Chapter 120: "Rong Yin, You’re Done For.
"Your Majesty."
Xie Liuzheng stood guard at the entrance of Zichen Palace. The moment she saw Xiao Yang return, she immediately rushed over expectantly.
"Your Majesty, is it still alive?"
She had been listening to the system’s wretched wailing for ages. It had been crying and cursing the Emperor nonstop, yet it hadn’t managed to get out. She was incredibly curious. ’What method did Your Majesty use to trap it and make it so utterly furious?’
Xiao Yang reached out and pressed a hand on her head. "Don’t worry, it won’t die."
The system looked like a fish, but it was actually a string of code. It couldn’t die even if sliced into pieces, though it would get a bit scrambled. Now, even after reassembling itself, it wasn’t trying to escape. Instead, it was just circling the fish tail that was pinned down by the dagger.
Without that tail, it couldn’t form a complete body.
Xiao Yang walked in and casually pulled out the dagger. The fish tail instantly reattached itself.
But before the system could be happy for even a second, the dagger pinned its entire body to the table.
The system: "%$#*@!#$@!..."
The curses were vile.
Xiao Yang wasn’t angry. She waited for it to finish cursing, then once again prepared to slice the fish.
"Answer a question for me. What price did Xie Liuzheng pay?"
The system puffed up angrily. "Why should I tell you just because you asked?"
Xiao Yang grabbed the fish in one hand and held the knife in the other.
The system’s color drained from its face. "Put it down! Put the knife down!"
"You tyrant! Tyrant!"
Cursing for a long time was useless, and it couldn’t escape. Helpless, it could only answer, "She had ten lifetimes of accumulated merit."
Xiao Yang squeezed it so hard in her anger that it was flattened. "Ten lifetimes of merit, and all you gave her was a fireworks display? You’re a total rip-off artist!"
The system, on the verge of being squeezed to death: "..."
"She did it willingly, it has nothing to do with me! Besides, do you think setting off fireworks is easy? That used up all my power! I was almost squeezed dry, literally!"
Xiao Yang treated it like a stress ball, rolling it into a sphere and then squashing it flat. "Give her things back to her. Take whatever you need from me."
The system: "No. You aren’t my host. We can’t make a deal."
Xiao Yang: "There’s only one reason a deal can’t be made: the stakes aren’t high enough."
"I am the Emperor of this world, and the very fact that I can interact with you means I must be someone special. I believe I have plenty to offer. What do you think?"
The system looked at the dagger held before it.
’Is this a deal? Are you sure this isn’t a threat to slice me up?’
Xie Liuzheng was still waiting at the door. No one saw a transparent, fish-like form fly out through the air and weakly enter her body.
Xie Liuzheng: "System, are you okay?"
The system was silent for a long moment before answering, trying to sound aloof and tough. "Heh... It’s nothing... I’m not dead..."
Xie Liuzheng: ’Oh no. I think the system has gone a little crazy.’
With the system back, Liu Zheng knew her mission was complete. She took off at once, not sparing Xiao Lv a single glance from beginning to end.
Even someone as good-tempered as Xiao Lv was angry enough to grind his teeth. ’Who was that rogue who was lusting after my body the other day? You get what you want and then you don’t cherish it?’
He was radiating such a resentful aura that Rong Yin, who was passing by, couldn’t help but shoot him a glance.
"What are you doing here?"
Xiao Yang was just about to leave when Rong Yin blocked her way.
Rong Yin was holding a small box. He bent down and took her hand. It was wrapped in a bandage that was faintly seeping blood. When he unwrapped it, two cuts were revealed on her palm. They weren’t very deep, but they looked alarming, especially on her.
"There are so many guards, yet they still let Your Majesty get hurt."
He had her sit down and opened the box, which contained medical supplies.
He carefully cleaned the wounds with a medicinal solution, applied an ointment, and then gently wrapped them in a fresh bandage.
He was very focused, completely engrossed in the task. When he finished and looked up, he saw the Little Emperor staring at him with a playful smile in her eyes.
For some reason, that look made his heart tremble. "Your Majesty, why are you looking at me like that?"
Xiao Yang’s lips curled. "It’s nothing. I just think the Regent King is so gentle. You have such a husbandly vibe."
Husbandly?
That one word left Rong Yin stunned and dizzy.
"Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?" He didn’t dare to think too deeply about it, but he couldn’t stop himself from doing so.
Xiao Yang had always been unrestrained and didn’t know the meaning of holding back. This was especially true with a man who seemed to let her toy with him as she pleased—there was no need to hold back at all.
She reached out and pinched his cheek, looking smug. "Regent King, when you were bullying me back then, did you ever imagine you’d one day fall into my hands?"
She cupped his face with her uninjured hand, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "Rong Yin, you’re done for."
The Little Emperor left, leaving Rong Yin sitting there alone. It was a long time before he came back to his senses.
His mind was filled with ’husbandly’ and ’Rong Yin, you’re done for’...
After a good while, Rong Yin let out a self-deprecating laugh.
’Did I really need her to remind me?’
’I was already done for even before I knew she was a woman.’
-----
「The first day of the second month, the Empress Dowager’s funeral procession.」
Xiao Yang, in her capacity as Emperor, escorted the Empress Dowager’s coffin.
The Ministry of Rites led Buddhist monks through the funeral rites, while Xiao Yang, surrounded by officials, led the procession from the front.
The massive nanmu wood coffin was carried out of the Imperial Palace by dozens of men and placed onto a carriage.
All the officials mounted their horses to escort the Empress Dowager on her final journey.
Funeral banners fluttered in the wind, and the entire city was draped in white mourning cloth.
Although the Empress Dowager had done many foolish things, it came down to one fact: she was the Emperor’s birth mother.
No matter how much she was hated, she was still the Emperor’s birth mother. Nothing could be done to her in life, and in death, she was still entitled to one last grand ceremony.
The procession went smoothly, taking the better part of a day to reach the Imperial Mausoleum.
The entrance to the late Emperor’s tomb in the Imperial Mausoleum had been opened to inter the Empress Dowager with him.
Xiao Yang hadn’t expected there would come a day she would see the late Emperor again.
The massive stone sarcophagus was right in front of her, less than two meters away. Lying inside was her current body’s biological father.
Xiao Yang lifted the hem of her robes, knelt, and respectfully kowtowed three times.
She didn’t say any unnecessary words. It was too complicated, and there was too much to say.
’If he can’t hear, then there’s no point in speaking. If his spirit truly is watching from the heavens, then he can see for himself.’
The Empress Dowager’s coffin was placed inside the sarcophagus. Once it was opened, several elderly maids came forward to arrange her funerary dress one last time.
Xiao Yang wasn’t afraid of her. She went up for a look and watched with her own eyes as the coffin lid was closed.
The coffin was sealed, and incense was offered.
Outside the Imperial Mausoleum, monks were still chanting scriptures.
Xiao Yang stood and listened for a while, offered more incense, and waited until the stone gate of the Imperial Mausoleum was completely lowered. Only then was the funeral considered complete.
By the time they started back, the sky was already growing dark.
For the return trip, Xiao Yang rode in the carriage. Rong Yin, casting propriety aside, boarded the carriage and sat with her.
Xiao Yang was truly exhausted today. She had been up since before dawn, and the long day had worn her out. She was lounging languidly against a pillow. When she saw him enter, she merely gave him a faint glance and didn’t acknowledge him further.
Rong Yin, his hand on his sword, sat down directly beside her. He gently took her uninjured hand and looked down at her, his gaze tender and affectionate. "Sleep. I will protect you."
The Regent King, carrying a sword, came before the Emperor and told the Emperor to sleep.
Any other emperor wouldn’t have been able to sleep a wink, but Xiao Yang closed her eyes and instantly fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Rong Yin gazed, utterly mesmerized, at the Little Emperor’s sleeping face. His eyes roamed boldly over her eyebrows, the bridge of her nose, the corners of her lips, and slowly continued downward.
He was happy that the Emperor trusted him, but the Emperor trusted him far too much...
He forced himself to look away. If he kept staring, he wasn’t sure what he might do.