What do you think?
Chen Baiye looked at his eldest son.
"I feel like they're not confident."
Chen Baiye nodded in satisfaction. "That's true. They weren't confident, especially that Chen Qing."
Chen Dalang nodded upon hearing this. Inside the barrier, the Spirit Energy was chaotic. It seemed that Shen Qi was trying to prevent eavesdropping, but in reality, he was covering for Chen Qing!
"Your observation skills are still as sharp as ever!" Chen Baiye was even more satisfied. "You don't have the Lao'er's alertness and decisiveness, but you have the composure and observation skills that a family head should have, which is very important. That's why I've always considered you as the future heir of the third branch."
"You flatter me, Dad."
"You flatter me. Actually, I noticed what you said during the morning court session. When Chen Qing was with that woman, the surrounding area was always in a state of chaotic Spirit Energy. I suppose that was the woman's doing. I thought it was strange at the time, but now that I think about it, it's not so strange anymore. This Chen Qing!"
"Didn't Father say that woman disappeared later?"
"She disappeared, but the power that made her disappear further disrupted the surrounding spiritual field, so no one noticed Chen Qing's condition at that time. I didn't pay attention either, since everyone's attention was on that woman who suddenly went berserk and then suddenly disappeared."
"I see." Chen Dalang nodded. "Then what does Father think the situation is?"
"I think," Chen Baiye said quietly, "That this Chen Qing is a fake!"
--
"Your Highness, this is wonderful!"
Inside the palace, beside Xiao Mingxue, the maid who had been watching over her peeled fruit and exclaimed excitedly, "I knew Your Highness would be so fortunate!"
"What good fortune?" Xiao Mingxue looked outside, but her face showed no sign of happiness.
"Your Highness, you have inherited such noble blood. Now that the Empress Dowager has personally come to your aid, you no longer need to worry about the Southern Barbarians."
"It's not that simple," Xiao Mingxue said wryly, looking outside.
Awakening the Golden Crow bloodline was something she had never expected, but she didn't believe it could change her fate. If the Xiao Household could still make decisions, why would her aunt have resorted to such risky methods to accumulate power?
The Emperor's cooperation with that Southern Barbarians prince is clearly not simple. A day has passed since the news of my awakening of the Golden Crow Bloodline; has my father even come to see me?
He didn't care at all. News of the Crown Prince's death had already arrived, but he hadn't paid any attention. His father, the Emperor, probably had long since stopped caring about the Xiao Household or bloodlines.
"What is Your Highness worried about?" the palace maid said with a smile. "I heard today that His Highness the King of Qin came in person and even declared in the main hall that he would definitely bring you back to Jiangnan as his wife!"
"Really?" Xiao Mingxue still couldn't feel happy.
The King of Qin of Qin in the palace did indeed sound like a man of unyielding integrity, but for some reason, she felt something was off. After awakening her Golden Crow Bloodline, she was extremely sensitive to her surroundings. She could sense that Chen Qing hadn't looked at her once from beginning to end.
He's completely different from that scholar he was back then.
Is it because the King of Qin's heart changed, or...?
No!
Xiao Mingxue's eyes flashed coldly: That's not Chen Qing at all!
Is Mingxue here?
Outside the palace, an old nanny's voice came. Nowadays, there were no palace maids guarding the princess's palace, so visitors had to shout at the top of their lungs instead of having servants announce their arrival.
"Yes, I'm here!" the palace maid replied excitedly, quickly standing up to leave. "Your Highness, that's Nanny He, the Empress Dowager's maid. She must be calling for you."
Xiao Mingxue nodded slightly, but didn't seem very interested.
"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager requests your presence." At this moment, the old nanny treated Xiao Mingxue with utmost respect, a stark contrast to her previous attitude. This made the palace maid, who had been so obsequious at first, feel extremely smug.
I knew I'd made the right bet. Let's see if the other palace maids dare to laugh at me now.
Xiao Mingxue's affair had not yet spread throughout the palace, otherwise those servants would probably have already come to fawn over her. However, she was not afraid. As the saying goes, it is easy to add flowers to brocade but difficult to provide charcoal in the snow. She had started investing in His Highness when he was most helpless and vulnerable.
"Okay," Xiao Mingxue didn't refuse. She didn't think the old empress dowager could do anything for her, but meeting her wouldn't hurt. Her current situation wasn't good. Her father didn't value her bloodline, and the person who vowed to welcome her back to Jiangnan was just a fake. She could only find a chance to escape on her own.
Perhaps we can harness the Empress Dowager's influence.
--
"Come here, let me see you!"
Inside the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, the Empress Dowager appeared quite agitated, a stark contrast to her previous indifference when meeting the Emperor's children, which made Xiao Mingxue sigh inwardly.
This world is truly realistic. People can act completely differently depending on whether it aligns with or contradicts someone else's interests. Would that scholar be the same way?
Xiao Mingxue remained at the mercy of the Empress Dowager, like a puppet, but the Empress Dowager grew increasingly fond of the Nüwa with golden eyes, her eyes narrowing into slits.
"Excellent! Excellent!" The Empress Dowager pulled Xiao Mingxue down to sit. "Heaven has not forsaken the Xiao Household!"
"Your Majesty is too kind. My father is in the prime of his life. Even without me, the Xiao Household line will not be broken," Xiao Mingxue said calmly.
"The height of spring and autumn? Hehehe." The Empress Dowager glanced around, and the four matrons nodded, each taking up a post around the perimeter, and a barrier enveloped them in an instant.
Xiao Mingxue frowned. Was this some kind of conspiracy?
She didn't believe that the Empress Dowager could ever defeat the Emperor within the palace!
"Your father achieved his current power by cooperating with certain entities, and it's the same today." The Empress Dowager glanced outside and said quietly, "You should know that, shouldn't you?"
After a moment of silence, Xiao Mingxue asked, "Does the Empress Dowager know what that is?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but it should be related to ancient times!"
"Ancient times?" Xiao Mingxue's heart skipped a beat. She had heard the term occasionally, but no one had ever discussed it with her in depth.
"The so-called ancient times refer to the demonic forces that once ruled the world. These demons were incredibly powerful, but their departure was not due to human resistance; they simply faded away on their own. Therefore, the mention of ancient forces fills some long-established families with deep fear, and some families even secretly worship those ancient demonic forces!"
"Don't demons eat people?" Xiao Mingxue frowned.
"As long as they don't eat me, what do we care if demons eat people? That's the thinking of those lackey families!"
Xiao Mingxue: "."
"Our military families are a power that has only risen to prominence in the last thousand years. In the beginning, we relied on sacrificing demons, even shamefully sacrificing our bodies. Those disgusting things demanded human flesh from us, and we had to sacrifice human flesh; they demanded our bodies, and we had to sacrifice our bodies. Whether male or female, if the demons wanted us, even your favorite child had to be sent!"
"And then?" Xiao Mingxue rarely heard of such things, so she became interested.
"Then some things happened. Among the men and women whose bodies were sacrificed, some women became pregnant. At first, the families of those women despised and loathed the half-demon, half-human offspring they gave birth to, but they dared not kill them easily. However, as time went on, they discovered a new opportunity!"
A new opportunity?
"Yes, that's a human-demon hybrid. Humans don't possess the bloodlust of demons at all. As long as they aren't completely demonized, they are a kind of human weapon that can possess demonic power while retaining humanity!"
"Is this the Genesis of military families?"
"Yes," the Empress Dowager nodded, "It's quite disgraceful, isn't it? The power of us is actually inherited from our ancestors who sacrificed their beauty to conceive children!"
But there was no other choice!
"Yes!" The Empress Dowager smiled, "We have no choice. We can kneel temporarily, but we cannot kneel forever. Centuries of humiliation have led to the rise of human dynasties. A thousand years ago, military families rose to power and completely drove the demons out of the Central Plains. From then on, demons lived in the shadows, while our human race ruled the Divine Land openly and honorably!"
"Although it was short-lived, it is indeed the result of the efforts of our ancestors."
"Therefore!" The Empress Dowager's smile turned cold, "I absolutely will not allow that rebellious son to reverse all of this!!"
"But what can you do?" Xiao Mingxue asked pointedly.
The Empress Dowager was not annoyed at all; instead, she smiled and stroked Xiao Mingxue's hair, saying, "You and your aunt are really alike; you're always so calm."
"Aunt?" Xiao Mingxue frowned; she didn't really like her aunt, that promiscuous woman.
"I'm too old to discipline that rebellious son anymore, but someone persuaded me, and I've decided to entrust your fate to them."
"Them?" Xiao Mingxue was taken aback. Just as she was wondering, someone she had never expected appeared in the Empress Dowager's bedroom.
"It's you?"