"Third Brother, hurry up. Father's imperial carriage is almost here!"
Pei Yuan grabbed Pei Lin by the shoulder, half-dragging, half-pulling him toward the seating deeper inside the hall.
Pei Lin let himself be dragged away, yet his steps remained unhurried, unruffled. But just as he turned past the screen, he tilted his head slightly and gave Chu Mingzhao an almost imperceptible glance.
Eye twitch? Having a seizure?
The curve of Pei Lin's lips deepened a little.
The heart-voice of this Eldest Miss Chu was truly a hundred times more entertaining than the acrobatics at this palace banquet. He suddenly felt that tonight might not be so dull after all.
Only after the two brothers' figures disappeared around the corner did Chu Mingzhao snap back to her senses.
"System! System, come out right now!"
She screamed frantically in her mind.
"What was that with Pei Yuan just now? Did he just give me an OK sign and wink at me? Was that in the original story?!"
The system remained dead silent, as quiet as a corpse.
Chu Mingzhao was so angry her teeth itched, but there was nothing she could do.
She racked her brains trying to recall the original plot. In the original story, Chu Mingzhao was nothing but a purely vicious tool, and her interactions with Pei Yuan were limited to sending gifts to curry favor and joining him in humiliating the male lead.
There was no mention of Pei Yuan having any oddities at all!
Could it be that her time-travel into the novel had triggered some butterfly effect?
Just as Chu Mingzhao was puzzling over it, a chilling gaze landed on the back of her neck.
Chu Mingzhao's spine stiffened. She didn't need to turn around to know it was Pei Yan.
The dazzling light of the palace lanterns didn't reach him. Standing in the shadows, he was like a discarded stone shunned by the world.
Pei Yan watched Chu Mingzhao's back coldly.
He had taken in the entire scene just now.
When she faced Pei Lin, she was shy and coy, feigning reluctance while craving attention. When she faced Pei Yuan, she wore that fawning, flirty look of being overwhelmed by favor.
She was like a parasitic vine that could only survive by clinging to power and influence, radiating the nauseating stench of vanity.
Pei Yan sneered inwardly, a faint, mocking curl at the corner of his mouth.
She and Pei Lin—one with the heart of a viper, the other hiding daggers behind a smile.
A truly heavenly matched pair.
They deserved to be locked together and torment each other all the way to hell!
Pei Yan forced himself to tear his gaze away from her stunningly beautiful face.
At that moment, a sharp announcement came from outside the great hall.
"The Emperor arrives—Consort Shu arrives—"
The previously surreptitious chatter and undercurrents by the Taiye Pool fell into dead silence.
The music of strings and winds stopped abruptly.
The Old Emperor arrived late, surrounded by a retinue of palace maids and eunuchs. Though aged, with graying temples, his eyes, long steeped in the authority of life and death, remained as sharp as an eagle's, exuding a suspicious, gloomy imperial pressure.
The woman at his side was beautiful to look at—though her age showed, her bearing retained a lingering charm. She was Consort Shu, who now held the phoenix seal and presided over the six palaces.
"Long live the Emperor, ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand years!"
At the chief eunuch's resounding cry, the entire area by the Taiye Pool collapsed in prostration.
Chu Mingzhao knelt on the cold stone slabs beside her parents, lifting her eyes slightly to steal a glance at the supreme pair on the high throne.
Back then, Pei Yan's birth mother, the deceased Empress, had been cornered step by step by this seemingly gentle Consort Shu, eventually dying in the Cold Palace under charges of witchcraft.
And Pei Yan himself, the brilliant Crown Prince, had been broken from the clouds and cast into the mud by the machinations of Consort Shu and her two sons.
The royal family knew nothing of fatherly kindness and filial piety.
The Old Emperor may have known Pei Yan was innocent. He was just too old—old enough to fear a too-perfect heir.
"Let all officials rise."
The Old Emperor took his seat on the dragon throne, his voice carrying a natural authority without rage.
Everyone sighed with relief and was about to thank the Emperor and rise when the Old Emperor's murky gaze suddenly turned toward the area behind Chu Mingzhao.
"Hold."
The moment those words left his mouth, the temperature in the hall seemed to drop another few degrees.
"I said, let all officials rise."
The Old Emperor let out a cold laugh, his eyes devoid of any warmth, only a bone-chilling disgust.
"Do you mean that bastard who dabbled in witchcraft, cursing his own father, deserves to rise together with all of you?"
The entire hall was dead silent.
Everyone's gaze—some sympathetic, some gloating—fell on Pei Yan.
Pei Yan's back, which had been halfway straightening, froze solid.
He did not lift his head. He did not defend himself. Under the eyes of the crowd, he slowly knelt back down.
"Since Chancellor Chu is generous enough to keep you in his mansion as a servant, you should know your place as a servant."
The Old Emperor looked down on him, his tone dripping with contempt.
"Today is the Lantern Festival. The ancestors are watching from heaven. Kneel here, and let the ancestors see for themselves how our great Great Qian Dynasty cannot tolerate a beast who plots parricide and has no father!"
Every word pierced the heart, every sentence drew blood.
Pei Yan clenched his teeth, the taste of iron spreading in his mouth.
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Do not harm the imperial body over such a criminal."
Consort Shu coaxed warmly from the side.
"Let the feast begin." The Old Emperor waved his hand, as if one more glance at Pei Yan would sully his eyes.
The music of strings and winds resumed. Dancers rushed into the hall like butterflies flitting among flowers. Silks rustled, sleeves flew.
The suffocating episode just moments ago seemed instantly smoothed over by the whitewashing song and dance. The crowd quickly returned to their clinking cups and lively banter.
Only Pei Yan knelt alone at the edge of the hall, in the path of the draft.
Chu Mingzhao kept her face in the cold, disgusted expression befitting a venomous female side character, even deliberately shifting half a step away as if to avoid Pei Yan dirtying her hem.
But in her mind, the comments had turned into a machine gun, mowing down the Old Emperor's ancestors eighteen generations back.
This old geezer is truly merciless—not only does he strip Pei Yan of his status, but he also grinds his dignity into the dirt in front of the whole court.
Just as she was reveling in her internal rant, an electronic voice, long dormant, suddenly sounded without warning.
[Key plot node detected: Humiliation at the Lantern Festival Banquet. Extracting original passage...]
Chu Mingzhao's scalp went tight. She instinctively lifted her gaze.
Out walked the Seventh Prince, Pei Yuan, holding a delicate plate of emerald bean cakes, striding straight toward the women's seats.
"Miss Chu."
Pei Yuan stopped in front of the table, standing there brashly, his voice loud enough to make sure no one missed it.
"I saw you barely touched the snacks at your table. These are freshly made emerald bean cakes from the Imperial Kitchen. I brought them especially for you to try."
Cold text floated before Chu Mingzhao's eyes:
[Just as Chu Mingzhao reaches out to accept them, Pei Yuan's lips curl into a malicious grin. He flips his wrist and, as if by accident, knocks the pastries in front of Pei Yan. Chu Mingzhao watches coldly as Pei Yan crawls on the ground like a dog to eat them.]
[Please complete a reasonable revision within ten seconds. Current Authority: LV2 (alter one or two words).]
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
