Chapter 699: Empty Threats
As the night deepened, the light in the study was dim.

The candlelight was dim, and the dark and silent atmosphere was a little depressing. The flickering candlelight was like the mood of Liu Xunyi and Zhao Yuan at the moment, messy like silk, flickering.

At this moment, there were only the two of them in the study. Although Zhao Yuan bluntly told Qin Wei that he could stay and listen, Qin Wei tactfully left on his own initiative, citing physical and mental exhaustion as an excuse.

"sit down!"

I don't know how long I was silent, or how many opening words I prepared in my mind.

In the end, Zhao Yuan still used a plain and gentle tone, as if an elder was chatting with a younger person, and broke the deadlock with a sentence that couldn't be plainer.

"My subordinates dare not!"

However, in the face of Zhao Yuan's friendly greetings, Liu Xunyi still remained three parts calm and seven parts distant.

Although it was a humble remark, there was no humility in his tone. It seemed that Liu Xunyi was still upset about Zhao Yuan alienating her and Zhao Xin.

"You don't dare?" Liu Xunyi's affectation was undoubtedly a provocation in Zhao Yuan's eyes. He teased, "Besides breaking into the palace and kidnapping the princess, what else do you not dare to do?"

Zhao Yuan's words hit the nail on the head, and Liu Xunyi's eyes changed immediately. He pretended to be confused and said, "I don't understand what the Marquis means..."

"Liu Xunyi, stop pretending in front of me! I've had enough of your hypocrisy, your double-dealing, and your recklessness!" Zhao Yuanhu glared at him and scolded him, "A seven-foot-tall man, how dare you not take responsibility for what you did? When I questioned you, you still dared to act pitiful and innocent. What kind of man are you? Where is the loyal Liu Xunyi who died for nothing? When did you become the hawk-headed, sparrow-headed, wolf-hearted, and mean person you are today?"

"My Lord, I..."

"Do you really think you can deceive your superiors and subordinates and cover up your tracks? Do you really think that everything you have done is perfect and leak-proof? Do you really think that with just your little bit of ability, you can reverse the national policy designated by the emperor?"

After being asked three questions by Zhao Yuan, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but feel timid and speechless.

"Since you are unwilling to explain to me in a nice way, I will not cover up for you any more. I will just speak frankly to save both of us from being upset." Zhao Yuan snorted, "You used the pretext of calming down the turmoil in Lin'an and used the young prince to force me to release you. Do you remember what you promised me at that time?"

"I……"

"Promise me that you will never have anything to do with Zhao Xin again! Promise me that you will put an end to the chaos in Lin'an within half a month and bring peace to the people of Lin'an." Zhao Yuan did not give Liu Xunyi a chance to speak, and said angrily, "But what is the truth? The fact is that as soon as you regained your freedom, you immediately asked the little prince to deliver a letter to Zhao Xin for you, right?"

Liu Xunyi's face turned pale when Zhao Yuan exposed his secret. He subconsciously asked, "How did the Marquis know this? It turned out to be Qin Wei again..."

"Stop blaming Qin Wei here!" Zhao Yuan interrupted, "If he hadn't helped you to stop, you would have been smashed to pieces and died without a burial place!"

"What do you mean?" Liu Xunyi was horrified and asked regardless of his status, "What do you mean by him helping me to stop? Did he tamper with my letter..."

"Snapped!"

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Yuan rushed forward, slapped him in the face, and angrily scolded him, "You stubborn guy! You are still concerned about your broken letter when you are about to die. You are simply hopeless!"

Liu Xunyi was beaten so hard that his head felt dizzy and his ears were buzzing. He was unable to wake up from his trance for a long time.

"How dare you blame Qin Wei? You know that just now, I wanted to take your life to give an explanation to the Prime Minister. It was Qin Wei who knelt in front of me and wanted to exchange his life for yours!"

"What?" Liu Xunyi was shocked and said in astonishment, "Qin Wei... exchanged his life for mine?" "If not, how would you have the chance to stand here and argue with me?" Zhao Yuan said coldly, "Qin Wei has always been thinking about you, and he was willing to endure humiliation and even be hated by you. But what about you? For the sake of love, you are so crazy and irrational that you can't distinguish between good and evil, relatives and strangers. It's a pity that Qin Wei always calls you his best brother!"

"This……"

Liu Xunyi knew Zhao Yuan's character very well and knew he would never lie intentionally to please him.

However, Liu Xunyi had always harbored resentment towards Qin Wei for his repeated deceptions. Now, when she suddenly heard that he was so selfless, she couldn't help but feel abrupt and found it difficult to understand and accept it for a while.

"I called you here not to compete with you in wits and courage, nor to play jokes with you, but to be open and honest with you." Zhao Yuan said seriously, "Tonight, every word I say comes from my heart, and I will no longer hide anything from you. I hope you will do the same and not be cunning and self-righteous."

"I dare not..." Liu Xunyi was flustered and confused for a moment.

"I know everything you have done since you were freed, so you don't have to be mysterious in front of me." Zhao Yuan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. "It is precisely because of your actions that the West Palace has seized the handle to criticize the Prime Minister, and even the entire East Palace has been implicated by you. Not to mention the distant past, just take your secret meeting with the Mongolian envoy Su He. What exactly is the purpose, even a fool can guess!"

"Unfair!" Liu Xunyi's eyes changed, and he quickly explained, "Brother Su and I are old friends. I met him just to reminisce about the past, not to ask him to help me do anything out of the ordinary. What's more, he is a Mongolian, how could he help me..."

"Who knows?" Zhao Yuan snorted coldly and asked, "Even if you are telling the truth, who would believe you? You asked around for news about the Mongolian envoys and tricked the young prince into sending a letter to Zhao Xin. Everything is evidence that you are pestering the princess and are unwilling to give up. Now you and Su He are unclear about each other and have met in private. What do the people in the West Palace think? What do you think of the emperor? If you really have a clear conscience, why do you do those ugly things that lead to misunderstandings? Now, the West Palace has filed a complaint against you in front of the emperor, saying that you are plotting something illegal and intending to sabotage the marriage plan. Even the prime minister has been accused of 'sheltering and condoning' and 'overthrowing public office for personal gain'."

"This……"

"You promised me that you would stop harassing Zhao Xin, and promised me that you would do your best to quell the rebellion after you regained your freedom, but what happened? This is how you repay me?" Zhao Yuan laughed angrily and questioned, "Ask yourself, since you regained your freedom, have you ever put even a little thought into quelling the rebellion? You are clearly destroying the State of Guo under a false pretext, doing some shameless and shameless things in the name of quelling the rebellion! You tried every means to gain the trust of me and the young prince, just to get closer to Zhao Xin, and deliberately sabotage the marriage between Song and Mongolia, right?"

"no……"

"If not, why did you send a letter to the young prince? Why did you inquire about the whereabouts of the Mongolian envoy?" Zhao Yuan said contemptuously, "You really won't cry until you see the coffin. All your skills were taught by me. How can you hide your evil thoughts from my eyes?"

Looking at Zhao Yuan, who was filled with grief and indignation but had to pretend to be strong, Liu Xunyi couldn't help feeling guilty and said frankly, "My Lord, I admit that I am unwilling to give up Xin'er, and I did think about disrupting the marriage between the two countries, but..."

"But you never thought that your every move would be known to me!" Zhao Yuan mocked, "Liu Xunyi, Liu Xunyi, you are so impulsive and stupid. You have wasted all my years of careful teaching. Do you know how many eyes are staring at you in Lin'an City right now? How many ears are standing around you? I won't mention the gang of bandits from the mountains and rivers. Just talking about the spies planted around you by the court, the East Palace, the West Palace, the Rong Palace, the Lin'an government office... Of course, the Mongols are also indispensable. You think you are acting secretly and no one knows about it, but in fact, your every move has long been in full view of the public and can be spread to the world in an instant. Do you know how many people want to use you to deal with the East Palace? How many people want to use you to overthrow the prime minister? How many people want to use you to control the fate of the Song Dynasty? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you worried about it?"

"I……"

"No! You didn't consider anything, and you didn't prepare for anything, because your mind was full of how to rescue Zhao Xin." Zhao Yuan taught, "This is Lin'an, the imperial court, and the officialdom. It's not a makeshift team set up by those mobs in the martial arts world. The water in Lin'an City is much deeper and muddier than that in Luoyang City. The traps here are far better than those tricks in the martial arts world, and the intrigues here are far better than the swords and swords in the martial arts world. In Lin'an, no one talks about morality with you, no one competes with you in martial arts, and no one is stupid enough to fight you head-on. In the life-and-death struggle in the imperial court, not a drop of blood can be seen, and you don't even know who your opponent is when you are about to die? In a place where people are eaten without spitting out bones, you actually use the methods you learned in the martial arts world to act, how can you be undefeated? With a three-foot sword in hand and peerless martial arts, you can dominate the world. , but it is difficult to take a single step in the court. Don't you admire Luo Tianjin very much? When have you seen him act like a headless fly? What did he do that was not carefully thought out and well-planned? To become famous in the martial arts world, one must rely on extraordinary courage and tough means. But to gain a foothold in the court, one must rely on secrecy and tact. How ridiculous it is that you act so recklessly, jumping around like a clown under everyone's noses, but you are completely unaware and even complacent. It's just pitiful! Hateful! Hateful! Have you ever thought about what the consequences of being self-righteous will be? If there is any mistake in the marriage, no one can predict the result. But at least, many innocent people will die because of you. Even if you and Zhao Xin are together, your happiness is built on the haze of countless wronged souls and curses."

Zhao Yuan's words came from the bottom of his heart, full of emotion and at the same time, they were as sharp as a sword, piercing Liu Xunyi's trembling heart, leaving it full of holes and bleeding.

"My Lord, your words break my heart..."

"It's good to feel pain! Knowing the pain at least proves that you are still alive." Zhao Yuan's tone gradually slowed down, and he soothed her, "Xun Yi, you have to know that not everyone is as lucky as you, and not everyone has the opportunity to listen to teachings and start over. Little do people know how many people in Lin'an City die without knowing why they are in so much pain every day. Therefore, you have to cherish the pain you feel now. You must also remember the teachings I just gave you."

Having said this, Zhao Yuan looked at Liu Xunyi with an increasingly obscure look in his eyes, and warned her meaningfully, "After all, I am not a god, and I cannot save your life every time. Therefore, you must assess the situation, know when to change, and learn to protect yourself first... before you can protect the one you love."

……

(End of this chapter)