Chu Ruoyan's figure was already among the fullest of her peers, but before the Empress Dowager, she was a minor witch facing a grand sorceress.
For the first time in her life, Chu Ruoyan felt anxious about her looks.
She wondered whether she could ever reach those proportions.
Did Li Chen like that sort of figure too?
All afternoon, Chu Ruoyan's gaze remained fixed on the Empress Dowager, studying everything from the smooth, delicate skin of her face to her slender waist. What would it feel like to touch her?
She refused to miss a single detail of the Empress Dowager's body. Had she been a man, that alone would have been enough to drag her out and charge her with a crime.
As for everything the Empress Dowager had said that afternoon, she had not heard a single word. She had returned home in a daze.
The Empress Dowager had even praised her for being sensible, saying that in the imperial harem, one ought to listen more and speak less.
Someone as innocent and harmless-looking as her could survive in the harem, unlike those consorts who spent their idle hours wagging their tongues.
The Empress Dowager had no idea that her head had been filled with such naughty thoughts.
At her father's question, Chu Ruoyan hemmed and hawed for a long while before saying, "I didn't understand what the Empress Dowager was saying."
The head of the Chu Lineage said delightedly, "Exactly! Clever girl! That air of not understanding is precisely what you need. Haven't you learned it well?"
Now Chu Ruoyan truly did not understand. I wasn't paying attention back then. How did that make me clever in Father's eyes?
Forget it, forget it. I'll leave the complicated things aside for now. I need to find a way to deal with Xiao Ming.
Back in her room, Chu Ruoyan lay on her bed and recalled Li Chen's commanding presence that morning. He had been the very embodiment of her perfect man.
For a woman, was Li Chen in his dragon robes not a kind of uniform temptation?
If I entered the palace, could I see Li Chen dressed like that every day?
At the thought, her legs unconsciously rubbed together for a while. With a faint shudder, she had most likely soaked another patch.
That night, as expected, Xiao Ming still did not appear. He did not even send a letter.
That left Chu Ruoyan even more uncertain about what he intended to do. Only then did she suddenly remember that she did not know where Xiao Ming lived.
She could only hope that Xiao Ming would not do anything reckless in the coming days.
In the secret chamber of a small residence beyond the Imperial Capital's Seventh Ring, the Saint Remnant Soul in the Necklace kept needling Xiao Ming with words.
He made Xiao Ming imagine his goddess throwing herself into another man's arms.
But Xiao Ming was in the midst of breaking through to the mid Void-Breaking Realm, at the most critical moment.
Anyone else would surely have coughed up blood and failed under such interference.
Yet a terrifying surge of power erupted around Xiao Ming.
As the space inside the secret chamber trembled faintly, he actually succeeded in breaking through.
He had reached in just a few short days a realm that he might not have attained even after several months, one that should have required pills to break through.
The Saint Remnant Soul had to admit that this trick worked even better than pills. His disciple's resolve had never been so firm.
He seemed to be getting a grasp of Xiao Ming's instruction manual.
Normally, with Xiao Ming's devoted lapdog temperament, he would have been itching to tell Chu Ruoyan the news immediately.
But considering the late hour and that Chu Ruoyan had already gone to bed, he restrained his restless heart and forcibly suppressed the urge.
Four more days. I know you're anxious, but you must wait for me!
Unable to sleep, Xiao Ming simply continued cultivating.
Even the Saint Remnant Soul felt moved by the sight. Though he had mentioned it more than once, he still wanted to say: If you'd cultivated this desperately and endured the loneliness from the start, what woman could have refused you?
Many people could not sleep that night.
At the Minister of Justice's residence, several court ministers had gathered for a private meeting.
As the Dynasty's law enforcement institution, the Ministry of Justice held immense responsibilities and authority.
It not only tried all manner of cases but also bore the weighty duty of maintaining order in the Imperial Capital and protecting the people's peace.
Those were only some of its duties. It also routinely monitored the officials and even dispatched men to inspect the various prefectures of the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty.
With powerful experts as numerous as clouds and an enormous organization, the Ministry of Justice was truly the Imperial Capital's instrument of force.
The Minister of Justice, Feng Huai, controlled this institution. His reputation alone could strike terror into most officials in the Imperial Capital.
In the Imperial Capital, whether they were the children of officials high or low or the descendants of Hereditary Nobility, anyone who broke the law would be arrested by the Ministry of Justice and brought to justice.
Even when someone under the Empress Dowager's patronage committed an offense, she could only send a palace maid to plead for leniency rather than overstep her authority and interfere directly.
In a place like the Imperial Capital, the privileged younger generation caused trouble quite frequently.
Thus, Feng Huai had extensive connections, and many of the Imperial Capital's powerful figures owed him favors.
Whenever he was drinking, he dared to boast that not a single official in the Imperial Capital would deny him face. He held leverage over far too many people; it was merely a question of whether he felt like dealing with them.
If he wished, he could summon any official. If that official failed to arrive on time, they would soon find themselves in the Imperial Capital's Imperial Prison.
Of course, there was some bragging in those claims, but his authority was indeed immense.
Moreover, his backer was the emperor himself-or, more precisely, the Previous Emperor.
During the Previous Emperor's reign, even Zhao Wenyuan and Guo Poyun had to treat him courteously.
Even after the Previous Emperor passed away, he had no need to seek anyone else's protection. He was an unshakable presence in the court in his own right.
But ever since the new emperor, Li Chen, had ascended the throne, Minister of Justice Feng Huai had been seething with anger as his privileges were revoked one after another.
One example was his authority to deploy the Imperial Guards. These were, after all, troops reserved exclusively for the imperial family.
For a mere subject to deploy them, even only a portion of them, was an extraordinary privilege.
There were also certain temples that only blood relatives of the imperial family could enter, yet Feng Huai had been free to come and go.
Feng Huai did not know who had impeached him, accusing him of abusing his authority by deploying the Imperial Guards as his personal escorts and parading through the streets, undermining imperial dignity.
Others had accused him of deploying the Imperial Guards to obstruct other departments in their duties and even seizing prisoners those departments had arrested.
There were even accusations that he had interfered without authorization in other departments' selection of personnel.
After verifying the accusations, Li Chen had revoked those privileges, leaving him furious.
In truth, he already wielded immense authority and had little use for so many privileges.
But he simply could not stomach it. Once power was in one's hands, one was reluctant to lose it.
The men Feng Huai had summoned that day were all ministers who wielded real power in the court, former subordinates of the Previous Emperor and officials dissatisfied with Li Chen.
The old power brokers gathered there began by lamenting how good the Previous Emperor had been, opening their mouths with remarks like "Back in the day."
Whenever someone started talking about "back in the day," it proved that things were not going well for them now.
By the time they finished recounting their past glories, these old power brokers had already drunk quite a bit.
Emboldened by the alcohol, they began hurling treasonous abuse at Li Chen.
Their curses were far harsher than those of the scholars at the Cloud Deer Academy.
The scholars were not so vulgar; even their insults were carefully worded.
These old court officials had mouths full of filth.
In their eyes, Li Chen had not even been born when they were helping the Previous Emperor secure his realm. What right did he have to revoke their authority?
Even the crown prince had treated them courteously back then. Who did Li Chen think he was?
To these court officials, anyone would make a better emperor than Li Chen. He knew nothing of social graces or worldly dealings. If the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty kept him on the throne, it would fall sooner or later!
With the alcohol taking hold, these old officials dared to say anything.
Seeing that the mood was right, Feng Huai finally revealed why he had invited them that day.
"Gentlemen, the Previous Emperor treated us generously. We cannot sit by and watch the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty sink into ruin. That brat Li Chen clearly isn't emperor material. When the Second Prince returns one day, I will certainly lend him my strength! What say you?"
At those words, the old court officials present sobered up considerably.
Before you continue