[In my last life, I worked myself to the bone to get ahead and make money. In the end, with one light stroke of fate's pen, didn't it all come to nothing?]
[Now that I've been reborn, I have a family who loves me and a comfortable life. I can live well without lifting a finger. I'd have to be crazy to turn my back on the good life and foolishly strive to get ahead.]
Perhaps because she had lived an entire lifetime before, Shen Yuxi had learned to take many things in stride.
[The host has a point. Being happy matters most.]
[With this system around, you don't have to fear even the sky falling. I'll hold it up for you. Just eat, drink, play, and enjoy a carefree life.]
Its host was its own to spoil.
Shen Yuxi was touched. [System, your love for me is real.]
Minister Shen felt helpless. The system indulged his youngest daughter one hundred percent.
If his youngest daughter killed someone one day, there would be no need for surprise. The system would definitely be the one handing her the knife.
Everyone else looked envious.
Oh, what were they to do? They wanted the system to spoil them so domineeringly too.
"Your Majesty, the emperor of the Ruo Qiang Kingdom replied that their envoys have already set out and will arrive in the Mo Kingdom within days."
[Host, want to eat some melon?]
[Of course. Let me take a look-look. Whose melon should we eat today?]
Shen Yuxi's dark eyes swept over everyone in the court, and she poked her fingertips together indecisively.
Their voices were like demonic whispers, circling the officials' ears.
Everyone's buttocks instantly clenched.
They prayed frantically in their hearts.
Please, Heaven above, bless them! It absolutely must not be them!
Having witnessed Shen Yuxi and the system's prowess, they had been thoroughly frightened by the human-and-system pair.
Yet they could not suppress the burning spirit of gossip within them and wanted to listen to Shen Yuxi and the system eat melon.
As long as they were not the subject, eating melon was actually rather entertaining.
[Hehehe...]
The system gave a malicious chuckle. [Host, do you see the third person standing behind your father? The man to his left?]
Shen Yuxi craned her neck to look, while the others also furtively cast their gazes that way.
[Who is he?]
[The Vice Minister of War, Wen Xingyuan.]
[What bad things has he done?]
The instant Shen Yuxi said that, Wen Xingyuan nearly failed to draw breath.
"Wen Xingyuan, if you dare commit any offense, His Majesty won't have to punish you. I'll be the first to finish you off."
The Minister of War was a hot-tempered boor with a square face. When angry, his stern expression was quite frightening.
"Minister, I..."
Wen Xingyuan felt terribly wronged. He had done nothing bad.
The system's voice rang out again. [He hasn't done anything bad, but he does have a peculiar habit.]
Hearing the system confirm that he had done nothing wrong, Wen Xingyuan sighed in relief.
The next second, the system's words made his face instantly burn red.
It was as red as a monkey's bottom.
Because he already knew what the system would say next.
The others looked curiously at Wen Xingyuan. Just what peculiar habit was it?
Shen Yuxi asked on their behalf.
The system said, [Wen Xingyuan... likes sleeping with pigs in his arms.]
[Huh?]
Everyone: Huh?
Shen Yuxi dug at her ear. [Did I hear that right? Someone actually likes sleeping with pigs in his arms?]
Wen Xingyuan lowered his head farther and farther, almost burying it in the ground.
It was over. His image!
The system said cheerfully, [You heard right, host. Wen Xingyuan especially likes cuddling piglets. When he sleeps at night, he has piglets surrounding him, one tucked under his left arm and another in his right. There isn't even room for his wife to get into bed.]
[What a weirdo.]
Shen Yuxi asked, [His wife puts up with it?]
[Of course not, but she can do nothing about him. Every time she repeatedly forbids Wen Xingyuan from bringing piglets into their room, he takes the piglets to sleep in the study.]
[Wen Xingyuan keeps several pigs at home.]
[His wife wanted to sell all the grown pigs and piglets, but Wen Xingyuan sat on the ground, clung to a pig's leg, and refused. He said that if she wanted to sell the pigs, she would have to sell him first.]
[He vowed to live and die with the piglets.]
At the thought of that scene, Shen Yuxi clutched her stomach and roared with laughter in her heart.
The surrounding officials gave Wen Xingyuan meaningful looks.
Who would have thought that the usually quiet, reserved Vice Minister of War had such... distinctive tastes?
Emperor Xuanzhao clicked his tongue.
Well, well. No wonder, on one occasion when Wen Xingyuan had come alone to the imperial study to see him, he had noticed a large dark stain on Wen Xingyuan's sleeve and asked how it had happened.
Wen Xingyuan had been so frightened that he immediately knelt to beg forgiveness, saying his little pet had dirtied it without his noticing.
Emperor Xuanzhao had not taken such a trivial matter to heart and had dismissed him after he finished his report.
Thinking back now, could the "little pet" Wen Xingyuan mentioned have left piglet droppings on him?
[Wen Xingyuan's wife was furious with him over this. She said that if he dared sleep holding pigs again, they would divorce.]
[Wen Xingyuan had no choice but to compromise. They agreed he could only cuddle the pigs for a while before bed, and that no pigs were allowed in the room once they went to sleep.]
Shen Yuxi said, [Habits aren't that easy to change. Without his pigs, Wen Xingyuan probably couldn't even sleep soundly, right?]
[Uh-huh!] The system nodded.
[Unable to sleep in the middle of the night, Wen Xingyuan sneaks out to cuddle the piglets for a while, then slips back before his wife wakes up.]
[How can cuddling pigs compare to cuddling a woman? The Vice Minister of War really knows nothing of romance. I wonder what his wife saw in him.]
[Hahaha!]
The system burst out laughing. [When Wen Xingyuan's wife first began spending time with him, she saw how loving he was even toward pigs and thought he was a man of good character. How could she have imagined that pigs were actually his one true love?]
Please stop, Official Shen, System. Please, say no more.
Wen Xingyuan wanted to die of shame.
The Minister of War's brows furrowed into three deep lines. He decided he would have a good, long talk with Wen Xingyuan after court.
This could not go on!
Shen Yuxi had eaten nothing that morning. After standing there for two hours, she was long since hungry.
While no one was paying attention, she furtively took a handful of shelled pistachios from her space and popped a few into her mouth every so often.
Her cheeks bulged as she chewed, like a little hamster's.
Mo Xuanchen's attention had remained on her the whole time. Seeing her adorable appearance, the corners of his mouth curved into an almost imperceptible smile.
"Your Majesty, the Prefect of Qingzhou requests an audience." An imperial guard's voice suddenly broke the tranquility of Taiji Hall.
Everyone looked either surprised or puzzled.
Emperor Xuanzhao said gravely, "Let him in."
The atmosphere inside Taiji Hall instantly grew much heavier.
Cui Mingjian, the Prefect of Qingzhou, had just rushed back from the disaster area, traveling day and night.
His travel-worn official robes were spattered with mud. He now knelt prostrate below the steps to the throne, his voice so hoarse it seemed about to crack.
"Your subject, Cui Mingjian, kowtows before Your Majesty."
Cui Mingjian's disheveled appearance startled everyone, and Emperor Xuanzhao's heart sank.
"I sent you back to Qingzhou to provide disaster relief. Why have you returned?"
Qingzhou had suffered severe flooding. The instant Emperor Xuanzhao received the news, he had allocated disaster relief funds and assigned people to assist the Prefect of Qingzhou and the county magistrates with relief efforts.
"Your Majesty..."
Cui Mingjian spoke with difficulty, enunciating each word. "Not ten days after the floodwaters receded in Qingzhou, an epidemic broke out in the city! Many commoners have fevers and cough up blood, suffering from vomiting and diarrhea. The physicians are helpless."
"Halfway through my journey, I received word that several hundred people in Qingzhou had already died!"
"What did you say!"
A furious roar came from above. Emperor Xuanzhao abruptly tightened his grip on the armrests of his dragon throne, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.
He had read the Qingzhou disaster relief reports. They said the floodwaters were gradually receding and the displaced people had been properly settled. How had an epidemic broken out in the blink of an eye?
The civil and military officials below the throne instantly erupted into an uproar, the buzz of their whispered discussions filling the hall.
With a thud, Cui Mingjian struck his head hard against the floor tiles.
"This subject would not dare lie."
"The epidemic spreads rapidly. In just a few days, it has erupted on a massive scale and is spreading beyond control."
"This subject begs Your Majesty to send aid to Qingzhou."
Throughout every dynasty, epidemics had been a terrifying scourge that made people pale at their mention and tremble at any discussion of them.
No one wanted to be infected.