Suddenly hearing a sharp rise in a voice in her mind, the two people beside her both halted. The word “I” (“zhen,” the imperial pronoun) rang in their ears, and Shen Jingxuan nearly stumbled, cold sweat sliding down his back.
This little sister—this, this, this—how dare she speak so disrespectfully toward the Son of Heaven!
Shen Jingxuan immediately became nervous, glancing around frantically. Fortunately, everything around them still appeared normal; it seemed that not many people had heard his little sister’s rebellious thoughts. Only then did he relax slightly.
Little did he know that not far away, near a pavilion and rock garden, several people were already frowning, hearts pounding.
The son of the Left Chancellor, Xu Jiangchen, and Shen Jingqian, a military colonel, exchanged uncertain looks, both on high alert.
Shen Jingqian felt the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he had heard it before.
After all, it was just a simple family recognition banquet—how could it possibly have attracted the attention of the Emperor?
If the Emperor truly issued a command, everyone would surely kneel in reverence. How could they possibly remain unmoved?
But since the matter involved that person, he could not afford to be careless.
He called over his trusted aide and had just given instructions when that strange voice rang out again.
“My heavens, is that old witch Leng Zhu actually preparing to pull something this big on me?”
“This little Buddha statue, the incense altar, this whole prayer setup—it’s exactly the same trick she used back then to harm the Ninth Prince!”
“Back then, she pulled off something like this and directly ruined the life of that once-genius Ninth Prince, sending him overnight to the bitter frontier. He’s still suffering there to this day!”
Several people who could hear the inner voice were shocked.
Xu Jiangchen, in particular, felt a storm surge in his heart.
For five years, everyone believed the Ninth Prince had angered the Buddha due to ill fate. But he did not believe it. He was convinced the Ninth Prince had been framed and had been secretly investigating the matter all this time.
However, the culprit had been far too skilled. All traces had been cleaned up perfectly. Moreover, the Qinglong Temple was a sacred Buddhist site, making it extremely difficult to investigate in secret. As a result, he had only grown more certain over the years that the Ninth Prince had been harmed—but he had found no concrete evidence. It was almost a complete dead end.
And now… he had encountered someone who knew the truth?
Xu Jiangchen’s heart nearly jumped into his throat. Without realizing it, he gripped his teacup tightly. Scalding tea seeped through the porcelain and burned his hand bright red, but he was completely focused and did not notice at all.
He only wanted to hear more.
This “Leng Zhu”—who exactly was she?!
Although she had already been exposed to quite a bit of gossip, Chen Wanyan had developed some resistance, but at this moment she was still deeply shocked.
She had never imagined that Leng Zhu’s influence had already extended so far—so far that she could even manipulate the fate of imperial princes!
Five years ago, during the Emperor’s fiftieth birthday celebration, a blessing ceremony at Qinglong Temple went awry. A naturally formed jade Buddha statue, intended as the Emperor’s birthday gift, cracked and was damaged.
After divination, a high monk of Qinglong Temple issued a prophecy pointing to the sixteen-year-old Ninth Prince, declaring that he was born with a cursed fate and had offended the Buddha.
The incident caused a massive uproar in the imperial capital. At that time, Leng Zhu had already arrived at the marquis’s household, and due to her widespread reputation, she was also invited to participate in the blessing ceremony.
Everyone in the world believed it was the Buddha’s wrath being triggered. Yet it turned out that even the senior monks of Qinglong Temple had been influenced by Leng Zhu?
The Ninth Prince, a once peerless genius and the strongest contender for the crown prince position, was exiled from the capital after the incident and forbidden to ever return.
That seemingly flawless, divinely justified blessing ritual—was it actually a trap designed to turn the Ninth Prince into a political sacrifice?
Chen Wanyan felt a chill run through her.
Although she had already prepared herself mentally, she had never imagined Leng Zhu possessed such overwhelming influence. If she used the same tactics against Yi’er…
“No, no, no—if even the Ninth Prince, at the height of his power, could be instantly exiled, then if Leng Zhu does the same to me, won’t I be sent to the frontier too?”
Shen Zhiyi was on the verge of tears. The Ninth Prince was, after all, the most powerful antagonist in the entire story.
As for Xie Yu, Shen Ruoyue only intended to have a romantic entanglement with him. But the Ninth Prince was different—he was the only character she had tried everything to win over, yet failed to charm even slightly. He was essentially the greatest failure of the heroine’s supposed allure.
It was said he was extraordinarily handsome. The portraiture of the Great Xia dynasty was somewhat abstract, often capturing only about one-tenth of a person’s true presence and appearance.
Even so, countless young women fell hopelessly in love at first sight after only a glance at his portrait.
Even after being exiled to the harsh frontier, constantly targeted by political enemies and suffering humiliation, he still relied on his own strength and charisma to gather a following of admirers, gradually rising again to become a new “God of War.”
The Ninth Prince, Xie Feiyun, was practically the dream of millions—an irresistible magnet for admirers of all genders.
Even the system seemed to be one of his fans.
After describing Leng Zhu’s schemes, it showed no sense of urgency, instead enthusiastically sharing various legends about this so-called great antagonist.
When it mentioned that even enemy spies had once seen him and fallen so deeply in love that they betrayed their country for him, Shen Zhiyi’s earlier worries completely evaporated, and she couldn’t help but mentally curse in disbelief.
As expected of a mindless novel—even cold-blooded spies could become love-obsessed fools. And such a peerless genius, described as unmatched in elegance and talent, would ultimately be outplayed by the green-tea, white-lotus Shen Ruoyue and her group of love-struck lackeys, reduced to just another pawn in their ridiculous romance game.
Truly absurd.