As the voice fell.
The hall fell into silence.
Lyu Fang stared dead at Gu Chengyin, not saying a word.
His gaze was like a tangible probe, attempting to dig out the truth behind those words from every twitch of a muscle on his face, every flicker of his eyes!
Countless fragments of information collided, reorganized, and connected in his mind!
Gu Chengyin brought a red sandalwood box back to the palace, which contained Shangguan Yuan's return gift.
Shortly after returning to the palace, an edict was issued from the Crown Princess's palace, in which Her Highness specially titled Gu Chengyin the Marquis of Bingjian, using the highly impactful word "Bingjian" (shoulder to shoulder).
These events were closely linked in time, forming a clear chain!
If someone said there was no connection between this return gift and the conferment of the marquis title, Lyu Fang wouldn't believe it even if he were beaten to death.
The item in that red sandalwood box was definitely not ordinary, otherwise there wouldn't be such astonishing favor.
The answer was already on the verge of coming out.
Lyu Fang felt his heartbeat vibrating violently in his chest, a scalp-numbing answer almost bursting through his throat!
But he forcefully suppressed the urge; he needed confirmation, needed to hear Gu Chengyin say that answer with his own mouth.
Thus, after a brief exchange of gazes, Lyu Fang suddenly changed the subject.
He picked up the slightly cooled tea, took a gentle sip, then put it down, and said casually:
"Marquis Gu, speaking of which, when His Majesty heard that Her Highness had returned safely the day before yesterday, he was greatly pleased and very happy."
He looked at Gu Chengyin and sighed with emotion:
"Ever since His Majesty established the Crown Princess, he has placed great hopes on Her Highness."
"I am often by his side, listening to the imperial teachings. His Majesty often says that Her Highness is intelligent, decisive, can clearly distinguish right from wrong, and has the aura of a wise ruler."
After some affirmation, he slightly changed the subject, his tone full of concern:
"His Majesty also said that Her Highness is good in every way, except... her temperament is too proud, her edge is too exposed. Being too rigid makes one easy to break, being too sharp makes one easy to damage. She doesn't know how to temper hardness with softness."
Immediately after, Lyu Fang's tone suddenly became appreciative:
"However, at yesterday's morning assembly, Her Highness's response was well-founded in advance and retreat, drawing the bow without shooting. It both showed her attitude and did not lose a sense of proportion."
"This performance gave His Majesty a great surprise!"
He deliberately emphasized the word "surprise", looking brightly at Gu Chengyin:
"After His Majesty left the court, although he didn't say anything, I have served him for many years and could feel that His Majesty was in an excellent mood. For Her Highness to have such a performance..."
Lyu Fang paused, a meaningful smile appearing on his face:
"Marquis Gu, you must have contributed greatly to this, right?"
Listening to Lyu Fang's rambling words, Gu Chengyin's mind was completely clear.
These words seemed simple, but in fact, they revealed an extremely crucial piece of information!
Emperor Luo's attitude.
Between the lines, Lyu Fang was transmitting a clear signal: Emperor Luo highly approved of Luo Zhao's performance.
This approval was definitely not just superficial praise, but also contained tacit consent and support for checking the accounts, and even further actions!
As the person closest to Emperor Luo, Lyu Fang's relaying at this moment was almost telling Gu Chengyin: On this matter, His Majesty is on Her Highness's side.
Gu Chengyin quickly calculated in his heart.
Shangguan Yunying once told him that the eunuch faction in the court and the public was more inclined towards the Second Prince, but he had a different understanding of this.
Eunuchs were different from civil officials and military generals; they were a special group that could only rely on imperial power.
Their power, status, and foundation of survival all came from the emperor alone.
Therefore, Emperor Luo's will was the highest mission and action guide for the eunuch faction.
Without Emperor Luo's permission, Lyu Fang would absolutely not dare to let the rumor that "the eunuch faction favors the Second Prince" spread outside.
So although Lyu Fang was chatting casually, he was actually showing his attitude, and also to get an answer from Gu Chengyin, so as to determine what to do next.
Gu Chengyin did not directly answer this probe, but instead showed a look of shame and lingering fear on his face.
He sighed and said with lingering fear:
"Eunuch Lyu praises me too much. Speaking of which, after I presented the return gift to Her Highness, I was soundly scolded by her."
"Oh?"
Lyu Fang raised an eyebrow, the glint in his eyes intensifying. He leaned forward, adopting a listening posture.
He knew, the big one was coming!
Gu Chengyin's tone was sorrowful, as if recalling a nightmare:
"Her Highness was very angry at that time. The severity of her words and the coldness of her attitude make it unforgettable and deeply engraved in my heart even when I recall it now!"
Lyu Fang instantly held his breath and concentrated, even his breathing unconsciously lightening, fully focused on every word Gu Chengyin said.
He knew that the content of this reprimand was probably the answer to solving the mystery.
Looking at Lyu Fang's fully concentrated expression, Gu Chengyin smiled slightly in his heart, but still maintained that shame on his face, and said slowly:
"Her Highness scolded me at that time, saying: 'Gu Chengyin! You have a lot of nerve! You actually dared to accept Shangguan Yuan's return gift? And brought it back to the palace?!'"
He imitated Luo Zhao's cold and majestic tone to perfection.
Lyu Fang's heart skipped a beat! The reprimand was about the return gift? It seems... not quite right?
Gu Chengyin continued, his tone turning into a kind of grievance and self-blame as if suddenly realizing the truth:
"Her Highness also scolded: This trend of 'bringing heavy gifts to the door, and there must be a return after the matter is done', is a bad habit that only exists over in the Luo Capital!"
"It is an evil trend that ruins the imperial discipline and corrupts the administration of officials! As the Crown Princess, she absolutely will not allow such a trend to appear in the Divine Capital, or in the Crown Princess's palace."
"Her Highness even scolded me by quoting classics and historical records."
Gu Chengyin raised his pitch, looked straight at Lyu Fang, and said clearly word by word:
"'Grand Secretary Xiao has long given repeated injunctions, severely refuting it multiple times at the court assemblies, explicitly forbidding the appearance of such evil trends among the court and the public! One must be an honest official and handle affairs impartially!'"
The words "Grand Secretary Xiao", like a heavy bomb, were thrown out so lightly by Gu Chengyin.
"Only then did I suddenly realize!"
Gu Chengyin slapped his thigh, a look of extreme regret on his face: "I repeatedly kowtowed to Her Highness and begged for forgiveness, saying that I was muddle-headed, didn't understand the rules, almost ruined the court's laws, and let down Grand Secretary Xiao's painstaking efforts!"
"Seeing that my attitude of admitting my mistake was sincere, and considering that I had just entered the court and was ignorant of the ways of the world, Her Highness barely forgave me."
"If it weren't for Her Highness's magnanimity, I'm afraid you wouldn't be seeing me now, Eunuch Lyu."
After Gu Chengyin finished speaking, he let out a long sigh of relief, as if taking off a huge burden. He picked up his teacup and took a sip to calm his agitated mood.
And at this moment, Lyu Fang...
His whole body froze there!
Those eyes that always seemed peaceful and even a bit wooden, were now staring round!
They were filled with extreme shock, disbelief, and a kind of horror of "as expected"!
It was as if thunder exploded in his mind, automatically filtering out all the miscellaneous parts of Gu Chengyin's words that seemed to be complaining.
Only three words remained, branded into his soul like a mark.
Grand, Secretary, Xiao.
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!
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?!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
