Because taking sides is visible, done out in the open, with everyone knowing which side you’re on.
But a relationship like a hidden river—it can’t be seen, leaves no trace.
You never know when it will surge up from underground and wash away everything on the surface.
So who would least want to see such a connection between the Crown Princess’s Palace and the Cui clan?
Emperor Luo.
This emperor had spent years carefully maintaining a fragile balance in the court.
When the powerful families grew too strong, he propped up the common-born scholars.
When the factions of imperial princes grew too mighty, he reined them in.
Pull and stretch, loosen and tighten—like flying a kite.
The kite must not fly too high, nor fall to the ground.
This delicate equilibrium was built bit by bit with endless effort and wisdom.
Now, if the Cui clan and the Crown Princess’s faction were to unite through marriage, that balance would shatter.
It wouldn’t mean Cui Shifan had won, nor Gu Chengyin had won.
It would mean Emperor Luo had lost.
Because on his chessboard, the two biggest pieces had joined together.
Once news of the marriage proposal spread, the first to act would inevitably be the palace.
So Gu Chengyin needed Luo Zhao’s intervention.
He needed her, in her capacity as Crown Princess, to find an excuse to stall the matter.
Wait for the palace’s reaction, wait for Emperor Luo’s stance to become clear, then decide the next move.
And for now, as long as Luo Zhao spoke up, Emperor Luo would not openly contradict her.
He would go along with Luo Zhao’s wishes first.
After figuring out Gu Chengyin’s intent,
Luo Zhao felt a bitter taste in her heart.
Not because she had been used as a tool, but because she realized she had grown accustomed to being one.
In Gu Chengyin’s eyes, she was nothing but a tool.
A tool called the Crown Princess.
A tool Gu Chengyin used to control the Crown Princess’s faction.
Now that the hypnosis had been lifted, she thought she was free, thought she no longer had to be a tool.
But she discovered she was still a tool.
Only the form had changed—from a hypnotized tool to one who needed to have her opinion sought.
Her opinion wasn’t her own; it was what Gu Chengyin needed her to say.
Her decisions weren’t her own; they were what Gu Chengyin needed her to make.
It was simply trading one cage for another.
The cage was bigger, more beautiful, less like a cage.
But still a cage.
Luo Zhao took a deep breath, suppressing all the displeasure inside her.
She endured it.
“Hmm...”
She drew out the sound slightly, as if deep in thought:
“This matter, though good, should not be rushed.”
Luo Zhao paused, her gaze landing on Cui Shifan’s face.
“Pavilion Elder Cui, isn’t Zilu not in the Divine Capital right now?”
Cui Shifan’s eyes flickered with appreciation. In just a few seconds, she had found the perfect excuse.
Gu Chengyin had trained the Crown Princess well.
As Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Cui Shifan certainly did not want the future Empress of Great Luo to be a fool.
Now, with Gu Chengyin serving as Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, there was no need to worry about such things.
Cui Shifan nodded, replying with great respect:
“Zilu is currently in his hometown of Qinghe, pursuing further studies, and is not in the Divine Capital.”
Luo Zhao withdrew her gaze from Cui Shifan and looked at Gu Chengyin:
“In that case, I believe it would be best to discuss this after Zilu returns to the Divine Capital.”
“After all, for such a major life event, it is only proper to ask for the person’s own opinion.”
This was reasonable.
Cui Zilu was not in the Divine Capital. How could a marriage proposal be settled without even meeting the person?
It would be disrespectful to Cui Zilu and to the Cui clan.
No one could refute this reasoning, because it was made from Cui Zilu’s perspective.
This excuse was something Luo Zhao had thought of in that moment.
Not taught by Gu Chengyin, not prompted by anyone—she had come up with it herself.
Cui Shifan did not argue. Of course he wouldn’t.
His visit to the Crown Princess’s Palace today was never meant to reach a conclusion.
Cui Shifan understood well the immense resistance behind this matter.
Emperor Luo, the princes’ faction, the gossips at court who loved to watch the world burn—
And on top of that, the Celestial Master’s office.
Everyone had their own calculations, their own positions, their own hopes for how things would unfold.
He came today only to put the matter on the table.
To let everyone know that Cui Zilu wanted to marry Gu Chengyin, and that he supported her.
As for the outcome, that was a matter for later.
“Your Highness speaks wisely.”
Cui Shifan bowed slightly, performing a half-courtesy.
“I will have Zilu come to the Divine Capital as soon as possible, and then we will discuss it further.”
The phrase “as soon as possible” was cleverly chosen. Not “immediately,” not “right away,” but “as soon as possible.”
How soon is that?
No one knows.
It could be a month, three months, half a year.
No one could say it wasn’t soon, because “as soon as possible” itself was merely an attitude, not a specific deadline.
Cui Shifan had offered Luo Zhao a step down, and also given himself some breathing room.
You’re not in a rush, and neither am I.
Neither of us is in a rush.
So let this matter proceed slowly.
Luo Zhao breathed a sigh of relief inside.
At least she had bought some time.
Stalled until Cui Zilu returned to the Divine Capital, until the palace’s reaction became clear, until Gu Chengyin had enough time to figure out how to respond.
This wasn’t cowardice, nor avoidance—it was the smartest choice.
Because time changes many things: people’s minds, the shifting dynamics.
Problems that seem prickly now might no longer be problems when viewed again later.
“Very well.”
Luo Zhao’s voice was light. She had completed Gu Chengyin’s task.
Though unwilling inside, she did not show it.
That red egg, Gu Chengyin, was becoming more and more like her master.
And at that moment, Gu Chengyin spoke, picking up the thread after Luo Zhao had finished and before Cui Shifan could respond:
“Pavilion Elder Cui, we’ve taken up quite a bit of time. I imagine there must be many affairs piling up in the Cabinet by now?”
On the surface, these words showed concern for Cui Shifan, a care for the Cabinet’s business, a minister’s sense of duty to the court.
But in truth, they were a dismissal.
Delivered with justification, and impossible to refuse.
Because the words “state affairs” outweighed any excuse.
Cui Shifan could not ignore them, Gu Chengyin could not, Luo Zhao could not—no one could.
So Cui Shifan understood. He nodded, agreeing:
“Junior Preceptor Gu is correct. The Cabinet does have a backlog of matters. I shall take my leave, then.”
Cui Shifan rose and turned to Luo Zhao, performing a standard farewell courtesy.
“Your Highness, I take my leave.”
Luo Zhao inclined her head in acknowledgment.
Gu Chengyin stood up, turned slightly to one side, and made a gesture indicating the way.
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!"
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!
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.
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.
