Chapter 61: She was Waiting, and also Gambling

The forest was silent as Ye Zixiao knelt by the edge of the cliff and hugged Duan Zirou's shoes. Tears blurred his vision, but cleared his heart.

"Zirou… If you're not here, what would this prince want this country for…" Ye Zixiao sat there silently until the golden bird of the sun set in the west and the jade hare of the moon rose in the east, then until the first rays of the morning sun broke through the night sky and red clouds appeared in the horizon. He had already gotten used to having Duan Zirou at his side over all these years. Even though Duan Zirou had wanted to become a nun, at least she was alive and he could still see her. But now, there was nothing left…

When Duan Zirou woke up, she found that she was lying on a bamboo bed. A strong fragrance currently filled her senses.

"Master, she's awake." Yin Xue placed the 'alert fragrant ointment' back into her sleeve and withdrew to the side.

"What is this place? Who are you?" The moment Duan Zirou heard a person's voice, she quickly got up and looked in alarm at the veiled woman in front of her.

"Good thing Luminescent Prince didn't ask Jing Xin if whether you were alive or not." Yao Mowan sat casually on the bamboo chair, her legs crossed with a hand propping up her cheek. She looked as if she had been waiting for a very long time.

"Your name's Jing Xin? I clearly remember that I had jumped off the cliff. Why would I be here?" Duan Zirou didn't relax in the slightest and demanded answers sternly.

"Shouldn't the fact that you didn't die from the fall be something to celebrate? Why does Luminescent Princess sound like you're blaming Jing Xin for not minding her own business?" asked Yao Mowan when she heard the coldness in Duan Zirou's tone.

"We're completely strangers, so how could you possibly have saved me without a reason? Forgive Zirou for not believing that there exists someone with so much free time in this world," replied Duan Zirou.

"Luminescent Princess is actually right. Regardless of whether Jing Xin saved you or not, it causes Jing Xin no harm, because Jing Xin has already achieved her goal." Yao Mowan took in Duan Zirou's guarded expression and sighed. It was sure hard to be a good person!

"Your goal? You were the one that sent those assassins?" Duan Zirou looked towards Yao Mowan sharply.

"Is Luminescent Princess's intelligence only at this level? It's not hard to guess who it is that's after your life!" said Yao Mowan pointedly. After a moment of hesitation, Duan Zirou looked up in realization.

"Yao Suluan! It was Yao Suluan that wanted me to die!" exclaimed Duan Zirou.

"That's right. Yao Suluan's goal in assisting the luminescent prince in revolting is the throne of empress, so Luminescent Princess, your existence is a hinderance to her." Yao Mowan analyzed the situation easily.

"Nonsense! The luminescent prince has no intention to revolt." Although Duan Zirou agreed with Yao Mowan's words, she couldn't very well admit the fact that Ye Zixiao wanted to revolt.

"You couldn't be thinking that Jing Xin's trying to trick an admission out of you, right? Luminescent Princess is being overly cautious. In reality, Jing Xin knows way more than just this so Jing Xin doesn't need Luminescent Princess to admit to anything. The only reason I saved you, Princess, was because I wanted you to see what exactly is more important to Ye Zixiao. Whether in his heart, the throne was more important, or you were more important." Yao Mowan looked towards Duan Zirou with interest.

"What does it matter?" Duan Zirou looked towards Yao Mowan in confusion. Her voice was gradually softening. They had only exchanged a few words, but she already knew that this woman wasn't an ordinary person.

"Of course it matters. If Ye Zixiao cared about you, once he found that that it was Yao Suluan that hurt you, he wouldn't followed Yao Suluan's bad example anymore and might be able to preserve his life. If… he doesn't care about you and continues collaborating with Yao Suluan, then he's destined to have a short life."

To Yao Mowan, there really was no need to save Duan Zirou. After all, as far as Ye Zixiao knew, Duan Zirou was already dead. However, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Since Yao Suluan wanted nothing more than for Duan Zirou to die, she insisted on keeping this person alive. The most important reason was still because Duan Zirou was a good person. Yao Mowan couldn't bring herself to watch as a good person like this was cornered and killed. Wonder if this made her a good person too? thought Yao Mowan with a wry smile.

"I'm really curious. Who are you?" Duan Zirou was taken aback. Zixiao's improper relationship with Yao Suluan was a secret. Even she had only found about it recently, but it sounded like this woman knew a lot more than her.

"This isn't important. What's important is that you should start praying for Ye Zixiao and pray that he loves you enough…" Yao Mowan smiled slightly, then turned and left.

"How long are you going to keep me here?" When Duan Zirou saw that Yao Mowan was about to leave, she hastily chased after her. It was only when she stepped out of the room that she found she was in a seemingly endless forest of bamboo. She was currently in a simple little house constructed in this bamboo forest.

"If you have faith in Ye Zixiao, then you can wait here for him to come get you. If you don't have faith, then you can leave at any time. If you head north from here, Thousand Buddha Temple is about fifteen kilometers from here. There's enough money and food in the house. Stay or leave, it's up to you," replied Yao Mowan mildly before walking off.

Once they got very far from that house, Yin Xue started voicing her confusion.

"Master, this subordinate doesn't understand. Why did you tell Duan Zirou how to leave? Are you not worried that Duan Zirou might head back to the luminescent prince's residence to tell them the truth?" Yin Xue couldn't understand it. Master had spent a lot of time setting up this current scenario. If Duan Zirou returned to the luminescent prince's residence, then all that hard work would've gone to waste.

"Yin Xue, this consort will make a bet with you. Duan Zirou definitely won't leave. She'll continue to stay here until Ye Zixiao came to look for her." Yao Mowan's lips curved and beneath her long eyelashes, her eyes sparkled like gems.

"This subordinate has faith in everything Master says!" Yin Xue's lips twitched for an instant. Make a bet? She had learned plenty of lessons from Ye Junqing's example!

"In reality, Duan Zirou hopes more than anyone that Ye Zixiao would give up on trying to become emperor. After all, the dragon throne isn't something easy to sit on! If her death could cause Ye Zixiao and Yao Suluan to become enemies and destroy Ye Zixiao's ambition to become emperor, she'd die without regrets!" said Yao Mowan lightly even as a trace of helplessness flashed through her heart. Back then, countless people had died during Ye Hongyi's ascent to the throne. If it was that easy to become emperor, there would've already been plenty of revolts. Why would people have waited until Ye Zixiao to do it?

As Yao Mowan had predicted, Duan Zirou didn't leave the bamboo forest. She was waiting, and also gambling…

In Pure Flowers Palace, when Yao Zhenting told Yao Suluan about Duan Zirou jumping off the cliff, Yao Suluan smiled in delight.

"Suluan ah, Father has given up everything to help the luminescent prince. Once an arrow is shot, there's no turning back. Neither of us can turn back now!" Ever since he ended up as a prime minister only in name, he had decided use everything he had to help Ye Zixiao ascend to the throne.

"Suluan guarantees that Father won't regret this. Moreover, since His Majesty has already started taking your power away, there's no point in you keeping this post of prime minister. Right now, just any casual words from Yao Mowan might make it hard for you to keep that head on your shoulders, so having Luminescent Prince's backing will allow you to live without worries," said Yao Suluan darkly. Her unspoken implication was that Yao Zhenting currently had no paths left to take but this one.

Yao Zhenting left Pure Flowers Palace, deep in thought. His eyelids kept twitching and his heart was filled with unease. He couldn't help but feel that something big was about to happen.

"There's such a gloomy air around Father ah! Ting Yue, is this the so-called, black clouds hovering above?" A clear voice suddenly arose. Yao Zhenting looked up and saw that Yao Mowan was standing in front of him with a little kitten in her arms.

__________Credits: Translated by Chiyomira

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