Chapter 115: "Heir Lv, Have You Ever Met a Female Hooligan?
"Warning, warning!"
At the Xie residence, Xie Liuzheng snatched up the small, glowing red pufferfish and stuffed it directly under her quilt.
"Don’t be noisy, I’m sleeping!"
The system struggled free and drilled directly into her mind. "Warning! The Empress Dowager’s life is in grave danger. Please enter the palace immediately and intervene."
"Mission failure is imminent. Please enter the palace and intervene."
Xie Liuzheng’s head felt like it was about to explode. She shot up in bed. "Intervene with what? The Empress Dowager has helped people rebel and harm the Emperor time and again. Doesn’t she deserve to die?"
System: "A child cannot kill their mother. The Emperor cannot commit matricide."
Xie Liuzheng: "The Emperor isn’t going to just take a knife and kill the Empress Dowager, right?"
System: "If the Empress Dowager dies because of the Emperor’s command, the karma will fall upon the Emperor."
Xie Liuzheng gritted her teeth in frustration. "And what does that have to do with me?"
System: "You’ve already accepted the mission. You previously exhausted all your merit points helping the Emperor create a miracle. If you fail to complete this mission, you will be cast into the animal reincarnation path, never to be reborn as a human again."
Xie Liuzheng gave a speechless twitch of her lips. "I can’t even figure out this life. Who cares about the next one? After drinking Meng Po Soup, what does it matter if I’m reborn as an ox or a horse?"
"..."
Faced with such an obstinate host, the system was at a loss.
Suddenly, it trembled. "Don’t you like the Emperor? If you get reincarnated, you’ll never see her again."
The most unlikely reason for success had, in this moment, become the only driving force.
Xie Liuzheng got out of bed, her expression dark, and went to find a knife to kill the fish.
She pressed the knife against the pufferfish’s belly. "If you want me to complete the mission, fine. But you have to help me. Otherwise, I’m trying pufferfish sashimi for the first time today."
The system was speechless. Finally, with a flash of golden light, it silently transported her to Xiao Lv’s room.
Xiao Lv, who had just been about to take off his clothes, froze completely at the sight of Xie Liuzheng suddenly materializing out of thin air.
Xie Liuzheng was in no mood to admire his eight-pack abs. She grabbed his lapels and pulled them closed. "I need your help with something important."
Xiao Lv raised a hand to cover his face. When he lowered it, Xie Liuzheng was still there.
It wasn’t a hallucination!
"You..."
Xie Liuzheng cut him off. "I know you’re confused, but don’t be confused right now. The Emperor has made a move against the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager is about to die, and we can’t let her die at the Emperor’s hands. If she takes on that karma, it will affect the nation’s fortune. You have to think of a way."
Xie Liuzheng’s first thought had been to kill the Empress Dowager herself, but she didn’t even have the guts to kill a chicken, let alone a person.
Besides, the system said she couldn’t cheat. If she killed the Empress Dowager, not only would she fail the mission, but she would also be immediately cast into the animal reincarnation path.
After thinking it over and over, the only person who could help her was Xiao Lv.
Mainly because he was reasonable, but she had no idea if he would believe her.
Xie Liuzheng’s eyes were filled with sincerity and pleading. "Please, please, I can’t explain much, but you have to believe me."
Xiao Lv looked at her for a moment, then put on his outer robe. "Wait for me here."
System: "Are you sure he can stop the Emperor?"
Xie Liuzheng glanced at it. "Probably... maybe... I guess."
The system was anxious, but Xie Liuzheng was nonchalant. Her abilities were limited, and she had done all she could. If she really ended up on the animal reincarnation path, then that was just her fate.
The system could bring her here, but it didn’t have enough power to send her back. She had no way of leaving, didn’t know the way, and couldn’t explain herself if she ran into anyone. She could only wait for Xiao Lv to return.
After waiting for an hour, she couldn’t take it anymore and simply lay down on the bed and went to sleep.
Even if the sky were falling, it couldn’t stop her from sleeping.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard the door open. Waking up in a daze, she saw someone enter and, terrified, shot up, grabbing a dagger. Only after taking in her surroundings and the newcomer did she remember she was in someone else’s room.
"What happened?" she asked, clearly concerned about the outcome.
Xiao Lv removed his frost-covered cloak, his gaze deep and cold. "Can you give me an explanation now?"
System: "The Empress Dowager is dead. He killed her."
Xie Liuzheng was only concerned about one thing. "Does this count as completing the mission?"
System: "..."
The mission was to stop the Emperor from killing the Empress Dowager, not to have someone else kill her.
The system remained silent for a long time, and Xie Liuzheng’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach.
’Mission failed. I’ll be cast into the animal reincarnation path, never to be reborn as a human again.’
Although she had mentally prepared herself, now that the moment had arrived, she couldn’t say she wasn’t upset at all.
She looked at Xiao Lv as he approached. She couldn’t explain about the system or her past life—the system wouldn’t let her, and besides, it would be useless to explain.
But Xiao Lv had acted because of her; he definitely deserved some kind of explanation.
Finally, Xiao Lv reached his hand out to her.
Desperation made Xie Liuzheng bold. She seized his hand. "Heir Lv, have you ever met a female rogue?"
Xiao Lv had only intended to wave his hand in front of her face to get her to answer him. He was so surprised when she grabbed it that he didn’t react at all. "What?"
The next moment, Xie Liuzheng threw caution to the wind and kissed him.
’Explain? Explain my ass!’
’This is my last time as a human. It’s now or never to go crazy.’
Xiao Lv: "..."
Xiao Lv tried to resist, but there was no escape.
However, this "female rogue" was all talk. It wasn’t long before she faltered.
Left hanging, Xiao Lv could bear it no longer and turned the tables, taking the lead himself.
"You’re the one who started this. Don’t even think about regretting it!"
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The Empress Dowager was dead. She died while trying to escape the palace. Disguised as a palace maid and carrying a great deal of gold, silver, and valuables, she ran into an assassin and had her throat slit with a single strike.
Her body rolled down the stone steps. When the imperial guards found it, they thought it was just a dead palace maid. Fortunately, someone recognized her as the Empress Dowager, and the matter was reported to the Emperor.
Xiao Yang’s shock was completely genuine.
"Where did you say the Empress Dowager died?"
Soldier: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager died at the bottom of the steps of the west side gate. She encountered an assassin and her throat was slit."
Xiao Yang was completely bewildered. Even when the Empress Dowager’s body was brought before her and she lifted the white cloth to see that face, she still found it hard to believe.
’The Empress Dowager was supposed to have died from illness today.’
’She took poison, and Nanny Yang and the others were watching her. She was so weak, there’s no way she could have escaped.’
She suppressed the urge to immediately question Nanny Yang and only commanded, "Someone, investigate this! We must capture that assassin!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Xiao Lan led his men to begin the investigation. Xiao Yang stood there for a long time before finally giving the order to prepare for the Empress Dowager’s funeral.
The funeral bells tolled, and the courtiers soon entered the palace. The mourning hall was still being set up while Nanny Yang and her attendants changed the Empress Dowager’s body into burial clothes and placed it in the coffin.
The neck had stopped bleeding, but the wound was too gruesome, so it was wrapped with a white cloth to conceal it.
As the only child, Xiao Yang knelt in the very center.
Xiao Cheng knelt beside her, burning joss paper, not forgetting to explain the situation to the courtiers.
"The Empress Dowager had a guilty conscience and was afraid Your Majesty would harm her. The moment she felt a little better, she tried to flee the palace. But then she was somehow assassinated at the palace walls."
Xiao Cheng sighed. "Your Majesty even went to see the Empress Dowager last night and was viciously scolded by her."
Xiao Yang knelt there without saying a word, looking utterly pitiful.