Chapter 69: The Stars Set and the Sun Rises; You Represent Hope

The danger had receded.

Ning Xuan was busy with post-disaster reconstruction.

Yun Huaiyue followed him around like a little tail.

Ling Hegui rushed back to the Qingling Sect.

Lu Youxin stayed behind, and every day Meng Jingyang took him out to eat, drink, and be merry, enjoying the full treatment of a dandy.

“Ah, that feels good~”

Ning Shengsheng narrowed her eyes and tilted her neck, letting Songgao massage her left shoulder.

“Princess, your valiant and heroic bearing that day has been written into storybooks. Every teahouse is talking about it!”

Zaoni came back holding a thick stack of books.

The first one was titled:

“The Good-for-Nothing Princess Survives a Desperate Situation and Slays a Demon to Save the World”

She opened the second one with interest.

“The Arrogant Princess Changes Her Ways Because of Hostage Prince Xue”

Flipping through a few pages, she saw vivid descriptions of how beautiful Xue Chen was.

She loved Xue Chen deeply and decided to turn over a new leaf.

She became a great person for him!

The wording was so exaggerated and cheesy that it made one’s hair stand on end.

Zaoni covered her mouth, stifling a laugh as she read, “That Heavenly Phoenix Xue Chen’s eyes were like lacquer, his brows like distant mountains. Princess Ning An fell in love at first sight, and at second sight, wished she could swallow that beautiful young man whole…”

“The young man looked pitiful, whispering ‘no’!”

“With clothes half-undone, Princess Ning An pounced with a roar—”

Ning Shengsheng made a silencing gesture. “Shh, what kind of cheesy, sour, pedantic storybook is this?”

“Don’t read it!”

“Eh…?”

Songgao reminded her, “Princess, look at the door.”

Ning Shengsheng looked up and saw the male lead of the storybook had arrived.

Xue Chen raised an eyebrow and walked up to her. “Your Highness, did I come at a bad time?”

His pale hand picked up a book.

It was the one Zaoni had been reading aloud.

He curved his lips slightly, his smile meaningful. “I didn’t know the Princess was so passionate in the eyes of the people.”

“So infatuated with this subject?”

“Ahem, it’s all nonsense made up by outsiders.”

She twisted her cuffs nervously and gave Zaoni a look. Zaoni quickly picked up the stack of storybooks.

She wanted to take the one in Xue Chen’s hand.

Hostage Prince Xue wouldn’t give it to her, so she scurried away.

Xue Chen openly tucked the storybook into his sleeve.

Ning Shengsheng couldn’t do anything about him.

“What do you need?”

“The Huan Li is about to lose its baby teeth. Keep an eye on it.”

Xue Chen was very good at taking care of spirit beasts.

Ning Shengsheng nodded. “Okay, I know.”

After saying that.

The two of them looked at each other in silence.

She thought for a long time before asking, “Are the servants in the palace bullying you again?”

Xue Chen shook his head.

Who knew that at this moment, the system came online.

【Host, you have triggered a new mission.】

Ning Shengsheng: ?

What mission?

【Find an opportunity to ravage Xue Chen with a whip.】

Are you crazy?!!

Why would I do that?

【Host, the plot is set this way. The first time Xue Chen was whipped was when you first transmigrated. The second time is half a month later. In the original plot, Meng Jingyang self-destructed to save Great Ning. Princess Ning An’s temper became even more violent. Hearing from a palace maid that Xue Chen was judged as an ominous person in Heavenly Phoenix, she felt that Great Ning’s disasters were all brought by Xue Chen, so she summoned him to humiliate him.】

The system’s voice grew quieter and quieter.

Ning Shengsheng was speechless. She glanced guiltily at Xue Chen.

Their relationship had finally improved.

If she tortured him again.

She would be courting death and insane!

Xue Chen saw her deep in thought and called out again, “Princess?”

“Oh, oh, I’m here.”

Ning Shengsheng felt even more guilty looking at his beautiful face.

She wanted to drag the original author in and beat her up.

What kind of trash plot is this?

Just torturing Xue Chen.

The author of the novel “Chains of Clouded Joy” was notorious for doing whatever she wanted.

She basically never updated on time.

Even when she did update, the time was terrible, always between 3 AM and 5 AM.

Sometimes Ning Shengsheng would get so caught up in the plot and angry that she would drink coffee and stay up late waiting for an update.

Heaven knows how much she liked Xue Chen when she read the book.

“Your Highness, I’ll go first. Remember to watch the Huan Li carefully. Don’t let it swallow its own baby tooth.”

Xue Chen waved his hand in front of her eyes.

Ning Shengsheng still ignored him.

The young man pressed his thin lips together tightly, his eyes darkening.

Who is she thinking about, spacing out like this?

Xue Chen looked displeased, raised his voice, and sneered, “It seems the Princess doesn’t care about the Huan Li at all.”

The sudden increase in volume snapped her back to reality.

“No, I care!”

Xue Chen snorted coldly, crossed his arms, and walked away angrily.

Ning Shengsheng touched the back of her head, completely clueless as to why he was suddenly angry.

Her mind was full of the mission given by the system.

A trap.

A huge trap!

Knowing it was a huge trap, she still had to jump!

Zaoni came back after putting away the storybooks. “Princess, Qi Momo wants you to go to Shouxi Palace.”

“What is it?”

She asked while straightening her clothes.

“This servant doesn’t know.” Zaoni shook her head.

Her brother and Yun Huaiyue had been close these past few days. Presumably, Momo was asking her about Ning Xuan’s love life.

There was still half a month left for the system’s mission.

Ning Shengsheng always adhered to the principle that things would work out when the time came.

Deal with future matters later.

She was depressed for a few minutes, then threw her worries aside and happily went to Shouxi Palace.

Qi Momo was sewing clothes. She looked up and saw her, smiling as she beckoned her over.

Ning Shengsheng rested her head on the old woman’s knee and acted coquettish.

“Momo, long time no see. I missed you…”

“You girl!”

The two chatted for a few sentences, and the old woman couldn’t hold back anymore. “I heard Ah Xuan and the girl from the Yun family are close?”

Ning Shengsheng raised her hand. “I confess everything!”

She spilled everything about Ning Xuan like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

For the time it takes to drink two cups of tea.

Ning Shengsheng talked until she was satisfied, and Qi Momo listened with relish, completely energized!

Finally, when she was leaving.

Ning Shengsheng remembered something that had been weighing on her mind.

In the illusion created by the Mirror Demon, Xue Chen seemed to hate his own name very much.

Qi Momo was an old timer in the palace; maybe she knew something?

Ning Shengsheng turned back.

“Momo, do you know anything about the imperial family of the Heavenly Phoenix Nation?”

“I know a little.” Qi Momo’s eyes were kind. “Why do you ask about this, An’er? What do you want to know?”

“I want to know the origin of Xue Chen’s name.”

Ning Shengsheng paused. “Is there any secret?”

Qi Momo put down the needle and thread in her hand, sighed heavily, and slowly said, “Speaking of which, this Hostage Prince Xue is a pitiful person. In the Heavenly Phoenix Nation, demonic beasts are considered inferior, but the ruler had a one-night stand and had Hostage Prince Xue with a charm demon.

His half-demon bloodline made people detest him. As soon as he was born, he was confined in the Cold Palace with the charm demon. The charm demon also disliked the ruler of Heavenly Phoenix, and by extension, loathed Hostage Prince Xue. She tried to strangle him with her own hands several times. Fortunately, Hostage Prince Xue had a tough life and survived. She wanted to drag him down into the endless hell, hence the single character ‘Chen’ (Sink).”

So that was it.

Ning Shengsheng’s heart ached.

She whispered, “‘Sink into hell’… no wonder he said he hated his name…”

“Momo, I’m going!”

“Princess, where are you rushing off to?”

“Momo, I’m going to the library!”

…

Thinking about who Ning Shengsheng was daydreaming about, Xue Chen couldn’t help but have thoughts of imprisoning her.

Making her only able to look at him, think of him!

With great difficulty, he forced himself into a state of cultivation.

He heard the wooden door creak.

He lazily raised his eyes. The visitor poked her head in and pushed the door open, entering with a very thick book in her arms.

Seeing who it was.

Xue Chen couldn’t help but frown. “What is it, Princess?”

The wind blew in the courtyard, scattering pear blossoms.

A few petals landed lightly on the ground, and a few sparse petals landed in the woman’s hair at her temples.

” The stars set and the moon falls, the rising sun ascends in the east!”

She bent down, her almond eyes looking into his, her smile bright, her voice crisp and clear.

Xue Chen was stunned.

“What?”

The girl stomped her foot and brushed the petals off her shoulder.

She opened the book in her hand.

Pointing at a line of text, she said gently, “Look! In the national language annotations, the second explanation for the character ‘Chen’ is exactly what I just said: the stars set and the moon falls, the rising sun ascends in the east.”

He seemed to understand something, but his tone remained indifferent.

“So?”

“Oh, you dummy, so—”

“Your ‘Chen’ is very good!”

“It doesn’t mean sinking into endless hell, but the stars setting and the sun rising. In other words, you represent hope…”

“…and the dawn before the sunrise!”

“This princess shares the same view as the national language annotations.”

Hope?

The dawn before the sunrise?

Hearing this, Xue Chen froze. His long eyelashes trembled, and disbelief surged in his dark eyes.

His biological father called him filthy, his biological mother said he was unclean.

But she said he represented hope?