My Darling, Coax Me.

CHAPTER 107: Xie Jue's Perspective - No Matter What She Said, He Would Just Agree.

　　After the age of seven, Xie Jue's life was fraught with danger. For a long time, he had to watch out for plots from his stepmother and suspicions from his own father. 

　　Even at seventeen, Xie Jing was still suspicious of him, never fully letting down his guard. To ease his father's mind, Xie Jue deliberately set a trap, giving Xie Jing a reason to punish him with confinement in the Cold Palace. At the same time, this allowed Xie Jing to lower his guard against Gao Yan. 

　　Gao Yan was his confidante. While he was in the Cold Palace, Gao Yan gained Xie Jing's trust and was promoted to Minister of War, further consolidating his military power. 

　　But Xie Jing was extremely suspicious. Even after Xie Jue was confined to the Cold Palace, he allowed the Empress and Zhang Guifei to place palace maids around him for surveillance.

　　Xie Jue casually killed two of them, creating widespread fear. Only after several days did he arrange for two more palace maids to come. 

　　One of them had a look of vigilance that was all too familiar to Xie Jue. After a few days of seeming compliance, one of them attempted to attack him, believing him weak. He pierced her throat with a silver hairpin. 

　　It was then that Xie Jue saw the other maid's eyes widen in terror. 

　　Her eyes were red with fear; she was incredibly timid. 

　　But, unusually, her eyes lacked the shrewd calculation of the others; instead, they held only a desperate hope for survival. Xie Jue spared her life. She was clever and immediately ran to call for help. 

　　Even so, in Xie Jue's eyes, she was no different. 

　　She spoke of wanting to repay his kindness, but Xie Jue scoffed. In his eyes, she was lowly and weak, her life completely at his disposal.

　　She wanted to live, and Xie Jue knew it very well. She was also very obedient, serving him attentively and thoughtfully, never complaining even when bullied by the condescending eunuchs. 

　　For him, she even dared to confront Gao Chang, the Commander of the Imperial Guards who had bad intentions, and broke her hands to invite the Imperial Physician for him. Although all of this was just a trap designed by him. 

　　She said everything she did was from the bottom of her heart.

　　A joke.

　　What was the heart of a mere palace maid worth to him? 

　　On the night he was drugged, he ruthlessly used her to counteract the poison, leaving his mark all over her snow-white body. 

　　He should have killed her to cover up the incident completely, to erase it from existence. 

　　But she looked at him with gentle, almond-shaped eyes, saying she worried about him and hoped for his safe return. Even when he nearly strangled her, she didn't back down, shedding many pitiful and aggrieved tears.

　　Mere sweet words. 

　　But keeping her wasn't a problem. 

　　Xie Jue thought, his head throbbing. 

　　At that moment, even Xie Jue himself didn't understand the implications of his momentary leniency.

    ……

　　He purged the Qianqing Palace and ascended to the position of Crown Prince. A large part of the Imperial City was already under his feet. 

　　Everyone said that the current Crown Prince was ruthless, cruel, and merciless. 

　　But she was no longer very afraid of him. 

　　Having moved into the East Palace, and not yet married, he needed someone to help him manage the Palace. 

　　She was intelligent, beautiful, rational, calm, studious, and resourceful. She could be the best tool for him to manage the inner court. He knew very well that she desired the position of Shanggong (Head Palace Maid). 

　　A position as a Shanggong was nothing; he would naturally give it to her. 

　　But she had actually accepted a jeweled hairpin from Xiong Ying. She had only met Xiong Ying a few times. Xiong Ying was young and unmarried, a promising young man.

　　The hairpin was incredibly valuable, and the giver's intentions were clear. She was so intelligent, she couldn't have missed Xiong Ying's intentions. Yet she accepted it without hesitation. 

　　When he asked if she liked the hairpin, she hesitated before denying it. Xie Jue was instantly furious, using the pretext of her private dealings with a military official to punish her. 

　　She was incredibly clever, immediately kneeling to plead guilty. With downcast eyes, she told him she didn't like the hairpin and would return it to Xiong Ying, that she only wished to serve him wholeheartedly. 

　　Her eyes were filled with a gentle, watery look. 

　　Xie Jue didn't think there was anything wrong with this coercive tactic. A combination of reward and punishment would make her obedient. 

　　She was just a lowly palace maid, and she should be under his control. He told himself this again.

　　Later, after she took charge of the Shanggong Bureau, she became even busier, not coming to the East Palace to pay her respects for half a month. A young eunuch was sent to serve, but Xie Jue did not know why he became more and more dissatisfied with her. He arbitrarily found a reason to send for her, and An Zhong, being clever, quickly brought her. 

　　He intended to scold her, but with a few words, she manipulated him into becoming her tool, issuing an order to reduce the number of people in the Palace. 

　　Before leaving for Qingzhou, Xie Jue had been thinking that he didn't mind indulging her sometimes, but her boldness had gone too far, and she needed a lesson. 

　　Immediately upon his return from Qingzhou, Li Youfu came to report. During his absence from the Palace, she had actually killed a eunuch. 

　　Regardless of the reason, it was a serious crime. 

　　But she calmly gave her reasons, telling him that her actions were out of loyalty. 

　　Xie Jue saw through her, yet he also thought that since the eunuch was evil and deserved to die, it was fine that she had killed him to avenge her Master.

　　Li Youfu accused her of vying for power, so she deliberately drew closer to him, provoking Li Youfu into losing his composure and inadvertently admitting that Xie Jue was infatuated with her and overly indulgent. 

　　After speaking, Li Youfu realized his slip-up and repeatedly knelt, his head banging heavily on the floor. 

　　Infatuated... 

　　How could he be infatuated with a lowly palace maid? 

　　But even he couldn't deny that he had indeed been repeatedly manipulated by her. 

　　He had Li Youfu executed, and she seemed frightened, trying her best to distance herself from the incident. 

　　Her calmly fabricated reasons earlier were merely a sign of her confidence that he wouldn't punish her for it, knowing he would protect her.

　　Subconsciously, she seemed to understand his heart even better than he did himself. That's why she was so fearless. 

　　She was delicate, soft, beautiful, yet humble, lowly, completely at his mercy, yet somehow beyond his control. 

　　The moment he covered her eyes and kissed her, only one thought echoed in Xie Jue's mind: 

　　He should have killed her, not kissed her.

    ——

　　Xie Jue had been struggling with, suppressing these feelings. 

　　His affection for a lowly palace maid was something he despised, something he couldn't bear to acknowledge. 

　　But he also knew that one day he wouldn't be able to contain it any longer. 

　　“Zhāo zhāo wǒ yì (My intentions are clear),” she said those words to him again, and Xie Jue believed her. 

　　But then she ran away. 

　　Only then did Xie Jue realize that all her sweet words were to deceive him. 

　　Her declarations of devotion, making him pouch—they were all tricks to lure him into the trap she had woven for him, ensnaring him so completely he couldn't escape. 

　　Never in his life had he been so thoroughly fooled.

　　He laid a net, but couldn't catch her. Her years spent by his side, her understanding of him, had become her greatest weapon in her escape. 

　　The first year after she ran, he forbade anyone in the Palace from mentioning her name. He thought she deserved to die for deceiving him. 

　　The second year, he issued warrants for her arrest, capturing many people, yet still finding no trace of her. 

　　The third year, Xie Jue's headaches became even more severe. A glimpse of familiar eyes made him lose his composure, mistaking them for hers. The delusion was so profound it even made him laugh at himself. 

　　Losing someone had driven him to such irrationality. 

　　Only then did he realize that beneath the suppressed anger was excruciating pain. 

　　He wouldn't let himself lose her a second time.

    ……

　　The sleeping chamber was dark, unlit by candles. 

　　Xie Jue awoke from a troubled dream, the lingering anxiety causing him to frown. He reached out, pulling her soft body into his embrace. 

　　She was sleeping soundly, her gentle, warm presence calming his turbulent emotions. Her head rested on his arm, her cheek against his chest; she snuggled closer into him. 

　　She was right there beside him. 

　　Xie Jue tightened his hold, slowly closing his eyes. 

　　She woke early the next morning, waking him with a smile, calling him “husband.” 

　　She said something, Xie Jue watched her lips move, but didn't catch a word. When he responded, he simply said, “Good.” 

　　No matter what she said, he would only agree.

　

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T/N: Yay, we're finally done with this novel! To be honest, there's one last chapter—it's about Muyun and Yan Heng—but I can't find it anywhere. My JJWXC account is having problems, and after searching for almost four months, I finally gave up. If you want the last chapter, you'll have to buy it yourself from JJWXC. 

Whew, this was such a long translation journey for me. This is also my first translated novel. To be honest, because of my lazy nature, I wanted to upload it on someone else's blog. But, perhaps because I'm a novice, nobody responded to my inquiries. So, in the end, I created this blog myself. I did this because I want to share this awesome novel and many more in the future, and also because I want to improve my Chinese.

All in all, thank you so much for joining me on this journey. Thanks for being such awesome readers! 😘

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