Chapter 479

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

The matter of the Emperor taking Yu Xi out of the palace spread to He Lan Hall by that very afternoon.

Yu Cheng was extremely unwilling and came running over, kicking up a fuss that he also wanted to go out of the palace.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao directly waved her hand, letting Yu Cheng take people to Qianqing Palace to find their birth father; this was not a matter she could decide.

The System was surprised, "Host, are you really at ease letting the two children leave the palace? If they run into someone bold, they could be wiped out entirely."

Shen Yao rolled her eyes, "Am I a decoration? Is the Emperor a decoration? Are those Yulin Guards decorations? Is the Shen Family a decoration?"

What are you thinking? If these two children really leave the palace, security measures must be absolutely thorough and cautious.

It can be said Yu Cheng is the Emperor's entire hope; if something truly happened, the Emperor would go mad directly.

"We in the palace cannot oversee outside the palace; we need to send word to the Shen Family in advance."

The System felt trusting the Emperor was less reliable than trusting the Shen Family; the Emperor might have reservations about this, but the Shen Family would absolutely not let Yu Cheng come to harm.

"Send it then; the Emperor will likely bring them along, along with court officials. Perhaps taking this opportunity, he'll pull another 'Jiang Taigong fishing' — those who wish to be hooked will hook themselves."

There will certainly be those itching to make a move, certainly those wanting to fish in troubled waters for advantage, and there will be those stirring the waves hiding in the back.

Raising a hand to touch her chin, Shen Yao suddenly brought up the latest situation in the Jiangnan region, "The Shen Family should be returning soon, right?"

The investigation has yielded results; the Shen Family won't stay in Jiangnan any longer. The He Family has already given up completely and stopped stirring up trouble, so the Shen Family can swallow up more than half the forces in the Jiangnan region.

"In about another half month, the people dispatched by the Shen Family will set off back to the capital.

This time they're bringing back all good news, Host; we've taken another huge step toward completing the mission."

The System cheered incessantly for this, the whole System so happy it was hopping and jumping.

It really was hopping and jumping — doing a tap dance right inside Shen Yao's head.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao gave the restless System a sidelong glance, then turned her head to ponder the Emperor's trip out of the palace this time.

She felt it could be utilized; it's been a long time since the Emperor's last great purge. Stirring up another storm, the Yu Guo court ought to be able to keep its composure, right?

Outside the Palace — Shen Family

The first to receive the news was Shen Zhanghe, still serving in the Yulin Guard.

Hurrying back home with the news that the Prince and Princess would leave the palace with the Emperor, Shen Zhanghe turned and told Eldest Young Master and their birth father.

Shen Chunbai and Shen Zhanghe were not surprised by this, because the Emperor's trip out of the palace had been planned early on, and this trip was mainly for inspection, just moving around the capital's surroundings.

"The Prince and Princess traveling together means the itinerary arrangements must be meticulous and careful.

This time the escort duty falls entirely on the Yulin Guard. Zhanghe, you must keep a tight watch on the situation around the Prince and Princess; absolutely cannot let the Prince and Princess come to harm."

Even if the Emperor kicks the bucket, the Prince and Princess must both survive to the end.

The Shen Family has invested so much; what it's for needs no further explanation.

Shen Zhanghe nodded, "Father, rest assured; your son understands."

Shen Zhanghe followed closely after, "Father, we should also advise the Emperor to secretly dispatch troops for surveillance.

One overt, one covert; maximize the possibility of ensuring the safety of this palace excursion."

Shen Chunbai lifted his head and stroked his beard, "What I fear is that the Emperor won't agree."

The Emperor's temper has grown increasingly bad these years; his temperament is eccentric and unfathomable, and in court he acts arbitrarily and does as he pleases.

Because of Shen Yao and the pair of children, the Shen Family still has some face before the Emperor, but compared to the Emperor's temperament of flipping his face at a moment's notice, Shen Chunbai dares not overestimate their importance in his heart.

Shen Zhanghe also thought of the Emperor's stinking temper, coughed, and said, "The Emperor cares for the Prince and Princess in his heart; our Shen Family has absolutely no selfish motives."

It's all for the children; even if the Emperor is displeased, he won't truly turn hostile.

Moreover, Shen Zhanghe being able to bring back this news must be because the Empress privately instructed him, hoping the Shen Family would make full preparations to protect the two children following the Emperor out of the palace.

In terms of results, the Shen Family and the Empress's goals align; for this they would even sacrifice the Emperor.

"Leave this matter to your father to arrange; you two, don't make a fuss for now.

As far as the Shen Family is concerned, protecting the Prince and Princess is an inescapable duty; to others, the existence of the Prince and Princess is like a maggot in the bone, hated so much they want to eradicate them completely."

This trip out of the palace will inevitably trigger a dispute. The Empress didn't persuade the Emperor to give up, but instead had him take the two children out of the palace; the deep meaning hidden inside cannot be probed too deeply.

Let's hope this time doesn't truly produce an irretrievable situation.

Shen Chunbai felt he had grown old, old; his courage had unknowingly become much smaller.

Ordinarily he would wish to be even more radical, yet now he has no choice but to be conservative.

"When a person occupies a high position, the more benefits they gain, the more they tie their own hands and feet.

It's not that the Shen Family is conservative; it's that the Shen Family bears too much and can no longer afford the price of failure."

The many benefits gained through immense hardship — one loss and everything is gone. No one could accept that, let alone the Shen Family, who aren't as greedy as others. If not for the alignment of heaven, earth, and man, the Shen Family would still be just ordinary royal in-laws today, with unenterprising descendants who at most bully men and dominate women — they wouldn't dare commit great evils, but petty evils couldn't be stopped.

The System swayed up and down, "Host is right; so this time we'll most likely still be forced into passive action."

What is passive action? It's active defense — wait for the enemy to strike, then give corresponding countermeasures. This also perfectly fits the Shen Family's identity, because as imperial in-laws they still hold military power; even a minor matter would be deemed sensitive.

The best solution is to wait and counterattack; although they don't seize the initiative by striking first, in the after-the-fact accounting they definitely won't be found at fault.

Of course, if this matter is extremely serious and the Emperor and both children kick the bucket, then the Shen Family will undoubtedly be a dead end with no way out. Such an extreme outcome need not be discussed, because once it happens there is no path to survival.

"These days help keep an eye on things, especially the time the Emperor and them leave the palace.

With me holding down the fort in the Huang Hou, no major problems will arise, but outside the palace is our weak point.

Once a problem is discovered, notify the Shen Family in a timely manner in my name; everything must prioritize the children."

Shen Yao had just finished giving her instructions when she received the system's muttering that she shouldn't have let the two children leave the palace.

Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, yet heading straight for Tiger Mountain. However you put it, it seems a bit brainless.

"You can't look at it that way. Flowers grown in a greenhouse are destined never to grow tall.

Sheng'er and Xi Er must eventually face the winds and waves outside. Besides, we have other purposes this time," it's just making worst-case preparations, not meaning these things will definitely happen.

All sorts of factors must be considered, including but not limited to the court officials and imperial clan relatives who have been scared witless by the Emperor these years — would they really dare stake their entire fortunes and lives on taking the Emperor's and the two children's lives? One misstep means eternal damnation.

They don't dare! Absolutely not!

The verbally bewitched imperial clan relatives shook their heads frantically, directly refusing this tempting proposal.

"No, no, really no. We share the same Yu surname — why make things so estranged?

This matter — let me consider it a bit more. No need for more words, no need to say more."

"The Emperor leaving the palace will certainly have a large Yulin Guard escort for protection, and the two children will absolutely not be without attendants.

Our ragtag bunch going to stir up trouble — we'd be lucky to return alive. It would play right into certain people's schemes. Could it be the Emperor is still dissatisfied with us?"

"Now is not the opportune moment. We still need to wait. As they say, good food is worth waiting for."

"..."

All kinds of things were said — some direct, some tactful, some speculative — but the core idea boiled down to just four words: unwilling to act rashly.

The strategist officials:... Useless!

A once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity and they don't know to strike when they should. Truly they can only be idle clan relatives — they simply don't have the fate to ascend the throne.

"Those with such ambitions have been buried underground for years. The ones still alive are all cowards who fear trouble."

The Emperor's previous killing sprees chopped several Cai Shi Kou execution grounds until heads rolled, causing many nearby commoners to move away.

The imperial clan relatives still alive today are all those who participated lightly, who have the thief's heart but not the thief's guts — cowards.

Expecting cowards to stake everything and fight to the death — that itself is a paradox.

The strategist officials discussed heatedly in private, all sorts of vicious schemes popping up one after another, each one rejected and discarded in turn.

Shen Yao, borrowing the system's ears, heard the gist of it all, and couldn't help but marvel at how shameless these people were — even wanting to wipe out both palace and outside in one sweep, with thoughts of exterminating her Shen family. She really was still too kind-hearted and conservative.

System:... Want to listen to what you're saying? Kind-hearted and conservative? Host, really?

"I'm not kind-hearted enough? I didn't demand their lives from the start, didn't open with killing moves leaving no room," compared to those people who at every turn want to kill the entire Shen family, it's simply too kind-hearted.

The system couldn't help but complain, "These things you don't want to do? Clearly the Emperor already did them," pinning the black pot on the Emperor's head, while her own host remains pure and innocent — it can't be that just because it's not on the surface it doesn't count, right?

Shen Yao:...

What Shen Yao hates most is the system's behavior of always exposing her shortcomings at any moment. Can't it speak properly? She merely used a few small tricks (the bad guy was all the Emperor himself; even when the Emperor struck ruthlessly she still advised a bit — what more does it want).

Shen Yao, growing increasingly hypocritical inside, not only felt no shame but took pride in it (don't learn from the female lead).

"In a life-and-death struggle, no one can retreat. Ultimately this isn't a question of right or wrong, but of respective positions and interest allocation.

The Emperor and I and the Shen family share the same goal. The imperial clan relatives and certain court officials are aligned. And those majority court officials who form their own faction — whoever can win over most people and make them step forward first will seize the final victory."

And what they are about to experience now is a decisive battle on the road to contention. Whoever wins will have the greater advantage in future disputes. The Emperor and the Shen family naturally have no retreat — they can only win, not lose (can't afford to lose).

"Put that way, historically successful usurpations are all spectacular and easier to explain," after all, the lower-ranked forcing the higher-ranked — the higher-ranked has the right to regret (though mostly useless), while the higher-ranked is destined to be the one challenged — cannot be cowardly, cannot retreat, cannot show weakness.

Even revealing a hint of inner fragility will draw crazy targeting from those with ulterior motives. This is the normal result caused by interests — no one can avoid it. Why else is it said holding the realm is harder than winning it? Though the analogy is a bit far-fetched, there are indeed real similarities between the two.

The one-person-one-system idle chat never had fixed topics, always rambling boundlessly — saying whatever came to mind wherever the thought led. The topic jumps could make one stare in disbelief.

As time drew ever closer to the Emperor's day of leaving the palace, the entire front court and rear palace were permeated with an intangible, untouchable sense of tension.

Shen Yao instructed the two children over and over again. Even knowing her preparations were foolproof, her body still produced worried emotions.

In every world, when facing her own born children, Shen Yao would more or less exhibit this emotion. This is the nature of a woman as a mother. Even with utmost restraint, it's hard to avoid leaking a bit.

"Empress, rest assured. With Us by their side, We absolutely won't let Sheng'er and Xi Er encounter danger."

The Emperor's blood ties were shallow — whether birth mother or foster mother, none lived long. Even his birth father didn't pay him much attention.

His ability to sit on the throne carried a certain luck component; otherwise the Yu Guo court wouldn't be in such a mess.

Facing Shen Yao's genuine feelings toward the two children, the Emperor's heart was lightly touched. Uncharacteristically, he not only stayed overnight in Fengyi Palace for several days, but also shamelessly played affectionate lovey-dovey scenes with Shen Yao.

Shen Yao:... Huh?

Shen Yao despised him in her heart but showed joy on her face. This middle-aged imperial couple simply put on a heavy display of greasy affection right in front of the harem concubines.

Whether the harem concubines were disgusted is unknown, but Shen Yao was genuinely disgusted. Especially since the Emperor's self-satisfaction was too good — Shen Yao was more than a decade younger than the Emperor. The two standing together, that age gap (and this was with the Emperor's years of serious self-maintenance, while Shen Yao dressed in an old-fashioned matronly direction) — Xian Fei and He Chongyi both refused to linger in Fengyi Palace.

Fortunately this period wasn't long. The Emperor's was just a temporary conscience flare-up, a final flash before death. By the day he took the two children out of the palace, beautiful concubines surrounded him, not one missing — as if all the previous affection between them had been fake.

"Heh! This is men for you."

Shen Yao watched the grand procession leave the Imperial Palace, turning away while walking and complaining.

Xian Fei and He Chongyi and the others not far away, seeing Shen Yao's mood was poor, tacitly didn't come over to disturb her. They only bowed from afar and left directly.

"Niangniang, should we return to the palace?" Hong Guo supported her master's arm, asking softly.

"Return to the palace. There are still palace affairs not handled well. The Emperor leaving the palace this time will likely take several days. You go run a trip to the Imperial Household Department later to remind them a bit — don't let them slack off too much and affect harem affairs."

Shen Yao gave Hong Guo a few instructions, and also mentioned everyone's monthly allotments for clothing and supplies. Since the Emperor was no longer in the palace being an eyesore, she could loosen the purse strings a bit and give more benefits, letting the injured colleagues be happy too.

Pitiful, such days will last a long while yet. One must find some amusement.

Hong Guo acknowledged and turned to memorize her master's words and execute them personally.

In just one morning's time, by afternoon all palaces had received Shen Yao's kindness, and in their hearts they all recited the Empress's goodness.