Chapter 174: "Cui Lingyao! You Don’t Mind at All?

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: "Cui Lingyao! You Don’t Mind at All?

She was so soft and warm in his arms, pliant and yielding.

So docile.

Lying so obediently in his arms, one would never guess that this delicate, lovely girl could speak words so cruel they cut him to the core.

Xie Jinbai had known few women, but even he was startled by the fickleness of the one in his arms.

He lowered his gaze, swallowing all his thoughts. He wrapped his arms around her and asked impassively, "Are you serious?"

"Of course!" Cui Lingyao nodded earnestly. Before she could even lift her head, she heard him say, "If that’s the case, then what’s there to worry about with heirs? You give birth, and I will raise them. I will be sure to groom an enlightened ruler for Great Yue."

Cui Lingyao: "..."

She fell silent. Xie Jinbai asked in surprise, "What’s wrong? You’re not willing?"

’He sounds sarcastic, as if he’s implying something.’

Cui Lingyao was at a loss for words. "I’m afraid I won’t be able to have children," she said dryly.

"Don’t worry about that," Xie Jinbai said, holding her with great consideration. "I’ve found countless renowned physicians over the years. One of them is bound to find a solution..."

"It’s not just that—I don’t want to have children myself!"

Seeing that he wouldn’t let it go, Cui Lingyao couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries any longer. She cut him off bluntly, "The medical care in this world is atrocious. Giving birth is like walking through the gates of hell. I’ve already died twice, and I don’t want to experience it a third time. If something goes wrong again, I won’t get another chance to come back to life!"

She laid all her cards on the table.

On the one hand, she repeatedly professed her love for him. On the other, she demanded that he must have an heir...

And she herself had made her own stance clear.

—Even if she were physically able to, she did not want to give birth.

She didn’t want to give birth in this world.

What did that mean?

It was perfectly obvious.

Xie Jinbai didn’t even have to think hard about it.

The room fell silent.

The man in front of her was utterly silent, giving no clue as to what he was thinking.

The atmosphere turned strange.

Cui Lingyao tried to wait, but ultimately, she lacked his composure.

She tilted her head back, looking up at him from his embrace. "Don’t you believe me? My death this time was sudden. The ’thing’ that brought me to this world used up all its energy reviving me. We’ve lost contact completely."

’Believe her?’

Xie Jinbai didn’t dare.

He was afraid of being deceived by her again.

He didn’t dare to fully believe anything she said tonight.

He would have to carefully consider which parts he could believe and which he couldn’t.

For now, the only thing Xie Jinbai could be certain of was that her ’mission’ was real.

—She wanted him to have an heir.

—An heir that she would not bear herself.

How utterly ridiculous.

They were so close to an agreement, yet he remained silent. Cui Lingyao grew anxious. "Do you want me to be the one to give birth that badly?"

Xie Jinbai looked down at her.

The urgency on her face was plain to see.

’Just how desperately does she want me to have a child with another woman, to be this anxious?’

’Does she really love me?’

’Is this how someone acts when they love another person?’

A chill bloomed in Xie Jinbai’s heart, a frigid coldness spreading from his core to his very bones.

He felt terribly cold all over.

For a moment, he even began to hate himself.

’How could I be so pathetic? Why am I so stubbornly fixated on her?’

’Such a heartless, cruel woman!’

’Why should I let her hurt me like this?’

’Time and again, I’ve offered her my sincere heart, only for her to trample all over it!’

He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging shock and anger. He grasped her chin, pulling her face up from his chest.

"Yaoyao,"

He lowered his head, pressing his lips to her forehead as he murmured, "This isn’t what it means to love someone. If you love me, you shouldn’t be pushing me toward other women."

His voice was soft and emotionless. It wasn’t an accusation, but it was enough to make Cui Lingyao feel a pang of guilt.

Her torrent of anxious words paused. She bit her lip and explained in a low voice, "It’s not that I don’t care about you. It’s just... I’m more afraid of dying. We don’t have to look far—Minmin is a perfect example. She was perfectly healthy before giving birth, and the Duke Zhao Mansion certainly doesn’t lack for physicians, but she still nearly died. And there was Princess Huayang..."

That was the former Emperor’s sister—his own paternal aunt.

She also died in childbirth, taking her child with her.

’Was it because they couldn’t find good physicians?’

It’s just that with the level of medical care in this world, childbirth for a woman is like having one foot in the grave.

’I’ve died time and again. I’m truly terrified, and I don’t want to brush with death again. Is that so wrong?’

As her words sank in, Xie Jinbai’s expression slowly changed.

He found that she actually made sense.

He had seen Zhao Shijie spend the last two years desperately seeking out doctors and remedies, and he knew the state of Chen Minrou’s health.

It was, without a doubt, a result of childbirth.

Cui Lingyao glanced at his face, and then, as if making a great sacrifice, she took a step back to advance her point. "If you really only want a child from me, then... I’ll try. I’m willing to do it for you..."

"Don’t!"

Xie Jinbai’s brow furrowed, and he rejected her offer without a second thought. "You are not to give birth!"

He had been too fixated.

He had been so focused on having her produce an heir, a way to tie her more deeply to this world.

But he had forgotten that childbirth itself was a life-and-death ordeal.

He would have to be insane to let her take such a risk.

She shouldn’t have to endure the hardships of a ten-month pregnancy.

Xie Jinbai’s gaze darkened as he thought for a long time. Finally, he asked her, "As long as it’s a legitimate heir in the line of succession, that will work, right?"

Cui Lingyao froze for a second. When she snapped out of it, she shook her head vigorously. "No, no! It has to be your biological child!"

"..."

Xie Jinbai’s eyes grew cold. He stared at her intently. "You’re making things difficult for me."

"I’m not," Cui Lingyao said, feeling wronged herself.

’If I weren’t forced into this, who would want to...’

This time, she had even specifically asked the system.

She had asked if they could adopt a child from the Imperial Family, or perhaps secretly adopt one and pass it off as her and Xie Jinbai’s own.

But the usually agreeable system wouldn’t budge an inch this time, insisting that the heir had to be from Xie Jinbai’s bloodline.

It was probably scared of the "post-sales support" issues.

Another screw-up would mean the mission would never be completed.

Cui Lingyao pursed her lips. "If the heir’s bloodline is questionable, the throne could become unstable. What if he can’t keep the Vassal Kings in check and is forced to abdicate?"

Xie Jinbai couldn’t comprehend it. "What kind of incompetent fool gets forced to abdicate after a legitimate ascension to the throne?"

"Not everyone is as capable as you are," Cui Lingyao offered as praise, then added in a low voice, "So just to be safe, could you please just... make a little sacrifice and produce a biological child?"

Xie Jinbai: "..."

He actually laughed out of anger.

"Do you have any idea what having a child means? It means I would have to sleep with other women. More than once, and perhaps with more than one! I would be naked with them, our bodies entwined. I would hold them, maybe even kiss them."

The veins on his forehead throbbed as he glared at her, his teeth clenched. "Cui Lingyao! Does that not bother you at all?"

...

Inside the bed curtains, there was a deathly silence.

The things she had so deliberately avoided had been laid bare by him.

The color drained from Cui Lingyao’s face.

She stared at him, stunned.

She realized she couldn’t, for the life of her, imagine him intimately entangled with another woman.

He was her person.

Her man.