I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 436 was robbed!
The Empress Dowager drank her tea in silence.

How could she, as the emperor's mother, not know about his heartache? But why was she just a palace maid?

She had already sent people to find out that Chu Liuzheng had no other strengths besides being diligent in his duties, so how did he manage to catch the emperor's eye?

In fact, if the emperor had followed the procedure, the empress dowager would not have said a word of dissent, and might even have been pleased to reward Chu Liuzheng with some things. But who told the emperor to place him in the Hall of Mental Cultivation and to treat the entire harem coldly for the sake of one person?
How could the Empress Dowager not be worried?
How could Xiao Jinshu not understand the Empress Dowager's concerns? She continued to persuade her a couple more times, finally managing to coax the Empress Dowager into showing a smile, allowing her to stay in the palace for dinner, and even ordering someone to bring the young prince into the palace as well.

When the news reached the Wenhua Hall, Xiao Jingfan knew that his elder sister had persuaded his mother, and he was no longer worried, so he continued to focus on handling state affairs.

The following day, the rumors in the palace related to Chu Liuzheng suddenly disappeared, as if they had never existed.

After the Empress Dowager's three attempts to persuade Chu Liuzheng to come to her aid failed, everyone finally understood the Emperor's true attitude.

Even disregarding the Empress Dowager's feelings, the Emperor is determined to protect Chu Liuzheng. Who would dare to spread rumors so recklessly? The Emperor must respect the Empress Dowager, but he need not show them any mercy.

Chu Liuzheng was still following the novel about the demon concubine with her as the protagonist through the system, but it was a pity that the person spreading the rumors stopped writing it after only reading half of it.

The inner palace was quiet, but the voices in the court grew louder. Memorials from the Censorate impeaching and advising the emperor piled up on the emperor's desk like snowflakes.

Xiao Jingfan chose to turn a blind eye.

The neglected censors were dissatisfied and were about to cause trouble.

The one who dared to speak out offered his advice in court, hoping to gain the upper hand. However, before he could finish his impassioned speech, a thick book of evidence of his crimes was presented to him.

Censors are not punished for their words, but they have no immunity if they commit other offenses.

The one who had stood out was dumbfounded. His legs trembled like leaves, and cold sweat soaked his clothes. He couldn't understand when the emperor had found out about these things.

Xiao Jingfan didn't give him a chance to ask, and demoted him to the lowest level, exiling him to the frontier.

Seeing their colleague dismissed from office, the censors were outraged. One of them, refusing to believe it, stood up and gave a speech, spitting all over the imperial steps.

The emperor listened without saying a word, his face thoughtful, as if he had taken it all in.

The censors were immediately overjoyed.

But they were clearly celebrating too soon.

Just when everyone thought the emperor had listened to the advice and realized his mistake, news spread the next evening that the skeptical censor, naked, was chased by the eldest son of the widow of the Prince of the South City and nearly drowned in the moat.

This man actually used his clever words to coerce the widow into having an affair with him because she looked like his childhood sweetheart who died young. He also forbade the widow from telling anyone else, otherwise he would have her two sons arrested and imprisoned.

To protect her son, Widow Wang had no choice but to keep quiet. Unexpectedly, her eldest son, who had finished work early, stumbled upon the truth. Enraged, he grabbed a broom and started hitting the skeptical censor, forcing him to run out naked, attracting a large crowd of onlookers.

This ruined his reputation. Not only did he lose his position as censor, but he was also sued in court by the widow Wang's son, who begged the officials of the Court of Judicial Review to give him justice.

When this matter reached the ears of the officials, they inevitably connected it to the emperor. Otherwise, why would this matter have been exposed not earlier or later, but precisely after he had advised the emperor against indulging in women?

After a careful consideration, everyone sensed a hint of tit-for-tat retaliation.

That's right, it was indeed Xiao Jingfan who ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to do this.

He had only asked the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate whether this person had committed any acts of corruption or bribery, but he never expected that they would uncover such a scandalous affair.

The censor who refused to believe in evil deserved his punishment, but Widow Wang was innocent.

There's never a shortage of victim-blaming theorists. For example, rumors have circulated that if Widow Wang didn't resemble the skeptical censor's childhood sweetheart, nothing bad would have happened; if Widow Wang had remained virtuous and stayed at home, the skeptical censor wouldn't have seen her and harbored malicious intentions. Quite a few people agree with these claims. If left unchecked, the rumors alone could drive Widow Wang to her death.

The emperor was too busy with state affairs to notice these small things, but Chu Liuzheng did, and brought them up during their after-dinner walk.

Xiao Jingfan then entrusted the matter to Dong Yi.

Within three days, the rumors had shifted.

After seeing in the system that Widow Wang was no longer bothered by the rumors, Chu Liuzheng put the matter aside and called Chenxing and Siyue to take their things to go fishing in the Moon Pond.

After signing the bet, Xiao Jingfan assigned the two to Chu Liuzheng's side for close protection, essentially making them like head palace maids.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Before the three of them could even leave the Yangxin Hall, they were informed of an urgent summons from the emperor, and their fishing trip had to be abandoned.

What could be so urgent?

The sedan chair swayed gently as Chu Liuzheng opened the system to browse through it, wanting to prepare himself mentally.

[News related to the emperor...]

She scrolled down through the latest news, and when she saw the third item, her gaze suddenly stopped, and her vision went black.

[Holy crap! My brother got robbed!!!]

*
The sedan chair stopped at the entrance of Wenhua Hall. Chu Liuzheng did not need to report before entering the hall, and since no ministers came to pay their respects at this time, she simply lifted her skirt and walked in.

"Your Majesty, may you be well." The emperor did not allow her to kneel, so she curtsied.

"Come here." Seeing the anxious look in her eyes, Xiao Jingfan guessed that she had probably already seen it in the system. Without keeping her in suspense, he handed her the secret message he had received.

Chu Liuzheng took it and examined it carefully, his face growing increasingly dark.

[Funny! This is actually a story about a lovestruck woman who mistakenly snatched the wrong lover and decided to just go with the flow.]

[If you want to take Prince Xiao, then take Prince Xiao! Why are you taking my brother? One is in a wheelchair and the other isn't; how could you mistake one for the other with such obvious differences?]

[My brother really can't handle having a twelfth male concubine!!]

Chu Liuzheng was extremely upset.

She had a bad feeling when her brother left with Prince Xiao, but she only thought that her brother's life was in danger. She checked the system almost every day and was only relieved when she saw that her brother was alright.

Seeing that Prince Xiao had successfully persuaded Prince Li and that the group was heading to the capital, she thought that with so many guards accompanying them, everything should be fine. In addition, there were too many rumors circulating in the palace, so she hadn't had time to check on her elder brother's news these past few days.

Just a few days later, my elder brother was snatched away by the city lord of Guiyun City!
It was a mistaken robbery! They stole it by mistake and then refused to return it! What kind of nonsense is this?

Her older brother is still a virgin!
"Don't worry." Seeing Chu Liuzheng's pale face, Xiao Jingfan got up and put his arm around her to sit behind the desk. "I have already ordered people to find out the truth. With the Third Prince here, he will not let anything happen to the Eldest Brother."

"You call me 'big brother' pretty naturally."

Chu Liuzheng composed herself, feeling somewhat relieved that Prince Xiao was a reliable person. She glanced at the emperor beside her: "When will we receive news?"

Xiao Jingfan said, "A message sent by carrier pigeon will take about three or four days to travel back and forth."

(End of this chapter)