Chapter 12: The Emperor Has Me in His Heart!

Chapter 12: The Emperor's Got My Back!

The old man's eyes went wide, and he dropped to his knees with his whole family.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The traitors have been dealt with. Qi Kaisheng, the Loyal and Martial General, is hereby reinstated to his former post. I have written this edict with my own hand to proclaim to the world that the General's name has been cleared. He shall return to court and be granted the Loyal and Martial General's Mansion, a thousand taels of silver... I await my beloved minister's swift return to the capital. By imperial decree."

"Your servant! I accept the decree!"

Old General Qi had spent his whole life in the military,

Yet at nearly fifty, he'd been branded a traitor,

And his dozens of family members had been exiled to Shu. He'd thought he'd never see the light of day again—but unexpectedly, unexpectedly, there was still a day when his name could be cleared!

Qi Kaisheng's heart burned with fire, and his voice choked up.

He bowed in fealty, his gratitude to his sovereign beyond words. At the same time, he couldn't help but look forward to returning to the capital.

What kind of person would this emperor be...

In the dark, damp dungeon,

Water dripped with a steady echo from time to time.

In the innermost cell sat the family of Meng Qianchen, the former Minister of Works of the previous dynasty.

"Why hasn't the food come today?"

Meng Qianchen's six-year-old grandson seemed unwell, his face flushed, leaning against his mother and sweating buckets.

"Grandfather, Yuanqi's body hurts so much."

The family exchanged hopeless looks. Once you're in prison, lives are cheap—who could possibly come to save them now?

"Grandfather, watch your step."

In the distance, footsteps seemed to approach.

"Father, who's coming?"

Meng Qianchen's wife clung to him tightly, terrified that another family member would be taken away.

Dan Yanzhi was a vicious man—he'd thrown their family of seventy into prison, yet refused to kill them all at once.

Instead, every few days he'd drag a few out to be beheaded. Of what had once been a five-generation household, only a little over thirty were left.

The dead's bones hadn't even cooled, while the living languished forever in the sunless torment of prison.

Torchlight slowly crept into the dark, damp dungeon.

Meng Qianchen thought he heard the crackle of sparks.

He got up and gripped the iron bars, staring anxiously at the corridor growing brighter.

Yun Ran led the way, a trembling jailer at her side,

With Xiao Yuanzi behind her, carrying the imperial edict.

Meng Qianchen recognized the newcomer—this was unmistakably,

"Your Majesty!"

Yun Ran stopped in front of the cell, hands clasped behind her back.

Yuanbao, quick on the uptake, stepped forward to read the edict...

The jailer behind them listened, stunned.

The world was turning upside down—a court minister arrested by the Regent on a whim, locked up for three years, and now the Emperor had just let him go.

He wondered if, when the reckoning came, he'd survive the things he'd done...

Meng Qianchen wept, tears streaming down his aged face. He'd never imagined his name might be cleared in his lifetime.

Yun Ran fully intended to bring this Minister of Works into her service—more importantly, she had a mountain of blueprints waiting for him to put into practice.

She stepped forward and helped Meng Qianchen to his feet herself.

"My beloved minister, I've come too late."

A single sentence—no big deal to Yun Ran, but in Meng Qianchen's heart, it stirred up a thousand waves!

And just then, Xiao Yuanzi happened to say, in a voice neither too loud nor too soft,

"His Majesty issued the decree and came straight here to rescue Lord Meng first—the other senior ministers are still waiting."

The voice was soft, but Meng Qianchen heard every word.

Tears streamed down his aged face. What a great honor, to be so valued and cared for by one's sovereign!

The Emperor has me in his heart! He really has me in his heart!!!

Meng Qianchen's heart blazed with fervor, and he wished nothing more than to devote himself utterly to the Emperor, to serve to the death.

In truth, Yun Ran had told every eunuch sent to deliver edicts to say exactly that.

Heh heh—all to win people over.

If the ministers ever compared notes later, she would simply be vague and evasive.

Yun Ran helped Meng Qianchen up, patted his shoulder, and said with a look of complete trust,

"In the days ahead, I shall rely on you, my beloved minister, to work hard."

Best if he could hurry up and fix her toilet...

Before Meng Qianchen could be moved to tears again, Yun Ran noticed that among the kneeling crowd behind her, there was a child with a flushed face.

"What's wrong with him? Let me see!"

Yun Ran could clearly tell the child's complexion was wrong—this was urgent.

Meng Qianchen was startled.

"My little grandson is unwell. Madam, take him away—His Majesty's health is paramount, we mustn't let him catch a chill."

"He's in bad shape—bring him here at once!"

With a life at stake, summoning a physician would take too long.

Yun Ran stepped forward and scooped the child up,

"Bring me the silver needles."

Xiao Louzi dashed off and was back in no time, lugging a medicine box, with a plump imperial physician huffing and puffing to keep up behind him.

Yun Ran took out a silver needle, passed it through the flame, found the acupoint, and slid the needle in.

Seeing his grandson's deathly pale face regain its color, Meng Qianchen mopped the cold sweat off his brow.

His grandson was the only heir in five generations—if anything had gone wrong...

At Yun Ran's nod, the physician waited for the emperor to step aside before scurrying over nervously to take the pulse and examine the child.

"The child has an intestinal blockage. One step later, and he might have—"

He trailed off, but the implication was clear to everyone.

"Your Majesty's hands work miracles—you're a living Hua Tuo!"

The physician was genuinely blown away. This wasn't an easy ailment to cure; even the whole Imperial Medical Academy had little confidence in treating it. Yet the emperor had just stuck a few needles in and cured him!

Better kiss up to the dragon's butt right away!

For Yun Ran, this was just a simple ailment—an intestinal blockage.

By the 28th century, medicine had advanced to a state of near perfection.

What's more, a new scientific method had been developed by then.

All knowledge—theories, formulas, design blueprints, even physics and chemistry principles, techniques—could be injected into the brain's cortex via a chip.

As a special agent, she definitely had clearance to use this secret tech.

Basically, all the accumulated knowledge of China's dynasties had been injected and absorbed into her brain.

Back in ancient times, her memory was her ultimate cheat code!

Snapping back to the present, Yun Ran saw Meng Qianchen's whole family—dozens of them—looking utterly worn out, and she sighed.

"Take three days off before coming back to court. Your residence has been cleaned up—the same one as before. I'm heading off now."

"Farewell, Your Majesty."

Yun Ran left, Yuan Bao trailing right behind her.

The Meng Qianchen family finally saw daylight again!

The moment they stepped out of the dark prison, the blazing sun hit them, but he didn't find it harsh at all.

He hadn't seen the sun in years; all he felt now was warmth.

Meng Qianchen had seen with his own eyes the sovereign of the realm personally save his grandson, free his family, and clear his name.

At this moment, even he—normally stoic and unreadable—was moved to tears.

He lifted his sleeve to dab at the corners of his eyes.

"With a wise ruler like this on the throne, a golden age of prosperity is sure to return."

Within a single day, all the old ministers were already heading back to the capital by imperial order.

The people of Chang'an felt like they were dreaming.

Just yesterday, the Regent was running the show; today, every corrupt official had lost their head.

"Truly, every dynasty has its own set of ministers."

"What the hell are you saying! Are you out of your mind! That thing doesn't deserve to be called a ruler!"

The speaker was quickly shushed by those around him, and everyone was shaking with fear.

But deep down, everyone knew that Dan Yanzhi's power had been no different from the emperor's.

Maybe the people had never seen such an iron-fisted ruler who slaughtered court officials in a single day.

They didn't know if it was good or bad, and could only keep living in fear.

Chaos or prosperity—who the hell knows?

Around 1–3 PM,

Yun Ran was back at the palace, about to take a nap, when Yuan Bao led her to the dining table in her chambers.

Eunuchs filed in one by one, starting to serve dishes.

Wait—it's only two in the afternoon! Why are they serving dinner already?!

Yun Ran was exasperated, a line of annoyance on her forehead.

Whatever—she was hungry anyway, so she'd just treat it as a late lunch to tide her over.

She'd never tasted an ancient emperor's meals. Her memories suggested they weren't all that great, but she clung to a sliver of hope that it was because Dan Junlin had no real status.

Now that she sat at the top of the realm, couldn't she enjoy some top-tier grub?

Yun Ran clasped her hands behind her back, feeling pretty smug.

Finally, she could get a taste of imperial life.

The head chef of the imperial kitchen waited outside the hall, palms soaked with sweat,

silently praying,

Please don't chop my head off, please don't chop my head off...