Liao Shijun stayed in Luojing for a few days. Sima Jiao allowed him to enter the palace every day and eat with Liao Tingyan in the palace. After a few days, Liao Shijun felt that Sima Jiao was different from the Sima Jiao he had imagined before. He had been to Luojing before and had seen Sima Jiao at the court meeting, but he had looked at him from a distance with his head down. He had never seen Sima Jiao's face clearly, let alone experienced his personality in person.
During these few days, he discovered that the tyrant who was rumored to be cruel and murderous actually loved and tolerated his daughter. Envoy Liao was stunned and even suspected that his daughter had given His Majesty some kind of drug.
At first, Lord Liao did not pay attention to his daughter's food and daily necessities. Later one day when he attended a banquet, he found that the national treasure cup presented by foreign envoys at the banquet was passed to his daughter. She used it to hold milk, and it accidentally dropped to the ground without thinking of bending down to pick it up, nor even taking a second look at it. Only then did he pay attention to the surrounding furnishings, and then he was shocked to realize that almost the entire hall was filled with precious treasures. If a fire was set here, half of the treasures in the entire inner treasury could be burned.
Shouldn't these treasures be hidden in the treasure house? Why are they just laid out for my daughter to use at will?!
When Lord Liao saw his daughter's face, which was still beautiful and even fairer despite having gained a little weight, he thought Sima Jiao might have lost his mind, which was exactly as the rumors said.
Seeing her father showing that subtle melancholy expression towards her again, Liao Tingyan had to put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth and said to him: "Dad, don't worry, I'm not as fat as a pig yet. When the weather gets hot next year, I will definitely be able to lose weight again." Her father seemed to want to sigh every time he saw her these days. She understood that no one would be happy if their beautiful daughter was raised from a little cabbage into a big white radish after getting married.
However, if you think about it from another perspective, being fat is not without its benefits. At least if Sima Jiao's country was destroyed in the future and she became a fat woman whose face could not be seen clearly, she would not be called a beauty who brings disaster, and those old men would not shake their heads and lament that Sima Jiao ruined the country because of his beauty. Instead, they would only face the fact that the main reason for the destruction of the country was that Sima Jiao was courting death.
It's not a question of being fat or not! Looking at his daughter's unconscious appearance, Liao Shijun sighed and said earnestly, "Tingyan, Dad will be back to the river soon. Remember, don't be arrogant when you are rich, and don't be sad when you are poor. No matter what, living well is the most important thing..."
Her father's eyes almost wrote "Dating an emperor will not end well, daughter, you must not be surprised by praise or criticism and take care of yourself." Liao Tingyan laughed. She chose to come to Sima Jiao just to let herself and this father live well, but she never thought of talking about love with Sima Jiao. It's not certain whether Sima Jiao can love others, and it's not necessarily because of love that he treats her so well.
Anyway, she doesn't want to think about this kind of problem. She just wants to live a good life in this world. It would be best if she could always be a fat house with no worries and a big boss to protect her like now. Who wouldn't want such a life
Envoy Liao continued to nag: "Also, no one in Luojing can take care of you, you need to be smarter and be more careful..."
Liao Tingyan: "Dad, there is no shortage of smart people in the palace, and everyone is cunning. I am good enough like this." After all, Sima Jiao admitted that he likes this kind of ordinary, innocent, cute and silly girl. If being silly enough can win Sima Jiao's love, Liao Tingyan understands why Sima Jiao in the original novel kept the original heroine by his side for so long.
Wait a minute, doesn't this indirectly confirm the tragic fact that her IQ is about the same as the original heroine's? And her treatment is several levels higher than the original heroine's. Does this mean that her IQ is also several levels lower than the original heroine's? !
… This blind tyrant should let his country perish.
Not long after, Envoy Liao returned to Hexia, and Liao Tingyan went to see him off. Wearing a cloak and watching the carriages and horses go away in the cold wind, Liao Tingyan exhaled and rubbed his hands.
Sima Jiao beside her took her hand. His hand was not much warmer than the winter ice and snow. Liao Tingyan shivered a little, but did not let go. Instead, she naturally held his hand with her backhand, "Your Majesty, let's go back."
Sima Jiao looked at her expression and said, "If you are reluctant, I will order your father to come to Luojing to serve as an official. What position do you want him to hold?"
Liao Tingyan shook his head, "No, Dad has spent most of his life in Hexia, and almost all of his hard work is there. He won't get used to moving anywhere, so let him live in Hexia in peace and grow old."
Sima Jiao said again: "You don't have any close relatives, otherwise let them come to Luojing to serve as officials."
It is a must for a tyrant. If he favors a beauty, her family must be promoted. As the saying goes, if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit. Nepotism has been a must in ancient palaces since ancient times.
Liao Tingyan curled her lips and said indifferently, "Forget it. Although they are relatives, we had a bad relationship because of my mother's incident. My family and I don't have much contact anymore. We don't have any good relatives."
Sima Jiao felt that he had no place to use his talents and felt that the imperial concubine beside him was like a turtle and he had no way to deal with it.
"Then do you want anything else?" Sima Jiao stared at her.
Liao Tingyan: “…” Sima Jiao’s character of hating someone to death but loving someone to life is truly revealed to the fullest at every moment. He feels uncomfortable if he doesn’t give her something every day, which makes her almost regard money as dirt. Even seeing a large piece of gold in front of her, she would find it too dazzling. What a luxurious experience this is.
Finding that Liao Tingyan was not as fond of those treasures as before, Sima Jiao started to think about other things.
One day, Sima Jiao came to ask with great interest, "How about I build a rooftop for you?"
Liao Tingyan: “…Rooftop?” What rooftop? The kind of rooftop where you could turn into a puddle of mud if you jumped off it one day when you couldn’t bear the thought
Sima Jiao smiled and said, "A platform a hundred feet high is built in the middle of the palace. From it, you can have a panoramic view of the capital. How about that? Don't you like to enjoy the scenery?"
Liao Tingyan: Damn it, this is such a familiar plot. Isn't this the Star Picking Platform? It seems like I'm really going to become Daji. This can't be possible!
"To be honest, Your Majesty." Liao Tingyan stroked her chest and made up a story with a serious look: "In fact, when I reach a high place, I feel dizzy, weak in my limbs, nauseous and want to vomit. The higher I go, the more breathless I become. A doctor in Hexia called this ailment 'acrophobia', so I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy the rooftop."
Sima Jiao felt bored when he heard her words and waved his hand: "Forget it, if you can't enjoy the scenery with me, there is no point in building the terrace."
He turned back to the front hall and saw a flattering eunuch approaching him. Without thinking, he pointed at him and said, "Drag him out and kill him."
The eunuch's smile turned into fear when he heard this, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, why are you asking--" His mouth was immediately covered by someone's hand, and he could no longer make a sound.
Sima Jiao sat at his desk, flipping through the documents submitted by the ministers. He didn't mind if someone instigated him to do something with ulterior motives. If it happened to be what he wanted to do, he would do it, but if he didn't want to do it, then the person who made the suggestion would have to die.
The corpse hanging in front of the Taiji Hall was replaced with a new one.
The young new emperor Sima Jiao wanted to hang corpses and skinned people in front of the Taiji Hall, which aroused criticism from court officials. The officials passionately denounced the young emperor for his tyranny. As a result, a row of new corpses were hung in front of the Taiji Hall that day, and the blood was dripping, staining the jade steps red. Later, whenever there was opposition, more corpses were hung.
When the court officials came to attend the court meeting, they could see the corpse on the pole swaying in the wind like a rag from the other end of the Taiji Square. When they walked to the front of the hall, they could smell the strong smell of blood. All the ministers were silent and frightened. When they walked into the hall and saw the emperor sitting at the top with a childish but gloomy face, they no longer dared to look down on him or treat him perfunctorily because of his age.
By now, the young emperor had grown up, and the ministers had become accustomed to the smell of blood and the corpses hanging high outside the Taiji Hall.
"I didn't see His Majesty killing people and hanging corpses a while ago, and I thought he had turned over a new leaf. But now it seems that he has not changed his bad habits."
"That's right. Some people said before that your Majesty's character changed after he got a concubine. I said it a long time ago, but how can a mere woman influence your Majesty's character? Now it doesn't come true."
"Stop talking, you guys think you can hang on it!"
The ministers who were speaking looked at each other, saw fear in each other's eyes, and immediately shut up.
However, Envoy Liao was summoned to Luojing for no reason. He did nothing but stayed with his daughter for a few days. Then he returned to Hexia with a large cart of rewards from His Majesty. Because of these rewards, Envoy Liao slowed down his speed when he returned.
Hexia is in Gengzhou. From Luojing back to Hexia, there is an official road that borders Yaozhou, which is the fief of King Qinnan. When Envoy Liao and his entourage turned onto this official road, they happened to encounter a group of stern-looking cavalrymen, whose armor had the family emblem of King Qinnan. Seeing that they were in a hurry, Envoy Liao took the initiative to give up his position on the official road to avoid bumping into them in the chaos.
But when they stepped aside, the group stopped near them. The leading warrior was a dark-faced man. He reined in his horse and pointed at their carriage and asked in a bad tone, "Who is inside?"
The waiter driving the horse said, "It's my master. My master is Liao Shijun from Hexia, who just returned from Luojing."
Envoy Liao sat upright in the carriage, opened the curtain completely, frowned and looked at the leading cavalryman, "What do you have to say?"
After hearing his identity, the dark-faced man restrained his expression and dismounted to salute, "I didn't know you were Lord Liao. I'm really rude! I'm Qin Yong, the lieutenant general of the Qinnan Palace. I've been ordered to hunt down a... vicious thief who has fled to this place. I've offended Lord Liao because of the emergency. Please forgive me, Lord Liao!"
After the two groups of people passed each other, Envoy Liao looked at the backs of the group of people going away, and frowned unconsciously. What kind of thief would it be the turn of the private soldiers of King Qinnan to hunt down? Moreover, the lieutenant general Qin Yong was said to be a useful subordinate of King Qinnan. Isn't it a waste of talent to catch a thief
The carriage went on for a while and came across a donkey cart parked on the side of the road. On the cart were several bundles of furs and some straw to block the wind and mud. A young man was drinking water and taking a rest nearby.
As Liao Shijun was looking outside, he saw this man and thought he looked familiar. The servant who accompanied the carriage happened to know this young man and hurriedly explained to Liao Shijun, "Last year, the girl encountered bandits on the mountain road, and it was this Mr. Chen who saved her and she escaped."
After hearing this, Liao Shijun suddenly remembered. He asked someone to stop the car and waved to the young man who was looking at him in confusion, "Mr. Chen."
It turned out that the young man carrying the donkey cart of leather was Chen Yun.
—That is, the male protagonist of the original novel.
Chen Yun came over, his posture was straight and upright, even though he was meeting an important person, he was neither humble nor overbearing, and he bowed and said, "I wonder why Envoy Liao called me?"
Envoy Liao rarely smiled, "So you recognized me."
Chen Yun said sincerely: "Who among the people of Hexia doesn't know Lord Liao?"
Seeing that he was in a normal attitude towards him, without any flattery, and his expression was generous and open, Liao Shijun could not help but admire him and reminded him, "It seems that you are going to Yaozhou. I just met a group of cavalry. It is said that they are arresting a vicious thief. You are traveling alone, so you must be careful."
Chen Yun's eyes showed gratitude, "Thank you for your reminder, I will be careful!"
After he finished speaking, he seemed to hesitate again and asked, "It is said that the envoy went to Luojing some time ago. Has he just returned from Luojing?"
…
Envoy Liao's convoy set off again. Chen Yun stood there, looking at the team going away in the billowing dust, wondering what he was thinking.
At this moment, a head suddenly popped out from the straw pile in the donkey cart behind him, and a charming female voice hummed, "Everyone is gone, why are you still staring at him? Is that the father of your sweetheart?"