In her mind, Shangguan Yunying's words echoed endlessly.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
......
Over and over again, like someone taking a hammer and striking her chest.
Each blow landed on the softest part, hurting her deeply.
Luo Zhao was stunned.
She was truly stunned.
Even when she heard that Emperor Luo was going to summon Gu Chengyin to be the imperial consort, she hadn't been this stunned.
That matter, though sudden, was at least within the bounds of what she could accept.
But Shangguan Yunying wanting to resign as Chief Female Official was completely beyond her expectations — and beyond anything she could endure.
Who was Shangguan Yunying?
She was the person Luo Zhao trusted most, the one who knew her best, the one who had been by her side since before she was even the heir apparent, walking with her every step of the way to where she was now.
Shangguan Yunying was not just her Chief Female Official — she was her friend, her confidante, someone she absolutely could not afford to lose.
Now, this person was telling her she wanted to resign.
Luo Zhao's mind went completely blank. Every thought she had was crushed to pieces in that instant.
She even forgot that she had just been thinking about the imperial consort matter, forgot that Lin Qingyan and Gu Chengyin were still watching from inside the hall.
In this moment, her world contained only Shangguan Yunying — only those words.
After a long while, Luo Zhao finally snapped back to herself.
She shot up from the main seat, her movements so swift and forceful that the low table before her rattled.
A teacup toppled over, tea spilling everywhere and soaking the memorials on the desk.
But Luo Zhao didn't spare it even a glance. She rushed over to Shangguan Yunying in three quick strides and grabbed her hand tightly.
"Yunying! Are you abandoning me?"
Luo Zhao's voice carried an urgency she had never shown before. She clutched Shangguan Yunying's hand fiercely.
Her fingers interlaced with the other woman's, like a drowning person grasping at the last floating piece of driftwood.
Her phoenix eyes no longer held their cold arrogance and aloofness; instead, they were filled with a nearly shattered panic.
She looked at Shangguan Yunying, the rims of her eyes red, her lashes trembling.
She looked like an abandoned young beast, brimming with anxiety and dread.
"You cannot leave me! I cannot live without you!"
Luo Zhao's voice grew even more frantic, her grip tightening, her nails almost digging into Shangguan Yunying's skin.
At that moment, all the dignity of a crown princess, all the composure of nobility — none of it mattered anymore. It was all cast to the winds.
She was no longer the cold, proud heir apparent. She was just a little girl about to lose something precious.
Frightened, helpless, at a loss.
Shangguan Yunying looked at Luo Zhao like this, and her heart softened instantly.
She had served Luo Zhao for so many years and had never once seen her wear such an expression.
Luo Zhao had always been proud, hard-edged, and impenetrable.
Even when facing Emperor Luo's reprimands, the censure of court officials,
or enemies who wanted her dead, she had never shown even a sliver of weakness.
But now, because she wanted to resign as Chief Female Official, Luo Zhao had been reduced to this state.
Shangguan Yunying's eyes reddened slightly. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Luo Zhao.
"Your Highness, don't overthink this."
"I'm only resigning as Chief Female Official. I'm not leaving you."
"Your Highness, rest assured — I will never leave you."
Luo Zhao stared at Shangguan Yunying, the panic in her phoenix eyes gradually receding. She tested cautiously:
"Really?"
"Really." Shangguan Yunying affirmed with absolute certainty. "I swear it."
Luo Zhao studied her for a moment, and only after confirming she wasn't lying did she slowly let her guard down.
She let out a long, deep breath, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her entire body relaxed.
As long as Shangguan Yunying wasn't leaving her, that was all that mattered.
As for whether she was Chief Female Official or not — that was irrelevant.
Luo Zhao thought this, and her taut nerves finally eased a little.
But soon, a new question surfaced in her mind.
For no apparent reason, why would Shangguan Yunying suddenly want to resign as Chief Female Official?
Luo Zhao blinked, her mind racing.
Shangguan Yunying would never make such a decision without cause.
Someone must have said something, or something must have happened, to put this idea in her head.
And the person who could make Shangguan Yunying come to this decision — there was only one in the whole world.
Luo Zhao's gaze instantly locked onto Gu Chengyin, fire blazing in her phoenix eyes.
Still holding Shangguan Yunying, she took a few steps back, putting distance between herself and Gu Chengyin.
Only then did she raise her hand, point at Gu Chengyin, and demand angrily:
"Yunying, did this Red Egg Gu Chengyin threaten you?"
Her full fury and discontent echoed through the quiet hall.
Gu Chengyin stood where he was, watching the scene, a slight smile curling at the corner of his lips — an innocent, harmless smile.
He stood with his hands behind his back, robes rustling gently, radiating an air of calm detachment.
He paid no mind to Luo Zhao's wary glare or her openly hostile look.
In fact, he found Luo Zhao like this rather amusing.
Like an angry cat, puffing up and hissing, all claws and noise — but posing no real threat.
“Your Highness, it’s not what you think.”
Shangguan Yunying said softly, reaching out to pat Luo Zhao’s back, soothing her emotions:
“No one threatened me. This was my own decision.”
Luo Zhao didn’t believe her. She looked at Shangguan Yunying with suspicion.
Shangguan Yunying then quietly told Luo Zhao everything that had just been discussed.
Including the arrangements Gu Chengyin had made, and the intentions behind them, and so on.
After hearing it all, Luo Zhao couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
Wait—she’d only just gotten back, and Gu Chengyin had already found a way to counter this?
The imperial edict summoning the emperor’s son-in-law hadn’t even been issued yet, and it was already dead in the water?
This Red Egg—was he even human?
Could a person really be this clever?
She was human too!
Why was it that compared to Gu Chengyin, she felt like her brain hadn’t even developed?
Luo Zhao cursed Gu Chengyin a hundred times in her head, but after she finished cursing…
She had to admit, this move of Gu Chengyin’s was truly formidable.
If it were her, she definitely wouldn’t have come up with a counter like that.
All she could think of was going to the palace to beg her imperial father, or stubbornly accepting the edict and then trying to figure out what to do next.
But Gu Chengyin was different.
He didn’t beg anyone, didn’t bow his head, didn’t meet force with force.
Instead, he made sure the edict could never even be issued.
Luo Zhao gritted her back teeth, racking her brains, but she couldn’t think of any way to break this deadlock.
She’d probably have to go to the palace again and ask her imperial father what to do.
After all, Emperor Luo was the one playing the game—only he would know how to respond to Gu Chengyin’s move.
So for now, Luo Zhao put those worries aside.
She hugged Shangguan Yunying tightly, then glared at Gu Chengyin and cursed through gritted teeth:
“Gu Chengyin, you Red Egg, don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”
“Sleeping with your aunt wasn’t enough—now you’re going after Yunying too.”
“Are you planning to sleep with me as well someday!”
Gu Chengyin: “¿”
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
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?!
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!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
