Emperor Yu's Other Intentions — Then What Am I to You?
Emperor Yu’s Other Intentions — Then What Am I to You?
Inside the great hall, silence reigned. The numerous songstresses prostrated themselves in terror, and the assembled ministers were as silent as cicadas in winter.
Tuo Ba Xiaoyao had been dragged away under guard by order of the enraged Emperor Yu.
Though it was only a minor interlude, every minister could sense the Emperor’s displeasure. His face was dark to the extreme, radiating a heart-palpitating majesty.
Even the few princes who were usually most favored dared not speak lightly.
Yu Feiya glanced worriedly in the direction Tuo Ba Xiaoyao had been taken, then sank back into silence.
She didn’t understand why Tuo Ba Xiaoyao would provoke Emperor Yu at a moment like this.
Wasn’t this plainly slapping Emperor Yu in the face in front of everyone? As the ruler of the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty, how could Emperor Yu possibly let him off lightly?
For a moment, she sighed inwardly, somewhat at a loss, unsure how the matters to come should be handled.
Tuo Ba Xiaoyao was still too reckless — he hadn’t considered the priorities, the urgency, or the consequences of things.
“Feiya, it seems you’ve been hiding quite a lot from Us as well.”
Emperor Yu’s expression finally recovered, and he gave Yu Feiya a faint glance.
He was no fool. From Tuo Ba Xiaoyao’s attitude, he could tell that his relationship with Yu Feiya was likely not a simple acquaintance.
Yet before this, Yu Feiya had never once mentioned it to him.
This left Emperor Yu somewhat disappointed. In his eyes, Yu Feiya had always been the model of obedience, steadiness, and good behavior. Since when had she become like this, hiding so many things from him?
When had she learned to conceal so much from him over a man?
Yu Feiya’s face paled slightly, and she said in a low voice, “Your daughter did not mean to hide things from Father Emperor. There were reasons...”
She was about to explain, but Emperor Yu had already waved a hand to cut her off, saying indifferently, “You needn’t explain. Starting today, you will remain in your residence. Without Our command, you are not to take a single step outside its gates.”
Hearing these words, Yu Feiya’s face grew even paler. Her body trembled as if struck by lightning, somewhat unable to believe it.
In all her life, this was the first time Emperor Yu had confined her, forbidding her from stepping outside her residence.
She knew this meant Emperor Yu was truly furious.
“Yes, Father Emperor.”
But at this moment, she didn’t dare defy Emperor Yu’s will. She lowered her head and answered softly, her eyes dimming.
Inadvertently, she glanced to the side — only to see Gu Changge wearing a faint, barely-there smile at the corner of his mouth, seemingly observing her as well.
A strange, indescribable feeling rose in Yu Feiya’s heart, as if everything that had happened in the hall today had been deliberately orchestrated by Gu Changge.
If not for Gu Changge, Tuo Ba Xiaoyao would never have provoked Emperor Yu’s wrath.
“We’ve made a fool of Ourselves before Young Master Changge. We never imagined something like this would happen today. Truly disgraceful.”
Afterward, Emperor Yu turned to look at Gu Changge and couldn’t help shaking his head with a sigh.
Gu Changge withdrew his gaze from observing Yu Feiya’s expression.
Having watched events unfold all along, things had gone more or less as he had anticipated.
Hearing this, he smiled, then shook his head as well. “It truly surprised me. This Third Young Master of the Tuo Ba household actually said such things in public. I had originally thought to cherish his talent, but seeing him now, I’m afraid this man is unfit for great use.”
Not only had he publicly refused Emperor Yu’s bestowed marriage, he had also publicly declared that the one he fancied was Eldest Princess Yu Feiya.
This could no longer be described as mere treason and heresy — it was courting death.
As far as Gu Changge was concerned, once Tuo Ba Xiaoyao was thrown into the Heavenly Prison, things became much easier.
Although the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty’s Heavenly Prison was famed as an Inescapable Net, with True Daoist enemies of bygone years imprisoned in its deepest reaches...
If Gu Changge wished to slip inside without a sound, it would still be as easy as turning over his hand.
Even if Tuo Ba Xiaoyao died inside the Heavenly Prison, no one would suspect him.
With such an incident having occurred, the ministers — Emperor Yu included — lost all appetite for the remainder of the banquet.
The faces of everyone from the Tuo Ba household were ashen, filled with gloom. With such a huge incident, it went without saying that from now on, the Tuo Ba household would surely be kept at a distance by Emperor Yu, never again to be held in favor.
Their glory was gone; decline lay ahead.
Although Tuo Ba Qiongling and Tuo Ba Qingyu were deeply worried about Tuo Ba Xiaoyao, at this moment they were helpless and could only fret uselessly.
They very much wanted to tell their father about Tuo Ba Xiaoyao’s affairs, but Tuo Ba Xiaoyao had repeatedly warned them not to speak of those matters to anyone else — including their own parents.
During this time, Third Prince Jia Luo of the Eternal Overcast Kingdom once again raised the matter of the marriage alliance.
Tuo Ba Xiaoyao’s public declaration just now had left him feeling quite displeased, and he was somewhat worried Emperor Yu would refuse.
Although he didn’t truly admire Yu Feiya, in his eyes the marriage alliance between the two of them was a set-in-stone affair.
Now this Tuo Ba Xiaoyao had suddenly jumped out to obstruct it — it gave him the feeling that the man didn’t regard him in the slightest.
In Jia Luo’s view, Tuo Ba Xiaoyao was merely the young master of a minor General Residence; whether in cultivation or status, he was far from being comparable to himself.
So long as Emperor Yu was smart, he would know how to choose.
“Regarding the marriage alliance proposed by Prince Jia Luo, We shall consider it for a few days and give you an answer in five days.”
Facing Jia Luo’s renewed proposal of the marriage alliance, Emperor Yu answered thus — watertight, and far from fully agreeing.
In his heart, he actually had other ideas: let this Prince Jia Luo stew for a few days first, then negotiate the price.
On the other hand, Emperor Yu harbored yet another intention — the terrifying strength Tuo Ba Xiaoyao had displayed back at the Hunting Event.
That was absolutely not something someone of his realm should have been able to unleash.
Therefore, Emperor Yu concluded that Tuo Ba Xiaoyao was definitely hiding some great secret unknown to anyone.
If there was time, he intended to interrogate him thoroughly.
After the banquet ended, the ministers departed in trepidation, and the Eternal Overcast Kingdom’s party was led by maidservants toward the other side of the palace.
Gu Changge also took his leave with Jiang Chuchu and returned to his residence. He was in no hurry to investigate Tuo Ba Xiaoyao’s situation.
If his guess was right, Yu Tianzheng should already be waiting for him at his residence at this very moment.
Back at the Hunting Event, he had ordered Yu Tianzheng to abandon the assassination, worried he would ruin his plans.
By now, Yu Tianzheng was surely unwilling to accept it and would demand an explanation.
Looking at it this way, he’d have to make that fellow behave a little more obediently.
Gu Changge narrowed his eyes.
With such a chess piece in hand, he naturally needed to plan things out properly. Now that he knew the identity of the Sword of World Domination’s master, the matter of the sword itself was no longer urgent.
Rather, it was this vast Great Yu Celestial Dynasty that showed him an opening to exploit.
“Did you already know about what was between that Tuo Ba Xiaoyao and Princess Yu Feiya?”
Jiang Chuchu walked side by side with Gu Changge, dressed in white, her face veiled in light gauze, revealing only brows and eyes like distant hills. Her bearing was transcendent and otherworldly, her dark hair fluttering, like a God of the Moon about to ride the wind back to the heavens.
She asked softly. Having witnessed the entire course of events in the hall today, she could naturally tell that those words had all been deliberately engineered by Gu Changge — precisely to make Tuo Ba Xiaoyao provoke Emperor Yu’s wrath.
By all reason, Tuo Ba Xiaoyao and Gu Changge had never met before.
Yet Gu Changge acted as though he understood the man thoroughly, which puzzled her greatly.
“Yes, I knew long ago. Otherwise, why would I be bored enough to bestow a marriage on someone?” Gu Changge smiled, reaching out to wrap an arm around her slender waist.
Jiang Chuchu wore an expression that said just as I thought.
Seeing she was about to ask more, Gu Changge chuckled lightly and said, “That Tuo Ba Xiaoyao holds the Sword of World Domination. To evade my detection, he endured in hiding all these years.”
“Unfortunately for him, at the Hunting Event, I still saw through him. Something like the Sword of World Domination in his hands will only cost him his life — a pity he doesn’t understand that and insists on opposing me.”
“The Sword of World Domination?” Jiang Chuchu blinked, somewhat thoughtful.
She naturally knew of the Seven Tools of World Domination, and knew that Gu Changge already possessed several of them.
No wonder he moved against Tuo Ba Xiaoyao — so this was the reason.
But for him to so frankly tell her something this secretive... it warmed her heart somewhat.
After all, someone like Gu Changge was rarely willing to speak the plain truth.
“You actually didn’t have to tell me all this.” Jiang Chuchu’s eyes shimmered. She glanced up at Gu Changge, then looked off into the distance as if nothing had happened.
“But I just wanted to tell you.” Gu Changge smiled, catching her soft, boneless little hand and placing it in his palm.
“Who asked you to tell me? I... I don’t even want to know these things.”
Chuchu felt her heart suddenly racing, a faint blush coloring her face, and she tried to pull her hand free.
But Gu Changge held it tightly, leaving her somewhat flustered and annoyed.
There were still so many Great Yu guards watching here...
“So what if they’re watching? Am I not allowed to hold your hand?” Gu Changge chuckled softly. “We’re already an old married couple — what is there to be shy about?”
“Who’s an old married couple with you? Yue Mingkong is your fiancée.” Jiang Chuchu very much wanted to roll her eyes at him, showing her vexation.
At this moment, she kept feeling that beneath her veil, her face must already be as red as rouge.
Before others, she was the holy and dignified Saintess of Mortal Palace — untouched by worldly dust, transcendent above all things, her heart like a bright mirror that would never ripple in the slightest over external matters.
“Mingkong is my fiancée. Then what are you to me?” Gu Changge continued to chuckle.
“You...” Hearing this question, Jiang Chuchu grew flustered and annoyed all over again, an inexplicable melancholy rising in her heart.
Yes — Yue Mingkong was the proper, legitimate fiancée. Then what was she?
Gu Changge sighed. “I see now. In the future, you’ll probably just be a little pushover — the kind who gets bullied by everyone.”
“Bullied by me, and bullied by others too.”
“You’re not allowed to bully me.”
Though Jiang Chuchu was steadying her emotions, hearing this still made her feel deeply wronged, and she pulled her hand out of Gu Changge’s palm.
“Then from now on, don’t be a little pushover.” Gu Changge smiled, his expression turning gentle and tender.
Jiang Chuchu couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d come today purely to tease her.
“You will marry me, won’t you?” She lowered her eyes, her voice gradually growing softer.