Chapter 135: What? You Want Me to Kill the Emperor?
“I don’t believe it. Madam Qin looks so kind and gentle.”
Yet very quickly, Nan Xun ended up slapping herself in the face.
Madam Qin hesitated for a moment, then suddenly said, “Yaoyao, the Qin family has now become the target of everyone’s attacks. Prince Xian used to have frequent dealings with the Qin family, but lately even he has been keeping his distance.”
Nan Xun’s gaze shifted slightly. Sure enough, Prince Xian had wanted to lean on the Qin family as a great tree for support.
Madam Qin said earnestly, “Yaoyao, that tyrant is cruel by nature and governs through oppression. He is not a wise ruler. Our Qin family may be loyal, but we cannot be blindly loyal. Do you understand what Mother means?”
Nan Xun was still stunned when Madam Qin had already slipped a packet of medicinal powder into her hand and lowered her voice. “Put this powder into that tyrant’s food. Give it to him over ten days.”
Nan Xun was so frightened that her hand trembled and she nearly dropped it. “Mother, are you asking me to… assassinate the emperor?”
Madam Qin replied, “Yaoyao, this isn’t poison. It’s merely medicine that will gradually paralyze him. The Great Yan dynasty was founded by your grandfather together with the former emperor. It cannot be allowed to perish in the hands of a tyrant. Your father and I both believe Prince Xian is a wise ruler. The Great Yan should be handed over to him.”
Nan Xun’s mouth twitched. How was this any different from poison? She had no idea what kind of bewitching potion Prince Xian had fed the Qin family to make them come to such a decision.
Her mother was forcing her to choose. On one side was the tyrant who had given her unrivaled favor and indulgence; on the other was her natal family who had painstakingly raised her. If she chose her family, the tyrant would be finished. But she couldn’t choose the tyrant either—otherwise the Qin family would be finished.
What Nan Xun was now wondering was whether Yan Mohan knew that the Qin family had already allied with Prince Xian. If he knew, why would he still let her interact more with her family?
Could this be Yan Mohan’s test?
The moment this possibility occurred to her, Nan Xun felt utterly miserable. She hurriedly asked Little Eight whether the big boss had planted informants here—whether every word she and her mother said would be relayed to the big boss without missing a single syllable.
Little Eight answered matter-of-factly: Of course. Isn’t that obvious?
Terrified, Nan Xun immediately stuffed the packet of powder back into her mother’s hand. “Mother, the emperor treats me extremely well. What you’re asking me to do—I can’t do it.”
Madam Qin pushed the powder back again. “Yaoyao, keep it for now. Mother isn’t asking you to make a decision immediately. Take your time. Decide when you’ve thought it through.”
Nan Xun felt that the two of them pushing it back and forth wasn’t getting them anywhere, so she accepted the powder.
But the moment she did, her mother dropped another bombshell.
Madam Qin suddenly said, “Yaoyao, Mother didn’t want to tell you this, for fear it would make you sad. But I truly don’t want you to be deceived by that tyrant. He has no heart at all.”
With a sigh, she looked at Nan Xun with a face full of pity. “That tyrant gave you a sterilizing potion. In this lifetime, you will never become a mother.”
“Mother, what did you say?” Nan Xun froze for a moment, then her eyes flew wide open in shock.
Madam Qin patted her shoulder. “Yaoyao, it’s Mother who failed you. If I had insisted back then on not letting you enter the palace, you wouldn’t have ended up like this. Sigh…”
After her mother left, Nan Xun still hadn’t quite come back to her senses. She hurriedly asked Little Eight, “How does my mother know about this?”
Little Eight said, “Obviously Prince Xian told her. His spies are hidden very deeply. Even though the big boss was reborn, he can’t dig all of them out.”
Nan Xun sighed. “He really is a child of destiny. Even with the big boss running cheats, he still can’t beat him. Little Eight, let me ask you—if I eliminate the big boss’s malice value ahead of time, will he avoid being taken down by Prince Xian?”
Little Eight hesitated. “His life can probably be saved, but I’m not sure the throne can be. His reputation is already rotten. I think it’ll be pretty tough. Compared to before, the big boss has already become much more merciful under your influence, but in the eyes of outsiders, he’s still a tyrant.”
After a pause, Little Eight added, “According to the original world’s trajectory, in less than three months, Prince Xian and the Qin family will make a major move. Do you think you can completely eliminate the big boss’s malice value before then?”
Nan Xun thought quietly for a while. Then she suddenly lifted her lowered gaze. “No. There’s not enough time.”
On the way back to Pengyue Palace, Nan Xun directly poured the packet of powder into the water. With the big boss watching her, holding onto that powder would’ve been suicide.
Little Eight suddenly said, “Why did you pour it into the pond? There are so many fish in there. What if you poison them?”
Nan Xun exclaimed, “Oh! I forgot just now! Don’t tell me that by tomorrow morning, all the fish in the pond will be floating belly-up? That would really be my sin.”
When Nan Xun returned, Yan Mohan was already waiting at Pengyue Palace. These days, he had practically moved all state affairs here. Whenever he had the chance, he’d cling to Nan Xun and “make pancakes,” earning himself scoldings from her for thinking with his lower half.
Seeing Nan Xun come back, Yan Mohan smoothly pulled her into his arms and continued reading the secret reports on the table.
Nan Xun adjusted herself into a comfortable position in his embrace, wrapped an arm around his neck, and read along with him.
“Brother Han, this doesn’t look like memorials.”
Yan Mohan turned his head and kissed her cheek. “They’re secret reports sent by my informants.”
Nan Xun was a little surprised. She reached up and pinched his ear. “Something this important, and you’re reading it right in front of me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll leak it?”
Yan Mohan suddenly set the papers aside and turned to look at her, his expression serious. “I don’t want to keep any secrets from you.”
Nan Xun suddenly smiled—a dazzling smile. She rubbed his face, squishing it out of shape, and asked as if casually, “Brother Han, are you really hiding nothing from me?”
Yan Mohan thought of the intercepted conversation reported by the shadow guards. His eyes darkened, and instead of answering, he asked, “Yaoyao, if I once did something that wronged you, would you forgive me?”
Nan Xun pouted slightly. “That depends on what it was. You can’t expect me to forgive you if you committed some heinous crime, can you?”
Yan Mohan suddenly hugged her tightly, anxiously kissing the slender, fair neck exposed before him, murmuring over and over, “Yaoyao, Yaoyao, I truly love you. You must believe me. No matter what I’ve done, you have to believe me…”
That night, Yan Mohan was especially frenzied in his “pancake-making.” Nan Xun felt as though half her life had been taken away, with the other half drifting somewhere in the heavens.
Early the next morning, the imperial garden erupted in chaos. All the fish in the pond were dead, floating belly-up. The palace maids who saw it screamed in fright.
Somehow, the news spread. People began hinting that this was an omen of Heaven’s wrath—that Heaven was displeased with the tyrant ruling the Great Yan, hence such a strange phenomenon.
The true culprit, Nan Xun: …
