Shangguan Yuan slumped back into the wide armchair, his weight drawing a creaking groan from the wooden backrest.
A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. In the candlelight, his face appeared rather pale, and his brows were locked tightly together in a deep frown.
"Principal Secretary Gu," he said, fighting to maintain his composure. "Do you have any idea what this means? That is a Grand Secretary! Do you know how massive the shockwaves will be if this blade truly falls, how much turmoil it will unleash?"
His questioning was less a challenge and more a manifestation of his instinctive terror toward the horrifying consequences.
Slaying a Grand Secretary was no ordinary political struggle; it was shaking the very foundation of the Great Luo dynasty's power structure!
Gu Chengyin listened in silence. Only when Shangguan Yuan finished did he speak, his voice unhurried and measured.
"In Your Excellency's view, if this blade does not fall, will Great Luo be spared from turmoil?"
"It is merely boiling a frog in warm water. The fire has always been burning; the water has always been heating up."
"When that frog is boiled thoroughly, stripped of any strength to struggle... do you truly believe the ensuing shockwaves will still be controllable?"
Shangguan Yuan opened his mouth, only to find himself completely at a loss for words.
As the Minister of Revenue, he understood the true state of the national treasury better than anyone. He knew the immense difficulties in collecting regional taxes, and he knew the shocking corruption hidden behind those financial deficits.
Gu Chengyin was not fear-mongering; he was stating cold, hard reality.
It was just that this reality had been veiled by layers of superficial prosperity and bureaucratic inertia, making people prefer to turn a blind eye.
He took several deep breaths, desperately trying to calm his churning emotions.
His gaze refocused on Gu Chengyin's face, now filled with profound scrutiny. "Principal Secretary Gu, I will ask you one more time."
"This... this scheme of yours. Is it your own idea, or is it Her Highness's?"
This was the most crucial question.
If this was merely Gu Chengyin's arrogant delusion, then he, Shangguan Yuan, would absolutely not join him in his madness.
But if it was the will of Her Highness...
Gu Chengyin did not answer directly. Instead, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, revealing a faint, meaningful smile.
He picked up his cup of tea, which had already gone cold, and gave it a gentle swirl. Watching the tea leaves rise and fall within the water, he countered:
"Lord Minister, you have dealt with Her Highness extensively. Knowing her character, do you honestly believe that if she were fully aware of the situation, she would hold back simply because the target is a Grand Secretary?"
Hearing this, Shangguan Yuan's pupils violently contracted.
Exactly! How could he have forgotten?
Who was Her Highness?
She was the iron-fisted Princess who, when investigating major cases, would ruthlessly reject any pleas for mercy without batting an eye!
She was the dominant Crown Heir who, upon taking charge of the Imperial Household Department, had forcefully ripped power away from the eunuchs piece by bloody piece!
If the evidence was truly irrefutable and presented right before Luo Zhao... would she give a damn whether the culprit was a Grand Secretary or not?
She was the type who would stubbornly push back even if it meant defying His Majesty's own wishes!
The study descended into silence once more, save for the occasional, faint crackle of the candlewick popping.
Shangguan Yuan's frown deepened. His fingers unconsciously traced the smooth surface of his armrest, clearly undergoing a fierce internal struggle.
After a long while, as if he had finally come to a decision, he asked tentatively, exercising the utmost caution:
"Principal Secretary Gu, could you perhaps reveal a little... exactly which Grand Secretary has Her Highness set her sights on?"
This was an absolutely vital question.
Different Grand Secretaries represented different factions and different webs of interests. The chain reactions triggered by their respective downfalls would be drastically different.
He needed to know the target in order to properly assess the risks and weigh the pros and cons.
However, Gu Chengyin's response made Shangguan Yuan freeze instantly, before a surge of fiery indignation at being toyed with flared up within him.
"I don't know."
"What?!"
Shangguan Yuan almost thought he had misheard. He jerked upright, the color draining from his face, only to be rapidly replaced by an angry flush.
"You don't know?! You've sat here talking in circles with me all this time, and you don't even know?! Gu Chengyin, are you making a fool out of me?!"
He practically wanted to slam the table and storm off. This was utterly absurd!
"Please calm yourself, Lord Minister."
Gu Chengyin made a gentle downward pressing motion with his hand, his tone remaining perfectly steady. "Hear me out first. As for which Grand Secretary to slay... or rather, which Grand Secretary is the most suitable target to receive this blade..."
He paused, his piercing gaze locking onto Shangguan Yuan as he enunciated every word clearly,
"That is not for me to decide, nor is it for Her Highness to decide. Rather, it is for you to decide."
"Me?!"
Shangguan Yuan pointed at his own nose, thoroughly dumbfounded. His belly full of rage vanished into thin air at this abrupt twist, leaving behind only sheer, incredulous shock. "You want me to slay a Grand Secretary?! Gu Chengyin, have you lost your mind?!"
"Not at all," Gu Chengyin shook his head in explanation. "Her Highness is unparalleled in her brilliance, and her character is open and honorable. However, she is not well-versed in these murky, underhanded dealings, which is precisely why she entrusted this matter to me."
Gu Chengyin pointed to himself. "But I am a newcomer here, completely unfamiliar with the political landscape of the royal court. If I were to blindly select a target, it would not only ruin both of us, but it would also bring disaster to the nation and its people."
"But you, Lord Minister, are entirely different." His gaze sharpened, piercing straight to the depths of Shangguan Yuan's heart. "You are the Minister of Revenue. You have overseen the realm's finances, grain, and taxation for over a decade! In this domain, who in the entirety of Great Luo understands better than you..."
Gu Chengyin leaned forward, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper:
"...who understands better which Grand Secretary is the easiest target? Whose crimes have the most irrefutable evidence? And whose downfall would send the most spectacular shockwave of deterrence throughout the imperial court?"
Shangguan Yuan was left speechless.
It was true. He was the Minister of Revenue.
Those seemingly flawless flows of ledgers and accounts were riddled with gaping holes in his eyes.
It was just that in the past, he had chosen to turn a blind eye, or had securely locked away the relevant records.
Because making a move against those figures required more than just evidence; it required the power and the sheer resolve to flip the entire board.
And now, Gu Chengyin—or rather, Luo Zhao standing behind him—had brought that very resolve.
Gu Chengyin closely observed the shifting expressions on Shangguan Yuan's face, knowing perfectly well that the older man's mental defenses were crumbling.
Striking while the iron was hot, he threw out another irresistible temptation, this time painting a far more tangible picture:
"Lord Minister, as it stands, there is already one vacant seat within the Grand Secretariat. It is only for the sake of maintaining a delicate balance between factions that His Majesty has temporarily held off on filling it."
"But what if... another seat were to open up at this exact moment?"
Shangguan Yuan's heart gave a violent lurch.
"Then the Grand Secretariat would have two vacant seats."
Gu Chengyin's voice was like the whisper of a devil, dripping with bewitching allure. "The balance of the court would inevitably be shattered. To maintain stability and appease the various factions, His Majesty would be absolutely forced to appoint new Grand Secretaries."
"And so, looking across the entire imperial court today... among the candidates who possess sufficient seniority, commendable political achievements, and who—in His Majesty's eyes—could serve to balance out the existing power structure..."
"...who could possibly be more suitable than you? The Minister of Revenue who controls the realm's wealth, and who, by virtue of being half-aligned with the Crown Heir's faction, maintains a safe, ambiguous distance from the traditional cliques?"
Shangguan Yuan was thoroughly, undeniably tempted.
A fire seemed to ignite within his chest—the blazing flame of a political ambition that had lain dormant for years.
The Grand Secretariat! The pinnacle of power he had gazed up at for so many years!
It had always felt entirely out of reach, simply because those few chairs were occupied too securely.
But now, someone was about to kick one of those chairs over. And once it was kicked over... he could be the one to sit in the empty seat.
The risks were undeniably astronomical, but the reward... the reward was entering the Grand Secretariat, being appointed as a prime minister, and reaching the absolute zenith of a subject's power!
However, years of ingrained caution prevented him from agreeing immediately.
As reason and composure returned to him, Shangguan Yuan pondered for a long time before finally, slowly, uttering a single sentence:
"Master Gu, this matter concerns the very survival, honor, and disgrace of my Shangguan family."
"Please return and report to His Highness. Tell him... to allow me some time to consider."
It was not a refusal, yet neither was it an agreement.
He needed time. He needed to weigh his options more carefully, and perhaps, he needed just a little more of a push.
Hearing this, Gu Chengyin showed no intention of rising to take his leave.
"It is only natural that the Lord Minister requires time to consider," Gu Chengyin said slowly.
"However, before that, there is one thing I am still unclear on, and I would like to seek your insight."
Shangguan Yuan raised his eyes to look at him, a hint of confusion in his gaze. "What is it?"
"My Lord, given His Highness's temperament, why do you suppose he would choose to delay his report?"
At first, Shangguan Yuan thought little of the question and answered casually, "To delay the report is naturally to review the ledgers and thoroughly investigate the financial deficit. Only then can he..."
His voice trailed off, growing lower and slower.
No, that wasn't right!
If it were merely to investigate a deficit, why would there be a need to requisition the core ledgers and the archives of major projects from the past ten years, especially the most recent five?
The sheer scope of what those ledgers involved, the astronomical sums of money, and how high up the hierarchy they pointed...
A flash of realization, like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night sky, violently struck Shangguan Yuan's mind!
He snapped his head up, all the color draining from his face as he stared fixedly at Gu Chengyin:
"His Highness delayed the report..."
"Was it at His Majesty's behest?"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
