Chapter 158

Chapter 158

After Xie Yiguan entered the Xie residence, Su Yu leisurely walked over to the corpse.

This person was a eunuch who had grown up with the original ruler. He was one of the few who knew that the original ruler was a woman disguised as a man. When he was assassinated, Su Yu thought he was dead, but she never expected him to still be alive.

However, for nearly four years, why hadn't this person come to the palace to find her? Was he really unwilling to return to the palace?

Su Yu lowered her eyes, lost in thought.

She waved to Yu Chiyou, "Ayou, strip off his clothes and check if there's anything unusual on his body."

Yu Chiyou didn't hesitate and immediately did as he was told.

There was a deep old scar on the man's chest. It was a miracle he had survived at all, but he clearly didn't value his life, as he had insisted on getting involved.

Su Yu believed that even if she hadn't killed him tonight, Xie Yiguan would have done so once the man revealed the secret. After all, Great Qi couldn't afford to lose her as its ruler now. Even if Xie Yiguan knew she was a woman disguised as a man, he would have no choice but to help cover it up.

However, even though she anticipated Xie Yiguan's reaction, Su Yu had no intention of letting him know her secret in advance.

"Bury him, and while you're at it, investigate where this person has been these past few years," Su Yu instructed Yu Chiyou.

After a moment of thought, she added, "Don't involve your second uncle in the investigation. Go directly to the bookstore manager and ask him how he got in touch with this person. After questioning him, threaten him a bit to make him behave. Oh, and you can also have him relay your conversation to Zhi Wei, and have him ask Zhi Wei to draw a portrait."

Yu Chiyou didn't find anything unusual about Su Yu's instructions. If the Emperor was threatening someone, it must be because that person had done something wrong. It was only right to threaten them.

He followed Su Yu's orders, and the bookstore manager, after being threatened, spilled everything about how he had come into contact with the man: "This person had previously gone to the Cui residence but was chased out. He then loitered outside the bookstore, as if looking for some noble person. However, since he was dressed in rags and looked unkempt, naturally no one paid him any attention. It was only because I noticed he had no beard and his voice was high-pitched, unlike a normal man, that I approached him to chat. He claimed to be from Huazhou, an old acquaintance of the Emperor from the Pingshan Kingdom, and said he held a big secret that he would only sell to a noble person. He promised to split the money with me if I could introduce him to a noble."

Just as Yu Chiyou was about to leave, he suddenly remembered another instruction from Su Yu, so he turned back and said to the bookstore manager, "Go quickly and relay our conversation to Minister Xie. Oh, and don't forget to ask Minister Xie to draw a portrait."

The bookstore manager was puzzled, "Whose portrait?"

Yu Chiyou mysteriously replied, "Just tell Minister Xie. It doesn't matter whose portrait it is."

The bookstore manager: "..." This guy was only able to act like this because he worked for the Emperor. If it weren't for the Emperor's backing, someone like Yu Chiyou would definitely get into trouble!

He thought angrily, but Yu Chiyou herded him like a duck to the Xie residence.

When he met Xie Yiguan, the bookstore manager obediently relayed Yu Chiyou's words.

Xie Yiguan smiled, "From now on, don't mention this person again. If anyone else claims to have the Emperor's secret, just tie them up. I will report it to the Emperor."

He paused. In truth, he didn't need Su Yu to remind him; he already knew how to handle such matters. But that night, he had been like a man possessed, wanting to uncover the Emperor's secret.

He didn't want to think about what kind of secret he was trying to uncover. As the Emperor had said, the more you know, the more dangerous it becomes. There were some things he shouldn't delve into further. When the time was right, the Emperor would tell him.

The bookstore manager was still standing there, unwilling to leave, and Xie Yiguan looked at him in confusion.

The bookstore manager reluctantly said, "That Yu Chiyou also said to ask you to draw a portrait, but he didn't say whose portrait."

Xie Yiguan only had to think for a moment to realize who had originally said those words. Suddenly, he burst into laughter, completely disregarding his usual composure.

The bookstore manager: "..." Why did it feel like anyone connected to the Emperor, whether it was Yu Chiyou or Xie Yiguan, became a bit incomprehensible?

Xie Yiguan didn't even need to ask the bookstore manager whose portrait to draw. He spread out a piece of paper and with a few strokes, he sketched the outline of the man who had died that night.

He rolled up the painting and handed it to the bookstore manager, "Take it and give it to Yu Chiyou."

The bookstore manager handed the painting to Yu Chiyou, who was squatting outside the Xie residence swatting mosquitoes. Yu Chiyou took the painting without even looking at it and turned to leave.

He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to check if the portrait is correct, Yu Chi bodyguard?"

Yu Chiyou said arrogantly, "If he doesn't even know who to draw, then Xie Zhiwei might as well resign from his official post."

These words were not his own; they were instructed by the Emperor. She also said that once these words were spoken, the bookshop owner would surely be left speechless.

Indeed, the bookshop owner looked at him in silence.

Yu Chiyou raised his chin slightly and walked with a stride larger than usual.

Yu Chiyou went to Huazhou and used the portrait to find the current residence of the eunuch. In his dilapidated dwelling, there was only a blind old woman.

The old woman, hearing someone arrive, quickly asked, "Is that Elder Brother returning?"

Yu Chiyou quickly shook his head, then realized the old woman couldn't see. He stepped forward and respectfully supported her.

The blind old woman was initially a bit afraid of him, but the boy was honest, spoke little, and instead spent several days chopping wood and carrying water for her, even making her a walking stick.

After a few days of interaction, the blind old woman was no longer afraid of Yu Chiyou and often talked about the Elder Brother she mentioned, the eunuch Yu Chiyou was investigating.

It turned out that the assassination attempt three and a half years ago had severely injured the eunuch, and the blind old woman had saved him. He had stayed with her for over a year to recover, recognized her as his mother, and settled down.

She said, "Elder Brother said all the silver coins he brought were spent, even the jade pendant he got from some prince was pawned. He planned to go out and earn some money before returning. To this old woman, the boy is good at everything but loves to boast. Princes and such are not people like us can meet. Judging by your accent, are you from the capital?"

Yu Chiyou quickly denied, "No, no, I'm a soldier stationed at Tongguan nearby, just passing by and helping you chop some wood. Anyway, I have strength to spare."

This wasn't exactly a lie, was it? The Yu Chi army guarding Tongguan next door was related to him. Yu Chiyou guiltily touched his nose.

The blind old woman didn't think too much about it and just chuckled.

When Yu Chiyou left, he quietly left five taels of silver coins for the blind old woman before returning to the capital to report to Su Yu.

For the first time, he hesitated in front of Su Yu, asking, "Your Majesty, did I execute the wrong person?"

Su Yu sat in her rocking chair, gently swaying, fanning herself slowly.

She said slowly, "That person was once my personal attendant, knowing many of my secrets. What if the person he went to see that day wasn't Xie Zhiwei? What if we hadn't coincidentally encountered him that day?"

Yu Chiyou was stunned, seemingly unable to find an answer.

Su Yu changed her approach, "You've been by my side for almost four years, knowing one of my secrets. If one day you wanted to retire and had no money, would you sell my secret for money?"

Yu Chiyou immediately denied without thinking, "Of course not."

Su Yu asked again, "If not now, but when Lu Zhenghan was still the Grand Councillor, and he sold the secret that I can't use the restroom when someone is around to Lu Zhenghan, and then Lu Zhenghan sent people to watch me, not allowing me to use the restroom alone, causing me to die from urinary retention, what would you think of that person?"

Yu Chiyou was immediately furious, "Such a person who betrays their previous master for glory deserves to die!"

Su Yu smiled, "Although he was a eunuch, he was also an able-bodied young man. Huazhou is close to Tongzhou; he could have gone to Tongzhou to rent land from a moneylender and farm, supporting himself and the old woman. But he chose the shortcut of betraying his previous master. Ultimately, he wanted to repay kindness without making any personal sacrifice. Today he could abandon me, his former master, for money; in the future, when truly desperate, he could also abandon the old woman who saved his life."

Yu Chiyou suddenly understood. He had felt sympathy after meeting the blind old woman, but if Su Yu hadn't been sharp and decisive in ordering the eunuch's execution, Su Yu might now be in danger due to the eunuch's betrayal. Who would then sympathize with Her Majesty?

Thinking about it, Yu Chiyou felt deeply remorseful for Su Yu and immediately knelt down to apologize, "Your Majesty, I was wrong."

Su Yu then stood up and ruffled his hair. Since the boy had started growing taller, she had rarely ruffled Yu Chiyou's hair, mainly because it was a bit tiring, "Ayou, you did nothing wrong. I appreciate your straightforwardness."

She withdrew her hand, just as she had previously speculated, the countdown above the male lead's head not only indicated his intention to rebel but was also related to a significant event affecting the fate of Great Qi, the event that determined the male lead's resolve to rebel in the original novel.

In the original novel, without her interference, the eunuch would have inevitably disclosed the secrets of the former ruler. Whether only Xie Yiguan knew or if others were also aware remains unclear.

After all, in the original timeline, Yu Chiyi was rebelling in Hebei at this time, and shortly after, Xie Yiguan found an excuse to leave for the Huainan Circuit, never to return. Then, a palace rebellion erupted, and Liu Sanen beheaded the original ruler.

If it weren't for her arrival, Xie Yiguan should already have had thoughts of rebellion by now—

In fact, in the original novel, the first to rebel was Yu Chiyi, but Xie Yiguan was the first to harbor rebellious intentions.

From the start, Xie Yiguan advocated for a complete overhaul of Great Qi, with the aim of wiping out all the prestigious families. If not for his teacher, Zhang Xiu, who gave him a hard lesson, making him realize that scholars, once in power, could also form another prestigious family and could be even more greedy than traditional ones, he wouldn't be peacefully coexisting with the prestigious families as he is now.

In Su Yu's eyes, Xie Yiguan's moral compass was flexible. Following the original path, his departure to the Huainan Circuit and never returning might not have been solely due to the original ruler's gender. As long as his ambitions were fulfilled, he wouldn't care who occupied the throne. More critically, he viewed the original ruler as a puppet controlled by the prestigious families and eunuchs. Since he couldn't manipulate her, he had to seek another route.

Now that the countdown to Xie Yiguan's rebellion has vanished, it is not only related to her killing the eunuch, which prevented Xie Yiguan from triggering the original plot, but also to her keeping Xie Yiguan constantly busy. Xie Yiguan believes she can help him achieve his ambition of becoming a capable minister in a prosperous era, so he has completely let go of any thoughts of rebellion.

Su Yu rolled her eyes, wondering to herself if she could pile even more tasks onto Xie Yiguan.

She suddenly paused.

Even Yu Chiyou picked up on her tension. He couldn't help but touch his head and then sniff his hand—it didn't smell bad. He had even taken a bath specifically to see Su Yu, so why was the Emperor so serious?

"System," Su Yu suddenly called out, "when was my original death date?"

The system honestly replied, "It was this July."

Su Yu asked the system, "Will I still die now?"

After the original plot had been thoroughly disrupted by her, would she still die on the original timeline? Perhaps, like the male lead's rebellion countdown, at some point, a certain event might trigger her death. But now, without Liu Sanen, would this event that caused her to lose her head still exist?

The system answered with certainty, "No, now the host has fortune and is protected by the heavens. It's not easy for you to die."

Su Yu smiled and asked, "So, even a character like the King of Luosuo, who hasn't died in the original novel, probably doesn't have as much fortune as I do, right?"

The system replied, "Yes."

Wait, it felt like this scene was somewhat familiar.