Guo Hongru said respectfully, "I thank Your Majesty on behalf of the people of the Northwest!"
The courtiers echoed their agreement one after another.
That inner voice rang out inappropriately: "A bunch of idiots, all they know is how to kiss up! Reduce by thirty percent? Only thirty percent? It's simply..."
Fang Zhiyi felt a bit annoyed. Why was this Xu Jiao like a fly—neither biting nor stinging, just purely disgusting?
Unexpectedly, after just a few breaths, the Crown Prince, Fang Jingqi, suddenly stepped forward and bowed first: "Imperial Father, I have a memorial to present..."
"The handsome Crown Prince is speaking! My happiest moment every day is watching Big Brother Crown Prince speak! He's too handsome!"
The Crown Prince choked on this sudden flattery. His ears unconsciously turned red again, and he instantly forgot what he was going to say.
Fang Zhiyi frowned slightly. "If you have something to say, say it. Are you still half asleep?"
Startled by this remark, the Crown Prince hurriedly said, "I wish to impeach Lord Guo, the Attendant of the Yellow Gates. As a rank-three official, his conduct is improper, and he frequently visits the brothels..."
As soon as his voice fell, Xu Jiao's noisy inner voice began.
"That's it! Good job, Big Brother Crown Prince! That's exactly how to do it! As expected of Big Brother Crown Prince, to even know about this kind of thing! I've long found that guy surnamed Guo an eyesore. Later on, he's even going to screw my dad over..."
"You're spouting non..." Guo Hongru opened his mouth to lash out, but abruptly stopped himself. The Emperor couldn't hear it anyway, so how could he defend himself? By saying someone was slandering him with their inner voice? Besides, those things couldn't exactly be considered slander... But what official didn't go out for a little entertainment?
Following the Crown Prince's words, several of his subordinate officials stepped forward. They were originally part of the Crown Prince's faction and also served as Investigating Censors.
"I also impeach Lord Guo! As a high-ranking official of the imperial court, such actions damage the court's dignity!"
"I second the motion!"
Fang Zhiyi quietly glanced at the triumphant Xu Jiao. Although she was very stupid, she was very happy right now. He then glanced at Xu Yuanzhi, noticing a look of unease in his eyes.
"Hmm... I remember that you, Crown Prince, stay in the Eastern Palace every night, correct?"
The Crown Prince was taken aback and nodded. "Yes, Imperial Father."
Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Then tell me, since you live in the Eastern Palace, how did you find out about Guo Hongru visiting brothels? Could it be that you went as well?"
The imperial court fell silent. The Crown Prince was so agitated that he became incoherent: "No, no, I have never gone out. It was all..."
Fang Zhiyi remembered that in the original plot, the Emperor didn't look into it too deeply. He only pressed for answers a couple of times before Guo Hongru confessed on his own and was subsequently fined half a year's salary.
"This Emperor is too unreasonable! How can he treat my Big Brother Crown Prince like this!"
As soon as this inner voice came out, many people were instantly stunned. Your Big Brother Crown Prince? Little girl, do you have a death wish? The Crown Prince belongs to the imperial family! But realizing that this was Xu Jiao's inner voice, they all felt somewhat helpless. Especially those who had grudges against the Xu family, they looked as if they had eaten a giant piece of crap—unable to swallow it down or spit it out, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Fang Zhiyi looked at the anxious Crown Prince and spoke up before he could open his mouth again: "Or could it be that you have organized your own secret spies? Is that how you are able to know the news from the red-light districts?"
The Crown Prince was dumbfounded. No matter how foolish he was, he knew that this charge was much more severe than visiting brothels. As the Crown Prince, privately organizing secret spies—wasn't that asking for death?
He immediately fell to his knees. "May Imperial Father see clearly! I did not..." He actually wanted to mention hearing the inner voice, but how could his Imperial Father ever believe such a bizarre thing!
Fang Zhiyi stood up. "You are merely the Crown Prince, yet you dare to surveil high-ranking officials of the court?"
The Crown Prince was scared silly. He hadn't expected that by simply following Xu Jiao's inner voice to impeach Guo Hongru, his Imperial Father's counter-questions would become increasingly perilous!
But at this moment, he truly didn't know how to explain himself. Meanwhile, Guo Hongru felt somewhat awkward. He kept looking back and forth between the Crown Prince and the Emperor, unsure if this matter still involved him.
"You incompetent ruler! I'm so mad! You ignore the guy surnamed Guo messing around, so why are you making things difficult for Big Brother Crown Prince!"
Hearing this inner voice, Fang Zhiyi smiled slightly. His goal was achieved.
At this time, Xu Jiao did not notice that the way some officials were secretly looking at her had changed. Even though it was only her inner voice, it represented her true thoughts! Some people even began to wonder: could this be the stance of the Xu family?
Meanwhile, Xu Yuanzhi's face turned deathly pale. Even if beaten to death, he would never have imagined that his daughter would be so bold as to curse the Emperor in her heart!
However, it seemed there was nothing wrong with just cursing in one's heart.
Several censors from the Crown Prince's faction wanted to take the blame, but Fang Zhiyi waved them off: "I am questioning the Crown Prince right now. Do you think I am not worthy to question my own son?"
Even the censors did not dare to reply.
In the end, the Crown Prince could only tremblingly admit that he had sneaked out. He truly couldn't think of any other way.
"You are grounded for a month. Think carefully about what you should be doing." Fang Zhiyi stood up to leave, and the eunuch behind him loudly announced the end of the court session.
It wasn't until he left that Fang Zhiyi's ears finally found peace. That Xu Jiao was truly a boy-crazy idiot with a blabbering mouth.
"You did that just to make her curse you? What's the point?" Little Hei was puzzled.
Fang Zhiyi explained, "In the original plot, the Emperor still somewhat cared about his son's pride and never punished him too severely, so this boy-crazy idiot never cursed the Emperor. Even if she did, it would have been much later, right?"
"But it's different now. If she dares to curse me in her heart, what will the civil and military officials think? An inner voice? Even if it's an inner voice, it's one that so many people can hear at the same time! If nothing unexpected happens, at least a group of veteran officials are already dissatisfied with the Xu family."
Little Hei was utterly confused by this explanation but still nodded. "As expected of someone who has been an emperor."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Turning his head, Fang Zhiyi ordered, "Summon Guo Hongru to see me."
When Guo Hongru hurried over, Fang Zhiyi was eating. Not daring to disturb him, Guo Hongru could only stand to the side with his head bowed and wait. It wasn't until Fang Zhiyi had eaten his fill that he slowly looked up at him: "Oh, isn't this Lord Guo?"
"Your Majesty, I know my guilt!" Guo Hongru's legs gave out and he dropped straight to his knees. He knew this matter wouldn't be over so easily.
Fang Zhiyi rolled his eyes at him. What kind of useless thing was this? To think he was actually a rank-three official. Just one word and he confessed everything. If it weren't for the fact that in the original plot he stood by the original host until his death, his dog head would have been hung on the city gates long ago.
"A rank-three official should act like a rank-three official, right?"
Guo Hongru nodded repeatedly.
"However, I will give you a chance to make amends."
Guo Hongru hurriedly looked up.
"Last night, I dreamt of a crow. The crow opened its mouth and spoke, saying that the situation in the three northwestern provinces might not be too good. Now, I want you to keep a close eye on the situation in the Northwest at all times. It's best if you make preparations in advance. If anything goes wrong... you know what will happen."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
