Chapter 6: The Tyrant Is About to Be Driven Mad by Her

“Impudent!”

Feng Changye fixed his deep eyes on Zhu Wuhuan!

This audacious woman!

If he couldn’t hear her inner voice, and didn’t know that the teacup had been crushed by her own hand, would he really have had to take the blame for it today?

“Is it truly I who am impudent, Your Majesty?”

Zhu Wuhuan’s eyes brimmed with tears, yet in her heart there was no fear.

After all, right now she was playing the role of the wronged empress about to be executed along with her whole clan!

If her entire clan was to be executed, of course she would suspect that the tyrant wanted to make a move against her—it was perfectly normal!

It fit the character setting exactly!

With tears in her eyes, she slowly stood up, lifting her hands that had been scalded by the hot tea and showing them to Feng Changye.

“If Your Majesty wishes to cripple these hands of mine, then I will cut them off myself and offer them to you. Why should they be worth Your Majesty going to such pains?”

She shook her head, half-crying, half-laughing, her voice choked with sobs.

“Just earlier, in Chang Le Palace, when you said for this concubine to accompany you to the Taiji Hall, I was so happy…”

“I thought you were going to show mercy to the Zhu family, so I eagerly followed you here…”

“Unexpectedly, you weren’t going to pardon the Zhu family, but only brought me here to punish me!”

She lowered her head, tears trembling on her lashes.

She deliberately let her hands tremble slightly. “At this moment, my hands hurt, but that pain is nothing compared to the ache in my heart…”

Lifting her head, she gazed at Feng Changye, her beautiful eyes brimming with sorrow.

“Your Majesty, since you no longer hold even a shred of marital affection for me, why force me to remain here in the Taiji Hall and offend your sight? I… shall leave then…”

With trembling hands, she slowly turned around, her face full of sorrow, walking sadly toward the door.

Seeing the once noble empress’s back now so pitiful and desolate, even the palace maids and eunuchs serving in the Taiji Hall couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

How pitiful, the empress…

It was her father who betrayed the country. What did that have to do with her?

His Majesty should not implicate the empress!

Feng Changye felt the veiled glances of sympathy from the surrounding maids and eunuchs, and veins throbbed on his temple!

He gave a cold sneer as his gaze swept over them!

A bunch of ignorant fools!

Do you think the empress in your eyes is truly so pitiful?

No—inside, she was nearly laughing herself sick!

He listened closely, and indeed he heard Zhu Wuhuan’s inner voice again—

【Hahaha system, my exquisite performance just now—how many points would you give it? Don’t worry about me getting arrogant. If full marks are ten, give me eleven!】

The system was speechless.

【Host, I advise you to be careful, don’t be reckless. You must know, you are facing one of the three great tyrants in history—his thinking is unlike ordinary men, and he kills without batting an eye! By slandering him like this, if you touch a nerve and he cuts you down with one stroke, what then?】

Zhu Wuhuan confidently reassured the system.

【Relax, who would ever believe that a weak woman like me crushed the cup with my bare hand?】

【The tyrant will surely think the cup was poor quality, that the hot tea made it crack and shatter.】

【Then he’ll suspect that the eunuch steward of the Imperial Household Department has been cutting corners, sending inferior goods into the palace. He’ll surely fly into a rage and order a thorough investigation of the Household Department.】

【Tsk, if I recall correctly, during this tyrant’s reign, the chief eunuch of the Household Department was actually a distant relative of his late mother. That man, relying on her protection, not only embezzled and took bribes, but also committed countless ruthless deeds, even costing lives.】

【Letting him investigate would be a good thing—it won’t wrong that scoundrel anyway.】

Hearing her say this, the system realized she had some reasoning and no longer spoke.

Meanwhile, Feng Changye, who also heard her inner voice, felt his expression shift. The raging fury in his chest was instantly pressed down.

He frowned.

The chief eunuch of the Household Department committing such crimes?

That office merely handled palace supplies. What kind of grave cases costing lives could possibly occur there, to be recorded in history so clearly that even people a thousand years later would know?

He looked toward Zhu Wuhuan’s retreating back, his gaze deep.

Since this woman had given him such a perfect excuse to investigate the Household Department, how could he not use it?

For the sake of the useful clue she had provided, he would be magnanimous and overlook her earlier insolence.

“Stop.”

He set down his vermilion brush and spoke, just as she had imagined in her heart.

“If I truly wanted to cripple your hands, I have countless ways to do it. Why resort to such methods? The cup shattered, not because of me, but clearly because there was something wrong with the cup.”

He looked at Xiao Yuanzi. “When you brought the cup, did you notice any cracks in it?”

Xiao Yuanzi was terrified!

After all, if that teacup had shattered in the emperor’s hand, scalding him with hot tea, his own head would never be saved!

He fell to his knees with a thud, crying out his innocence!

“Your Majesty! This servant has followed you for many years—you know my character best, and you’ve always praised me for being careful and thorough! For all these years, anything delivered before you, this servant has inspected again and again. It would be impossible for me to let a cracked cup enter the Taiji Hall!”

Feng Changye lowered his head, seeing Xiao Yuanzi’s face pale with fright, and felt a trace of pity.

Today, Xiao Yuanzi was caught in an undeserved disaster. Clearly this was all caused by Zhu Wuhuan, yet look how she frightened him.

He looked at Zhu Wuhuan with a calm expression.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Wuhuan had already turned back, her burning gaze fixed on him and Xiao Yuanzi!

When he looked down at Xiao Yuanzi, the compassion in his eyes was entirely caught by Zhu Wuhuan, who immediately shrieked inside like a prairie dog—

【Ahhh system, look! The history books did not lie—there really is something fishy between this tyrant and Xiao Yuanzi! Look, Xiao Yuanzi is trembling with fright, and yet the tyrant’s heart aches for him!】

System: 【I don’t quite understand you fujoshis.】

Feng Changye, hearing Zhu Wuhuan’s inner voice: “……”

At this moment, he almost considered the system a kindred spirit!

Truly, the system had spoken his heart!

He also didn’t understand why women could enjoy watching two men fall in love with such enthusiasm!

The key point was—when had he and Xiao Yuanzi ever shown the slightest hint of ambiguity?

He gave Zhu Wuhuan a deep look, then closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.

He told himself over and over—calm down, you must calm down. If you lose your temper, she’ll realize you can hear her inner voice…

Only after repeating this did he finally calm.

He said to Zhu Wuhuan, “Since the shattering of the teacup has nothing to do with me, nor with Xiao Yuanzi, then it must be the doing of another.”

His voice was heavy with meaning. “Surely it was done by some worthless scoundrels who take my salary yet shirk their duty!”

“……” The true culprit, Zhu Wuhuan, felt as if she had just been scolded.

She lowered her head, muttering curses at the tyrant.

You’re the scoundrel. Your whole family are scoundrels!

Feng Changye curved his lips in a faint smile, then looked at Xiao Yuanzi.

“Xiao Yuanzi, go investigate. See if those bastards in the Household Department have been embezzling funds and supplying shoddy goods!”

He spoke leisurely.

“Today the cup shattered in the empress’s hand—never mind that. After all, your empress cares nothing for her hands, casually saying she could chop them off and gift them to me… But these hands of mine are precious. If a cup were to shatter in my hands, and the boiling water scalded them—then the entire Household Department would have to bring me their heads!”