The Deepest Affection in Qin's Time

Late at night.

Many men dressed in black, adorned with spiderweb-like patterns, appeared in Linzi City.

The moment Ba Linglong arrived in Linzi, she had already secretly taken over the Luo Wang people in Linzi and informed the leader in charge of the Luo Wang people in Linzi that Jing Ni had been abandoned by Luo Wang.

Therefore, when the Luo Wang people received the news of Ba Linglong's annihilation and death, they began to become active.

But not many of the assassins from the Luo Wang organization paid any attention.

Everyone assumed that Jingni knew the truth and had left after killing Ba Linglong.

But no one expected it.

Jingni, who should have fled far away, did not escape immediately. Instead, she listened to Cao Yuan's advice and stayed in Linzi. That night, she sneaked into the residence of the Prime Minister of Qi.

"Wow, that's really luxurious."

Cao Yuan walked into a room of moderate size and glanced at the furnishings, which were all priceless antiques.

"Boom, boom..."

Two figures fell to the ground, one on the left and one on the right.

Following them were more than a dozen well-equipped soldiers.

After Jingni dealt with the guards inside the house, she finally alerted Hou Sheng, who was playing with a little girl in the inner room.

Hou Sheng was greatly alarmed and hurriedly pressed the mechanism next to the bed.

A bed slowly sank down.

"Ding"

The Jingni Sword, like a bolt of lightning, pierced the gap in the mechanism.

Cao Yuan stepped in.

He looked at the little girl lying on the bed, barely alive, and was instantly filled with rage.

Even if you already know that Hou Sheng often abuses little girls, hearing about it and seeing it have completely different impacts on people.

"Die!"

Cao Yuan's bellyful of profanities ultimately boiled down to two words.

Hou Sheng was terrified and tears streamed down his face.

"I am the king's uncle! I am the prime minister! You cannot..."

Cao Yuan gritted his teeth and plunged his sword into Hou Sheng's heart, twisting it violently.

Blood was everywhere.

Cao Yuan stabbed twice more, adhering to the art of finishing off the opponent.

Jing Ni glanced at Hou Sheng, whose eyes were bulging as he lay on the ground, her face expressionless.

She said calmly, "Let's go."

Cao Yuan glanced at the little girl who had fainted from fright and said slowly, "Take her with you and find a farmer to settle her in."

If they leave now, the little girl will surely die.

Jing Ni paused for a moment, then looked at Cao Yuan through the mask with a hint of something else in her eyes.

"it is good."

Chapter 43 Snow Maiden's Allure

August has already brought autumn, but the weather is still hot.

But as they headed north to the State of Yan, the weather grew increasingly cool.

Since Jingni personally settled the little girl, Cao Yuan has been driving the donkey cart that Li Wu found for more than half a month.

At first, assassins from the Luo Wang organization tried to sneak up, but Jing Ni dealt with them.

Afterwards, with the alliance imminent and war about to break out, the road was quiet, and apart from some ragged refugees, no one else could be seen.

A large donkey cart traveled slowly along the official road.

Autumn should be a season of harvest, but the fields along the road are barren.

Every village bears the marks of war, with broken tiles and dilapidated houses, and few people living there.

Not far away, a little boy who looked to be seven or eight years old, or perhaps a teenager, was picking at something he didn't recognize in front of a tree, taking a bite every now and then, making a rather comical gesture.

Cao Yuan sat on the carriage and tossed a small bag of rations far away, which landed right next to the little boy a dozen meters away.

After doing all this, he showed no joy, but instead let out a soft sigh.

I wonder how many days this meager ration will keep this skinny but bloated child alive.

At times, he even had malicious thoughts.

Should he harden his heart, become a villain, and help these suffering people find relief?

But his reason told him that this was not possible, as it could easily get out of control.

Being born as a human being is truly difficult.

What are you sighing about?

Li Wu lifted the carriage curtain, sat down next to Cao Yuan, and leisurely swung her long legs, gazing at the horizon where the sky and earth met in the distance, feeling very relaxed.

Compared to the darkness and despair she endured in the Luo Wang organization, she now feels that every day she spends, even if she does nothing, is worthwhile.

"The suffering of the people..."

After Cao Yuan said it, he felt incredibly hypocritical.

He's a greedy, lustful guy who loves beautiful women, hates hardship, loves to enjoy life, and even wants to be a superior person, yet he said such things.

It really seems a bit ridiculous.

Li Wu tilted her head slightly and glanced at the abandoned village not far away, and the villagers lying between the ridges of the fields, their fates unknown.

"This is not bad. You don't know, when I was on a mission, I saw some villages where there was almost no living person, and there were many human bones with delicate bones on the ground..."

Li Wu described it vividly.

"Stop, stop, stop," Cao Yuan said, looking annoyed. "Can you please stop talking?"

The bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no cock crowing for thousands of miles.

For him, it was just an ordinary line of poetry in a textbook, which didn't move him at all when he read it back then.

But now...

Li Wu blinked her watery eyes and said softly, "Are you very sad?"

Cao Yuan felt a slight tingling in his nose.

"kind of."

Li Wu opened her jade-like arms and gently pressed Cao Yuan's head against her broad, surging chest, whispering tenderly, "Be good, I believe you can be a good official in the future."

Under the gentle caresses, Cao Yuan felt much better.

He raised his head, looked at Li Wu, and asked with a glimmer of hope, "Li Wu, if you knew that in the future there would be someone who could unify the world and end the chaos, but he was very likely to become a tyrant who would continue to exploit the people and take every last penny to satisfy his grand ambitions, do you think... you would help him?"

Li Wu thought about it seriously.

"Isn't this just another person oppressing the people of the seven kingdoms? Why help him? You might as well go home and farm."

Cao Yuan couldn't help but chuckle, "It's definitely better to go back home and farm."

He had been thinking about this for more than half a month.

Only when you realize that you are at a critical juncture in history can you understand how difficult and stressful the choices are.

He kept thinking, even if he helped Ying Zheng unify the country, what difference would it make?

Even if the ironclad rule of "it's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature" is broken, what difference would it make if Ying Zheng showed compassion for the people and allowed them to recuperate?

Could he make Ying Zheng betray his own class and give up all power?

How can we get all the vested interests to willingly give up their spoils of victory?

If he wants to change everything and end the known cycle of history and the succession of feudal dynasties.

The real challenge was not how to unify the seven kingdoms.

It's not about how to change Ying Zheng and prevent him from becoming a tyrant.

Instead, what stood in his way was a mountain called "nobility," a class called "bloodline."

Just like the "powerful clans" of later generations, no, they were ten times more stubborn than powerful clans.

"Don't overthink it, cheer up."

Li Wu then gave Cao Yuan another shove, knowing that Cao Yuan liked to bury his head in her chest.

"You said it yourself, there's always a way out. Maybe you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel or come up with a solution someday."

Cao Yuan was both amused and exasperated. He lifted his head, which was buried in Li Wu's chest, and took a breath of fresh air.

Looking into Li Wu's gentle eyes, he couldn't help but say, "I never knew you had this side to you."

Li Wu tapped Cao Yuan's forehead.

"It's all because of you that I've started to 'examine myself three times a day'."

Just as Cao Yuan was about to spend some time with Li Wu, a carriage suddenly came rushing up from behind.

high speed.

Behind the carriage were a dozen or so bandits on horseback, armed with crossbows and wearing tattered armor; they were clearly outlaws who had turned to banditry.

This was common among the seven kingdoms. After years of war, countless soldiers were separated, deserted, or even turned to banditry.

This is a cannibalistic era.

Cao Yuan's good time was interrupted, and coupled with the frustration he had experienced over the past ten days, his anger was immediately aroused.

Lao Tzu said, "Even a horse can stumble."