I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 222: Self-reliance
After getting used to the vibrations in his ears, Xiao Jingfan raised his hand and rubbed them expressionlessly, thinking to himself, "Who is the boss of Chunmanyuan? Tell me now!"
[Hey, it’s a well-hidden secret. Does the tyrant know about this? ]

Xiao Jingfan: If you know it, why should I wait for you to tell me?
[I don’t think I know. The system doesn’t mention it.]

Chu Liuzheng flipped through the system and found it more and more interesting.

[Tsk tsk, it turns out that lamps produced by the royal family are not very fuel-efficient. This guy has done a lot of things in secret, and he knows how to hide his shortcomings. His brain is no worse than that of a tyrant. ]

Xiao Jingfan's face darkened. From the sound of it, it seemed that besides those two restless Prince Cheng and Prince Li, someone else had shown up?

He held his chin with one hand and began to count which of his uncles, brothers, nephews and nephews was the most suspicious, while also listening to their voices.

[Wow, Chun Man Yuan and Wan Fang Lou are competing for business, but the bosses of these two are actually good friends. Is this what it means when people are divided into groups? ]

[Wait, that's not right. If he is the boss of Chun Man Yuan, how could he do such a thing as forcing a woman of good character into prostitution? This doesn't make sense.]

Xiao Jingfan silently added "good moral character" to the screening criteria.

A large group of people are instantly screened out based on their impressions.

Chu Liuzheng didn't know that a certain emperor was using the process of elimination to support himself. She pondered the reason for a while and suddenly thought of a possibility.

【Maybe it has something to do with that incident.】

She quickly searched the system.

【Oh, here, here! 】

She read it carefully, then sorted out several related pieces of gossip.

[Oh, so there is a connection. The timings match perfectly. That makes sense.]

[Tsk, his character is pretty good, but he's just a little unlucky.]

Unlucky?

There were still about ten people left in Xiao Jingfan's mind, and he couldn't really filter them out using the condition of "unlucky".

In his impression, these people seemed to have some bad luck.

He waited for the next cue, but… the voice was gone.

He sat and waited for a while, not knowing what Chu Liuzheng was doing, and had no idea what he was thinking.

Xiao Jingfan: "..."

It's okay, I'm used to it.

He ground his back teeth vigorously, walked to the study with a gloomy face, and holding a pen in his left hand, he wrote down the names of the people who were left after the screening.

It’s just a dozen people, he can check it himself!
At the same time, Yiran Garden.

Yu Zhui, who was resting, saw Chu Liuzheng eating half a plate of dates in one go. Worried that she would get irritated from eating too much, she quickly took the dates away, pulled her up and asked her to help think of the menu for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Chu Liuzheng had no choice but to give up eating the melon and hold his tea to seriously think about what to eat for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Yuzhui leaned his head against her shoulder and said, "The New Year is only two days away. I wonder what kind of reward I can get this year."

Chu Liuzheng said, "Sister Moxiang said that the rewards for those who serve in front of the emperor are always two cents higher than those in other palaces. This is the case every year, and this year should be no exception."

Hearing this, Yu Zhui smiled and said, "I will save the reward and give it to Xiaoyue as a dowry in the future."

Chu Liuzheng lowered his eyes and looked at the head resting on his shoulder, "All of them are given to Xiaoyue as dowry, what about you?"

Yuzhui sat up and said, "I'm already 25 when I leave the palace. Who wants an old maid? I don't expect to get married, so I won't be despised by others."

"Twenty-five is a good age, how can you be old?" Chu Liuzheng saw that she didn't really want to get married, and said with a smile, "Those who can survive until the age of twenty-five and leave the palace are better in manners and etiquette than the ladies of the upper class. It's just that others rush to marry them, so how can they be despised?"

"None of those who come here to seek a wife are serious about it. They all want to be taken as concubines." Yu Zhui curled her lips, "I don't want to be a concubine in those wealthy families. If I want to marry, I'll find an honest and decent man who will only stay with me for the rest of his life."

"What's the point of talking about wife or concubine? Can you just chat about that?" Moxiang came in with the medicine and looked at the two of them helplessly. Yuzhui muttered, "There's no one else in the room."

"It won't work without outsiders." Moxiang said to Chu Liuzheng while feeding her medicine, "If you say you're used to it, you might also say it when outsiders are around. How will it end then?"

Yuzhui couldn't answer and said awkwardly, "I won't say it anymore in the future."

"You'd better keep it in mind." Moxiang stuffed a candy into Chu Liuzheng's mouth, and when she saw her eyebrows relax, she said, "It's fine if it's the jade pendant, but why did you join in the conversation?"

Chu Liuzheng admitted his mistake immediately and behaved very well.

Moxiang poked her forehead helplessly, then turned to Yuzhui and said, "If you really want to do this, you can ask His Majesty for a favor before leaving the palace and ask His Majesty to arrange a marriage for you. Even if the family is not rich and powerful, they will definitely not let you down."

Yu Zhui was surprised: "Your Majesty, can you agree?"

"As long as you serve wholeheartedly, His Majesty will agree." Moxiang said, "Last year, when Aunt Yuyu left the palace, she asked His Majesty for a favor, and His Majesty decided to marry her to Lord Shen, the clerk of the Ministry of War. Now they live happily together and are three months pregnant."

Yuyu is Moxiang's master, and it was she who trained Moxiang.

Yuzhui was somewhat tempted, and took Moxiang's arm and said, "Sister, please teach me more in the future. I also want to..."

She didn't say the rest of the words, but Chu Liuzheng and Moxiang understood what she meant. She was going for that grace.

Moxiang also hoped for her well: "As long as you do your part, His Majesty will see it clearly."

Yuzhui nodded, "Got it."

Moxiang raised her finger and pointed at Chu Liuzheng: "Liuzheng did a good job. If you can learn a little bit from her, you won't have to worry about this grace."

Chu Liuzheng blinked when he was suddenly called out. She didn't ask for mercy, so what was there to learn from her? Was she slacking off at work?
*
The next day, it was sunny.

Youlan Residence.

The young eunuch ran in and reported, "The emperor has gone to Changchun Palace."

Gaopin waved her hand for him to leave, stood in front of the dressing table, and personally added the final stroke of purple su to the end of her eyes.

"Look for yourself."

Zi Su turned her head and saw a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar reflected in the bronze mirror.

Her lips opened slightly in surprise. Is this her?

Gaopin put her hands on her shoulders, put her head close to her face, and asked, "Do they look alike?"

Shiso nodded.

Gaopin straightened the silk flower on her bun and said, "Change your clothes."

Zi Su went behind the screen and changed into a royal palace dress.

She turned around in front of Gaopin, who nodded with satisfaction: "It's 70%."

Thinking of what she was going to do soon, Zi Su felt uneasy and couldn't help but said, "It's so hard to find out His Majesty's whereabouts, why don't you take the opportunity to meet His Majesty? It's said that love grows when you meet someone. Concubine Yun was faking her pregnancy. It's been so long since the incident, His Majesty should have calmed down."

"It's not the right time." Gaopin had her own plans and waved her hand at her, "Go quickly, be smart."

Zi Su could only bow and say, "I'll take my leave."

*
The imperial sedan chair slowly went to Changchun Palace. Xiao Jingfan didn't get enough rest last night and was leaning against the armrest, feeling drowsy.

Zhou Yuande reminded softly: "Your Majesty, the Changchun Palace is just ahead."

"Yeah." Xiao Jingfan opened his eyes and was about to walk downstairs to wake up from his nap when he suddenly heard a noise coming from the front.

It sounded like swearing.

He frowned and ordered Zhou Yuande, "Go see what's going on in front."