Chapter 68

5.12 - And then, you will leave

Now that the basic strategy had been established, and Xue Ling had a plug-in he could make use of, it became much simpler to act on many things.

Probably because the love that Zhan Shaoxi showed towards Wenren Hong was so strong, after the Emperor had married his sister to Zhan Shaoxi, he was much less guarded around the General. All the tasks that the Emperor had arranged for him were convenient and easy to accomplish, and it could be said that this Princess' husband was a favorite in recent days.

The Prince's movements has slowed down a lot during this period of time as Xue Ling would occasionally go to the palace to send the Emperor dishes to eat, and the poison that had accumulated within the Emperor's body had basically been neutralized. His Highness watched as his father the Emperor grew stronger and stronger day by day, and his frown became deep enough to kill flies.

Once their plan was delayed, the person who needed to do the most became Bai Changyan. During this period, he was so busy that his feet practically did not touch the ground. He always returned to the Prime Minister's residence late at night, and was even criticized by the Prime Minister for not being home all the time. Of course, some of this came about as a result of Zhan Shaoxi's actions.

What Zhan Shaoxi was doing was totally different from what he had said before. He was devoted to eliminating potential rivals like a furious storm. Since he currently had no way of making a move against Bai Changyan in the open, he could only find more things for him to do. It would be best if the other party was too busy to visit Xue Ling's shop.

Xue Ling was a person who already knew what businesses the heroine would attempt to do later on, and now that he no longer needed to deal with people personally, he was too lazy to go out and stayed holed up in the Manor. He plotted, and went out of his way to help people who were completely unrelated to him to earn money by teaching them new skills and technology to start new businesses before the heroine could come up with the same idea.

Although these new businesses and products all appeared in the Capital over a short period of time and seemed to be the result of someone's machinations, regardless of who it was that investigated, no trace of common ground could be found.

If the heroine could make money by taking advantage of her knowledge of modern society, then Xue Ling could also teach people from the ancient era some simple skills a little early. In a sense, this completely accelerated the progress and development of this world, but it was still better than letting the female protagonist become stronger and more influential.

It needed to be said that the task that the system had given Xue Ling was not only to change the heroine's love life, but also to completely, at 360 degrees with no dead angles, change all the protagonists' life course in order to regain the luck that belonged to this world.

Because of his previous intervention, the heroine currently had no way to continue doing business, and her connection to the Prince was very weak. She had never even met with Bai Changyan and Xia Yang, so they had no feelings for her at all. What remained to be done was to prevent the plot inertia from giving the heroine a chance to recover and randomly hook some businessman, Demonic Sect Leader, Emperor of Lin Country or some such.

Based on the original plot, at this point in time the Emperor of Lin Country was about lose his throne as the Princes were preparing to launch a crazy and dangerous war in order to seize power. The heroine's seventh man, the cruel and tyrannical yet somewhat sickly Emperor, was currently still a Prince that was hiding his power, and would not be able to ghost his way over to Xi Country in the near future. Xia Country was also not peaceful now. With Xia Yang's return, the country would change dramatically, and the imperial family there was expected to be in chaos for some time.

This is a good time for the development of the Xi Country. Xue Ling needed to spend a lifetime here, and he was not about to allow the country he lived in to exist in a tentative balance with other countries. Only with true strength would he have the right to speak out and remain untouchable, able to live a life of complete ease for the latter half of his life. Xue Ling was not so crazed that he wanted to be Emperor, but it was not a difficult thing to help Xi Country become stronger and stronger.

This body of his resided in the Capital, and carried the identity of a Royal Princess. He frequently went to the palace, and his relationship with his brother the Emperor was very good. He would occasionally use hypnotism to influence the Emperor to make some more forward thinking decisions that would allow them to become more powerful without triggering any suspicion. In fact, in part because his sister's recent intimacy and care, he even began to have more and more confidence in Zhan Shaoxi.

Thanks to Xue Ling's cosmetic products, the Empress' appearance had changed a lot in recent years, and her affection and love for Xue Ling had reached deep into her bones. She often invited him to come into the palace to chat with her, which made things difficult for Xue Ling, and he took pains to imply every time he went that he did not like the imperial concubines who acted like snakes in the dark at all.

The Empress probably noticed his dislike of them towards the end, and asked him to spend time with the imperial concubines less frequently. Instead, she often had snacks and refreshments sent to him. Every time Zhan Shaoxi entered his wife's room, he would find that the refreshments on the table were different, and they were all from the imperial dining hall.

Although Wenren Yingyue's soul had changed, because she had been suppressed everywhere by Xue Ling, there were not many places where she could make a difference. Her small business was still alive, but she could only use it to support her own Palace, and things were comparatively more humble elsewhere. Regardless of what new idea she came up with, she would somehow be able to find the same thing in the street, which rather frustrated Wenren Yingyue. When she carefully thought back to when things began to become difficult, she suddenly discovered a very key point.

So, one morning, Xue Ling was stopped by Wenren Yingyue just as he came out of the Emperor's Palace and passed by the imperial garden.

It had been half a year, and he had shot up quite a lot. He had matured, and the temperament revealed in his eyebrows and eyes was a bit more prominent. As a person who was bent but still maintained a normal aesthetic and was not a transvestite, Xue Ling had become lazier after getting used to life in this world and occasionally would not bother with make-up even in the Imperial Palace. The imperial concubines occasionally asked him about it, and he always laughingly said that women dressed up for the eyes of others, but since General of his family was so sticky, he liked to dress simply in order to make him a little less ardent.

Xue Ling leisurely sat down in the water pavilion, and even had the time to wave his hands and tease the carp swimming in the water. He smiled as he said to Wenren Yingyue, "My other brothers all left the world early, and even nieces like you are older than me. You don't have to be so considerate of things like courtesy to elder generations in front of me, if you have something to say, then just speak it out."

Wenren Yingyue pulled herself back from that smile, and said, "Actually, it is not a big deal. It's just that there was something that I couldn't figure out, and wanted to ask the Royal Princess to clarify."

"Yes?"

"Back then, why did the Royal Princess want to do... the rouge powder business?"

Xue Ling looked a little surprised, and then his laughter rang out. Hearing it, Wenren Yingyue was stunned in place, somewhat not knowing where to put her hands and feet as this had not been the reaction she had expected. She then listened as Her Highness the Royal Princess said, "That small shop, in fact, was just a sudden idea. The General felt that there was some meaning to it, and found someone to manage the shop. That was just something that the imperial hospital made after consulting some godly doctors from the martial arts world. They said that it was just something small that they fiddled with and created to amuse me."

"I thought that the effect was not bad after giving it a try, and gave some to the Empress. The ladies of the Palace also liked it, and I came up with the idea of making some money to subsidize the family income. I didn't expect the General to find someone so capable. I still find it strange when I look at the account books every month.~"

Wenren Yingyue almost had broken a mouthful of silver teeth from gritting her teeth furiously. Hearing her say it that way, it seemed that wrecking her plans had been completely unintentional, and it sounded like a misunderstanding that could be laughed away. But to Wenren Yingyue who was now in such a difficult situation, it was extremely uncomfortable no matter how one looked at it.

She was a person from the modern era. Losing to a Princess from the ancient period because of such ridiculous reasons?

A Princess who had no business sense, and rather had just done it out of interest?

A Princess who, because she was attractive and married well, could eat and drink well, and did not have to worry about anything?

Even if the person was even better looking, Wenren Yingyue could no longer care about her appearance. Her heart was full of the feeling that she had lost for a bunch of mysterious and inexplicable reasons; all her plans had died before they bore fruit at the hands of an innocent little girl. How was she supposed to accept this?

Seeing her face turn red, Xue Ling took advantage and added some fuel to the fire. "Why is the Princess asking about this? Could it be that you also like those things?" He blinked his eyes and added, "The Gongqin Palace only has the Princess and Princess Consort left, it must be hard. If the Princess really likes it, I can send the Princess a few more sets of the things." He opened his mouth and spoke slowly, seeming to be concerned, but in fact adding a sentence of provocation, "It could also be considered as compensation for my guilt over ruining the Princess' business."

At this moment, Wenren Yingyue was even more angry. This person was clearly not someone who knew nothing about her affairs. This expression, and this look, in what way did it resemble a clueless little white flower?!

Wenren Yingyue felt that she had been led around by the nose by a black hearted lotus. She gritted her teeth, "No, I don't need it. Although it is difficult to make ends meet, I can still buy the things I really want."

"That's good. Come to speak of it, if the Princess can pull together a good dowry for yourself, the Empress would also have one less worry."

"What dowry?"

"Oh, right. Princess doesn't know yet." Xue Ling laughed innocently, looking like a perfect little angel from all 360 degrees without any dead angles. "The delegation from Western Regions will soon arrive in the Capital. This time they came to find and marry a Princess from Xi Country in order to create an alliance with the Moran Country."

Wenren Yingyue suddenly had an ominous foreboding, and a chill began to climb up her spine.

"The Emperor and Empress consulted for a while, and felt that among the Princesses of suitable age, you, the Mingyue Princess, would be the best candidate for an alliance." Although he was smiling, his eyes were cold. "Now that the Princess knows, you can go back and tidy up, before preparing to receive the decree. And then, you will leave."

Wenren Yingyue felt everything in front of her go black.

unedited because i am late and ran out of time ;__; will update to an edited version later today~