Ji Ling looked at Carlos in a daze. I never expected you to be such an honest person. Really, what a surprise! Of course I know Jing Sui won't like me. In fact, everyone knows that besides the original. It’s just, no one pointed it out.
Just like the ‘Emperor's new clothes,’ everyone could see through the ‘clothes,’ but no one said anything.
Now, this ‘secret’ had been revealed to him by Carlos.
Ji Ling was very troubled. As Jing Sui's number one brain-dead fan, should he be heartbroken, heart-broken or heart broken after hearing such "cruel" words?
He batted his eyes, and tears dripped down. Stretching out his hand, he hit Carlos' chest and cried, "You’re lying to me! I don't believe it! H-he... How could you know he won't like me?!"
Carlos grabbed hold of Ji Ling's hand, and wiped his tear-stained cheek with a finger. He saw those dim and hopeless eyes, and said in a low voice, slowly and mercilessly: "If he liked you even a little, then how could he blame you for going against a lower link?”
Ji Ling thought, What you said is really f*cking reasonable. It’s impossible to refute such a grounded and logical argument, but I don't want to hear these kinds of words now! I just want to act my part as a fanboy and obtain the reward of going home. You old baddie! Cheating me isn’t enough for you, you terrible bastard, you still need to prevent me from ‘pursuing true love?’ Just thinking about this makes me feel sad. As a big villain, why do you have to fight to the death with cannon fodder like me?
Ji Ling said tearfully, "Please stop!"
Carlos looked at the youth’s watery eyes. Seeing the sadness intermixed with vulnerability in those eyes made his heart sink. He found himself feeling softhearted for the first time, and couldn’t bear to say more…
However, if he didn’t make Ji Ling clearly acknowledge reality, then he’d never give up on his love, even if Jing Sui hurt him black and blue.
Carlos pressed the sympathy that was coming up in the depths of his eyes back down, and emphasized each word clearly as he said: “Why don’t you accept reality clearly for what it is? What I said is a fact everyone knows."
Ji Ling was forced into a corner by Carlos, and almost didn’t know how to continue. He grit his teeth and steeled his resolve, pushing Carlos away with all his strength. ‘I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, I’m not listening, I’m not listening,’ was written all over his face. He said fiercely: “Go away! This is my business! I don’t need you poking your nose in it!"
After he said that, he turned and ran out!
Ji Ling focused on running without looking back. Only after running for a long time, did he carefully turn to look.
Carlos hadn’t followed him.
Ji Ling heaved a big sigh of relief. Wonderful! Thanks to his cleverness, he’d remarkably thought of a way to stop Carlos from talking on just now. He was almost forced to reveal the truth. That old fox was too scary.
Difficult. This second run was really too difficult.
………………
Carlos looked silently at the youth’s red eyes, full of sadness and despair, as he fled away.
However, he didn't give chase or block the boy, and just stood there motionless.
Everything that had happened last life gave him a clear understanding of how deeply Ji Ling loved Jing Sui. It was inevitable that he wouldn’t be able to accept what he said just now. It didn’t matter if Ji Ling didn’t believe it for the time being, because he’d understand one day... When that happened, it would be the right time to get the boy to return to his side.
Carlos’ eyes turned dark, and his lips thinned into a line. Only after a long time had passed did he retract his gaze and turn to leave.
Anderson waited outside the palace. The banquet traditionally didn’t end until very late. To his surprise, though, the archduke came out not long after he had entered.
He hurriedly rushed forward and respectfully asked, “Your Excellency is leaving so early. Did something happen?"
Carlos gripped his cane in his right hand, and his deep eyes flitted across Anderson’s face. His elegant visage was outlined in the dark night, and seemed to be covered in a layer of frost. He said lightly: "No, nothing."
Anderson bowed his head and didn’t dare ask further. He’d been with Carlos for many years and was most adept at judging his expressions. That’s why he knew very well that the archduke wasn’t in a good mood. His Excellency had entered with Young Master Ji Ling, but now he’d come out alone...
Remembering how the archduke had doted on Young Master Ji Ling for the last while, and associating that thought with the object of Young Master Ji Ling’s affections, Anderson felt that he might have come across a terrible secret. That scared him further from saying another word, so he lowered his eyes and didn’t even dare to look at the archduke.
He bent down to open the car door for Carlos. After waiting for the archduke to get on, he closed the door and drove out of the palace.
Before long, the hover car stopped at the archduke's residence.
Anderson said, "If there are no further orders, then I will withdraw first."
Carlos turned his head and looked at him with lidded eyes. "Wait."
"Yes," Anderson said.
Carlos raised his lips into a cold and mysterious smile. He said indifferently: “Since His Majesty wants a good image, let's give him a hand.”
Anderson finally looked up, puzzled. Wasn’t the archduke the one who didn’t want His Majesty to gain the support of the civilians the most? Doing this would be very unfavorable to the archduke’s platform, since he’d been secretly obstructing him the whole time… Now he’s actually trying to help His Majesty’s good image?
However, Anderson didn’t dare ask questions, and replied respectfully, “Understood.”
He watched as the archduke left.
Carlos returned to his residence, stood in the courtyard and looked at the empty garden in the dim light of the night. The boy was no longer here, and he might not be back for a long time.
The look in his eyes gradually turned colder and colder. The killing intent he could no longer suppress had slowly emerged.
If last life he had wanted Jing Sui to die, it had nothing to do with any personal grudges, and was purely a conflict of interests... This time, however, his feelings of wanting Jing Sui dead were driven by jealousy, and they were countless times stronger than before!
Carlos tightened the grip on his cane and let out a cold sneer. Aren't you deliberately leading on the outside world about your relationship with Ning Yu in order to win them over? As ruler of the empire, you wouldn’t even hesitate to use your own marriage as a bargaining chip to draw on the support of civilians and weaken the power of aristocrats. Going and marrying a lowly civilian… I’m not sure if I should call you ludicrous or emotionless. Really, you’re as calm and rational as if you had no heart.
But don't worry, I’ll help you this time…
Because...the little cutie might give up on you earlier.
………………
Ji Ling successfully found his parents at the banquet, and then went home together with them afterwards.
There was something that he didn’t understand though. With Carlos’ manipulative black belly character, why would he suddenly want to get mixed up in his emotional affairs? That really wasn’t something a big baddie would do. Gradually, Ji Ling stopped thinking about it. His thinking and Carlos’ were too different, so there was no way he could come up with the answer. Perhaps it was a sudden whim, because he couldn’t stand seeing him so miserable? After all, he’d used Ji Ling last life even though he hadn’t provoked him at all…
Although there were some small detours and some characters didn’t act as they usually did, on the whole, the plot had run rather smoothly today. This thought comforted Ji Ling a little.
All he had to do now was wait patiently for the next plot point to take place.
According to the description in the book, Jing Sui hadn’t hesitated to punish Ji Ling at the palace banquet in order to maintain his relations with Ning Yu. News of this matter soon spread, and everyone knew Ji Ling was punished by His Majesty for causing Ning Yu trouble. In this matter, it appeared as if disgracing Ji Ling was the only result, but actually, Jing Sui could reap a lot of benefits from it.
Without Jing Sui’s approval, how could such a small incident, known to only a handful, be circulated and exaggerated amongst aristocratic circles in such a short time, go viral on the starwide net, and in the end, become everyone’s dinnertime gossip?
What Jing Sui really wanted to show was: That he truly valued Ning Yu as an excellent and courageous civilian evolver. That he was willing to defend his subjects and punish the offspring of high-ranking nobles like Ji Ling without hesitation. And that in his eyes, civilians and nobles were equal.
Masterful. Truly masterful.
Even a small incident like that could be used to win the people over.
Don't mention Ji Ling, in Jing Sui’s eyes, even Ning Yu was only liked because of his high value as a pawn. Every time Ji Ling thought of this, he’d be amazed that Jing Sui, a person rational to the point of being heartless, would eventually come to like Ning Yu and plan to marry him in the end.
However, that was all for later. Ji Ling thought this outcome would be a beautiful win-win situation!
He’d successfully complete his mission, Jing Sui would get the reputation he wanted, and also win Ning Yu’s favor. *Perfecto!
Presumably, it wouldn’t be long until the scandal between Jing Sui and Ning Yu came out. At that time, he could very naturally go interrogate the emperor, full of jealousy and anger. After he got denied, he’d then enter into the next phase where he’d get slapped silly!
Ji Ling waited happily at home. Since he didn’t have anything to do, he just surfed the net, slept and ate everyday. Surprisingly, Carlos hadn’t come to see him during this period of time. Wen Yan was also busy with his campaign and didn’t appear in front of him. Ji Ling spent these monotonous days incredibly happily.
Every time he thought of how reliable the main gong and shou were, Ji Ling felt like he could almost see that beautiful future waving to him…
The news on the net was also exactly as he’d expected. Word that Jing Sui had defended Ning Yu at the banquet was indeed spreading exponentially like it had last life. The only thing that surprised Ji Ling was that the spread of the incident and the waves it generated were even faster than in the previous life.
However, he didn't pay much attention to this small change. Compared with those villains who may have been reborn, this was nothing. It was probably just the butterfly effect.
Apart from news of Jing Sui and Ning Yu, there was one other topic that attracted a lot of attention during this time. Namely, the general election that happened once every ten years.
During the general election, a new speaker of the house would be elected for parliament.
Ji Ling, who was very familiar with the plot, was very clear on the fact that Wen Yan would become the first civilian speaker in history during this election and win the prized position by a landslide. Not even Ning Yu could dampen his thunder.
Like Ning Yu, Wen Yan was regarded as an idol and a source of pride by many civilians. His success represented a breakthrough in the political rights of civilians and a historic change.
However, Ji Ling knew that Wen Yan didn’t have civilian interests in his heart.
He was different from the honest and upright Ning Yu. This person acted purely out of his own selfish interests and had long since stood on Carlos' side. Therefore, every time Ji Ling saw praise and flattering remarks about Wen Yan on the net last life, he had to fight back his strong innate urge to expose Wen Yan’s true colors.
Ji Ling really wanted to risk it all and shake awake the bros on the internet, saying to them: ‘Wake up and see things with a clear mind!’ Ning Yu can have fans, but you should forget about Wen Yan! He’s already colluding with Carlos, that big baddie, to betray all of you!!!
But Ji Ling refrained from doing that.
When rewarded with enough money, I mean, when rewarded with good enough benefits, I definitely won’t fool around. After all, I’m a professional at completing missions!
Besides, even if he said anything, it’d be useless anyway. No one would believe him.
Ji Ling spent ten plus days idling away like that.
On this particular day, Ji Ling was sleeping in when he was suddenly awakened by the beeping of his communicator. Surprisingly, it was from Rhodes, who hadn’t contacted him for a long time.
Rhodes: “Ahhhhhhh! Go look at the news! Do you have any idea who won today's election?!”
Ji Ling wasn’t happy to be woken up like that. What a rhetorical question. He’d known the answer long ago, so he was very calm, and yawned as he said: "Who?"
Rhodes’ voice was so loud it almost tore the roof off: "Please. You haven’t even seen such an important piece of news?! It's Wen Yan. Your Wen Yan. Your family’s civilian, Wen Yan!"
You could see how shocked he was from the way he shouted those three consecutive statements.
Ji Ling had nothing to say at all, but he forced himself to express surprise: "Oh? It’s him? "
Rhodes: "It's him, it's him, it's him!"
Ji Ling: "......"
Rhodes was shocked and displeased as he shouted, "What kind of crap were those people on? They couldn’t even beat a civilian! Now, a civilian has become the speaker! They’re all trash! "
Ji Ling thought that this was probably what most of the nobles were thinking right now. He laughed, "What a useless bunch.”
Rhodes was dissatisfied, but could only accept the reality. He added sourly, “He even won by a narrow margin, leading by less than 2% over second place. A win is a win though. We’ll have to face a civilian speaker for the next ten years."
Ji Ling finally froze and said, "What did you say?"
Translator’s note:
*The author actually wrote ‘perfect’ in English, but I added an ‘o’ to show it was written a little differently from the rest of the paragraph…and it works in English & Spanish ^^
Ji Ling looked at Carlos in a daze. I never expected you to be such an honest person. Really, what a surprise! Of course I know Jing Sui won't like me. In fact, everyone knows that besides the original. It’s just, no one pointed it out.
Just like the ‘Emperor's new clothes,’ everyone could see through the ‘clothes,’ but no one said anything.
Now, this ‘secret’ had been revealed to him by Carlos.
Ji Ling was very troubled. As Jing Sui's number one brain-dead fan, should he be heartbroken, heart-broken or heart broken after hearing such "cruel" words?
He batted his eyes, and tears dripped down. Stretching out his hand, he hit Carlos' chest and cried, "You’re lying to me! I don't believe it! H-he... How could you know he won't like me?!"
Carlos grabbed hold of Ji Ling's hand, and wiped his tear-stained cheek with a finger. He saw those dim and hopeless eyes, and said in a low voice, slowly and mercilessly: "If he liked you even a little, then how could he blame you for going against a lower link?”
Ji Ling thought, What you said is really f*cking reasonable. It’s impossible to refute such a grounded and logical argument, but I don't want to hear these kinds of words now! I just want to act my part as a fanboy and obtain the reward of going home. You old baddie! Cheating me isn’t enough for you, you terrible bastard, you still need to prevent me from ‘pursuing true love?’ Just thinking about this makes me feel sad. As a big villain, why do you have to fight to the death with cannon fodder like me?
Ji Ling said tearfully, "Please stop!"
Carlos looked at the youth’s watery eyes. Seeing the sadness intermixed with vulnerability in those eyes made his heart sink. He found himself feeling softhearted for the first time, and couldn’t bear to say more…
However, if he didn’t make Ji Ling clearly acknowledge reality, then he’d never give up on his love, even if Jing Sui hurt him black and blue.
Carlos pressed the sympathy that was coming up in the depths of his eyes back down, and emphasized each word clearly as he said: “Why don’t you accept reality clearly for what it is? What I said is a fact everyone knows."
Ji Ling was forced into a corner by Carlos, and almost didn’t know how to continue. He grit his teeth and steeled his resolve, pushing Carlos away with all his strength. ‘I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, I’m not listening, I’m not listening,’ was written all over his face. He said fiercely: “Go away! This is my business! I don’t need you poking your nose in it!"
After he said that, he turned and ran out!
Ji Ling focused on running without looking back. Only after running for a long time, did he carefully turn to look.
Carlos hadn’t followed him.
Ji Ling heaved a big sigh of relief. Wonderful! Thanks to his cleverness, he’d remarkably thought of a way to stop Carlos from talking on just now. He was almost forced to reveal the truth. That old fox was too scary.
Difficult. This second run was really too difficult.
………………
Carlos looked silently at the youth’s red eyes, full of sadness and despair, as he fled away.
However, he didn't give chase or block the boy, and just stood there motionless.
Everything that had happened last life gave him a clear understanding of how deeply Ji Ling loved Jing Sui. It was inevitable that he wouldn’t be able to accept what he said just now. It didn’t matter if Ji Ling didn’t believe it for the time being, because he’d understand one day... When that happened, it would be the right time to get the boy to return to his side.
Carlos’ eyes turned dark, and his lips thinned into a line. Only after a long time had passed did he retract his gaze and turn to leave.
Anderson waited outside the palace. The banquet traditionally didn’t end until very late. To his surprise, though, the archduke came out not long after he had entered.
He hurriedly rushed forward and respectfully asked, “Your Excellency is leaving so early. Did something happen?"
Carlos gripped his cane in his right hand, and his deep eyes flitted across Anderson’s face. His elegant visage was outlined in the dark night, and seemed to be covered in a layer of frost. He said lightly: "No, nothing."
Anderson bowed his head and didn’t dare ask further. He’d been with Carlos for many years and was most adept at judging his expressions. That’s why he knew very well that the archduke wasn’t in a good mood. His Excellency had entered with Young Master Ji Ling, but now he’d come out alone...
Remembering how the archduke had doted on Young Master Ji Ling for the last while, and associating that thought with the object of Young Master Ji Ling’s affections, Anderson felt that he might have come across a terrible secret. That scared him further from saying another word, so he lowered his eyes and didn’t even dare to look at the archduke.
He bent down to open the car door for Carlos. After waiting for the archduke to get on, he closed the door and drove out of the palace.
Before long, the hover car stopped at the archduke's residence.
Anderson said, "If there are no further orders, then I will withdraw first."
Carlos turned his head and looked at him with lidded eyes. "Wait."
"Yes," Anderson said.
Carlos raised his lips into a cold and mysterious smile. He said indifferently: “Since His Majesty wants a good image, let's give him a hand.”
Anderson finally looked up, puzzled. Wasn’t the archduke the one who didn’t want His Majesty to gain the support of the civilians the most? Doing this would be very unfavorable to the archduke’s platform, since he’d been secretly obstructing him the whole time… Now he’s actually trying to help His Majesty’s good image?
However, Anderson didn’t dare ask questions, and replied respectfully, “Understood.”
He watched as the archduke left.
Carlos returned to his residence, stood in the courtyard and looked at the empty garden in the dim light of the night. The boy was no longer here, and he might not be back for a long time.
The look in his eyes gradually turned colder and colder. The killing intent he could no longer suppress had slowly emerged.
If last life he had wanted Jing Sui to die, it had nothing to do with any personal grudges, and was purely a conflict of interests... This time, however, his feelings of wanting Jing Sui dead were driven by jealousy, and they were countless times stronger than before!
Carlos tightened the grip on his cane and let out a cold sneer. Aren't you deliberately leading on the outside world about your relationship with Ning Yu in order to win them over? As ruler of the empire, you wouldn’t even hesitate to use your own marriage as a bargaining chip to draw on the support of civilians and weaken the power of aristocrats. Going and marrying a lowly civilian… I’m not sure if I should call you ludicrous or emotionless. Really, you’re as calm and rational as if you had no heart.
But don't worry, I’ll help you this time…
Because...the little cutie might give up on you earlier.
………………
Ji Ling successfully found his parents at the banquet, and then went home together with them afterwards.
There was something that he didn’t understand though. With Carlos’ manipulative black belly character, why would he suddenly want to get mixed up in his emotional affairs? That really wasn’t something a big baddie would do. Gradually, Ji Ling stopped thinking about it. His thinking and Carlos’ were too different, so there was no way he could come up with the answer. Perhaps it was a sudden whim, because he couldn’t stand seeing him so miserable? After all, he’d used Ji Ling last life even though he hadn’t provoked him at all…
Although there were some small detours and some characters didn’t act as they usually did, on the whole, the plot had run rather smoothly today. This thought comforted Ji Ling a little.
All he had to do now was wait patiently for the next plot point to take place.
According to the description in the book, Jing Sui hadn’t hesitated to punish Ji Ling at the palace banquet in order to maintain his relations with Ning Yu. News of this matter soon spread, and everyone knew Ji Ling was punished by His Majesty for causing Ning Yu trouble. In this matter, it appeared as if disgracing Ji Ling was the only result, but actually, Jing Sui could reap a lot of benefits from it.
Without Jing Sui’s approval, how could such a small incident, known to only a handful, be circulated and exaggerated amongst aristocratic circles in such a short time, go viral on the starwide net, and in the end, become everyone’s dinnertime gossip?
What Jing Sui really wanted to show was: That he truly valued Ning Yu as an excellent and courageous civilian evolver. That he was willing to defend his subjects and punish the offspring of high-ranking nobles like Ji Ling without hesitation. And that in his eyes, civilians and nobles were equal.
Masterful. Truly masterful.
Even a small incident like that could be used to win the people over.
Don't mention Ji Ling, in Jing Sui’s eyes, even Ning Yu was only liked because of his high value as a pawn. Every time Ji Ling thought of this, he’d be amazed that Jing Sui, a person rational to the point of being heartless, would eventually come to like Ning Yu and plan to marry him in the end.
However, that was all for later. Ji Ling thought this outcome would be a beautiful win-win situation!
He’d successfully complete his mission, Jing Sui would get the reputation he wanted, and also win Ning Yu’s favor. *Perfecto!
Presumably, it wouldn’t be long until the scandal between Jing Sui and Ning Yu came out. At that time, he could very naturally go interrogate the emperor, full of jealousy and anger. After he got denied, he’d then enter into the next phase where he’d get slapped silly!
Ji Ling waited happily at home. Since he didn’t have anything to do, he just surfed the net, slept and ate everyday. Surprisingly, Carlos hadn’t come to see him during this period of time. Wen Yan was also busy with his campaign and didn’t appear in front of him. Ji Ling spent these monotonous days incredibly happily.
Every time he thought of how reliable the main gong and shou were, Ji Ling felt like he could almost see that beautiful future waving to him…
The news on the net was also exactly as he’d expected. Word that Jing Sui had defended Ning Yu at the banquet was indeed spreading exponentially like it had last life. The only thing that surprised Ji Ling was that the spread of the incident and the waves it generated were even faster than in the previous life.
However, he didn't pay much attention to this small change. Compared with those villains who may have been reborn, this was nothing. It was probably just the butterfly effect.
Apart from news of Jing Sui and Ning Yu, there was one other topic that attracted a lot of attention during this time. Namely, the general election that happened once every ten years.
During the general election, a new speaker of the house would be elected for parliament.
Ji Ling, who was very familiar with the plot, was very clear on the fact that Wen Yan would become the first civilian speaker in history during this election and win the prized position by a landslide. Not even Ning Yu could dampen his thunder.
Like Ning Yu, Wen Yan was regarded as an idol and a source of pride by many civilians. His success represented a breakthrough in the political rights of civilians and a historic change.
However, Ji Ling knew that Wen Yan didn’t have civilian interests in his heart.
He was different from the honest and upright Ning Yu. This person acted purely out of his own selfish interests and had long since stood on Carlos' side. Therefore, every time Ji Ling saw praise and flattering remarks about Wen Yan on the net last life, he had to fight back his strong innate urge to expose Wen Yan’s true colors.
Ji Ling really wanted to risk it all and shake awake the bros on the internet, saying to them: ‘Wake up and see things with a clear mind!’ Ning Yu can have fans, but you should forget about Wen Yan! He’s already colluding with Carlos, that big baddie, to betray all of you!!!
But Ji Ling refrained from doing that.
When rewarded with enough money, I mean, when rewarded with good enough benefits, I definitely won’t fool around. After all, I’m a professional at completing missions!
Besides, even if he said anything, it’d be useless anyway. No one would believe him.
Ji Ling spent ten plus days idling away like that.
On this particular day, Ji Ling was sleeping in when he was suddenly awakened by the beeping of his communicator. Surprisingly, it was from Rhodes, who hadn’t contacted him for a long time.
Rhodes: “Ahhhhhhh! Go look at the news! Do you have any idea who won today's election?!”
Ji Ling wasn’t happy to be woken up like that. What a rhetorical question. He’d known the answer long ago, so he was very calm, and yawned as he said: "Who?"
Rhodes’ voice was so loud it almost tore the roof off: "Please. You haven’t even seen such an important piece of news?! It's Wen Yan. Your Wen Yan. Your family’s civilian, Wen Yan!"
You could see how shocked he was from the way he shouted those three consecutive statements.
Ji Ling had nothing to say at all, but he forced himself to express surprise: "Oh? It’s him? "
Rhodes: "It's him, it's him, it's him!"
Ji Ling: "......"
Rhodes was shocked and displeased as he shouted, "What kind of crap were those people on? They couldn’t even beat a civilian! Now, a civilian has become the speaker! They’re all trash! "
Ji Ling thought that this was probably what most of the nobles were thinking right now. He laughed, "What a useless bunch.”
Rhodes was dissatisfied, but could only accept the reality. He added sourly, “He even won by a narrow margin, leading by less than 2% over second place. A win is a win though. We’ll have to face a civilian speaker for the next ten years."
Ji Ling finally froze and said, "What did you say?"
Translator’s note:
*The author actually wrote ‘perfect’ in English, but I added an ‘o’ to show it was written a little differently from the rest of the paragraph…and it works in English & Spanish ^^
