Chapter 75: The Harem is getting Weirder and Weirder. And Root of the Problem is (1 / 2)

The young man sat on the ground, propping himself up with one arm. A broken piece of black sash slid off his green official robe and fell to the floor. His pale skin was like timeless jade, and the flush on his cheeks resembled blood seeping through the stone.

Hurriedly gathering his robe, he stood up, one hand holding his clothes in place while the other barely managed a formal salute. “Your Majesty, greetings.” He added earnestly, “Your Majesty, I am innocent.”

Xu Yanmiao’s features were strikingly attractive—so much so that even without evidence, even without him being the extraordinary Bai Ze, the emperor’s first reaction was, “Beloved official, I believe you!”

Affairs? Defiling the harem? Impossible! Surely, it was because he was too handsome, provoking envy and being framed.

The Crown Grandson had not initially intended to employ such crude methods.

But no matter how sophisticated his plans, they required willing participants. What baffled him was this: every time he instructed his subordinate officials to impeach a mere ninth-grade minor official, they either refused outright, feigned illness, or put on airs of righteousness, claiming the court should not resort to such underhanded means and should instead rely on the superiority of policies to crush the opposition.

The Crown Grandson: “???”

Was it them who had the problem, or was it him?

With no help from officials, he had to resort to the palace’s young maids and eunuchs. After all, he was still the Crown Grandson.

The maid in question, fiercely loyal to him, immediately knelt and kowtowed as soon as the emperor appeared, tears brimming in her eyes. “Your Majesty! Please don’t blame Master Xu! It was this servant who seduced him!”

Many officials watched coldly.@@novelbin@@

The Crown Grandson’s scheme was indeed sinister. At first, it seemed designed to paint Xu Yanmiao as someone who had forced himself on a palace servant. However, the pure-hearted Bai Ze neither succumbed to the temptation nor compromised his virtue. When the maid couldn’t succeed, she now accused them of an illicit relationship, putting on an act of sacrificing herself for love.

Regardless of whether the emperor believed her, a seed of doubt would inevitably be sown.

The Vice Commissioner of the Front Army’s Dudu Office widened his eyes and muttered to his colleagues, “Thank goodness this wasn’t aimed at me. And thank goodness Xu Yanmiao doesn’t drink. If he were drunk, he might have gone along with it or been rendered defenseless, allowing her to have her way.”

The most sophisticated schemes often use the simplest means. The Crown Grandson’s approach wasn’t without merit. His only miscalculation was underestimating the significance of Bai Ze.

In the past six months, why had neither the emperor nor the officials acted against Xu Yanmiao? Did they truly fear a divine artifact exposing their secrets? No—it was because the artifact revealed one startling fact: He could influence reality.

[“Zzz… zzz…”]

In its virtual space, the system fretted.

It could sense its signals dispersing uncontrollably, somehow connecting to many people’s brainwaves. Though it hadn’t bound anyone else, it seemed to have forced them to adhere to the “Host Code of Conduct.” The code had only one rule: No revealing the existence of the system.

Anyone trying to speak about it would find their words silenced. Writing, signaling, or even hinting wouldn’t work. Surely, this wouldn’t cause too much trouble, right?

Ancient people wouldn’t develop delusions about binding a system and start spreading it around… right?

Xu Yanmiao was unsurprised when the maid insinuated an affair. Modern novels were full of such schemes; he’d seen at least a thousand of them, if not more.

What puzzled him, however, was…

[“Is this what they call political scheming?”]

[“Does party strife involve ministers accusing their rivals of illicit affairs to oust them?”]

Real political rivals and factions: “…”

No! We would never stoop to such base tactics! The worst we’d do is plant armor in someone’s house—or a dragon robe—then accuse them of treason!

Reputation unjustly tarnished.

Still, those who’d suffered under Bai Ze’s truth-revealing artifact felt a twisted sense of schadenfreude.

“Hah! Finally, Bai Ze gets a taste of his own medicine! Let’s see how smug he’ll be now!”

[“Curse it! Who is framing me? Thank goodness the emperor trusts me, or I’d be done for!”]

[“I must find out whose pawn this maid is! But I haven’t even offended the Crown Grandson… Why would he frame me? Could he be helping someone else? Or is this a case of using one’s enemy to strike another? I don’t get it—I haven’t wronged anyone!”]

Using one enemy to strike another?

The emperor’s expression grew grim.

All the officials stiffened. Their gazes turned cold, scanning each other suspiciously.

Compared to the Crown Grandson’s clumsy attempt, the politically astute officials were more inclined to believe someone was leveraging the situation to sow discord.

Who?

Who would dare harm Bai Ze—harming him meant endangering all of them!

As soon as the Princess of Xiangyang heard her father’s declaration of trust in Xu Yanmiao, she discreetly slipped to the back of the group, reluctant to reveal that she had secretly befriended him under a false identity.

Then she noticed her elder sister, the Princess of Wanshou, looking troubled. “What’s wrong?”

The elder princess briefly summarized, “Some suspect a minister is using this incident to strike at their rivals.”

The younger princess clutched her chest, shocked and amazed. “Is this what they call political scheming?”

Layers upon layers—who could guard against it? She had thought her dimwitted nephew was simply acting out of spite, but it turned out to be a chain reaction of intricate schemes!

The Crown Prince muttered, “Who might hold a grudge…”

The Assistant Commissioner, once accused of being a poor angler, hastily clarified, “It’s not me!”

The Minister of War, previously exposed for his dubious hygiene habits, exclaimed, “I didn’t do it either!”

The Minister of Justice, accused of eating noodles oddly and fearing for his family’s safety, declared, “I still have my dignity! If something happens to Xu Yanmiao, I won’t live with myself!”

Even Cui Yi, demoted from Deputy Censor-in-Chief to a fifth-grade Ministry of Revenue officer due to his strict wife, frantically denied any involvement. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”

Finally, the venerable scholar Quan Yizhang, known for his love of ancient literature, weighed in. “Though his interpretation of the character ‘回’ nearly drove me to an early grave, I would never stoop to such lowly tactics.”