The Prince Wants to Assassinate Me Every Day-Chapter 978 - 562: Negotiation Fails (Second Update)
Bai Mowan looked at Xiao Jinxing, her eyes still filled with surprise.
She didn’t expect Xiao Jinxing to speak so plainly.
That one explanation really tore apart all the pretenses between them.
She bit her lips tightly, not speaking.
Xiao Jinxing continued candidly, "I won’t hide it from you. I don’t know if it was because you were the one who once truly gave me warmth, the only one who did so for a very long time. I don’t know if this was the reason why I always gave you leeway. Do you remember how many times I left An Ning for you? It’s not that my love for you is so deep, nor that I don’t love An Ning. I don’t understand why I would unconditionally choose to protect you, as if it were a deeply ingrained fate within me that I couldn’t change, making me choose you without time to think in critical moments of danger."
Bai Mowan was silent.
Thinking carefully, it was indeed as Xiao Jinxing said.
She actually knew a long time ago that the one Xiao Jinxing loved was An Ning, not her anymore.
She was just always deceiving herself.
That time she was imprisoned in Beimu Country, in her urgent desperation, she blurted out that Xiao Jinxing loved An Ning.
Those were truly her inner thoughts, not just an attempt to lessen her own harm.
It was Xiao Jinsen who protected An Ning.
And now, hearing Xiao Jinxing speak that way, she also thought about why Xiao Jinxing would unconditionally choose her.
Was it really just because of past promises and guilt towards her?
But An Ning had also given quite a lot to Xiao Jinxing.
Speaking of gratitude and repayment, Xiao Jinxing should be more inclined to do so for An Ning, not just for her.
Yet Xiao Jinxing indeed repeatedly left An Ning aside, repeatedly saving her.
Xiao Jinxing couldn’t understand.
Nor could Bai Mowan.
"Today I make my words clear to you, to tell you that even now when we have become this way—no matter if you hate me, no matter if I have to act against you or your Bai Family to protect An Ning—I don’t want you to die by my hands. I hope I can fulfill the promise I once made to you, to protect you thoroughly for a lifetime," Xiao Jinxing’s voice was cold but clear.
Bai Mowan looked up at Xiao Jinxing.
Xiao Jinxing could actually speak to this extent.
He admitted it so openly, admitting that he truly would act against her, truly against the Bai Family.
"Xing Brother," Bai Mowan called him.
Calling him affectionately like when they were children.
Since Xiao Jinxing said today they were not Emperor and concubine but childhood playmates.
Then she needed no more concealment.
This was her final trust in Xiao Jinxing.
"What do you want me to do?" Bai Mowan asked him calmly.
"The Bai Family holds an army of 500,000, already a threat to the court. From the stance of any Emperor, one would be wary. Indeed, my father, even the Supreme Emperor indulged in the Bai Family’s military power, that was because of the wartime chaos the Daxuan Kingdom experienced, leading to the necessity of granting all military command to the Bai Family to defend the country. However now, with peace at the border, I have nurtured other generals capable of standing on their own, the Bai Family truly cannot continue holding my military power, becoming a threat to me."
So Xiao Jinxing meant for the Bai Family to voluntarily relinquish military power.
Once military power was relinquished, the Bai Family would no longer have the ability to threaten Xiao Jinxing, nor An Ning.
Xiao Jinxing wanted to use this gentle strategy to win over the Bai Family without expending a single soldier.
Bai Mowan did not get angry.
From Xiao Jinxing’s standpoint, he naturally had his considerations, he naturally didn’t want to provoke any turmoil; any turmoil could threaten his regime, he had his considerations.
She merely asked him blandly, "If I let my brother relinquish military power, can you truly ensure peace for the Bai Family for a lifetime?"
"I guarantee it," Xiao Jinxing affirmed.
"But will An Ning let go of her hatred for me?" Bai Mowan asked again.
"She will," Xiao Jinxing stated firmly, "Ultimately, you and she have no personal animosities, all grievances stem from me, and have nothing to do with her."
"Nothing to do with her?" Bai Mowan laughed self-deprecatingly, "If not for her, how would we have ended up in today’s situation? How could the feelings between us have severed so sharply? Saying it has nothing to do with her really clears her of all relations."
"Our feelings severing does indeed have to do with An Ning," Xiao Jinxing admitted, "But it also relates to your choice of Xiao Jinsen back then. If you hadn’t chosen him back then, I wouldn’t have married An Ning, and not marrying her wouldn’t have led to so many subsequent events."
"So in the end, Xing Brother is still protecting An Ning."
"Not protecting, just stating the facts."
"Yet even so, I can’t bring myself to believe anymore," Bai Mowan stated her stance, "The Bai Family, through generations, created the Bai Family Army, defending the Daxuan Kingdom, creating a myth of a generation. With one word from the Emperor, you expect the Bai Family’s generations of toil to be handed over willingly. Don’t you consider it selfish?!"
"Wan’er, do you understand the logic of the difference between ruler and subject? Under Daxuan, all belongs to me! The Bai Family Army you claim was created by the Bai Family was never the Bai Family’s from the start, it is the Emperor’s army. If you hold such views, you already harbor intentions of rebellion." Xiao Jinxing spoke each word with crisp clarity, without being tactful, "And rebellion is a capital crime! Irreconcilable with the laws of Heaven."
Irreconcilable with the laws of Heaven?!
Was it a reminder to her that what she’s doing now defies the laws of Heaven?!
Yes.
Under the whole heaven, everything belongs to Xiao Jinxing.
That’s exactly why she wants to seize Xiao Jinxing’s regime to make it her own.
"Xing Brother, the Bai Family’s military authority, Wan’er cannot be the master of it, nor can she persuade her brother to hand it over to you. The Bai Family does not harbor thoughts of rebellion; the Bai Family merely chooses self-preservation while defending the kingdom. Throughout millennia of history, those Great Generals who relinquished military power voluntarily met with no good end. I’ll not hide it from you, Xing Brother, Wan’er has been through one such experience, and would absolutely not repeat it in this life!" Bai Mowan made her stance clear.
In her past life, she trusted Xiao Jinsen, leading to the execution of her entire family, and in this life, she would never again entrust her life, nor that of the Bai Family, to anyone.
Xiao Jinxing remained silent. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
He did not get angry, his face showing no emotion.
As if in contemplation, yet also as if he pondered nothing.
Just sitting there steadily, like usual.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Xing Brother," Bai Mowan spoke up.
Between them, if they couldn’t unite as one, the only path left was confrontation.
If Xiao Jinxing could choose her over An Ning, making her the only one in the harem, then she might let the Bai Family yield without a fight, but even so, she could never relinquish the Bai Family’s military token.
Therefore, since Xiao Jinxing couldn’t bear to kill An Ning, how could she trust him, and willingly hand over the only thing that could protect the Bai Family, their military power?!
