This scene, witnessed by Ji Yan, was met with composure. She nodded in appreciation, saying, "Not bad, not bad."
Even at this moment, he remained calm and composed, and he couldn't find the slightest flaw. His acting skills recovered to their original state in a very short time. He truly deserves to be the person he chose.
Ji Yan pushed the wine pot over, "Pour some water."
It was water, not wine. Shen Jiao remembered the honey water he had mentioned the other day and her heart screamed, "No way, can it be done like this?"
Even now, they still want her to carry out the plan. As a human being, please be kind. Can't you just give her a quick death?
She somewhat regretted not having taken the blow from the leader of the dancers.
Despite these thoughts, Shen Jiao decided to survive in the cracks and cherish life, so she picked up the wine pot and shamelessly filled a cup with honey water.
"Your Majesty, please." She spoke in the most gentle and affected voice she had ever used.
She had watched many political dramas. How could a king want to die? So many people fought tooth and nail for the throne. Ji Yan probably just wanted to humiliate her or amuse her. Oh well, if things are peaceful for a while, then patience will bring peace.
Ji Yan took the cup: "Don't worry, I'll still drink it even if you don't speak in such a disgusting voice."
Shen Jiao: "..." Thank you, but I wasn't comforted.
Ji Yan finished her cup in one gulp, then stared strangely at the impassive Shen Jiao. She blinked, unable to understand the tyrant's gaze, and poured herself another cup.
Ji Yan drank a little slowly this time, but the cup was only about half the size of her palm, and it was empty in no time.
Shen Jiao refilled his glass, repeating this several times until his hand ached. He wondered to himself, "Doesn't he feel the urge to go to the toilet after drinking so much? The tyrant's kidneys are really something else."
Ji Yan hiccuped from drinking, pressed two fingers against the wine pot, and patted Shen Jiao's head in shock with his free hand. "What are you staring at? It's time to kill someone!"
Yes, the tyrant had instructed her to assassinate him while he was drinking honey water.
Shen Jiao: "!!!"
Are you sure you want to play for real? But what if she can't afford to play high-level games?
Seeing her evasive expression, Ji Yan pinched her chin hard with two fingers, his eyes surging with violence. "I've rehearsed with you so many times, why are you still hesitating to make a move? I'm truly disappointed."
Shen Jiao had only heard that the Yan Emperor was unpredictable, capricious, tyrannical, and vicious... but she never expected that he was comparable to a century-old cerebral thrombosis patient. Could a human being say such a thing?
If she killed Ji Yan, shouldn't that be considered fulfilling a sacred wish?
Now that things had come to this, Shen Jiao had come to terms with it. In any case, she couldn't escape death. She had knelt, kowtowed, and begged. She had done everything she could. Now there was only one thing she couldn't do.
She tentatively asked, "Your Majesty, may I ask what will happen to me if I kill you?"
Ji Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Why don't you change how you refer to yourself?"
Shen Jiao tried hard to keep up with the tyrant's erratic thought process, "Does Your Majesty dislike the self-reference of 'slave'?"
"No, it's because you can't distinguish between nasal sounds. I'm not used to it, and I can't help but want to kill you."
"I understand. I've inadvertently stepped on the tyrant's landmine." Shen Jiao readily agreed, "Yes, Your Majesty. Now, may I ask what will happen to me if I kill you?"
She's not greedy; surely granting her a marquisate wouldn't be a problem?
"The crime of regicide is punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family. Do you still want to live?" Ji Yan was extremely shocked. Such emotions from a normal person seemed quite ironic to her. Clearly, she had the nerve to ask such a low-level question.
The envoys also couldn't keep their expressions in check, and they discussed in hushed tones without moving their lips or heads.
"This young lady is as beautiful as an angel, how come she's so dull-witted, daring to discuss such a topic? Is she crazy or are we just getting old?"
"Sigh, what's there to worry about? It just proves the old saying that heaven is fair. If it opens a door for you, it will always close a window."
"Stop spouting nonsense! Are we just going to stand by and let His Majesty run wild? Look at Wei Gou's mouth, it's practically stretched to the sky! Anyone who's not afraid of death, hurry up and go and try to persuade him!"
The hall was spacious enough that Shen Jiao, unaware of the turmoil beneath, mustered her courage and decided to discuss it further: "...But I don't want to die, Your Majesty."
Because she didn't want to die, she hesitated to kill him? Ji Yan seemed to recall unpleasant memories from the past, and her calm expression changed, becoming somewhat ferocious: "What's so good about living? This world is hypocritical and filthy, utterly disgusting."
Shen Jiao: "..."
Well, there's some truth to that, but there's still genuine kindness in the world, and the sky's the limit; she believes there's a bright future ahead.
"Your Majesty, I am still young, I have never been in love, and I have never been married."
Ji Yan was filled with murderous intent, unstoppable: "I didn't do it either, I won't listen, if you don't kill me, I'll kill you."
Shen Jiao: "Then why was I the one chosen?"
Ji Yan casually remarked, "You have extraordinary bone structure, an extra hair compared to others, whiter teeth than Wang Fu, and no aloofness."
Shen Jiao was speechless. To be honest, even her three-year-old cousin from her extended family didn't use such a clumsy excuse.
An absurd hypothesis flashed through her mind: "His Majesty chose me, perhaps because of my face?"
This is somewhat shameless, but you can't use normal thinking when dealing with a lunatic. After all, apart from her face, there's nothing about her that would attract the tyrant's attention.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Ji Yan moved her face and tugged at it like kneading dough, "You could interpret it that way."
Shen Jiao was glad that she hadn't put on any makeup, otherwise it would have been quite embarrassing to have a lot of white powder on her face.
But it seems that the tyrant's approval of her is simply because he thinks her reasoning is relatively normal.
"I don't care, you promised me you can't go back on your word." Ji Yan Nuo became even more agitated. Human skin is best when it's native; it's not perfect when peeled off and stuck on someone else.
Is it appropriate for a tyrant like you to use such a coquettish tone?
Shen Jiao's brain really isn't working properly. Why would a monarch like Ji Yan go to such lengths to seek death? Even if he did seek death, there are plenty of people outside who want him dead.
Take the head dancer as an example, what kind of lunatic's brain is that?
Shen Jiao weighed the options. If she died first, Ji Yan would probably torture her terribly before killing her. If she died later, it would be more painless. Sigh, being an emperor is too torturous.
So she made up her mind and nodded, "Okay, let's go."
Who told you to be the emperor?
Anyway, whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed. In ten years or so, you'll be a hero again.
"No, Your Majesty..."
After Shen Jiao agreed, the Yan envoys, led by Wang Fu, knelt down in a panic. Even from a distance, she could feel the fear emanating from them.
"Absolutely not, Your Majesty! If anything were to happen to you, what would we do? What would happen to the people? What would happen to the State of Yan? What would happen to the entire nation?"
"Your Majesty, please reconsider. The world is in turmoil today. Wei is treacherous and cunning in front, Shao is lurking behind, and the two states on either side are eyeing us covetously. If something were to happen to Your Majesty, wouldn't our Great Yan become fish on the chopping block? Can Your Majesty tolerate this? I cannot."
"Then I...then I cannot bear it either."
"I second that proposal."
Ji Yan's deep, dark eyes slowly swept over the crowd, and she smiled lightly, "If you can't stand it, then you can all become this lousy emperor."
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