"Actually, it's because we're a man and a woman, all alone together. And seeing as I have no cultivation to speak of, even if I wanted to get handsy with Miss Su, I'm afraid I lack the strength, though not the desire."
Jiang Lan sighed, putting on a look of helpless regret.
The moment Su Qinghan heard that, she couldn't help but recall how he had taken liberties with her at the Snow Moon Pavilion earlier that day. She gritted her teeth, a flash of humiliation and anger appearing in her cool eyes.
'A man and woman, all alone? Lacking the strength, though not the desire?'
'Weren't they the only two people there at the time?'
'He's a bald-faced liar. Tonight, she was truly seeing it for herself.'
"What will it take for Young Master Jiang to let me go?" Su Qinghan took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"'Let you go?' Now that sounds so harsh and distant."
Jiang Lan shook his head gently and turned around, his long, slender fingers tapping unhurriedly on the jade table. "Why don't you reconsider the conditions I proposed earlier today, Miss Su? Just look at that father of yours. If you hadn't stepped forward to save your sister, he probably would have sent her to me to be my concubine."
"You wouldn't want to see your sister pushed into a pit of fire, now would you?"
Su Qinghan froze instantly. Her glossy red lips parted, her delicate body almost trembling with rage.
'She'd already called him "shameless" once.' She forced herself to swallow the word before it could escape again.
'She never imagined Jiang Lan could be so shameless, saying something like that so openly. Did he actually know he was the "pit of fire" he spoke of?'
However, the more Jiang Lan spoke this way, the more it confirmed the many suspicions and theories forming in her mind.
'What she was about to say and do might be audacious, but she had to try.'
At that, Su Qinghan took another deep breath.
Her beautiful, jade-like eyes reflected Jiang Lan's handsome face as she said bluntly,
"Young Master Jiang, you are the Son of the Prime Minister. Your status is priceless, your standing noble and illustrious. Why must you torment a weak woman like me?"
"Though I may have some looks, I know my place. A man such as yourself, Young Master Jiang, has seen countless goddesses among women. What could I possibly mean to you in comparison?"
'As expected. No one ever believes the truth; it's always the same old tricks that win people over.'
'Tsk, tsk,' Jiang Lan thought to himself.
Outwardly, however, he said in a measured tone, "Miss Su, you should have more confidence in yourself. Judging by my experience with—shall we say—three thousand women, your beauty ranks among the very best in all of the Great Xia. While perhaps not a beauty that will be praised for a thousand years, you could easily become famous throughout the land."
He wasn't just making this up.
After all, Su Qinghan was the female lead from the original story, the one the author had spent the most time describing. The praise for her beauty might not have been blown completely out of proportion, but it was close.
"To be praised so by Young Master Jiang... I am truly fortunate."
Though Jiang Lan praised her beauty, Su Qinghan wasn't naive enough to believe he was genuinely captivated by her.
Words like that were best not taken to heart, especially coming from him.
Had it not been for the day's events, she might have continued to believe that Jiang Lan was nothing more than an ignorant, debauched scion of a rich family.
But now that she'd interacted with him... she found him to be a deep, unfathomable, and incredibly dangerous man. It was best to keep him at arm's length.
"Since you feel so fortunate, then why, Miss Su, do you keep rejecting my kind offer?" Jiang Lan asked, watching her with keen interest.
"My fate is humble and my fortune is meager. I cannot climb a branch as high as the one before me..." Su Qinghan said, shaking her head.
Jiang Lan's smile vanished. He cut her off. "Are you refusing my goodwill, Miss Su?"
"If Young Master Jiang insists on forcing me, then I would rather take my own life right here."
Su Qinghan lifted her exquisite, jade-like face, her tone cold and firm.
The night wind rustled her dark hair, making the look on her face seem all the more determined.
'In truth, saying this was a gamble.'
'She was betting on all her prior suspicions and theories. She was betting on her own understanding of Jiang Lan... '
"Do you have any idea what you're saying, Miss Su?"
Hearing this, the last trace of a smile vanished from Jiang Lan's face.
His eyes seemed to turn cold, his voice growing distant. "In all the vast Great Xia Dynasty, no one has ever dared to refuse me this way."
"Do you know the consequences?"
"I do. Whatever the consequences, I will accept them."
Su Qinghan's expression remained unchanged, still firm and resolute.
Even under Jiang Lan's stare, she did her utmost to remain calm and composed, showing no sign of panic.
'If she guessed wrong, the worst that could happen was death. In her heart, she had already accepted the worst possible outcome.'
This was, from the very beginning, an all-or-nothing gamble.
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP...
"A fine 'I would rather take my own life,' indeed."
The next moment, the angry outburst Su Qinghan expected never came.
Instead, Jiang Lan began to applaud, a faint smile on his lips. "Miss Su, you truly are one of a kind. Brave and cunning. No wonder you were accepted as a disciple by *that* person from the Dao Cang Sword Sect."
"Though, I must admit I preferred your proud and aloof demeanor from earlier today. Your current act feels rather insincere..."
"People change," Su Qinghan stated plainly.
'Seeing him act like this, she knew her gamble had paid off.'
'Still, his words left her puzzled. *That* person from the Dao Cang Sword Sect?'
'Was he referring to her Master?'
'But to the Son of the Prime Minister, even the Sect Leader of the Dao Cang Sword Sect shouldn't be a big deal, right?'
However, she had no time to dwell on it.
Jiang Lan chuckled and sat down, looking somewhat crestfallen. He sighed, "Well, now you've made me sound rather boring."
"How were you so certain I wouldn't harm you?"
Su Qinghan's gaze fell upon his face, her voice now holding a rare note of admiration. "As the ancient saying goes, a wise man feigns incompetence, tarnishing his own name to hide his true worth."
"'Know the white, yet keep to the black, and be a model for the world. To be a model for the world is to have eternal virtue never fail, and to return to the infinite.'"
"During the day, Young Master Jiang, you used yourself as bait to lure Lin Fan into revealing himself. You were forced to take liberties with me only to anger Lin Fan and make him show his flaws. Then, at the banquet tonight, with the Great Scholar Zhao Tianhe present, you deliberately feigned incompetence and tarnished your reputation by making me pour your wine. In truth, this was all to quell wagging tongues..."
Everyone believes the Son of the Prime Minister is nothing but a useless, debauched heir who knows only pleasure and lacks any real skill. Even she had thought so at first.
Only after coming into contact with him did she finally understand that this so-called "good-for-nothing" was merely a facade Jiang Lan presented to the world.
The current Prime Minister's power is so great it eclipses the heavens, while the imperial authority has been marginalized. Within the Great Xia, the powerful clans, Noble Families, and Noble Sects are a tangled, deeply entrenched web, with each faction cautiously vying for power.
If the Son of the Prime Minister weren't known to the world as a good-for-nothing, the Great Xia would have likely descended into unbearable chaos and turmoil long ago.
The Royal Family would be unable to eat or sleep in peace. Far from being this quiet, they would have likely started countless internal conflicts long ago out of fear of the Prime Minister's power.
And once the Great Xia fell into a state of internal strife, it would inevitably lead to fragmentation and civil war.
Other dynasties and the Alien Race would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to invade. From that point on, the Great Xia would weaken, and the grand spectacle of a thousand nations paying tribute would surely become a thing of the past.
It might even lead to its complete collapse and utter destruction.