CH 83

New Year's Eve - "A few days later" in Xiao Kezhi's Mouth Was About Today. (1)

New Year's Day was getting closer and closer. The nobles who were in Changan rushed to Lishan one after another. More and more envoys and local officials also followed to the vicinity of Tangquan Palace, just waiting to participate in the New Year's Eve banquet.

These few days were supposed to be the happiest and most relaxing time of the year, and in previous years, the Emperor could even slack off for a few days.

But this year's new Emperor had absolutely no intention of letting go of political affairs. Three days before New Year's Eve, he decreed that five of the eight generals who had come to the capital to report their duties should be reprimanded. He listed their crimes out, fired them from their posts, and imprisoned them, waiting for the three divisions of the court to mediate on their sentence.

As soon as the news came out, the originally cheerful and relaxed atmosphere dissipated. Many of the generals in the army were in danger, and even the civil servants felt chills.

Among them, Xiao Yu was in the most danger.

Among the five people that Xiao Kezhi dealt with, four of them had shown interest in his initiative before. Such a precise gesture really made him tremble, and he had to completely let go of starting from the generals near Huazhou.

Zhao Yue also felt the urgency.

Previously, she and her elder brother Zhao Lun only guessed that there would be changes in the court, but they did not expect the Emperor to be so resolute.

If Zhao Lun failed to stabilize the King of Nanzhao in Bozhou, the fate of their Zhao family would be set in stone.

For this plan, they must first deter the King of Nanzhao.

At night, she sat under the lamp, holding the letter sent back by Zhao Lun. She then fed the letter to the candle.

“My Lady, the ink is ready." Chun Yan put down the ink and reminded her softly that she could write a reply.

Zhao Yue nodded thoughtfully, picked up the pen, and dipped it in the ink. She wrote two or three lines, but then she felt that it was inappropriate, and paused for a moment while holding the pen.

"Forget it, let's not write for now." She put down the pen, put the ink back in the pile of stationery, and burned the unfinished letter as well. She turned around and instructed Chun Yan, "Go and bring me the item."

Chun Yan pinched the corner of her clothes and didn't move until the other glared at her impatiently. She then hesitantly stood up, went into the inner room, and took out a very small white porcelain jar, placing it on the table in front of her.

"Yesterday, I asked you to find someone to try. How did it work?" Zhao Yue examined the contents of the jar, first turning it under the light, then bringing it to her nose. Her mind momentarily froze.

"This servant asked some of the most reliable guards in the mansion to try it out, and the effect was immediate. Almost within a moment, it was all..." Chun Yan recalled the trance and absurdity of those people after smelling it, and couldn't help blushing a little shyly, "Indeed, as the general said, after they woke up, they didn't find anything unusual."

"In the end, it's something that my brother found, so it's reliable." Zhao Yue put the thing back on the table with a nervous smile on her face, "Tomorrow, I will rely on it."

This jar contained a kind of incense called "soul seduction", which her elder brother Zhao Lun sent to her from the Nanzhao territory. It was delivered to her the day before yesterday.

Bozhou had a humid climate and rugged terrain, and many rare and exotic herbs grew there. The people near Nanzhao were very good at making all kinds of herbs and spices that were not found in the Central Plains. This incense could make people hallucinate, stimulate their desires, and experience bliss. Even after the effect is over, people would not find any abnormality after they really wake up, but they just think that they were confused and dreaming.

This was exactly what she needed.

What she wanted now was not the Emperor's sincere favor. Just an identity was enough.

As the Emperor and a normal man, Xiao Kezhi naturally wouldn't care about having an extra woman beside him.

"Does the Lady really want to use this incense? If the matter is exposed, it would destroy the Lady's reputation..." Although Chun Yan had followed Zhao Yue for many years, she was still timid and uneasy.

Zhao Yue glanced at her coldly and said disdainfully, "I, and the entire Zhao family, have our hands tied. Besides, has my reputation improved over the years?"

"But, it's different in the end..." In the past, it was just vain love, but this time, it was much more serious. Not only was it a matter of shame, but it was a crime to drug the Emperor.

"Okay, I've made up my mind. You just have to prepare the sachet for me. If you say anything else, you'll be punished."

Zhao Yue carried the porcelain jar back into the inner room herself.

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