Chapter 111

Si Yanmo knew that the other party already knew her inside and out. If she made up lies, it would only arouse his suspicion. It was better to tell him the truth, half-truths and half-lies.

"Your Majesty, two years ago I accidentally fell into the pond near the Yunji Temple. I was blessed by the gods and they bestowed miracles upon me, allowing me to learn many things that ordinary people cannot do. However, Yunji ordered me not to reveal myself for a year and to continue learning immortal arts from her. That is why I pretended to be crazy for a year, unwilling to disobey the divine order. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Of course, all the talk about divine decrees and divine instruction was made up by her.

She herself didn't know why, but suddenly she could see other people's destinies.

Perhaps it was divine mercy, but she preferred to believe that the gods wanted her to see through everything in this world.

The Southern Emperor did not blame him. "It's alright. Since today is New Year's Eve, when we are officially sweeping away past disasters, after the palace banquet, please ask Mo Li to perform a ritual so that I can witness this magic."

Si Yanmo nodded in agreement, then secretly glanced at Zhou Junsong.

The plan Zhou Junsong mentioned at Hechun Tower that day was to make Si Yanmo reveal her identity as Mo Li. Since the Southern Emperor sent people to look for her, he must have recognized her abilities.

If he could truly see that Si Yanmo's "immortal arts" were superior to Chen Tingyu's, then he would become a pawn, and all the blame could be placed on him.

They couldn't seek revenge against the Southern Emperor, but they could exonerate the Tan Yin family. However, this also meant that Si Yanmo would be forcibly kept by him to become a diviner.

Zhou Yanqing initially disagreed, but the group had no better solution.

Si Yanmo comforted him, saying that it was just a demonstration of her abilities, and that when the Southern Emperor asked her to stay, she could simply make up an excuse to decline.

Anyway, it was he who arranged the marriage between himself and Zhou Yanqing, so he can't go back on his word.

Zhou Yanqing was then willing to give it a try, but she couldn't hide her worries.

He secretly thought that if the Southern Emperor really wanted to keep Si Yanmo, he wouldn't mind rebelling once.

Don't they all think they'll rebel?

We might as well go along with their wishes.

Not long after the banquet began, the Southern Emperor led a few people to the statue of Emperor Gu in the palace.

The statue of Emperor Gu inside the palace was even taller and larger than the one Si Yanmo had seen in the temple, and it was filled with offerings, showing the dedication of the donors.

By this time, it was getting dark, and none of them could see the details on the statue clearly. They all waited for Si Yanmo to use her "immortal magic".

Si Yanmo doesn't know any magic, but that doesn't stop her from "playing tricks." After all, Chen Tingyu and the others do the same thing, don't they?

She adopted a serious and solemn demeanor, lit three sticks of incense, and stood before the statue of the deity, chanting incantations that no one could understand.

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out in the sky—the fireworks of New Year's Eve had burst into bloom. Si Yanmo trembled, the hairpin in her hair fell off, and her hair bun instantly came undone, trembling wildly with her movements.

The Southern Emperor frowned upon seeing this, and the Southern Empress was also somewhat puzzled.

Another firework exploded, illuminating the dim night sky with its colors, and the people in front of the statue stopped trembling.

She spoke, her voice low and deep like a man's, with a hint of emptiness, "Who summoned me here?"

The Southern Emperor seemed to have seen something, but he was still half-convinced and did not move.

Zhou Yanqing then handed over the blood copper coin he had received earlier, and said respectfully, "The gods have issued a divine decree, but we are too foolish to understand. We beg the gods to come and answer our questions."

"Di Gu" did not answer him, but instead said sternly, "Now that you have seen me, why do you not kneel?"

Just as he finished speaking, a firework exploded on the statue of Emperor Gu, and the instantaneous light allowed everyone to see Emperor Gu's majestic expression.

The face of the statue seemed to overlap with Si Yanmo's face, causing the Southern Emperor to involuntarily kneel down. The Southern Empress, who was not incredulous at first, had no choice but to kneel down with him.

Zhou Junsong and the others behind him naturally had no choice but to kneel down as well.

"Forgive us, Gods!" the Southern Emperor said. "We are meeting you for the first time and have been negligent. Please forgive us."

"Di Gu" raised his hand, seemingly forgiving them. He pinched the blood-red coin between his fingers, closed his eyes, and muttered something as if telling a story.

While others couldn't hear it, the Southern Emperor heard it clearly. This was the entire process of Chen Tingyu plotting against the Tan Yin family as evil spirits that year.

Just as he was worried that "Digu" would reveal all of his business, "Digu" suddenly opened his eyes, his voice majestic and filled with anger, "Forging a divine decree, you will be punished by heaven and earth!"

He then looked at the Southern Emperor, "Is this how the Human Emperor chooses divination methods? If so, I think it's better if this southern land is not safe."

The Southern Emperor panicked and knelt down, kowtowing, "I am guilty, please forgive me, God. I will resolve this immediately."

"Di Gu" looked at him, beckoned him forward, and whispered in his ear as he approached: "The debts are too heavy. Correcting them in time will bring eternal merit. Otherwise, the prophecy will come true."

Upon hearing him mention the prophecy, the Southern Emperor's heart skipped a beat.

He had been somewhat skeptical just now, but now he realized that the person in front of him was truly "Emperor Gu incarnate".

He immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

Just after he agreed, another firework exploded above the statue of Emperor Gu.

With a flicker of light and a flash of darkness, the three sticks of incense burned out, "Di Gu" disappeared, and Si Yanmo, who was kneeling in front of the Di Gu statue, "fainted," but was fortunately caught by Zhou Yanqing in time.

He asked the Southern Emperor if he could take his wife to rest, but the other party was still in shock and only gave a perfunctory reply, not coming to his senses for a long time.

Zhou Yanqing took the opportunity to carry Si Yanmo away from the crowd. When they reached the corner, he gently patted her shoulder and said, "Alright, stop pretending."

Si Yanmo cautiously opened one eye, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then jumped down. "How was my performance?"

"It's like a god descending to earth!" He took out a hairpin he had always kept on hand and used it to tie up her loose hair. He teased her, "I didn't expect that after only a few days of learning from Zhao Wan, you can imitate a man's voice so well."

Si Yanmo proudly raised her chin, "That's right, I'm so smart!"

Zhou Yanqing smiled indulgently, "Yes, yes, my wife is the smartest. Do you think he'll believe that?"

Si Yanmo nodded confidently, "Of course, he has to believe it for the sake of his own position. It's just shifting all the blame onto Chen Tingyu, which won't harm him. Why wouldn't he agree to it?"

"Do you think he'll keep you here?" he asked, finally voicing his biggest concern.

He was not afraid of anything else, nor did he care whether the Southern Emperor wanted to kill him.

Now he has nothing left. His parents want to kill him, his master has long since left, and the only person he has left close to is Si Yanmo.

He dared not imagine what the point of his life would be if he were to leave him too.

Si Yanmo understood his worries, took his hand and comforted him, "Don't worry, no matter what, I will never leave you. If all else fails, we can just elope together!"

Zhou Yanqing was amused by her words and reached out to flick her nose. "What nonsense are you talking about? We are husband and wife. Even if we run away, it can only be called wandering the world, not eloping."

Seeing that he still had the mind to joke, Si Yanmo felt relieved. "Alright, alright, it's not called eloping. But..."

Her tone shifted abruptly, making Zhou Yanqing tense. "But what?"

“It’s nothing.” She shook her head again. “I was just wondering, would someone really kill a loyal minister, or even their own child, just so they could stay in this position?”

The "prophecy" she made to the Southern Emperor when she was "possessed by Emperor Gu" was precisely the Southern Emperor's inner demon that he had been struggling with for so long.

When he first ascended the throne, he was despised for killing his brother and father. Before his death, his father's diviner "cursed" him, saying that his fate would also be to be killed by his own son who usurped the throne.

He was very worried at the time, so he asked Chen Tingyu to calculate it for him again, and the result was still the same.

This became his eternal obsession. He exiled his eldest son to the Sak frontier, and his second son was frightened to death by his repeated rituals. For a long time afterward, he did not sleep with any of his concubines, fearing that he might accidentally experience the same fate as his father.

Fortunately, time gradually eased his fear, and he began to favor his concubines again. New princes were born in the palace, and the witch doctor diagnosed him with poor health, saying he might not live past thirty. Only then did he feel relieved.

And this prince is none other than Zhou Junsong.

But he would still be wary of these children, and would kill them at the slightest sign of trouble, such as... the Ninth Prince who "intended to rebel".

Everyone in the harem believed that the Ninth Prince had offended the Empress Dowager and was thus framed and killed by her.

What they didn't know was that the Ninth Prince's real cause of death was a careless remark.

When the Ninth Prince confronted the Empress, he inadvertently said, "When I ascend the throne, I will definitely send you to the Heavenly Prison and make you suffer every day, so that you can experience the pain of your mother!"

Logically, the one who should have been most angry upon hearing this was the Empress, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

When the steward reported these matters to Empress Nan, what he heard was not the accusation of a child angry for his mother, but the accusation of an ambitious son.

So he found Chen Tingyu, who faked a celestial phenomenon to kill the man directly.

He didn't care about these children; he only cared about whether he could secure his throne. So when he learned that he had a son who had been abandoned and that the son had become the King of Qin, he immediately brought his concubine into the palace as a hostage.

Fortunately, although Zhou Yanqing held great power, he did not seem to have any intention of rebelling. He was also very filial to Consort Qin and would listen to whatever she said.

The Southern Emperor felt much more at ease, but he still kept a close eye on him. If there was even the slightest disturbance, he would send troops to annihilate the enemy.

In his previous life, Zhou Yanqing did not do anything out of line, and the Southern Emperor was only wary of him.

What they didn't know was that the always clever Consort Shu had known about this prophecy for a long time. When Consort Shu was pregnant with Zhou Junsong, the Empress added something to her pregnancy-preserving medicine, and she almost died.

The child survived, but remained frail and sickly.

At first, she resented and hated it, but after she learned about the prophecy, she felt that it was Heaven's help that she gave birth to a prince who was not feared by the Southern Emperor.

She began to tell the public that Zhou Junsong was in poor health and only hoped that her child could live a few more years. In secret, she helped Zhou Junsong to improve his health and invited a tutor to teach him.

In fact, Zhou Junsong's health had long since improved significantly, but he continued to feign illness and weakness in order to reduce the Southern Emperor's attention.

As expected, because Zhou Junsong was frail and sickly, the Southern Emperor was much more tolerant of him than others, and would also let him handle some political affairs. In his eyes, Zhou Junsong might not even outlive him, so there was nothing to be wary of.

Zhou Junsong, however, focused more of his attention on Zhou Yanqing, which led to Zhou Yanqing's tragic death in his previous life.

As for the others...