Yang Shi suddenly shouted, "Tyrant! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

He hurled his insults with great gusto, as if he were a saint, a hero fighting against tyranny, standing on the moral high ground, and giving the emperor a thorough dressing-down.

The others joined in the cursing, knowing they were all doomed anyway.

Liu Yanzong, who hadn't gone far, turned around and looked back. He was holding a bowl of plum juice and drinking it with relish. He walked in and glanced at the people.

"Oh, Scholar Yang has quite the temper, huh? Daring to criticize the Emperor, isn't he afraid of having his entire family executed?"

Yang Shi, with an air of righteous indignation and heroic resolve, declared: "Shameless scoundrel! You lackey of the tyrant, you shall die a horrible death!"

While drinking his plum juice, Liu Yanzong said, "His Majesty has already shown you mercy. Is it really okay for you to be courting death like this?"

"Hmph! Even if you exterminate my entire clan, I will still speak out! A tyrant is immoral and will surely be punished by Heaven!"

Others joined in, shouting, "The tyrant is wicked! He will surely be punished by Heaven!"

Liu Yanzong couldn't help but give a thumbs up and said, "You all have courage, but you insulted the emperor like this, which is a capital offense. I can't save you."

The Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices sneered, "Hmph! We were captured and brought here because we had already disregarded life and death. Hasn't that tyrant killed enough people? Sooner or later, the people of the world will rise up against him!"

Liu Yanzong clicked his tongue and said, "Your sons are doomed for defying the emperor in public. As for you, His Majesty didn't even say he wanted to kill you. The case has already been filed. You only had business dealings with the Qian family. As long as you didn't have any shady dealings, your crimes don't warrant death. The result is that you'll stay here obediently for a while, and then you'll all be demoted to commoners. That'll be the end of it."

Yang Shi and the others were stunned when Liu Yanzong said this.

Damn it! That's not how the script was written!

What happened to the promised beheading?!

Yang Shi quickly changed his expression, thinking, "So delicious, oh no, so handsome!"

"Liu Shangguan, the current emperor is truly a sage ruler who is rare in all of history. It is a blessing for our Great Song Dynasty to have such a renowned minister as Liu Shangguan. Please accept my bow."

Others exclaimed, "Liu Shangguan is truly a reincarnation of the Duke of Zhou!"

Liu Yanzong: "..."

The Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, with a shameless smile, asked, "May I ask, Lord Liu, when may we leave?"

They don't care about their damn sons anymore; let those damn stupid pigs die.

Liu Yanzong's smile vanished, replaced by a sly grin. "Want to leave? Oh dear, I misremembered. You're all guilty of a capital offense."

Seeing the smiles on the faces of the group freeze and turn ashen, Liu Yanzong felt a surge of satisfaction. He walked out, sipping his plum juice, ignoring the curses coming from behind him.