Chapter 72: You want me to live well, is that the only reason?

Ning Jinli thought, she had, after all, already seen quite a few scenes.

Even he, an ancient person, is so calm and composed; what's there for me to be shy about?

It's not like I haven't seen him without clothes before.

Besides, it's just pulling down someone's pants to apply medicine—how could that be harder than her dragging four headless corpses alone in the suburbs' unfinished building in the middle of the night before?

Thinking of this, Ning Jinli calmly said, "Lift your butt a bit."

Xiao Qidi was very cooperative, slightly tensing his legs, lifting his butt, his waist and abdomen slightly suspended.

Ning Jinli bent over, untied his waistband, slowly pulled off both inner and outer pants, then also removed the wound guard at his waist and hips.

Thus his entire back, buttocks, and thighs were fully exposed before Ning Jinli.

Ning Jinli couldn't help but blush.

The scars from the burns overlapped with the whip wounds from when he was a Hostage Prince; on such an excellent physique, they weren't ugly but rather resembled a large artistic tattoo, adding a touch of wildness.

The burn scars overlapped with the whip wounds from when he was a Hostage Prince; on such a superb physique, they were not unsightly but rather resembled large artistic tattoos, adding a hint of wildness.

Noticing she hadn't moved for a while, Xiao Qidi wondered, "Miss Ning, are you scared because my scars are too hideous?"

"Oh no, no, they're actually quite nice," Ning Jinli blurted out.

Xiao Qidi was quite surprised.

She actually said... nice?

You know, as a child he was whipped until his whole body was covered in wounds, leaving scars all over his shoulders and back, and he was constantly mocked by others.

Suddenly a gentle touch came from his back, and Ning Jinli's voice sounded, "Does it still hurt? If it hurts, I'll be gentler."

Xiao Qidi softly said, "It doesn't hurt."

Ning Jinli then began to clean him up.

First wipe away the residual medicine with clean water, then clean thoroughly, and finally apply a fresh layer of medicine.

"When I was little... whenever I got beaten, my mother would also carefully apply medicine like this." Xiao Qidi suddenly spoke up, voluntarily recounting the past.

Ning Jinli's fingertip trembled as she recalled that, according to historical records, Xiao Qidi's relationship with his mother was very complicated.

Now that he himself brought up matters about his mother, Ning Jinli didn't know whether to chime in.

"By the way, Miss Ning, how do later generations evaluate her?" Xiao Qidi asked.

Ning Jinli's heart skipped a beat.

How could I say that?

According to the historical records that have been passed down, Xiao Qidi's birth mother is really hard to sum up, with too much disagreement and controversy.

"Or... when you have time later, you could go to my place and look it up on your phone?" Ning Jinli suggested.

Xiao Qidi fell silent for a moment, then said, "I don't want to look it up."

"Then why are you asking...?" Ning Jinli pouted.

Xiao Qidi murmured, "I want to know your opinion."

"My opinion doesn't matter, does it?" Ning Jinli pondered, "What's important is how you view her."

Xiao Qidi suddenly sneered, "Licentious and shameless, lacking discretion, her mind full of men—she can deceive anyone to satisfy her private desires, using any means! Even as a child she was like this, and now she's even more brazen, thinking I don't know about her shady affair with the Marquis Le An!"

Xiao Qidi suddenly sneered, "Wantonly indecent, lacking propriety, her mind filled only with men; to satisfy her private desires she can deceive anyone, resort to any means! Since childhood she has been like this, now even more wanton; she still thinks I don't know about her little affair with the Marquis of Le'an!"

Although after age twelve she suddenly fell from heaven to hell overnight, her childhood was happily spent under her parents' care; indeed, even if the following ten years were harsh, she was still fortunate to have Su Yi looking after her.

Therefore, no matter how hard she imagines, she cannot fully feel the misery of Xiao Qidi's childhood.

Born a Hostage Prince, at three or four years old his biological father abandoned him and fled back to Xuan Guo.

The only one he could rely on, his mother, later grew increasingly distant from him, even turning into enemies multiple times.

His whole life might have hardly known the warmth of familial affection.

He truly is... a lone soul.

"Miss Ning, you say, if I killed the Marquis Le An, would she be very upset?" Xiao Qidi coldly inquired, "And did I later kill him?"

Ning Jinli gathered her thoughts, "According to historical records, the Marquis Le An was indeed killed by you."

Xiao Qidi's eyes lit up, "When? How was he killed?"

"Probably before you unified the Six Nations... you had him executed by being torn apart by five horses."

Ning Jinli thought, if we combine the secret histories, when the Marquis Le An was executed, Xiao Qidi had already been replaced by the Puppet King.

And the Puppet King and the court powers controlling him needed to use his outstanding talents; if he wanted to execute someone whose death wouldn't harm the Puppet Group's interests, it would certainly be approved.

So saying he was executed by him is also correct.

"Five horses tearing apart?" Xiao Qidi's eyes flashed with cold light, even bearing a sinister, vicious grin, "Haha! Good! That's settled then! When the execution happens, I will certainly make that woman watch closely!"

Ning Jinli's hairs instantly stood on end, but she expressed no opinion, after all... it was those two bringing about their own doom.

"All right, I'll disinfect the wound protector and put it back on you." Ning Jinli said after applying the medicine and getting up.

"No need," Xiao Qidi said, pulling up his pants and sitting up, "the wound has scabbed, there's no need to wear it; this thing hinders my movement a bit."

Ning Jinli frowned, "No, if the scab gets accidentally scraped open again, the wound could still become inflamed."

Xiao Qidi pulled a long face, "I said I'm not wearing it, so I'm not wearing it."

"Lie down!" Ning Jinli said in a heavy tone.

"Get down on your belly!" Ning Jinli said in a heavy tone.

"Hurry up!" Ning Jinli glared at him.

For this kind of thing, she won't let him have his way.

Xiao Qidi's face alternated between gloom and sunny, but in the end he pursed his lips and silently lay back down.

"That's right, truly obedient," Ning Jinli smiled, "I'll buy you a milk tea later."

"That's right, you're so good," Ning Jinli smiled, "I'll get you some milk tea later."

Xiao Qidi grimaced, managing to say, "I'm not a child anymore."

Ning Jingli smiled and asked, "Then do you want to drink milk tea?"

Xiao Qidi's mouth twitched, a bit embarrassed, and he said reluctantly, "I do, the kind with extra pearls."

Ning Jingli's eyes smiled into a pair of crescents, "Alright, alright, got it!"

Then, with Xiao Qidi's honest cooperation, Ning Jingli finished disinfecting the shield and put it back on him.

After doing that, Ning Jingli finally asked him about the generator.

Xiao Qidi said casually, "There's still a bit of diesel."

"Just a bit? How much is a bit?" Ning Jingli asked, puzzled.

"Um," Xiao Qidi glanced elsewhere, "about… half of what you sent last time."

"Huh?" Ning Jingli, face full of surprise, "That would last a few days, right? Didn't you message me last night saying it was used up?"

Xiao Qidi said lightly, "Did I say that?"

"Sigh, you…" Ning Jingli was speechless, pulled out her phone and showed him the chat log.

"Here, look."

"The generator's fuel ran out, can't keep generating, please give more. Isn't this what you sent me?"

Xiao Qidi glanced at it, then, expressionless, let out a muted "oh."

Ning Jingli went frantic, "What does that 'oh' mean?"

Xiao Qidi said, "I'm a person from ancient times; the script I learned differs greatly from later generations. Though I'm now learning modern characters, mistakes are inevitable, so a few characters are missing. What I meant to tell you is that the generator's fuel is running low and will soon be unable to generate."

Ning Jingli was left speechless by his words.

At first listen, it seemed somewhat reasonable.

But… why does it always feel like there's a hint of sophistry?

"Little brother," Ning Jingli squinted, eyeing him suspiciously, "Are you hiding something from me?"

Xiao Qidi's eyes flickered slightly, but his tone was firm, "No."

He didn't want to admit that he simply missed her inexplicably, went to the factory but didn't find her, so he fabricated a pretext on the spot.

If he told her that, wouldn't she laugh at him?

That would be so embarrassing for him.

Ning Jingli kept staring at his face.

On the peerless visage of this young king, she faintly saw some insecurity and loneliness hidden behind his arrogance.

She thought for a moment, crouched, gently placed her hand on his knee, and said earnestly, "If you want to talk to me, just tell me directly, no beating around the bush."

Xiao Qidi tensed all over, his pupils shrinking slightly.

She saw it?

How did she see it!

"I don't want to," Xiao Qidi turned his head away, "I was just preparing for the future, and my wording was poor. If Miss Ning misunderstood, I'm sorry."

Ning Jingli stood up, "Is that so? Then I'm leaving!"

"Take care, I'm not seeing you off," Xiao Qidi still kept his tough mouth.

Ning Jingli stepped toward the outside of the camp tent.

Seeing her about to leave, Xiao Qidi clenched his fist, sprang up and chased, "Miss Ning, please wait…"

He couldn't figure out what was happening to him; he said that with his mouth, but his body wouldn't obey.

"Anything else?" Ning Jingli asked.

Xiao Qidi thought briefly and said, "The common folk miss you greatly; now this place is temporarily peaceful, I hope you can come see them more often."

"Oh?" Ning Jingli smiled, "Then how about I stay here for a few days?"

Xiao Qidi blurted out, "Very good!"

Immediately he noticed the smile in Ning Jingli's big eyes, and quickly added, "I think it's good for the people; if Miss Ning is inconvenient, I won't force it."

Ning Jingli said, "I'm fine; the factory has a manager, the antique company doesn't need me, the pharmaceutical company will have to wait for Yaowang Gu to recover. Staying here a few days is fine, I also want to give myself a vacation, consider it an in‑depth experience of ancient life."

"You have a few days to stay, yet no time to reply to me," Xiao Qidi muttered softly.

Last night, after he went to the factory to message Ning Jingli, he waited a long time.

But no one replied.

"What did you say?" Ning Jingli didn't hear clearly, asked.

Xiao Qidi said, "Miss Ning, where would you like to reside? I'll have someone arrange it."

Ning Jingli thought, "Just stay in this camp, give me a small tent."

A hint of joy flashed in Xiao Qidi's eyes, "Yes, Miss Ning."

"Because of the message you sent last night, I was busy until the early hours before I could sleep," Ning Jingli pursed her lips, "Anyway, I've already bought the diesel, I'll go over and teleport it now."

"Much obliged, Miss Ning."

"Then I'll go over; you quickly arrange people to prepare the transport."

"Understood."

Afterwards, Ning Jingli returned to the factory.

She not only teleported the diesel she bought last night here, but also brought Xiao Qidi several dictionaries and a specially bought extra‑large cup of milk tea with extra pearls.

"This," she said, "is an ancient‑language reference dictionary I ran to the bookstore for. Every character of your era can be found in it; study it well so future messages won't have problems."

"As you command, Miss Ning."

A smile lingered in Xiao Qidi's eyes.

He took the dictionary, flipped through it, and casually asked, "Do people of later Huaxia all use the same characters?"

Ning Jinli nodded, "Except for a few ethnic minorities that have preserved some of their own traditional scripts, basically the written language is all using Chinese characters."

"This is truly wonderful," Xiao Qidi sighed, "Here, just the seven major vassal states of Zhong Yuan each have their own variant script, and on top of that the other small states and surrounding tribes make it even more tangled. I've thought, it's the same character, why do we need a dozen different forms that only add difficulty to correspondence?"

Ning Jinli patted his shoulder, "You're on the right track; let me tell you, standardizing the script was one of the great contributions you made after achieving the great unification."

Xiao Qidi couldn't help but smile, "No wonder it's me."

"Little brother," Ning Jinli said solemnly, "so I really hope you can live well, don't let some bad elements of Xuan Guo get away with it; future generations should admire the real you, not that puppet."

"Moreover, even if you were harmed like that, locked in a pitch‑black underground cell, you could still scheme to achieve unification and found the Xuan Dynasty. If that hadn't happened and everything were under your direct control, how powerful could the Xuan Dynasty become? Huaxia could gain an even stronger foundation, and how far could our nation be in later generations? Think about it carefully."

The reason Ning Jinli said those things was also to urge Xiao Qidi to strive to fight history and fate.

The last time the two discussed this, Xiao Qidi was already firmly convinced it couldn't change.

His viewpoint truly was irrefutable, even quite consistent with scientific theory.

Yet Ning Jinli was unwilling to abandon any hope.

Xiao Qidi looked into her eyes and asked softly, "You hope I live well just for that reason?"

Ning Jinli was startled, "Is there something wrong with that reason?"

"There's no problem," Xiao Qidi said, his eyes slightly darkening, "Is there no other reason?"

Ning Jinli frowned, "It seems not... but isn't that enough?"

A barely perceptible trace of loneliness flickered across Xiao Qidi's eyes, and his tone grew considerably colder, "I understand, that's enough."

He sneered inwardly, "Just as I thought... no one I've ever met has ever truly cared about him himself."

In his childhood, because he was the son of the Xuan Guo king, he was a convenient hostage, so those around him would bully him however they wanted, yet always had to keep his life intact.

As an adult, having inherited the throne made him a useful banner; even if the court officials despised him behind his back, they still had to put in great effort outwardly.

Everyone cared about his situation, but what they cared about were only the titles attached to him.

Those people are like that, even Ning Jinli... is the same.

"Miss Ning, I still have matters to attend to; feel free to go," Xiao Qidi resumed his usual cold arrogance, turned and left.

"Hey, your milk tea!" Ning Jinli shouted.

Xiao Qidi didn't even turn his head, "I won't drink it."

"Fine, same as always, if you don't drink I'll drink it myself," Ning Jinli stuck in a straw, muttering, "Hmph, they say a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea, a woman's face flips faster than a book, women are a baffling species; I think, men are the same."

In the afternoon, a tent appeared in the Lin Xian Village camp.

It was erected by the soldiers using supplies previously seized from Yu Guo's enemy forces.

To make the Fairy comfortable, they used the finest cloth they could find inside and out.

At sunset, Ning Jinli arrived carrying some simple daily necessities.

At the same moment, several robust men dressed in ordinary Xuan Guo civilian clothes emerged among the continuous mountains outside Lin Xian Village.

Though the men were unremarkable in appearance and build, each possessed the high‑level skill of leaping over grass.

In the blink of an eye they vaulted onto a hilltop, faces unchanged and breath unlabored.

"Traveling day and night without rest, we finally arrived," the leader, looking down from his height, said coldly, "Rest here for a while; after nightfall we move. We must get the Yu Guo Crown Prince and Xiao Qidi over to our Senior Disciple!"