Refusing to Serve Me? Then Off With Your Head!

Chapter 60

No Leader Amongst a Crowd of Dragons

Turns out, even beauties turned scary when they became hysterical. Her eyes were bulged while her hairpin was messily dangling from her hair. She no longer looked gentle and amiable.

Perhaps, in Consort De's mind, since her Father was a good Father, he ought to be a good and loyal minister as well. Me saying 'the attempt this time has something to do with your Father' ended up agitating her to no end. Her piercing voice of rebuttal almost shook Zhong Hua Palace. I covered my ears while stepping backwards and even then, I could not block her voice.

She must have never seen the sight of her Father killing people in the battlefield.

Wu Ke's rabbit-like red eyes were full of admonishing as he looked at her, "Your Ladyship the empress, Consort De has lost her composure, why don't you do something to comfort her..."

I had to went through an entire day and night worth of shock, where would I find it in me to comfort others? I asked two maids to stuff Consort De's mouth with something and to send her back to her own palace to reflect. Consort De struggled against them while giving me a deadly glare. She probably thought I was doing this on purpose to stop her from going to the emperor to complain.

I felt truly honored to be someone who was capable of being Consort De's obstruction. I watched her as she was dragged away.

My ears had always been fragile, I could only hear nice things and filter out things that might ruin my mood.

After Yan Ping woke up, he visited the emperor to check on his condition before being moved to the Head of Imperial Guard's quarters to recuperate.

Wu Ke, on the other hand, was very busy. He was working around the clock without rest, trying to investigate the assassination party. He was frightening all those officials and was practically warning them to not take matters into their own hands.

All the physicians were on the ready, they did not leave the palace for even a second. Their Head's beard was almost plucked clean after being repeatedly pulled by me. If he had not called for those towering maids to restrain me while giving me a look that was as though I was a rabid dog that needed to be subdued, no beard would be able to grow on his chin anymore.

As he administered golden needles on the unconscious emperor, he whispered softly, "Your Majesty, if you still don't wake up, the empress will pull out all of this official's beard.... If I go home looking like this, the wife will not let me in...."

I heard, he was famous for two things: his obsession with inkstones and his fear for his wife.

There was this famous gossip amongst the palace's maids that whenever the Head was bestowed with rewards, he would not ask for gold or silver and instead would ask for ink stones. When he came home, his pocket would be full of only inkstones and nothing else. That pissed off his wife and she ended up slamming a couple of his prized inkstones to the ground out of anger. He was heartbroken and was restless for a very long time.

I really admired the way his wife treated him; she was a woman of courage. I wanted to replicate her ways in my management of the palace. However, the palace that the emperor had entrusted me was draining me of power. Everyday, the servants would bring in stacks and stacks of memorials to be reviewed. In a couple more days, I would probably be buried under this mountain of paper.

The Imperial Censor Department was very busy. They had dragged a lot of names, including the empress who was apparently crafty and greedy. The emperor fell ill and the empress was trying to ruin the country by falsely accusing General Hu Guo and even deprived him of food. Another bunch of people defended me saying that, other than imprisoning the criminals and depriving them off food, I hadn't done anything to really hurt them.