Chapter 462: Headache
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
Looking at the appearance of this peerless beauty in his arms, Ling Tian could not bring himself to berate her and could only resort to helplessly asking, "Then, does your family know that the reason you escaped was to find me?"
"Of course they don't, why would they even care about me?" Xiao YanXue choked with sobs as she spoke, "But they should be able to guess…" As she spoke, she suddenly timidly gazed at Ling Tian, stammering, "You… you won't chase me back, will you?"
Upon thinking about this embarrassing and sensitive problem, Xiao YanXue could not help but feel some panic. While she had affection towards Ling Tian currently, she had never placed him in her heart all those years prior, and by the time she had a change of heart, they no longer had any contact. Furthermore, with her grandfather going forth to annul the marriage, it was something that any family, let alone the man itself, would feel humiliation over! With his current status, and with so many country-toppling beauties beside him, why would he even bother about herself, let alone take her in and shelter her?
If Ling Tian chose to ignore her, then what was she to do?! Or perhaps, if he decided to send her back, then what would she choose to do? Xiao YanXue could not help but be indecisive about this matter. The Ling Tian right now was in danger, deep in the enemy's territory at Bright Jade City. Her presence here would no doubt increase the chances of him being revealed. In such circumstances, would he really take her in?
Based on his character, he would definitely not give up on her, but could she trust him to do it? Her cause of concern for him was because he was in danger, and now she had become a part of his danger, a burden for him. How could it have become like this?!
Ling Tian rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming. He could only tepidly reply, "There's no need to worry. Since you've braved through the countless mountains and rivers to reach here, you definitely have your reasons! As for chasing you back, that's not something I will do. However, since you've appeared here, what do we do from now on is a huge question."
Xiao YanXue only heard the first sentence, immediately heaving a sigh of relief as she lightly rubbed the Blood Phoenix Jasper Bracelet while letting out a brilliant smile. She replied in an offhanded manner, "Let's take things one at a time. How would we even know what's going to happen?"
"Eh… isn't that my family's Blood Phoenix Jasper Bracelet? You've always been wearing it?!" Ling Tian naturally recognized his own family heirloom, and this object concerned an enormous gamble, though it wasn't important to Ling Tian anymore at this moment.
"This bracelet was given to me by Grandma Ling, of course it would accompany me everywhere!" Xiao YanXue replied seriously, but she was too embarrassed to say the next sentence, which was, "This Blood Phoenix Jasper Bracelet is the only thing that links me to you, why would I not bring it around with me?!"
Ling Tian bitterly smiled when he saw her pretentious innocent look, just like a little girl. He could only groan to himself and decided to open up this topic, "Have you ever thought of what would happen when your family decides to carry out their plan of world domination? At that time, your family is destined to become enemies with mine, and at that time… what would you do? How would you solve the problem?"
Xiao YanXue hugged her knees, lightly placing her chin on her kneecaps as her brows slightly knitted. She calmly replied, "I don't know, I really do not know what to do…" Whenever she tried to face this problem directly, Xiao YanXue could not help but feel indecisive. Even if her family treated her as such, having such a utilitarian attitude towards her marriage, and how unjustly they treated her, they were in the end still her family, her loved ones. This was something she could not erase.
After pondering about it for a long time, she could only give up and sigh, replying in a deflated tone, "I can only do things one step at a time… besides, aren't you at war with the Yu Family now? But isn't Miss BingYan still happily staying in your place? Would having one more there give you any disadvantage?!" As she spoke to this point, she suddenly felt extremely aggrieved, and pouted hatefully, "Could it be that you're this shallow and indifferent?" As she spoke, she lightly rubbed the Blood Phoenix Jasper Bracelet on her wrist again, her face full of bitterness.
Ling Tian almost collapsed with her words, and upon seeing how she gently caressed his family heirloom with such a tender expression, as though she was hinting about something. She was just one step away from saying, "Look, your family heirloom is with me, and Grandma Ling once said that this item was meant for the Ling's daughter-in-law!"
Ling Tian was speechless. Could it be that the morals of this world had suddenly reversed? How could a lady be so direct when talking all of a sudden?!
What sort of situation was this? Almost all of his enemy families had their daughters involved in some sort of messy romantic affair with him, really a huge mess!
From an outsider's point of view, Ling Tian seemed to be living a life of bliss, surrounded by peerless beauties. But in actuality, the only woman he possessed was Ling Chen. Only Ling Chen would be able to follow Ling Tian for his entire life, without regrets or complaints as a close confidante, not even asking him to be her official husband!
The others such as Yu BingYan, Shui QianRou, Xiao YanXue, Princess Jiao Yue, all had some sort of messy past attached to them which had not been cleared up yet. Even Li Xue was also another extremely awkward scenario currently…
On the surface, Li Xue and Ling Tian seemed to have no blood relation, but their interlinked souls did not make things so easy. Besides, Ling Tian also understood Li Xue's thoughts, that in this world, both of them were the optimal choice for each other. Or one could say that they were the only choice for each other. As a man, he could survive by himself, but for Li Xue who was a woman, if she wished to trust her life to a man, then in this world no one else would suffice other than Ling Tian! While there might be someone better than Ling Tian in the whole wide world, the experiences that they went through together made it such that Ling Tian would forever remain as her only solace!
Thus, regarding this matter, Li Xue had already taken the initiative.
To be infatuated with only one person, completely and without regrets!
As for Yu BingYan, her matter could be considered to be much simpler. The lass had long made the decision to follow behind him, and he heard that she had torn off all pretenses with the two elders in her family. This sort of decisiveness was not something Ling Tian could bring himself not to live up to, and furthermore, they also had some sort of relationship between them. Yu BingYan's condition also needed his help, thus she was definitely someone to stay.
Because Yu BingYan's choice was the same as Li Xue, to love only one person without change for her entire life! He could not reject her!
Other than the three ladies he mentioned above, the rest were in an awkward position. Now as trouble brewed, for Xiao YanXue to suddenly come out as another matter was just like adding hail to snow.
There was no continuation regarding Princess Jiao Yue's betrothal after he fell out with Long Xiang the other time. However, she was after all his relative, thus the final decision would still lie with his grandmother. With her current plight, were Ling Tian to speak the sentence 'I don't want her', not only would Jiao Yue not be allowed to marry Ling Tian, but she would also not be allowed to get together with anyone else, destined to spend the rest of her life as a spinster. She might even choose to commit suicide out of depression! Ling Tian could not bring himself to do such an immoral and cruel act!
But if he accepted her, given that her father was personally dethroned by himself, she might become a lunatic in the end if she continued to stay near him! How could they even converse with each other? Kill her father, take his daughter, and establish hegemony? As Ling Tian thought about it in this manner, he suddenly felt as though he was a completely immoral scoundrel!
As for Shui QianRou, Ling Tian had an even bigger headache. This was especially so since Ling Chen had sent word through the Crystal Pavilion about her own plans and schemes. Ling Tian had nearly flipped at the news, For this sort of crazy and childish plan, trust Ling Chen to even come out with it! Furthermore, not only did Ling Chen not come out with the plan, but she had even started with the plan already! Even if Ling Tian wanted to stop this plan, it was already impossible!
When Ling Tian originally received this secret missive, after exploding into a big rage, he had sent a letter back to Ling Chen immediately, wanting her to put a stop to this insane plan. However, it was unknown why, but her reply had not come even after such a long time! Based on Ling Tian's understanding of her, such a big plan, since the 'Heaven' was not around, the generals would definitely have their own plan of doing things! This made Ling Tian gnash his teeth in hate, and decide internally that once he went back, he would definitely catch that little lass, and smack her butt as hard as he could, to appease his resentment.
But now, he was suffering from the actual situation of the court being out of his jurisdiction. No matter what Ling Chen did, it was beyond his influence. While Ling Chen had always been led by him, she would definitely have some opinions of her own in her mind, and now that she was given full rein, it resulted in her growth as a person. From the latest news received by him, the lass had already obtained the ability to plan a large scale project with short and long-term objectives and was getting more decisive. This behavior was becoming more and more like Ling Tian himself.
From this point, Ling Tian could speculate that the lass's orders might possibly have left the shores of this continent, reaching over to Ling Zero and the rest on the Heavenly Wind Continent...
And inside her letter to him, she had clearly stated her own viewpoint: Young noble was bound to be an emperor in the future, and since he was going to ascend the throne, how could he be lacking in imperial consorts? If he could, through taking in a few more consorts, allow him to increase his pace of hegemony and world domination, then why not? As the saying went, 'to achieve great things, one must not be worried about trifling matters'. Playing such little tricks was infinitely better than two families killing each other until both sides ran dry of blood, right?
This sort of reasoning, of speaking forcefully and with justice, let Ling Chen feel that her choice was all the more correct, extremely correct, definitely correct!
This only gave Ling Tian such a headache that he could not help but groan in pain. He suddenly found out that in his past life, he had no time, nor the mood to talk about love. As for this present life, while he was surrounded by beauties, it was just like his past life, without the time at all to engage in love and relationship… to the point that his own harem had been decided for him without even consulting him beforehand. What sort of situation was this?