Chapter 755 – Sir, Yun Has a Joke for You
“Is there a legitimate reason for this?”
Her will itself is the most reasonable justification.
The strategy of using the young emperor to command the feudal lords is, for Jiang Pengji, even more useless than a chicken rib.
Holding the young emperor hostage would not only offer her no benefits but would also become a self-imposed burden.
Therefore, even though the audience in the live stream urged her to give the tactic a shot, Jiang Pengji remained unmoved.
“Bo Gao, are you okay?”
Jiang Pengji stretched her hand towards Huang Song, who dumbly reached out, and with a little effort, she pulled him up.
“Thank you, Lan Ting.”
Huang Song sighed in relief, just about to wipe the sweat off his brow when he awkwardly realized his sleeves were stained with blood. The urge to vomit that he had barely suppressed surged back, and he quickly bowed to apologize before turning away to vomit again; this time, he was dry heaving with nothing left but discomfort.
As for the fact that Jiang Pengji was a woman, Huang Song had completely forgotten, or rather, he simply didn’t have the energy to think about it.
When the old woman was tearing apart the elite guards and Yang Jian was shielding the young emperor, everything seemed fine again, and he rejoined the crowd of officials.
“Liu Zhongqing… is that really your daughter?”
Yang Jian, belonging to the military officials with a rank not at the same level as Liu Zhi, took advantage of the chaos to lean over and ask.
Liu Zhi smiled calmly, and his reply left Yang Jian speechless, “Not my daughter, could it be yours?”
Yang Jian almost broke his composure, “Who’s arguing with you? I clearly asked you a serious question.”
“Of course, Lan Ting is my daughter; it’s been tough for her all these years, passing as a boy.” Liu Zhi replied nonchalantly.
Yang Jian was left speechless, his expression becoming rather awkward.
Liu Zhi inquired, “What’s wrong? Your expression is so strange. Did you suffer a loss at Lan Ting’s hands and feel defeated now?”
Yang Jian huffed, turning his head, choosing not to respond to Liu Zhi.
However, Liu Zhi had indeed pinpointed his thoughts.
Losing to a young boy, Yang Jian could previously easily say something about how newer generations surpass the old. Now, however, being told that the young boy who had beaten him was actually a girl in her twenties left him shocked and vaguely feeling a sense of defeat.
Yet, recalling Jiang Pengji earlier killing with an ivory tablet, he couldn’t help but admit it wasn’t an unfair loss.
Such strength and skill, losing to her was hardly shameful.
The palace staff and elite guards tidied up the old woman’s corpse and cleaned the blood from the floor, while the young emperor was whisked away to change into fresh ceremonial robes. The emperor had already been scared stiff; if he showed up to the court wearing robes that also smelled like urine, it would be utterly ridiculous.
Thanks to the incense burner, the blood smell in the air diminished significantly, but the chilling scene from before was deeply imprinted in the minds of all the officials.
Each official returned to their place, and Yang Tao nervously patted his chest, “Father, is Liu Xi really a woman?”
Yang Jian slightly obscured his ivory tablet and leaned toward Yang Tao, saying, “Liu Zhongqing admitted it himself; can it be fake?”
Yang Tao’s eyes widened in shock, nervously swallowing.
He recalled Jiang Pengji’s ruthless demeanor on the battlefield and found it hard to accept.
“It’s hard to imagine; what was once a brave man has suddenly turned into a lady?”
Yang Jian had worked with Jiang Pengji; Yang Tao, who enjoyed wielding swords, had always regarded Jiang Pengji as a brotherly confidant.
“What about being a lady?” Yang Jian shot a glare at his useless son, “Whether man or woman doesn’t matter; what’s important is she’s now the governor of Wanzhou! Look at you; if it weren’t for Shaoyang helping you out so much, I wouldn’t even dare take you out.”
Yang Tao’s disposition frustrated Yang Jian to no end.
Lost and scatterbrained son! If it weren’t for Yan Lin, that caring babysitter and dear friend keeping an eye on him, Yang Jian wouldn’t dare bring Yang Tao out.
He only had this one son in his life; he really worried Yang Tao was too scatterbrained for his own good.
Yang Tao pouted and sulked, looking so pitiful it made Yang Jian want to smack him.
“I see you are even more like a noble girl than Liu Zhongqing’s daughter! What’s a big man sulking for? Hold your head up high!”
Yang Tao felt wronged daily.
On the other side, after narrowly escaping danger, Wu Ma Shang returned to his position, while the surrounding officials cautiously edged away from him as if he were a venomous snake.
Although Wu Ma Shang kept insisting he had been wronged, the previous scene had been too unsettling; the officials were psychologically scarred.
Xu Pei was silent, while Xu Fei seemed to remember something and poked his cousin in the side with his tablet.
“What are you doing?” Xu Pei glared at him.
Xu Fei raised an eyebrow and said gleefully, “Pei Ge, if I remember correctly, didn’t you let a dancer serve Liu Xi before?”
Xu Pei’s face instantly darkened.
Xu Fei wouldn’t have mentioned it if it weren’t for the fact that it made him jump with anger.
Since they were all descendants of the Xu family, Xu Fei’s backdoor tricks were too malicious.
Xu Pei firmly believed that Xu Fei had once sowed discord between him and the Liu father-daughter duo, so he naturally wasn’t going to give Xu Fei a pleasant face.
“Hmph, you remembered correctly. So what? There’s a trend of men playing around outside; can’t Liu Xi fancy women? Is that something worth you being all surprised as if you’ve never seen the world before?” Xu Pei felt a bit moody; with this pig teammate cousin, one or two mistakes were okay, but he had just sabotaged his chance to build favor with the Liu family.
Xu Fei was aiming to see his cousin embarrassed but didn’t expect him to be in a bad mood, and instead, he got scolded.
Now, Xu Fei snorted in return, and the two brothers continued to glare at each other with disdain.
As for Jiang Pengji, the one in the center of all the gossip, she remained remarkably calm.
This time, she officially removed the appointment of Wanzhou’s governor, and the ministers couldn’t even feel jealous; one by one, they stood there like background props.
Dare to be jealous?
Just recall that old woman from earlier—one moment she was very much alive, and the next, she was a pile of pieces.
They were just ordinary folks; their bodies were nowhere near as resilient as that devilish thing; it wouldn’t take five ivory tablets—one would be enough to send them packing.
The court meeting ended as awkwardly as it began, with all the officials drifting out of the hall in a fog.
Before long, the news that Jiang Pengji was a woman flew like wildfire throughout the imperial city of Chenzhou.
“Hahaha—Yang Sir, Feng Sir, today Yun heard an exceptionally funny joke!”
Li Yun and a number of military generals were stationed outside the city, but after training, they had nothing much to do, so he strolled into the city.
Halfway through, Li Yun heard an incredibly funny piece of news and immediately sought out Yang Si and Feng Zhen to share it.
Yang Si wasn’t there, and Feng Zhen, holding a green onion pancake while nibbling on it, was practicing his calligraphy. Hearing Li Yun’s laughter, he almost wrote the wrong character.
“What’s this funny joke? Tell this humble teacher what it is.”
Feng Zhen set his brush down and stuffed the last bit of pancake into his mouth, sipping some tea to wash it down.
“Outside, someone’s saying our lord is a woman, hahahaha! Teacher, what do you think, is it funny?”
Feng Zhen looked at Li Yun with pity, as if concerning himself over his own intellectually challenged child.
Li Yun chuckled, noticing Feng Zhen wasn’t laughing along; he too lost interest and stopped.
“Do you find this joke unfunny?”
“This is reality; the lord is indeed a woman, so why laugh?”
Li Yun: “……”
Wait a minute, is he still dreaming?
