The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Before they even had lunch, Li Rui led his men straight to Yuxiu Palace.

Seeing Li Rui appear before her with a face uglier than his own father's death, Shen Tianjiao wasn't surprised. What had transpired in the court today was no secret to begin with. Not only Li Rui, but the entire harem, including all the powerful families in Shangjing, was probably discussing her actions today. Even without listening, Shen Tianjiao knew how shameful she was being portrayed in those people's mouths.

What's more, Shen Tianjiao was certain that Li Rui was the first person today, but he would definitely not be the last one to cause trouble for her.

"Isn't the emperor ill and needs to rest? How come he has the leisure to come to Yuxiu Palace now?" Shen Tianjiao looked at Li Rui expressionlessly, but in her heart she was complaining that he came at the wrong time. Seeing Li Rui now would affect her mood for dinner later.

"Doesn't the Queen really know why I'm here?" Li Rui raised his head and snorted. His arrogant and slapping look made Shen Tianjiao almost unable to resist the urge to slap him twice.

"Your Majesty, what are you talking about? Has anyone told me what happened? You come in and start accusing me of something. How should I know how to answer?" Shen Tianjiao pretended to be dumbfounded, holding the lily and lotus seed soup that Chunchao had prepared for her, eating it in small bites, completely ignoring Li Rui's existence.

Li Rui looked at Shen Tianjiao, who completely ignored him and seemed like a different person, and who was becoming more and more unfamiliar to him. Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable fear that everything was out of his control.

"Shen Tianjiao, why are you pretending to be stupid?" Li Rui looked at Shen Tianjiao's nonchalant look and didn't care about him. Somehow he suddenly felt wronged and had the urge to cry in front of Shen Tianjiao.

Li Rui's morbid psychology and behavior of wanting to kill Shen Tianjiao to prevent her and her family from threatening his rule, and wanting Shen Tianjiao to unconditionally forgive and indulge him no matter what, proves one thing, that is, he is a child who was completely spoiled by his original body Shen Tianjiao. Because he was favored to the extreme and had someone to rely on, he was fearless and hurt Shen Tianjiao again and again.

But he forgot that no matter how passionate a heart is, it will slowly turn cold after being pierced by holes. When it is completely cold and without warmth, the more love there was in the past, the more hatred there will be for the rest of your life.

"I really don't know why the emperor came here in such anger and started to accuse me without saying anything. Instead of playing tricks on me and making me guess and waste time, the emperor might as well tell me the answer directly." Shen Tianjiao sat on the chair, holding a bowl in her hand, and just sat there staring at Li Rui with cold eyes.

"You don't take me seriously now. It's fine that you don't bow to me or kneel to greet me, but you don't even let me sit down. You let me stand and talk like this?" Li Rui's eyes were red as he looked straight at Shen Tianjiao. He was a handsome man with superior bone structure, but now he looked as if he had been bullied and looked pitiful. Looking at this scene, if he was not a strong-willed person, he would be soft-hearted.

Even Shen Tianjiao couldn't help but sigh in her heart at this moment. Although Li Rui was an out-and-out scumbag, it was undeniable that he did have the potential to be a vixen with his looks, the kind of vixen who could captivate people and make them confused and unaware of the reason.

Thinking about it this way, the original Shen Tianjiao might not really be a person without principles, weak and vulnerable to being manipulated by Li Rui. Or perhaps there is a possibility that she was bewitched by the vixen Li Rui and lost her mind, and was led by Li Rui by the nose.

It's a pity that she is not the real Shen Tianjiao, and she is born with the attribute of "straight woman". She doesn't like vixen, especially those like Li Rui.

In her previous life, when she was still Chu Qingge, her husband Li Heng was a mixed-race handsome man who looked even more enchanting than the current Li Rui. The two had been together for more than ten years, but she was not fascinated by Li Heng. In the end, they hated each other and were determined to fight to the death.

How could he be blinded by a Li Rui and lose his mind now?

"Your Majesty, what you said is not right. This land belongs to the king. The whole world belongs to you, including Yuxiu Palace. You come to your own place and sit down whenever you want. Do you need anyone's permission?" Shen Tianjiao would not indulge Li Rui, and said whatever hurtful words.

"Hmph!" Li Rui raised his foot and almost kicked over the chair in front of him. He glared at Shen Tianjiao fiercely, walked over to Shen Tianjiao in a panic, and sat down on the couch.

Faced with Li Rui's childish nature, Shen Tianjiao just shook her head and smiled. The Yunli Kingdom did not perish in Li Rui's hands, and it was truly blessed by the ancestors. She didn't know what great good deeds this guy had done in his previous life to have such luck and not become the king of a destroyed country.

"Chunchao, go get the emperor some heat-reducing tea. He's a little irritable today, so he needs to drink some to cool down."

After giving Chunchao her instructions, Shen Tianjiao looked up at the people who had followed Li Rui and said, "I have something to say to the Emperor. You all should wait outside."

Huang Chunhua stood there motionless, with his head lowered, waiting for Li Rui to speak. He didn't dare disobey Shen Tianjiao, but he also didn't dare disobey Li Rui. After all, he really didn't want to be scolded by Li Rui again.

Li Rui, who was still angry, was choked by Shen Tianjiao again. Compared with Shen Tianjiao's contempt for him, Li Rui hated the inexplicable sense of oppression coming from Shen Tianjiao even more. It was obviously just an ordinary word, but for some reason, when it came out of Shen Tianjiao's mouth, it was extremely oppressive, making people obey involuntarily.

"Listen to the Queen and get out." Li Rui waved his hand and dispersed the people in the room.

After getting Li Rui's approval, the people who followed him lowered their heads and trotted away and soon disappeared.

Looking at the servant who wished he could disappear immediately, Li Rui felt a headache and was very angry again.

Only Shen Tianjiao and Li Rui were left in the hall, sitting opposite each other in silence. Shen Tianjiao didn't want to pay attention to Li Rui, while Li Rui was sulking, waiting for Shen Tianjiao to coax him and bow to him like she used to.

The two of them argued for a long time, and finally Li Rui couldn't help but speak first, "Does the Queen really have nothing to say to me?"

Shen Tianjiao sneered disdainfully, "Your Majesty must first tell me what I did wrong, then I will know what to say to Your Majesty."

"You!" Li Rui looked at Shen Tianjiao who was deliberately making things difficult for him, and the anger that had just been suppressed suddenly rose again. "Do you really have to talk to me like this?"

"You don't know? Okay, then let me ask you, why did you take the initiative to dismiss Yuan You without my permission today in the court? And why did you appoint Yan Mingde as the expeditionary officer to quell the rebellion without my consent? He is a member of the Imperial Guard, protecting the capital's safety! Who will protect the capital if he leaves? Is the capital's safety not important?"

Facing Li Rui's questioning, Shen Tianjiao didn't show any sign of panic. This was just the beginning. What she was going to do in the future would make Li Rui even angrier and would subvert his cognition and world outlook.

"The Emperor sent Prime Minister Wang to ask me to preside over the court. Don't I have the right to handle government affairs in the court?" Shen Tianjiao twirled the cup in her hand nonchalantly. "If I still need the Emperor's instructions on everything, then it would be better for the Emperor to attend the court himself."

"Have I done anything wrong? Yuan You, as the Minister of War, failed to act in the face of a powerful enemy. He failed to fulfill his duties and made excuses to delay the battle. I didn't charge him with any crime that harmed the country, confiscated his property, or beheaded anyone who implicated his Yuan family. I simply dismissed him from his post and sent him home to reflect on his mistakes. This punishment is already light enough."

"Besides, I dismissed him from office, which is not what the emperor wants. Your Majesty, please don't tell me that you want Yuan You to stay in his current position."

How can a nominal adoptive mother compare to a biological mother? No matter how well she acts, it's all fake and can't withstand any test. Even a biological mother and child can't stand up to the demands of interests and rights, let alone a "fake mother and child" like them who are just exploiting each other for their own needs?

The Queen Mother was the backer of Yuan You. Eliminating Yuan You would be like cutting off one of the Queen Mother's arms. This was the best thing for Li Rui. Shen Tianjiao didn't ask Li Rui for a thank-you gift, so he got it for free. He was still pretending to be so powerful. I couldn't beat him up in person. It really made me angry.

Li Rui, whose secret was exposed, felt as if his heart was hit by a heavy hammer. He felt both pain and depression. "Okay, let's not talk about the matter of the Garden. What about the matter of Yan Mingde?"

Shen Tianjiao, who had just thought she could still endure it, now felt that she couldn't bear it anymore, and there was no need to endure it anymore. She couldn't beat Li Rui in person, but she didn't say she couldn't lose her temper and scold him.

Shen Tianjiao raised her fist and smashed it hard on the table beside her, shaking the teacup on the table so hard that it almost flew up.

"You, what are you doing?" Li Rui watched Shen Tianjiao swallow nervously. Was this violent and vulgar woman really his queen? If so, where was his gentle and lovely queen who couldn't even speak loudly?

"What are you doing? Can't I beat someone up if I want to?" Shen Tianjiao didn't even bother to look at Li Rui. "Your Majesty, are you still dreaming?"

"Li Bin has rebelled with an army of 200,000. He didn't come to the court with 200,000 troops to congratulate you. If you don't send troops to quell the rebellion, he will bring his army to the city. If he does, will your throne still be secure? No, the question should be whether you, the emperor, will still be alive."

"Don't you understand your own situation yet? Don't you know who you should rely on? You are always on guard against our Shen family and those hardworking and meritorious soldiers, trying every possible way to frame and eliminate them, but in the end, the only people who can protect you and are willing to fight and even sacrifice their lives for the people of this country are precisely these people."

"Without these people guarding the borders, shedding their blood and sacrificing their lives to protect their country, how can you sit in the court in peace, how can you display your imperial majesty and airs, and how can you protect the well-being of the people of this country and safeguard this vast land?"

"Your Majesty, whether it's the Shen family or those soldiers fighting bravely on the battlefield, they all want to protect the people of this country. Do you understand? The land of Yunli Country does not belong to your Li family, nor to you, Li Rui. It belongs to the millions of people of Yunli Country."

Shen Tianjiao's impassioned words left Li Rui completely dumbfounded. As the ruler of a country, how could he even think about such things? He only needed to know that he was the emperor, the entire Yunli Kingdom belonged to him, and everyone had to submit to him.

The most important thing for him is to hold the power in his hands tightly, enjoy the satisfaction brought to him by this supreme power, and satisfy his desires.