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

Shu Rou breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that all the doors and windows were tightly closed.

Then she ran to the window with her short legs, stood on tiptoe, and reached her hand into the crack in the window, poking and probing inside—

Yao Jingyuan frowned as he looked at her, about to ask—

"Found it!"

Shu Rou carefully pried out a neatly folded piece of paper from the crack in the window, turned around, and held it high in front of Yao Jingyuan.

She raised her face, a radiant smile spreading across her cheeks, a smile brimming with immense pride.

"Father, you are so lucky—" she said in a drawn-out tone, stuffing the note into Yao Jingyuan's hand, her phoenix eyes, which resembled Shu Jingwei's, curving into two crescent moons.

"They're in the back!"

Shu Rou unfolded the note.

Four characters were written crookedly on it—

The third quarter of Hai hour.

The ink was rough, with excess ink smudges between the strokes, as if written by someone who had just learned to write.

But she does know them, and it's all thanks to her mother's insistence on sending her to the palace school that she now knows quite a few characters.

Yao Jingyuan stared at those four words for two seconds, his mind buzzing.

He suddenly looked up, grabbed Shu Rou's wrist, and said in a low, urgent voice, "What is this thing?!"

Shu Rou was startled when he grabbed her.

She looked down at the large hand on her wrist, then looked up at him, her eyes clearly saying, "Are you stupid?"

"A note," she said matter-of-factly. "Can't you tell?"

Yao Jingyuan choked, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down: "I—of course I know it's a note! I'm asking you, who sent it?"

Upon hearing this, Shu Rou's eyes immediately lit up.

She snatched the note back from Yao Jingyuan's hand and carefully put it away.

Then she raised her head, lowered her voice, and said with a hint of pride in every word, "Father, let me tell you a secret. This—it was given to me by a divine messenger."

"God... what?"

"A divine messenger!" Shu Rou stamped her foot, very dissatisfied with his slowness.

"He came from the sky! He came to me, and do you know what he said about me?"

She tiptoed and whispered in Yao Jingyuan's ear, her voice tinged with burning excitement, as if sharing a huge secret:

He said I have extraordinary talent, that I am—a descendant of the true dragon!

Yao Jingyuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

Shu Rou didn't notice the change in his expression; she was completely absorbed in her own world.

She released Yao Jingyuan and started spinning around the room, her long, thick skirt billowing in the air. She gestured with her hands, becoming increasingly excited as she spoke:

"The chair that the Queen Mother is sitting on now should have been given to me long ago!"

"And what's more! The dragon aura on her is fake! That fake dragon aura will become increasingly harmful to me as I grow older! That's why I'm so unlucky!"

She stopped, turned to face Yao Jingyuan, her small chest heaving violently, her eyes flashing with an alarming light:

"The divine messenger said he would help me drive away the Queen Mother! And make me the most honored person in the world!"

"When I become emperor—" she said, spreading her arms wide.

"I can play whatever I want! I can have whatever I want!"

"Those glittering things in the sky, if Mother Queen won't make them for me, then I'll find someone to make them myself! There are so many people in the world, they'll all listen to me, what can't I make?"

Her whole face was glowing when she said that.

His mouth stretched from ear to ear, as if he could see that future—

Everyone knelt at her feet, surrounded by a sea of ​​magical toys, like those on a celestial canvas. She could hit or kill whomever she wanted.

Yao Jingyuan stood there, feeling as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Looking down at Shu Rou's face, which was immersed in a sweet dream, and then at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

silent.

This sounds like something you'd tell a child.

Whose divine messenger is acting so suspiciously?

They dared not appear in public openly, secretly slipping notes through window cracks, and deliberately choosing words that children would like to hear—

A true descendant of the dragon? The throne should have been yours? The dragon aura on your mother was fake?

That excuse is so clumsy, so bad that any adult with a brain would laugh out loud after hearing it.

Shu Rou was immediately displeased when she saw the "you're dreaming" expression on Yao Jingyuan's face.

She pouted, raised her chin, and gave a loud "humph" through her nose: "You don't believe me?!"

"The envoy is amazing!" she said, counting on her fingers as she told him.

"The day after he approached me, I was released from the palace school!"

"And then, I did as the messenger said—and indeed, the Queen Mother treated me even better!"

When she said "even better," the corners of her mouth turned down slightly.

"snort!"

She raised her chin, nose pointing towards the ceiling, and gritted her teeth, saying, "But I don't care anymore. Who cares about pretense!"

"And another thing—the messenger has told me in advance of every single reaction the Queen Mother will have! Every single one!"

She emphasized the word "every" with her eyes filled with fervent adoration.

Shu Rou grabbed Yao Jingyuan's sleeve, tilted her head up, and said earnestly, "He really is a divine messenger who can predict everything! He can't be wrong! He will help me become emperor!"

Yao Jingyuan looked at the adoration in her eyes, his brows furrowed so deeply they could have trapped a fly.

Shu Rou has been targeted.

Needless to say.

Where did this divine messenger come from? They are clearly some force from outside the palace who infiltrated the palace using some unknown method and approached his daughter.

Shu Rou is only three or four years old, and happens to be a princess, so her status is special. She's also both naive and easily fooled.

They are simply the perfect target to exploit.

But the question is, who exactly is the other party?

If Shu Jingwei finds out—

Yao Jingyuan's mind flashed back to Shu Jingwei's cold eyes, and suddenly a chill ran down his back, cold sweat trickling down his spine.

Not to mention Shu Rou, even he, who had just found a way out, would be sent to heaven along with her.

After all, he was the father who raised Shu Rou.

By then, no antidote will be of any use.

Yao Jingyuan swallowed hard, his Adam's apple protruding sharply on his thin neck.

No.

He has to stay and see what's going on tonight.

……

In front of the sky mirror.

Lin Ye leaned back on the sofa, tapping his fingers absently on the armrest, his eyes fixed on the image in the mirror, his mind racing.

When he first saw He Jin, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong—

If the China clan was able to infiltrate, do you think other forces are just sitting idly by?

He guessed that other forces would be involved in the internal struggle of the Great Flame, but he didn't expect that those people would not go to Shu Jingwei, but instead went around to find Shu Rou.

interesting.

On the grasslands, Yao Jingyuan was chosen.

But that was in the past; Yao Jingyuan is no longer of any value to support.

So, that leaves the South China Sea and the Western Regions.

That group of people in the South China Sea—

Lin Ye scoffed, "A bunch of complete idiots."

They shout the loudest than anyone else, but when it comes to actually doing something themselves, they all cower faster than turtles.

Are they tasked with infiltrating the palace?

They simply don't have the brains or the guts.

Therefore, the people on Shurou's side are either acting alone in the Western Regions, or they are conspiring with the Western Regions and the South China Sea.

No, the word "conspiracy" isn't quite accurate either.

Even if they were to work together, those idiots in the South China Sea would probably just be used as cannon fodder.

Lin Ye leaned back into the sofa and chuckled.

This palace—

His gaze swept across the layers of palace walls in the celestial mirror image, the vermilion pillars gleaming with a dark light under the setting sun.

Palace maids and eunuchs moved about the corridor with their heads down, while imperial guards changed shifts in the corners, creating an outwardly tight and impenetrable security.

In reality, they've been thoroughly infiltrated.

but--

He picked up an orange, broke off a segment, and popped it into his mouth, the sweet and sour juice exploding on his tongue.

He was pleased with the outcome.