"Your Majesty is a wise ruler of supreme virtue, broad-minded and encompassing all rivers. How could you ever hold petty matters against us?"
Well, look at Mùróng Zhuó. With his pristine, lofty, and noble appearance, who would have thought he would start flattering me?
Still, his flattery sounded wonderful!
"Say whatever you want, you two just have too many mouths!" I retorted petulantly. With both him and Yuán Shí arguing against me, there was simply no way I could outtalk them.
Upon hearing this, Mùróng Zhuó hurriedly dropped to his knees to explain: "Your Majesty, from beginning to end, both this subject and Yuán Shí have served Your Majesty with utter sincerity and devotion. We are completely different from those treacherous schemers at court. Our loyalty to Your Majesty is as steadfast as a boulder, without the slightest shred of disloyalty!"
Seeing his posture so earnest, I had no desire to act like a petty, nitpicking emperor.
"Get up, Lord Murong! I trust you, and I trust Yuán Shí." I straightened my posture slightly and looked at him.
Mùróng Zhuó slowly stood up, his figure remaining upright, his expression filled with profound reverence and gratitude. He lowered his gaze slightly and continued, "We are deeply grateful for Your Majesty's trust!"
Standing to the side, Yuán Shí cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, a few days ago when you fell into the water, Lord Murong expended a tremendous amount of effort investigating the incident."
I raised an eyebrow slightly, shifting my gaze to Mùróng Zhuó with a mixture of scrutiny and suspicion. "Oh? I wonder what Lord Murong has managed to discover?"
Mùróng Zhuó bowed slightly, his expression grave as he replied, "Your Majesty, this subject discovered that although the place where Your Majesty fell into the water appeared calm on the surface, there were actually strong undercurrents beneath. Moreover, the surrounding guards inexplicably neglected their duties for a crucial moment. This subject suspects that someone meticulously planned this behind the scenes with malicious intent toward Your Majesty. I have already secretly dispatched men to interrogate the guards on duty that day, but their words were evasive and they seemed to be hiding something. I am about to investigate further to unroot the mastermind and eliminate any future threat."
After listening to Mùróng Zhuó's report, the cold sweat running down my back formed yet another stream—even wider than the last one... I had just been reborn and finally managed to become an emperor, so why did everything feel so riddled with danger?
Were these hidden enemies playing some kind of "ambushed from all sides" game with me?
Whether it was being ambushed from all sides or cornered on every front, it was terrifying! I had just been reborn; was I about to be bumped off again?
Remembering how my father in this era had inexplicably died young, it was terrifyingly awful!
As I was pondering this, wanting to dig further and extract more information from Mùróng Zhuó about my father in this era, my thoughts scattered in all directions.
A young eunuch hurried inside, respectfully executed a standard kowtow before me, and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has specially sent this servant to ask if Your Majesty has some leisure time today to visit her for a little while?"
He kept his head lowered. Although his voice was quiet, I heard it clearly enough.
I had finally finished attending the morning court, only to be carried straight to the Imperial Study to continue working overtime. And now, just as I was finally about to finish working overtime, I actually had to go keep some Empress Dowager company.
Even a robot needed time to recharge! Let alone a human being—a living, breathing person...
Just as I was about to refuse the young eunuch, I caught Mùróng Zhuó shooting me a glance. Good grief, he didn't think I needed any rest at all!
Forget it, I could kiss my beauty sleep goodbye...
"Fine, go back and tell Her Imperial Grandmother that I will go keep her company after I finish what I'm doing." Calling her "Imperial Grandmother" rolled right off my tongue.
Once the young eunuch left, I couldn't help but grumble at Mùróng Zhuó. "Prime Minister, what is the meaning of this? You kept batting your eyelashes at me?"
Upon hearing this, Mùróng Zhuó's handsome face flushed bright red, all the way from his cheeks down to his neck...
"Your Majesty, please refrain from spouting nonsense!" He lowered his head even further. Meanwhile, Yuán Shí acted as though he were watching a good show, crowding right up in front of Mùróng Zhuó and peering at his face, which was now as red as Guan Yu's.
Yuán Shí teased, "Oh! No wonder I was wondering why you haven't married yet! So it turns out that you harbor such feelings for His Majesty?"
"Just look at our Prime Minister, usually acting all pure and lofty. Tsk tsk tsk... You can never judge the depth of the sea by its appearance!" Yuán Shí clearly had no regard for Mùróng Zhuó's thin skin; if anything, his tongue grew even sharper.
Driven to exasperation, Mùróng Zhuó twisted Yuán Shí's arm behind his back with a sudden counter-movement, pinning him face-down. Perhaps Mùróng Zhuó used a bit too much strength, because Yuán Shí was in enough pain to start apologizing profusely: "Prime Minister, this humble servant knows he was wrong, I was wrong..."
It was as if Mùróng Zhuó really had stepped on a sore spot, because he applied even more force to Yuán Shí's arm. Pain contorting his features into a grimace, Yuán Shí begged for mercy: "Brother Murong, my good brother, I beg you to let your little brother go! This little brother will never dare make jokes about you and His Majesty ever again..."
Seeing that Yuán Shí genuinely regretted his actions, I chimed in to put in a good word for him. "Prime Minister, Yuán Shí knows he made a mistake. Being the magnanimous man you are, spare him this once!"
Only then did Mùróng Zhuó release his grip, though he still gave him a vicious shove that sent him flying quite a distance away. Fortunately, Yuán Shí was a martial artist; had he been a frail scholar, he probably would have been thrown two li away.
Rubbing his arm in agony, Yuán Shí paced forward, though he still maintained a distance of two or three meters from Mùróng Zhuó.
Watching him act like such a coward, I chuckled and said, "Yuán Shí, aren't you a martial artist? How can you be so afraid of a scholar?"
Nursing his arm and pouting, Yuán Shí muttered, "Your Majesty, you really are a noble person prone to forgetting! The three of us were all the closed-door disciples of my father."
"Back then, the one with the best martial arts was Prime Minister Murong, followed by you, though the two of you were pretty much neck and neck. I was the only half-baked one who fished for three days and dried my nets for two. I learned the worst and took the most beatings."
Eunuch Gui whispered a reminder in my ear, "Your Majesty, the hour is getting late. Shouldn't you be heading over to the Empress Dowager's place?"
I glanced at the blazing sun outside the hall. Good grief, had it already reached nearly noon in this short span of time? My life as a baby is truly miserable! I spent three days drowning and unconscious, and the moment I woke up I haven't closed my eyes once. This is killing me!
Fine, I'd better hurry over to Imperial Grandmother's place. Let's see what instructions she has, and once I've kept her company, I'll dash straight back to my own bedchambers to catch up on some sleep.
I stood up and stretched my slender arms, loosening up my joints.
Even my arms didn't grow in vain on this six-foot-three frame—they could actually stretch out that far.
"Alright, today's little tutoring session ends here! I need to go keep the Empress Dowager company."
Mùróng Zhuó and Yuán Shí bowed and replied in unison, "Yes, Your Majesty."
I dragged my feet toward the hall doors as if they were weighed down by two giant lead balls. As I passed by Mùróng Zhuó, he suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand, giving my heart a sudden, unexpected flutter like a trapped fawn.
This is the end of me. I am currently in a male body; why am I feeling this inexplicable stirring of the heart?
Am I actually going to light up the scoreboard for Mùróng Zhuó?