My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

Yao Jingyuan stood up unsteadily, the look of fear and despair on his face gradually turning into a desperate, resentful madness.

"Shu Jingwei...my good Your Majesty..." He stared intently at Shu Jingwei, his peach blossom eyes filled with nothing but crimson hatred.

"You've put on quite a show. By pushing me out to take the blame, you can continue being your wise and benevolent ruler, is that it?"

"Yao Jingyuan! Stop making false accusations!" Shu Jingwei interrupted sharply.

"False accusation?" Yao Jingyuan sneered, his eyes filled with even more venom. "False accusation against you? Every single thing I've done, wasn't it with your tacit approval and indulgence?!"

"And every time I said Zhaohua Palace was unlucky, you always went along with it, refusing to set foot there at all! Now it's all my fault!?"

He suddenly pointed to the illusory figure of "Ye Fan" floating silently beside him, then to the crying little boy in Lin Ye's arms, his voice shrill:

"Yes! I tormented them! But that's because I knew that's what you, Shu Jingwei, were thinking! You've always tacitly approved of it! Now that things have gone wrong, you just want to kick me aside and get away with it all?!"

"Shu Jingwei! I'm telling you, no way!"

The entire Qingfeng Mountain was deathly silent.

Only Yao Jingyuan's heavy breathing and the soft whistling of the mountain wind remained.

Shu Jingwei stood there, stunned, her face drained of color, her lips trembling. She pointed at Yao Jingyuan, but couldn't utter a single word.

Yao Jingyuan's words were insightful and to the point, completely tearing away her thin veil of pretense!

Above the sky, after a brief pause, came a barrage of comments ten or even a hundred times more intense than before!

Yao Jingyuan's sharp counterattack exposed the true nature of Shu Jingwei's "tacit approval and indulgence"!

[Xiaoshan College student Liu Wenxiang: Sure enough! She knew everything! She did it on purpose!]

[Commoner Zhang Liang: Tyrant! Incompetent ruler! Abdicate! Abdicate!]

[Commoner Niu Si: Kill Yao the dog! Cleanse the court of corrupt officials! Depose the tyrannical emperor!]

……

Just then, the phantom of "Ye Fan," who had been quietly "floating" to the side as if detached from the matter, spoke again.

His voice remained calm and even, yet it clearly overpowered the mountain wind, instantly causing the millions of angry people under the sky to hold their breath and stop to listen.

"Those hardships were certainly difficult to endure. But my body has been quite strong since childhood, and after years of training at the border, I can withstand wind, frost, rain, and snow. If that's all, I can still accompany my little one as he grows up..."

Upon hearing this, Shu Jingwei was taken aback, seemingly not understanding why he had suddenly brought this up.

Ye Fan slowly turned his gaze precisely to Yao Jingyuan.

That gaze, filled with an all-knowing understanding, made Yao Jingyuan's heart sink.

"Yao Jingyuan." Ye Fan's voice was soft, but it struck Yao Jingyuan's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Shortly after I was banished to Zhaohua Palace, my health deteriorated rapidly. I coughed up blood incessantly, and eventually I was paralyzed in bed and unable to get up. This illness... it really came on very strangely, don't you think?"

Yao Jingyuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and the crazed and resentful expression on his face froze instantly, turning into disbelief, horror, and panic.

Ye Fan stopped looking at him and continued speaking.

"It wasn't until after I 'died' and my soul wandered that I 'saw' things more clearly."

"It seems like there's something else mixed in with the food I eat every day, Yao Jingyuan. Tell me, what is it? Do I need to remind you?"

Lin Ye watched coldly from the side. He wasn't actually sure either; it was just a guess based on Ye Fan's memory of the sudden illness.

Taking advantage of Yao Jingyuan's momentary lapse in concentration, they used "Ye Fan" to say this, hoping to trick him.

Yao Jingyuan subconsciously took a half step back, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

He used a slow-acting poison, extremely secretly; how could Ye Fan possibly know?!

Is it really true that ghosts know everything?!

Overwhelmed by fear, he lost his composure and could no longer conceal his true feelings.

Upon hearing Ye Fan's confident words and seeing Yao Jingyuan's instantly pale face and horrified eyes, Shu Jingwei was filled with doubt and spoke sharply.

"Yao Jingyuan! What does Ye Fan mean?! What tonic?! What did you give Ye Fan?!"

"No...no...I didn't! You're lying!!" Yao Jingyuan screamed like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on, his voice distorted by extreme fear.

He shook his head frantically, pointing at the illusory figure of "Ye Fan," shouting, "You're spouting nonsense! You're a ghost! You want to harm me! Your Majesty! Your Majesty, don't believe him! He's a vengeful ghost! He's talking rubbish!"

However, his panicked expression, coupled with his deathly pale face and trembling body, was striking.

His rebuttal seemed so weak and feeble, so... a futile attempt to cover up the truth.

Shu Jingwei gasped, then looked sharply at Yao Jingyuan, her eyes filled with shock and anger.

She knew that Yao Jingyuan was secretly tormenting Ye Fan and her father, but she thought it was just jealousy and petty squabbles, so she didn't care.

She only wanted to teach Ye Fan a lesson to make him more obedient, but she never imagined that Yao Jingyuan would dare to poison him!

Ye Fan ignored Yao Jingyuan's denial as if it were nothing more than the buzzing of mosquitoes in his ear.

He continued speaking in that flat tone.

"I've thought it over and over, and in my entire life, I've never intentionally made such a deadly feud with anyone. Except for one thing—"

He slightly raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly unintentionally sweeping over Shu Jingwei, then over Yao Jingyuan, and finally settling on the distant void.

"Before I was dismissed from office, I was drafting a new 'land reform' strategy. This method aimed to survey all the land in the country, curb the land annexation by powerful families, levy taxes based on actual land ownership, integrate land tax with poll tax, and reduce the burden on the people."

His voice remained calm, yet it seemed to carry immense power, striking the hearts of every person who heard it.

"If this policy succeeds, it can save countless lives and consolidate the foundation of the country. However, it will also affect countless vested interests, and there is a great deal of opposition in the court and many obstacles. Among them, the opposition from the Yao family and their cronies is the most vehement."

Yao Jingyuan's body trembled violently, his eyes filled with shock. Shu Jingwei's expression also changed upon hearing this, her eyes flickering.

"Ye Fan" seemed oblivious to their reactions and continued speaking, his tone tinged with mockery.

"And when I was banished to the cold palace, the matter was dropped."

"Later, I 'died of illness.' Naturally, no one mentioned this new policy again. The land under heaven was still being seized by powerful families; the landless people were still struggling to survive."

With each word he spoke, the hearts of countless people under the sky sank a little deeper.

Countless farmers, tenants, and ordinary people remembered their land being taken over, the ever-increasing taxes, and the days of going hungry...

Ye Fan finally withdrew his gaze and landed it on the two stunned people in front of him. His eyes were clear and calm, yet they seemed to be able to see the filth deep in people's hearts.

"The rights and wrongs behind my back are meaningless to me now."

"It is a pity that the people of this land have been led astray and suffered greatly because of the selfishness of one person and the greed of one family."

In the Great Flame Kingdom, under the vast sky, countless people wept.

It turns out that Lord Ye had intended to do these things for them!

It turns out that someone had cruelly extinguished their hopes!