Chapter 481 : Proper Palace Intrigue (20)
Yuwen Xun was too busy dealing with the natural disaster to bother about s.h.i.+ Sheng. The latter didn’t show off either, instead holing up in her palace, eating and drinking without a care in the world.
The Zhuang Clan made use of the chaos to make quite a few arrangements.
Zhuang-fu had even tasked someone with sneaking some things into the palace and telling s.h.i.+ Sheng to make sure Yuwen Xun ingested it.
After s.h.i.+ Sheng felt the time was right, she swaggered off to find Yuwen Xun to make him uphold his end of the bargain.
He had probably suppressed the news back then, partly with the intention to go back on his word if s.h.i.+ Sheng had ever won the bet. But Yuwen Xun never expected that she would’ve straight up barged into his throne room.
None of his guards could stop her.
Zhuang-fu also had a surprised look on his face, clearly unaware as to why s.h.i.+ Sheng would barge in at this time.
Compared to all his confused officials, Yuwen Xun appeared much calmer.
“Zhuang Qiong, what are you doing, bringing a sword into this hall?!” Someone from the Emperor’s faction immediately stood out and rebuked her.
s.h.i.+ Sheng leaned against her sword and turned slightly to look at the old fellow who’d spoken, a faint smile on her face. “In any case, not you, so don’t worry.”
“Y-y-you…”
“Lord Zhuang, look at what kind of daughter you raised! She even dares to carry a sword into the throne room! Is your Zhuang Clan planning to rebel?!”
“Lord Song, don’t slander the innocent! I(c) am utterly devoted to His Majesty and have no other intention.” Zhuang-fu immediately expressed his loyalty.
“That’s enough, you lot!” s.h.i.+ Sheng pointed her sword at the people who had started arguing, whereupon they immediately shut up.
Seeing that no one was speaking any longer, s.h.i.+ Sheng lowered her sword in satisfaction. “Why is the first thing you guys jump to rebellion? If I wanted to rebel, do you think he’d still be sitting here?”
Everyone, “…” ‘Surely she is being too overconfident?’
“Your Majesty, Yun Jie Yu shows disregard for the law and acts in an arrogant and insubordinate manner. I(c) propose that she be punished for lèse-majesté[1].”
“I(c) agree!”
“I(c) do as well!”
“I(c)…”
A bunch of people seconded the motion for Yuwen Xun to drag s.h.i.+ Sheng out and execute her.
Zhuang-fu’s face was dark as he stared at s.h.i.+ Sheng, extremely dissatisfied with her current actions.
“Your Majesty, when are you going to fulfill your promise?” s.h.i.+ Sheng ignored the group of officials clamouring for her head.
Yuwen Xun raised his hand, and everyone immediately quietened down.
He looked at the arrogant woman standing before him, his expression turning inscrutable. ‘This woman…’
After a long while, Yuwen Xun finally spoke in a deep voice amidst the doubtful looks of all the officials, “Yun Jie Yu is stripped of the t.i.tle of Jie Yu.”
The expressions of several officials revealed joy.
Zhuang-fu stepped forward, but before he could say anything, he heard Yuwen Xun speak once more, “The Di daughter of the Zhuang Clan, Zhuang Qiong…is henceforth especially awarded the t.i.tle of State Teacher.”
Yuwen Xun really couldn’t find a better term to describe her.
The hall fell into silence for several seconds.
And then fell into chaos. ‘How can a woman become State Teacher?! And one who belongs to the harem at that?! What ability could she have?!’
After all, though the position of State Teacher held no authority, actual ability was still required.
“Your Majesty, you mustn’t!” A group of old officials knelt to the ground and cried their hearts out.
Yuwen Xun felt stifled from the anger. ‘Do you think I want to?! If this woman really has that ability, how could I afford to offend her easily? I’m an emperor, not a G.o.d!’
“Your Majesty…”
“Enough!” Yuwen Xun slammed the table, silencing everyone immediately.
Amongst the various angry, surprised, shocked, and odd gazes, s.h.i.+ Sheng successfully took the t.i.tle of State Teacher.
‘It feels pretty good to be an official state fortune teller[2] huh.’
When she was leaving the throne room, Zhuang-fu wanted to stop s.h.i.+ Sheng. But since she didn’t want to waste time with him, she vanished before he could reach her.
There was a place made especially for State Teachers to stay in—Star-Plucking Tower. s.h.i.+ Sheng went back to move her belongings over.
During the move, a bunch of palace concubines appeared to spectate.
It was probably because there had never been any woman in all of history to be promoted from concubine to State Teacher.
‘I say, as a concubine, instead of aiming for the position of Empress, she went and became a State Teacher. Isn’t she simply insane?’
The simply insane s.h.i.+ Sheng carried a small cloth bundle as she left her palace.
A group of finely dressed up women were pointing at her as she left.
s.h.i.+ Sheng tossed her cloth bundle over her shoulder and waved a hand at the eunuch waiting for her outside. He immediately began leading the way towards Star-Plucking Tower.
“Why do you think His Majesty agreed to her unreasonable request?”
“A woman becoming State Teacher? Just wait to be impeached by all those old officials! You guys just watch, it won’t take too long before she’s…” The speaker drew a finger across her neck.
Their statuses had never been high, so apart from supporting their husband and raising a kid, how would they dare start getting any other ideas?
‘No matter what method she used to become State Teacher, there’ll be plenty of people wanting to pull her down, so all we have to do is watch.’
Star-Plucking Tower wasn’t too far from Lin’An Academy, which just so happened to coincide with s.h.i.+ Sheng’s intentions since it made going to Jade Tower much more convenient.
As for Weiyang Palace?
‘Don’t know what that is.’
There were only two servants in Star-Plucking Tower. Since s.h.i.+ Sheng didn’t want it to be too crowded, two was plenty.
Her daily routine consisted of using her status as State Teacher to chill in Jade Tower, or just staying in Star-Plucking Tower to stare at the moon and stars as she pondered about life.
Such a carefree life caused some people’s teeth to itch with hate. There were even people who tried to do something about it.
But despite the large numbers trying to get in, most couldn’t even enter the door. And of those that did, they’d still end up being thrown out.
Gradually, fewer and fewer people dared to try harming s.h.i.+ Sheng, and Star-Plucking Tower’s reputation got more sinister.
……
Once night fell, Star-Plucking Tower was especially creepy.
Lu Ruo carefully avoided the guard patrols and successfully made her way to Star-Plucking Tower. She raised her head to look at the wall before her that was at least two metres high, a bitter expression on her face. ‘How am I supposed to get up there?’
Yuwen Xun was harder to please as of late—his mood would worsen at the drop of the hat. Adding to her predicament was the fact that the concubines in the palace seemed to be lining up to cause trouble for her. As a result, Lu Ruo’s only thought now was of leaving this d.a.m.ned place.
‘System said Zhuang Qiong has something that can let it level up. For the sake of returning home, I have to be less picky with my methods.’
Lu Ruo took a deep breath and rubbed her hands. She found a good spot to start climbing and started making her way up the wall.
She spread her legs to straddle the wall, took a deep breath, and was preparing to jump down the other side when a voice suddenly spoke up behind her, “What’re you doing?”
Lu Ruo reeled in shock, causing her to lose her balance and fall back out, landing on the icy ground which dazed her.
“Ow…” ‘I think I broke my waist with that fall… Really hurts!’
From where Lu Ruo was lying on the ground, she could see the top of the wall where she’d been.
A dark figure was currently sitting there.
“Zhuang…Qiong?” Lu Ruo hesitantly called out. ‘I think that voice was hers.’
‘Instead of sleeping, she’s sitting on a wall at this hour?! No wait, I didn’t see anyone up there when I climbed up! Just when did she show up?! I actually didn’t notice at all!’
s.h.i.+ Sheng leapt down from the wall. Her landing was completely silent, which surprised Lu Ruo even more.
Having low-key shown off, s.h.i.+ Sheng lowered her head to examine Lu Ruo. “What’re you doing, climbing my(lz) wall in the middle of the night?”
‘I(bbb) don’t believe I(bbb) provoked this FL-sama recently? I didn’t even provoke the ML, so how come FL-sama’s delivered herself to my doorstep?’
Lu Ruo clutched her aching waist as she got up, retorting in a somewhat complaint-filled tone, “What’re you doing, sitting on a wall to scare me for?”
s.h.i.+ Sheng harrumphed lightly. “This wall is part of my territory—I’ll sit here if I want. It’s your own fault for being so easy to scare, yet you’re blaming me(lz)? What were you doing climbing my(lz) wall anyway?”
“You…” ‘I’m easy to scare? I only got startled because she appeared without warning!’
[1] I was actually acquainted with this term before, but I had to look it up beforehand since I’ve not heard of it very often. It means disregard for the “majesty” of royalty, or in this case, the Emperor and the law.
[2] The term used here is more derogatory towards the profession. Basically has the implication that they are a fake. Which is true in this case lol.