Shen Jiao finds it very difficult to navigate interpersonal relationships.

She sighed silently for a full sixty seconds.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of a spoiled concubine who became arrogant and domineering, she spoke these words with the imposing air of someone crossing the Yalu River.

As it turns out, the more someone pays attention to something, the more likely they are to make a mistake. Perhaps she went too far, and coupled with her expression of trying to maintain a kind smile but being too angry to actually smile, she looked exactly like a treacherous, arrogant, and domineering traitor.

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone's expressions suddenly froze.

They had already incurred the Emperor's wrath by talking about her behind her back, and now she had the audacity to ask them to talk about her to their faces again. What was this if not an insult? What was this if not bullying others with power? This woman was so vicious; even the most venomous scorpions in the desert were not as poisonous as her. At this critical moment, she still didn't forget to put them on the fire and roast them over and over.

He's utterly wicked.

Shen Jiao once again felt their silence, but she felt as if she had been verbally abused to the point of being bruised and battered.

She decided to clear her name: "Please believe me, my lords, I really didn't mean anything by it."

The crowd's expressions changed repeatedly: "Heh, although you're very polite, it would be a miracle if we believed you. You're a very wicked woman."

Shen Jiao: "..." Damn, can't people trust each other a little more?

At the same time, Zhou Hu could no longer contain the righteous anger that had been building up in his chest. He angrily rebuked Chen Bao, "The fire is burning our eyebrows, and you can still sit still? Chen Bao, have you lost your conscience? How much of a spell did that venomous woman cast on you and His Majesty to make you so indifferent, able to watch your brothers who have risked their lives for you be humiliated like this!"

"Why are you angry again? Besides, Miss Shen is just telling the truth. There's no question of humiliation or not. Can you please stop being so sensitive and suspicious?" Chen Bao held the fruit shaved ice that Wang Fu had shared with him and scooped out a spoonful.

Although it tastes good when it's icy cold, he still prefers the hot and sour noodles at the entrance of Dongmen Alley.

He will always love hot and sour noodles, always be devoted, and never abandon them.

"Chen Bao! You actually said I'm angry again?" Zhou Hu pointed at himself with his index finger, his face full of disbelief. "I'm angry? I'm angry? Fine, I'm angry, okay? But if you don't stop that woman, I'll break off all ties with you. Let me tell you this: if anything happens to any of my soldiers, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life."

Chen Bao: "Miss Shen isn't that kind of person. Okay, calm down and stop being unreasonable."

Zhou Hu's eyes widened: "I'm being unreasonable? Even now, you're still defending her? Chen Bao, I fucking misjudged you, fine, fine..."

He sighed several times, clutching his chest and grieving. "If you won't go, then I will. From now on, you will cross your narrow bridge, and I will walk my broad road. We will have nothing to do with each other anymore."

The last four words were spoken with resounding force, and then he left in anger.

Wang Fu, with a gossipy expression, said, "Aren't you going to try and comfort him? General Zhou looks genuinely heartbroken."

Chen Bao took a bite of shaved ice: "Really? No, I don't think so. Eunuch Wang, what flavor is your bowl of shaved ice? It looks so nice, I'd like to try a bite."

...

Over here, Shen Jiao felt so tired that her skin was wrinkled. If she had known this would happen, she would have been better off sticking to the role of a favored concubine.

Hearing Shen Jiao's arrogant yet somewhat foolish request, Ji Yan was speechless. She looked at Shen Jiao with a complicated expression that seemed to say, "I really want to find her a doctor to check if she has a brain tumor." "What are you doing?"

Feeling deeply insulted to be stared at like that by a lunatic, Shen Jiao said, "Isn't this His Majesty's intention?"

Could she have misunderstood? But that's understandable; if she could accurately guess the tyrant's thoughts, she'd be walking on a ghost trail in the dark.

Ji Yan fell completely silent.

I used to think that the frizzy hamster was a bit stupid, but I didn’t expect it to be so stupid that I was speechless. Otherwise, should I hire a tutor to enlighten her?

He tapped Shen Jiao's forehead with his finger, looking quite disgusted. "I brought you here to settle scores, not to invite insults. You're supposed to be one of my people, how can you be so ungrateful?"

Shen Jiao was shocked for a hundred years.

What?

Is the tyrant starting to act like a human being?

"Impossible," she said, not believing it.

"If you don't like someone, just cut off their head." The tyrant surveyed his surroundings with an extremely arrogant attitude. When Shen Jiao saw this, everyone trembled and lowered their heads, afraid of being seen by this god-slayer.

"No, no, no... no need." Shen Jiao frantically waved her hands, leaving afterimages.

Ji Yan frowned. "Weren't you unhappy?"

Shen Jiao: "Well, it's just a tiny bit, like a nail clipper."

Was she being too obvious? Or was the tyrant's observational skills too sharp? She was indeed a little unhappy, but only because of a bunch of random malice she had inexplicably received; it wasn't enough to warrant taking a life.

Shen Jiao never expected that Ji Yan would stand up for her. At least from his previous words and actions, he seemed more like someone who came to watch her make a fool of herself. In fact, the tyrant's dark heart wasn't so bad.

"Then kill fewer." The tyrant completely ignored her refusal, making arrangements on his own, doing as he pleased. In a flash, he grabbed a soldier by the neck, a sinister smirk playing on his lips. "How about starting with him?"

Shen Jiao recognized this person; he had followed Zhou Hu the first time they met.

Brother, could you please do fewer things that offend people? I'm worried that if you continue like this, you'll die in a rebellion or a peasant uprising, and in the end, your country will be destroyed, your family will be wiped out, and your body will be left nowhere.

"Your Majesty, calm down, Your Majesty." Shen Jiao took three steps in two, grabbed the tyrant's restless hand, and pulled him back a lot. "Why are you picking on him? He's not even in the group that's cursing me."

There were only ten people who didn't criticize her; she would be heartbroken if even one of them were missing.

Wang Dazhuang was stunned, as if struck by lightning. He stood there, too afraid to move, and even forgot to breathe, almost suffocating himself. He never expected that even though he had joined the group that hadn't criticized Shen Jiao, he would still be targeted prematurely. His Majesty was such a foolish ruler.

Ji Yan scoffed, seemingly mocking something. "You believe them just because they step forward? What you see isn't necessarily the truth. I told you long ago that this world is hypocritical and filthy, but you didn't believe me."

Shen Jiao's heart sank, she was heartbroken. Her public image had deteriorated to such an extent that she no longer had even ten people around her.

Ji Yan kept a close eye on her expression, his long eyes filled with a chilling aura. "Are you very angry? Do you really want to snap their necks?"

No, she didn't want to. Shen Jiao shook her head. "Let it go, Your Majesty. It's better to be lenient when you can."

Ji Yan: "Why?"

"Alas, beautiful roads are always lonely."

Shen Jiao sighed, looked up at the sky, and tried to be a melancholy girl who had experienced many hardships, but she was stung by the dazzling sun and almost went blind.

She could only look down at the ground and continue reciting her lines, "Don't blame them, really Your Majesty, don't blame them, blame me for being too beautiful, beauty is the original sin."

"..."