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

Bai Yuchen exclaimed and stood up. In his haste, his wide sleeves accidentally knocked over a teacup on the table. The white porcelain shattered into several pieces on the ground, and the pale yellow tea spilled all over him. He didn't care at all, his expression changing back and forth between fear, doubt, and disbelief.

All eyes in the room were on him. Yang Li lightly tapped the table with his index finger, breaking the eerie atmosphere, and said in a deep voice, "The sky hasn't fallen yet, what's all the fuss about?"

Bai Yuchen's eyes were glazed over, his lips moved, and after a long while he managed to utter a few words: "May I ask, Prime Minister... if... if His Majesty completely controls the military, what should we do?"

“If it were… Bai Yuchen!” Yang Li suddenly erupted in anger halfway through his sentence, “Are you insane! Do you know what you’re saying!?”

Bai Yuchen smirked and said fearlessly, "It seems the Prime Minister has also discovered this."

"Impossible! If what you say is true, the Yuan Kingdom will sooner or later..." Yang Li couldn't bring himself to say the rest.

Before Xiang Xin ascended the throne, his favorite pastime was killing people for pleasure. While the late emperor was alive, he was able to suppress this, but after the late emperor passed away, the princes did not find the military tally, and the other half was in the hands of Fu Qingbai.

Therefore, although Fu Qingbai used strong methods to help Xiang Xin ascend the throne, he knew that Xiang Xin did not have military power and could not cause any major trouble no matter what he did. Although the officials had some complaints, they did not object.

Since they had to establish an emperor anyway, and all the people they wanted to establish had been killed, they had no choice but to reluctantly accept Xiang Xin as the young emperor.

Bai Yuchen smiled: "The eunuchs who let us into the palace, the troops mobilized in the capital, the sudden increase in palace guards, Ding Yinan's departure from the capital—these are such obvious signals that we should have noticed them long ago, shouldn't we?"

But no one noticed, no one raised the issue.

They boasted that they could manipulate the young emperor at will, but now it seems utterly laughable.

No one present could sit still anymore. They ran to the door, trembling, shouting and trying to squeeze out. Their repeated but futile resistance resulted in the first few officials being beaten until their bodies were covered in bruises.

Guarding their courtyard gates were the world-renowned Imperial Guards; their money could buy them some power, but not their personal freedom.

Above the emperor's power, no one can defy him.

After the commotion lasted for half an incense stick's time, Xiang Xin arrived in a grand procession in a palanquin, and the courtyard gate opened and closed again.

A moment later, the palanquin emerged, still with great fanfare, but now followed by several corpses dressed in official robes and covered in blood. The overwhelming stench of blood assaulted the souls of everyone present.

On the palanquin, Xiang Xin propped her cheek with one hand, tilted her head back, and looked up at the sky, admiring the swirling snowflakes: "Tonight it snowed heavily, and tomorrow will be another beautiful day. Does Changfu like the snow?"

Changfu bowed and followed: "Snowflakes are pure and flawless; there's probably no one who doesn't like them."

"Is that so?" Xiang Xin rested her chin on her hand, tilting her head slightly. "If no one dislikes it, why do none of my subjects and my courtiers like it?"

Changfu shrank back, not daring to speak.

She glanced at him, then changed the subject: "Do you know why I haven't touched you?"

Changfu's legs stiffened, and he knelt down heavily: "This servant did not know, this servant is guilty..."

His forehead kept hitting the snow, and the white snow was soon stained red.

"Did I order you to kneel?" Xiang Xin's voice boomed down.

Changfu kept kowtowing.

"Get up, and don't make me say it a second time."

"Yes." Changfu stood up in shock, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Xiang Xin snorted coldly, tapped the armrest lightly with his index finger to signal, and the eunuch carrying the palanquin gently lowered the palanquin, carefully helped him stand up steadily, and walked step by step to Changfu, who was bowing his head, his body trembling uncontrollably, and whose knuckles were already white as he held the whisk.

The two stood in silence for a long time, their solemnity so profound it seemed even the air itself was heavy. The eunuchs and guards who followed them had already knelt down quietly, prostrate on the snow like ice sculptures, with only the white mist formed by their breath silently proclaiming that they were alive.

Changfu appeared calm, but his lowered eyes were filled with anxious, unfocused gaze. He glanced haphazardly at the white snow on the ground several times before finally fixing his gaze on the toe of Xiangxin's gold-embroidered dragon-patterned shoes, which were worth a fortune.

"Come with me."

Words that are light and fleeting are like snowflakes drifting in the air, so light they are negligible, yet they are so cold when they land on your ears that they send chills down your spine.

Suppressing the chill running through his body, Changfu lowered his gaze as the gold-embroidered shoes disappeared into the plum garden. He let out a long breath, but his heart tightened at the same time: What is the young emperor going to do?

Tonight, those imprisoned are sleepless. The alchemical furnaces in the palace burn all night, thick black smoke shrouding the palace. Large red lanterns hanging from the eaves are adorned in the black smoke, their faint flames shining brightly in the darkness.

Standing high in the sky, witnessing everything, Xiang An couldn't help but sigh; the palace was in chaos.

Inside a courtyard house in the city, the drafty room was crowded with burly men, and Zhang Yicheng, sitting in the head seat, remained silent with his head bowed.

The man on the right waited a while, then lost his patience and slammed a large knife on the table with a loud bang, growling, "Damn it, what are you hesitating about? That dog emperor has closed the city gates and is busy refining elixirs. He's eating and drinking well and seeking immortality, but he doesn't care about our lives!"

“Brother Zhang, my family is about to run out of food. If it weren’t for the fact that we’re going to do something big, I would never have been willing to take food from my wife and daughters to fill my stomach, so that my legs wouldn’t be too weak to lift the knife and chop people!” Someone quickly chimed in.

“My family is the same.” Someone in the crowd sobbed, “After my wife heard the news, she was so hungry that she couldn’t walk. She refused to eat a single bite, hoping that I could take our son and fight my way out of Beijing.”

"My family is the same."

"My family is the same."

One voice after another followed, and under the pressure of their anticipation and longing, Zhang Yicheng finally gritted his teeth and uttered each word slowly and deliberately: "Okay! Let's do it!"

Not long ago, when he returned home from his official post, he saw his parents dead in the alley, naked, his child frozen to death at home, and a few grains of grain scattered on the snow. He knew very well where the grains came from; he had secretly carried them out of the house of a high-ranking official and hidden them under the snow by sheer luck.

That morning, before he went to work, he specially found a cart for his elderly father to carry grain, and watched his father walk away with faltering steps but full of spirit.

They were perfectly fine when they left, but returned with grain...

Grain has always been a lifesaver, but who would have thought that one day it would become the death knell for his family!

If it weren't for the expectations of his brothers, he would have left with his parents and children on that day.

Rebellion itself wasn't so scary; he was all alone and had no ties. What worried him was that his weapons were crude and couldn't withstand the superior equipment of the government forces, preventing him from breaking out of the city.

Unfortunately, he couldn't voice his worries, and the others in the house were unaware of them, only filled with joy as they thought about how they would live after leaving the city.

He glanced around at the barely concealed excitement on everyone's faces and roared, "We'll make our move in three days!"

"Yes!"

Outside the Prime Minister's residence, beside a dark corner gate, several large black cloaks concealed a dozen or so men and women gathered together. Their faces were obscured by the darkness, and everyone remained silent in the snow.

A cold wind blew by, lifting the corners of their clothes and revealing glimpses of the knives tucked at their waists.