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

It was a piece of cloth that was originally placed under her buttocks, which Shu Jingwei pulled out and held in front of her.

She raised the cloth higher, trying to use it as a shield between herself and the torrential rain.

But the rain still seeped in through the edges of the cloth, slipped down her wrist into her sleeve, flowed along the curve of her forearm to her elbow, and then fell to the ground through her soaked sleeve.

The cloth absorbed more and more water, becoming heavier and heavier until the wrist of the hand holding it trembled slightly.

And her broken leg, which was dragging on the ground, was in even worse shape.

Shu Jingwei could feel the tissue around the wound starting to turn white and swell as it was soaked in the rain.

The pain traveled up every nerve ending in her knee, converging into a continuous, fine electric current that made her temples throb.

She felt she couldn't take it anymore, but she really couldn't bear to die.

After all, once you're dead, you really have nothing left...

All I could do was pray that the rain would stop soon.

Lin Ye calmly withdrew his gaze.

The two people on the screen were still shivering in the rain, raising and lowering the rag repeatedly, like a leaf blown into a ditch by the wind, swirling in the mud but unable to float away.

It's still early, let's just bear with it.

He had the system check Shu Jingwei's luck again, and two seconds later, the system's light blue panel unfolded before his eyes.

In the center of the panel is a line graph with annotations on the side, showing that Shu Jingwei's luck hit rock bottom on the day Wang Meng stormed the palace.

But that line remained above 10 and was still fluctuating slightly.

Lin Ye was familiar with this graph. It was precisely because of this detection curve that he had let Shu Jingwei leave.

He wanted to see what kind of turnaround Shu Jingwei could possibly have after all this.

It would be very interesting to wait until she develops new hope and then reappear to extinguish it.

The line continued to fluctuate over time, and when no one noticed, its tail seemed to curl up at a subtle angle.

Lin Ye stared at the curve for a moment, then turned off the panel.

No rush, he has plenty of time.

……

Wang Meng breathed a sigh of relief after receiving confirmation.

He didn't care about others, but what he feared most was that Immortal Lin wouldn't agree.

Now that Immortal Lin has agreed and even given him a talisman that allows direct contact, the Crown Princess's ascension to the throne is practically a done deal.

He walked to the tent entrance and looked at the sky, which was obscured by the heavy rain but was still crystal clear. His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

Since the sky was still visible, he simply posted another comment, announcing it to the world:

[Wang Meng (temporary) in charge of the Great Flame Clan: Gentlemen, I have made contact with Lord Lin. Lord Lin has agreed to let the First Princess inherit the Great Flame Clan, and the enthronement ceremony will be held soon.]

This is a notification that the decision has been made and there is no room for negotiation.

Once this comment appeared, regardless of what people were thinking, at least on the surface, the comments section appeared peaceful.

[Commoner Liu Xiang: Congratulations to the Crown Princess! The Crown Princess has become Empress; Lord Ye, if he were alive, would surely be happy for her!]

[Commoner Qian Da: Congratulations! The First Princess... no, perhaps I should call her Your Majesty for now?]

[Commoner Wang Xiaodou: This is approved by both General Wang and Lord Lin, so it must be the best. The eldest princess will be our Empress from now on!]

[Commoner Li Si: Yes, yes, congratulations to the Crown Princess on her ascension to the throne! Then isn't that Immortal Lin our retired emperor? Heavens! An immortal is the retired emperor of the Great Flame Sect!!]

[Commoner Sun Wenxuan: This is only right. As the legitimate heir of the royal family, the Crown Princess's ascension to the throne is perfectly justified and a blessing for the nation.]

……

After all, no one knows if Lin Ye is watching the live chat right now. If he sees them saying bad things about the eldest princess, then he's doomed.

Privately, however, some people gradually gathered together and grumbled about their dissatisfaction with the notice.

In a private residence in Beijing, several figures dressed in plain clothes, whose identities were not discernible, slipped into the courtyard one after another in the misty rain.

In the dimly lit main room, only an oil lamp was lit, its light barely illuminating the few people around the table and not reaching anywhere else.

The shadow in the corner of the room was as dark as ink, and rainwater seeped in through the cracks in the window, leaving a damp, dark stain on the wall.

A middle-aged man with a goatee spoke first, his voice low but his tone extremely harsh, clearly indicating he was furious:

"That Wang Meng! What he said on the sky today was just a notification; he didn't intend to ask anyone's opinion at all!"

Another, younger voice chimed in, high-pitched and laced with cynical sarcasm: "Hmph! That girl has Lin Ye behind her, who dares to object to her face?!"

He paused for a moment, then steadied himself and continued, "But Lin Ye isn't in the Great Flame after all. No matter how far his reach is, he can't possibly oversee everything..."

A third voice came from beside the man, hoarse and sinister:

"That Lin Ye is a wolf in sheep's clothing! That's the throne! Who wouldn't want it?! He only put the eldest princess on the throne because he had no legitimate reason to do so. Wang Meng is in cahoots with him..."

"If they succeed, the Great Flame will be under their control!"

The young voice rang out again, quite righteously assertive: "That's right! We absolutely cannot let them succeed!"

……

Meanwhile, in the western border of the Great Flame.

This is the main street of a small border town. In the pouring rain, the street was deserted, except for a few soaking wet stray dogs darting past under the eaves with their tails between their legs.

The entire street was shrouded in a curtain of rain. The wind blowing from the east carried the rainwater, smashing countless wet pits into the earthen walls, and the dirt road surface was soaked into a muddy mess.

In a prime location on the main street was a shop from the Western Regions.

Above the shop's entrance hung a plaque with crooked, large-character writing, and next to it hung a string of faded copper bells that occasionally rang out in the wind.

The shop was filled with all sorts of goods from the Western Regions.

The hand-woven wool carpet was stacked from the floor to half a person's height, with intricate and vibrant patterns.

The bronze spice burners were neatly arranged on the shelves, with mythical beasts entwined with flames carved on their bodies. The beasts' eyes were two dark red gems that still gleamed faintly in the dim light of the rainy day.

Various jade bottles of different sizes were filled with spices and medicinal herbs of different colors.

The shopkeeper was a man from the Western Regions, with a high nose, deep-set eyes, sunken eye sockets, prominent cheekbones, and a face with sharp features as if it had been carved with a knife.

He stood behind the counter, holding a bronze incense burner in his left hand and a clean cotton cloth in his right, slowly wiping the patterns on the lid.

But his attention was not on the incense burner at all. His hands moved mechanically, but his eyes were raised, staring at the sky outside through the half-open window next to the counter.

On the screen above, Wang Meng's comment announcing that the eldest princess was about to ascend the throne suddenly appeared, each word clear.

The shopkeeper paused involuntarily, listening to the sudden burst of discussion among the people sheltering from the rain in the shop, and seemed to be deep in thought.