Chapter 129: Unrivaled in Cards

After much persuasion, they finally managed to coax Old Man Yan away.

Shang Yuji turned her gaze away, looking at Jiang Xi with an accusatory expression. Jiang Xi grabbed her little finger, waiting for her question.

He knew that Ah Ji wouldn't scold him, so he wasn't nervous.

More than scolding him, he feared that Ah Ji would lie on the bed with her eyes closed, unresponsive no matter how he called out to her.

Fortunately, before Ah-Ji fell asleep, she told him not to worry, which helped him persevere.

A soft body covered her, Shang Yuji's hands slipped under his arms, wrapping around his waist, and she rested her head against his chest, comforting him:

"You've worked hard these past two days, Xi. Take good care of yourself and stay by my side."

Jiang Xi whimpered softly, placed her hand under the bandaged wound, and rubbed her cheek against her head: "As long as Aji is back, it's not hard at all."

Then, she recounted the matter of the pure white space. In order to maximize the value of changing fate, she would have to explain this matter to the eldest princess later.

Since she wasn't going to keep it a secret, she decided to talk to Jiang Xi in advance, just to organize her thoughts beforehand.

Shang Yuji could, of course, pretend to have a precognitive dream as before, and then tell the eldest princess so she could make the decision.

However, by changing her destiny and accumulating energy, and then giving back to the Great Peaceful World in the form of energy, her personal power can influence those around her. But no matter what, it cannot compare to the immense and profound impact of the entire national machine in operation.

Just as she cannot change the millions of people who have long stayed in their homeland, the country's system and policies can encompass all people.

Individual strength is too insignificant, so why not borrow the strength of the group?

Moreover, this is Da'an for everyone, not just hers alone. We need everyone to work together to push Da'an towards a better tomorrow.

Of course, there is another reason. The current court has too many problems. Many ministers are concerned with their own interests, their families' future, and the livelihood of their descendants. Their goals are trivial, and they are fighting for power and profit. They are not working together. To put it more bluntly, these ministers not only cannot help Da'an move forward, but they are also hindering Da'an's development.

Shang Yuji even hoped that the court could be the sole domain of the Eldest Princess. In order to consolidate power in advance and ensure that the decrees issued were carried out instead of being perfunctorily handled by subordinates, the court needed to have influence and the Eldest Princess needed to hold significant power.

As for the inability to decisively remove the malignant tumor, political compromises that compromise the degree of acceptance by both sides are too slow and hinder development.

To gain the Princess's trust and swiftly eliminate the corrupt officials in the court, one must offer enough incentives to win her support.

Shang Yuji explained the nation's fate, destiny, and the ultimate outcome of the previous life in Da'an. Jiang Xi's arms around her waist tightened, and she broke into a smile through her tears.

“Ah Ji and I are so destined to meet. Bai Tuan only allowed Ah Ji to come to the capital, but Ah Ji was able to find the house I was in among the countless houses in the capital! We are destined to meet, and Ah Ji is also very amazing.”

She told him these things not so that she could discuss them with him. Jiang Xi was never concerned with matters of national importance, but rather with things related to her.

She told him for two reasons: first, to explain why she had been unconscious for the past two days and to comfort him; second, she wanted to tell him these things, regardless of the content of the conversation, simply to enjoy talking while they were together, with him listening attentively and her speaking casually.

This poor, foolish young master Jiang could calmly face death for their chance to meet at some unknown time, so why wasn't she moved?

Even though she had already lowered her standards for him enough, she wouldn't mind lowering them even further.

Jiang Xi's tears stopped. He smelled the familiar scent of pear blossoms, hugged the warm person in his arms, and felt that the weather was nice today, that Aji was nice, and that he was very happy.

After resting for two more days, during which he dealt with many relatives and friends who came to visit, and repeatedly assured them that he was fine, Yi Sha and the others finally felt relieved.

Recently, the Eldest Princess has been busy dealing with the aftermath of Zhou Ao's rebellion, barely having time to rest. At the same time, she has not forgotten to entertain the martial arts practitioners who helped in the battle of Zhengqing Hall. Except for some martial arts practitioners who had urgent business to attend to and had to leave early, the Eldest Princess rewarded them generously and did not try to keep them.

Yi Sha, Xiang Fengyun, and others, worried about Shang Yuji's collapse, discussed staying behind. Huo Shengge would send people to guard the Jia mansion so that they wouldn't have to worry about things being stolen.

It was rare to have so many people in the hall today, so Yi Sha invited everyone to play cards. Everyone present was injured to some extent—the imperial physicians, palace maids, eunuchs—and anyone who saw them practicing martial arts or brandishing weapons would rush up to stop them, saying that they shouldn't move around while recovering from their injuries. They were practically suffocating these martial arts practitioners.

Yi Sha could, of course, ignore the advice of the palace maids and eunuchs, but seeing them say that they had been ordered to do so, and that it was their fault for not being able to help the distinguished guest recover properly and rest well, and that they deserved to be dragged away and beaten, their pitiful appearance frightened Yi Sha, and she didn't dare to practice whipping for four consecutive days.

Although they later learned that these were just words from the palace maids and eunuchs to coax the wandering swordsmen to take good care of their injuries, the swordsmen were easygoing and didn't take them seriously. Moreover, the swordsmen understood that when you are a guest in someone's home, you should naturally respect the rules of the host's home, so the two sides got along quite well.

A perceptive palace maid brought over the playing cards, spread out a soft silk cloth, and also brought over pastries and sweet fruits for the wandering travelers to snack on while playing cards.

A game is played by four people, and there are four types of cards: "Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon". When the player before you plays a card, the player after you can question whether the card played by the player before you is true. Whoever plays all their cards first wins.

Yi Sha, who considered himself a master of cards, was about to dominate the game when he unexpectedly encountered three troublesome opponents.

The theme this time was wind. Yi Sha played two wind cards steadily. Shang Yuji, the player to her left, did not question it. With a straight face, she played one flower and two moon cards and looked calmly at Jiang Xi, the player to her left: "Three winds."

Jiang Xi didn't question it and played a wind card, and Huo Shenge followed suit.

Each of them had their own thoughts. Yi Sha successfully questioned Huo Shengge and sent him off the field. Shang Yuji did not question Yi Lao and directly flipped over five wind cards, winning the first victory.

Yi Sha was unconvinced, while Jiang Xi looked at A Ji with shining eyes and admiration.

As the game progressed, Yi Sha's exasperated voice rang out one after another: "Xiao Jiang! There's no way she could have four monthly cards. I have almost all of them. You need to question Xiao Shang right now!"

Jiang Xi buried her head and weakly pulled out two cards to play: "No doubt, I have two."

Jiang Xi was questioned by Huo Shengge and suffered a setback.

In the end, Shang Yuji won with her last card, which was the only Moon card.

In the new round, when it was Shang Yuji's turn to play, she narrowed her eyes, her expression serious, but her tone was unusually weak. She played all the cards in her hand at once: "Ahem, twelve face cards."

Yi Sha slammed his fist on the table in anger: "This is too much! He dared to play all his cards right at the start of the game. There must be something fishy going on. How could Xiao Shang possibly have all twelve face cards? You can't let Xiao Shang get away with this!"

Jiang Xi blinked rapidly with her long eyelashes, and mumbled, "No doubt about it."

Shang Yuji laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight, and Jiang Xi quickly supported her injured waist to prevent her from pressing on the wound.

Finally, Yi Sha and Huo Shenggge made the final decision: "Family members are not allowed to participate in the game. Replace them."

Hoping Xiao Jiang will oppose Xiao Shang? You might as well hope she gets a flush of the same suit next time!

Jiang Xi, who was eliminated, moved to Shang Yuji's side to look at the cards, and his position was taken over by A Cuo.

After playing only a couple of rounds, Lin Mingshan, who was standing behind Huo Shenge, bent down, reached under Huo Shenge's desk, and pulled out a brownish-black beetle that was very similar in color to the desk. Holding up the beetle, he asked, "Miss A-Cuo, why did this beetle get under Senior Sister's desk?"

Huo Shengge understood perfectly well, and she asked with a smile, "Miss A-Cuo wouldn't be breaking the rules by using Gu worms, would she?"

A-Cuo looked away and said, "How could that be? It just ran away by accident. I'll call it back right now."

A-Cuo was caught on the spot and left the scene with regret.

Afterwards, many people moved to different positions. Xiang Fei couldn't hide his expression, and Huo Shengge kept noticing his odd behavior. Mo Xin was too young, and several elders subconsciously let her play her cards, not wanting to upset the child. After Mo Xin noticed this, she left the game herself...

It wasn't until Tang Xiliu heard the commotion and joined the game that the situation was barely stabilized.

Unfortunately, Shang Yuji was so lucky that she never got a bad hand and was asked to leave the stage by Master Yi.

Guan Yi originally came to tell Shang Yuji that he was too badly injured at the time and did not have time to stab Zhou Yun to avenge his master. Jiang Shaoxia cut off Zhou Yun's head and took it away. When she found it, she saw the style of the headless corpse's clothes and realized that Zhou Yun was dead. It was better than stabbing him a few times.

After saying that, Yi Shala entered the game and took Shang Yuji's place.

With his hands behind his back, Shang Yuji, who was unbeatable at cards, sighed, "He's truly undefeated."

The crowd chatted until sunset. Unlike court officials, the martial arts practitioners didn't keep the affairs of high-ranking officials secret. They ate a nourishing meal prepared by the imperial kitchen, chatting amongst themselves. Shang Yuji listened and sorted out her thoughts.

The emperor wrote an abdication edict, designating the eldest princess as his successor. He then announced the succession at the morning court session two days prior, despite the astonishment he caused among the court officials. After finishing his announcement, he left the court.

Time is of the essence; the enthronement ceremony is scheduled for one month from now, and the entire court is currently busy preparing for it.

Some people were dissatisfied and wanted to meet the late emperor, but as expected, they were stopped by the eldest princess. Although the eldest princess had not yet ascended the throne, her status as the new emperor was already nominal.

Although there was an antidote for the poison the beauty had given the emperor, Zhou Chaoyun was not one to do charity. She emptied the emperor's private treasury of many years before allowing the imperial physicians to do their best to save him.

As for the emperor, he heard that Yan Qing, one of the two sages of medicine, was living in the palace and wanted to ask him to treat his illness.

Yan Qing was furious when he heard the news. How dare she ask him to treat her after injuring his little girl!

Enraged, Yan Qing rushed to the emperor's sickbed and began to curse. The emperor, paralyzed in bed, was now a figurehead, and the eunuchs dared not disobey their new master's orders. Naturally, they ignored the emperor and at most offered a few words of comfort to Doctor Yan to show that they had done their job.

The Imperial Guards that the Emperor longed for had actually had their leader secretly defect to the Princess's side. The reason for the defection was simple and straightforward: the Princess's army offered better treatment.

The emperor was frugal, so he didn't cut back on the expenses of the Imperial Guards, but that didn't make things much better for them either.

The personal guards and imperial guards under the command of the eldest princess were well-fed and clothed, and the commanders of the Imperial Guards occasionally organized activities to enhance cohesion; their treatment was several levels better than that of the Imperial Guards. However, to truly judge a commander's character, one must look at how he treats wounded and veteran soldiers. Wounded and veteran soldiers under the eldest princess's care received generous subsidies, and after leaving the battlefield, they were regularly contacted to monitor their living conditions, truly showing that the princess cared deeply about her subordinates.

Even when the Princess's household was short of money, she insisted on not cutting subsidies for wounded and veteran soldiers, no matter how difficult the situation was. After the Princess ascended the throne, she treated her subordinates well and showed them great care.

People strive for higher positions, and the leader of the Imperial Guards decisively changed troop types.

Officials in the court who wanted to trip up Zhou Chaoyun, put on airs, and delay the enthronement ceremony were eventually kicked out of the center of power by a single order from Zhou Chaoyun. Finally, those who were smart enough to stop trying, but that didn't stop them from making their own little schemes.

The imperial court was in complete chaos, and Shang Yuji didn't mind adding fuel to the fire.