Chapter 252: Chapter 252 Let’s Talk About Our Future

Xiang Ying looked at Jie Chen in surprise.

She had always thought that the people he could command were basically all in the Exile Team.

Seeing her expression, Jie Chen raised his eyebrows faintly.

“What, you don’t believe?”

“I believe… but how long will it take to mine the Jade Mine for me?”

Jie Chen didn’t expect her to be so anxious.

He glanced at the ore vein map she provided and pondered for a moment: “One month.”

Xiang Ying immediately became happy: “Deal! Alright, send me back to the carriage.”

Jie Chen’s thin eyes filled with a dark mist, he chuckled: “Use me and then leave?”

“What else? Do you still want to on the horse… um!” Before Xiang Ying could finish her ferocious words, Jie Chen covered her mouth.

His ears turned red: “Don’t talk nonsense, so many people can hear, I will send you back now, and I will come again at night.”

Jie Chen said, hastily taking Xiang Ying back to the carriage.

Xiang Ying did not know how Jie Chen assigned the task, but in the evening, he told her that everything had been arranged.

Xiang Ying studied the vein all night.

She estimated that a lot could be mined, but it would take a month, by which time she would definitely be in Shangjing City.

She still didn’t know what the situation would be then.

Xiang Ying thought about it and immediately sat up, diving into Jie Chen’s tent.

At this late hour, Jie Chen was buried in his books at his desk, but looked up when he heard the noise.

Seeing it was Xiang Ying, he raised an eyebrow and chuckled: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t sleep here tonight?”

Xiang Ying blinked: “Who said anything about sleeping? Let’s take advantage of everyone else resting and go get some jade stones from the vein, we can definitely make it back before dawn.”

Jie Chen was stunned: “Now?”

“Let’s go! I have the fast horses ready!” She grabbed Jie Chen’s hand and headed out.

The two sneaked down the hillside under the cover of night.

Little did they know that a figure stepped out from behind the trees, watching them leave under the faint moonlight.

Xiang Ying and Jie Chen, each on a fast horse, followed a set route by drone, racing under the moonlight.

Half an hour later, she finally arrived near the vein deep in the valley.

The people Jie Chen found had not yet arrived, but Xiang Ying was already impatiently taking out tools from her space.

This was a miniature miner she had just exchanged from a barter system with gold, capable of going two hundred meters underground.

The only downside was that it could not mine on a large scale.

Luckily for Xiang Ying, she was here to confirm if the quality of the jade met the space’s standard requirements.

Under the moonlight, the miner buzzed away, next to it was a small stream, babbling and glistening.

Jie Chen stood not far away, watching intently.

Xiang Ying chuckled: “Come over and sit down. We’re deep in the wilderness; no one will find us.”

Saying this, she pulled out a wide blanket from her sleeve and spread it on the ground.

She took out two fluffy cushions to sit on, then set up her self-brewed red wine stored in her space, along with a plate of braised beef, two boxes of crawfish—one spicy and one plain.

Finally, she splurged and used the barter system, exchanging a sword for two bottles of Coke.

Jie Chen walked over, starting a fire: “Are you planning to eat here?”

“Ah well, we’re idle anyway, what’s wrong with rewarding ourselves with some food, and besides, mining will take another two hours.”

Xiang Ying, smiling, pulled him to sit down together; the two leaned on each other, and Xiang Ying actively offered the Coke to his lips.

Jie Chen looked at the dark brown surface of the liquid bubbling away, somewhat nervous.

“I didn’t force you to marry me, are you in such a hurry to kill me?”

Xiang Ying burst out laughing: “What are you talking about? It’s called cola, cola—it makes you happy. Try it.”

Upon her enthusiastic recommendation, Jie Chen took a sip and started coughing continuously.

He was somewhat surprised: “What’s this taste? It’s sweet… and a bit spicy.”

Xiang Ying laughed lightly, her bright eyes gleaming: “That’s not spicy, it’s the taste of the carbonation.”

She washed her hands in the space, then began to peel the crawfish.

Jie Chen had seen crawfish before, so he wasn’t surprised. He tasted the cola again and slowly nodded.

“Not bad.”

Xiang Ying stuffed another crawfish into his mouth.

Jie Chen looked at her greasy fingers, took her wrist, and wiped her hands clean with a cloth.

Xiang Ying, chewing on the crawfish shell and sucking its juice, muttered indistinctly, “Don’t wipe, it’s going to get dirty again soon.”

“No need,” Jie Chen bent down, rolled up his sleeves, “I’ll peel for you.”

Xiang Ying blinked her big eyes, watching Jie Chen swiftly peel the crawfish and feed it to her.

The two of them shared bites this way, accompanied by a bit of red wine, watching the night sky, and finished everything cleanly.

In the deep of the night, the stars were especially bright.

Xiang Ying exhaled a white breath, leaning on Jie Chen’s shoulder, looking up at the long night sky, time passing with the movement of the stars.

Jie Chen knew she was slightly tipsy now, her demeanor the most relaxed and languid.

Worried Xiang Ying might catch cold, he took off his outer robe, draped it over her, and then wrapped his arms tightly around her.

“You aren’t actually the Princess of Xizhou, are you?” Jie Chen suddenly asked.

Xiang Ying paused with a smile, her radiant eyes shifting towards him.

“How did you figure it out?” she didn’t deny it.

Jie Chen pursed his lips: “If you were the Princess of Xizhou, you wouldn’t just watch as your country is on the brink of collapse and do nothing.”

Throughout their journey, he had come to understand Xiang Ying’s abilities and skills clearly.

He even felt that if she wanted, unifying the world wouldn’t be impossible.

Xiang Ying sat up straight, her drunken eyes shimmering like water, gazing intently at him.

“Jie Chen, do you always care about whether I’m Xiang Ying, because you actually liked the original princess?”

“I never liked her,” Jie Chen furrowed his brows.

He reached out, poking at the fire with a stick. The flames flickered, his eyes serene.

“At first, I needed to stay in Xizhou as a spy. Staying by her side was the best option. Besides, with many male concubines, she probably didn’t remember me clearly. But that time…”

Xiang Ying tilted her head, seeing him hesitate repeatedly, seemingly having something difficult to say.

She roughly grasped his meaning.

Jie Chen wanted to say that day he was drugged by the princess, and when he awoke, he was thrown back into his room.

Soon after, news came that the princess was pregnant.

Actually, he wasn’t sure if the child was his, since he had no memory of it.

Xiang Ying laughed: “Whether the child is yours or not, does it really matter?”

“It matters.” Jie Chen answered seriously, “If it’s my child, I would feel it’s unfair to you.”

Xiang Ying was stunned.

Jie Chen had somehow learned the virtue of a man on his own! And he even knew he had to preserve his purity!

She laughed, her eyebrows and eyes gleaming with moisture, Jie Chen frowned, “Why are you laughing, what did I say wrong?”

Xiang Ying wrapped her arms around his neck, sat on his lap, and said brightly, “It’s alright, let’s not think about the past. Jie Chen, let’s live a new life together from now on?”

Jie Chen’s eyes widened in surprise.

What did she mean? Was she willing to discuss their future together?