Ning Zhiqing surrounded Ah Xin and shook Ah Xin’s hand from time to time, “Noble Lady Lin, will my father be fine, he won’t be caught, right?”
“No, he won’t.”
“Thank goodness.” Ning Zhiqing was relieved to hear Ah Xin’s affirmation and felt better. She let go of Ah Xin’s hand, but she noticed that her heart started beating faster again, and hurriedly grabbed Ah Xin, “Noble Lady Lin, let me hold your hand for a while, I’ll be nervous if I don’t hold your hand.”
Ning Zhiqing didn’t wait for Ah Xin’s permission, she immediately grabbed Ah Xin’s hand and pulled her. But she wasn’t relieved even after holding Ah Xin’s hand, so she hugged Ah Xin’s arm tightly before putting her head on Ah Xin’s shoulder with half-lidded eyes, “Noble Lady Lin, do you know any magical spell?”
Ah Xin glanced at Ning Zhiqing with a gentle smile on her lips and gentleness in her eyes, “Why?”
“As soon as I let you go, my little heart kept beating faster. Whenever I am staying next to you, holding you, leaning on you, I am not worried at all,” Ning Zhiqing looked up at Ah Xin’s elegant and beautiful face, “Noble Lady Lin, are you an Immortal, an Immortal who came down to the mortal world to save me? “
‘If you are not an Immortal, then why is nothing can overwhelm you, and everything seems to be under your control?’ Ning Zhiqing heard that Helian Zheng wasn’t interested in court affairs anymore and she subconsciously thought that it might be because Noble Lady Lin had cast some immortal magic spell on him. The other day, when Helian Zheng smiled gently at her for no reason, she thought about it afterwards that this matter is weird, and Noble Lady Lin weirdly appeared.
“Immortal?” Ah Xin muttered, “I’m not.”
Ning Zhiqing blinked, “Could you be… a devil?”
“No.”
“Then what are you?”
Ah Xin smiled and put her side head close to Ning Zhiqing’s ear, the fragrance of her scent made Ning Zhiqing felt a bit intoxicated, and then she heard Ah Xin say gently, “Currently, I should be a human being.”
Ning Zhiqing looked at the barely smiling Ah Xin up close and involuntarily said, “Noble Lady Lin, you have a beautiful smile.” She subconsciously stretched out her hand to touch the scar on Ah Xin’s forehead, “When I become Empress Dowager, I will order someone to find a panacea to remove your scar and I will bring in the best divine doctor in the world to heal your scar.” Such a talented, beautiful and elegant woman, she shouldn’t have such terrible scar on her forehead, she should be the best looking. Yes, Noble Lady Lin should look perfect, Ning Zhiqing thought that without this scar, Noble Lady Lin would look even better and unconsciously smiled.
“In the future you don’t have to sneak to the imperial dining room to fetch food, you can order everything you wanted to eat,” Ning Zhiqing’s eyes were filled with fighting spirit, “Noble Lady Lin has done so much for me, I won’t forget you, even though I don’t like studying and reviewing the memorials, but I understand your deep intention, the other day I read a saying in a book.”
“What saying?” Ah Xin really didn’t know that Ning Zhiqing would have so many emotions, this interesting soul who has awakened her was intelligent, and she loved to see her having better mood, becoming more dazzling, and self confident.
Ning Zhiqing cleared her throat and said, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime; it means knowledge is the best charity.” It is as if Ah Xin’s beautiful eyes hold a lot of wisdom inside, “Noble Lady Lin, we’ve known each other for such a long time, can I stop calling you Noble Lady Lin from now on? It felt like we are unfamiliar, and I don’t really like to call you Noble Lady Lin.”
“Your surname is Lin, my surname is Ning, we are very destined to each other, I’ll call you Ah Xin from now on, okay?”
Ah Xin can’t help but smile, “Naturally it’s okay, Noble Lady is just a title after all, you can call me whatever you wanted.”
“No,” Ning Zhiqing didn’t let it off easily, “Of course you can’t call me whatever you wanted, in this palace, only you and I can call each other by our given names, I’ll call you Ah Xin, and you’ll call me Zhiqing.”
Ah Xin saw that Ning Zhiqing looked very serious, she nodded, “Ok, I will call you Zhiqing.”
“Yes.” When Ning Zhiqing heard her call out the word “Zhiqing”, she felt a rising happiness, “Ah Xin, can you call me Zhiqing again?”
“Zhiqing.”
Ning Zhiqing pursed her lips and smiled, “Ah Xin, Ah Xin, quick, quick, it’s your turn.”
“Zhiqing, Zhiqing.”
‘Ah Xin, Ah Xin…’ Ning Zhiqing lowered her eyes and bit her lip, why she had this feeling in her heart, as if she should have called her ‘Ah Xin’, she glanced at Ah Xi beside her, her heart was beating faster, she didn’t understand what this feeling was, she only knew that she didn’t want to let this person out of her sight for the rest of her life. Since Ah Xin called her “Zhiqing”, she couldn’t forget the warmth that flowed to her heart. She didn’t understand what it meant, but she wanted to keep Ah Xin by her side, and she was the only one who could call her “Ah Xin”.
“Ahem…”
A cough behind her woke Ning Zhiqing up, she let go of Ah Xin and turned around to see He Qing. Ning Zhiqing thought to herself, she and Xin were both women and were closer to each other, so why should she let her go? She quickly hugged Ah Xin’s arm again.
“Noble Lady Lin, Noble Consort Ning, Helian Zheng has already met General Ning, he and General Ning had a good talk, and finally General Ning left, he personally escorted him out of the palace door.” He Qing was very shocked. After all, a few months ago, he had seen the signs that Helian Zheng wanted to get rid of Ning Wuyuan, he never thought that a few months later, Helian Zheng would change his mind. It’s too much, right? He glanced at Ah Xin in front of him, didn’t dare to think about it any further, and asked her, “What are we going to do next?”
“Wait.” Ah Xin said a word that made He Qing even more confused, but he nodded in response, “All right.” Noble Lady Lin was mysteriously scary, and the events of the past few months forced him to believe every word she said. He didn’t care whether she was a human being or the devil, as long as he could avenge his beloved’s death.
“Guard He, do you still need something?” Ning Zhiqing noticed that He Qing was looking at Ah Xin with a complicated face, she felt uncomfortable, “If you have nothing to do, leave quickly, after all, this is the cold palace, if you met people accidentally, wouldn’t it be bad?”
“Right.”
He Qing nodded in succession, turned around and leapt onto the wall, and with another leap, his figure disappeared, leaving cleanly and neatly, making Ning Zhiqing feel more comfortable. What are you looking at? Isn’t this He Qing deeply in love with Empress Meng, why is he always staring at Ah Xin? Ning Zhiqing furrowed her eyebrows, could it be, was he also attracted at Ah Xin’s talent?
“Ah Xin, is it okay to wait?” Ning Zhiqing was a little worried, after all, they would seize the power from Helian Zheng, a tyrant. At that time, many ministers who had opposed Helian Zheng, was used as justification to be killed by him, their house was searched and their belongings were confiscated, so she was a little afraid.
Take a look at that Consort Xi, isn’t she Helian Zheng’s favourite concubine? Now she is locked up in Consort Xi’s palace all day long, and according to the information He Qing has received, she is having a hard time. Bai Xi had schemed against the Empress, Ning Zhaing, and other four consorts, and she never expected she would ended up being under house arrest at Consort Xi’s Palace by Helian Zheng.
Ah Xin shook Ning Zhiqing’s hand, “Zhiqing don’t worry, I am here, this position of Empress Dowager will be yours. No need to fear Helian Zheng, since you have free time to think nonsense, why don’t you go and read two more memorials to exercise.”
Ning Zhiqing slapped her forehead in frustration, reading the memorials, again!
Zhiqing knew how earnest Ah Xin was, and she didn’t want to disappoint Ah Xin, so she went to read the memorials. As she flipped through the memorials, she wondered inwardly, ‘When had I ever been so well-behaved?’ She didn’t seem to have ever disobeyed Ah Xin at all, whenever she was told by her to do something. Oh, maybe it was because she had promised to listen to Ah Xin, which wasn’t really a wonderful promise, she was really panicking at the time before, so she sold herself out completely, yet she wasn’t opposing her at all, and contrary to her expectations, somehow, she was very happy?
Within two days, Ning Zhiqing finally understood why Ah Xin told her to wait. After hearing He Qing constant news, she was shocked. After Helian Zheng summoned her father, he went to the court the next day and was furious for some reason, disposing several ministers at once.
After that, he ordered Ning Wuyuan to investigate the Bai family thoroughly, saying that the Bai family was probably harbouring evil intentions and that Ning Wuyuan must find evidence of the Bai family’s wrong doing. In the end, Ning Wuyuan found evidence that the Bai family had framed Prime Minister Meng and Imperial Teacher Lin, which were actually authorized by Helian Zheng, intentionally or unintentionally, to do so.
However, after seeing the evidence, Helian Zheng didn’t say a word and without the slightest doubt, he convicted the Bai family of making false charges for the loyal officials and sentenced the entire Bai family to death. He issued a decree, and the next day he had the entire Bai family killed, ccompletelynot leaving any leeway.
“Haha… Good killings.” Helian Zheng laughed wildly in his bedchamber, “I really didn’t expect that the entire Bai family’s loyalty to me was less than thirty, which shows that they had a disloyal heart for so long.”
“Anyway, Ning Wuyuan surprised me, eighty-five loyalty value, fortunately you are bound to me, I haven’t had time to dispose Noble Lady Ning. Otherwise, there are so many people in the court who were disloyal to me, I would have thought they were my loyal ministers ah. These people, they are really too good at acting.” The corners of Helian Zheng’s mouth were drawn with a cold smile, “No wonder when I wanted to investigate Imperial Teacher Lin and Prime Minister Meng, they didn’t dare to say a word, so they wanted me to personally behead my loyal ministers ah. It’s a pity that I didn’t know this earlier, I wouldn’t have them killed.”
The system spat to itself, ‘Of course nobody dared to stop you, because you are a tyrant, who dares to stop you? The Bai family is really your lackey, you are moody and unpredictable, it’s good that they have 30 loyalty value to you, if it wasn’t for the benefits of following you, they probably wouldn’t even have 30. The Bai family’s and Bai Xi’s loyalty values were their true value, the system hasn’t tampered with it, 100% genuine.
The Evil God’s tactics also chilled the system. This was really a wonderful move, they don’t need to do extra things, simply exposing the loyalty and sincerity of his lackeys, Helian Zheng couldn’t tolerate less than 50 loyalty values at all, and even those lackeys who had helped him with countless evil deeds couldn’t escape his execution.
There was a major purging in the royal court. Ning Zhiqing found out as Helian Zheng wiped out all his henchmen with no mercy, and her entire body felt chill.
“This person…” Ning Zhiqing pursed up her lips, “is extremely brutal.”
Ah Xin turned around, and in front of her was a bloodless, palr-lipped Ning Zhiqing, holding her cold hand, “There are very few people who sit in high places who are not brutal. What you can see is what they are willing to expose to you, what they don’t want you to see will never be exposed.”
“Zhiqing, when you become Empress Dowager, you will also hold the power of life and death, and if you find that all the people around you have second thoughts about you, you won’t be able to help yourself unless you kill and replace them with those who are very loyal to you.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” Ning Zhiqing shook her head in a row, “I can’t be such a brutal person.”
Ah Xin smiled and curved her eyes, “What if they were to harm someone you cared about? What if they joined hands and conspire to kill you, the Empress Dowager, a woman who govern from behind the curtains, ruling in place of the Emperor?”
“What are you going to do, convince them with virtue?”
“I…” Ning Zhiqing was speechless, she listened as Ah Xin continued, “Regarding the imperial power’s background, since you are a woman who is in control of power, if you don’t kill some of them as an example, they won’t understand that you aren’t easy to be bullied. “
“I… Am unsuitable to be Empress Dowager.”
Ah Xin lowered her eyes and spoke gently, “Have you forgotten your first day in the cold palace? Even if all you wanted to do was to mind your own business in the cold palace, those who wanted to harm you will still come to harm you. If you don’t take control of the power, you, your father, your whole Ning family,” after a pause, Ah Xin raised her eyes to look directly into Ning Zhiqing’s eyes, “will be just like my Lin family, or Empress Meng’s Meng family. We will have to compete with the enemy to see who is more ruthless, faster and has more power.”
The vigour of Ning Zhiqing’s blue-ish lips never recovered, she clenched her fists tightly, yes, if she doesn’t become the Empress Dowager, has no power, won’t her fate be in the hands of others?
“Zhiqing, you can take your time to think about it, it isn’t easy to be a dynasty’s Empress Dowager, so when you’re ready, come to me,” Ah Xin smiled and held out her hand, “I’ll raise you up and stay beside you. I won’t let you suffer. I’ll accompany your growth, so one day you can face everything on your own and understand the true meaning of ‘power’.”
Ning Zhiqing stood still, looking at Ah Xin’s departing back, her chest felt tense, and she wanted to take a step to chase after her. She didn’t know what Ah Xin was thinking at this moment, and she could never tell what Ah Xin was thinking from her straight face. Will Ah Xin be angry with her and think that she couldn’t handle her responsibilities? Will she ignore her from now on?
But by the time she became the Empress Dowager, she really hadn’t gotten used to the idea of controlling a person’s life and death at every turn. Since she entered the palace, she has never harmed a single person, she grew up in the countryside until she was thirteen years old, she did not see much bloodshed. She has never punished her maids, but.. she remembered the reason why she was sent to the cold palace, her personal maids who looked righteous, took out her own stash of forbidden drugs, saying that she was going to harm the Consort Xi, and she was startled, she was very good to her surrounding, why did none of them prove her innocence at that time?
“Noble Consort Mother.”
“Ah!” When Ning Zhiqing came back to her senses, she saw that Helian Fu was saluting her with a smiling little face, “Fu’er, what’s wrong?”
“What is Noble Consort Mother thinking about?”
Ning Zhiqing pursed her lips, “Ah Xin said that when I become Empress Dowager, I will definitely kill some people as an example to those disobedient people, or else they will think I am easy to be bullied.” She hesitated for a moment and said, “To be honest, I have never killed a chicken, nor have I ever ordered someone to punish a palace maid with a board, and the concept of me ordering to take someone else’s life is somewhat hard for me to accept.”
“Am I so useless!? Will Ah Xin ignore me because of this?” Ning Zhiqing was a little panicked, she was actually more afraid that Ah Xin would ignore her than kill her, and she didn’t know why. She was kinda regretting why she didn’t step forward to hold Ah Xin’s hand just a moment ago, and why did she hesitate when she had already come this far?
Ah Xin spent a lot of effort for everything today, and her hesitation must have made Ah Xin sad. The Bai family deserved to be killed, and the Bai family was involved in Imperial Teacher Lin’s death. Ah Xin wanted a revenge against Helian Zheng, and that was the right thing to do, it was Helian Zheng who couldn’t tolerate Imperial Teacher Lin, so he didn’t even save his body, so Imperial Teacher Lin’s students secretly built a burial mound for him.
“It may be because Noble Consort Mother has not experienced loss yet.” Helian Fu thought deeply for a moment and said this, “So Mother would think that it’s cruel to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys – to punish an individual as an example to others.”
Ning Zhiqing was stunned, was it because she hadn’t lost anything yet? She thought deeply, and finally it dawned on her that, yes, she hadn’t lost what she cared about most, for example, her father, Ning Wuyuan. At that time, she promised to listen to Ah Xin, wasn’t it because Helian Zheng would kill her father? Now that her father became Helian Zheng’s confidant, she cowered a bit.
“Fu’er, thank you.” Ning Zhiqing patted Helian Fu’s head, “I’m going to find Ah Xin…” She isn’t afraid, she really is not afraid, she figured out that she wants to hold Ah Xin’s hand and go to the high position together, taking care of people whom she cares about, her father Ning Wuyuan, and Ah Xin.
Ning Zhiqing who had a blooming smile on her face, ran quickly through the cold palace and finally spotted Ah Xin in a corner. However, there was another person standing in front of A Xin, he wasn’t He Qing, but one of the guards under He Qing, who was originally a student of Imperial Teacher Lin, the man who secretly built a burial mound for him.
Why did he come here to find Ah Xin? Isn’t it always He Qing who send messages? Ning Zhiqing frowned, she felt uncomfortable, her steps became more careful as she quietly hid next to the flowers and sharpened her ears to listen to the conversation over there.
“These are the ones you used to like. There was nothing in the cold palace, so when I saw them on the street that day, I brought you some.”
Ah Xin glanced at the various snacks wrapped in greasy paper, beautiful beads and flowers in front of her, looking directly at the man in front of her, “What do you want to do with these?”
The man was stunned and said evenly, “I remembered and bought it for you, don’t misunderstood.”
“Tell me the truth.” Ah Xin’s flat tone made the man in front of him panic a bit, why is Little Sister becoming more difficult to talk to compared to before, “I…”
“Well?”
“I… little sister, I…” The man’s face was all red, he couldn’t say it, and Ah Xin said, “Can you smoothly express what you have in mind? If not, you can go back and organize your words, and when you are ready next time, you can say it.”
Ning Zhiqing, who was eavesdropping on the other side, stared at her and covered her mouth, she was afraid that she would laugh out loud. That guy was obviously interested in Ah Xin and wanted to show his feelings to Ah Xin, but he probably didn’t expect Ah Xin to be such a straight forward person, and scared his heart.
“Little Sister.”
The man took a deep breath, gritted teeth and said, “I know you are supporting Noble Consort Ning, I was pleased with you before you entered the palace, but unfortunately the Emperor took you into the palace with an imperial decree. Soon, Helian Zheng will fall, and when Noble Consort Ning takes the throne, can you… consider me?” After saying this, he felt as if the blood in his body was flowing backwards, but when he saw the woman in front of him was still looking indifferent, his heart went cold.
“Little Sister.”
“I got it.”
Ah Xin replied, pushing the grease paper-wrapped snack back to him, “I don’t consider.”
The man was stunned and quickly understood what Ah Xin meant, he looked gloomy, “As long as you’re willing, I can take you far away, to a place where no one can find you, away from this cold palace that has brought you harm, I can pamper you and love you for the rest of your life…”
“I don’t want to go far away, and I have no intention of leaving the palace, and I don’t need you to pamper and love me.” Ah Xin replied flatly, “I can take care of myself and live a good life.”
What else would the man want to say? Ning Zhiqing couldn’t hold back and rushed to Ah Xin, pulling Ah Xin’s hand and lifting her own chin, trying to look better than the man in front of her, “Ah Xin has already said that she won’t accept your heart, and now Ah Xin is still the Noble Lady Lin. Guard Yun, don’t forget the difference between you and Ah Xin’s status.” For the first time, Ning Zhiqing released her noble consort aura, “If what you have said were to reach other people’s ears, how much trouble and misfortune would it bring to Ah Xin, have you thought of the consequences?”
“I’m sorry, Little Sister.”
“I was impulsive, I shouldn’t have come.”
“I can understand Little Sister’s desire for revenge, and I will always stand by your side. Since you don’t want to, I won’t force you, perhaps our fate isn’t good enough, from now on I will just be a guard in this palace, a Noble Lady Lin’s loyal guard.” He put away the beautiful beads and flowers, leaped up onto the wall with the paper bag and disappeared.
Ning Zhiqing snorted, “Now the guards are becoming bolder, they even dared to come to the cold palace casually. Next time, we should talk to Guard He and tell him to control his subordinates.”
“Ah Xin.” Ning Zhiqing remembered what she came to do, she glanced at Ah Xin’s hand, this time she didn’t hesitate to hold it tightly, “You said that you would always accompany me, right?”
“Of course.”
Ning Zhiqing remembered what she had just heard, her heart was still a little uncomfortable, “What’s good about being outside the palace anyway? Isn’t it worse to be so far away with no fixed place to live? After all, in the future I’ll pamper you, love you, I can also take care of you.” Yes, she will be the Empress Dowager, a much higher position than that little guard, so why is she scared that she wouldn’t be able to take care of Ah Xin well?
Ah Xin looked at Ning Zhiqing with a small smile, “Aren’t you scared?”
“I’m not scared anymore.”
Ning Zhiqing understood just now why is she scared of Ah Xin’s possible departure and was restless at that moment. She was very grateful for that little guard, after all, he has made her understanding her feelings for Ah Xin.
As long as she became the Empress Dowager and controlled the power, Ah Xin will be hers.
Someone dared to oppose her? She will wipe the opposition.
Ning Zhiqing had a small smile and the corner of her mouth rose. ‘Don’t regret it, Ah Xin. You have made me realize how wonderful having the power is.’
This Immortal and Devil, term Ning Zhiqing said might mean that in Xianxia, there’s two type of cultivators, the righteous cultivators (being referred as Immortal after ascension, but then the devil cultivators after ascension can also be referred as Immortal), and the devil cultivators (who, depending from the novel, can be a good sect that’s actually being a scapegoat whenever some so called righteous sect do bad things and blamed devil cultivators lol).
First world:
Ah Xin: WeiWei, you have more unfinished exercise books to do.
Qiao Wei: …but I have just finished an exercise book.
Third world: Zhiqing, read more of these memorials exercise books.
Ning Zhiqing: …but I have just finished reading the memorials.
Congratulations! Your Ning Zhiqing is now blackened. Tyrant skill unlocked.
This chapter is when Ah Xin probably kinda strict to fl, well fl finally realized her shortcoming and is working on it.
Also Fu’er is a good son. He will get used to his mommies being with each other and get stuffed until full with the dog foods (mc and fl showing affection) haha.
Fu’er: I thought the only food I will eat is human food, but I also ends up eating dog food.
And He Qing’s face when she found out his person actually dared to confess to Ah Xin: …. Are you crazy!? Don’t you know who she is!?