Chapter 869: From sweet to salty, eating without miss (2/2)

“You won’t get the arms trade, but I still have this life to offer!” Ning Jing said coldly.

She was wondering why Lady Tang had come in all of a sudden. As it turned out, it was just to give her “a way out.” This calmed her down immensely. After returning to the Tang Clan, Tang Zijin’s group had sought her out, each and everyone offering her a “way out” with the purpose of the arms trade in mind. She had already betrayed the Di Clan once, so she wouldn’t repeat that again. Although Tang Li had already taken away her account books and keys, he couldn’t claim any of it without her stamp or the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium’s council of elders’ seal!

Lady Tang laughed. “Arms trade? Haha, those are men’s matters! Ning Jing, this madam isn’t making you do anything to let down the Di Clan. I only want you to take your heart and draw a clear line between you and the Di Clan. Once Tang Li gets the arms trade, this madam promises to keep your life and find a way to keep you by Tang Li’s side as his concubine. If you agree, make a vow.”

After getting the arms trade and revealing the Tang Clan’s true alliances, even the Di Clan’s Ning Family wouldn’t be able to do anything against them! Even less would they be able to recover Ning Jing. With Tang Zijin and the council of elders’ tempers, they’d probably kill her instead. Lady Tang felt that her terms were quite generous. If she didn’t fear that her son’s emotions would cause a ruckus within the Tang Clan, she’d never do something this foolish!

Ning Jing couldn’t help but laugh out loud, irking Lady Tang to demand, “What are you laughing about?”

“You won’t let me do anything that lets down the Di Clan? Lady Tang, if your son landed in the Di Clan’s hands and lost the Tang Clan’s assassination weapons to them, could he still live carelessly?” Ning Jing asked.

By knowing what was going on and yet doing nothing to stop it was an even more shameless form of betrayal! Although Lady Tang would always give Tang Li the benefit of the doubt, she found herself unable to answer Ning Jing’s query. Nor could she confidently reply that she’d let him live! After remaining mute for a long time, she finally huffed, “Ning Jing, you’re a woman. Why are you being so stubborn? If you surrender to our Tang Clan, Tang Li won’t treat you unfairly!”

Ning Jing smiled icily. “This young Miss won’t miss a shameless thing like Tang Li! If Lady Tang has nothing else to say, then please leave!”

Lady Tang sprang to her feet and raged, “Ning Jing, you can just waste time here! Don’t even dream that the Di Clan can rescue you! I’m telling them, Tang Li will settle the arms trade routes for sure! Once he does, your death day will arrive!” She swished her sleeves and left, leaving Ning Jing smiling coldly without moving a muscle. How could she hope that the Di Clan would save her? What a joke!

As the door was locked, Ning Jing took out Ning An’s medicine. Without hesitation, she boiled the powder in the packet, then dumped it all into a flowerpot on the side without leaving a trace behind. If Ning An knew I betrayed Ning Cheng and didn’t tell him about the Tang Clan’s true origins, she would never give me this medicine, much less recognize a sister like me.

Why did she have to take this infertility medicine at all?! She needed a bottle of poison--one that she could take and die, thus finishing everything for good. By continuing to live, Tang Li could keep on manipulating her to trap Ning Cheng and steal the consortium’s arms trade routes. She had already made one mistake, but if she kept on like this, even death wouldn’t be enough to repay her debts. Actually, she should have died once already back in Medical City. If that had happened, Cloud Realm Trade Consortium’s council of elders would never come discuss terms with the Tang Clan or fall into Tang Li’s trap.

Thinking up to here, Ning Jing took out the dagger concealed onher body, but she wavered for a long time, unable to make the final move. If this was the past, she wouldn’t hesitate. Whether it came to others, herself, or even death, she didn’t blink an eye. Those who should live should live, while those who should die should die, wasn’t that right?

But now she was trapped.

Once again, her hand drifted to her stomach. She could be cruel to Tang Li and herself, but what about this innocent little life within her? She hadn’t lied to Tang Li in Medical City--she really was pregnant with his child--their baby. She couldn’t begin to imagine what Tang Li would think if he knew of the child’s existence. If this was the past, he would definitely put up a great act and happily pick her up before spinning her in circles, right? And what about now?

In Medical City, he had said she had no right to bear his seed. He even found a doctor to abort her “child.” She either had to die or run away before her stomach starting showing signs of her pregnancy. She would have to escape both the Tang Clan and the Di Clan. Actually, Ning Jing had already chosen escape over death, but it was just too hard to run away! Unless Tang Li took her down the mountain, she wouldn’t have a chance. At most, she had a month left. Ning Jing decided to gamble on a chance.

In any case, the worst case scenario would end with her death. Things couldn’t get more terrible than that. After steeling her resolve, she ended up sleeping very peacefully tonight.

Late in the night after all the elders were gone, Tang Li sat alone in the empty meeting hall. His white robes draped against him, a celestial yet lonely form who seemed to have fallen from grace into the depths of the darkest hell. It was as if nothing could ever offer him salvation again.

He remained silent for a long, long time before suddenly standing up. Like a madman, he rushed out the door and ran straight to Ning Jing’s door. The guards there were frightened to death by his speed. “Clan head, has something happened?”

“Open the door!” he said coldly.