Salted Fish Deal

Chapter 157

Jiang Hansheng neither dodged nor avoided, neither servile nor overbearing. He sat upright, as though the matter before him were nothing serious.

Yet Yang Empress Dowager smiled. She was already a beauty like a lotus, and when her expression came alive, it was like a lotus blooming. Jiang Hansheng's heart skipped wildly. For a dazed instant, he thought he saw Li Wenchuan's face. Closing his eyes, he let out a long sigh. "How does Your Majesty intend to deal with this guilty subject?"

"Deal with you?" Yang Empress Dowager suddenly leaned closer, staring fixedly at Jiang Hansheng as she studied every change in his expression, unwilling to miss even the slightest trace. "How do you think I should punish you?"

The Crown Prince's adviser had fallen in love with the Crown Prince. Wasn't that a joke? And the Crown Prince's mother had discovered it. Even dying a hundred times would not be enough.

Jiang Hansheng thought that Yang Empress Dowager likely had not told His Majesty. Otherwise, she would not be speaking with him here. All he knew of Yang Empress Dowager came from Li Wenchuan, though he had glimpsed her from afar at several banquets. A woman once unnoticed in the palace had suddenly brought down, one after another, the consorts standing in her way. How could she possibly be harmless?

The moment he received that letter, he knew Yang Empress Dowager must have obtained something. He might as well admit it outright. Denial was meaningless.

"You may remain. Chuan'er needs you." She leaned back, her eyes half-lidded as an exquisite silk fan concealed most of her face. "But, Jiang Chengyu, put away your delusions. Rolling out of the mud pit and into your current position was already Chuan'er's gift to you. What makes you think you