Chapter 161 - 3.57

"They tried to insert some people into our ranks to dig deeper, and failed since we caught them before they were able to do anything." Xie Yongrui reported.

"Should we wage a war?" Xu Jiaqi was the type to jump on the gun as soon as possible. To her, everything was a calculation. She just needed to put the right pieces together. Then, the plan would work out in one way or another.

Xie Yongrui was silent. Nervousness was present in some parts of his expression, but he tried to cover it up as much as possible.

"Of course.. not alone. We will borrow the hands of another kingdom. If it's possible, then let's just wrap up all the other kingdoms and attack the Empire at once. It's not like that's an impossible thing to do." Xu Jiaqi assured him, letting him know more about her thoughts.

While she was stuck in the Land of Xi, not once did she slack off. As part of the prosperous Xi Kingdom, which was the world's largest port of trading and merchants, she obviously got the chance to meet people from all corners of the world.

She grew to learn about many things, and knew a lot of people that would be willing to assist her cause should this plan be executed for real. People who have been wronged by the Empire, those who dislike how they operated, and so on. There were many candidates that she could use to topple the very essence of the Empire.

It was possible to use brute strength to break the core. 

"I guess.. I will have to come back to Xi after all. But this time, I'll be bringing you with me, right? It should be a fun trip to have." Xu Jiaqi chuckled.

"..To see He Yiyuan?" Although he knew that his standing in Xu Jiaqi's heart was much higher than that man's, he was still quite affected in terms of his emotions that still ran rampant from time to time.

"Mhm. Don't get the wrong idea, we're just business partners. He Yiyuan doesn't enter my eyes in that sort of way. But he will be our greatest ally should he help us.. And I'm pretty confident that he will join us. He has been aiming to do this kind of thing as well in the first place."

The idea of having to meet He Yiyuan and rekindle a meeting with him again did not sit well with Xie Yongrui, but he knew to be the better person and not fret over this too much. He had to have confidence in Xu Jiaqi .

"Are you sulking? That's pretty cute of you." Xu Jiaqi laughed. Before she got closer to him, it could be said that she thought his character was that of a sly and closed off one.

But now that she had a deeper and more personal relationship with him, he started to reveal his true colors, which was absolutely not the same as her predictions.

Xie Yongrui refused to meet Xu Jiaqi's eyes right away.

"Now, now, don't be like that. The faster we finish everything, the longer the time we'll have to spend together happily. Don't you wish for that to happen?"

"Qiqi, you don't want to be an Empress, right?"

In truth, he was very scared. He didn't have any solid foundation with this woman named Xu Jiaqi. Not once has she proclaimed that she loved him, not once has she bound herself to him in status. What was he supposed to hold onto?

She went to the Land of Xi for five years. Even for someone like him, that was agonizing.

"Well... Sort of. Are you bothered by that?" Xu Jiaqi was an expert on literally everything but romance.

This was her first time having to properly think about her relationship and juggle in the factors of emotions and love with her life, so she was quite cautious and careful with her progression. She wanted to have proper communication with the man so that no misunderstandings would be caused, because she knew how bad that could go. She had seen so many loving couples fall apart just because they didn't have a good communication, even though they suited each other well.

She was hit with the influx of fear. Fear that now that she was starting to risk her own self to try and test the waters of a relationship, she would then be backstabbed and left behind. She didn't want to face heartbreak, but a major part of her treasured this strange dynamic between her soul and whoever the real identity behind the occupants of all her men was.

She knew that the man before her would probably choose to end his own life before risking hers, but the creeping fear was always there, looming behind her and trying to catch her off guard.

"Qiqi.. I'm just a bit .. never mind." Xie Yongrui sighed. He shouldn't be like this.

"..If you are jealous, then say it to me straight. I don't want us to have any sort of conflict." Xu Jiaqi strengthened her tone and spoke up.

Both of them were not stable in this relationship. Both of them were weak in this field, and there were many things that could easily go wrong if this continued on.

"..I am jealous, but I don't think that I'm in the right at all.. It's just my thoughts that are holding me down."

"You shouldn't be silent about those types of things. Xie Yongrui, this is a two mans game. You can't just hide everything and pile it up inside your heart because you don't want any confrontation with me. We're not children, we're adults. We're more than capable of holding mature conversations and settling this matter."

Xu Jiaqi hugged Xie Yongrui, caressing his back. She wasn't ready yet.

Not yet.

"Qiqi.." Xie Yongrui sunk himself into the embrace and sighed.

Xu Jiaqi pulled away, looking at him with clarity in her eyes as she swiped the corner of his mouth. Inching closer to him, she planted a deep kiss.

Xu Jiaqi: Sorry, I still don't love you.