Luo Zhao blinked.
The blink was quick—so quick it was like a butterfly fluttering its wings twice, then stilling.
Her expression didn't change at all, but her mind was racing.
What did Father mean by "rather well chosen"?
Did he think Cui Shifan had chosen well, or chosen poorly?
Was he in favor of this marriage, or against it?
It should be against it, surely—because what it meant that Cui Zilu was marrying Gu Chengyin.
Even she, as the heir apparent, knew exactly what that signified.
Luo Zhao just didn't know what her father truly thought once he'd found out.
Her father's mind, she could never fathom.
Not because she wasn't clever enough, but because her father was too clever.
Just like that Red Egg Gu Chengyin—the two of them were equals in deviousness.
Every expression, every word, every glance could have a dozen interpretations—or none at all.
The more you speculated, the more you erred.
The more you tried to understand, the less you understood.
Probably only Gu Chengyin himself could know what her father was really thinking.
So Luo Zhao stopped guessing.
She just sat there, quietly waiting, for her father to continue.
A little more time passed.
Emperor Luo tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest twice, then asked again:
"Zhao'er, what did you do?"
To this question, Luo Zhao answered honestly.
No hesitation, no deliberation, no scheming behind it.
Because she knew that before her father, any scheming was just playing smart.
Her father didn't need her to play smart—he only needed her honesty.
"Your son used the reason that Cui Zilu is not currently in the capital, and managed to defer the matter for now."
Her voice was steady—steady exactly as it was when she answered in court.
But inside, her heart was drumming.
Would her father be satisfied with this answer?
Would he find this excuse too flimsy?
Would he see the deferral as cowardice, or as wisdom?
But after all, even Gu Chengyin hadn't objected, so Father probably wouldn't either, right?
Hearing this, Emperor Luo set down the memorial in his hand.
His fingers left the paper and settled on the armrest.
The corners of his mouth curved slightly—with a hint of relief, and a hint of pride.
"Mmm. Well done."
Luo Zhao froze for a moment, surprise and bewilderment flickering in her eyes, along with a trace of flattered disbelief.
Father actually praised her?
He had never praised her like this even when she'd managed the Ministry of Civil Appointments in perfect order.
Though she felt a flutter of joy inside, Luo Zhao didn't show much of it.
Her expression shifted only slightly before returning to that cold, aloof demeanor befitting the heir apparent.
Emperor Luo looked away, then asked another question.
This question was entirely different from the previous one.
The previous one was a matter of the court—emperor to heir.
This one was personal—father to daughter.
"And what about Gu Chengyin and Jingzhe—do you know about that?"
Luo Zhao's fingers curled sharply inside her sleeve.
She squeezed so hard her nails dug into her palm, and her whole body trembled faintly from it.
Emperor Luo's question was direct—it referred to the relationship between Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan.
Not any ordinary relationship—the one between an aunt and her nephew-in-law.
Did she know?
Of course she knew.
But she didn't know how to answer.
Her lips parted slightly, and two voices were at war in her head.
One said: deny it—if you admit you knew, Father will think you're incompetent.
The other said: just admit it—you're incompetent anyway, why pretend otherwise.
The two voices fought for a while, until finally, Luo Zhao grew tired.
Not physically tired—emotionally tired.
She lowered her head, her voice small like a cat mewing after it's done something wrong.
"I know, Father."
Hearing this, Emperor Luo slowly narrowed his eyes.
His gaze rested on Luo Zhao's lowered head, on the hair neatly bound beneath the golden crown.
Then he asked:
"Since you knew, why didn't you stop it?"
His voice was calm—so calm, like he was asking a question he already knew the answer to, but still wanted to hear her say it aloud.
Luo Zhao's face flushed hot.
Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.
She wanted to say: I tried to stop it, I told Auntie not to be with Gu Chengyin, I told Auntie that Gu Chengyin was mine.
But she couldn't say it.
Because she knew those words were just excuses.
Excuses couldn't change the outcome—and the outcome was that she hadn't stopped it.
It wasn't that she didn't want to stop it—it was that she had no way to stop it.
She was the heir apparent, but she had no authority over Lin Qingyan.
Lin Qingyan was her aunt, the person who'd watched her grow up, one of the people closest to her.
She could be spoiled with Lin Qingyan, could lose her temper at her.
But she couldn't change Lin Qingyan's mind.
It wasn't a lack of respect—it was that in matters of love, respect had no power.
Lin Qingyan loved Gu Chengyin, had loved him for a long time, had given so much.
Luo Zhao couldn't make her stop, didn't have the ability to make her stop.
So was that not stopping it?
It was—being unable to stop it!
As for Gu Chengyin, that went without saying.
At the thought of this, Luo Zhao's nose stung, her eyes turned red, and she almost couldn't hold it in.
But she did.
With all the strength in her body, she pushed the sting back down, forced the grievance away.
She swallowed the tears welling up in her eyes back down into her stomach.
She couldn't cry in front of her father.
She was already the heir apparent—she couldn't cry in front of her father.
But she also couldn't lie in front of her father.
Luo Zhao took a deep breath, and then she spoke.
Her voice was so small, like she was speaking a truth even she didn't want to face.
"It's not that I didn't want to stop it, it's that..."
"I can't control Gu Chengyin, and I can't control Auntie."
"Father... can you help me..."
When these words left her mouth, Luo Zhao's head dropped even lower, until her chin was nearly touching her chest.
So low that the tassels on her golden crown hung down, veiling half her face.
Her tone was like a young wife who, after being bullied by her husband, has run back to her father's house to ask for help.
Full of grievance and helplessness, with a hint of resignation, and yet a sliver of hope resting on Emperor Luo.
The warm chamber fell silent.
The smoke of aloeswood curled silently through the air, like an invisible snake slithering between father and daughter.
Emperor Luo looked at Luo Zhao, for a long, long time.
So long that Luo Zhao thought her father was going to be angry—so long that her heart was pounding so fast it felt like it might leap out of her chest—so long that her nails had dug so deep into her palm that it ached.
But Emperor Luo smiled.
Not a hearty laugh, not a cold smile.
A warm, gratified smile.
At Luo Zhao's answer, he was, of course, not surprised.
Because if she had been able to manage it, then Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan would never have been together in the first place.
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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.
