Transmigrating into a Big Villain in the Book

Chapter 5: The Visit to Yuliang County

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Ke Ruan noticed the shock in his eyes, feeling a little complacent.

“Your highness.”

Ke Ruan nodded and said, “It’s late. What’s the matter?”

“Tomorrow I will leave for Yuliang County, and I’ll send one of my best men to protect you. You have nothing to worry about.”

Protect me?

Ke Ruan’s finally realized that Lin Qingye was following around so as to protect him. But why did he need protection in a safe lace like the royal palace?

Wait!

Yuliang County？

“General Lin, what did you just say?” Ke Ruan repeated just in case that he had misheard.

Lin Qingye said, “The magistrate of Yuliang County reported that there were mountain bandits. The emperor ordered me to go to take care of it.”

Ke Ruan paused and swallowed. He recalled that in the book, there was the plot that said when Ke Ruan knew Lin Qingye was heading to Yuliang County to wipe out mountain bandits, Ke Ruan insisted on going with him and bringing all the princes along despite the strong objections from the emperor and the ministers.

What’s worse, Lin Qingye didn’t survive this time. The whole country mourned his death. They couldn’t figure out why such an intelligent and brave general, a martial art master who had defeated countless enemies, could be killed by several mountain bandits, while the prince Ke Ruan didn’t even have a scratch and was saved by the soldiers the emperor sent over in the end.

People from all over the country suspected that General Lin died because he needed to protect the young prince who was so naive and ignorant and insisted on going with the General. If it were not for him, General Lin would have lived.

Ke Ruan knew what he had to do. He nodded and said, “Okay. Go have some rest.”

Lin Qingye looked at Ke Ruan, feeling a little bit strange. Was he being delusional? Or the prince did seem like a different person.

After Lin Qingye left, Ke Ruan asked his exclusive eunuch to come and said, “Go to my father’s resting palace with me.”

Chen Zhong was serving at the Yangxin Hall. Seeing Ke Ruan hurridly came, Chen Zhong walked forward and saluted, “Your Highness.”

Ke Ruan nodded, “Is Father sleeping?”

Before Chen Zhong could say anything, the emperor’s tired voice came from inside the YangXin Hall, “Is it my son there?”

Ke Ruan replied, “Yes, Father.”

“Come in.”

Chen Zhong opened the door for Ke Ruan. He stepped into the hall, and found that Ke Zhan was still reading the memorials. Ke Zhan’s hair had turned grey because of overworking and worries, even though he was just in his 50s. Ke Ruan, who was 15 years old, however, knew nothing about what it meant to be the future emperor.

“Father.” Ke Ruan went up and kneeled down.

It was the first time for Ke Zhan to see his son being so courteous. He asked, “Get up. What happened? Why is it that you’re being so polite today? Do you like that new teacher this much?”

Ke Ruan blushed. The original Ke Ruan must have driven a lot of teacher crazy and made them leave.

“Father, General Lin told me that you were going to send him to Yuliang Country to get rid of those mountain bandits.”

Ke Zhan nodded and put down the notes in his hand, “I’ve already spoken to General Lin and we all agreed to send another soldier who was very good at martial arts to protect you. ”

Ke Ruan was thinking to himself — He doesn’t need protection at all.

No need!

Ke Ruan said, “Father, I really hope that you could allow me to go with General Lin, as well as those princes from other countries.”

Hearing this, Ke Zhan’s face fell. Under normal circumstances, he would tolerate Ke Ruan’s thoughtless behavior. But this time, it was serious state affairs, he could no longer indulge him.

He was the king of the country after all. Ke Ruan’s legs were trembling a little with fear. One word from the emperor could change one’s whole life, even for his own son. If the emperor wanted you dead now, you wouldn’t be able to live another minute.

Ke Ruan knelt down, stabilized his mind and said, “Father, I know I’ve been thoughtless and arrogant for quite a while and I know I’ve let you down. But this time I’m serious. I’ve given it a lot of thought. And I really hope you could hear me out.”

Ke Zhan frowned and said, “In that case, okay. What do you have in mind?”

After all, Ke Ruan was the only prince in the country. That meant he was sure to be the future emperor. Ke Ruan certainly would be delighted to see his son grow up.

Ke Ruan felt a little relived and said, “Father, I have different opinions about those princes. If you really want other emperors to obey you, it’s not right to hold their sons in custody even if they have send their son here ‘voluntarily’. It only means that they are afraid of you and they could do nothing about it now. Once they got enough power and resources, they’ll sure to get revenge. So if we really want them to obey us, we should do it right.”

He paused, noticed that Ke Zhan’s facial expression changed slightly, and went on saying, “Of course, I didn’t mean to achieve this through violence, since you love peace and so does everyone in the world. So I think, it’s better to develop full, friendly relations with other countries instead of forcing them to let their sons stay here. Father, those who win the hearts of the people win the world in the end.”

Ke Zhan smiled. His son was definitely a worthy prince. He said, “Well said. Those who win the hearts of the people win the world in the end.”

It was scorching hot at noon. Because of what Ke Ruan said last night, Lin Qingye has to wait for another day.

Ke Ruan’s bright face was in sharp contrast to Lin Qingye’s long face. Last night, he spent the whole night talking with the emperor about how to get along with other countries.

Thankfully, he was good at history. He gave clear practicable methods to deal with this using the knowledge of China’s reform and opening-up. The emperor was so excited that he couldn’t sleep all night. The first thing he did during the morning meeting was to tell everything Ke Ruan said to the ministers. Even though some people raised objection, most of them agreed. But all of them admitted that Ke Ruan did make a huge progress. Just like what Ke Ruan had said, everyone wanted peace, and those ministers were no exception.

Those who had cursed Ke Ruan wanted to bite their tongue off now.

However, that did not include Lin Qingye. Wiping out those bandits was not a game. It was serious, important and dangerous. He had talked to the emperor about this, but the emperor was very firm.

Other princes hated, on the other hand, hated Ke Ruan to the guts. Why couldn’t he just die alone? Why brought them?

Ke Ruan sat on a chair. On the table was the holy decree from the emperor. He looked at Lin Qingye, who didn’t know what to feel at the moment, and smiled.

“Your Highness. I beg you to reconsider…”

Ke Ruan raised his hand and stopped Lin Yeqing right there. He placed his hand on his chin and stared at Lin Qingye with a burning gaze. Unlike him, Lin Qingye, a 17-or-18-year-old boy, had already become the country’s god of war.

Lin Yeqing felt a bit flustered being gazed at like that.

“Your Highness…”

Ke Ruan said, “General Lin. Trust me. I won’t make troubles for you. I just want to help you. If I cause you any trouble there, feel free to send me back. I won’t say a word. I promise. ”

Lin Qingye froze when Ke Ruan said that. He couldn’t believe his own ears. Who would believe that a mean prince like him could say something about wanting to help?

However, he really wanted to help this time. Ke Ruan had already known the outcome of this trip. He thought if he reminded Lin Qingye to be careful constantly, there was a chance that Lin Qingye could survive from this disaster.