L'hibiscus comme peinture - Chapitre 26
After a while, just as Ao Jun was about to fall asleep, Yelü Ying's alluring voice rang out again: "Military Advisor Mo, don't you hate me? Don't you want to avenge Mo Family Village?" He couldn't bear her indifference, couldn't bear her treating him like air, but he had to admire her; she could still fall asleep like this in front of him.
Hearing his words, Ao Jun slowly opened his eyes, abandoning his dream, and said coldly, "What does it matter if I hate or not? As for revenge? Did the Crown Prince come here to make Mo Jun take revenge? Would you stand still and let me kill you?"
Did she hate him? Did she want to kill him for revenge? Perhaps she would have before! But after today's battle, did she have the right to hate him? And who should the more than 20,000 Cangliao soldiers who died hate? And their families seek revenge? This is the helplessness of war, but how innocent were the villagers of Mo Family Village! And her parents, they were also victims of war. In the end, it was all a tragedy brought about by war. And now she no longer thought about revenge or whether to kill Yelü Ying. She only wanted to end this war as soon as possible, and only wanted Yelü Ying and the Cangliao Kingdom to promise not to invade the Longxuan Dynasty again, and not to provoke another war.
"If I, the Crown Prince, stood here and let you kill me, would you kill me?" Yelü Quan asked with interest. He was curious to see how this seemingly cold and ruthless, thin scholar would treat him.
"No," Ao Jun replied directly.
"Oh?" Yelü Ying raised an eyebrow, somewhat incredulous that she would speak so bluntly, and continued, "Military Advisor Mo doesn't want to avenge Mo Family Village by killing me, the Crown Prince?"
"I don't want to." Just those two simple words.
Yelü Ying stared intently at Ao Jun with thoughtful eyes: he couldn't see through this person at all. He killed her parents and destroyed her home. Wasn't she helping Ouyang Jinxuan just to kill him and take revenge?
"You came here as a strategist, isn't it to help Ouyang Jinxuan defeat me, the Crown Prince, and to kill me to avenge Mo Family Village?" Yelü Ying asked, like a curious child with a strong thirst for knowledge.
"Yes, but no," Ao Jun replied vaguely.
"What do you mean?" Yelü Ying was furious. He leaped up and rushed straight to Ao Jun, staring down at him. He hated this way of speaking, hated this feeling of being out of control, hated this ambiguity, especially since the other party was his 'prey'.
"That's the gist of it." Completely ignoring the 'Shura' before her, Ao Jun yawned and said, "What exactly does the Crown Prince want with Mo Jun? Tell me quickly, it's almost dawn, and Mo Jun is really sleepy." She wasn't kidding; she really was sleepy. Dawn was approaching, and Ying'er would definitely come to wake her up, at which point she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore.
Seeing Ao Jun's dazed expression and constant yawning, Yelü Ying's anger suddenly vanished, and he felt much better. She was really cute, very...heart-fluttering. No sooner said than done, his devilish hand reached for Ao Jun's face. Hmm, a wonderful touch, so smooth, smoother than any woman he had ever touched. Yelü Ying was completely intoxicated.
*Slap!* Ao Jun slapped away the hand that was groping her face, her expression unchanged, her tone still cold: "Speak." Why did he touch her face for no reason? He's sick!
He hit really hard; his hand was red and swollen. Yelü Ying glanced at his hand, then casually flicked his sleeve and said, "Since Military Advisor Mo doesn't hate me, that makes things easier. It's simple; I just want Military Advisor Mo to be my military advisor."
Finally getting to the point, Ao Jun didn't even glance at Yelü Ying, and lazily said, "You want me to switch jobs?"
"Change jobs?" Yelü Ying asked, his curiosity piqued.
"So you want me to betray the Prince?" This time, Ao Jun kindly cleared things up for him. Talking to people from ancient times is such a hassle.
"Haha...that's right, I just want you to...switch jobs." Yelü Ying was quite good at applying what he learned.
"Impossible." Straight to the point, just three words; she never liked to ramble on.
This time, Yelü Ying was not annoyed. He put on a smile that could lure a child and persuaded, "Being Ouyang Jinxuan's strategist will only ever make you a strategist. But if you become my strategist, once we defeat Ouyang Jinxuan, you will be a prince of Cangliao Kingdom, second only to the emperor, and you will have endless gold, silver and beautiful women to enjoy."
Ha, you're even trying to entice her with money! Sounds good, right? Power, money, and beautiful women—these are things every man dreams of.
Ao Jun, abandoning her previous coldness, smiled slightly and said, "That sounds quite tempting, hmm... then I'll..."
The Strategist and the Princess: Battlefield Chapter Twenty-Seven - You Are Mine!
Ao Jun, abandoning her previous coldness, smiled slightly and said, "That sounds quite tempting, hmm... then I'll..."
After seemingly considering it for a moment, just when Yelü Ying thought she was about to agree, Ao Jun coldly said, "I... of course I won't accept it. Power, status, money, beautiful women... I don't care for them at all, nor do I like them."
"Then what does Young Master Mo desire? This Crown Prince will certainly grant your wish," Yelü said, suppressing his anger as he continued to persuade him.
"What do you want? It's very simple, and the Crown Prince can certainly do it. That is, the Crown Prince personally apologizes to the villagers who died in Mo Family Village and swears never to start a war again or invade the Longxuan Dynasty again," Ao Jun demanded.
“Oh, so Young Master Mo is indeed a person who cares for his country and its people. But as far as I know, Young Master Mo is not really from Mo Family Village, and may not even be from Longxuan Kingdom at all. Now that you say this, I can take it as a strategic retreat to advance, wanting more.” Yelü Ying raised an eyebrow after hearing Ao Jun’s request.
He had already ordered an investigation into Mo Jun, but no matter how hard he investigated, he couldn't find out where she came from. It was as if she had appeared out of thin air; everything about her was a mystery. The only thing he was certain of was that she wasn't originally from Mo Family Village, but had only arrived there two months ago. Was her appearance in this place at this time an accident or did she have a purpose?
“I am indeed not from Mo Family Village, nor from the Longxuan Dynasty.” He paused for a moment, then said firmly, “But I will not allow anyone to harm the Longxuan Dynasty.”
Although surprised that Ao Jun so frankly admitted that he was not a member of the Longxuan Dynasty, Yelü Ying remained calm and said, "Since you are not a member of the Longxuan Dynasty, what does it matter to you what happens to the Longxuan Dynasty? If you want to become famous, come and help me. Fight for the world with me, and I can give you everything you want."
"Although I am not a member of the Longxuan Dynasty, the most important people in my life are now members of the Longxuan Dynasty. Therefore, I will not allow anything to destroy this country. As for fame and fortune, I have no interest in that."
"An important person? Who?" Yelü Ying pressed, a surge of anger rising within him upon hearing her mention an important person, but he didn't want to delve into why he reacted that way.
“It’s none of your business,” Ao Jun said coldly.
"How can it be none of my business? Once I kill the most important person to you, you can come and help me without any worries." Yelü Ying smiled enchantingly, his words carrying a seductive quality.
"You can't kill her," Ao Jun said confidently. With Ouyang Zhengxuan around, Xue would be absolutely safe; she had great faith in this brother-in-law she had never met.
"So confident? Could he be... Ouyang Jinxuan?" Yelü Ying didn't know why he thought of Ouyang Jinxuan. They were both men, so why did he think that Ouyang Jinxuan was the most important person to Mo Jun?
Before he could even utter the name 'Ouyang Jinxuan,' Ao Jun coldly interrupted, 'No need to guess. Even if you do, it won't help. If you really have the ability to kill her, then the next moment, my sword will pierce your body.'
The sharp killing intent made Yelü Ying's heart tremble. Mo Jun was not as simple as he thought, but he still said indifferently, "Kill me? Can you kill me? Just agree to my request!"
Whether or not I can kill, we'll only know after trying, but I hope it doesn't happen. I don't like killing.
"Haha... What arrogance!" Yelü Ying laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, then said with a wicked smile, "Young Master Mo, you should know that there are only two kinds of people around me: my friends and my enemies. And the fate of being my enemy will be worse than death. Someone as brilliant and intelligent as you should not choose a path of no return."
“I don’t consider myself a smart person, and I don’t want to be either your friend or your enemy. I just want you to stop the war. If you agree, the Longxuan Dynasty’s army can withdraw immediately,” Ao Jun promised. She knew that Jin Xuan didn’t want war either, so she made this promise on his behalf, as long as Yelü Ying agreed not to start another war.
"Impossible. If I don't defeat Ouyang Jinxuan, I will fight forever." Yelü Ying refused outright. Tomorrow, tomorrow he could defeat Ouyang Jinxuan, and he could make the whole world look at him with new eyes, and he himself would look at him with new eyes.
“You started this war because of Jinxuan,” Ao Jun asserted.
"Jinxuan?" Yelü Ying wasn't surprised that she knew his thoughts, because he never hid them, but the word "Jinxuan" made him very unhappy. His red eyes narrowed again: "It seems that Young Master Mo and Ouyang Jinxuan have a good relationship! It should be more than just a relationship between a commander and a strategist!" Even an idiot could tell what that ambiguous tone meant.
However, some people are even more idiotic than idiots when it comes to this.
“My relationship with Jinxuan is indeed more than just that of commander-in-chief and strategist, so what? Precisely because of that, do you think I would betray Jinxuan and follow you?” Ao Jun continued Yelü Ying’s words, oblivious to the situation. That’s right! After tonight’s conversation, in her heart, Jinxuan was indeed her friend.
But Yelü Ying heard it differently. He probably hadn't expected her to be so 'frank' about their 'unusual relationship,' and was first taken aback, then burst into laughter, though the laughter didn't reach his eyes. He laughed as he said, "I never expected that Ouyang Jinxuan would like this! No wonder he's so aloof from women, it turns out… haha…" After laughing for a while, just as Ao Jun was wondering if he was going to laugh himself to death, he suddenly stopped, gave a wicked smile, and deliberately rubbed his hand against Ao Jun's face, gently saying, "Although I'm not into that, if it's you, this Crown Prince would be quite willing." He leaned close to Ao Jun's ear with a wicked smile and breathed, "I'll be gentler than Ouyang Jinxuan."
Ao Jun felt ticklish from his teasing and pushed him away, saying, "I can hear you, don't get so close, it tickles!" She even rubbed her ear after saying that. Although she found his words a bit confusing and didn't understand what he was talking about, she had a feeling that this man was dangerous and that she should stay away from him.