Chapter 111: Obtaining a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card

Ye Chutang ignored her sore chin and calmly faced the emperor’s wrath.

“Your Majesty, your hand is burning, your face is flushed. If you don’t treat it soon, you may suffer from impotence in the future.”

Heh, stallion man, you’re not scaring me!

The emperor’s face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly released Ye Chutang.

“Ye Chutang, do you know the consequences of deceiving the emperor?”

Ye Chutang pretended to have been hit by a softening drug, weakly collapsing onto the bed.

“Your Majesty, your body is your own. Whether I have deceived you or not, no one knows better than you.”

Her words were like a knife, piercing the emperor’s dignity.

There are some people who are stripped of their clothes, witnessing their unbearable shame.

He immediately turned his back to Ye Chutang to avoid her gaze.

“Come…”

He opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by Ye Chutang.

“Your Majesty, if you call the imperial physician now, within an hour, your condition will spread throughout the palace and become a subject of gossip among the people.”

The mark left by the silver needles hadn’t yet disappeared, so calling the imperial physician was out of the question.

The emperor clenched his fists, his breath quickening, wishing he could faint.

The shame of impotence was already enough; he couldn’t accept a woman exposing his hidden ailment.

But if he called the imperial physician, there was indeed a risk of it leaking out.

While he hesitated, Ye Chutang gave him an anesthetic needle, sticking it into the back of his neck.

Before the emperor could react, he collapsed to the ground.

Ye Chutang stood up, touched her sore chin, and irritably kicked the dog emperor twice.

“Acting is so exhausting.”

After saying that, she squatted down, took out a pill from her space, and fed it to the emperor.

Once the medicine took effect, she applied needles to his impotent area.

With both methods working together, even if Hua Tuo were alive, the dog emperor would only end up as a eunuch!

After finishing her work, Ye Chutang took out a box of steaming beef stir-fried noodles from her space and ate it with relish.

Afterward, she went to the ice cellar.

The palace servants were busy cleaning up the water that had melted from the cicadas due to the cold.

“This ice water is increasing daily. Could the ice cellar be malfunctioning?”

“But the ice blocks are still intact around the edges. It can’t be melting from the inside, right?”

“We still need to send someone to check it. If there’s really a problem, we can’t avoid the consequences.”

Ye Chutang knew it was caused by the cicadas.

She avoided the palace servants, checked the size of the cicadas, and decided to keep them for two more days.

As for the palace servants checking the ice cellar, she wasn’t worried at all.

The cicadas had camouflage, blending with the ice so well that as long as the ice remained, they wouldn’t be detected.

Ye Chutang returned to the bedroom, lifted the emperor’s loose robe.

The silver needle marks on his lower back had already disappeared.

She used concealer to cover the needle marks on the emperor’s neck, then lay down on the dragon bed.

“Someone, come! The emperor is enraged and has fainted!”

Her voice was soft, weak.

The shadow guards rushed into the bedroom. One looked at Ye Chutang, while the other checked the emperor’s condition.

Seeing him burning with heat and breathing heavily, they quickly sent for the imperial physician.

Before the physician arrived, the emperor woke up.

He felt uncomfortable all over from the excessive medicinal pills he had taken, suffocating as if he were about to explode but unable to release it.

The shadow guards helped him back onto the dragon bed.

“Your Majesty, the imperial physician will be here soon.”

Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately turned his gaze to Ye Chutang, his look stern and powerful.

“What happened to me just now?”

If Ye Chutang hadn’t pretended to be weakened by the softening drug, showing a frail and helpless appearance, he would have suspected that she had done something to him.

Ye Chutang made up a story.

“Your Majesty suddenly fainted. It might be due to anger or possibly…”

The emperor immediately became alarmed when she trailed off.

“Possibly what?”

“Possibly because of a reversal of your qi and blood, which could be very harmful to your body.”

Just as she finished speaking, the head of the imperial physician’s office arrived hurriedly with his medicine box.

The emperor didn’t want his impotence to become common knowledge.

“Everyone leave. The imperial physician stays.”

As the shadow guards left, they took Ye Chutang to a side hall.

She lay on the consort’s couch, looking through the half-open window at the side hall across from her.

It was also the dog emperor’s private vault.

After the underground vault was robbed, the guards had become stricter. Seeing no opportunity, Ye Chutang shifted her gaze.

She lay there for about a quarter of an hour before the shadow guards brought her back to the bedroom.

The emperor’s body had been cleared of the aphrodisiac, but his face was unexplainably ugly.

The imperial physician lay prostrate on the floor, trembling.

The emperor coldly stared at Ye Chutang and asked in a deep voice, “Can you check my pulse now?”

“I can, but it may not be accurate.”

The emperor called in De Gonggong and had him remove the softening drug from Ye Chutang’s system.

“I want to see just how skilled the person who can write the cure for the plague really is.”

After saying that, he extended his hand in a generous manner, allowing Ye Chutang to check his pulse.

Ye Chutang placed her delicate fingers on the emperor’s pulse and quickly gave her diagnosis.

“Your Majesty has taken too many pills, depleting your qi and blood. You are suffering from impotence.”

It was nearly the same as the imperial physician’s diagnosis.

The emperor’s face darkened even more. “How do we treat it?”

Ye Chutang naturally wouldn’t say there was no cure.

She responded tactfully, “Your Majesty, you have indulged excessively, your body is too weak. You need to replenish your yang qi first.”

“How long will it take to cure?”

“Hard to say. We’ll see how things progress after a month of replenishing your yang qi.”

After saying that, Ye Chutang flattered him.

“Your Majesty is a true dragon, blessed with great fortune. You will surely regain your strength!”

The imperial physician mentally gave Ye Chutang a thumbs up.

Her way of procrastinating and flattering was brilliant!

Unlike him, who had been too blunt earlier and nearly got himself executed.

The emperor, pleased by the words, had Ye Chutang write a prescription, which was handed to the imperial physician.

After sending the physician away, the emperor dressed and took Ye Chutang back to the Hall of Political Affairs.

Ye Jinchuan and Prince An thought they would have to wait until noon to see the emperor.

In the end, it only took two quarters of an hour.

The two exchanged confused glances, the unspoken understanding between men visible in their eyes.

The emperor had never been this embarrassed before, enduring the awkwardness and getting straight to the point.

“Ye Chutang, if you want to live, have Prince Chen marry you.”

Ye Chutang had been acting all this time just to wait for this moment.

“Why?”

“Once you make Prince Chen choose you as his consort, I will tell you why.”

“I’ve already been poisoned. Does the emperor still fear that I will betray you? Or do you see me as a pawn, never intending for me to live? If that’s the case, why should I listen to you and struggle in vain?”

Seeing Ye Chutang defying him again, the emperor’s face darkened.

“You have no choice!”

Ye Chutang pulled the hairpin from her head and pressed it against her neck.

“I can choose to suffer less and die sooner.”

She applied slight pressure, the hairpin piercing her skin, and blood stained her pale collar.

The emperor had just managed to control Ye Chutang and wouldn’t let this pawn, which had yet to serve its purpose, be wasted.

He had De Gonggong give her a get-out-of-jail-free card.

“I, as the emperor, never break my word. Once I say that you will have the title of consort and a life of glory, I will not go back on it.”

Ye Chutang put the bloodstained hairpin back in her hair and accepted the get-out-of-jail-free card.

Although she hadn’t been able to extract the emperor’s specific plan for dealing with Qi Yanzhou, it wasn’t without gain.

With this card, even Prince An could be killed!

“Thank you, Your Majesty. To prevent anyone from doubting the authenticity of this card, please make a public proclamation that you are giving me my life in place of Prince An.”

She didn’t want it to be labeled as stolen when she eventually used it.

“I agree.”

The emperor nodded, then reminded her, “There are only a few days left until Prince Chen’s deadline. You must hurry.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

After Ye Chutang spoke, she turned to Prince An.

“Prince, don’t forget the compensation you promised me.”

Prince An: “…”

He had offered such generous compensation just to keep Ye Chutang calm. How could he take it seriously?

“Your Majesty…”

Ye Chutang immediately interrupted Prince An.

“Prince, although we’re in this together now, this relationship must remain hidden from Prince Chen.

The mishap at Prince An’s residence almost cost me my life, so you must compensate me, or the spit from the common people won’t let you off easily.”

She would not accept an empty promise; what was said must be honored!