Chapter 47: Is That All?

(Page 1/3)

“A thing not much different from wetting your pants? What is it, then?”

Here, Qiao Shuang, who was rather careless by nature, saw that the young man who had entered possessed a decent appearance and figure. There were no attendants following behind, and his words were somewhat amusing. She immediately lowered her guard, drawn in by the novel things spoken from Liu Xie’s lips.

“Be quiet! This person is quite despicable. Sister, do not speak with him!”

While the innocent younger sister didn’t quite grasp what Liu Xie was referring to, her elder sister—more knowledgeable—immediately understood his meaning. She thought to herself that she had never before encountered such a shameless individual.

At the same time, she also concluded that Liu Xie was unlikely to be anyone of true importance.

Her reasoning was simple: if a man of genuine status wished to do something to them, he would not bother with unnecessary words—he would simply act. Most who indulged in verbal games were, in truth, too timid to follow through.

“So you’re the elder sister, and she’s the younger. Not bad, not bad, just as one would expect.”

Liu Xie stood at a distance neither close nor far, regarding the sisters with a smile. He nodded as he spoke, his demeanor not outright lecherous, yet hardly that of an upright gentleman.

“If you leave now, I can pretend you were never here. Otherwise, I will send someone to inform Sun Ce. If you are then cut down, you will have only yourself to blame!”

Sun Ce’s name, at least in Jiangdong, carried considerable weight—this, Qiao Feng knew well.

She speculated that the young man before her, who looked a few years younger than Sun Ce, must be his younger brother or someone similar, and had wandered here by chance. A threat like this, she thought, should be enough to send him away.

But things did not unfold as she had expected. Liu Xie suddenly stepped forward, directly seating himself beside Qiao Shuang. Taking up a cup from the table where Qiao Feng had been sitting, he poured himself some tea and drank it all in one go.

“You can certainly try. If the maid outside is willing to go, it would take her about half an hour to find Sun Ce and return. Now, guess—how many things could I do in those thirty minutes?”

“You—”

At this, Qiao Feng’s aggression deflated in an instant. Her willowy brows, which had almost arched upright in anger, drooped immediately.

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She was indeed unafraid of idle young lords, but if such a man also possessed intelligence, then they would be utterly at his mercy.

Qiao Shuang, who had initially thought that Liu Xie’s decent appearance meant he couldn’t be a villain, now understood the situation after hearing his threat to her sister. With Liu Xie now seated right beside her, her face turned pale, and she dared not move a muscle.

Seeing the two sisters like frightened rabbits, Liu Xie let out a soft sigh.

It was early morning—he had no real intention of harming them; he only wished to see for himself what manner of beauties could be recorded in China’s dazzling history.

After all, Diao Chan and Yang Yuhuan had both left their mark upon their eras, becoming names known to all posterity. But the Qiao sisters were different. To be immortalized in one of Cao Cao’s proudest works, Liu Xie felt there must be something about them that history had failed to record, something for him to uncover.

Yet with a single sentence, he had frightened these seemingly worldly sisters into a state of terror—proof enough of the kind of life people led in this age.

In his previous life, Liu Xie had been a narcotics officer, ridding society of evil and protecting the innocent; the people’s days, overall, had been peaceful. In this life, the memories he inherited from the former Liu Xie were mostly of life in the deep palace, so he had yet to truly comprehend how, in this era of strife, the people survived.

But now, in the act of teasing the Qiao sisters, he glimpsed in their desperate, sorrowful eyes not just their own fates, but those of countless Han subjects, suffering even more than they.

He could not deny it—at that moment, the people of the Han Empire were like startled birds, trembling at every shadow.

Cities and citizens alike had become the purses and granaries for warring lords. When soldiers were lacking, strong men were seized at random to fill the ranks. If a beauty in the bedchamber grew tiresome, another would be taken from the common folk.

What kind of world was this?

When would such an age come to an end?

Was this Han Empire truly his Han Empire?

Having ascended the throne, could he truly ignore all this? With all the advanced knowledge in his head, if he did nothing to change this era, would he not suffer retribution?

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These questions bombarded Liu Xie’s mind in that instant.

Some responsibilities, some habits, some ideals—these had been sealed in him by the noble career of his previous life. Even at the moment when the bullet pierced his body, he had never once regretted his choices.

Indeed, upon first arriving in this world, Liu Xie had wanted nothing more than to enjoy a life of comfort. But when certain realities presented themselves nakedly before his eyes, he could not remain unmoved.

The Qiao sisters, expecting to suffer misfortune, noticed that Liu Xie, who had just appeared so roguish, suddenly lapsed into contemplation.

The previous insolence was gone—replaced by a look of deep thought.

The sisters exchanged a glance; neither spoke. For the moment, they didn’t know whether to rouse this odd man or simply flee.

Fortunately, this strange interlude did not last long. Before they could decide, Liu Xie, his expression now grave, rose to his feet. At the same moment, his manner reverted to what it had been when he first entered.

Just as the sisters braced themselves for the worst, Liu Xie spoke again.

“When I say you belong to me, then so it is. But for the next few days, I will not touch you. Of course, if you attempt to run, that is another matter.”

With those words, Liu Xie strode out without so much as a backward glance.

“It’s over just like that?”

That was the thought in both their minds. There was another as well: “What did he just call himself?”

Clearly, it took them a moment to process this. But not too long, for that title was one that only a single person in the entire empire could use.