Chapter 78 Long Live Your Majesty! The Land is So Beautiful
Pirated systems are trying to struggle.
"Don't kill me. I can give you all the power I've acquired. I can give you anything you want—power, status, beauty... I have everything you desire..."
The pirated system is going crazy. It's just diligently performing its tasks. If the host fails to complete the tasks, what's wrong with it switching to another host?
But he never expected that he would end up being dismembered and swallowed whole.
Even though it wasn't a carbon-based life form, the pirated system still panicked when it knew it was about to be annihilated.
It made countless promises, hoping that Qi Wang would let it go.
Qi Wang was too lazy to pay attention to it. He had seen plenty of these pirated systems, and talking to it was a waste of his time.
Liu Liu Liu knows its host very well. Seeing that the pirated system dared to steal its host right in front of it, Liu Liu Liu rolled the pirated system into a small ball of light.
"This is my host. You, a pirated system that wasn't even registered by the main god, dare to try and take it from me? I think you're just asking for trouble!"
Pirated system: "!!!"
It tried to struggle, but Liu Liu Liu swallowed it whole. The pirated system screamed and transformed into pure energy, surging into Liu Liu Liu's body.
Liu Liu Liu let out a comfortable sigh and returned to Qi Wang's side.
"Host, I've taken care of that pirated system."
Qi Wang nodded: "Well done."
It was just a simple compliment, but Liu Liu Liu was overjoyed. You see, it had been with Qi Wang for so long, and the number of times it had been praised by him could be counted on one hand. Suddenly receiving a compliment made Liu Liu Liu's mood soar.
It flew around Qi Wang once before returning to his body.
On the other hand, after Qi Min rejected the thing that called itself a male god conquest system, it suddenly disappeared.
Qi Min waited a while longer, and only after confirming that it had indeed disappeared did she breathe a sigh of relief.
The system had made all sorts of promises, but it hadn't given her any real benefits. What was the point of all that talk about having fair skin and a delicate breath?
Not to mention that she is about to become the crown prince, even if she wasn't the crown prince before, she was still a princess of the Great Qing Dynasty. As long as the Great Qing Dynasty doesn't fall, she will always be a high and mighty princess.
What benefit do those things that enhance her beauty bring her? Probably only the men who are with her enjoy them.
"unlucky."
She even said she wanted all men to be devoted to her... What does she need men to be devoted to? What benefit would that bring her? Would it give her power or allow her to lead troops?
Now that her father has revealed his intention to make her the crown prince, countless officials have flocked to her to pledge their loyalty.
Love is something you can't see or touch. Aside from the bond between parents and children, which you can trust, everything else is just an illusion.
In particular, Qi Min witnessed Pei Yan, who possessed the system, being loved by seven men and enjoying all the benefits they gave her, but ultimately ending up as a prisoner.
Qi Min felt even more convinced that the system was just a bluff.
How can one rely on the power of others for long? If one does not possess sufficient power to match it and only relies on love to maintain the relationship, what will Pei Yan have left when the other person withdraws that love?
When those people had power and influence, they were willing to give Pei Yan some things. But when they became prisoners, they blamed all their sins on Pei Yan.
The foul language they used to curse and train her was so offensive to her that she felt it was polluting to her ears. Was this what the system meant by making men devoted to her?
Tsk, that broken system can only fool people with bad brains. Anyone with a brain wouldn't fall for it.
However, what just happened made Qi Min realize why Pei Yan was able to make so many people fawn over her. It was all a 'gift' from the system. Now that the mission failed and the system was withdrawn, Pei Yan no longer had that ability.
She can't cause any trouble.
Thinking of the men who flocked to her, hoping to use her to enter the prison and rescue people, Qi Min understood.
It turns out that Pei Yan's lousy system's plan to save her was to have the men she seduced try to rescue her.
If those men were completely useless, wouldn't they have no chance at all?
Qi Min; "..."
She really wanted to know why Pei Yan would accept such a useless system; what good was a man's cheap love to her?
Having power and influence is fine when things are going well, but once things turn against you, you'll want to verbally abuse Pei Yan to death?
Pei Yan is truly both pitiful and hateful.
Qi Min took one last look at Pei Yan, who was lying on the ground wailing, and then turned and left the prison.
People with different values cannot work together, and asking Pei Yan is useless; you won't get anything out of her.
Besides, that useless system had disappeared somewhere, and she and Pei Yan had nothing to talk about.
Instead of wasting time here, I'd better go back and think carefully about how to pass my father's test.
There was nothing she could do. Although her father had promised her to be the next crown prince, as long as the deposed crown prince Qi Zhen was still alive, she would remain her father's only son.
Qi Min wanted to nip all possibilities in the bud.
The Daqing Dynasty would not allow a eunuch to become emperor. Once he became a eunuch, the deposed crown prince Qi Zhen would have no chance of turning the tables.
Qi Min found herself becoming increasingly ruthless, considering things more from the perspective of self-interest than from emotions.
This change is good.
Therefore, she will not be seduced by the large number of handsome men who suddenly appear.
Men are fine as icing on the cake, but when she ascends the throne, what kind of man can't she have? Why bother with lust now?
Qi Min came and went in a hurry, and never showed his face to Pei Yan from beginning to end.
After discovering that the system had left her, Pei Yan went insane.
"System, don't abandon me, what will I do without you..."
"System, system!!!"
Pei Yan screamed and yelled like a madwoman, but she couldn't stop the system from leaving. She felt something being peeled off her body, and at the same time, excruciating pain swept through her entire body. She felt as if every bone in her body had been taken apart one by one and then reassembled in a completely random way.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
She let out a piercing scream, rolling and wailing on the ground.
The items she had obtained through the system were stripped from her in an instant, and at the same time, a strong backlash acted upon her.
Pei Yan aged visibly; her hair turned white, her body became hunched, and her once smooth and elastic skin became dry and wrinkled.
In just a few breaths, Pei Yan transformed from a young and beautiful girl into an elderly woman.
Qi Min threw Pei Yan's men into the cell opposite hers. They had been hurling insults at Pei Yan before, and now they had witnessed her transformation firsthand.
How did she suddenly become like this?
The thought of having been intimate with such a woman made the men feel utterly disgusted, and they all began to vomit.
However, after gagging for a while, they suddenly felt unwell. The strange pulling sensation gradually intensified, and they felt their bodies making cracking sounds.
The men lowered their heads in horror, then watched in disbelief as their bodies began to change.
Regardless of their personality, the men who could be won over by Pei Yan were at least top-notch in appearance. Now, their once-proud appearances have changed, and they have all become crooked-mouthed and ugly.
Their bodies twisted and deformed like noodles, and the men let out shrill screams as they rolled around in the cell.
Hearing the commotion, the jailers rushed over and saw that the men locked in the cells had turned into old men with gray hair and wrinkles.
"!!!"
The jailers gasped, terrified by what they saw.
They remembered that these men were all in their prime when they were imprisoned, but in such a short time, they had all turned into old men.
While the situation of turning into an old man in the blink of an eye is strange, it is not the main problem. The main problem is that the prison is full of serious criminals. What if the important people above suspect that they were the ones who did it if they suddenly turn into old men?
The jailers immediately reported the situation, and the old man relayed it to the higher-ups.
Soon the matter was brought to Qi Min's attention.
Qi Min: "..."
Have all those abnormal men and women turned into old men and women?
Qi Min frowned, feeling that this matter was too strange, and she had to see it for herself.
Afterwards, Qi Min rushed to the prison as quickly as possible and indeed saw those people. Just as the prison guards had reported, they had all turned into old men with gray hair and hunched backs.
Qi Min made a quick decision and said to the prison guards, "These people have become like this because they have taken banned drugs. Now hand them over to me, and I will arrange for someone to deal with them."
They were clearly no longer suitable to be kept in the imperial prison in their current state, so Qi Min gave the order to take them back to the princess's residence and imprison them secretly.
After careful consideration, Qi Min reported the matter to Qi Wang.
Of course, Qi Min didn't hide it from Qi Wang either, and told Qi Wang about his suspicions as well.
"Father, I suspect they used forbidden drugs, and the backlash from those drugs is what caused them to look like this."
Of course, Qi Min knew that things might have turned out this way because of that damn system, but she didn't plan to tell Qi Wang about the system, so she had to find other reasons.
"Taiping, your father believes in your abilities and entrusts everything to you."
Qi Wang delegated power to Qi Min, and how to handle the matter afterward was entirely up to Qi Min.
Qi Min did not execute them, but instead imprisoned the seven men in a dark and gloomy underground prison.
She was curious: since these people had become like this due to systemic intervention, had only their appearance changed, or had all their bodily functions changed?
How long can those people corrupted by the system survive?
Qi Wang was naturally not kept in the dark about what Qi Min had done.
He also kindly returned the memories of those people from their previous lives to them.
Having enjoyed immense glory in their past lives, they now have to spend the rest of their lives in a dark and dreary dungeon; one can only imagine their state of mind.
However, Qi Wang showed no sympathy whatsoever for this.
In their previous life, the Great Qing Dynasty was ruined by them, and millions of ordinary people died. The people suffered terribly. Now they are just imprisoned in dungeons, and they have no worries about food and clothing. Aren't they much happier than those people who lost their lives?
After dealing with these people, and as Qi Min rapidly matured, Qi Wang issued an edict appointing Qi Min as the crown prince.
Even though Qi Wang had already tried to overthrow Lu, many people still expressed their opposition when the decree was actually announced.
Qi Wang: "..."
If the objections are ineffective and these officials disagree, then a new group of officials will be brought in.
The vast city of Daqing has no shortage of people.
The chaos in the court did not last long before it stabilized again.
After Qi Min was officially appointed as the crown prince, all the necessary arrangements for the crown prince were made public.
Of course, since Qi Min was made crown prince, her four older sisters naturally had objections.
The four princesses entered the palace together and asked Qi Wang why he had excluded them from the list of heirs.
"Father, we are all your daughters. Why did you choose only Fifth Sister as a princess? Where do you place us?"
"Father, this is not fair. My sisters and I didn't even know about these things... Why are you doing this?"
"Father, Fifth Sister is no different from us, how can you do this?"
Previously, because of their status as princesses, they knew they had no chance of ascending the throne, so they did not harbor any other ambitions.
But now that Princess Qi Min has become the Crown Prince, how can they be content with that?
Qi Min is neither the eldest son nor the legitimate heir, yet she can be a princess. Why can't they be?
Looking at the four princesses standing in a row in front of him, Qi Wang didn't feel much.
Why choose Qi Min as the crown prince? Why else? Because she is worthy.
Of the original owner's five princesses, the other four all sided with Qi Zhen after he forced the emperor to abdicate. They even came forward to testify that the original owner was a tyrant who levied exorbitant taxes, and that Qi Zhen's coup was not out of necessity.
Only Qi Min came to avenge him. Although she failed, at least she came.
Compared to this, the difference is obvious. Does he even need to choose?
Qi Wang was already being very lenient by not revoking the princess status of these four women. Unfortunately, they didn't appreciate it and came to question him after he issued the imperial decree.
In feudal dynasties, the emperor's authority was inviolable, and when it came to the position of crown prince, these women had no right to question him.
Qi Wang, who had been smiling, immediately turned hostile, stripped the four of them of their princess titles, and demoted them to commoners.
"Since you all think that being a princess gives you the right to compete for the position of crown prince, then you might as well not be princesses at all."
The princesses panicked and cried, begging Qi Wang for mercy.
However, Qi Wang was determined and directly issued an edict to abolish their princess status.
The four princesses originally entered the palace to seek benefits for themselves, but unexpectedly, they not only failed to gain any benefits, but also lost their princess status.
They regretted their actions, but there was nothing they could do.
The mother should not be blamed for the son's misfortune. Qi Wang was very magnanimous and did not hold a grudge against the four princesses' mother because of the children.
Their mothers originally wanted to plead for them, but considering that Qi Wang was completely different from before, they dared not plead rashly, fearing that if they did not get their plea, they would also be punished by Qi Wang.
After all, both thunder and rain are expressions of imperial favor. Qi Wang has shown the emperor's ruthlessness, so what can they do?
If their daughter is stripped of her princess title, the mothers can still make up for it to some extent. But if they are also punished, then their daughter will truly have no hope left.
The four princesses were never capable of causing any trouble to begin with, and after losing their princess status, they became even quieter, no longer daring to cause any trouble.
With Qi Wang in charge, the restless demons and monsters calmed down, and Qi Min grew rapidly under the tutelage of numerous great Confucian scholars.
Qi Wang waited until Qi Min was twenty years old before abdicating and passing the throne to Qi Min, while he himself became the retired emperor.
For a woman to become emperor, the most difficult hurdle is not anything else, but childbirth. Qi Wang used medicine to regulate Qi Min's body to ensure that her body would not suffer irreversible damage due to childbirth.
In the third year after Qi Min ascended the throne, she gave birth to a daughter, and in the fifth year, she gave birth to her second daughter.
From then on, Qi Min never became pregnant again, and devoted herself to political affairs.
She was a competent emperor; under her rule, the people lived in peace and prosperity, and everything flourished.
Qi Wang was very satisfied with this.
***
Pei Yan had a very, very long dream.
In her dream, she was initially an unfavored concubine of the emperor, but the emperor's chief eunuch doted on her, and the crown prince, who was second only to the emperor, also fell in love with her at first sight.
She was surrounded by all sorts of men, each with their own strengths and differences, but they all had one thing in common: they all loved her deeply.
With the help of those seven men, Pei Yan ascended the throne, but being an emperor was too boring and not free. She had to deal with a lot of political affairs and could not travel around to enjoy the scenery.
So, Pei Yan, tired of being emperor, no longer wanted to be emperor. The seven men, without complaint, accompanied her to fake her death and escape. They emptied the national treasury, possessing more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime. They then happily traveled around, eventually even setting sail for other countries.
She was very happy in her dream.
But when she opened her eyes, she saw a dark and damp prison cell. She looked like an old woman, and her body was crawling with cockroaches and rats.
The six men, each with a different appearance, now resembled ugly old monsters. They cursed her incessantly, punched and kicked her, and blamed everything on her.
They used to say they loved her deeply and were willing to give everything for her, but now that they're just in jail, they can't take it anymore.
Pei Yan tried to persuade them to rush out with her.
But what followed was a barrage of punches.
"You've ruined everything we have? Charge out? With what can we charge out? Our old, creaky arms and legs, or your disgusting old face full of wrinkles?"
They were no longer the chosen ones, but ugly monsters.
Pei Yan's love for them was completely exhausted through repeated beatings, and then she chose to kill them.
Since they don't love her anymore, they might as well all die.
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