Chapter 31: The Empress, She Must Have Felt Sorry for the Emperor, Right? Divine Love, So Moving

Ji Yunzhang recounted plainly, “The Prince of Jin plucked a peony to present to the Empress. The Empress said she was like this plucked flower—soon to wither, soon to be beheaded. She had no mood to talk about romantic trifles with the Prince of Jin and told him, if he had something to say, to say it quickly, and if he had nonsense to spout, to just let it out.”

“…” Zhu Wuhuan, seated at the top, gazed at him faintly.

Say it quickly—that was her line.

Spout nonsense—that was clearly something he himself added!

Feng Changye heard her inner voice, curved his lips at her for a glance, and then continued listening.

Ji Yunzhang went on, “The Prince of Jin said he came today to save lives, urgent and pressing. The Empress asked in surprise, ‘You can save our Zhu family?’ The Prince said, ‘I am only a prince, I cannot save the entire Zhu family, I can only save one person.’”

When he said, I am only a prince, Ji Yunzhang deliberately emphasized and dragged out the words, as if to hint that the Prince of Jin was dissatisfied with merely being a prince.

“…” Zhu Wuhuan stared speechlessly at Ji Yunzhang.

Brother, your skill in sneaking in your own commentary is really something! The Prince of Jin clearly didn’t sound discontent back then, you made that up yourself!

Feng Changye masked the smile at the corner of his lips behind a sip of tea.

Listening to Ji Yunzhang’s recreation of the scene while at the same time hearing the Empress’s inner commentary mocking Ji Yunzhang—this feeling was downright delightful!

If Feng Changye were from the twenty-first century and had watched videos on Bilibili, he would know exactly what this felt like.

It was just like watching a video while being cracked up by the flood of live comments on screen!

Ji Yunzhang continued,

“Then the Prince of Jin said he could save the Empress’s younger brother Chengying, but this method might be hard for the Empress to accept. Yet for the sake of preserving a bloodline for the Zhu family, he urged her to listen carefully and consider it seriously.”

At this point he lifted his head to look at the ministers. “And what was the Prince’s only method to save Young Master Chengying? My lords, dare you guess?”

The eleven ministers, absorbed in the story, froze at the sudden question.

They looked up toward the Emperor. Seeing that His Majesty also seemed eager for them to guess, they stroked their beards thoughtfully.

The first was the mighty Assistant General of the Nation, who slammed the table: “Surely it was to swap him with a death-row convict, secretly switch the Zhu family’s young master out!”

The Left Prime Minister shook his head. “If it were just swapping with a death-row convict, the Prince of Jin wouldn’t have said the Empress might not accept it. My guess is, the Prince wanted to fabricate evidence to prove that the young master wasn’t truly of the Zhu family’s blood.”

The General of the Garrison nodded in agreement. “Perhaps the Prince planned to forge proof that the young master was born of an affair between the Old Madam Zhu and another man. If he wasn’t of Zhu blood, naturally he wouldn’t be executed.”

The Minister of Rites added, “Perhaps the Prince intended to prove the young master was merely an adopted orphan of another soldier, not truly a Zhu.”

Others nodded one after another, agreeing with such conjectures.

But the Right Prime Minister stroked his beard and suddenly said, “I rather think the Prince of Jin might claim the boy as his own biological son. He could say the boy’s mother was a maid of the General’s Manor, lowly in status, and after the child was born, the Zhu family raised him as their own.”

Ji Yunzhang looked at him in surprise.

He nodded. “The Right Prime Minister guessed half of it.”

The Right Prime Minister grew curious. “Oh? And what’s the other half I missed?”

Ji Yunzhang bowed slightly, then consulted the keywords in his little notebook and repeated the Prince’s actual words:

“The Prince of Jin told the Empress: ‘The only way is to let Chengying pose as our child. As long as he remains of Zhu blood, he cannot escape death. But if he is my son, then he is of imperial blood, and I can beg Mother Empress to spare his life!’”

At these words, all eleven ministers, including Grand Academician Chen, were dumbfounded!

They stared in disbelief at the kneeling Prince of Jin.

Is he insane?

No one without ten years of madness could say something so absurd!

There were clearly many other ways to save Chengying. Why did the Prince have to concoct such lunacy as fathering a bastard child with the Emperor’s woman?

Was this rescuing Chengying or condemning him from beheading to death by a thousand cuts?

Ji Yunzhang pressed on.

“The Empress, like you my lords, could not tell if the Prince meant to save or to harm. The Prince kept trying to persuade her, and when she still refused, he finally played his trump card.”

“He told the Empress he had the Empress Dowager’s backing, that in her hands was an imperial edict left by the late emperor. As long as the Empress Dowager produced it, His Majesty would not dare defy her!”

“At that time, if he brought Young Master Chengying to seek her protection, no matter how furious His Majesty was, he could not kill them.”

“Hearing that the late emperor left behind such an edict, forcing His Majesty forever under the Empress Dowager’s control—the Empress must have felt heartache for His Majesty. Thus, angry yet pained, she could no longer keep up the pretense with the Prince of Jin!”

“She released her full aura, tore all civility aside, and scolded him harshly!”

“…” Zhu Wuhuan, face stiff and expression numb, listened to Ji Yunzhang’s impassioned retelling of her rebukes to the Prince, those words that exposed his schemes and left him speechless.

Her whole heart felt utterly exhausted.

This Ji Yunzhang… I want to call him the God of Commentary!

Who the hell felt sorry for the tyrant because of that edict the late emperor left!

Who the hell blew up at the Prince because I felt sorry for the tyrant!

I clearly only got the Prince to reveal the true reason Empress Zhu of history was tricked by that scumbag, and since there was no point acting further, I went back to my cold face!

I wasn’t feeling sorry for the tyrant. I wasn’t…

She vented helplessly to the system.

But when she looked up, all she saw were ministers’ tearfully moved eyes!

They had been duped by Ji Yunzhang, this “God of Commentary,” truly believing she loved Feng Changye deeply, that she was furious at the Prince purely out of love and protectiveness for him!

How could she tell them she did not love Feng Changye?

She really had no interest in this man whose skull she had once touched as if he were a corpse!

Feng Changye, meanwhile, listened to Ji Yunzhang’s divine commentary paired with Zhu Wuhuan’s inner complaints. Several times he nearly burst out laughing!

Even when he held it in, the smirk at his lips never faded!

Everyone could see clearly he was smiling!

And the ministers, like a gaggle of gossiping onlookers, listened to Ji Yunzhang while sneaking peeks at the Emperor’s smiling lips—

They winked at each other in secret.

Look, His Majesty is so happy to hear the Empress cares for him, he can’t stop grinning!

See that? Their love is so deep! The moment one hears the other wronged, she lashes out at the Prince in fury. The moment he hears she defended him, he beams with joy!

Ah, such love is truly beautiful!

If not for that ambitious Prince of Jin, it nearly would have been destroyed—the divine love between the Emperor and Empress!