The third memorial came from the Censorate, impeaching an official aligned with one of the princes for embezzlement and taking bribes in the provinces.
Memorials like this arrived almost every day. Most were based on rumor and speculation; only a few contained anything of substance.
After reading this one, Luo Zhao’s lips pulled downward.
Then, without a second thought, she tossed it into the corner of the desk, onto the stack of memorials she had already finished processing.
No annotation. No signature. No instructions whatsoever.
She neither rejected it nor ordered the relevant ministry to investigate.
She simply set it aside.
That decision made Gu Chengyin narrow his eyes.
If Luo Zhao approved a thorough investigation into a memorial impeaching an official aligned with the princes, she would effectively be declaring war on the princes’ faction.
The Crown Princess’s faction and the princes’ faction were already opposing sides, of course.
But even political rivals had to abide by the evidence. If she acted on every rumor and suspicion, it would become nothing more than factional infighting.
That would not harm the princes’ faction. Instead, it would diminish her own authority.
Yet if she rejected the memorial outright, she would be shielding her opponent.
So Luo Zhao neither approved nor dismissed it. She merely left it to one side, ordering neither an investigation nor a rejection.
In other words, she had kicked the ball back to the Censorate.
Investigate further. Find more evidence, then come back to me.
This was Luo Zhao, who had finally learned how to balance firmness with flexibility.
She was neither rash nor timid. She did the right thing at the right moment.
The fourth memorial came from the Ministry of Personnel. It contained a list of officials proposed for appointment.
When Luo Zhao opened it, her brows drew together.
Gu Chengyin noticed that she turned the pages more slowly than she had with the first three memorials. Her fingertips also lingered longer on the paper.
A lengthy record of each candidate’s background followed every name on the list, the tiny characters packed together in dense rows.
Luo Zhao read through the entire list line by line. Then she placed check marks beside three names and crosses beside two others.
The three she approved belonged to the Crown Princess’s faction. The two she rejected belonged to the princes’ faction.
This was Luo Zhao, openly showing her partiality.
Gu Chengyin took in each of these details, as though piecing together a puzzle that only he could see.
Cold, proud, and aloof—that was Luo Zhao.
Considerate and thorough—that was Luo Zhao.
Firm yet flexible—that was Luo Zhao.
Openly favoring her own side—that was Luo Zhao too.
These facets were not contradictory.
They were simply the different aspects she revealed naturally when faced with different people and different matters.
She was not pretending, nor deliberately switching between different personas. Every facet was genuine. Every facet came from the same core.
Gu Chengyin still had not seen that core clearly.
But as these details came together, its outline was gradually emerging.
It was a core that regarded the Crown Princess’s duty as immensely important, drew a sharp line between friend and foe, and guarded its principles with unwavering resolve.
At that moment, Luo Zhao set down her vermilion brush.
She closed the last memorial she had finished reviewing and placed it on the stack of completed documents in the upper-left corner of the desk.
Then she leaned back slightly, resting her spine against the chair.
Her hands moved away from the desk and folded over her knees, her fingers loosely interlaced.
It was a relaxed posture, one she assumed only while working.
Her brows were still furrowed, but the corners of her lips lifted slightly.
It was as though she felt a small, quiet satisfaction at finally finishing the mountain of official business.
Then Luo Zhao made a gesture Gu Chengyin had never seen her make before.
She raised both arms and stretched.
She looked like a cat stretching after waking from an afternoon nap.
Her arms reached upward, drawing the muscles in her shoulders and back taut before allowing them to relax.
The sleeves of her black-and-gold court dress slid down slightly, revealing two slender, fair wrists.
She tipped her head back, her chin lifting into a graceful arc and exposing the entire length of her pale, elegant throat without the slightest concealment.
When she finished stretching, Luo Zhao lowered her hands and rubbed her shoulders.
First the left. She pressed her thumb into the hollow of her shoulder and rubbed in small circles several times before moving to the right.
Then she picked up the plate of pastries on the desk, took a sweet osmanthus cake, and began eating it in small bites.
Her manner was refined and delicate. She chewed each mouthful into tiny pieces, her cheeks puffing out faintly before slowly sinking back.
Whenever a few crumbs fell onto her fingertips, she would lower her head and blow them away gently.
This was Luo Zhao.
Not the Crown Princess. Not Her Highness.
Not a Goddess who had to maintain an image of cold pride and aloofness before everyone else.
She was simply a woman who had finished dealing with a mountain of official business and could finally take a moment to rest.
A woman who stretched, rubbed her shoulders, and secretly ate pastries.
A woman who would let out a soft, satisfied hum.
Luo Zhao probably only behaved this way at times like these.
Gu Chengyin realized that he truly had not cared enough about her before.
He had always had opportunities to see these details.
All he had needed to do was stay a little longer while Luo Zhao handled official business, and look at her a few more times.
But he never had.
Whenever he sought her out, he came and left in a hurry. They spoke only of serious matters and discussed nothing but schemes.
He had never once remained quietly by her side for even the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
He had treated Luo Zhao as nothing more than a tool.
So he had never thought to see what that tool was like when it was not in use.
It was time to end his observation.
He had observed enough. The puzzle was nearly complete.
What came next could not be solved by observation. He would have to step into the game himself.
Gu Chengyin made no sound. He simply stepped out of the shadows.
One step. Two. Three.
His footsteps were as light as fingers brushing across the strings of a zither.
Each one landed precisely between the breaths of Luo Zhao’s unguarded rhythm, leaving her completely unaware.
Gu Chengyin’s figure drew slowly nearer from behind and to the side.
The sunlight stretched his shadow across the floor, inch by inch covering the edge of the chair.
Luo Zhao was just stuffing the last bite of osmanthus cake into her mouth.
Her cheeks were puffed out, a few fine crumbs clinging to her lips.
She chewed twice and was just about to swallow when a hand reached over from above her right shoulder.
Long, slender fingers. A moon-white sleeve cuff. A crisp, warm aura clinging to the fingertips.
The hand held a cup of tea. It was still warm.
The jade-green tea rippled gently in the white porcelain cup, steam rising in delicate wisps.
The cup was placed softly on the desk before Luo Zhao.
Right when she had finished reviewing a pile of official documents, her mouth was dry, and crumbs still clung to her lips.
The porcelain saucer touched the rosewood desktop with a light clack.
The sound jolted Luo Zhao from head to toe.
Her pupils contracted sharply.
The piece of osmanthus cake lodged in her throat, forgotten halfway to being swallowed.
Her back instantly went rigid as a drawn bow, the contours of her shoulder blades visible beneath the black-and-gold court dress.
Someone was standing behind her.
Very close.
So close that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body against her back.
Luo Zhao was far too familiar with that presence. It was like the wind through pine trees in early winter, passing through the warmth of the afternoon sun.
She could recognize it with her eyes closed.
And yet she had no idea when Gu Chengyin had entered.
Nor how long he had been standing behind her, or how much he had seen.
Had he seen her stretching just now?
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.
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.
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!
