"I'll toast to your damn career! If this blessing is so great, why don't you take it yourself!"
Chu Mingzhao couldn't take it anymore and roared in her mind.
In her previous life, she had never even held a man's hand. At most, during the dead of night, she'd curl up under the covers and critically browse some specialty goods from Haitang City and Poshi City—nothing more.
Who'd have thought karma would hit so fast? Transmigrating into a book was one thing, but she had to be saddled with this depraved system of all things!
"I’m a decent person! Tell me, what the hell was that scene I just witnessed? Was that something I was supposed to see?! If I didn't run, was I supposed to stand there and count for him?"
Chu Mingzhao rolled her eyes dramatically and spoke with dripping sarcasm.
"One, two, three, keep going, only ninety-seven more ... I'm scared that after he finishes, the first thing he'll do is choke me to death!"
The System, lacking any trace of human shame, responded in that same cold, mechanical voice, slow and deliberate:
【According to this System's assessment, although the host's previous remarks were extremely vulgar, they severely shattered the male lead's long-standing psychological defenses regarding sex. It was a highly effective ice-breaking move.】
"Ice-breaking? More like breaking his brain!"
Chu Mingzhao rubbed her temples in utter despair.
"Enough nonsense. Tell me quickly—who exactly are the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince? I need to figure out a survival strategy in advance."
The System pulled up its database, and a blue light screen unfolded before Chu Mingzhao's eyes:
【Third Prince Pei Lin: Born to Consort Shu of the current emperor. An outright smiling tiger. He has a warm, handsome, and refined appearance, always wearing a smile when meeting people, but beneath that lies a deep, calculating, and venomous nature.
Back when Pei Yan fell from the position of Crown Prince and was framed for treason and witchcraft, it was all orchestrated by him.】
Seventh Prince Pei Yuan: Pei Lin's full-blooded younger brother. Wild and untamable by nature, he reveres martial strength and wields military power.
After Pei Yan was deposed, he repeatedly led others in mocking and humiliating him, making Pei Yan a public embarrassment.】
Chu Mingzhao sucked in a cold breath. Skimming the storyline sent by the System, she felt her molars aching from bitterness.
According to the original book, the original host was infatuated with that smiling tiger, Pei Lin, and even went out of her way to please his younger brother, Pei Yuan.
To win a laugh from the two brothers, the original host had played her role as a vicious female supporting character to the fullest, tormenting Pei Yan in every possible way.
"Most, most, most, most—greatest System of Depravity,"
Chu Mingzhao took a deep breath, attempting to use the gentlest tone for one last-ditch struggle.
"Do me a favor, give me a hint so I can brace myself mentally. What exactly is going to happen at the Lantern Festival palace banquet? I might as well figure out how to alter my fatelines."
【System Alert: To ensure the host experiences the most authentic, immersive P0rn experience, core high-risk plot points are encrypted before triggering.】
The System's mechanical voice was flat, displaying a cold indifference to all negotiation.
【Please do not attempt to take shortcuts. Remember, uncertainty is the source of excitement. This System greatly looks forward to the host's unleashed creative potential for er0tica in desperate situations.】
"Excitement my ass!"
Chu Mingzhao was so furious she grabbed the bolster pillow and hurled it violently onto the bed.
"Is this exciting or what? Are those two brothers easy to mess with? Is Pei Yan a pushover? I'm stuck right in the middle—if I mess up even once, my ashes will be scattered to the wind!"
No matter how she threatened, cajoled, threw tantrums, or rolled on the ground, the System was as if it had suddenly crashed—playing dead so completely that it never made a sound again.
Chu Mingzhao collapsed into the soft brocade bedding, staring up at the canopy embroidered with a pattern of a hundred sons and a thousand grandsons, utterly sinking into despair.
These past two days, she had lived as though grieving a death.
Even the finest delicacies tasted like ash in her mouth. The warmest heated pavilion, with its roaring hypocaust, could not drive out the chill seeping from the marrow of her bones.
Every time she closed her eyes, images flickered through her mind: first, Pei Yan being forced to strip in the snow, blood tears streaming from the corners of his eyes; then, the gruesome sight from the book of that pair of brothers hoisting a lantern made of human skin high above.
In contrast, everyone else in the Chancellor’s mansion was brimming with joy.
Lady Chu merely assumed her daughter was nervous about entering the palace in such a capacity for the first time, and that seeing her beloved only made her too anxious to eat.
Thus, a steady stream of silks, satins, gold, silver, and jewels poured into Chu Mingzhao’s courtyard.
“Miss, take a look at this hundred-bird-facing-phoenix cloud-brocade wide-sleeved gown. Madam specifically ordered the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau to rush its production. They used a full three catties of peacock-feather thread alone,” said Cuizhu.
On the morning of the Lantern Festival banquet,
Cuizhu led a host of maidservants, bearing dazzlingly opulent robes, as they clustered around Chu Mingzhao with beaming smiles.
Chu Mingzhao was like a soulless puppet, letting them fuss and dress her as they pleased.
In the bronze mirror, a woman was reflected, her hair styled in an elaborate “Flying Immortal” bun. A nine-phoenix pearl-holding gold hairpin hung askew at her temple.
A red lotus beauty mark was pasted between her brows, and rouge tinged the corners of her eyes with a faint blush. Paired with that ostentatious, luxurious cloud-brocade red dress, she looked like a flower of earthly splendor blooming amid blazing oil and crackling flames—beautiful with an aggressive edge.
All this fuss just to be cannon fodder, she thought bitterly.
She complained inwardly in despair, but on the surface, she had to maintain an air of haughty aloofness.
“Enough. Stop fussing. It’s just a palace banquet,” Chu Mingzhao said.
She stood up, the heavy headdress making her neck ache. Taking a deep breath, she grasped Cuizhu’s hand and stepped out of the room.
Outside the Chancellor’s mansion, two purple sandalwood carved carriages, each drawn by four spirited horses, were already waiting.
Chancellor Chu and Lady Chu boarded the front carriage; the one behind was naturally left for Chu Mingzhao.
The heavy snow had stopped, but the accumulated snow had not yet melted, and the biting wind remained bitter.
Surrounded by a crowd of servants, Chu Mingzhao walked out the main gate. Just as Cuizhu was about to help her mount the carriage, she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a rigid figure kneeling beside the carriage.
Pei Yan wore the coarse hempen clothes of the mansion’s lowest servants; the thin fabric could not shield him from the severe cold.
He knelt by the icy carriage shaft, his back slightly hunched. His windblown hair hid his face, making his expression impossible to read.
According to the cruel rules that the original Chu Mingzhao had established—
Every time she went out, Pei Yan, now her horse groomer and nominal fiancé, had to lie prostrate on the ground, letting her step on his back to board the carriage.
The surrounding servants took this for granted, and a few bootlicking stewards even showed schadenfreude in their eyes.
Chu Mingzhao’s steps abruptly halted.
She looked down at the man kneeling at her feet.
His eyes were shut, his jaw clenched tightly as he fought to conceal the bloodlust and murderous intent surging beneath his lids.
Like a lifeless object, she awaited the expected, heavy stomp of her embroidered shoes.
"..."
Chu Mingzhao stood still, cold sweat nearly dripping down.
Making the male lead endure the humiliation of being stepped over?
How was that any different from pulling a tiger's whiskers?
But with so many eyes watching, if she suddenly showed mercy and skipped this step, she would instantly break character, and might even be directly erased by the System.
