After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

With Baili Ce disguised in disguise, Lu Jian arrived at a village near their lodgings and then turned to leave.

"Go see for yourself, I'll come back in a bit."

After a moment's hesitation, Baili Ce walked into the village.

At the first house at the entrance of the village, an elderly couple is feeding their son, who is tied to a millstone.

The son's eyes were lifeless, and he looked like a zombie, but when he saw her, he suddenly grinned and said in a terrifying way, "Hello."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Upon seeing this, the elderly couple quickly stepped forward to block their son and kept bowing and apologizing to Baili Ce.

"My son, he didn't mean to scare you, he's just sick, he really is just sick..."

They were hunched over, miserable, cautious, and extremely humble, as if they had committed some heinous crime.

"I believe he will get better."

Stopping the two elderly people, Baili Ce smiled very gently, "Besides, you have taught him very well."

"..." Upon hearing this, the elderly couple were stunned for a long time before bursting into tears.

Unable to offer any comfort, Bai Lize could only force some silver into their hands and quickly walk away...

At the second house at the entrance of the village, a simple-minded older woman was playing house with a wooden horse and a winnowing basket at the door.

He clapped his hands and laughed as he played.

As she laughed, she started shouting, "Run! Run! Ranran, your dad's catching you..."

The third house at the entrance of the village, a boy with limited mobility.

When Baili Ce saw him fall flat on the ground, he couldn't help but want to go up and help him, but then he saw him get up and twist his outward-turned foot back into place.

The fourth, fifth, sixth... house in the village

After listening to and observing the entire village's situation, Baili Ce remained silent for several hours.

She used to think that being eaten was the worst and most terrifying thing in the world.

But today she realized that being deprived of one's soul, body, emotions, pain, and even hunger is a hundred times more terrifying than death.

At this point, killing Wang Qingyan is no longer the most important thing.

“Now, apart from the capital and the border regions, many places have been corrupted by the Gu.” As the sun set, Lu Jian found her again.

"If you don't want to continue, you can leave now, and I will not stop you."

"..." Bai Li Ce closed his eyes in frustration.

It wasn't that she didn't want to continue, nor that she resented the dog emperor for letting her know these things.

She was just feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this.

"Is there any hope for these people afflicted by the curse?"

"Yes, but for those taking too long, we can only..."

"Then continue."

As they gazed at the fiery sunset on the horizon, Lu Jian felt for the first time that he saw a vast world in Baili Ce.

So--

"Wang Qingyan will never let you go. Even so, do you still want to continue?"

This time he was really not joking. Wang Qingyan had been holding onto that anger for years, and he was probably already insane.

Her return will bring her utter despair from the very first hurdle.

Bai Li Ce took a deep breath... Although he was still very scared, so what?

"Actually, besides Consort Xuan, you must have married quite a few other women in your palace to stabilize the court, right?"

Lu Jian made no attempt to hide it, "Indeed, but just to remind you, she is now Consort Xuan."

Ignoring the slight displeasure in Lu Jian's tone, Baili Ce asked—

"Then why can't I weigh the pros and cons and feign compliance in order to achieve success and establish a career?"

"It's not impossible, but the vast majority of women can't do it."

"Or rather, the instinctive resistance will cause you to fail before you even take the first step."

"Moreover, as a fellow man, I can tell you with certainty."

“If you show even the slightest bit of dislike in front of Wang Qingyan, he will think you are hypocritical and don’t love him enough.”

"The important thing is that you've been running for five years. From his perspective, you must feel that you've let him down, deceived him, and wronged him."

"Even if he doesn't show it to you on the surface, he will definitely retaliate against you a hundredfold or a thousandfold in other ways."

"In short, it will be very difficult for you to regain his trust."

"..." After listening, Baili Ce remained silent for a long time, swallowing hard.

If you ask anyone who understands you best, it's your opponent.

Lu Jian's words were fair and objective, without a trace of belittling or contempt in his expression; it was as if he had sealed her fate with Wang Qingyan...

But she still said, "I want to try."

"Why?"

Bai Li Ce curled the corners of his mouth, his eyebrows and eyes sparkling—

"I want the whole world to hear my voice."

"I want to achieve something extraordinary."

"I would rather be remembered in history as a woman, as Baili Ce! To be admired and praised by thousands!"

“Instead of…” she said in a low, supple voice.

Bai Li Ce said this with great nonchalance: "To be remembered as someone's wife, someone's daughter."

"..." Lu Jian stared at Baili Ce for a long time before finally bringing two cups of water and placing them on the stone table.

Then, with utmost solemnity, he removed the hairpin from his crown, pricked his palm, and dripped the blood into both of their cups.

His gaze was sharp and admiring. "Only someone like you is qualified to be my ally."

Bai Li Ce also drew the short knife he carried with him, cut his palm, and dripped the blood into two cups of water.

"From this moment forward, the Baili clan has officially formed an alliance with His Majesty the Emperor."

"Lu Jian formed an alliance with the Baili clan."

"From now on, the Baili clan will put His Majesty first in everything, serving him faithfully and going through fire and water without hesitation."

"From then on, Lu Jian prioritized the well-being of the Great Wei dynasty and its people."

"If I break this oath, may I suffer the most severe punishments in the world during my lifetime, and may my body be left to rot in the wilderness after my death."

The two finished their final vow in unison, then drank the blood tea in one gulp, their movements, even the act of throwing the cups, were resolute and swift.

"Ugh, this blood tea is absolutely awful," Lu Jian said, feeling a bit nauseous.

"Who says it isn't?"

But after five years away from home, Baili Ce had eaten a lot of unpalatable food, so he could still tolerate this.

"Oh, right," Lu Jian said, taking out a porcelain bottle and tossing it to Baili Ce.

"This was given to you by your sister. She couldn't come in person, so she asked me to give it to you for self-defense."

Bai Lize took the porcelain bottle, opened it, and took a sniff... a poison-avoiding pill?

Yes, it is indeed useful.

He quickly put it away, bowed respectfully to Lu Jian, and said, "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you in the days to come."

Lu Jian knew what Baili Ce meant. "Fine! I refuse to believe that Wang Qingyan is invincible forever!"

"Yes!" Baili Ce's eyes were sharp, determined to win.

"If you're going to do it, do it to the best of your ability!"

Therefore, in the days that followed, Lu Jian devised a series of targeted training programs for Baili Ce.

The aim is to cater to Wang Qingyan's preferences in all aspects.

Taking into account Baili Ce's personality traits, the goal is to get Wang Qingyan back to a relatively normal state in the shortest possible time.

"Were you bitten by a wolf?"

"Yes"

"You've even killed bears and trained eagles?"

"Well... I only participated a little. It was mainly... a dozen or so Xianbei warriors who were killing people."

Lu Jian then asked, "You must be quite proficient in horsemanship, horse training, and archery, right?"

"This is..." After all, she's been on the grasslands for so long; if she can't do anything, that would be too pathetic.

Lu Jian nodded in satisfaction, "Hmm~"

He turned to the female doctor and instructed, "There's no need to remove her scars, and don't use too much of the beauty formula, just use what's appropriate."

"I understand why you don't need beauty secrets; after all, it's impossible to be completely free of sun and wind exposure after being away from home for so long. But those scars..."

To be honest, not to mention the wolf bite, there are also three kicks from the horse. "Wouldn't it be bad if we didn't remove them?"

Smooth, silky skin makes people happier, right?

"Scar removal is very painful," the female doctor warned.

If I'm not even afraid of that kind of thing, why would I be afraid of pain?

"It's okay, just give me a scar removal set~"

The female doctor remained silent.

Lu Jian shook his head, "The pain is only one aspect; the important thing is..."

He lowered his voice with a nonchalant expression; he really knew a lot about these things.

"Keeping these scars will make him cherish you even more and treat you with utmost care."

"Huh?" Baili Ce's nose and mouth squeezed together, his wrinkles filled with disgust. "Isn't this a bit too much?"

Such groveling, fawning, and flattery is so unlike her.

However, Lu Jian's next words made her realize how shallow she was.

"This greatly satisfies his vanity as a man."

"What's there to be satisfied with!"

"Tsk~" Lu Jian clicked his tongue. How come this person's comprehension has become even lower after going out for a while?