Chapter 261: Climb the Dragon Bed Soon, and Give Birth to Eight at Once

Lou Yan had been in torment all afternoon. As the sky grew darker and darker, he began to think the Empress was going to stay at the Prime Minister’s Mansion for the night.

Beating up Song Junzhan... he was sick with regret.

If time could be turned back, he wished he had let Song Junzhan stab him with his sword yesterday.

But there was no medicine for regret in this world. Time could not be reversed. He could only continue to suffer.

Just when he thought everything was set in stone, the Empress returned to the palace.

The moment he saw the Empress’s figure appear, Lou Yan felt as if he could hear his own frozen blood begin to flow again.

"Your Majesty..."

He thought she was really going to stay. If she had, he would have become a complete joke.

’I would have, I definitely would have killed Song Junzhan...’

Xiao Li didn’t even look at him. As she passed by, she simply grabbed him by the collar and yanked him inside.

Lou Yan’s expression went from dejection to surprise, and finally, completely softened.

Even the most ferocious wolf will expose its soft belly to its beloved, allowing itself to be handled without the slightest bit of resistance.

The bad news: the Prime Minister had fallen ill.

The good news: the Empress was finally managing the court.

However, less than two days later, the courtiers realized they had been far too naive.

The Empress was a good monarch, and her taking charge of the court was a good thing, but it was an absolute nightmare for them.

Strict, merciless, meticulous, and impartial.

The Empress was very creative. If she saw something she didn’t like—change it!

If she saw something she disapproved of—change it!

If she felt something needed to be added—change it!

It wasn’t that her changes were wrong. To be precise, the systems the Empress implemented were indeed more streamlined and practical than what they were used to. They could even learn from them, and many of the new additions were beneficial.

But some of the knowledge the Empress introduced was completely new to everyone.

And the Empress demanded that they learn it quickly, understand it quickly, and apply it quickly.

As a result, these high-ranking court officials, who considered themselves quite capable, were like a bunch of greenhorns. They had to relearn everything from scratch, studying until their heads swam and their vision blurred.

If they didn’t understand, the Empress would teach them. But she never smiled while teaching, and an occasional glance from her would make them feel so stupid they’d wish the ground would swallow them whole.

Everyone was instantly transported back to the nightmare of being stared down by their tutors.

No... the Empress was a hundred times more terrifying than any tutor.

Not a single person could walk away from an audience with the Empress with a smile on their face.

They were left doubting themselves, doubting their lives, and missing the Prime Minister.

Some things, you only appreciate after they’re gone. The Prime Minister, for example.

Before, the Prime Minister was there to take the brunt of it. When the Empress had new ideas or new tasks, and they only half-understood, they could just go ask the Prime Minister.

If the Prime Minister didn’t understand, he would ask the Empress and then explain it to them upon his return.

Prime Minister Song, despite his authority, was also gentle. As long as they completed their work diligently, they wouldn’t be scolded. If they occasionally didn’t understand something, the Prime Minister was very patient.

But with the Empress... you couldn’t say she was impatient, but with that imposing aura of hers, if you asked more than once, she wouldn’t get annoyed, but you would start feeling utterly stupid.

Waaaah... please, Prime Minister, come back soon.

The court was a chorus of wails. Gifts for the Prime Minister’s Mansion were piling up into mountains.

Some people even went to temples to pray for talismans, asking only for Prime Minister Song’s speedy recovery and a long life.

They really couldn’t live without Prime Minister Song.

Hearing their pleas, Song Junzhan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

’Her Majesty may be a bit decisive in her methods, but she isn’t that scary, is she?’

The rest of the court felt otherwise. Of course *he* wouldn’t find her scary—he was the one who dared to covet Her Majesty.

Is Her Majesty not good? Is Her Majesty not beautiful?

She ruled the world, the first Empress in history, and her beauty was that of a national treasure, unmatched in her generation.

But look around. Among all the civil and military officials in the court, how many dared to develop feelings for Her Majesty? How many dared to try and get close to her?

In the face of awe and fear, lust stood no chance.

Song Junzhan rested for five days before returning to court. The officials lined the path to welcome him, their enthusiasm like they were greeting a savior descended from the heavens.

Xiao Li frowned. "The Imperial Physician said you should rest for at least ten days. What are you doing here?"

Of course, Song Junzhan couldn’t say he was here to rescue this group of pitiful officials.

"Your Majesty has issued these new decrees. I don’t understand them either and must learn as well. My body is fine now, so please allow me to listen from the sidelines. It won’t be tiring."

Xiao Li thought for a moment, then consented.

Perhaps because they had their savior backing them up, they didn’t seem quite so scared when they came to see the Empress again.

The Empress was as cold as ever, speaking to the Prime Minister in the same tone. But at every crucial moment, the Prime Minister would interject with a couple of sentences, saying he didn’t understand this or that.

They would just listen from the side as the Empress explained things to the Prime Minister, and then they would understand.

Looking up again at the Prime Minister standing so close to the Empress, they saw a talented man and a beautiful woman—a perfect match.

One by one, they tactfully withdrew, so quietly that they didn’t make the slightest sound to disturb the two of them.

’We’re counting on you, Prime Minister. The future of us civil servants rests on your shoulders.’

’We pray the Prime Minister climbs into the dragon bed soon and gives us eight children in one go!’

The officials scurried away like thieves, unaware that the pair had seen it all.

Song Junzhan couldn’t help but smile. "Your Majesty’s imposing presence has frightened them."

Xiao Li really didn’t want to say it. She hadn’t even yelled at them once. Why were they so afraid of her?

Little did she know that she didn’t need to yell or curse. Ever since she had killed her way to the throne, the courtiers saw her through a filter thicker than the city walls.

Cold, merciless, fierce, brutal, killing without batting an eye—it wasn’t that the Empress had no virtues, but her terrifying aspects were far more memorable than her positive ones. This was especially true when her face was cold, radiating an awe-inspiring presence without any sign of anger.

In short, their reverence was deeply mingled with fear.

Of course, Song Junzhan also revered the Empress, but his feelings were more of admiration, with almost no fear.

They were afraid because they felt their lives were threatened. But Song Junzhan had long ago entrusted his life to the Empress. Not fearing death, he had nothing to be afraid of.

On the twentieth day after Xiao Li woke up, a letter concerning Prince Wei was delivered into her hands.

The contents made her doubt her own eyes.

Prince Wei had been kidnapped by mountain bandits and had since disappeared, his whereabouts unknown.

What was even more fantastical was that the kidnappers were supposedly the bandits from Tianhu Village in Kunyu County.

Xiao Li: "..."

’So you’re telling me that a bunch of farmers from Tianhu Village, armed with a few iron broadswords and wood-cutting knives, risked their heads to kidnap Prince Wei from the encirclement of three hundred elite Silver Armor Army soldiers? And what’s even more miraculous is that these bandits were caught, but Prince Wei has vanished.’

If she hadn’t seen Tianhu Village with her own eyes, she might have actually believed it.

And look, everyone in the court believed it.

One by one, they were filled with righteous indignation, demanding that troops be dispatched immediately to annihilate the bandits, rescue Prince Wei, and uphold the might of the throne.

Xiao Li: ’...A bunch of fools.’

This was the consequence of poor communication and isolated information. All they could see were the superficial facts presented in the letters they received, with no way of knowing the real situation.

In the end, they could only foolishly jump into the pit someone else had dug for them.

Yuan City, the Sky Tiger Gang, Prince Wei, Xu Nianqing...

’It’s beginning.’