After hearing her gossip, all the civil and military officials went crazy.

Chapter 9 The Emperor is not the Empress Dowager's child.

The system, sensing its host's anxiety, quickly replied: "Because Your Majesty has been infected by a Gu worm."

Fang Lingchu was terrified when she heard that His Majesty had been infected with Gu worms.

What's going on? Who planted this Gu worm?

Everyone was very anxious when they heard that His Majesty had been infected by Gu worms. Several officials couldn't help but go up to check on him, and Eunuch Gao had already sent someone to the Imperial Medical Bureau to fetch a physician.

But seeing the look in His Majesty's eyes, he withdrew.

But everyone was still very anxious. Who had cast the curse on His Majesty?

In particular, several veteran officials followed the late emperor and have continued to serve Your Majesty. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are veterans of three reigns.

Especially since the Crown Prince's tutor was the Crown Prince's teacher, and he had studied under him since childhood, their relationship was definitely different.

The Crown Prince and the First Prince were also very anxious, while the Third Prince, who was slow to react, did not understand what was going on.

The system glanced through the plot and said: [Consort Jing and the Empress Dowager.]

Fang Lingchu almost fell over when she heard this news.

One is his wife, the other his elderly mother; both want His Majesty dead. How tragic!

I couldn't help but complain: [Has His Majesty broken some heavenly law? Why are all the people he's closest to dying being the ones he's ordering to die?]

Then, after thinking for a moment, he said, "[Because His Majesty is dying, is the Golden Dragon of the Dragon Kingdom's destiny also in such a dying state for this reason?]"

The system thought for a moment and said, "[Probably, mainly because everyone in the Dragon Kingdom is cannon fodder, and the Golden Dragon of Fortune will be suppressed by the Heavenly Dao.]"

Fang Lingchu, seemingly unable to hear, asked, "What do you mean?"

The system explained: "For example, if the person who cast the poison hadn't activated it, Your Majesty would have been fine. But unfortunately, Your Majesty was bitten by a termite, which triggered the poison. Although the poison was eventually neutralized, his health deteriorated, and then the Empress Dowager poisoned him again, leading to his death."

Upon hearing the system's words, Fang Lingchu asked with some curiosity, "Why? Consort Jing could say she wanted to kill the Emperor for the sake of the Fourth Prince, but why would the Empress Dowager want to kill the Emperor? Wasn't he her child?"

The system scrolled through the pages again and said: [His Majesty is not the Empress Dowager's child.]

Another piece of big news came down, shocking everyone once again.

The emperor's face was extremely dark, and even the ministers who were pretending to discuss matters with His Majesty almost collapsed to the ground with their legs weak.

Thankfully, they were all supporting each other. What did they hear? This was a royal secret; would they be silenced?

Fang Lingchu was also somewhat surprised. She glanced at His Majesty again before asking, "Is His Majesty the late Emperor's child?"

This is a question that everyone wants to know.

[It certainly is, but it's not the Empress Dowager's child. Your Majesty was born to a concubine who wasn't particularly favored at the time. When the Empress Dowager found out, and since she herself had no children, she arranged for the mother to be removed while the child remained.]

Hearing this from the system, Fang Lingchu became curious and asked, "Since the emperor was the empress dowager's only child, why did they still want to kill him?"

The system said, "They didn't have children back then, but it's not like they couldn't have them later. The emperor was just a tool the empress dowager used to consolidate her power."

Upon hearing the system's explanation, Fang Lingchu immediately understood and continued, "[Then the Empress Dowager gave birth to her child and wanted her child to ascend the throne and dethrone the Emperor. But didn't you say that the Emperor killed all his brothers? Why would the Empress Dowager do that?]"

Many people were puzzled. Even if His Majesty wasn't the Empress Dowager's child, His Majesty and the Empress were still very filial to the Empress Dowager. They didn't understand why the Empress Dowager would do this. The system quickly provided the answer.

[It's probably for revenge, but there must be other reasons too. It's just that we can't see the Empress Dowager in person, so we can't follow her story.]

Fang Lingchu then asked a crucial question: "Didn't you say they were all destined to be cannon fodder? So what does the fall of the Dragon Kingdom have to do with this?"

System: [This world is obsessed with melodramatic romance, so everything is definitely for love. Your country is so powerful, why would you let the male lead have a "chasing-after-his-wife-in-a-cremation" scenario? It's obviously to let him easily destroy a country to achieve that. Your emperor is so powerful, how can he win over his wife without her dying?]

Hearing the system say that, Fang Lingchu sensed the aura of a new-era domineering CEO.

[It's not a story of her running away and him chasing, her unable to escape, and then our country's princes and nobles acting as the devoted male supporting character, taking the female lead to their own country. Then, the male lead, to win her back, attacks our country, gets injured, and the female lead, unable to bear seeing him, possesses a jade pendant belonging to someone from our country—a pendant that can move freely. The male lead uses this to destroy our country, and the female lead, realizing he's used her, gets angry and runs away again. The two then put on a chase-and-run drama, and finally, they live happily ever after?]

The system nodded and said, "[It might be a little bit more melodramatic than this.]"

Fang Lingchu was already speechless, but she didn't expect these people to have even more outrageous actions than this.

The system continued: "Apart from the crown prince, all the other princes in your country are male supporting characters. Several countries have main characters, but here, everyone's just a supporting male or female character. Anyway, none of them have a good ending, so we can only use your country as cannon fodder!"

Fang Lingchu almost fainted from catching her breath.

Suppressing the urge to kill, he asked, "What will be my fate?"

The system said: "[You were forcibly inserted into this world by the Black and White Impermanence. There is no plot. Originally, your parents only had two sons and one daughter. Because of your appearance, your family's fortune has changed.]"

Hearing this, Fang Lingchu felt a little relieved and then asked, "So, according to the original plot, what would it be like?"

Minister Fang also wanted to know the answer to this question: what kind of tragic fate would his family have had without his youngest daughter?

Everyone wanted to know just how melodramatic this was.

The system said: "For example, your eldest sister is probably a top-tier love-obsessed person. She ran off with a scholar as soon as she came of age, and was then deceived by him. She was even sold to a brothel by a scumbag. By chance, she was rescued by the heroine of the northern desert, and the two became good friends. Later, she fell in love with the male lead of the northern desert, and the friends turned against each other. The male lead of the northern desert knew your sister's identity and used her to eventually take over a city in the north."

Your second brother died because your sister was beheaded by the male protagonist of the Northern Desert. Your mother couldn't bear the shock and passed away. Your father's hair turned white overnight, and he fell ill from the shock. Your eldest brother couldn't bear the shock and turned to the dark side, single-handedly slaughtering an entire city.

Fang Lingchu could pretty much guess what the next move would be without the system telling her, which was really frustrating.

Fang Lingchu was so speechless that she didn't want to say anything anymore.

Fang Lingchu quieted down and stopped communicating with the system. The others could only grit their teeth and continue discussing the matter, but they couldn't calm down anymore.

Today's meeting was just a small court assembly, and not many people came, just the important court officials.

The people had different thoughts.

But it can't be too quiet, so the people from the Ministry of Works stepped forward.

After leaving the Water Conservancy Bureau, they discussed matters concerning the Ministry of Works, while Fang Lingchu calmed down and composed herself.

Just as I was about to ask His Majesty when the accident would happen, the system said: [Host, shouldn't you consider saving your Majesty? Otherwise, the Golden Dragon of Fortune will truly disappear.]

The system is really worried sick; how can this host not care about his own life at all?

(End of this chapter)