and after marriage, he wouldn’t always be dominated by her.

Just as Lei Qing was letting his thoughts run wild, feeling lucky to have saved his life but also feeling guilty towards Yu Shanshan, she sent a sentence through the air using Fighting Qi from behind, “By the way, Lei Qing. I almost forgot to tell you, you won’t find me in the capital. If you want to find me, send a letter to the Moon Cold Palace.”

“M-Moon Cold Palace?”

Hearing this name, Lei Qing almost fell off his horse. Are, are you kidding? Yu Shanshan is actually a disciple of the Moon Cold Palace? It can’t be such a coincidence…

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