Silence spread through the dim underground chamber.
Only the flame of the ever-burning lamp swayed gently in the breeze.
Su Zhen maintained his stiff kneeling posture and remained silent for a long time.
He was frantically trying to digest the earth-shattering revelation that had shattered everything he thought he knew, courtesy of his daughter’s inner voice.
He was also remembering all the tears he had shed over the past eight years on his wife’s death anniversary, like a complete fool.
His battered, manly heart suddenly began pounding uncontrollably.
“Boom!”
A dull, thunderous sound rang out.
Su Zhen, who only a moment ago had been immersed in his grief over his dead wife, crying as though his heart were being torn apart, suddenly sprang to his feet like a tiger whose tail had been stepped on.
He stopped sobbing.
Raising his long leg, he delivered a powerful kick with all his strength!
The assassin’s corpse, which had just bitten down on poison and taken his own life, was sent flying.
“Smack!”
The body slammed viciously into the chamber wall before sliding to the floor.
“Good! Very good!”
Su Zhen’s handsome face flushed bright red. The sorrow and dejection from moments ago had vanished without a trace.
In their place was wild, feverish excitement.
He snatched up the jade pendant from the ground and gripped it tightly in his palm as if it were a priceless treasure.
A low chuckle escaped his lips—one so sinister that it sounded as though he had been possessed by a villainous final boss.
Faked her death and slipped away? Ran to the neighboring Great Yan Kingdom and became the leader of an evil cult?
He had known it! The woman he had fallen for at first sight all those years ago couldn’t possibly be some frail invalid who couldn’t take care of herself!
Starting a business through bloody brawls, killing and robbing people—that was the kind of boldness his empress ought to have!
Nearby, Crown Prince Su Jin was still kneeling on the ground. He stared at his father, who had suddenly undergone such a dramatic change.
Wait, Father. Weren’t we just discussing how to avenge our blood feud?
Wasn’t that emotional switch a little too fast?
Su Zhen did not even bother looting the mountains of gold and silver treasures piled up in the secret chamber.
“Let’s go! Back to the imperial study! Forget looting this lousy household. There’s something more important to do!”
With a grand wave of his hand, Su Zhen led the still-shocked and disoriented Su Jin and the utterly entertained Su Yaoyao out of the General’s Residence.
The family of three hurried back to the imperial study.
The moment they entered, Su Zhen did not even have time to drink a sip of water. He strode straight to the imperial desk.
He raised his broad palm and slammed it down on the table.
“Bang!”
The force of the blow was so great that the imperial jade seal and vermilion brush on the desk bounced half a foot into the air.
“Transmit My decree!”
Su Zhen’s voice was full of vigor, and his eyes shone brightly.
There was not the slightest trace of the lethargy one might expect from a man who had just lost his wife.
The Crown Prince, Su Jin, and the Crown Princess, Su Yaoyao, both straightened their backs in unison.
“From this day forth, all state affairs shall be entrusted to the Crown Prince, who will govern as regent!”
Su Zhen loudly announced a decision that would shake the entire court. His tone held not the slightest hint of reluctance or hesitation.
“The rebellion of the Grand General has been put down, and the court is now in a state of recovery, with countless matters awaiting attention.”
He offered himself a grand and righteous excuse for shirking work, without even the slightest blush.
“I shall travel incognito to the neighboring Great Yan Kingdom, personally investigate the people’s condition, and study their advanced methods of governance!”
Investigate the people’s condition? Study their methods?
As if anyone would believe that!
He was clearly unable to suppress his restless heart and was planning to cross the border that very night to pursue his wife!
The sudden, massive workload sent Su Jin straight over the edge.
This normally cold-blooded hellraiser, who killed without batting an eye, widened his eyes in horror and protest.
He looked at the mountain of memorials on the imperial desk—memorials that would never be finished—and felt as if the sky itself were collapsing.
“Father! This is shirking your duties! This is irresponsible absenteeism!”
Su Jin leaped to his feet and pointed furiously at the memorials on the table.
“Why do you get to go to Great Yan to find Mother while I have to stay here and work through this pile of garbage?”
“I want to go to Great Yan too! I want to investigate the people’s condition too! I want to chop people up!”
“I want to see for myself just how formidable Mother really is!”
Faced with his son’s fierce protest, Su Zhen’s response was simple and brutal.
“Bang!”
He pulled the jade belt from around his waist. It transformed into a black blur and, with lightning speed, lashed viciously across Su Jin’s backside.
The use of force silenced the Crown Prince at once, leaving him grimacing in pain and obediently subdued.
“You dare rebel against Me? Your father is entrusting you with the regency because he recognizes your abilities!”
“If you dare sneak out of the palace, I’ll break your legs when I return!”
Su Zhen successfully suppressed Su Jin’s protest.
Meanwhile, while father and son were fighting over the matter of working overtime, the true culprit, Su Yaoyao, had already slipped away.
She cheerfully ran back to the Crown Princess’s residence and locked the door behind her.
An international trip?
This was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity!
She plunged headfirst into her portable interstellar storage space and began shopping like crazy.
The protection fees she had extorted from Blackwind Stronghold over the past few days, along with the gold she had made by conning the officials at the imperial garden ice rink, added up to a fortune worth several hundred thousand taels.
All of it was neatly stacked in the warehouse of her space.
“When traveling, it’s always better to be overprepared than underfunded. This is all starting capital.”
Su Yaoyao skillfully packed several sets of light, low-profile men’s clothing.
Then she stuffed the space with a huge supply of sunflower seeds and snacks in every flavor imaginable.
Of course, most important of all were the various new biological weapons and interstellar hidden weapons she had personally developed.
“Great Yan Kingdom, an evil cult leader, my delicate and helpless mother…”
As she packed, Su Yaoyao rubbed her hands together excitedly.
“I wonder whether Great Yan has enough wealth to squeeze. This time, I’m definitely going to shear that evil cult’s sheep properly!”
The night deepened, and the bustle of the Great Yuan capital gradually subsided.
No one knew that, inside the imperial palace—which had only just survived a bloody catastrophe—a massive personnel shake-up had already taken place.
Outside the imperial city of Great Yuan, two broad, level horses raced along the official road.
The two exceptionally fine black steeds were like bolts of black lightning, charging into the night.
Their hoofbeats shattered the silence and kicked up clouds of dust.
On one of the horses rode Su Zhen, dressed in coarse traveling clothes with a huge bundle strapped to his back.
He had none of the dignity of the Emperor of Great Yuan.
Instead, he looked like a wandering martial escort transporting goods.
On the smaller horse beside him rode Su Yaoyao, likewise dressed in men’s clothing and disguised as a young male page.
The cold wind brushed against father and daughter’s faces, sending their robes fluttering.
The two swift horses raced side by side down the official road at breakneck speed.
From horseback, father and daughter turned their heads in perfect unison and exchanged a glance.
Under the bright moonlight, both pairs of eyes sparkled with a clear, unrestrained madness.
Officially, they were traveling incognito to inspect the neighboring kingdom.
In reality, they were crossing the border to find a lost family member—and fleece the enemy while they were at it!
