Inner thoughts

Who was that? Who was speaking?

Who dared say something so outrageously disrespectful at the Holy Maiden's investiture ceremony? Were they tired of living?

But that voice... why did it sound like a little baby's?

Everyone quietly raised their heads and glanced around, trying to find the speaker.

The only baby present at the ceremony was-the Holy Maiden, Chu Siqing.

Emperor Chu Ming and the civil and military officials who had heard the voice stared at the Holy Maiden as though they had seen a ghost.

What was going on?

The Holy Maiden... wasn't old enough to speak yet, was she?

Could this be the Holy Maiden's... inner voice?

They exchanged glances, confirming that they were not the only ones who had heard that babyish voice.

The ceremony honoring Heaven had been followed by the investiture ceremony. As an infant, Chu Siqing could only be carried around, yawning endlessly from boredom.

She had no choice but to chat with the system in her head.

[A-Tong, there are so many people here. Dig up a few juicy scandals to relieve my boredom~]

The system immediately dug up several for her.

[What! Lu Dahai, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, is actually a spy from Qi!]

The world was currently divided into four realms: Chu lay in the east, Zhao to the north, Yan to the west, and Qi to the south.

Over the past few decades, Chu had grown steadily stronger. The other states were no longer a threat, except for mighty Qi, which could rival Great Chu.

Everyone instinctively turned to look at Lu Dahai.

Lu Dahai had his head lowered, lost in thought. As though suddenly sensing something wrong with the atmosphere, he looked up and discovered that everyone was watching him.

Under all those strange gazes, Lu Dahai felt utterly bewildered.

He quietly asked the colleague beside him, "What just happened?"

The Right Vice Minister of Rites whom he had asked merely gave him a complicated look and kept his mouth shut.

At that moment, someone could not resist whispering, "Just now, I heard-"

Everyone held their breath, only to hear the minor official stop midway, as though someone had seized his throat. He could not get another word out.

Someone else refused to believe it and tried, "I also-"

He had barely uttered those two words before he, too, lost his voice.

The civil and military officials were all clever people. They soon guessed that the Holy Maiden's inner thoughts could not be divulged.

Yet many still did not quite believe what Chu Siqing had said.

After all, the Holy Maiden was still only a baby. She had accused Lu Dahai of being a spy with nothing but bare words. Without convincing evidence, would every court official not have to live in fear from now on?

Emperor Chu Ming also found it hard to believe.

Just then, the babyish voice rang out again.

[So Lu Dahai was originally the son of a mistress at Qi's Jinyang Marquis Residence. His birth father abandoned him as a child, and he ended up wandering into Chu, where ordinary people adopted him and raised him.]

Everyone listened in silence, watching the Left Vice Minister of Rites's expression as they did.

[Who would have thought that after achieving success and fame, instead of thinking about repaying his adoptive parents, he would contact the birth father who hadn't wanted him? Colluding with the enemy and selling out his country for glory-what a white-eyed wolf that could never be tamed, no matter how well he was fed!]

At this, the officials wore all manner of expressions. Only Lu Dahai still looked utterly clueless.

Only then did they realize that Lu Dahai could not hear the Holy Maiden's inner voice!

[Lu Dahai even gave himself the courtesy name Qizhi. Qizhi, Qizhi-his heart's allegiance to Qi is plain as day!]

[And those letters proving his collusion are actually hidden behind the Landscape Painting in the study at the Vice Minister's Residence... tsk, tsk. His audacity really reaches the heavens!]

Once the Holy Maiden revealed where the evidence of Lu Dahai's collusion was hidden, everyone's expression grew increasingly grave. The Minister of Rites looked the worst of all.

He-he had always thought so highly of Lu Dahai! Who would have guessed that the old bastard had a belly full of treachery and rotten guts?

[Sigh, Imperial Uncle must be blind, too, appointing a traitorous official who colludes with the enemy and sells out his country!]

The corner of Emperor Chu Ming's mouth twitched. He decided to have the Vice Minister's Residence thoroughly searched upon his return!

Hearing the Holy Maiden call the emperor blind, all the civil and military officials lowered their heads, wishing they were deaf!

The Holy Maiden was Prince Yu's daughter, the emperor's own niece. Naturally, a few slightly improper remarks from her were no great matter. They, however, were a different story!

Even hearing a single remark left them afraid of displeasing the emperor!

On the journey back, the civil and military officials all spontaneously kept their distance from Lu Dahai, the traitor who had colluded with the enemy.

Thus, a strange sight appeared in the procession returning from the ceremony honoring Heaven: an empty space formed around the Left Vice Minister of Rites, with no one daring to walk beside him!

Lu Dahai was thoroughly puzzled. Had he accidentally stepped in poop earlier?

He secretly sniffed his clothes.

He didn't smell bad. What on earth was wrong with these people?

No matter how hard Lu Dahai thought, he could not make sense of it.

He was just about to ask when everyone around him lowered their heads, as though terrified of speaking to him.

These people were going too far!

Lu Dahai flicked his sleeves and returned to the Imperial City with a dark expression.

Chu Hongle had held himself back the entire journey and followed Emperor Chu Ming into the palace.

He waited and waited until he finally found an opportunity to seek an audience in the Imperial Study.

Yet when Chu Hongle entered, he discovered the Imperial Preceptor, the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Justice, the Prefect of the Capital, and others already inside, kneeling in a dense crowd across the floor.

Emperor Chu Ming was berating them. "A spy who colluded with the enemy and betrayed his country actually became a Vice Minister of Rites!"

Chu Hongle: ...

W-what was going on? He hadn't even mentioned what he had heard at the ceremony. How did his imperial brother already know?

Had the Imperial Preceptor told him?

Tu Qingchen was equally speechless.

For some unknown reason, after he had marked Chu Siqing with cinnabar, the princes, nobles, and ministers around them had all become able to hear the Holy Maiden's inner voice.

Tu Qingchen had been startled at first. Fortunately, after observing for a while, he confirmed that everyone could only hear the juicy revelations Chu Siqing made, and that certain people were selectively excluded.

For instance, Lu Dahai, the very person whose secrets were being exposed, could hear nothing at all.

Moreover, if anyone tried to say in front of Chu Siqing that they could hear her inner voice, they could not do that either.

Emperor Chu Ming declared in anguish, "You speak of loyalty to your sovereign and love for your country all day long, yet every one of you has become blind with your eyes wide open!"

Everyone grumbled inwardly. Your Majesty hadn't noticed anything wrong either, yet now all the spearheads were pointed at us!

The Holy Maiden really had been right!

The Minister of Rites, a wizened old man, was already trembling with fright.

Whatever the case, Lu Dahai belonged to his Ministry of Rites, and he had once held him in high regard. He would probably be left to swallow more consequences than he could stomach!

Du Muqing, the Minister of Justice, braced himself and said, "Your Majesty, I have already assigned men to watch Lu Dahai in secret. Shall I send people to search for evidence now?"

Emperor Chu Ming snapped, "Now! Go immediately!"

Du Muqing accepted the order. After a moment's thought, Emperor Chu Ming also instructed the Prefect of the Capital, "Lu Huaiying, when the time comes, personally lead the men to arrest Lu Dahai!"

Lu Huaiying said, "I obey Your Majesty's command."

Emperor Chu Ming waved them away, leaving only himself, Chu Hongle, and Tu Qingchen in the Imperial Study.

Belatedly catching on, Chu Hongle asked, "Imperial Brother, you all knew?"

Emperor Chu Ming nodded. "All thanks to Siqing."

He turned to Tu Qingchen. "And you, Imperial Preceptor. Fortunately, you urged me to hold the Holy Maiden's investiture ceremony as soon as possible. Otherwise, we might never have uncovered this spy."

Tu Qingchen said, "It was merely my duty."

Heh. In truth, he hadn't known this would happen either.