Jiang Ke’er was carried into the Imperial Court by the Emperor himself, in front of all the Civil and Military Officials.
Then Qiao Xiaoxian leaned back on the Dragon Throne. Ignoring Jiang Ke’er’s murderous gaze, she pulled Jiang Ke’er onto her lap and leaned into her embrace.
“Long live the Emperor, long—”
“Ten thousand years is too short. Don’t say it anymore,” Qiao Xiaoxian waved her hand dismissively. “You may rise, my dear ministers. If you have something to say, say it quickly; if you have nothing, then shut up. After the court session, I still need to take my beloved concubine out to play.”
In every word and action, she perfectly embodied the image of a Foolish Monarch. Even Jiang Ke’er couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake.
Jiang Ke’er thought she was already a good actor, but she hadn’t expected Qiao Xiaoxian’s acting skills to be so formidable.
‘So, this girl really has been playing me this whole time… All that gentleness, concern, and flattery were just for the sake of cultivation—just excuses to use me as a power bank!’
She got angry just thinking about it.
Meanwhile, Yu Wenhua Ji felt extremely satisfied as he watched Prince Hao of Qin descend into the madness of a Foolish Monarch.
This was exactly the result he wanted to see!
However, Yu Wenhua Ji didn’t launch an attack first. Instead, he signaled an official next to him with a look.
“Your Majesty! This… bringing Concubine Bin to court is absolutely unacceptable!”
Qiao Xiaoxian felt a headache coming on just looking at the official’s pretentious expression.
Over the past two days, people had been telling her “It’s absolutely unacceptable,” “You must not be obsessed with women,” “You must not do this or that”…
“Unacceptable my ass! This is my wife. Do you have a problem with that?” Qiao Xiaoxian glared. Her attitude perfectly displayed that of a fatuous, playboy, and tyrannical ruler.
It wasn’t that she intended to be vulgar, but this was Prince Hao of Qin’s original personality. She had to commit to the act fully—and besides, she really did want to curse someone out right now.
“Your Majesty, have you forgotten how the Chen Dynasty fell?”
‘The Chen Dynasty? Huh?’
Jiang Ke’er had heard of this dynasty. It wasn’t far from the Kingdom of Dasi. Its last emperor was named Chen Shubao.
He was a lousy emperor, but he composed a song called *Jade Trees and Flowers in the Rear Court*, which became a classic. Two hundred years later, Du Mu criticized it in his poem: “The singing girls know not the sorrow of a fallen nation; they still sing *Flowers in the Rear Court* across the river.”
Twenty-eight years ago, the workaholic Emperor Jing of the Kingdom of Dasi sent his army to destroy the Chen Dynasty. Since then, everyone under heaven knew the details of the Chen Dynasty’s fall.
As the last emperor of the Chen Dynasty, Chen Shubao was not only proficient in poetry and songs but was also a romantic.
He was the first emperor in history to let his wife sit on his lap during court.
Because of this, he became a notorious laughingstock, forever denounced as a Foolish Monarch.
Qiao Xiaoxian was the second.
Clearly, this gave Yu Wenhua Ji’s lackeys an opportunity to attack. They began to make a big deal out of how Chen Shubao’s obsession with women led to his country’s downfall.
Qiao Xiaoxian’s eyebrows shot up. “What the hell are you implying? If you’re not happy, you come be the Emperor! Do you want to be the Emperor? Well?”
Jiang Ke’er stared from the side, stunned.
‘Is today’s Qiao Xiaoxian… also a graduate of some foul-mouthed school?’
The official turned pale. “Wanting to be the Emperor” was a capital offense of rebellion! Qiao Xiaoxian had casually slapped such a heavy accusation on him, instantly extinguishing his fire. He didn’t dare make another sound.
This Emperor… didn’t seem as easy to deal with as they had imagined. Why had he suddenly become so assertive? And he had even learned how to throw around accusations. Where was the timid, submissive man from before?
Could it be that he was acting this way just to protect the woman in his arms?
Because of one woman, he had actually become like a completely different person!
This… what a Calamity she was!
“Your Majesty!” At that moment, an official who clearly looked upright and possessed the air of a Great Scholar stepped forward. He said loudly, “Your Majesty’s recent actions have been truly absurd. You actually value women more than state affairs. If this continues, I fear the Kingdom of Dasi will be in danger!”
After finishing, the Great Scholar held his head high, looking like a righteous man who wasn’t afraid of being beheaded.
The surrounding officials saw his attitude of risking death to offer advice, and one by one, they showed expressions of admiration.
“Which of your eyes saw me valuing women over state affairs?” Qiao Xiaoxian sneered. “Was it with the Miraculous Antidote you made out of mud balls when the Epidemic Poison was raging two days ago?”
The Great Scholar’s face instantly turned white.
He never expected that the Foolish Monarch Prince Hao of Qin would know about this so clearly. He had obviously been very cautious!
However, he decided to go all out. He couldn’t back down now!
Once he showed cowardice, it would be as good as admitting to the crime of selling fake medicine. His lifelong reputation as a Great Scholar would be ruined!
“Your Majesty, don’t be so quick to shift the blame!” He straightened his neck and said aggressively, “A gentleman can be killed but not insulted! I, Huang Yuan, have never done such harmful or unconscionable things! As the ruler of a nation, you slander your subject. I have no choice but to prove my innocence with death, so the world may see Your Majesty’s errors!”
Qiao Xiaoxian looked at him with sympathy. Suddenly, she pulled a Crystal from her waist and threw it into the middle of the Great Hall. She said coldly, “Then die.”
The Crystal was triggered as it rolled, and clear images appeared before everyone.
From Huang Yuan personally giving the order to “forge medicine with mud balls,” to him checking the daily revenue in the ledgers, and even a batch of medical supplies that Huang Yuan had secretly embezzled under Yu Wenhua Ji’s orders…
Every image was documented!
Huang Yuan swallowed hard, shaking like a leaf.
“You say you are a Great Scholar and I am a Foolish Monarch,” Qiao Xiaoxian looked at Huang Yuan expressionlessly. “But, aside from protecting my beloved, I have never done anything harmful. At most, I have only broken some of your self-righteous rules of etiquette… while you, a prominent Great Scholar, have not only failed to protect the people of the Kingdom of Dasi but have instead tried every means to squeeze profit from the very commoners you were supposed to shield.”
“What right do you have to stand here and self-righteously nitpick my faults! TO HELL WITH YOU!”
The speed at which the situation flipped was completely incomprehensible to Yu Wenhua Ji.
He thought the person sitting on the throne was that fool who was at his mercy.
But this fool had brought up scandals that all the courtiers were unwilling to mention and had selectively forgotten over the past few days—scandals that few people knew about. In an instant, she launched a thunderous counterattack!
Even Yu Wenhua Ji himself was implicated!
She wasn’t unprepared—sitting on Qiao Xiaoxian’s lap in shock, Jiang Ke’er suddenly understood.
Perhaps she had been waiting for this day for a long time.
Disguising herself as the Emperor wasn’t just for stealing intelligence.
There was a more important purpose—
A reckoning!
While Jiang Ke’er was running around frantically, burning with anger and anxiety over the Human Clan’s ugly dealings… Qiao Xiaoxian had never actually stopped. She had been planting explosives in places where Jiang Ke’er couldn’t see!
Waiting for the right moment to detonate it all!
And furthermore…
A ridiculous thought suddenly rose in Jiang Ke’er’s mind.
‘Could it be that this was her true purpose for waiting for me to arrive?’
‘To let me witness this great show with my own eyes?’
‘Is this…’
‘Prepared for me?’
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.