Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Inside the ancient temple on Qingyu Peak, Empress Dowager Ji Yuxi was entwined with a male favorite, indulging in desire and passion.

Half an hour later, everything settled down, and Ji Yuxi lay obediently on her male concubine's body like a kitten, looking completely satisfied.

"My darling, you really tried your best, I'm very satisfied~"

Ji Yuxi's fingers gently traced the man's firm chest muscles, her eyes filled with fascination.

The male concubine smiled slightly, turned to hug Ji Yuxi, and couldn't help but kiss her forehead.

"Your Majesty, I am truly blessed to have spent these past few nights with you. Even if you asked me to die right now, I wouldn't even flinch."

"Really? Then you'd better keep your word, okay? Hmm, my little darling."

"I'm growing to love you more and more. I wish you could stay with me every night, to dispel the emptiness and loneliness of these long nights."

"Yu Nu is at Your Majesty's beck and call at any time. As long as Your Majesty has any needs, Yu Nu will do everything in her power to satisfy you."

"Then you'd better keep your word, my little darling. It's still early, you can sleep a little longer, be good, okay?"

Ji Yuxi kissed the man's chest muscles, then got up, grabbed a silk robe and draped it over her shoulders. She walked to the dressing table and began to comb her beautiful black hair.

Suddenly, a woman's voice came from outside the door.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from the capital."

Ji Yuxi replied calmly, "What urgent report is there?"

"Shu Yue's secret letter: A civil unrest has broken out in Jinling City, with hundreds of thousands of people storming government offices in various places and even forcibly breaking into Weiyang Palace."

Ji Yuxi's hand, which was combing her hair, paused instinctively.

"What exactly is going on?"

"It is said that Zeng Qian, Liang Youxin, Zhao Yuanli, and twenty-six powerful families in the capital supported Mu Changge to become the emperor's son-in-law. His Majesty refused, which led to this storm."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuxi was overjoyed.

But he said, "Why make such a big fuss over such a trivial matter?"

Alas, I always said the late emperor's judgment was truly flawed. If the Prince of Shu had ascended the throne, such a commotion would not have occurred.

I had advised the late emperor long before the young lady ascended the throne, but he simply wouldn't listen.

"Enough, what's the use of saying all this now? I still have to go back and take charge, don't I?"

However, the person outside the door said, "Reporting to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, the chaos in Jinling was quelled two days ago by Shen Lang, the Empress's newly appointed Prefect of Jingzhao."

"What! It's over?"

Ji Yuxi was taken aback.

"How was it quelled?"

"Shen Lang led the new army into the city and immediately launched a violent crackdown on the crowds who were petitioning for service."

This resulted in countless deaths and injuries in Nanjing, but the chaos in Nanjing was completely quelled in just one day.

"absurd!"

Ji Yuxi slammed the wooden comb in her hand onto the dressing table.

"Those are all citizens of our Great Chu Kingdom, how dare he lay a hand on them! Where are those important officials in the court? Why don't they stand up and impeach Shen Lang at this time?"

"It was His Majesty's order. Those ringleaders involved in this matter, including Zeng Qian, Liang Youxin, and the heads of twenty-six other families, have all been executed. Their families have been either imprisoned or exiled."

"Now everyone in the court and among the people is living in fear; how could anyone step forward to impeach Shen Lang at this time?"

"They moved so quickly?"

Ji Yuxi's face was filled with disbelief.

"Just a few days?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, it took less than five days from the outbreak of the turmoil to its quelling."

Ji Yuxi couldn't help but gasp.

"This girl is so decisive and ruthless. I didn't even see it coming all these years. I miscalculated."

A voice sounded again from outside the door: "Your Majesty, what should we do now?"

Ji Yuxi: "Is there no movement from the Prime Minister's residence?"

"Your Majesty, it seems that Prime Minister Ye has already realized that Zeng Qian and most of the twenty-six families in Jinling are people you have secretly supported."

"Intentionally using the Empress to eliminate him—of course, this is just my analysis, and there's no way to verify it."

"That old fox is truly meticulous. Could Shen Lang also have been arranged by Ye Mo?"

"I am unaware that Shen Lang and Ye Mo do not have much interaction, so I cannot make a judgment at the moment."

Ji Yuxi took a deep breath, pondered for a while, and then immediately said, "Issue my imperial decree: prepare to return to the palace immediately."

"But Your Majesty, the period for praying for the late Emperor has not yet ended. Returning to the palace at this time is very dangerous..."

"It's too late! If I don't return to the palace soon, that girl will truly take control of the Great Chu court!"

What I fear most is that the maidservant is cooperating with the Prime Minister's mansion, which is extremely disadvantageous to me!

I must return to the palace and regain control of this girl before she gains power. If she slips out of my control, then I will have no choice but to find a way to destroy her.

The best way to destroy her body and soul is to turn her into the infamous, lecherous emperor of the palace, as recorded in the palace secrets. Then, how could she possibly sit on the throne?

There was immediate silence outside the door.

Ji Yuxi got up and glanced at her male concubine who was still on the bed, a hint of reluctance showing in her eyes.

"A young body is truly captivating."

As she spoke, she quickly dressed, picked up the wine pot on the table, poured a cup into a glass, and walked to the bedside.

"My darling, you must have been exhausted these past few days."

Ji Yuxi, with her captivating charm, breathed hot air into Yu Nu's ear in an extremely soft and seductive voice.

Yu Nu opened her eyes groggily and was somewhat surprised to see that Ji Yu Xi had changed into a formal suit.

"Your Majesty, what is this...?"

"I have urgent business to attend to in the capital and will not be able to accompany you any longer. Consider this cup of wine our farewell gift."

"Oh? Does that mean Yu Nu can no longer accompany the Empress Dowager?"

"Hmm, once I've finished dealing with matters in the palace, I will bring you into the palace."

"Then we'll never be apart again. Come, drink this cup of wine, and I'll feed you, hmm."

Yu Nu was so charmed by the soft and cute voice that she lost all sense of reason and instinctively opened her mouth to drink the wine that Ji Yu Xi fed her.

"Good boy, that's more like it, my darling. I really hate to part with you, but don't blame me, I had no choice but to do this~"

With that, Ji Yuxi kissed her male concubine on the cheek, gave him a flirtatious wink, and then got up and walked out.

Yu Nu touched her cheek, still savoring the tenderness from just now.

Suddenly, his pupils shrank.

Immediately afterwards, a sharp abdominal pain came.

"Why, pfft~"

He spat out a mouthful of blood, and when he looked up, his male concubine's face was contorted with rage, and blood was flowing from all seven orifices.

"Empress Dowager...Your Majesty..."

The next moment, he rolled off the bed, his head lolled to the side, and he died instantly.

Ji Yuxi flicked her brocade sleeves, not even glancing at the corpse of her male concubine, and turned directly to the door, shouting, "Send word: prepare the carriage to return to the palace!"

……

"This is utterly disgraceful. This incident was quelled by my Ministry of War."

If it weren't for the Imperial Guards' swift action, who knows how long this situation would have continued!

"Minister Lü, can't you have any shame? The Imperial Guard is His Majesty's personal guard, not under your Ministry of War's jurisdiction."

How dare you claim credit for yourself? Ultimately, the Ministry of Revenue is the most qualified to speak on this matter.

"Minister Lin, this matter is probably the least related to your Ministry of Revenue."

"The prisoners are all presided over and convicted by my Ministry of Justice. Tell me, what exactly did your Ministry of Revenue do to get involved? How dare you say that?"

"Enough, stop arguing. Only the Ministry of Works has something to say. This time, many houses and streets in the capital have been damaged."

"We urgently need repairs. The capital is the face of the Chu Kingdom. How can you let outsiders see the capital in this state?"

"If you say my Ministry of Rites is incompetent, then I'd like to ask, what if the Ministry of Rites doesn't follow up?"

If we don't educate the people, what will we do if similar incidents happen again? Do you even know what prevention means?

Finally, Ye Mo spoke up: "You are all high-ranking officials of the second rank, yet you are arguing like shrewish women in the marketplace. This matter should ultimately be handled by my Ministry of Personnel."

The entire Huangji Hall in Weiyang Palace was in an uproar.

Jiang Mengxuan frowned as she watched the officials arguing, but had no intention of stopping them.

Just two days after the Nanjing riots ended, officials from the Six Ministries of the central government began a heated discussion about the amount of property confiscated and how it would be distributed.

Each of the six departments held its own version of events, claiming to be the main force behind the confiscation of property, and even Ye Mo was no exception.

After Zeng Qian and twenty-six other prominent families in the capital were destroyed, they left behind a vast amount of assets that urgently needed to be seized by the imperial court.

According to the Ministry of Revenue's statistics, the total value of the confiscated properties, converted into silver, would be no less than 70 million taels, and possibly even over 100 million taels.

Neither of the six departments was willing to give up such an opportunity to expand working capital, so they argued heatedly.

Several officials, after a disagreement, rolled up their sleeves and engaged in a physical and psychological brawl.

If it weren't for the Empress's reputation, Ye Mo would have been eager to try it out as well.

The six ministries were also in competition with each other. Whoever had more money could achieve more political achievements and have more say in the court.

This was also an act tacitly approved by the Chu government.

However, what they didn't know was that the one who most wanted this confiscated property was the seemingly indifferent Empress.

"These are all mine. You didn't lift a finger, so how dare you try to take them from me?"

But as an emperor, she could never bring herself to personally fight with her officials for property—such an outrageous act.

Finally, she thought of Shen Lang again.

Shen Lang, on the other hand, stirred up trouble from both sides, forcing the individual interactions between the six departments to gradually develop into large-scale group physical contact incidents.

"Go on, Lord Wei! With your eight-foot frame, are you afraid of that shorty? If I were to go up there, I'd just give him a left front kick, then a right leg kick, and break his bones. Wouldn't that end it?"

“Minister Zhang, the way you and Minister Sun are pulling and tugging at each other like this, people would think you two have some kind of special fetish. Go for it! A groin slap followed by a kick to the groin, and you could take on ten of them.”

"Minister Lü, are you really the head of the Ministry of War? How come you can't even defeat the Ministry of Rites? It would be a loss of face if word got out. If you really can't win, go and call for reinforcements. Does the Ministry of War think it's afraid of the Ministry of Rites?"

Thus, with Shen Lang skillfully maneuvering to please everyone, chaos erupted within the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the officials were completely united on both a physical and mental level.

Seeing that things had gotten too heated, Jiang Mengxuan spoke up directly: "Alright, let's put this matter aside for now and discuss it again after we come up with a reasonable way to distribute the spoils."

"Prefect Shen, Chancellor Ye, you two, come to the Imperial Study to see me after court. Court is adjourned."

After speaking, Jiang Mengxuan got up and left the Huangji Hall accompanied by Qingwen.