Chapter 244: Will You Be the Empress?

"Qin... Little Brother Qin..."

Xue Qinghe was clearly somewhat flustered, and her tone became stuttering as well.

Even though she had been lurking for many years and had long since trained herself to be unflappable and calm as water, her heart still couldn't help but thump wildly at this moment, having never had contact with the opposite sex.

This kind of thing had nothing to do with schemes, only with men and women, and also with experience; if it were Qin Jian whose hand was grabbed by her, he would certainly be very calm.

"Ahem... Your Highness the Crown Prince, I was just thinking about something, my apologies, my apologies..."

Qin Jian finally came back to his senses, hurriedly let go of her hand and stepped back, bowing to her with some embarrassment.

"It's a small matter, Little Brother Qin need not mind it."

Her voice and expression all returned to normal, impeccable, only those pitch-black pupils of hers flickered slightly at this moment.

The strange affection buried deep in her heart several years ago, the origin of which even she herself couldn't figure out, grew rapidly at this moment, like wild grass in spring, crazy and unstoppable.

"Come, tell Big Brother Xue, how did you plan the retreat for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."

Xue Qinghe wanted to hook her arm around Qin Jian's neck in a very intimate manner, but discovered that after not seeing him for a few years, Qin Jian's height had already surpassed hers, so she turned her hand and grabbed Qin Jian's arm instead.

Qin Jian moved a bit awkwardly, but was grabbed even tighter by Xue Qinghe.

Ning Fengzhi watched them walk side by side, his gaze becoming increasingly strange...

Qin Jian steadied himself and explained his thoughts to Xue Qinghe one by one.

After listening, a strange light flashed in the depths of Xue Qinghe's eyes and vanished, but on the surface, she appeared full of admiration—a total actress, at the level of a movie queen.

"Little Brother Qin's conception is like a horse galloping through the sky, it is truly too perfect..."

She did not stint on her praise: "With this mechanism and backup channel in place, no matter what kind of trouble your sect encounters, there will always be a glimmer of survival."

Qin Jian went through the motions: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is too kind."

"What 'Your Highness the Crown Prince'? I told you to call me Big Brother Xue!"

Xue Qinghe patted his shoulder, her tone somewhat... coquettishly angry.

Qin Jian was completely dumbfounded.

Ning Fengzhi suddenly felt it was a pity he didn't have any melon seeds with him; even he had never seen Xue Qinghe act so feminine.

"Crown Prince, please... no, Qin Jian does not dare to address the Crown Prince as a brother."

Qin Jian really couldn't understand what this woman was doing; it couldn't be just because... he grabbed her hand, right? No way, right?

"Little Brother Qin is a bit forgetful..."

Xue Qinghe leaned close to his ear, her breath... like orchids: "Don't forget, we still have an agreement! Big Brother Xue has never hidden the fact that he wants you... So this time, do you accept?"

Qin Jian watched helplessly as Ning Fengzhi's expression became extremely strange.

If it were just the two of them, he wouldn't mind countering, but now that his future father-in-law was watching, there was nothing he could do!

"This... let's talk about it later..." Qin Jian said with difficulty.

Xue Qinghe's eyes curved, and she suddenly took out a gold and jade tablet: "Little Brother Qin, take this; with it, you can come to the palace to find me at any time, no one will stop you."

"Take it..."

Ning Fengzhi said dryly: "This is a symbol of Qinghe's status; with it, not only can you enter the Imperial City, you can even enter the bedchamber."

Xue Qinghe's hand trembled imperceptibly.

"Then many thanks to Your Highness the Crown Prince..." Qin Jian took it and said dryly.

"Teacher, what needed to be said has been said, I will go arrange this matter now, Qinghe takes his leave."

Xue Qinghe performed the full etiquette before leaving.

But Ning Fengzhi, who had always greatly admired Xue Qinghe's gentlemanly demeanor, only had a strange expression at this moment; not until she had walked far away did he turn back to look at Qin Jian, that strange expression looking as if it could never return to normal.

"Uncle Ning, why are you looking at me like that..."

Qin Jian felt Ning Fengzhi's gaze go from strange to chilly, and then later, it became even more bizarre.

"Jian'er..."

Ning Fengzhi's voice became ghostly, somewhat chilling: "I see that you are not only going to be the son-in-law of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect... in the future, you might even be the Empress of the Heaven Dou Empire..."

Qin Jian... froze.

But as Ning Fengzhi kept talking, his gaze began to turn strange again: "Actually... this is not necessarily a bad thing..."

Qin Jian: "???"

"As the Crown Prince, Qinghe has indeed never appointed a Crown Princess; I never expected he would have this kind of quirk..."

Ning Dalao looked lost in thought: "If you become the Empress, then the Empire will have no heir, and when the time comes, you and Rongrong have a child and bring it over... the Heaven Dou Empire will be my Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's..."

"!!!"

Qin Jian broke into a cold sweat.

Is the thinking of a big shot really this wild!

"Uncle... Uncle Ning... I don't like men!" He couldn't help but shout.

Ning Fengzhi came back to his senses, eyeing Qin Jian with a strange look: "You don't like men, could it be that you only like Qinghe? Otherwise, why wasn't it a refusal just now, but instead saying something about talking later?"

Qin Jian was dumbstruck; this misunderstanding was never going to be cleared up!

"I understand, I understand everything..."

Ning Fengzhi patted Qin Jian's shoulder like someone who had been through it all: "Actually, I have always felt that Qinghe had too much yin energy, it was very strange; so he really is a woman's heart in a man's appearance, that explains it. Since that's the case, just treat him as a woman, don't be hindered by worldly conventions..."

What is all this? Has this big shot gone insane just to swallow the Heaven Dou Empire...

Qin Jian's eyes swirled: "Uncle Ning... I..."

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this for now, just let things take their natural course."

Ning Fengzhi looked very understanding: "I don't want to use these things to kidnap you; if you like it yourself, then go do it, if you don't, then forget it."

"By the way, the plan you just discussed with Qinghe seems to have some discrepancies with the one you gave me?" He suddenly asked.

Qin Jian sighed in his heart and had no choice but to accept Ning Dalao's "good intentions."

"Uncle Ning, it is actually like this..."

He explained: "After all, this is our sect's own evacuation route; it is impossible to fully trust the imperial family, so what I just told the Crown Prince was only an alarm channel. The real escape routes are actually two others; it is the so-called 'a crafty rabbit has three burrows'..."

A crafty rabbit has three burrows; hmm, I learned it all from Xiao Wu, this One Hundred Thousand Year Rabbit...

Ning Fengzhi smiled: "You think almost exactly the same as I do. I originally thought you would need me to remind you before you would think of it, but I didn't expect your mind to be so meticulous. Very good, I am very reassured."

"However, regarding Xue Qinghe, it seems you two really haven't reached that point, otherwise you wouldn't be so distrustful of him. It looks like... he likes you?" Ning Fengzhi said thoughtfully.

Qin Jian was covered in cold sweat: "Uncle Ning, can you stop dwelling on this question? In any case, I will not like men!"

Ning Fengzhi laughed, patted his shoulder, and said: "Then that is that. I should be going too. You and Rongrong get along well. Regardless of who else there might be, if you dare to make Rongrong unhappy, then you had better weigh the fury of a father like me..."

Qin Jian shrugged as he watched his dashing, big-shot stride as he left.

This father-in-law is also a top-tier character; to think he could even come up with the Empress ploy. It seems that Xue Qinghe proposing marriage to Ning Rongrong back then might have been because he saw this point...

I posted a poll on whether Gu Yuena is the female lead; everyone can go to the comment section to vote (Qidian).

(End of this chapter)