A Scummy Alpha Emperor Transmigrated and Marked the Powerful Prime Minister - Chapter 23.3

She had been investigating who held the Pavilion if not the Emperor. The Empress Dowager? The Empress? The most likely was the Empress; the late Emperor wouldn’t have given it to the Empress Dowager. And members of the Pavilion were hidden everywhere. Could Zhang Huairou be a member? Was he a guard or an agent? Surely not an assassin—how could an assassin stay by the Emperor’s side?

Just as they finished with the assassin, Guang Wei arrived with her men and quickly tied him up. “Take him back to the manor. Interrogate!” Lu Siling ordered coldly. In just a few days, this was her second assassination attempt.

Court struggles were centered on seizing power, not lives. Assassins were rarely used; it was a red line. Once crossed, the political struggle would become entirely uncontrollable, and the risk would far outweigh the reward. Assassination was a “low-tier” strategy; once exposed, the perpetrator would be targeted by everyone and cast into the dust. Clearly, the person who sent consecutive assassins must hate her immensely, ignoring all consequences just to see her dead.

Lin Jiayue also sensed something was wrong. If the palace attempt was actually for her, this one was definitely for Lu Siling. Seeing Lu Siling’s cold face, she leaned in and coughed, catching her attention. Just as Lu Siling thought she was going to ask about the assassin, she asked an unexpected question.

“Teacher Lu, why do you think he shouted before attacking? Doesn’t that just alert the target? Can you even succeed like that?”

“Someone is fishing in troubled waters.” They wanted them to link this attempt with the previous one. Lu Siling looked at the assassin being taken away, then said, “Your Majesty should return to the palace.” Today’s attempt would surely get out. If people knew the young Emperor was with her, who knew what kind of storm it would cause?

“But I haven’t seen the poetry gathering yet.” Lin Jiayue didn’t want to go. She’d finally gotten out and happened upon a gathering, yet she had to leave before seeing anything. What a waste.

“Does Your Majesty think the gathering will continue?”

“Why shouldn’t it?” Lin Jiayue moved closer. Lu Siling immediately backed away, giving her no chance to get near. Tsk, if I can’t whisper, I’ll just have to plot loudly. “Since the news of the attempt will spread anyway, rather than sitting and waiting, we should strike first. We proactively tell people about the attempt and announce that the assassin was captured alive—to beat the grass and startle the snake.”

If the assassin wasn’t dead, and something was forced out of him, wouldn’t the person behind him panic? Zhang Huairou stood by, dumbfounded. When did his sovereign become this clever?

Lu Siling wasn’t very surprised. She was now convinced that the previous Lin Jiayue had been faking it all along, naturally for the sake of taking power. Now that she realized playing dumb and acting uninterested in power was useless, she’d simply switched tactics. This bastard is quite the actor, deceiving everyone.

“My Lady?” Guang Qing called out from the side, breaking her thoughts.

“Since Your Majesty has said so, I naturally have no objection.”

Forget ‘sovereign and subject’; it’s just that she makes sense.

Lin Jiayue picked up the little dog that she hadn’t let go of even during the crisis. “Your master clearly thinks I’m amazing.”

Lu Siling: “…” She was standing right there; it was hard not to hear that. “I do not,” she argued.

Lin Jiayue waved her hand dismissively. “I know Teacher Lu also thinks I’m amazing, but you’re afraid I’ll ‘get a big head’, so you say that.”

Piāo? What does that mean? Lu Siling noted the word in her mind, acting as though she didn’t want to deal with her.

With the assassin gone, Lin Jiayue resumed her identity as Jia Deming. “Grand Chancellor, do you write poetry too? Are you here as a judge or a participant? I heard poetry gatherings are for young people; you must be a judge.”

Lu Siling stopped abruptly. Is the young Emperor calling her old? “Noisy!” Lin Jiayue really was loud, her mouth never stopping. It sounded like she was nervous.

“I call this ‘diversion of attention’.” Lin Jiayue snorted and put Bai Heng back in Lu Siling’s arms. “An assassin, Teacher Lu! I’m allowed to be scared, okay?”

As a modern person, even if it wasn’t her first time, she was bound to be nervous. The tension only really hit after the threat was neutralized. But it was much better than last time; last time, seeing the blood on her hands, she’d acted indifferent while her insides were consumed by fear. Compared to that, she was quite calm now—just a bit talkative. She had grown.

Lu Siling gave her a look of disbelief. Scared? And you charged forward to kick the assassin flying? The force was so great the man couldn’t even crawl; Guang Wei had to have him carried away.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Aren’t you scared?” Lin Jiayue gave a dry laugh, her gaze falling on Bai Heng. The little guy sat quietly, his eyes bright with happiness. He was lazy in her arms, but in Lu Siling’s, that dog face was grinning with joy. Such a silly dog, actually having favorites. So cute. Lin Jiayue winked at Bai Heng and made a clicking sound, making the dog’s grin even wider.

Frivolous. Lu Siling snorted inwardly. The group walked to the poetry gathering area. There were many people here—about a hundred, with many servants. No wonder the outside was empty; everyone was gathered here. These people didn’t know about the assassination attempt yet; they were toast-sharing, chatting with friends, and reciting a line of poetry here and there.

Lin Jiayue bumped Lu Siling’s shoulder. “Their poems aren’t as good as mine.” And they weren’t. The benefit of “exam-oriented education” was being able to deconstruct and reassemble—she could write a decent poem. Of course, a poem that could be in a textbook required talent; it couldn’t be replicated just by following a format.

“Stay away from me.” Lu Siling acted annoyed, but she didn’t feel much real anger. She seemed to be getting used to Lin Jiayue’s occasional “intimacy.”

Lin Jiayue shook her head. “Teacher Lu, keeping people a thousand miles away like this truly breaks my heart.”

Enough. Lu Siling bit her lip, unwilling to respond.

Behind them, Guang Wei and Zhang Huairou shared a look before both simultaneously looking away. The matters between the Emperor and the Grand Chancellor were not for them to discuss. Zhang Huairou couldn’t help but think: How does my sovereign dare to be so close to the Grand Chancellor? Didn’t she used to be terrified of her? Or is this a new strategy? To win her over and achieve personal rule? If so, his sovereign had finally seen the light. If the Grand Chancellor didn’t help her, no one would. If they got along, she wouldn’t have to fight alone anymore. He knew her old thoughts—she thought once she took down the “power minister,” the Empress Dowager and Empress would be easy to handle. But she forgot that they had the support of external officials. Compared to the lone Grand Chancellor, the noble families’ power was much deeper rooted. Like the Cui family behind the Empress Dowager—the main and branch lines together had hundreds of members, and few were not officials.

The Grand Chancellor was different—not from a noble clan, the late Emperor had been kind to her, and she didn’t engage in factionalism. He’d advised the sovereign more than once not to hold a grudge against her, but she wouldn’t listen and even distanced herself from him, the “number two” eunuch of the palace.

Luckily she had changed. The change was good. That day Wei Jinming had banned all servants from appearing; no one knew what had happened in Daming Palace. When they came out, they hadn’t expected the Grand Chancellor to be there. The sovereign claimed she was being considerate of the servants’ fatigue, but everyone knew better. Yet the Grand Chancellor’s attitude hadn’t changed; she still held high hopes for the sovereign and had even increased her workload. It seemed that day’s events made her value the sovereign more—increasing the homework was likely to help her rule sooner.

The sovereign wasn’t like before—obedient on the surface but violent and cruel in private. These past few days, she had been studying from dawn till dusk and had grown closer to the Grand Chancellor. In the past, if the Grand Chancellor left so much homework, she would have cursed her in private; now, she just looked “done with life” but still picked up the exam papers.

The current sovereign was good. If she could stay like this, he would be fulfilling the late Emperor’s trust. Zhang Huairou wiped a non-existent tear from the corner of his eye, making Guang Qing’s eye twitch. Eunuchs are so sentimental. It’s just an assassination attempt; before I joined the Grand Chancellor, I killed eight people a day. If Zhang Huairou heard him, he’d only say: You were assassinating others, they weren’t assassinating you.

Someone finally noticed Lu Siling’s arrival, but more eyes fell on Lin Jiayue. Who is this person? Why is she at the Grand Chancellor’s side? An Alpha—and a handsome one at that—talking and smiling with the Grand Chancellor, who didn’t seem to mind the closeness. Lin Jiayue tilted her head as she spoke, leaning slightly toward Lu Siling with a mischievous smile.

The crowd’s gaze moved from Lin Jiayue to Bai Heng in Lu Siling’s arms, then back to Lin Jiayue. The Grand Chancellor has a dog!

“Who is that Lady in purple? She looks very close to the Grand Chancellor.”

“Looks like a pretty boy. Portrait after portrait of beautiful Alphas from noble families have been sent to the Grand Chancellor’s manor—who is this? I’ve never heard of her.”

“The Grand Chancellor chose a nobody? Could it be for her looks?”

“Exactly. I’ve never heard of this person; she must have no talent. Aside from her face, she’s probably worthless.”

“Enough! Don’t talk nonsense. There are so many scholars in the capital for the exams; how could you know them all?”

“From Jiangnan? Or some poor scholar from a small place?”

“With an outfit like that, she’s not poor.”

“What if the Grand Chancellor provided the outfit?”

Lin Jiayue didn’t know yet that she was being labeled as the Grand Chancellor’s “kept pretty boy.” She hadn’t managed to be a kept man in the modern world, but here she was in ancient times, about to be kept by a rich woman—and not just any woman, but the Grand Chancellor herself. If she knew, she’d only joke: How much silver does the Grand Chancellor plan to give me a month?

While Lin Jiayue simply thought they were discussing poetry, Lu Siling knew exactly what those looks meant. In short: the young Emperor was in trouble. If these people thought she had a relationship with her, they would surely make things difficult for her before realizing she was the Emperor. At the thought of people believing there was “affection” between them, Lu Siling felt an odd heat. She was being briefly linked with the dog Emperor.

She decided to see how the dog Emperor would handle their siege. Lin Jiayue felt a chill in the wind and leaned closer to Lu Siling, reaching out to grab Bai Heng again.

“A bit cold. Warming my hands.”

Lu Siling: “…” Bastard!

Yet this scene only made the onlookers more certain: the relationship between the two was anything but ordinary.