Chapter 1878: Injuring Oneself to Gain the Enemy’s Confidence
Zu An scowled. He had discovered that the women at his side all seemed to be good at making associative connections. More importantly, their guesses were often not too far from the truth. He replied, “Your highness speaks too severely. She is the crown princess, so how can that be?”
"And I am the empress. I never saw you shrink back during the deed," Liu Ning said, clicking her tongue. Perhaps because she thought of their past experiences, a faint red blush appeared on her fair cheeks. She continued, “There isn’t anything impossible about that. If you come to my side, I’ll help you get that lass.”
“Huh?” Zu An asked; he was now completely stunned. He had never expected her to say that.
“Is it that shocking?” Liu Ning replied with a smile. “Eventually, the entire Imperial Palace, inside and out, will be in my grasp. I can just come up with some random pretext to call her over; will she be able to refuse if I tell her to do it then? Either way, the crown prince is an idiot and won’t know what happened, let alone stand up for her. Of course, if another prince rose to the throne, it would become even easier. She'd be a ruined crown princess; no one would even care if she were dead or alive. Who knows, she could even need you to pamper her, as she would at least have someone protecting her then.” The empress began to laugh, perhaps because she was imagining that interesting scenario.
Zu An thought to himself, Why do these two women hate each other so much? He thus asked, “Why does your highness dislike the crown princess so much?”
Liu Ning rolled her eyes and replied, “How many mothers-in-law get along with their daughters-in-law? Even though I’m not her mother-in-law, my big sister was.
“Bi Linglong looks delicate and weak on the outside, but she's extremely tough on the inside. She's been quite arrogant and despotic while relying on the emperor’s support in the past few years, and I had to suffer quite a bit too as the empress. In the Imperial Palace, everyone knows she's the crown princess, and yet they've forgotten me, the empress. In the past, my injuries hadn’t healed yet, so I was discouraged and didn’t have the heart to compete with her. Now that fortunes are rising and falling, I have to find some way to avenge the wrongs I suffered in the past, right?
“Of course, those are just personal grievances. As for public affairs, even though the Liu and Bi clan are supposedly in the same camp, privately, there are quite a few conflicts and grudges. If the Bi clan rises up, our Liu clan will definitely meet a tragic end. Furthermore, Bi Linglong leans on the Bi clan, and is the proper future empress. The crown prince is slow and stupid, so she'll definitely be the one who makes the decisions. If we don’t keep her in check, all the imperial authority might fall into the Bi clan’s hands.”
Zu An frowned. He replied, “Isn’t this speaking a bit too severely? The Bi clan likely won’t be that daring.”
“The Bi clan naturally can't be so daring right now because they aren’t strong enough. If she monopolized the power and the Bi clan’s people were present in all levels of society, do you think they still wouldn’t dare?” Liu Ning replied with a sneer. “Bi Qi is an old fox himself. Bi Linglong’s older brother Bi Ziang is also an ambitious individual. Our Liu clan naturally needs to protect the Great Zhou Dynasty.”
Zu An had a strange expression as he thought, Then could it be that after all is said and done, the Liu clan are the faithful officials?
However, he knew that the Liu clan didn’t have any outstanding posterity. They were merely desiring authority and riches; they definitely didn’t have any thoughts of rebellion. As for the Bi clan, their next generation was much more outstanding, so their ambitions would also grow much greater…
Sigh, the same matter from different sides really brings entirely different opinions. It really is headache-inducing.
“So you plan to change the crown prince?” Zu An asked.
“I'm not the one who wants to do that; rather, it's an opinion everyone agrees on,” Liu Ning replied. “The stupid crown prince wouldn’t be able to convince the masses to begin with. The emperor’s support made it so that no one dared to say anything, but now that the emperor has perished, no one would be willing to serve a fool. Otherwise, the entire country would be in disorder.”
Zu An thought for a bit, then reminded her, “I've met the other princes as well, and all of them are shrewd and bold individuals. They might not be so easily controlled if they rise to the throne.”
Liu Ning harrumphed, “A stupid crown prince is easy to control, but the one who controls him is Bi Linglong. What benefits would there be for me then? We might as well switch him out. For better or for worse, they'd at least owe me a favor.”
“Which prince does your highness have your heart set on?” Zu An asked.
He actually understood her motives, so that made things difficult. Whether it was Bi Linglong or Liu Ning, neither one of them was wrong. They were merely going in the direction that had the greatest benefits for them. However, it just so happened that their interests lay in opposite directions. Being stuck in between them really was difficult. Most importantly, he couldn't let each of them know about his relationship with the other. That gave him even less room to convince them. Just how could he arrive at a win-win situation?
“We haven’t decided yet. We all have our own considerations, so there are quite a few thoughts brewing behind the scenes," Liu Ning said. She suddenly realized something and added, “I’ve already talked so much with you, but you haven’t even agreed to come over to my side yet. I already told you so many secrets, so what if you turn tail and tell all of this to Bi Linglong??”
Zu An said seriously, “Don’t worry, your highness. Am I the sort who would easily sell you out?”
Anyway, even though these were secrets, with Bi Linglong’s intelligence, she had likely already guessed seventy to eighty percent of them.
“That’s more like it,” Liu Ning said. She suddenly moved into his arms and hooked her arms around his neck before continuing, “However, you’ve been avoiding that question all this time. This empress even gave herself to you, so what else are you still worried about?”
Zu An was about to say something when two fingers pressed against his lips. Liu Ning said, “Bi Linglong’s side definitely can't give you more than I can. The Fiend races’ Second Empress made you a Regent, so can I not make you a Regent as the human empress all the same? Now that Zhao Han is dead, I'm the one who has the final say in the palace. The two of us can stay in the palace together and live life like immortals; wouldn’t that be great?”
Zu An felt as if she were like a big ball of cotton. He thought, No wonder she was the only one favored among the harem, rising straight up to becoming the new empress. There really were feminine charms coming from every single part of her body. However, he said in a troubled manner, “Your highness, I'm but a marquis right now, and I don't have many contributions. How could I have the qualifications to become a king?”
“If I say you have the right, you have the right. Besides, what do you mean, you have no qualifications?” Liu Ning replied as her finger drew circles around his chest. “You supported everyone on Violet Mountain, and then you brought back news of the emperor, King Qi, and the libationer from the dangerous secret dungeon. Otherwise, people would have been at a loss for what to do. That's a tremendous contribution in itself.”
“That’s still not enough to become a king. The other great clans in the capital won’t agree,” Zu An said. His meteoric rise over the past few years had already incurred the envy of many people. If he were promoted straight from marquis to king, the entire capital could explode into a commotion.
If Zhao Han found out that Zu An had been rewarded as a loyal minister for his protection, and that his own empress was lying in his arms while scheming with him, perhaps he would come back to life out of anger...
Liu Ning smiled and said, “In a normal situation, these contributions would indeed be not enough, but don’t forget that you have another identity, which is to say, the Fiend races’ Regent. If we gave you a lower position, wouldn’t that be a disgrace to you? We would be pushing you over to the Fiend races’ side. Besides, this empress’ word is what matters in the capital now. If I say that you can, you can. That way, you would be able to come in and out of the palace to keep me company everyday.”
Zu An felt a huge headache. If he were entangled by her day after day, Linglong would naturally find out about their relationship. That was a hellish battlefield that was horrible to even think about... let alone the fact that he wouldn’t have any time to cultivate! He had obtained a lot from the trip to the secret dungeon. He needed time in isolation to fully digest it all. Meanwhile, he didn't care about these kinds of noble titles at all.
As such, he could only say, “Thank you for your kindness, your highness, but I have a family, so I can't stay in the palace long term…”
“What family? Aren’t you and that Chu person already divorced?” Liu Ning replied unhappily. In the end, she still sighed and said, “Fine. My identity in the future will be empress dowager, so there won't be any way for me to be with you properly. You can just have other women keep you company outside, but in the palace, you'll be mine. You can take on wives outside as you wish. Not only will I not stop you, I’ll even give you all huge congratulatory gifts.”
Zu An was speechless. He had thought that he would have to engage in a battle of words and try to sound her out, but there was none of that at all. Liu Ning had given him such a good offer that he now didn’t really know what to do. He thought for a bit before suddenly saying, “I encountered assassins on the way back to the capital.”
“Assassins?” Liu Ning repeated. She immediately sat up and asked, “Who would do that to you?”
“I don’t know,” Zu An said. After some hesitation, he even told her that it was a eunuch who had sent them.
“Then it must be that Bi Linglong woman,” Liu Ning said coldly. Her eyes flickered; she was clearly upset that someone dared to touch her man.
Zu An shook his head and said, “The crown princess doesn’t have the motive.”
“What do you mean she has no motives?” Liu Ning sneered. “She's already pressured to the point where she can’t even breathe. She’s been looking for a way to strike back against me all this time. If something happened to you, a capable minister of the Eastern Palace, no one would suspect her, while she would have a reason to frame me. After all, battles in the court happen with a tacit understanding. Everyone acts according to certain rules; they absolutely avoid things such as assassinations. That's because, if they were exposed, it would be difficult to cover up and both sides would lose. People would be alarmed. So, if the officials were to believe that I had sent the assassins, many of them would question my integrity and turn to her side.” As she spoke, her expression grew more and more grave. She said, “What an incredible ploy. This woman truly is formidable!”
Zu An was speechless.
What the hell is this? Why does it now seem as if everyone is suspicious?!
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