Gu Chengyin felt that he had handled things very well.
The fact that Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying could maintain a harmonious relationship and were willing to help each other was the best possible outcome for him.
Little did he know that in the instant their hands clasped, the two women were thinking of entirely different things.
After all, to Gu Chengyin, the thoughts of women were ten thousand times more complicated than schemes of power and intrigue.
“Then let me move on to the second matter.”
Gu Chengyin's voice pulled both of their attentions back.
Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying simultaneously turned their gazes toward him—one as cool and composed as ever, the other still gentle and graceful, as if nothing at all had just transpired.
This time, Gu Chengyin looked at Shangguan Yunying, his eyes carrying a hint of solemnity.
“Yunying, regarding your resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting, once the Crown Princess returns, have her cooperate with you. It's best if you make a bigger scene out of it.”
Shangguan Yunying blinked.
Almost the moment Gu Chengyin finished speaking, she understood his intention.
Her almond-shaped eyes lit up, a trace of comprehension flickering deep within them, and her voice carried a note of curiosity:
“You want to use my resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting to strengthen the credibility of the infighting within the Crown Prince's faction?”
Gu Chengyin nodded, approval shining in his eyes.
“Exactly. Even you, the Chief Lady-in-Waiting, have voluntarily resigned.”
“Then the matter of the Crown Prince's faction infighting will be as good as settled.”
“No matter who comes to investigate, they won't find a single flaw.”
Shangguan Yunying nodded, mulling over his words in her mind.
Indeed, that was true.
Why was Shangguan Yuan regarded as half a member of the Crown Prince's faction?
Because she, Shangguan Yunying, was Luo Zhao's Chief Lady-in-Waiting.
Because of her existence, the Shangguan family and the Crown Prince's faction were bound tightly together by an invisible thread.
And now, against the backdrop of Shangguan Yuan turning against Gu Chengyin and the infighting within the Crown Prince's faction,
her sudden voluntary resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting—what did that signify?
It meant the Shangguan family truly intended to sever ties with the Crown Prince's faction.
Not as a show, not as a temporary expedient, but a complete and utter break.
In this way, the news of the Crown Prince's faction infighting would be thoroughly substantiated.
Because the most compelling corroborating evidence had appeared.
Even Shangguan Yunying, who had served as Chief Lady-in-Waiting for so many years, had voluntarily resigned.
How could the infighting possibly be fake?
When Shangguan Yunying reached this point in her thoughts, she couldn't help but admire Gu Chengyin's cunning.
What she didn't notice was that Lin Qingyan, seated nearby, had remained silent,
yet her gaze swept back and forth between Gu Chengyin and Shangguan Yunying, seemingly casually but deliberately.
Lin Qingyan was observing. She watched Shangguan Yunying's expression, watched Shangguan Yunying's reactions.
She saw that Shangguan Yunying showed not a hint of hesitation, not a shred of reluctance—one could even say she accepted it willingly.
What did that indicate?
It indicated that Shangguan Yunying's resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting was entirely voluntary.
Gu Chengyin had not actively asked her to do so.
Lin Qingyan furrowed her brow slightly. Somehow, her intuition told her
that this matter was not so simple.
Shangguan Yunying's ability to make this decision surely had something to do with that wicked man.
Gu Chengyin's voice rang out once more:
“Then spread the news far and wide. Ideally, let everyone in the world know.”
He said it as casually as if making something known to all was nothing more than a trifling matter.
Shangguan Yunying nodded in agreement, committing his words to memory.
Although after resigning she would no longer be Chief Lady-in-Waiting, she was still the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family.
And spreading news to the world was a small matter that could be accomplished simply by spending some money.
Which teahouse or tavern in the Divine Capital didn't make its living off gossip and information?
As long as the money was right, let alone the Divine Capital—the entire Great Luo would know.
After laying out the arrangements for both matters, Gu Chengyin paused briefly.
His gaze lingered for a moment on each of Lin Qingyan's and Shangguan Yunying's faces, then he delivered his final summary.
“As for the matter of the Imperial Son-in-law, there's no need to worry too much.”
“Once news of Yunying's resignation spreads, the imperial edict will never be issued.”
“As long as the imperial edict isn't issued, then it can't be taken as real.”
Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying both wore looks of confusion simultaneously.
They exchanged glances, each seeing the same bewilderment reflected in the other's eyes.
Why would the imperial edict summoning the Imperial Son-in-law fail to be issued once news of Shangguan Yunying's resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting spread?
What unavoidable connection existed between these two matters?
Gu Chengyin looked at their puzzled expressions and let out a helpless smile.
He knew they hadn't yet connected the dots, so he had to explain a bit more.
“His Majesty wants to summon me as the Imperial Son-in-law, purely to suppress me.”
His voice was unhurried, like someone dissecting a complex game of chess—step by step, unraveling the threads one by one.
“But the premise of suppressing me is that the Crown Prince's faction hasn't collapsed, and can still stand in opposition to the Princes' faction.”
Gu Chengyin paused there for a moment, giving Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying time to digest.
“And Yunying's resignation as Chief Lady-in-Waiting essentially means the Shangguan family has completely severed ties with the Crown Prince's faction.”
“At this point, if His Majesty still tries to suppress me—"
Gu Chengyin's voice suddenly deepened, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.
“Then the Crown Princess is finished.”
Once again, silence fell over the chamber.
Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying experienced their moment of epiphany almost simultaneously.
So that was it.
Emperor Luo summoning Gu Chengyin as the Imperial Son-in-law was on the surface an honor, but in truth it was a means of suppression.
However, such suppression had a premise—that the Crown Prince's faction could still contend with the Princes' faction.
Only on the basis of that balance did suppressing Gu Chengyin make any sense.
But once Shangguan Yunying resigned and the Shangguan family completely cut ties with the Crown Prince's faction, it would be as if the faction had lost an arm.
At that point, if Emperor Luo still suppressed Gu Chengyin, the Crown Prince's faction would be doomed.
Without the support of the Shangguan family, with Gu Chengyin also being suppressed,
what would Luo Zhao have left to fight the Princes' faction with? What would she have to contend with the great clans and the common scholars?
Emperor Luo would never allow such a thing to happen.
He only wanted to suppress Gu Chengyin; he had no intention of letting the Crown Prince's faction collapse.
The so-called infighting within the Crown Prince's faction, in Emperor Luo's eyes, was nothing more than a play.
But once Shangguan Yunying resigned as Chief Lady-in-Waiting, even the falsest of plays would become "real."
Because everyone would believe it.
Everyone would believe that the Shangguan family had completely broken away from the Crown Prince's faction.
The prestige of Luo Zhao, the Crown Princess, would suffer tremendous damage as a result.
If not handled carefully, the Crown Prince's faction could even completely crumble.
Unless someone could help hold the whole thing together.
Unless someone could simply stand there and scare off any would-be troublemakers.
That person was not Emperor Luo.
It was Gu Chengyin.
As long as he, the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, remained in place, the Crown Prince's faction would never collapse.
But the premise was that Gu Chengyin could not become the Imperial Son-in-law.
Lin Qingyan, as his greatest pillar of support, was fundamentally in conflict with the position of Imperial Son-in-law.
And after the Shangguan family completely severed ties and leaned toward the Princes' faction,
in order to maintain balance at court, the Crown Prince's faction would require new forces to join.
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!
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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.
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?!
