The Foolish Agent

Chapter 114

"Xiao Jie, stop laughing, it's Xiao Xin!" Xuan Yuan gently patted Xiao Jie's back with his right hand, reminding her softly. At the mention of the child, Leng Jie reflexively jumped up.

"What's wrong? Don't worry, the child will be fine if he laughs like this," Xuanyuan asked with concern.

Leng Jie shook her head, secretly glanced at Xuan Yuan, then avoided his gaze and asked cautiously:

"Xuanyuan, if I'm hiding many things from you, will you be angry?"

"Uh! Has the sun risen in the west?" Xuanyuan unconsciously glanced out the window. In his memory, Xiaojie had always been assertive. Even on the way back from Beifeng, when she occasionally showed the behavior of a normal little girl, it was still absolutely assertive. When had Xuanyuan ever seen Xiaojie like this before?

"Are you angry because you're not saying anything?" Leng Jie asked worriedly, her gaze never daring to meet Xuan Yuan's.

"What did Xiao Jie do to offend me? Why don't you dare look me in the eye when you speak?" Xuan Yuan asked in a dangerous tone, his phoenix eyes flashing with a half-smile.

Leng Jie's heart skipped a beat involuntarily, and she awkwardly looked up into Xuan Yuan's eyes. Seeing the teasing smile in his eyes, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him before solemnly asking:

"If I said the child in my belly is yours, would you think I'm trying to cheat on you like Lin Yin'er did?"

Having spoken, Leng Jie felt a great sense of relief. She stared intently at Xuan Yuan's reaction. His face suddenly darkened, and Leng Jie's heart sank. She involuntarily shifted closer to the bed, bracing herself for Xuan Yuan's furious roar.

"Xiaojie, how could you make such a comparison! I already said back in Beifeng that I am this child's father. So, you're not allowed to say anything about being a bastard or not!"

He roared, but the way he roared left Leng Jie somewhat amused and exasperated. It was obvious he didn't believe her at all! But then again, who wouldn't believe that? Leng Jie decided to put this matter aside for now and deal with other things first. So she said in a serious tone:

"Xuanyuan, let's not talk about the child yet. I want to tell you something else first. Didn't you feel that they became evasive when they talked about me? I'll tell you why now. But you have to promise that you won't get agitated after hearing it."

"Yes, you can tell me, I won't get excited," Xuanyuan assured him with a smile.

"How did you feel after seeing my mother?" Leng Jie still didn't dare to say it directly. She was really afraid that he would jump up in anger and reopen his wound.

“Although Ying had said long ago that you look a lot like Madam Leng, I was still taken aback when I first saw her. You two really do look so alike, even your personalities are similar,” Xuan Yuan replied truthfully.

"So you never considered that we might be biological mother and son?"

"When Ying first mentioned it, I did suspect that you might be the child abandoned by the Leng Xiang couple. But after hearing Ying describe the Leng Xiang family's attitude towards you, and considering how they treat even a mentally challenged child like the Empress like a treasure, I felt that they wouldn't be the kind of people to abandon a child. You're asking this because you're not really their lost child, are you?" Xuan Yuan asked in astonishment.

Chapter 141 The Grand Finale (Part 9)

Leng Jie nodded seriously to Xuan Yuan and replied solemnly:

"Yes, I am indeed my parents' biological daughter. And my parents have never abandoned their daughter. Because I have always been their only daughter."

After speaking, Leng Jie coldly observed Xuan Yuan's reaction. Xuan Yuan suddenly froze, his smiling face instantly hardening. His phoenix eyes widened as he stared at Xiao Jie for a long time without any reaction. Xiao Jie noticed he seemed to have even forgotten to breathe, so she quickly reached out and patted his stiff, handsome face. She asked worriedly:

"Hey! Wake up, are you alright? Is this really that hard to accept?"

Xuanyuan suddenly grabbed Leng Jie's hand that had slapped his face, abruptly looked up to meet Xiao Jie's eyes, and said excitedly:

"Xiao Jie means that you are Leng Xue's only daughter? Then you are my wife, my queen, right?"

Uh! Is he just excitedly happy? Her worries vanished instantly, but seeing Xuan Yuan's joyful and excited expression, a strange anger and an inexplicable bitterness welled up within Leng Jie. Cold, sarcastic words escaped her lips uncontrollably:

"Yes, I am the foolish queen you once tried to poison."

Xuanyuan's excited expression froze once more, even his right hand, which had been holding Leng Jie's delicate hand, suddenly fell limply onto the blanket. His phoenix eyes were filled with panic and helplessness. The two fell into a silent stalemate, their eyes meeting, but there was no sign of communication. Clearly, they were both lost in their own thoughts.

Leng Jie seemed to have returned to the time when she first arrived in this world; her mind was filled with the pitiful image of her after seeing her mentally challenged state in the mirror for the first time. She thought she had forgotten, but it seemed they still lurked deep within her heart…

Xuanyuan also returned to that time. After his initial excitement and shock, the scene of Xiaojie appearing in the palace flashed through his mind. He remembered their first meeting, when she saved him, and how he was only days away from poisoning her. Their second meeting, she angrily reminded him of his mistake. Their third meeting, she once again rebuked him. But all of that was to help him.

Everything she did afterward was to help him, to resolve the misunderstanding between him and the Cold Prime Minister. She offered him advice and strategies… and at the same time, he finally understood why she had always wanted to escape the palace. To escape him. He could understand all her actions now. But he had almost harmed Xiao Jie with his own hands, almost killed his own lover. Thinking of this, Xuan Yuan involuntarily shivered. Guilt and remorse instantly overwhelmed him.

Suddenly snapping out of his daze, Xuanyuan pulled Leng Jie, still immersed in painful memories, into his arms. Caught off guard, Leng Jie stumbled headfirst into Xuanyuan's embrace. "Sizzle!" The wound on Xuanyuan's back reopened, and his brows furrowed involuntarily. But his grip didn't loosen; it was as if letting go would mean Leng Jie would leave him forever. Even with only one hand, he held her tightly, preventing her from moving an inch in his arms. She murmured apologies repeatedly.

"Xiaojie, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."

When Xiaojie didn't respond for a long time, Xuanyuan buried his face in her hair. His voice trembled as he pleaded:

"Xiao Jie, please forgive me, okay? Xiao Jie, please forgive me! I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you..."

"What if I can't forgive you? Will you then keep your promise and give me my freedom?" Leng Jie suddenly looked up and asked quietly.

Xuanyuan trembled, staring at Leng Jie in terror as he frantically shook his head. Then, as if realizing that shaking his head couldn't express his emotions, he suddenly roared:

"No! No way! You are my queen, my wife! My one and only for all eternity! I will not set you free, nor can I allow anyone to take you away!" At the same time, he couldn't help but raise his bandaged left hand and hug Leng Jie even tighter with both hands.

Leng Jie suddenly felt something warm and damp on her arm, and she snapped back to reality. His wound was spreading. She tried to get up, but she couldn't move at all. She cried out in panic:

"Xuanyuan, let go quickly!"

"No! If you let go, you'll run away!" Xuanyuan stubbornly replied.

"Damn it, your wound has reopened!" Leng Jie yelled.

"So what if it cracks! Without you, I wouldn't even want my life. What's the use of keeping this arm?" Xuanyuan replied indifferently.

"If you lose an arm, I'll change husbands!" Leng Jie roared.

The suggestion of a husband swap worked; Xuanyuan's hands suddenly loosened. Leng Jie glared fiercely at the bewildered Xuanyuan, then hurriedly examined his wounds. The white bandages were completely soaked in blood. Blood had already flowed down Xuanyuan's hands onto the blanket. Leng Jie quickly pressed acupoints on his arm to stop the bleeding before getting up to fetch the medicine box. Only when she stood up did she notice that Xuanyuan's entire back was also soaked in blood. Her heart skipped a beat. After quickly pressing acupoints on his back, she angrily roared:

"You despicable bastard! Are you deliberately torturing me? Don't you know you don't have much blood left to bleed?"

Even as she roared, her hands didn't stop. Leng Jie deftly unwrapped the bandages, took out a needle and thread from the medicine box, and re-stitched, medicated, and bandaged the gaping wound. All her movements were practiced and meticulous, completed in one smooth motion. She put away the medicine box and released Xuan Yuan's acupoints. Inadvertently meeting Xuan Yuan's deep, yet guilty, eyes, Leng Jie's heart pounded like a deer's. Her cheeks flushed involuntarily, her eyes glazed over, and she lost her composure!

Xuanyuan was instantly captivated by Leng Jie's mesmerizing gaze and shy demeanor! He couldn't help but whisper:

"My wife, you are so beautiful!" He couldn't help but want to reach out and touch her flushed cheeks...

"Don't move!"

Xuanyuan stopped halfway through raising his hand abruptly, Xiaojie's excited voice interrupting his actions.

"From now on, you are not allowed to lay a hand on me. Otherwise, I will acupuncture your pressure points, do you hear me!" Leng Jie commanded.

This is his Xiao Jie, the assertive Xiao Jie! Xuanyuan nodded with a smile in response:

"Yes, I obey!"

"Husband, husband." She called him that smoothly. Leng Jie rolled her eyes at Xuan Yuan and said to him:

"Now listen to me, and you're not allowed to interrupt until I've finished speaking. Understand?"

Leng Jie decided to resolve these troubles decisively. As for whether he could accept it, she'd let him decide. Worrying was pointless anyway, because after her previous attempts, she knew that Xuan Yuan's thinking didn't follow her logic at all.

"Yes, my lady, please speak!" Xuanyuan replied sweetly.

Leng Jie couldn't help but get goosebumps. Then she swallowed hard, composed herself, and said seriously:

"The story begins three years ago. To be honest, if you hadn't ordered the poisoning of the idiot queen, I might not have come into this world. Therefore, I have no grounds to blame you. However, from the perspective of the Cold Prime Minister's daughter, she could never forgive you. Do you understand?"

Xuanyuan, bewildered by Xiaojie's words, looked at her blankly and shook his head, indicating that he did not understand.

"Uh! I don't think you could possibly understand," Leng Jie sighed. In fact, apart from her prophetic master, even she herself didn't understand how her transmigration had happened, did she? Leng Jie thought for a moment, then pointed to her body and said:

"Let me put it this way! The body you see now is indeed Leng Xinrui, the daughter of the Leng Prime Minister." Leng Jie pointed to the head and said, "However, the soul living inside is mine—Leng Jie's. It was me who woke up after Leng Xinrui drank the poison three years ago. But don't ask me how I got into her body. Because I still haven't figured that out."

"Then what about your body? Who were you originally?" Xuanyuan asked, grasping the key point in his astonishment.

"Didn't I say you could ask after I finished speaking?" Leng Jie said coquettishly, glaring at Xuan Yuan. However, she still answered his question:

"I was originally Leng Jie, from another time and space. A world that was hundreds of years more advanced than yours. However, our history has no record of your era. So, I don't understand what's going on now."

In that timeline, I was a special agent. A profession like the Lungmen or the Dark Guard. During a mission, a small error occurred. I was shot in the back and thought I was going to die, but when I woke up, I heard two androgynous eunuchs discussing something about a stupid empress.

Suddenly found myself in a completely new environment, and to survive, I had no choice but to pretend to be a phoenix and scare them. The rest is history, you know.” Leng Jie finished speaking in one breath, then looked at Xuan Yuan and said:

"Alright, you can ask your questions now. But don't think of me as a ghost or a demon!"

Xuanyuan stared blankly at Leng Jie for a moment, then asked incredulously:

"You mean, because you're not from our world at all, that's why you have so many amazing things that we don't know about?"

Leng Jie nodded in agreement, "Yes! You could say that!"

"Does everyone in your world know what you do?" Xuanyuan suddenly asked curiously.

Leng Jie was a little startled by Xuan Yuan's reaction. He seemed more accepting of new things than she was! How could he ask such a ridiculous question about such a bizarre event? Leng Jie really wanted to see what his brain was made of. She rolled her eyes at him and coldly replied:

"Isn't that a pointless question? Do you think every ordinary person possesses the skills of those people in Lungmen?"

"So that means I'm lucky enough to have married a super fairy!" Xuanyuan suddenly said with a smile.

Uh! The sarcasm in Xuanyuan's words was obvious. Leng Jie stared at him and asked:

"You don't believe what I'm saying?"

“I really want to believe you! But how do you explain Qingfeng? And your master? How do you explain that? You’re not trying to tell me that you’ve been lying to me all along, are you? But why would Qingfeng do this?” Xuanyuan said with a smile.

"What if that's really the case? What if Qingfeng and I did lie to you? What would you do?" Leng Jie's heart began to pound with unease again. Therefore, her voice lacked confidence.

Xuanyuan paused for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"I don't believe it. I had the people from Longmen investigate back then. You did indeed come from Wuyou Valley."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you!" Leng Jie felt like she was talking to a brick wall and replied angrily. Then she added:

"Then you'd better not believe what I'm about to say." Without waiting for Xuanyuan's reaction, she continued:

"Three years ago, I accidentally triggered a mechanism in the library and found a book and a map. I thought it was some kind of martial arts manual, so I took it. Later, after meeting you and Qingfeng, I learned about the Dark Guard from you. That's when I started to suspect that the book was the Dark Guard manual you were looking for. But at the time, I couldn't reveal my identity to you. Besides, I was focused on escaping the palace and starting a new life in this new world. So, I kept it a secret. Even Qingfeng didn't know. Later, after meeting Shiyu, I tricked him into giving me the powder to read the book. So, now you know why I know how to break the curse!"

Then, during those three years, the reason I traveled all over the country was to take over and reorganize the Dark Guard. Now, apart from Shi Yu's branch, all the Dark Guard units in Jinghe are under my control. Furthermore, when I was rescued by Duanmu Xingchen in Jianzhou, I learned that the Qingyi Sect was actually also a member of the Dark Guard. And Xingchen is the young leader of the sect. His father is the leader of the Qingyi Sect. Of course, they all think I was personally appointed Dark Guard by you. Especially that gold token you gave me, it saved me a lot of trouble.

But you can rest assured about one thing: I have never done anything that harms the environment or interests. These past few years, I've traveled extensively and witnessed the hardships of ordinary people. My only desire is to change their living conditions and survival status, so that they can solve their basic needs for food and clothing.

Leng Jie recounted the entire story of the Dark Division in one breath. Now, Xuan Yuan had no choice but to believe her. He was completely stunned, staring blankly at Leng Jie. Gradually, the confusion in his eyes turned into surprise, and then surprise was replaced by anger. He had trusted her and Qing Feng so much, but it turned out he had been deceived and used by them all along.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Xuanyuan suddenly looked up and met Leng Jie's evasive eyes, asking coldly.

Leng Jie felt a chill run down her spine from his sharp gaze, and he finally revealed the expression she was expected to have. However, her heart was not as resilient as she had imagined, and she tasted the sting of pain.

Before Leng Jie could respond, Xuan Yuan asked sternly, "Back in Jianzhou, Qing Feng deliberately set me up, making me promise to break off the engagement no matter who the other party was, as long as you disagreed. Now you're telling me this just so I'll fulfill that promise, right? So the child in your belly is his too? And all the concern you showed me along the way, was it all fake? You're right, you're really good at acting! I've been fooled by you time and time again, yet I was smugly thinking I'd won your heart."

Leng Jie hadn't expected that Xuan Yuan's change of heart would involve Qing Feng. She was about to explain, but Xuan Yuan didn't give her the chance. He was already roaring angrily:

"Listen to me carefully. No matter what, I will not let you leave. Even if you are already my empress, I will still take you back."

Leng Jie stared at Xuan Yuan in astonishment. His emotions were sincere and powerful, and she didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

Seeing Leng Jie's stunned silence, Xuan Yuan lowered his voice and said in a low, mournful tone:

"I only have myself to blame for having stolen my heart, so you must treat me with ambiguity! Even if it means becoming enemies with my brothers, I will not hesitate!"

Xuanyuan's sorrowful words deeply moved Leng Jie. She couldn't help but ask:

"Was it worth it? Don't you hate me for lying to you?"