This was a probe, a form of pressure, and above all, an opportunity for Shangguan Yuan to make a choice.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Gu Chengyin bowed and accepted the order. This task was within his expectations.
Shangguan Yunying also hastily curtsied, "Your humble servant obeys."
"You may leave."
Luo Zhao waved a hand, saying no more, and focused her attention on the open ledger before her.
Gu Chengyin and Shangguan Yunying bowed once more before retreating from the Mingli Hall together.
Outside the hall, the curtain of night had already fallen. Palace lanterns lit up one after another, casting dim, yellow halos on the bluestone-paved palace pathways.
The evening breeze carried a chill, blowing away the stifling scent of aged paper mixed with ink that clung to them from inside the hall.
The two walked in silence for a distance. It was only when they were far from Mingli Hall that Shangguan Yunying seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, her footsteps slowing slightly.
She tilted her head slightly, glancing at the calm-faced Gu Chengyin beside her. Biting her lower lip, she spoke in a low voice:
"Director Gu... regarding the matter of my father, I did not intentionally hide it."
She paused, seemingly organizing her words. "It is just that since entering the Internal Affairs Department, I never wanted others to treat me differently because of my father, or to think that my current achievements rely on his protection. I wanted to serve Her Highness using my own abilities."
Her voice gradually grew firmer. "Because of this, I participated in the Internal Affairs Department's selection anonymously, starting from the lowest-ranking female official and working my way up to where I am today."
Listening to her explanation, Gu Chengyin merely gave a faint murmur of acknowledgment.
He understood Shangguan Yunying's thoughts, but in the face of reality, such persistence often appeared fragile and naive.
Especially in the Great Luo's officialdom, with its strict hierarchy and deeply intertwined relationships, her surname and bloodline meant it was impossible to truly detach herself from her background.
However, Gu Chengyin did not care about this. What he cared about were more practical matters.
"It does not matter," Gu Chengyin said in a flat tone. "Your identity does not affect your abilities and loyalty, Master Yunying."
He changed the subject, cutting straight to the point. "Since your esteemed father is Minister Shangguan, you must be very familiar with his character, his way of doing things, and even his situation in the imperial court, right?"
Shangguan Yunying nodded, her expression turning serious. "Yes. My father is cautious and calculating. He is especially skilled at balancing various factions. Having been in the Ministry of Revenue for many years, he has never made a major mistake with the accounts and is deeply trusted by His Majesty."
"Then," Gu Chengyin's eyes flickered as he asked the crucial question, "based on your understanding of your father, if Her Highness personally pressures him, or if we go to him now, do you think he will speak up?"
Shangguan Yunying did not answer immediately. She furrowed her delicate brows and thought carefully for a moment before speaking slowly.
"If Her Highness forces him using her status as the Crown Princess, my father... will most likely tell us."
She paused, her tone carrying a hint of complex helplessness. "After all, he cannot openly defy Her Highness. Moreover, because of me, my father is already presumed by the court to be Her Highness's man."
"Even if he wants to remain neutral, in the eyes of others, our Shangguan family is already tied to Her Highness."
A flash of understanding crossed Gu Chengyin's eyes.
This was politics; a single move could affect the entire board.
Since Shangguan Yunying had become Luo Zhao's Chief Female Official, her father, Shangguan Yuan, was naturally branded as a member of the Crown Princess's faction. Trying to clear his name of this association was nearly impossible.
"However..." Shangguan Yunying shifted her tone, laced with worry. "The impact of what he reveals under pressure will likely be greatly diminished."
"My father is a smooth operator. What he excels at most is dodging the crucial issues and dwelling on the trivial. He might spit out some irrelevant or outdated information."
"He might even offer a pre-prepared scapegoat to deal with us or divert our attention. Getting him to reveal the core truth will be very difficult, I am afraid."
Gu Chengyin nodded; this was within his expectations.
For Shangguan Yuan to sit securely in the position of Minister of Revenue for so many years, he was definitely not an easy person to deal with.
Gu Chengyin suddenly thought of a question and asked with some curiosity, "Since your father is so cautious and is not even willing to be tied to Her Highness, why did he agree to let you enter the palace and become Her Highness's official in the first place?"
Given Shangguan Yuan's personality of striving for balance and refusing to easily take sides, how could he allow his own daughter to enter the royal court?
And to sit in the most intimate position beside Luo Zhao, no less. This was essentially handing his greatest weakness over to someone else on his own initiative.
Hearing this question, a complex look flashed across Shangguan Yunying's face, a mix of helplessness and the rippling waves of memory.
"This matter..." she said softly, her voice carrying a trace of emotion. "It was not my father who agreed to it."
"Oh?" Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow.
"Back then, I participated in the Internal Affairs Department's selection behind my family's back," Shangguan Yunying explained. "I used a pseudonym and passed layer after layer of assessments. It was not until the final list was confirmed and I was about to enter the palace that my father accidentally learned the news from a colleague."
Recalling the scene from back then, a bitter smile appeared on Shangguan Yunying's lips. "When my father found out, he was furious."
"He believed the palace was a place of endless trouble, and the side of the Crown Princess was the very center of the vortex. If I went in, not only would I be in danger, but I would also drag the entire Shangguan family into unpredictable risks."
"He immediately wanted to use his connections to strike my name from the list of female officials and bring me back home."
"The matter caused a huge uproar at the time." Shangguan Yunying's voice lowered. "My father personally went to the Internal Affairs Department, even alarming the Grand Secretariat."
"I... I was also very stubborn at the time and refused to go back. Just as we were at a stalemate, and my father was about to resort to forceful measures..."
Shangguan Yunying raised her head and looked deep into the palace city, towards the direction that symbolized supreme power, her eyes filled with awe and a trace of confusion:
"His Majesty... issued a decree."
"His Majesty?" Gu Chengyin's heart stirred.
"Yes," Shangguan Yunying nodded. "His Majesty somehow learned of the matter and directly issued a verbal edict."
"The edict was very simple: Since the daughter of the Shangguan family had passed the formal selection in accordance with the rules, she should be employed according to precedent, and no one was allowed to obstruct it."
She paused, then added, "Naturally, no one dared to disobey His Majesty's decree. Although my father was extremely unwilling, he could only kowtow and accept the edict. And so, I stayed and became Her Highness's official."
Listening to this past event, a light flickered in Gu Chengyin's eyes as he fell deep into thought.
His Majesty personally issued a decree?
Now this was interesting.
The emperor's mind was truly unfathomable.
Even behind the selection of a lowly female official, there could be complex political considerations hidden.
However, now was not the time to delve deeply into this.
The most urgent matter at hand was facing the upcoming meeting with Shangguan Yuan.
As the two conversed, they had already passed through layers of palace gates and arrived outside the palace.
An inconspicuous yet sturdy green-canopied carriage was already waiting there.
Boarding the carriage, the wheels rolled over the night streets of the Divine Capital, heading towards the Shangguan residence located in the officials' district to the southeast of the Imperial City.
Inside the carriage, the two temporarily fell into silence.
In the night, the silhouette of the Minister's Estate was faintly visible in the distance.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
