Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress
Chapter 934 - 931: Invaluable

Chapter 934: Chapter 931: Invaluable

Li Zhijie casually placed the melon seeds on a nearby plate, turned around, and sat back on the soft couch, lifting his eyes to gaze at the gently flickering candle flame. His fingers rubbed his chin, and the expression in his eyes turned sullen...

If Bai Qingyan truly ascends to the throne, they will have to proceed with the original plan, offering fifteen cities to Zhou, with Yun Poxing’s grandson coming personally to sacrifice himself and admit his wrongs.

Back then, Yun Poxing humiliated the Bai family by disemboweling their seventeen sons; today, Yun Poxing’s grandson must also disembowel himself publicly to repay this humiliation, merely hoping the Empress of Zhou would forgive and let go of the past three-year agreement with Yun Poxing.

Only by doing so, when Rong and Xiliang go to war, Zhou will have no pretext to attack Xiliang.

Moreover, if Xiliang does so, yet Bai Qingyan insists on war, the court officials might raise objections.

Li Zhijie closed his eyes, realizing Yun Poxing’s utter loyalty was ingrained to the bone for Xiliang.

Sending his eldest grandson to Zhou was Yun Poxing’s tearful plea to the emperor.

The battle at Wengshan in Xiliang cost them a hundred thousand elite troops, and now untrained new soldiers can barely withstand Zhou, let alone also contend with Rong.

If they hadn’t seen the letters from Rong and Yan, it would have been fine, but since they have, and knowing Rong intends to attack Xiliang within three years, Xiliang must prepare.

Rong served to stabilize Yan for Xiliang, and now Xiliang must stabilize Zhou, so that... Xiliang can engage Rong without restraint, striving to eliminate Rong!

Yun Poxing’s family is full of loyal and brave men; the Xiliang royal family is not like the Jin Kingdom’s royal family.

The entire Bai family was loyal and righteous but met a tragic end due to a wary ruler; this is something Li Zhijie would never allow to happen in Xiliang, nor would the Empress of Xiliang.

Therefore, neither Li Zhijie nor the Empress of Xiliang wants Yun Poxing’s grandson to die here; he is also a fine son of Xiliang. He knows well what his purpose in coming here is, yet he came resolutely.

He came to use his life to buy time for his motherland, allowing it to focus on dealing with the treacherous Rong.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, using Yun Poxing’s grandson’s death to restrict the Empress of Zhou from legitimately sending troops against Xiliang, sparing Xiliang from splitting forces against Zhou while contending with Rong, seems like a great deal. However, in the eyes of the Empress of Xiliang and Li Zhijie... it’s not a good deal.

Loyal and brave men are invaluable!

If Yun Poxing’s grandson truly were to die here, it would chill the hearts of the Xiliang people.

After much contemplation, Li Zhijie decided to assist the King of Baishui, striving to kill Bai Qingyan at the coronation ceremony, preserving Xiliang’s fine sons.

Li Zhijie fixed his gaze on the flickering candle flame, made up his mind, and called out, "Someone!"

His trusted aide outside the door responded and entered, saluting, "Your Highness!"

"How many death warriors did we bring this time?" Li Zhijie glanced at his subordinate.

The subordinate lifted his head and replied, "More than sixty!"

"All... hand them over to the King of Baishui, let him find a way to get them into the Imperial Palace. These people are our top death warriors and assassins from Xiliang. They will surely aid him in killing Bai Qingyan!" Li Zhijie thought for a moment and added, "Instruct our death warriors to be cautious, to prevent people from realizing they are from Xiliang, and even if... even if they die, their bodies must not reveal to the Empress of Zhou that they are from Xiliang. Tell them to be discreet!"

"Rest assured, Your Highness! I will make all the necessary arrangements!" The subordinate responded and quickly left.

Li Zhijie recalled the moment he first saw Bai Qingyan, dressed in military attire, her silhouette sitting majestically atop a horse; she was an astonishingly beautiful woman, yet carried a clear and noble grace that he had never encountered in another.

To have such a beauty meet her demise, Li Zhijie was indeed reluctant, but for the sake of Xiliang, there was no other choice this night...

Li Zhijie sighed, his gaze landing on the parrot, thinking that if Bai Qingyan truly died this time, he would burn several incense sticks for her on every anniversary of her death in the future.

Thinking of this eased his sense of guilt slightly.

He looked at the brightly colored yellow-and-blue parrot and said, "Say... the Empress of Zhou is the most beautiful!"

The vividly feathered yellow-and-blue parrot flapped its wings, perched on the tall cabinet, stretched its neck, and mimicked Li Zhijie’s words sharply, "The Empress of Zhou is the most beautiful! The Empress of Zhou is the most beautiful!"

·

Late at night, after Bai Jinxiu and Qin Lang left, Bai Qingyan ordered the nanny who was beside Bai Jinse to carry Bai Jinse back, and Bai Qingjue also quietly urged Bai Qingyan to rest.

Just as Chun Tao helped Bai Qingyan to her feet, Xie Yuchang, who was personally standing guard at the gate of Bai Mansion, rushed in through the rain. He stood at the entrance to the veranda, shielded by a gauze curtain against flying insects, and saluted Bai Qingyan, "Your Majesty... Mr. Xiao seeks an audience at this late hour."

Logically, if someone sought an audience with Bai Qingyan at this hour, Xie Yuchang should not have announced it.

But this Mr. Xiao, unlike ordinary people, had aided the Bai family in times of trouble, and Xie Yuchang had heard the surrendered general from Daliang, Yang Wuce, mention that during the Lunar New Year’s Eve, Mr. Xiao had specially traveled to Daliang to spend the New Year with Bai Qingyan. Bai Qingyan herself had said that Xiao Rongyan was her betrothed.

Therefore, with Xiao Rongyan visiting personally, Xie Yuchang dared not delay and quickly came to report.

Upon hearing Xiao Rongyan’s name, Bai Qingjue instinctively looked in Bai Qingyan’s direction...

In the past, Xiao Rongyan had bought Bai Qingjue out of the human trafficker’s hands. By rights, he did owe Xiao Rongyan, not to mention... Xiao Rongyan had once saved their mother from a near mishap with a coffin.

Yet, even so, Bai Qingjue remained highly wary of Xiao Rongyan, knowing he had ties with Yan that couldn’t be severed. Now, Wei had been annexed by Yan, and the Wei man Xiao Rongyan had become the Xiao Rongyan of Yan Kingdom.

Indeed, Bai Qingjue suspected... this so-called Wei Kingdom’s wealthiest merchant had from the start been a spy from Yan.

He was sure that in the future... Yan would definitely be Zhou’s strongest enemy towards unifying the world.

The Eldest Young Lady was someone who always reciprocated benevolence, and Bai Qingjue worried that Xiao Rongyan might take advantage of a favor, especially since the Eldest Young Lady was about to ascend as the Empress of Zhou; if Xiao Rongyan held ambition, he might demand exorbitant returns.

Bai Qingyan had already reached Dadu City, and she knew about it. Today, Xiao Rongyan had not come, so she figured he was probably hindered by some matters. Yet she hadn’t expected him to come so late...

Since the Lunar New Year’s Eve until now, they hadn’t met again.

She thought, perhaps Xiao Rongyan was worried about her after losing her grandmother, so after dealing with matters, he rushed over.

"Eldest Sister, why don’t... I meet this Mr. Xiao?" Bai Qingjue’s gaze looked towards the entrance of Bai Mansion.

The candlelight inside the mourning hall cast her pale and haggard features in stark relief as Bai Qingyan tightened her side hand and said, "You focus on keeping vigil for Grandmother, invite Mr. Xiao in..."