Chapter 4: Strange System
Li Jun stepped into the office that looked slightly different from when his father was alive. Everything from the furniture and books were the same. Except for the ornaments on the desk. The framed picture of him and the gifts he bought for his father were gone.
His father used to display anything he bought or made for him proudly on his desk like he couldn’t wait for everyone to see his work. Even when he was having an episode, Li Mingze would throw everything else, but he wouldn’t touch anything he had gifted him.
Now the desk had pictures of Xiu Ying with Li Yu and miscellaneous trinkets. Li Jun walked over his steps casual and unhurried. With a carefree air around him, he touched the figurine on her desk and said, "You need me for something."
His relationship with Xiu Ying was distant but not as with Li Yu. When his father first introduced them, Li Jun was happy to have a mother again. He readily accepted her and Xiu Ying was nice to him, taking on that maternal role. But all of that changed when his father began to show signs of madness. She distanced herself from him like everything before never happened. Back then, it hurt his feelings being treated that way, but now, his heart had long grown cold.
Xiu Ying glanced at him and said, "Why were you late today, you know how important this is." with the air of an elder. With a soft thud, Li Jun put down the figurine and walked towards the decanter in the room. He poured himself a glass of strong liquor with no reservations.
He sat down on the couch and with his posture relaxed, he took a sip. Li Jun said, "I know that’s not why you called me here. What do you want?"
She was annoyed by him, but she restrained herself. In the softest tone that she could master, she said, "Your father must have told you how to contact Blue Sapphire." Li Jun froze and with a smirk on his lips, he took a sip, the liquor burning his throat. The Blue Sapphire wasn’t just any army.
It was a mercenary group under his maternal grandmother’s command. Their strength and arsenal were so powerful that whoever they supported would sit firmly in that position. They were the reason why his father could have had that seat in the first place.
Li Jun had given up that position willingly, but that didn’t mean his uncles weren’t interested in that seat as well. During his father’s reign, they held back, unwilling to go against the ruthless tyrant. But now that he was gone, they would crawl out of whatever hole they had been hiding under and pick a fight. This was why she called him here, to get access to Blue Sapphire.
Xiu Ying knew he was holding back, thus she said, "No need to deny it. I know he must have left you a way to contact them."
Li Jun chuckled softly and said, "You are right, he told me how to contact them but..." He set the glass down on the coffee table with a thud and said, "Why would I help you?" They had long shed their pretenses and laid out their cards on the table. Xiu Ying must have known that he would refuse, so why bother asking him.
Xiu Ying smiled as she leaned back in her seat. She had expected as much but if he wouldn’t give her what she wanted willingly, then she would find other means to persuade him. There were only a few things Li Jun cared about, one of them being his title. That’s what she thought but she had no idea that Li Jun could give two shits about it.
"Because I have been helping you keep your title. For years, petition after partition has come across my desk asking me to strip you of everything and reduce you to a commoner. But given our past affections as mother and son, I prevented that from happening. Shouldn’t you repay me?"
The words mother and son set Li Jun off. Normally, he would remain composed under Xiu Ying’s provocation, but this time, he couldn’t hold back. "You are not my mother," he said through gritted teeth, his veins bulging as he squeezed the glass in his hand.
Seeing that she had successfully touched his bottom line, she said, "There it is? That anger. That madness creeping in. Should I beat myself and claim you did it? No one would believe you anyway." She leaned forward and said, "They will say it’s hereditary. That you are mad just like your father."
Li Jun, seeing that he had lost his temper and exposed his weakness, took a breath and said, "Do whatever you want. I freely gave you that throne but I will not help you keep it." After saying that, he gulped down the rest of the liquor and set the glass on the coffee table before getting up to leave.
Xiu Ying’s chest heaved in frustration as she watched him leave. She gnashed her teeth in anger before saying in her mind, "System, you said that he cared about his title. Why isn’t he giving up Blue Sapphire?"
Yes, she had a system. Years ago, Xie Ying had woken up to a system showing her the miserable ending she would suffer if she didn’t change her fate. Seeing how she would die like a dog in the street, she was eager to tilt the scales in her favor.
But no matter how things changed, the result was always the same. She always ended up being trampled under Li Jun’s foot. She and her daughter always met the same horrible end. This time under the system’s guide, she dosed Li Mingze with a poison undetectable in this world, amplifying his madness and eventually killing him. She dragged Li Jun’s name through the mud, further fueling the hatred that was already brewing from when Li Mingze was alive. Everything was going according to plan but like always, there was another stumbling block.
The system that had been lying dormant came to life and said, "Then proceed with the plan. Only when he is pushed into a corner can you get what you want."
Xie Ying smiled sinisterly and said, "I wanted to make things easier for you, but you didn’t appreciate it. Don’t blame me for what happens next."
