Chapter 57 The Evil Cat Princess Who Bewitched the Nation (18)
Once he seizes control of the palace, he will make all the stray cats in the palace worship him as king, and reward each cat with a corrupt official as food!
Xie Rong rolled her eyes, already imagining Lu Wenjing's pained expression, and couldn't help but smile.
Seeing his joy, Lu Wenjing couldn't help but smile as well.
What does it matter if the ruler is a foolish one or a wise one?
He didn't care anymore.
He only wants Xie Rong, his empress.
It seems that only in this way can the endless fear in one's heart be filled with.
...
In the seventh month of the seventh year of the Shengyu era, there was a severe drought. Streams dried up, farmland cracked, and the people had no harvest. This was a famine.
At this very moment, rumors began to circulate that the emperor was incompetent and tyrannical, and that his infatuation with the wicked empress had angered the heavens, thus causing this calamity.
Uprisings broke out in various parts of Dafeng, but they were all quickly suppressed.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Xie Rong lay on the white jade bed to cool off. Through the screen, he heard the emperor throw a stack of memorials at Jiang Yebai, followed by the man's deep, angry voice.
These days, reports of uprisings have never stopped, and coupled with the famine, it's enough to make the court officials worry themselves sick.
But these things seem to have little to do with a cat.
[Host, you've drained the protagonist's luck, which is why Da Feng is having such a terrible time. Host, you're really too wicked! You might even drain the protagonist dry!]
Xie Rong snorted coldly, stepped off the bed barefoot, walked around the screen, and glanced at Jiang Yebai kneeling on the ground. "How much longer are you going to do?"
Lu Wenjing's expression softened. He got up, walked over, picked him up, and sat him back on the dragon throne. "Why aren't you wearing shoes and socks?"
Eunuch Liu, accustomed to this, brought over a basin of cold water and placed it on the imperial desk.
What happened next was beyond the authority of a mere servant like him.
Lu Wenjing scooped up a handkerchief from the basin with one hand, wrung it out, and bent down to wipe the dust off Xie Rong's feet.
In fact, in recent years, to prevent Xie Rong from getting his feet dirty, palace servants have been cleaning the floors of both the Hall of Mental Cultivation and the Qifeng Terrace every day. However, Xie Rong always takes advantage of his absence to transform back into a cat and run out of the Imperial Garden to play.
When the little cat came back with a flower wreath on its head by some palace maid, its fur looked like it had been rolled in the dirt, and its four pink paw pads were covered in dust. It meowed and left a series of black paw prints on the couch.
Lu Wenjing pried open Xie Rong's curled toes, carefully wiped them, and then threw the handkerchief back into the basin.
Eunuch Liu was clearly used to this, and then withdrew with the basin of water.
Xie Rong seemed to only then notice the person kneeling in the hall, "Why hasn't he left yet?"
"Your Majesty, I have an important matter to report," Jiang Yebai said, bowing his head. "The prefect of Huaizhou has joined forces with the local people to launch an uprising, and the remaining disaster victims of Huaizhou have no choice but to flock to other prefectures and counties. I beg Your Majesty to make a decision."
Lu Wenjing frowned in thought. Xie Rong had lost her patience. She grabbed his collar, her soft fingers groping haphazardly across his chest. "I'm hungry, feed me quickly!"
It's outrageous to let a cat go hungry.
Helpless, Lu Wenjing grabbed his hand and, having no time to pay attention to the urgent reports on the imperial desk, picked up his empress and carried her to the inner palace.
Or rather, ever since Xie Rong came into the emperor's sight, Lu Wenjing's mind had no longer been on that memorial.
An empress who thrives on chaos, and a monarch who is utterly deluded and willingly degenerates.
Kyoto is teetering on the brink of collapse, yet the person on the dragon throne remains immersed in the warmth and comfort of women—how laughable!
Jiang Yebai watched the two walk in. The cat demon nestled in the emperor's arms and deliberately glanced at him.
Jiang Yebai's heart sank.
At that moment, he was absolutely certain that Xie Rong had done it on purpose.
But why would Xie Rong do this? By ruining Lu Wenjing, not only would she lose her chance to become empress, but she would also be called a wicked empress. What good would that do her?
Jiang Yebai left the main hall with this question in mind.
The other officials waiting outside the hall rushed forward, "What did His Majesty say? Should he send people to suppress the rebellion and provide relief to the disaster victims?"
Jiang Yebai said calmly, "My lords, there's no need to wait any longer. His Majesty has no time to see us."
“How could this be?!” An old minister swayed as he looked up and sighed, “Your Majesty was not like this before.”
Jiang Yebai sneered, "My lords, even if we all crash into this dragon pillar tonight, we still can't wake up someone who's deceiving himself and pretending to be drunk."
"What do you mean by that, Lord Jiang?"
Jiang Yebai refused to say anything more, shook his head, and turned to leave.
He walked to the palace gate, but there was another figure beside the Jiang family's carriage.
Jiang Yebai frowned, pretending not to see, and walked past the other person toward the carriage.
“Lord Jiang,” Gu Qiansi called out to him, smiling enigmatically, “you’ve dropped something.”
Jiang Yebai turned around and saw the handkerchief in Gu Qiansi's hand.
On one corner of the handkerchief, a few crooked characters were embroidered: 'Xie Rong's Handkerchief'.
Gu Qiansi sneered inwardly.
This Lord Jiang looks very serious, but he's even bolder than me, daring to even covet that wicked empress.
"Let's make a deal."
The two found a quieter place.
Jiang Yebai said coldly, "I am but a scholar, and I am afraid I cannot help the young general."
Gu Qiansi examined the handkerchief and even sniffed it in front of Jiang Yebai. The fragrance seemed strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had smelled it before.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in this wicked empress."
...
In the seventh year of the Sheng Yu era, the autumnal equinox arrived.
Rebel armies from all sides stormed into the capital and broke into the palace. The imperial guards offered no resistance whatsoever, and palace servants either died or fled.
The rebels burned, killed, and looted their way through the area, basking in the excitement of victory, and suddenly realized that the Imperial Guard was nothing special!
"Boss, I've heard that the emperor's empress is quite a beauty. Who knows, right now that emperor might still be lying on that vixen's belly, oblivious to the world around him!"
"After we take that dog emperor's head, we'll leave the empress alive to torture her properly!"
With blood-stained broadswords in hand and white turbans on their heads, the crowd rushed excitedly toward Qifeng Terrace.
Upon arriving at Qifeng Terrace, they found the palace gates tightly shut. The palace servants who had been guarding outside the hall had vanished without a trace. Only a white-haired eunuch was pacing back and forth in front of the hall, bending over as if searching for something.
The rebel leader kicked the eunuch aside and strode in aggressively.
But as soon as he stepped inside, an invisible hand ripped his heart out of his chest.
Startled, everyone took several steps back, their eyes warily fixed on the dark hall.
Xie Rong walked out of the hall, glancing sideways at Eunuch Liu, "Aren't you leaving? Staying here to die?"
The rebel army fought their way to the capital, and they had never seen anyone so handsome.
She was pure white from head to toe, with a hint of pink in the white. Her delicate skin wrapped around her thin frame, and she wore a dragon robe that was obviously too big and trailed on the ground.
As expected of a demon empress, let alone the dragon robe, that dog emperor probably wished he could offer up the throne as well.
These rebels were so fascinated by it that they almost thought it was a bodhisattva descending to earth. They could smell a fragrance from afar and were so stunned that they stood there for a moment, their eyes glowing green.
Amidst the subtle sounds of swallowing, a viscous desire slowly spread.
Liu Gonggong stared blankly for a moment as Xie Rongyi swayed her tail, then suddenly realized what was going on. He wiped away his tears and laughed and cried at the same time, "I thought you had gone to play in the Imperial Garden again."
Xie Rong lowered his head and smelled the hot air emanating from his heart, then threw it on the ground in disgust, refusing to even put it in his mouth.
“Lu Wenjing is inside,” Xie Rong said with a smile to the rebels. “What are we waiting for?”
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