QT: The Rescue Of The Miserable Bigshots-Chapter 301 - 10.2

"So difficult!"

Jiang Jiamian couldn’t help but sigh as he pulled on the reins. With practiced ease, he drew three arrows from his quiver and nocked them onto the bowstring in one smooth motion.

The arrowheads were aimed directly at the tent across the battlefield.

If he remembered correctly, the King of Huainan, Xiao Jinan, was sitting inside at this very moment, personally overseeing the battle.

The original owner had once had a chance to fight him head-on. Just as he was about to tear open the tent and force Xiao Jinan out, news arrived from the capital ordering a forced withdrawal of troops.

By the time he finally faced Xiao Jinan again, he had already become the so-called Queen of Huainan, sent into a humiliating marriage.

Filled with resentment and despair, the original owner had nearly been determined to die. When Xiao Jinan attempted to torture and humiliate him, he seized a knife and stabbed out... But Xiao Jinan dodged.

And the original owner still couldn’t escape being tortured to death.

"Report!"

Sure enough, just as Jiang Jiamian finished drawing the bow and locking the three arrows into place, the urgent sound of galloping hooves rang out from behind him.

He ignored it without even turning his head.

"General Jiang! An urgent decree from the court! Please temporarily halt your advance and await orders!"

Seeing that Jiang Jiamian remained unmoved, the messenger hurried forward, riding up beside him and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"A general in the field may disobey the emperor’s orders."

Jiang Jiamian didn’t turn around. His eyes narrowed slightly as he focused on the distant tent, slowly pulling the bowstring taut.

"Do I really need to remind you of that?" He said coldly. "If you dare say another word behind my back, I’ll twist your head off first."

"This..."

The messenger wanted to argue, but the murderous aura radiating from Jiang Jiamian made his throat tighten. In the end, he swallowed his words and fell silent.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

In the next instant, the three arrows left Jiang Jiamian’s bow in rapid succession, tearing through the air with unstoppable force as they shot straight toward the enemy tent.

"You just wait! Charge!"

Jiang Jiamian shouted, his silver armor and white robe fluttering violently as he spurred his horse forward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One arrow grazed the top of Xiao Jinan’s head. Two brushed past his ears before embedding themselves deeply into the wooden backboard behind him.

Inside the tent, Xiao Jinan, dressed in black python-patterned robes, stood upright in the center. His sharply contoured face stiffened as a burning sensation flared at both ears.

He instinctively raised a hand to touch them, only to find thin cuts along the edges of each ear.

His gaze snapped to the three arrows quivering in the wooden planks behind him.

Shock flashed through his eyes, then he burst into laughter.

"Good arrows!"

"Your Highness?!"

The general beside him was completely stunned. Those arrows had pierced the tent itself and nearly taken the king’s life.

"Shut up."

Xiao Jinan cast him a cold glance. "Useless."

If it weren’t for his repeated defeats at Jiang Jiamian’s hands, he wouldn’t have been forced to personally command the battle.

He hadn’t expected to witness Jiang Jiamian’s skill so directly.

This wasn’t merely skill.

Such archery bordered on the terrifying.

Those three arrows were precise enough to frighten him, yet not a single one truly wounded him.

If it were a mistake, that would be one thing.

But if it were deliberate provocation... then it was far more dangerous.

If even one arrow had been aimed at his heart, Xiao Jinan would already be dead.

Suddenly, Xiao Jinan turned and walked out of the tent.

"Your Highness! Where are you going?! It’s dangerous outside!"

The general cried out in alarm when he saw Xiao Jinan stepping out without armor or weapon.

"Shut up!"

Xiao Jinan snapped, lifting the tent flap and stepping outside.

As expected, the moment he emerged, he saw a young general in white charging toward him on horseback.

The young general wielded a long spear, and wherever he passed, soldiers guarding the tents were sent flying as though they weighed nothing at all.

"Xiao Jinan, prepare to die!"

Jiang Jiamian’s eyes sharpened. He pointed the spear straight at Xiao Jinan’s chest.

"That depends on whether you can manage it."

Xiao Jinan smiled faintly. Still wearing his signature attire, he stepped lightly, leaping into the air and landing on Jiang Jiamian’s horse’s head, sending it reeling.

While airborne, his hand closed around the spear shaft, preventing Jiang Jiamian from pulling back.

Jiang Jiamian gritted his teeth and slammed the spear downward.

Xiao Jinan wasn’t in a hurry at all. Using the momentum, he twisted his body, grabbed Jiang Jiamian’s shoulder, and landed neatly on the horse’s back behind him.

He tightened his arm around Jiang Jiamian’s waist and even found time to comment, "What a waist."

Even beneath silver armor and a white robe, it was slim yet powerful.

Jiang Jiamian: "..."

What an idiot.

I came here to fight, alright?

"If you want to kill me..." Xiao Jinan said close to his ear, "Why rush at me like this?"

One hand held Jiang Jiamian’s waist tightly, the other restrained the spear. His deep voice vibrated against Jiang Jiamian’s ear.

Jiang Jiamian rolled his eyes, not caring whether Xiao Jinan could see it. "What do you mean I don’t want to kill you? Are you blind? I’m clearly here to kill you."

"You don’t."

Xiao Jinan’s tone was unusually firm. "If you truly wanted me dead, those three arrows could have killed me in a hundred different ways. But you didn’t choose any of them."

Jiang Jiamian’s lips twitched. "That’s because my aim was bad. I missed."

"No." Xiao Jinan replied coldly. "Your technique is excellent, terrifyingly so."

He cast a quick glance at the surrounding soldiers, then tightened his grip around Jiang Jiamian, seized the reins, and yanked hard.

"Move!"

Jiang Jiamian: "..."

This is wrong.

Very wrong.

And what came next was even worse.

Xiao Jinan spurred the horse forward, carrying Jiang Jiamian away from everyone’s sight and into a small grove in the distance.

Jiang Jiamian: "..."

Please believe him, he really did come here to fight!

Only when the trees completely concealed them, when no one outside could glimpse even a trace, did Xiao Jinan finally pull the reins tight and bring the horse to a stop.

"You don’t want me to die, let me guess why."

A deep smile curved Xiao Jinan’s lips as he continued without waiting for a response. "I think it’s because you need the court to rely on you, to be unable to function without you, yet at the same time, they can’t easily disband your forces."

Once he, the King of Huainan, died, Jiang Jiamian, the general assigned to suppress him, would immediately lose his purpose.

Therefore, Jiang Jiamian had deliberately remained in this stalemate for years, neither advancing nor retreating, always appearing evenly matched, carefully maintaining a fragile balance.

This forced the court into a position where it had no choice but to keep him, to rely on him to restrain the King of Huainan.

If that were truly the case, then this young general before him was indeed terrifying.

In other words, it wasn’t that Jiang Jiamian lacked the ability to eliminate him, it was that he deliberately delayed doing so, ensuring that the court would always need him.

Jiang Jiamian: "..."

Xiao Jinan was really overthinking it.

The original owner was indeed strong, but he genuinely couldn’t kill him.

And as for him, he didn’t kill Xiao Jinan because the other is a powerful and miserable bigshot he is here to save in this world.

That’s right, this King of Huainan, who ruled his own territory, declared himself king, was ambitious, and was rumored to be tyrannical, was precisely the mission target he was meant to save.

The plot of this world didn’t seem to revolve around Xiao Jinan at first glance. Yet in truth, he was the most dangerous and compelling antagonist to the protagonist’s faction.

Because this was, at its core, a typical rebirth ancient romance novel.

In her previous life, the female lead had been deceived and betrayed by the Seventh Prince of the Great An Dynasty. Her best friend stole her lover, and she was surrounded by scheming, two-faced villains.

After rebirth, she chose the Fourth Prince, the man who had loved her deeply in her previous life.

What followed was predictable. Emotionally, she slapped the faces of the scumbag and schemers. Politically, she aided the Fourth Prince with prophetic foresight, helped him seize the throne, waited out the incompetent old emperor, and then assisted in eliminating the vassal kings.

In the end, the male and female leads ruled wisely and lived happily ever after.

And Xiao Jinan was the vassal king destined to be eliminated.

"Since you’re so eager to secure your position, why don’t we cooperate?"

Seeing Jiang Jiamian remain silent, Xiao Jinan assumed he had guessed correctly.

"How do we cooperate?" Jiang Jiamian asked, genuinely curious.

Xiao Jinan lowered his head slightly. His breath brushed against Jiang Jiamian’s neck, making it itch. Jiang Jiamian instinctively leaned away.

Then Xiao Jinan’s voice, carrying a low chuckle, sounded close behind his ear. "It’s simple. We keep this charade of conflict going... for a very, very long time."

Jiang Jiamian froze and turned to look at him. "Keep it going? For a long time? Are you serious? You’re really willing to play along with me? From what I know, you should want nothing more than to get rid of me and march north, right?"

Someone this ambitious shouldn’t be content to waste time here.

Xiao Jinan paused, his expression turning solemn. "I never wanted to be emperor."

It was the emperor’s suspicion that forced him onto this path.

If he didn’t grow stronger, he would die.

Even if he never harbored ambition, the emperor’s paranoia would create it for him.

If he doesn’t kill, others will kill him.

The emperor had given him no choice. If he had trusted Xiao Jinan even slightly, feared him a little less, Xiao Jinan wouldn’t have needed to become the very villain the emperor claimed he was.

Jiang Jiamian sensed the sudden heaviness in his mood and nudged him lightly with an elbow. "Hey, we’re just talking. Why are you suddenly so gloomy?"

"Gloomy?" Xiao Jinan looked up.

"Ahem, never mind." Jiang Jiamian coughed. "If you don’t want to be emperor, why let him think you’re eyeing the throne?"

Xiao Jinan sneered. "What if I said it’s precisely because he thinks that, that I have no choice but to be?"

It sounded convoluted, but Jiang Jiamian understood after a moment. He laughed softly. "That’s truly tragic. Since you’re already being cast as the villain, have you ever considered being the villain to the end?"

Xiao Jinan narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

Even held quietly in his arms, Jiang Jiamian was still a general sent by the court to suppress him.

Jiang Jiamian turned his head. "It’s simple. Since he thinks you’re going to seize the throne, then go ahead and seize it."

Xiao Jinan stared at him in disbelief. "What nonsense are you thinking?"

Jiang Jiamian pouted. "Nothing much. Just looking for a like-minded friend. Go seize the throne. Even if you don’t want to be emperor, that’s fine. After you take it, I’ll be emperor for you."

Xiao Jinan: "..."

For the first time, he was genuinely amused.

"Jiang Jiamian, you’re really... interesting."

He would seize the throne, and Jiang Jiamian would be emperor?

How could someone even think of that and say it so casually?

He really dared.

Such an interesting person... Xiao Jinan suddenly regretted not confronting him earlier.

Four years. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

He had missed four whole years.

"I should go back."

Jiang Jiamian released the spear and let Xiao Jinan take it. "Remember what I said. Think about it."

Xiao Jinan stared at him for a long time. "Are you serious?"

At first, he thought the other party was joking or perhaps didn’t believe his claim that he had no desire to be emperor, deliberately mocking him or testing the waters for the court.

But when he repeated it, Xiao Jinan realized that Jiang Jiamian didn’t seem to be joking.

"Of course I am." Jiang Jiamian smiled. "That dog emperor deserves to die. Either you kill him, or I will."