Shen Xingmian followed the crowd to the front yard, where she saw that the open space was already filled with soldiers. The head eunuch had an unfriendly expression, so she knew that she was likely to be humiliated today.

Her current body is that of a frail young girl, and there aren't many firearms in the space, so it's impossible for her to fight her way out.

She felt that being humiliated was nothing, as long as she could get her family out of the capital. She was mentally prepared for that.

But what happened next made her realize that all her mental preparation had been for nothing, and she really wanted to kill that damned castrated dog right away.

The man took out a bright yellow scroll, put on airs, and slowly unfurled it, his shrill voice filled with disdain: "Everyone in the Shen family, why don't you kneel down and receive the imperial decree?"

The few confidants who had returned with General Shen were indignant at the sight of such an arrogant eunuch. They couldn't bear to see their master suffer such injustice and wished they could just grab a knife and chop the old man to pieces.

But thinking of the unconscious old general and the father and son still in prison, their fate unknown, they swallowed their anger. They couldn't let the situation get worse.

Luo Qi'an and Shen Yunting led everyone to kneel down to receive the imperial decree. Even though they wanted to kill the emperor in their hearts, they could not show any disloyalty on their faces.

The crime they were accused of was having an army and disrespecting imperial authority. If they were to express dissatisfaction now, wouldn't that give them even more grounds for criticism?

Shen Xingmian also knelt down. As a modern person, she had never knelt before since childhood, and she didn't have much of a concept of this kind of ancient ritual.

Well, aside from her knees being a little sore, she didn't feel much humiliation. She even learned to sit on her heels without any instruction.

She was small, and with her skirt covering her, no one noticed her little movements.

The eunuch deliberately slowed down his movements, preparing to announce the imperial decree at a leisurely pace, but suddenly discovered a problem.

"Wait, where is Shen Zhiheng? The Emperor's decree applies to everyone in the Shen family. Even if he is unconscious, he is no exception. Someone, go and 'invite' him here."

The deliberately drawn-out, high-pitched tone was already unpleasant to hear, and the added emphasis on the word "please" made one want to kill him outright.

But they couldn't. There were still members of the Shen family in prison, and they weren't sure if they were safe, so no one dared to make a move.

As a large group of soldiers stormed into the backyard of the general's mansion, Shen Yunting tried to get up and follow them, but was stopped by the nearest soldier who drew his sword.

She couldn't. For the sake of her family's lives, even if she had the ability to kill everyone here, she couldn't touch a single person.

Fortunately, they had been drinking the "miracle water" given to them by their daughter from last night until this morning, so even if they were injured, they should be able to recover quickly.

Thinking of this, Shen Yunting felt a little relieved.

If she had known where her older brother and Zheng'er were being held, she definitely would have been unable to resist and, with her daughter, rescued them one by one last time last night.

well……

Those men accurately located the old general's door and kicked it open without any politeness.

The group of people who would normally kneel down and fawn over Shen Zhiheng are now acting all high and mighty.

It's really ridiculous.

They scrambled to drag the former General of the North from his bed, then each took one of his arms and roughly pulled him into the courtyard, forcing the "unconscious" old man to kneel on the ground.

From the moment Shen Yunting saw his father, veins bulged on his forehead and the back of his hands as he desperately suppressed the anger in his heart.

Fearing she wouldn't be able to bear it, Luo Qi'an quietly took her hand, offering her silent comfort.

Shen Yun closed her eyes briefly, telling herself that now was not the time to act rashly. She should remember these faces and wait until her family was safe before sneaking back and killing them all!

Shen Xingmian turned to look at her grandfather and saw that he had no reaction at all, no different from when he was almost in a vegetative state.

Even knowing that this was a way to lull the emperor into a false sense of security, it was still very unpleasant to watch.

In this era of absolute imperial power, even the saying "better to be a broken piece of jade than a whole piece of tile" is nonsense, and it's even harder for a tile to remain whole.

Those people can trample on you whenever they want, and you're not allowed to show any displeasure. They even shamelessly expect you to be grateful.

What gives them the right?

Is it only when the world changes hands that this rule can be changed?

In the eyes of ordinary people, a general is already a very high-ranking official, but his life and death are still in the hands of the royal family. This damned stupid rule of "if the emperor wants his subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die"!

No matter how loyal and capable you are, it's all in vain.

The seeds of rebellion were probably sown at this moment.

...

Seeing the once proud and arrogant people now kneeling at his feet, Hu Zhuo felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

People laugh at eunuchs as rootless creatures, castrated dogs, but if they could give up those things and stand at the pinnacle of power, how many would be unwilling?

Now, these people who were once high and mighty have to kneel before him, huh?

This perverse sense of satisfaction, like a monster that can devour one's sanity, swelled up in him with unprecedented courage in an instant.

He took two steps forward, looking at the Shen family with an arrogant gaze, unaware that such an expression on his face only made him look out of place.

He was like a clown who had completely forgotten his identity, mistakenly believing that the power before him belonged to him, not to the emperor behind him.

If you rely too much on others' power, you'll forget who others truly fear.

No matter how slowly he read it aloud, the decree of exile would eventually be read out. What was an extremely humiliating moment for the Shen family was, for him, one that left him wanting more.

In her previous life, Shen Xingmian had always disliked certain school leaders who abused their authority, treating a small meeting as their own grand stage and spouting endless nonsense.

At that moment, she suddenly felt that those annoying bosses she used to remember so vividly seemed quite lovable in comparison.

She even felt that this dead eunuch was ranked higher on her assassination list than the dog emperor.

Hu Zhuo was so engrossed in his own world that he didn't sense the killing intent at all, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared.

With so many officers and soldiers behind him, who would dare to do anything to him?

He knew exactly how to hit someone's sore spot, so he turned his eyes and said, "In this sweltering heat, I wonder if the former General of the Northern Garrison can handle it. The Emperor is kind and has arranged for us to prepare a donkey cart for him."

You all need to remember to turn Old Shen over often, otherwise he'll get bedsores, tsk tsk, that'll be a real pain."

"Oh dear, but looking at Old Shen's oblivious appearance, even if he gets bedsores, he probably won't feel any pain, hehehe."

"Damn it," Shen Xingmian couldn't help but curse in her mind.