Chapter 1
"Huan'er, wake up."
Chu Huan was sleeping soundly when she was pulled out of bed and helped by two beautiful maids to put on her overly large official uniform.
She yawned sleepily, "What time is it?"
Mother Wen: "In the beginning of the year."
Chu Huan:?
Waking her up at three in the morning, what a mother!
These two words perked her up—she was forced to recall the years when she didn't have to go to work until she got off work.
He had just put on his official uniform and hat when his father, Chu Ping, a fifth-rank doctor of the Ministry of Justice, who was waiting outside, came in to explain, "Your brother is out on business for the Emperor. To avoid attracting attention, you will attend court in his place. After court, stay in a corner and don't show your head or make any noise."
Chu Hua: ? ?
Disguising as a man and going to court on behalf of her brother, who was so smart that he came up with this idea after picking his toes?
"I'm so much shorter than you, I have two pierced ears, and my skin color isn't..."
Wen took out a pair of thick-soled, height-enhancing official boots and applied powder to Chu Huan's face, ears, neck, and hands, making her skin color almost like her brother's. Her preparations were extremely thorough.
It's definitely not a spur of the moment thing.
Chu Huan: "...Is it necessary to commit the crime of deceiving the emperor?" She didn't want to die.
Chu Ping looked at him dimly: "The Emperor has approved it."
Chu Hua: ???
Good fellow, are you deceiving the emperor by order? You, the emperor and your ministers, are playing a very new game!
*
Along the way, Chu Huan followed closely behind her father, watching him greet his colleagues.
Occasionally someone would come over, but before they could even start greeting each other, they would be interrupted by my father, so everything was fine.
The Dasheng period was divided into grand court and minor court. On the first and fifteenth day of every month, all officials above the ninth rank had to attend the grand court, while minor courts were limited to officials above the sixth rank.
My elder brother Chu Qin is the newly crowned third place in the imperial examination and a seventh-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy.
That means she has to come twice a month.
Chu Huan secretly clenched her fists. Going to court was so dangerous. She had to go back and have a few bowls of bird's nest from her mother to calm her nerves.
"Chu Qin, what are you doing here?" A handsome man wearing a sixth-grade egret green robe walked towards Chu Huan.
Chu Huan:!!!
This person was the newly crowned top scholar Liu Ziang, who was granted by the emperor the position of editor in the Hanlin Academy, a sixth-rank official, and was his brother's boss.
It’s going to be exposed!
Who would have thought that Liu Ziang gave Chu Huan a look and led her to where they should stand.
Chu Huan: “…” Thanks to the traitor!
There are quite a number of civil and military officials in Beijing. Whether officials of the fourth and fifth ranks can enter the palace depends on how many people have asked for leave that day. Officials of the sixth to ninth ranks are all outside the palace, with civil officials on the left and military generals on the right, forming a large crowd.
Chu Huanjing is 1.66 meters tall. Even with the height-increasing boots, she is still much shorter than her brother who is 1.84 meters tall. Her chest is also heaving, and the signs of her being a woman disguised as a man are very obvious.
Several colleagues in the Hanlin Academy seemed to be blind, calling her Brother Chu and Lord Chu one after another, and with just a few words, they pushed her into a corner.
Chu Huan: “…” There are so many traitors.
Well, I can eat less of my mother's bird's nest when I go back.
Suddenly, [Ding, your melon-eating system is online. ]
Chu Hua: ???
The voice appeared directly in her mind. Although it was sudden, she also had a sense of sudden realization that "the golden finger of time travel is late but it arrives".
[Host, hello, I am Melon-eating System 188.] The system asked anxiously, [Would you like to bind?]
Chu Hua: [Are you in a hurry?] So anxious that I even skipped introducing myself.
The system almost cried out: [Not enough energy.]
Chu Hua: [You must be a product of technology. How did people in ancient times obtain energy? Solar energy?]
System: [The more melons you eat, the more energy you accumulate, referred to as melon energy. Wait a minute, I need to connect to wireless, otherwise it will be difficult to eat melons.]
Chu Huan was stunned. Was wireless connection possible in ancient times?
188 is a new system that has just been produced. It consumed too much energy to travel to ancient times, and he also spent energy searching for the most suitable host to bind to. He was on the verge of shutting down when his energy line was about to be red line. He hurriedly turned on the wireless and did not realize that he had accidentally turned on the sharing function.
With Chu Hua as the center, everyone within a fifty-meter radius heard a strange child's voice: [Host, would you like to bind?]
emperor:? ? ?
Officials: ???
"The Emperor has arrived—"
All the officials knelt down and said, "Long live the emperor."
The emperor sat on the dragon throne, still thinking about that strange voice: "You all, please stand."
The court began to discuss state affairs for the day. The first to step forward was the Minister of Works: "I have a report to make..."
Chu Hua, relying on the protection of a group of insiders, naturally deserted: [I've never heard of the melon-eating system.]
emperor:? ? ?
Officials: ???
How could a woman speak in the court?
The Minister of Works paused for a moment, then continued, "Last month, there were heavy rains in the capital..."
Chu Hua: [Cut one and try it.]
Minister of Industry: "..." Who on earth is going against me?!
He took a deep breath and continued, "The Star Picking Platform cannot be completed on schedule..."
The officials were secretly looking for the source of the sound. Chu Ping, who recognized the voice, was about to faint.
The system didn't have much energy, and fearing Chu Huan's rejection, it simply revealed a shocking piece of information: [The Third Prince is not the Emperor's biological son.]
Chu Hua: ???
[Hiss—so explosive right from the start? Tell me more!!!]
emperor:? ? !
Officials: ? ? !
Who is so bold? Don't want to lose your head?!
The emperor's face was gloomy, the Minister of Works stopped making memorials, and the entire court was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Chu Ping was almost scared to death.
As soon as the system heard Chu Huan's typical tone of voice, it knew that the host was in a safe place this time!
System: [Twenty years ago, during the emperor's southern tour, he visited several beauties. One of them, a brothel girl, gave birth to a daughter. However, the status of a princess and a prince is completely different. She left her daughter in the brothel and adopted a son born to someone else. She brought the jade pendant given to her by the emperor to the capital, and after a blood test to prove her kinship, she was successfully included in the imperial family's jade book.]
emperor:? ? !
Officials: ? ? !
He abandoned the royal princess and confused the royal bloodline, he deserves to be killed!
Chu Hua: [So it's a real or fake prince joke, boring.]
System: [No! Here comes the point! The fake prince she adopted is of the royal bloodline of the previous dynasty, and has already hooked up with the descendants of the previous dynasty's generals. He plans to dig up the previous dynasty's treasures to recruit soldiers and win over court officials to ascend the throne.]
emperor:? ? !
Officials: ? ? !
The Third Prince was actually a remnant of the previous dynasty, attempting to usurp the throne and restore the previous dynasty? He deserved to be killed!
Chu Hua: [Same old trick, boring. If only you could draw a treasure map...]
System: [How difficult is this? I'll take you treasure hunting!]
Chu Hua: [Your system is compatible, let's bind it.]
System: [Alright!]
The emperor with many children but no money in his private treasury: !!!
The treasury is empty and there is no money available. All the officials: !!!
Take us with you!
Money is not important, the main thing is that treasure hunting is more fun :)
Come on, tell me in detail!
Tell them clearly the specific location and route of the treasure, and how many things are inside, so that they can arrange how many people will go to dig for the treasure and transport it.
System: [I'm going to the melon field to recharge, host, please wait for me~]
Chu Hua: [Go ahead. I'll take a nap and wake up at three o'clock to go to the court. What kind of suffering is this? I'm so sleepy.]
The emperor and his officials were stunned. No more eating melons? No more digging for treasures?
this……
Forget it, state affairs are more important.
State discussions continued.
The emperor summoned his personal eunuch and gave him some instructions in a low voice.
How many people in the court today heard the royal secret? Is what happened to the third prince true? Whose female voice was that in the court today? Who is the person who inexplicably knows the royal secret? All these must be thoroughly investigated by the Jinyiwei!
*
After the morning court session ended, Chu Huan followed Liu Ziang and others to the Hanlin Academy, where Liu Ziang pointed to a desk piled with books and scrolls.
Hanlin was the emperor's literary attendant, responsible for the daily work of the court, including drafting imperial edicts, compiling historical books, and lecturing at imperial lectures.
Chu Huan didn't dare to touch the confidential documents, so she took a history book to pretend.
【System, eat melon! 】
Hanlin Academy official:!!!
The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who rushed over: "..." It really is you.
System: [Here I come! What does the host want to know? You seem very interested in the emperor's cuckoldry, how about I tell you about it?]
Chu Hua: [Tong, you're so wise! Come on, tell me more. I'm free.]
Hanlin Academy official:!!!
We're busy! This is a royal secret. If you hear too much, something bad will happen. Don't tell!
Liu Ziang picked up a history book, "Brother Chu."
Chu Huan was so engrossed in gossip that she didn't react. Liu Ziang coughed and reminded her, "Chu Qin."
System: [Host, the handsome guy is calling you.]
Handsome guy Liu Ziang:?
Chu Huan: "Brother Liu."
Her voice was soft, while Chu Qin's was clear, and their mistake was exposed on the spot.
Fortunately, everyone here is an insider.
After hearing Chu Huan's words, the officials of the Hanlin Academy became even more certain that the person who was whispering royal secrets in their ears was none other than the fake Chu Qin whom the emperor asked them to cover up.
Liu Ziang seemed to be deaf and handed over the history book in his hand: "Brother Chu, take a look at this."
Chu Huan took it and took a look. It turned out to be "Jingshi", or a folk history. Why was this given to her?
The system is also watching: [What is the official operation of revising unofficial history? ]
Chu Hua: [Who says the history books in the Hanlin Academy must be written by Hanlin officials? Aren't people allowed to buy unofficial history books and read them while slacking off? Tong, you should know that there are four great joys in life: a wedding night, a promotion, slacking off at work, and getting paid to take a shit.]
System: [Wow——]
Hanlin Academy official: "..."
Jinyiwei: “…”
Slacking off? Taking a shit? What the hell?
Liu Ziang: "...Brother Chu, take your time to read it. Don't be in a hurry. Once you're done, I have other things."
In short, you can watch anything, but please don’t talk about royal secrets in the Hanlin Academy!
Chu Huan watched Liu Ziang leave and flipped the Jingshi in half: [Hey, the previous emperor had 760 beauties in his harem. He had to take turns taking care of one every day for two years. Hiss—what kind of bliss is this?]
The system corrected: [To be precise, it's actually 813, and there are also palace maids who were favored but not given official titles.]
Liu Ziang took note of it silently and prepared to find an opportunity to correct the data.
Chu Huan sighed, "With this amount, even if Da Sheng doesn't rebel, he'll be exhausted and dead."
Hanlin Academy official: "..."
Jinyiwei: “…”
How can you, a little girl, be so outspoken? !
An hour later, in the imperial study, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard presented the results of today's investigation.
1. People outside the range of 50 meters cannot hear it. The closer to Chu Huan, the clearer it can be heard.
Second, Concubine Wang confessed that she did give birth to a princess, who was kept in a brothel. Whether the third prince is a remnant of the previous dynasty remains to be verified;
3. The voice in the court came from Chu Huan. There was no need to speak out loud, but one could communicate with the system through thoughts. Currently, no trace of the system has been found.
The emperor looked at it for a long time, his expression changing from gloomy to bright.
If Chong Chuhuan talked about the royal secrets in the court and made it known to everyone, her head would be chopped off.
It's just that Chu Ping has worked diligently for more than 20 years, Chu Qin risked his life to work for him, it was he who came up with the idea of disguising himself as a man and attending court on behalf of his brother, and he also discovered the truth that the third prince was suspected to be a remnant of the previous dynasty, so it was not easy to kill him for both moral and logical reasons.
More importantly: treasures from the previous dynasty.
Floods plagued the south year after year, and three million taels of silver for disaster relief were embezzled, forcing the national treasury to make additional relief payments, which was simply too scarce. Furthermore, he had many concubines and children, and every holiday required gifts and rewards, which strained his private treasury.
The treasures of the previous dynasty come at just the right time!
After much deliberation and hesitation, the emperor still couldn't help but care about Chu Huan's interest in the number of cuckolds he had.
"Xuan Chuping."
If I'm not having a good time, then you little girl won't have an easy time either! Haha.
When the summons came, Chu Ping left the Ministry of Justice trembling with all his body amid the pitying gazes of his colleagues who said "goodbye".
As soon as he entered the imperial study, Chu Ping rolled and crawled to the imperial table and said, "Your Majesty, my daughter is young and ignorant. Please spare her life for the sake of the Chu family's loyalty. I will definitely lock her up at home and not let her go anywhere!"
"Please stand up, my dear." The emperor's face was gentle, without any sign of anger. "She is still a child. I will not argue with her."
Chu Ping was stunned for a moment. Was the petty and vindictive emperor going to settle his score? Didn't the sun rise in the west today?
No matter what, as long as everything is fine, he knelt down in thanks: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
The emperor smiled and said, "I will not punish her, I will reward her."
Chu Ping:? !!
Oh no, the emperor is so angry that he has gone crazy!
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