Chapter 108: Chapter 101: Deceiving the Lord with Good Intentions
Deceive the Emperor, yes, Chu Yu intended to deceive the Emperor.
The current Chu Yu had a very contradictory and fragnted impression of Liu Ziyue, the Emperor. On one hand, she feared the power that Liu Ziyue held; as the Emperor, he could have her killed with a single word. On the other hand, she did not have much respect for Liu Ziyue as the Emperor.
Chu Yu, hailing from the 21st century, inherently rejected the concept of divine right and didn’t have a strong sense of class consciousness. To her, a person was just a person, not better or worse due to their position or the power they wielded.
She understood what class was and knew how to exploit it; she even stood at the apex of this so-called hierarchy. However, deep inside, she could never truly engrain the notion of a system that ranked people into her consciousness.
Therefore, her feelings toward Liu Ziyue, the Emperor, were a mix of fear and disrespect: fear for the Emperor’s power and disrespect for Liu Ziyue as an individual. In other words, she saw Liu Ziyue and the Emperor as two distinct identities.
Additionally, there was sothing else, a bit of soft-heartedness that even Chu Yu herself was reluctant to admit.
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The bitter and ruthless youth, despite his nurous flaws, had never hard her in the slightest. He relied on her completely and trusted her implicitly. Even if she was constantly on guard in her heart, Chu Yu, in a rare reflective mont, would feel a twinge of guilt towards Liu Ziyue.
The idea to deceive the Emperor ca to Chu Yu because she saw Liu Ziyue as both an Emperor and, in so ways, not an Emperor at all.
Chu Yu simply explained that Liu Ziyue desired to go on an incognito journey to uphold justice and support the weak, naturally not ntioning that she was the instigator of it all. She rely said, “Now, Your Majesty really wants to go on a private visit to be at ease, but I could never actually bring him into danger or let him fall into peril. So, if Your Majesty wishes to vanquish evil, we shall create an evil for him to vanquish.”
After much discussion, the details of the deception were finally hamred out. The purpose of Chu Yu’s eting was primarily to get everyone aboard her ‘ship of thieves.’ Once on board, no one could expect to get off.
The ones Chu Yu felt most at ease about now were the concubines. Liu Se and Mo Xiang were essentially raised by her, under her total control. Huan Yuan was brought along as a demonstration of her trust in him, while Rong Zhi and Hua Cuo — Hua Cuo was included because he was vital to the deception, and although Rong Zhi didn’t need to participate, given his relationship with Hua Cuo, Chu Yu didn’t think Hua Cuo would keep this from him. Therefore, it was better to tell him upfront what she was going to do.
In fact, it wasn’t sothing that needed to be kept too secret. Although it risked being disrespectful, after weighing the pros and cons, Chu Yu believed that even if exposed, Liu Ziyue wouldn’t punish her for this well-intentioned deception. At worst, he might just grumble in annoyance, and if successful, it would fulfill Liu Ziyue’s craving for an incognito experience of showing his might, saving him from the obsession of running markets and engaging in purchasing gas.
After the agreent, Chu Yu received a ssage that Tian Rujing had co to visit, tid perfectly, without wasting a single minute.
She had the concubines leave but called Huan Yuan back at the end, asking, “How are the preparations in Chu Garden?”
Huan Yuan slightly bowed and smiled, “Princess, please be at ease, everything is progressing smoothly.”
Chu Yu let out a slight sigh, “You have worked hard.”
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In the following period, things went so smoothly that Chu Yu felt it was sowhat unreal.
The ongoing task was teaching Tian Rujing how to speak English. It started with letters, followed by morizing words. She found that Tian Rujing had an astonishing mory; he could rember a long list of words after just one look. Wanting to give herself more ti, Chu Yu intentionally distorted the teaching process. This is not to say that she deliberately taught Tian Rujing incorrect knowledge, but rather she taught him things that were entirely unnecessary for him to learn.
The grammar of English and Chinese are very different, and the complexity sotis gives people a headache. Almost every student who learns English has suffered from those exceedingly long and complicated sentences during exams.
Chu Yu took the troubles from her own mory, added a twist, and passed them on to Tian Rujing, letting him taste the suffering that students from a thousand years later once endured. He deeply experienced the darkness of exams, the ruthlessness of examiners, and the bleakness of getting zero points.
Complete the blanks, summarize sentence anings, reading comprehension—Chu Yu dug out all kinds of exam question types to deal with Tian Rujing. As a result, to learn the sentence structures and grammar of those complex long sentences, Tian Rujing had to slow down his learning progress.
During the period of torturing Tian Rujing, Chu Yu also requested him to activate the bracelet, and she deeply probed into the “attack” function within the bracelet, only to unexpectedly discover that the reason Tian Rujing couldn’t launch attacks was that part of the program files for that function was missing, likely inadvertently deleted by so ancient person who mishandled it.
Chu Yu herself had once blundered with a computer when she first ca into contact with it in her previous life, accidentally deleting certain program files, rendering them unable to start. It was the sa principle. The inside of Tian Rujing’s bracelet was equivalent to a multifunctional computer, containing data and practical programs related to the outside world, like an automatic defensive Light Shield, and so on.
But if program files are deleted, no matter how powerful the functions are, they can’t be used. It wasn’t because the bracelet was of poor quality, but rather due to improper use by the person operating it, which caused the jewel to be covered in dust.
Apart from teaching English, Chu Yu’s grand plan to deceive the emperor was also proceeding smoothly. She had already rehearsed the act several tis with Liu Se and Mo Xiang. Hua Cuo, dressed as the villain in black with a covered face, pretending to be a robber, “coincidentally” encountered Liu Ziyue, who was on a private visit in disguise. It was only natural for Lin Sen, acting as the main combatant, and Liu Ziyue, who also stepped forward to swing his sword a few tis, to drive Hua Cuo away with just a gesture, causing him to flee in panic.
The only hiccup was that to fit the role of a robber, Hua Cuo needed to change his weapon. He had to abandon his usual rapier for a nine-ring broadsword. Naturally, he strongly opposed such an unrefined and taste-ruining act, but he was subdued by a stern look from Rong Zhi.
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Ti passed very quickly, so fast that Chu Yu couldn’t grasp the fleeting shadows even when she reached out to catch them.
The weather quickly went from early sumr to the peak of the hot season, cicadas crying on the trees as if they were on their deathbeds, and it hadn’t rained for many days, filling the air with a crackling dry heat.
However, on this day, many well-known young noblen and youth from aristocratic families traveled in their splendid carriages to the sa destination.
The na of that place was Chu Garden.
The owner of Chu Garden was a mysterious young man who had once attended a poetry eting with a poet whose verses flowed like water, was on intimate terms with the elegant and unrestrained Wang Yizhi, and had even brazenly criticized the noble young man Xiao Bie’s music as unbearable to the ear.
And Xiao Bie did not retort.
The folding fan he gifted was also extraordinary.
The young man was nad Yu Zichu.
Even in the early morning, the street outside Chu Garden was already crowded with various carriages. If a fire were started here at this mont, it could burn the family mbers of at least half the powers in Jiankang City.
The tightly closed black lacquered gate had a plaque with the na Chu Garden written in sweeping strokes, with a boldness as though wishing to ride the wind away, penned personally by Wang Yizhi.
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