The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Zheng Xun swiftly withdrew his hand, his clothes neat and his hair perfectly styled, exuding an air of serene tranquility. Only Lord Shi, who had witnessed everything, rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

[Tsk tsk, the system was right after all. This Lu Kun actually has a mental illness. I never expected him to act like this when he goes crazy.]

Zheng Xun's gaze slowly shifted to Lord Shi beside him, his face full of disapproval: "Why can someone with madness enter the Hanlin Academy? Has no one noticed all these years?"

Out of lingering fear, Lord Shi's clothes were soaked with sweat and clung to his body, but he couldn't care less. He kept his head down and explained, "This... Lord Lu has always behaved perfectly and has never had an attack before..."

Thank goodness, thank goodness, the system covered everything up.

But the next moment, Zheng Xun's words made his body stiffen abruptly.

"Really? Then why did he go crazy not earlier or later, but only after I arrived?"

At this moment, Master Shi's mind was racing.

Suddenly, he cupped his hands in greeting, his face beaming with joy: "Greetings, Princess! Lu Kun's madness was kept perfectly hidden. If it hadn't been exposed now, there would have been even bigger problems later! Indeed, no demon or monster can hide from the Princess."

His colleagues who were eavesdropping wanted nothing more than to give him a thumbs up and praise him for his "high emotional intelligence."

Scholar Du seemed to be deep in thought. This Shi Ce is a talented person!

It is his dereliction of duty that he failed to entrust such a talented person with an important task.

At this moment, Shi Ce had no idea that his pleasant life of slacking off was about to be completely over.

Zheng Xun smiled enigmatically after hearing Shi Ce's reply.

At this point, Shi Ce had already begun to think about how to settle his family before he died.

However, Zheng Xun didn't say anything. Her eyes flashed, and the next moment, as if she had forgotten her question, she walked towards Lu Kun, who was still lying on the ground and hadn't recovered yet.

As soon as Shi Daren breathed a sigh of relief, he felt weak all over and almost fell to the ground.

But Lu Kun wasn't as lucky. Just as he was feeling dizzy, he suddenly saw a foot kicking at him. The next moment, he felt a violent tremor in his chest. He felt as if his internal organs had shifted. Then, excruciating pain struck. His vision went black, and he tried to faint, but the pain was too intense, keeping him wide awake.

Zheng Xun didn't give him time to react, grabbing his hair and forcing him to look at her: "Are you still crazy?"

Seeing that he remained silent, Zheng Xun became somewhat annoyed: "You do have backbone."

Lu Kun: ...

Ask, ask, ask! All you ever do is ask!

Can he speak? Was he given a chance to speak? He's in so much pain he can't even open his mouth!

However, Zheng Xun was impatient to find out his true thoughts and beat him up without saying a word.

Lord Shi, standing to the side, noticed something amiss, but did he dare to speak? Not even a little bit.

Finally, Zheng Xun finished hitting him, and Lu Kun got a chance to catch his breath. He quickly endured the pain and managed to say, "No..."

Zheng Xun frowned slightly: "Still want to say no?"

Lu Kun jolted awake, his voice rising in a frantic burst of emotion: "No, no, no! I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy!"

Zheng Xun nodded in satisfaction: "You can just pretend to be crazy? Looks like you were faking it just now."

Master Shi:!

Lu Kun: ...

Both of them were devastated.

How can we explain this now? They can't put it into words either!

Moreover, can this be explained? And if they do explain it, will the Emperor let them go?

For a moment, they were caught in a dilemma, unsure of what to do.

"Tell me, why are you pretending to be crazy? Do you have a grudge against me?"

“No,” Lu Kun shook his head and gave a self-deprecating smile, “blame it on the princess’s fortune-telling skills being too strong, and on the fact that I happen to have some secrets to keep.”

Zheng Xun suspiciously browsed the system.

【Oh? Is that really true?】

Lord Shi was overjoyed. "The system is wonderful! The system is amazing! A system that can help cover up lies is even more amazing!"

Lu Kun lowered his eyes, looking listless, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

Zheng Xun looked at him again: "Are you admitting it without being asked?"

Lu Kun really wanted to roll his eyes, but what else could he do?

After his impulsive outburst subsided and his rationality returned, he no longer believed he had the ability to keep everything a secret.

He could only accept his bad luck, and everyone who encountered Zheng Xun could only accept their bad luck.

Lord Shi wiped the sweat from his brow and asked at the opportune moment, "Princess... what happened?"

Zheng Xun smiled slightly: "Why don't we let Lu Kun tell you himself?"

Lord Shi looked at Lu Kun.

Lu Kun: ...

He was so badly injured, how could he possibly have the strength to speak?

Seeing that he remained silent, Lord Shi looked at Zheng Xun with difficulty: "Princess, he seems unwilling to talk."

Zheng Xun nodded understandingly: "Perhaps they were hoping for the best."

Lu Kun had no rebuttal and resigned himself to his fate.

"This matter is not complicated. The current Lu Kun is actually named Lu Jun. Lu Kun is actually his twin brother."

The Lu family was just an ordinary poor family that had been in decline for a long time. They were counting on the two brothers in this generation to pass the imperial examinations and continue the Lu family's destiny.

Lu Kun was born intelligent and upright, so he was loved by his parents. Lu Jun was clever and quick-witted, but he had no talent for studying, so he was often overlooked.

Injustice is often accompanied by resentment. From childhood, he always lost out in his competition with his brother. He became more and more resentful and began to feel jealous of his brother.

He began to feel resentful. Why was his older brother better at studying than him? Why did everything he wanted end up in his brother's hands? Why did his brother receive their parents' favoritism?

The turning point came when they were fifteen.

That year, Lu Kun passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, but his academic performance was still at the bottom of the class in the private school. At this time, his father asked him to take over the household affairs and work with them to pave the way for Lu Kun's future.

Lu Jun did not refuse; in fact, he seemed quite pleased and left the private school without hesitation.

Because he had always been intelligent, he knew he couldn't show any displeasure, and he did an excellent job. Because of his obedience, his parents felt somewhat guilty towards him, so they promised that no matter what position Lu Kun rose to in the future, the family property would be divided equally.

But Lu Jun was not satisfied with this promise. He did not want charity that he could obtain by begging. What he wanted was the glory that his brother had.

He wanted everyone's attention to be on him, for his parents to be proud of him, and for all the family's resources to be directed towards him. He wanted to take everything away from his brother.

So he quietly began to devise a plan, a plan to replace Lu Kun.

He began to learn from Lu Kun's words and habits. They were twins, so they naturally understood and had a tacit understanding of each other. Moreover, he was just not good at studying; in other aspects, his intelligence and talent surpassed that of his brother.

He continued his life without making a sound, and eventually managed to imitate Lu Kun to a degree of 90% similarity.

Lu Kun lived up to expectations and eventually passed the imperial examination, achieving an excellent score of 14th in the second class.

Just when Lu Kun was at the height of his success, Lu Jun made his move. He killed his brother, who was completely unsuspecting, and they switched identities.

From then on, Lu Kun was dead, and only Lu Jun, who was disguised as his elder brother, remained.