After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

Xiang An glanced at the sunlight on his body and grinned mischievously, "Perhaps I'm more capable?"

"Impressive?" The scruffy-looking Taoist priest looked her up and down, muttering to himself, "Too much resentment, unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation?"

After saying that, he shook his head, denying the claim himself, and said, "That doesn't make sense either. I've seen many people who died unjustly, tortured to death, and who didn't even want to close their eyes after death, but I've never seen anything like your case."

Despite the Taoist priest's various guesses, Xiang An remained unmoved, secretly chuckling to himself, "You little brat, you'll never guess it even if you rack your brains."

I was trying to figure out how long it would take for him to give up, but to my surprise, the sloppy Taoist gave up in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. He stood up, dusted off his robes, and said, "That's enough. Everything in this world has its own destiny."

Xiang An laughed, her excitement rising: "You're not going to care about me?"

"in spite of."

"You won't care if I harm people?"

"……in spite of."

The sloppy Taoist priest walked forward with his hands behind his back without turning his head, saying, "If you're bored, you can come and talk to this old Taoist priest to relieve your boredom."

A strange name, a strange Taoist priest.

Seeing that he didn't turn around, Xiang An was curious but didn't chase after him. The two strangers had a brief conversation in a special way, but who says they have to know each other?

In the vast sea of ​​people, exchanging a few words is already a blessing from heaven; there's no need to force a deeper connection.

The conversation with the careless Taoist priest was like a pebble thrown into the ocean, failing to make a ripple in Xiang An's life of inhumanity.

Drifting through various restaurants every day, Xiang An saw all sorts of ancient dishes that could not be found in modern times. Some were exquisite, but tasted terrible when served, while others looked ugly but were extremely delicious, making her mouth water. Unfortunately, she could only look at them.

A month later.

"The one hundred and twenty-fifth." Xiang An sat on the table counting the number of people. Today, Piaoxianglou was doing very well, with a constant stream of guests coming and going, and the manager and waiters were busy as bees.

"The 126th."

The counting paused slightly; the 126th guest was Ding Yinan.

He now exudes a murderous aura, unlike the shy and adorable man he was on the way to the marriage alliance. The change is so drastic that Xiang An couldn't even be sure it was him at first glance.

He clearly had an appointment with someone, and after entering the store, he went straight into a private room. Xiang An struggled with his thoughts for a moment, but still went through the door.

The private room was elegantly decorated, with four paintings of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums hanging on the walls, and four people sitting around a large square table.

Ding Yinan, dressed in casual clothes, sat at the head of the table. The other three were dressed simply, with fair skin, and were refined and dignified. In the original owner's memories, these three were: the great Confucian scholar Zhong Zan, the censor Bai Yuchen, and the Minister of Rites Wei Wenrun.

Xiang An had some impression of Bai Yuchen. He was the first to speak up when she drugged the emperor. She didn't know how capable he was, but he was certainly bold. As for the other two, she had never met them.

After learning the identities of these four people, Xiang An's heart skipped a beat. The original owner's memories contained almost nothing about the Yuan Kingdom's court, but Xiang An knew about the court in modern TV dramas, which generally consisted of only a few factions: civil officials, military officials, and members of the royal family.

The three factions depicted in the TV series are a rough division. In a real imperial court, the situation would be far more complex, with factions categorized by region, social status, position, interests, and so on, resulting in intricate relationships and power dynamics.

Ding Yinan and Fu Qingbai are close, so they are definitely from the military faction. The other three are clearly from the civil faction. Civil and military officials have never gotten along, so it is rare to see the two factions sitting at the same table in harmony.

What are they trying to do?

Xiang An didn't understand, but her intuition told her something was wrong. However, with the current emperor dead and the new emperor's ascension to the throne shrouded in mystery, this sense of unease was actually quite accurate.

No one spoke inside.

The four sat quietly for a while. Wei Wenrun got up, picked up the teapot and teacups, and poured tea for everyone. After sitting down, he said, "Does General Ding know that he has been following our Emperor all along?"

"Does Lord Wei want His Majesty to know, or not?" Ding Yinan smiled slightly, not even glancing at the tea on the table.

"Whether we want to or not is not up to us, it's up to you." Wei Wenrun sipped his tea calmly. "We just entered the private room for tea, and General Ding arrived right after. He really has connections everywhere. But then again, who doesn't know that in this capital city now, apart from General Anwu, you, General Ding, are the most powerful?"

Ding Yinan: "I don't understand what Lord Wei is saying. In all the world, nothing is greater than His Majesty. What am I?"

“Since becoming a general, General Ding has become much more eloquent. When I first met you, you were still Ding Yinan, who would only hide behind General Anwu and couldn’t say a word when you saw us.” Bai Yuchen raised his eyelids. “I just don’t know if your eloquence can withstand the impeachment of the Censorate, or if your words can move the executioners in the prison.”

Ding Yinan said calmly, "You can give it a try."

Bai Yuchen gave him a deep look: "To be honest, I still like General Ding the most, who can't even speak when he sees me."

"I believe that as long as Imperial Censor Bai beheads six traitors in court and kills five ministers who colluded with the traitors, you will not be afraid of anyone, and you will naturally speak human language when you see people."

"How dare you, Ding Yinan! You murdered a prince, a capital offense of treason! You also harmed a high-ranking official of the court, an unforgivable and unjust act. You have committed multiple crimes, yet you still dare to spread them around!" Zhong Zan was furious.

"Whose rebellion is this? Since ancient times, there has been an order of seniority. The late emperor has passed away, and it is only right and proper for the eldest prince to ascend the throne. The other six princes harbored resentment and disregarded their brotherly affection. In the dead of night, they brazenly led troops with knives and broke into the palace, intending to commit the crimes of disloyalty and treason, which are no different from those of traitors. They should not be killed, so who should be killed?"

"It was a righteous act for me and General Anwu to behead the traitor together. However, the officials who rushed into the palace first pointed at us and cursed us, disregarding the friendship between colleagues. Not to mention that they then turned right and wrong upside down to protect the traitor, and even tried to rescue him and let the tiger return to the mountain. If such officials who colluded with the traitor should not be killed, then who should be killed?"

Ding Yinan looked coldly at Zhong Zan, his gaze icy, "Do you mean I should kill you?"

"You, you, you!!!" Zhong Zan's face turned red with anger, his fingers trembled, and he stammered, unable to utter any other words.

The atmosphere became tense, and no one stood up to say a word for Zhong Zan.

Judging from Zhong Zan's frustrated appearance, he must have gone to the palace that night, but not only did he fail to get a share of the pie, he almost lost his life on the spot.

The eldest prince, Xiang Xin, her twin brother, is very similar in temperament to the late empress in the rumors: violent, petty, and cruel.

As the empress, she could not tolerate the emperor taking concubines, nor could she accept that other concubines had given birth to children before her.

Relying on the power of her maternal clan, she was extremely arrogant and domineering, looking down on everyone. She used any means necessary to poison the concubines, beat hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs to death, and imprisoned more than a dozen concubines. Her crazy behavior continued until she died of postpartum hemorrhage. After that, the position of empress remained vacant for many years.

The mothers of the other six princes were all concubines, and the extent of their maternal families' influence was unknown. She had never heard of the emperor suppressing any of them.