Chapter 186: Hold On, Imperial Advisor! I, the Emperor, Have Recovered 23

Chapter 186: Wait, Imperial Tutor! I'm Cured 23

Recently, floods had been frequent, leaving the people in the disaster-stricken areas homeless and displaced. Great Yue's treasury was depleted, and Lin Huaiqing issued decrees for disaster relief and allocated relief funds, but it was all in vain.

A large number of refugees poured into the capital, but the court's relief efforts proved insufficient. The refugees grew in number until they eventually erupted into riots.

As a result, even the people right under the emperor's nose couldn't live in peace.

Lin Huaiqing sat in a high position, but his power and wealth were quite limited. Though silver flowed out of the treasury like water, the disaster showed no signs of easing.

This worried Lin Huaiqing endlessly. Backed into a corner with no way out, he could only resort to cracking down on official corruption.

The number one corrupt official in the Dayue Dynasty was none other than the Prime Minister—second only to the emperor, above all others. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was wealthy enough to rival a nation.

Unfortunately, Lin Huaiqing wasn't yet in a position to move against the Prime Minister, so he could only start by investigating the small fry.

As for who should be entrusted with this tough task, Lin Huaiqing already had someone in mind.

"My beloved Minister Lin? I'm entrusting this matter entirely to you. Do you have confidence?"

"Your servant will not fail you."

"Good!"

Although Lin Huaiqing knew full well that Lin Cheng was part of Zhao Ge's faction, he trusted Lin Cheng's integrity.

With this matter in his hands, Lin Cheng would surely be impartial and ruthless in rooting out corruption among court officials.

Back in the harem, Lin Huaiqing found no rest either.

Concubine Yan, Zhao Ge's daughter, hadn't shown any reaction all this time. Watching Consort De's fake belly grow bigger by the day, the two of them couldn't help but grow anxious.

If Consort De couldn't find an opportunity, they couldn't possibly let her actually give birth to that fake child, could they?

That would really be shooting themselves in the foot.

So Lin Huaiqing made a last-minute decision to push the plan forward on his end.

The first step of the plan was to summon Concubine Yan to his bed.

He knew his own limits well, so he'd specially sent Xiao Xuan to the cultivation world to gather False Joyweed for him.

As the name suggested, once dried and ground into powder, False Joyweed could be added to food or drink—colorless and odorless.

Within the time it takes to burn one stick of incense after taking it, it would cause the person to hallucinate and imagine themselves in intimate congress with the person in front of them.

It was said the effect was incredibly realistic, and upon waking the next day, they'd take the hallucination for reality without any suspicion. Moreover, it did no harm to the body whatsoever.

In fact, this herb was often collected by lovelorn folks in the cultivation world to ease their pining. That's why its numbers had dwindled.

It was lucky that Xiao Xuan had managed to find it—no doubt it had taken considerable effort.

If the man himself was useless, you had to find other means. There were always more solutions than problems, after all...

So that very night, Lin Huaiqing broke with precedent and summoned Concubine Yan to his chambers.

Before this, Lin Huaiqing had barely given Concubine Yan a second glance. Now that he saw her, she was indeed a stunning beauty.

"Your concubine greets Your Majesty."

Concubine Yan had specially bathed and dressed up before attending to the emperor. Beneath the blanket, she wore a sheer, see-through gauze, creating an atmosphere of tantalizing allure.

Her sweet, coquettish voice alone could easily ensnare most men. Her slender, delicate neck tilted slightly upward as she stole shy, timid glances at him.

A simple, smooth combo of moves that would surely turn any man into a ravenous beast, ready to devour the beauty whole.

But what kind of man was Lin Huaiqing, after all?

Physically weak by nature, plus twisted into neither straight nor bent by the "Little Cripple System"—all his debuffs were maxed out.

All the springtime beauty before him was, to his eyes, just so-so. It held some appeal, but not much.

Seeing that Lin Huaiqing remained unmoved, Concubine Yan had no choice but to take the initiative. She slipped off the already flimsy gauze, letting it slowly slide from her shoulders. "Your Majesty, it's getting late. Let your concubine attend to Your Majesty's rest..."

"Wait, Concubine Yan. I have a habit—since this is your first time attending me, let's drink the nuptial cup first. Consider it a ritual."

Though Concubine Yan had no idea what the emperor meant by "ritual," she obediently picked up the wine cup from the tray.

The two drank the nuptial wine together, and the crisp, fragrant aroma of the liquor instantly filled their nostrils, heightening the amorous atmosphere to its peak.

"Your Majesty... your concubine is feeling a bit tipsy." Pretending to be drunk, Concubine Yan deliberately rose unsteadily and tumbled into Lin Huaiqing's arms.

Lin Huaiqing used a subtle maneuver to guide her to the bed. "If you're drunk, then go to sleep."

He still had to wait for the drug to take effect.

One could say he was the modern-day Liu Xiahui—even with Concubine Yan pulling out every trick in the book, Lin Huaiqing maintained a safe distance from her. Though both lay on the bed, there might as well have been a river between them.

The moment the incense stick burned out, Concubine Yan beside him began to grow glassy-eyed, emitting sounds from her throat that would make anyone blush.

Lin Huaiqing quickly rolled off the bed and drew the bed curtains shut, so he wouldn't have to see what was happening inside.

But those intriguing sounds simply could not be muffled. Lin Huaiqing could only stuff two cotton balls into his ears and lie down on the couch.

He blew out the lamp, plunging the surroundings into darkness. Lin Huaiqing rested his hands behind his head, gazing at the stars outside the window.

The Dayue Dynasty was now buffeted by storms on all sides, and the court was rife with those harboring ill intentions. Could he truly hold back the tide and prop up a collapsing mansion?

That, he could not be certain of.

Just as Lin Huaiqing was wallowing in melancholy, deep in his late-night feelings, a figure suddenly flashed before his eyes.

So fast that he couldn't even block it, the figure rushed forward and yanked open the bed curtains, followed by a man's furious roar:

"Lin Huaiqing!"

But no sooner had he shouted than the man froze, discovering that the figure he sought was not on the bed.

Turning around, the man found him standing right behind him.

"You called me?"

"???"

Qin Hanyue looked at the woman under the blanket, then at the impeccably dressed Lin Huaiqing, and was instantly dumbfounded.

"You..."

"What 'you'? Qin Hanyue, you're getting more and more out of line! You dare to barge into my bedchamber, and you dare to disturb me while I'm with my concubine! How audacious!" Lin Huaiqing snatched the bed curtain back from Qin Hanyue's hand and drew it shut again.

"What the hell is going on here? You're actually hooking up with her?"

"Scram, scram, scram! What business is it of yours?" He had meant to keep this secret from everyone, even sending Xiao Xuan away.

He never expected Qin Hanyue to catch him red-handed—how was he supposed to save face now?

Lin Huaiqing tried to push Qin Hanyue out, but after shoving him a few times without budging him, he gave up.

If this man didn't want to leave, there was no way to make him.

"What did you feed her to make her like this? Don't tell me you've got some kind of physical issue and a messed-up kink..." Qin Hanyue said with a complicated look, tinged with disdain.

"Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand! And you call yourself a big shot in the cultivation world, but you don't even know what False Joyweed is?"

Though it figured Qin Hanyue wouldn't know—after all, it was only the bottom-tier loser cultivators in the cultivation world who regularly used such things.

Someone of Qin Hanyue's standing, with at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, female cultivators fawning over him—would he ever need to use that stuff?