The Valued Lady is Truly Dominant

When Xia Houzhe saw Mister Ning, there was a fleeting moment of dazed astonishment, but immediately after came understanding, and a sense of so it turns out we still lost in the end.

But Mister Ning must be close to death now, he looked like a man whose allotted fate was almost spent, merely forcing himself to appear energetic.

Xia Houzhe couldn’t quite say what he felt inside: some schadenfreude, the thought that your end is no better than this, and a faint touch of panic as well.

While he was sizing up Mister Ning, the other was likewise sizing him up; seeing how obviously thin and pale he had grown, Ning couldn’t help being startled, then gave a wry smile.

That Emperor Chu, his mind truly is unfathomable.

”Sir.” Xia Houzhe cupped his hands in salute and said, ”What brings you here, sir? Have you come for the Ning clan?”

”Yes and no.”

Mister Ning walked closer and looked at him. ”You’ve wasted away quite a bit.”

Xia Houzhe touched his own face with self-mockery. ”I’m not far from death myself. If you’ve come to scold me, sir, do as you please.”

”At this point, what use would scolding you be? It would only gratify me for a moment. Could it possibly get you out of this exquisite cage?”

Xia Houzhe fell silent. Then what are you here for, to laugh at me?

There’s really no need.

”Do you regret it?”

Xia Houzhe’s head snapped up, his gaze darkening as he shot back, ”And you, sir?”

Mister Ning’s eyes turned cold and heavy. ”To say I don’t regret it would be a lie.”

Xia Houzhe’s expression shifted several times; a faint anger flared with a hiss, and his tone sharpened. ”Sorry to have disappointed you, sir. It is indeed my fault.”

”Even now, you’re still the same. Just one sentence and you lose your composure.” Truly not material for great things.

Mister Ning once again felt a wave of helplessness.

”Had I known it would come to this, after you turned eighteen I shouldn’t have put certain people under your command. If you’d just lived quietly as an obedient puppet, you wouldn’t have ended up in such a ridiculous state—surrendered before the battle even began.”

If there was something he resented, what Mister Ning resented most was not losing to Emperor Chu, but losing to themselves: clashing opinions, internal strife, self-destruction. In this regard, Xia Houzhe was somewhat like his grandfather Emperor Xia—equally obstinate.

If back then, in a moment of softness, he hadn’t handed some of his men over to him, would things have been different today—would he not have been indulged to this point, doing one stupid thing after another, tearing down his own walls?

People, you know, it’s not that they shouldn’t use their brains; it’s that once the brain starts working, what comes out might just be shit.

If it only fouled yourself, that would be one thing, but it just had to benefit the opponent, letting them win a great victory without spending a single soldier.

Xia Houzhe’s eyes reddened. He stepped forward, glared at Mister Ning, and gave a cold laugh. ”A puppet? Mister Ning, you’ve been in the position of commanding others so long that you’ve forgotten puppets also have flesh and blood, souls and their own thoughts. In truth, you shouldn’t blame yourself for giving me capable troops—you should blame yourself for not turning me into an idiot. Only an idiot would obey your every order.”

”You blame me for insisting you return to the capital, but in fact, three years ago when I spoke of rising up, you should have agreed. It was you who kept saying to wait, saying that the house star in the Seven Star Constellations, the secondary minister star, would change, so we had better wait. I must confess my ignorance—I can’t grasp your divinations. All I know is that you delayed and delayed, advocating waiting. You were willing to wait, you were steady enough, but you forgot one thing: the will to fight.”

Xia Houzhe sneered. ”A man’s courage and fighting spirit will drain away with time, slowly being worn smooth. Sir, if you keep waiting and waiting, in the end you wait your way into clinging to life and fearing death, content with mediocrity. I didn’t want to lose my will to win. I would rather stake everything on one struggle.”

Mister Ning laughed and looked at him. ”And did you stake it? Are you satisfied now?”

So this so-called staking everything was about scheming and playing tricks until he got himself killed, turning himself into a prisoner in the dock?