Chapter 43: Dark Currents Surging in the Court! Ministers Begin to Take Sides!

The plumpness of Chu Ruoyan's figure was already considered outstanding among her peers, but in front of the Empress Dowager, it was simply a small witch meeting a big witch.

Having lived for so many years, this was Chu Ruoyan's first time having appearance anxiety.

She was thinking, could she have this dimension in the future?

Did Li Chen also like this kind?

It could be said that for the entire afternoon, Chu Ruoyan's gaze had been fixed on the Empress Dowager, observing her, from the smooth and tender skin on her face to her slender waist; what would it feel like if she touched it?

She didn't want to miss any detail on the Empress Dowager; if she were a man, this would be enough to be dragged out and questioned.

As for the content the Empress Dowager spoke for an entire afternoon, she didn't hear a single word, and just returned in a daze.

At that time, the Empress Dowager even praised her for being sensible, saying that in the harem, one should listen more and speak less.

With her silly and harmless look, she could survive in the harem, unlike some consorts who would chew on tongues when they had nothing to do.

The Empress Dowager didn't know that her head was full of these lewd things.

Hearing her father's question, Chu Ruoyan stammered and said: "I didn't understand what the Empress Dowager said."

The Chu family head said happily: "Right, very smart; this attitude of not understanding, didn't you learn it very well?"

Chu Ruoyan really didn't understand now; I didn't pay attention to listening at the time, how did I become very smart in my father's eyes?

Forget it, forget it, don't consider complicated things first, must find a way to settle Xiao Ming.

Returning to her room, Chu Ruoyan lay on her bed, thinking of Li Chen, who was domineering this morning; he was simply the incarnation of the perfect image in her heart.

For a woman, wasn't Li Chen wearing a dragon robe a kind of uniform temptation?

If she entered the palace, could she see Li Chen wearing this every day?

Thinking of this, her legs rubbed together unconsciously for a while, and with a slight tremor, it was likely wet again.

Tonight, without accident, Xiao Ming still didn't appear, and didn't even send a letter.

This made Chu Ruoyan even more unsure of what he was going to do; until this time, Chu Ruoyan suddenly remembered that she didn't know where Xiao Ming lived.

Just looking forward to Xiao Ming not messing around in a few days.

In the secret room of the small residence outside the seventh ring of the Imperial Capital, the Sage remnant soul in the necklace had been using language to stimulate Xiao Ming.

Letting Xiao Ming think of the scene of his goddess throwing herself into someone else's arms.

But at this time, Xiao Ming was breaking through to the Mid-Stage Shattering Void Realm, which was the most critical moment.

If it were anyone else, having been disturbed, they would definitely vomit blood and fail.

But Xiao Ming erupted with a terrifying energy around his body.

As the space inside the secret room appeared to tremble slightly, he actually broke through successfully.

A realm that might not be broken through for months, and needed elixirs to assist in breaking through, he reached in just a few short days.

It had to be said, the Sage remnant soul felt that his move was really better than elixirs; his own disciple's willpower had never been so firm.

He seemed to have begun to master Xiao Ming's user manual.

Originally, Xiao Ming's lick-dog temper would have wished to tell Chu Ruoyan the news immediately.

But considering it was late at night and Chu Ruoyan had already rested, he suppressed his restless heart and forced it down.

Four more days; I know you are very anxious, but you must wait for me!

Xiao Ming couldn't sleep, so he simply continued to cultivate.

This scene made the Sage remnant soul somewhat emotional; even if he hadn't mentioned it once, he still wanted to say: If you had played this hard in cultivation earlier, and endured loneliness, which woman could refuse you?

Many people couldn't sleep tonight.

Ministry of Justice Minister's mansion, some court officials gathered here, holding a private meeting.

The Ministry of Justice, as the law enforcement agency of the dynasty, had huge responsibilities and power.

It was not only responsible for trying various cases, but also undertook the heavy responsibility of maintaining the order of the Imperial Capital and protecting the peace of the people.

This was just part of the responsibilities; usually, they also had to supervise the hundred officials, and even send people to patrol the various prefectures of the Tian Ce Dynasty. It could be said that the Ministry of Justice had powerhouses like clouds and a huge scale, and was a violence agency worthy of the name in the Imperial Capital.

Ministry of Justice Minister Feng Huai was the person in power of this agency, and his prestige could make most officials in the Imperial Capital tremble with fear.

In the Imperial Capital, whether it was the children of large or small officials, or the descendants of the great nobles, once they violated the law, they would be captured by the Ministry of Justice.

Even if people under the Empress Dowager made mistakes, they could only choose to send palace maids to plead for mercy, and could not directly override power to intervene.

In a place like the Imperial Capital, second-generation children caused trouble relatively frequently.

So Feng Huai had wide connections, and many powerful people in the Imperial Capital owed him favors.

Every time at the wine table, he dared to speak wildly, saying that there was no official in the Imperial Capital who dared not give him face, and he held too many people's handles, just seeing whether he wanted to clean up these people or not.

As long as he wanted, he could call any official over, and if this official didn't arrive on time, he would soon enter the Imperial Capital's heavenly prison.

Of course, these words had elements of bragging, but his power was indeed great.

And his backer was the Emperor himself, accurately speaking, the late Emperor.

When the late Emperor was alive, even Zhao Wenyuan and Guo Poyun had to be polite to him.

!

Even after the late Emperor passed away, he didn't need to rely on anyone; he himself was an unshakable existence in the court.

But ever since the new Emperor Li Chen took the throne, Ministry of Justice Minister Feng Huai was furious; his special privileges were constantly revoked.

For example, the power to mobilize the Imperial Guards; one must know that the Imperial Guards were the exclusive army of the royal family.

For a minister to be able to mobilize them, even if it was only mobilizing a part, that was also a very exaggerated special privilege.

And there were temples that only royal blood relatives could enter, which Feng Huai could also enter and leave freely.

Feng Huai didn't know who impeached him, saying he abused his power, mobilized the Imperial Guards to be his guards and swaggered through the streets, damaging the royal majesty.

Others impeached him for mobilizing the Imperial Guards to hinder other departments from handling matters, and even snatching some criminals caught by other departments.

There were even those who interfered with the talent selection of other departments without authorization.

As a result, after Li Chen verified it, he revoked these special privileges of his, making him so angry he couldn't stand it.

Actually, his power was already great enough; having so many special privileges was useless.

But he was just unhappy; once power like this was in hand, he didn't want to lose it.

The people Feng Huai gathered today were all ministers with real power in the court, old subordinates of the late Emperor, and those court officials who were dissatisfied with Li Chen.

A group of old powerful ministers gathered here, starting by sighing at how good the late Emperor was, and opening their mouths with topics like 'thinking back then'.

As long as they mentioned 'thinking back then', it proved they weren't doing well now.

After finishing the glorious deeds of the past, these powerful ministers had already drunk quite a bit.

Borrowing the wine's strength, they began to engage in some rebellious insults toward Li Chen.

This scolding was much harsher than that group of scholars in Yun Lu Academy.

The scholars weren't that vulgar, and the words they scolded were still word-by-word.

This group of old court officials was full of dirty words.

In their view, when they helped the late Emperor consolidate the country, Li Chen hadn't even been born yet; why did he revoke their permissions?

The Crown Prince was very polite to them back then; what kind of thing was Li Chen?

In the eyes of the court officials, whoever was Emperor was better than Li Chen; he didn't understand any human feelings, and if the Tian Ce Dynasty continued to let him be Emperor, it would be finished sooner or later!

With the wine's strength up, these old court officials dared to say anything.

Seeing the atmosphere was right, Feng Huai finally said the purpose of inviting them today.

"Gentlemen, the late Emperor treated us well, and we cannot watch the Tian Ce Dynasty sink like this. That kid Li Chen is obviously not material to be an Emperor. One day, when the Second Prince returns, I will definitely help him! Gentlemen, what do you think!"

As soon as these words came out, all the old court officials present sobered up more than half.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 44 =====