Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play
Chapter 200th Heartache

Chapter 200: 200th Heartache

The whole banquet was filled only with the sound of wind passing through the forest, the firelight flickering in the evening breeze. Marquis An Yuan angrily said, "You’re deliberately treating Second Young Master as prey to hunt, aren’t you?"

"If Xie Jue is scared, we can forgo the thirty thousand suits of crimson armor. It doesn’t matter to us." Dugu Jing spread his hands. "The wager is one you agreed to. If you regret it now, there’s not much we can say!"

Such an idiotic provocation wouldn’t fool him, let alone my Second Brother.

"Fine!" Xie Jue agreed to the wager.

Xie Xun, "..."

"Direct and decisive!" Dugu Jing, worried that Xie Jue might change his mind, bowed to Emperor Jianming. "Your Majesty Yanyang, please serve as witness—Xie Jue has accepted the wager, and life and death are left to fate."

Emperor Jianming hesitated slightly. "Is the crimson armor truly essential?"

For Ningzhou’s borders, it was indispensable! Though negotiations had secured the crimson armor, constructing the fortifications in the disputed territories would take years, fraught with unpredictability. Xie Jue merely wanted to quickly equip the cavalry with the armor.

Using his own life in exchange for thirty thousand suits of crimson armor—it was a very worthwhile deal.

Besides, he wasn’t necessarily doomed to lose!

Xie Jue stood and bowed to Emperor Jianming. "Your Majesty, my mind is made up. Life and death are ordained, wealth and fortune lie with Heaven. I am without resentment."

Fang Chuning was furious. He glared at Xie Jue; if eyes could kill, Fang Chuning would have slain him on the spot. Yet Xie Jue avoided Fang Chuning’s gaze and remained indifferent.

The decision was final, with no room for negotiation!

"I’ll go hunting with Second Brother!" Seeing the matter settled, Xie Xun could only strive to accompany Xie Jue on the hunt. As long as he was there, he would never let Dugu Jing approach Second Brother even a step.

"It’s not your turn!" Fang Chuning curtly rejected. "I’ll go!"

"When was it ever your turn? I’m his blood brother!" With only one slot for a military general available, Xie Xun refused to yield to Fang Chuning. It was his Second Brother; he wouldn’t feel at ease leaving someone else to protect him.

"With that leg dragging you down, stop fighting with me!"

"Even with a crippled leg, I can still beat you."

"Come on, whoever wins gets to decide!"

"Fine, let’s fight!"

Xie Xun and Fang Chuning refused to back down!

The civil officials were shocked; they had never seen people scrambling to court death. Dugu Jing’s plan was laid bare. That Xie Xun was so insistent was one thing, but why would Fang Chuning want to die as well? Emperor Jianming’s face turned grim.

Dugu Jing looked on as if enjoying a show. Xie Jue’s voice was calm: "Zhixu!"

"Did you hear that? Second Brother picked me." Xie Xun scoffed. "Of course his own brother is more reliable."

Fang Chuning, who had been agitated, surprisingly calmed down upon hearing Xie Jue’s voice. The hint of a mocking arch in his brow conveyed: You really don’t understand Xie Jue at all.

"Fang Chuning will join me on the hunt!" Xie Jue made the final decision.

Xie Xun abruptly turned to look at Xie Jue. "Second Brother?"

Dugu Jing burst into laughter, arrogantly mocking, "Suit yourself; just another defeated opponent anyways!"

"Such arrogant nonsense!" Fang Chuning and Xie Xun retorted in unison. No matter how fiercely they bickered, they always united against outside opposition.

Dugu Jing, now shadowed in resentment, was guarded one-on-one by Fang Chuning in the forest. Fang Chuning stuck closely to Xie Jue, and Dugu Jing, enjoying the irony, was even happier to let Fang Chuning join. They were so keen on being glued together—why not send them both to Huangquan to keep each other company?

The hunting arrangement between Xie Jue and Dugu Jing was finalized. When Marquis Zhenbei and Xie Zhang heard the news, they surprisingly took it calmly. Once negotiations were underway, every step Xie Jue took had been meticulously calculated. Marquis Zhenbei and Xie Zhang trusted that Xie Jue had weighed his decisions carefully.

After selecting Fang Chuning, the remainder included three of his Shadow Guards and Feng Shu’s personal guard, Chen Lin. Once the team was decided, Xie Jue led them to the tent for discussion.

Xie Xun, feeling dejected and dispirited, sat alone by the river, playing the flute. Under the dazzling, bright starlight, fireflies danced among the grasses by the riverbank, resembling scattered sparks of starlight.

Hearing footsteps, Xie Xun stopped playing and said coldly, "I told you not to bother me."

"So impatient?" Fengyu’s calm, crisp voice drifted over with the evening breeze. Xie Xun turned back to see Third Miss draped in a pale white satin cloak, standing in silvery light and smiling at him.

Xie Xun shot a sharp glance at the retreating figures of Feiying and Nuanyang behind her, who avoided his gaze guiltily. Xie Xun put away his jade flute and pulled Fengyu toward him as they both sat on a rock.

"The flute melody is truly beautiful."

Xie Xun’s expression was somber. "It seems all I can do is play the flute."

Fengyu could sense the anguish of his unrealized ambitions. Her chest tightened as she noticed his despondency. Seeing the teardrops clouding her gaze, Xie Xun chuckled and asked, "Why are you crying?"

"I feel sorry for you." For the first time, Fengyu confessed her compassion toward Xie Xun. This tender concern, more akin to a restrained admission of affection, stirred a wave of quiet joy that dissipated the anguish lingering within the young Marquis.

Those who love you will cherish what you cherish, detest what you detest. They will smile brighter than you when you’re happy, and grieve more deeply than you when you’re downtrodden. Those words rang profoundly true.

"Fool." Xie Xun stretched his hand to tousle her hair. It was as though he could sense Xie Zhang’s contentment and peculiar fondness for this; his elder brother often seemed to relish stroking Feng Shu’s hair. Xie Xun picked up the habit and found it addicting.

"Xie Xun, if it weren’t for me, you’d still be the Junior General exuding vitality and charm, not someone trapped in the Capital City. When Brother Chu Ning exposed your old wounds in public, it must have hurt deeply, didn’t it?" Fengyu lamented, her tone tinged with sadness. The guilt she harbored toward Xie Xun hadn’t vanished completely. Even though the young Marquis had once hated her enough to want to kill her, Fengyu bore him no ill will.

Ever since scheming to have her meet Han Ziqi, Fengyu had never held grudges against Xie Xun. If it were anyone else, she would have retaliated harshly, making them pay the price—just like how Imperial Uncle Lv had paid for the Empress’s mistakes.

Because it was Xie Xun, Fengyu never blamed him. Understanding his difficulties, she had even volunteered supplies. She was the reason Xie Xun had lost it all, trapped in the Capital City. Although she felt guilty and sought to remedy things, she had never shed tears for him—until now.

Today wasn’t like the past. Every thought of it felt like a knife twisting in the chest.

Xie Xun, "..."

"He and I have aired each other’s burdens many times before. When I first broke my leg and struggled to walk, in those bitter days, he often mocked me for it. At first, I was furious and full of hatred, but slowly I understood his intentions. My father, my brothers, and the loyal generals under my command all gazed at me with pity when they saw me gravely injured and barely mobile. Those looks pierced my heart like needles, even though they were full of compassion. On the Ningzhou Battlefield, countless men lost arms and legs. I got away with my life; what’s there to complain about? Brother Fang never held back. A broken leg is just a broken leg—so what if he mentions it? The more it’s avoided, the more it becomes an unspeakable taboo."

Recalling those days, Xie Xun remarked, "It seems a lifetime ago. I was proud and arrogant, consumed by conceit; struck down in my prime, my heart knew no peace. There was even a period of despair and self-sabotage. If it hadn’t been for Brother Fang, I wouldn’t have come to terms so quickly. Though I have regrets in my heart, and though I’ve resented you before, my leg injury has never been my sore spot."

Fengyu sighed in relief but couldn’t fully mask her sorrow. Although it wasn’t a taboo, she still felt his plight deeply. "I thought when he mentioned your leg in public, you would have been humiliated."

"Not at all!" Xie Xun, unbothered, calmly replied.