Madness.
Yan Qing really wanted to shout that at her, but after turning it over in his mind several times, he finally realized that Shang Xin Lei's idea truly was the only solution.
Shang Xin Lei's demands were simple: don't let Qian Gongyu or the Shang Family's interests suffer. Qian Gongyu was easy enough to deal with, but all the Shang Family's troubles stemmed from the Emperor taking personal control of the government. Shang Xuanwen couldn't stop him, so all they could do was strengthen the family's foundations as much as possible.
That was precisely what troubled Shang Xin Lei most—the arrangements Shang Xuanwen had made would turn Qian Gongyu completely into a source of strength for the Shang Family. If she protected Qian Gongyu, she would damage the Shang Family's interests, and vice versa.
The most subtle point was that without the Shang Family, Qian Gongyu, who had yet to mature, simply couldn't protect herself. She could borrow the Legendary Relic from Qian Gongyu in exchange for sheltering her under the Shang Family, but how different would that be from Shang Xuanwen's arrangement? It might even be worse than Shang Xuanwen's plan—at least he was willing to play the villain, while Shang Xin Lei got to play the good person throughout.
Shang Xuanwen was stubborn as well. He would never accept Shang Xin Lei's "noble solution"; he only believed in controlling people through a combination of incentives and force.
It had been an unsolvable predicament, but because of Thieves' Den, Shang Xin Lei now had a simple way to resolve every problem.
Descend upon the capital, invade the imperial palace, and assassinate the Emperor!
Once the Emperor was dead, they could naturally enthrone a younger member of the imperial clan. With all the harem's influence purged, the Shang Family