A Scummy Alpha Emperor Transmigrated and Marked the Powerful Prime Minister - Chapter 28

You can probably guess what Lu Siling was dreaming up in her head. Given everything the original owner of this body had done—even if Lin Jiayue tried to whitewash her reputation until she died—it had only been a short while. How could Lu Siling possibly believe her so quickly?

Never mind belief; the fact that the two of them could sit together now was already a massive step forward.

After finishing the meal, Lu Siling said a few words to Nanny Mute, and the group left the stall.

As the carriage traveled slowly, Lu Siling’s spirits seemed low. She held a hand-warmer, eyes closed as she rested her mind. Lin Jiayue stared at her for a while, feeling a bit hesitant.

Fine, I’ll be a meddler just this once.

“Stop the carriage!”

Lin Jiayue jumped off the carriage decisively. Lu Siling’s palms suddenly clenched; if anything happened to the Emperor while in her charge, many of her future plans would vanish into thin air.

“Keep up with her!”

Guang Wei moved at the word, flying to Lin Jiayue’s side in a few bounds.

That’s right, she was flying. She just used the momentum against the wall and she was there? Lin Jiayue’s eyes went wide. “So cool! I want to learn that!”

Guang Wei said nothing, but grumbled inwardly. Martial arts had to be learned from the ground up, and Qinggong required bitter practice; you didn’t just ‘know’ it on a whim. True, some people spent their first eighteen years building a foundation and then suddenly one day they could leap onto roofs and walk on walls. But the “dog Emperor”? An eighteen-year-old with zero internal energy? Unless she found some miracle in a manual, this was as good as it was going to get.

Lin Jiayue didn’t think so, though. Who didn’t dream of flying over walls as a kid? You could play with a tree branch for half a day imagining it.

She would learn! If she didn’t die from the effort, she’d study until she dropped. She was someone who had survived the National Entrance Exams and the Grad School Exams, after all. Her study method was simple: make a strategy guide first, and once that was done, the actual learning would be much easier.

When she got back, she’d make a guide. She wouldn’t come out of seclusion until she’d mastered peerless martial arts. Her mind went a bit “chunibyo” for a second before she snapped back to reality. This wasn’t a cultivation world; she couldn’t exactly stop eating and drinking.

Lin Jiayue hurried back to the vicinity of Nanny Mute’s stall. Seeing Guang Wei about to step out, she immediately pulled her back. “What are you doing? Don’t move.”

Guang Wei felt it was inexplicable, but she could only hide behind the wall with her.

Before long, a man with bruises on his face arrived at the stall, hurling arrogant insults. “Old hag! The Grand Chancellor was just here, wasn’t she? What good stuff did she give you? Hurry up and hand it over!”

As he spoke, he gave Nanny Mute a shove.

Guang Wei was about to charge forward in a rage, but Lin Jiayue quickly spoke. “Stay put.”

The Emperor had given an order, so Guang Wei reluctantly stopped. She was single-minded, but that didn’t mean she dared to defy the Emperor’s command unless it concerned the Grand Chancellor herself.

Guang Han, who had followed them, pulled her aside. “Since Her Majesty has returned, she naturally won’t ignore this. Don’t be impulsive.”

Lin Jiayue glanced back at Guang Han. she remembered the name; in the novel, Guang Han was quite clever, one of the strategists by Lu Siling’s side. She withdrew her gaze and looked back toward Nanny Mute. Nanny Mute’s hands were moving rapidly in sign language, an expression of pained explanation on her face.

“Fine, stop waving your hands around! Just hand over the stuff the Grand Chancellor gave you! The refined salt I sent people to bring you last time ended up soaked by rain. You old thing, if you’d just taken the Grand Chancellor’s money sooner, I wouldn’t have to work so hard. I’m telling you, if you don’t give me the money, I’m selling your granddaughter to the brothels.”

Nanny Mute urgently grabbed his sleeve, her hands gesturing wildly. Lin Jiayue understood; Nanny Mute was saying: She’s your daughter too!

“So what if she’s my daughter? If she didn’t look decent, I would have thrown her out long ago.”

When Nanny Mute angrily slapped the man’s arm, he shoved her down hard. Guang Wei was so furious she barked, “Scum!”

“Go on. Teach him a lesson.”

Lin Jiayue finally gave the order. Guang Wei charged out instantly, giving the man no time to react before a flying kick sent him tumbling, coughing up a mouthful of blood. Guang Wei wasn’t satisfied and began punching and kicking him; the man, already bruised, was soon a bloody mess.

Lin Jiayue took one look and looked away. “Is this man Nanny Mute’s son?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty,” Guang Han bowed, “This man is Nanny Mute’s son-in-law.”

A son-in-law. Demanding money and wanting to sell his daughter—this kind of person deserved to die.

“How did Nanny Mute choose such a man as a son-in-law?” He wasn’t even good-looking, had no money, and was of vile character. It was like pushing her daughter into a fire pit.

Guang Han was silent for a moment. “Reporting to Your Majesty, this commoner does not know.” She couldn’t say even if she did; this concerned the Grand Chancellor’s private affairs. Besides, you could tell anyone except the Emperor.

However, Lu Siling appeared behind the two of them at some unknown point. Her icy voice carried the anger she was trying to hide.

“There was a time when Nanny Mute was in trouble and her family was on the verge of starving. Her daughter sold herself to a wealthy farming family as a child-bride. This man is the son of that family. But after he grew up, he never learned anything good—he’s full of gambling, drinking, and whoring. When he ran out of money, he sold the land. Over a dozen acres of prime farmland, and now not a single bit is left.”

Her speech was slightly faster than usual. Lin Jiayue could hear the overwhelming fury beneath her words. Lin Jiayue reached out and tugged her sleeve. “We’ve already found him. Let’s send him to the labor camps—that way he’ll never return.”

In ancient times, without a travel permit, it was very hard to leave a locality. Nanny Mute’s son-in-law would never return to the capital in this life.

Lu Siling didn’t answer for a while. Then: “Kill him.”

Lin Jiayue was stunned. A man beating an elderly person and intending to traffic his children—she was originally weighing the sentence, then suddenly remembered: I’m the Emperor. If she wanted to exile him for a few years, no one could say a word.

Who knew Lu Siling would be even more ruthless, wanting to kill the man directly? She hesitated for a moment, but seeing the hatred in Lu Siling’s eyes, she nodded in agreement. “Good. Kill him.”

That morning, the look Lu Siling gave her was more of disappointment; it hadn’t held such intense hatred. Perhaps there were inside details she didn’t know. Since she wasn’t clear on the history, she couldn’t persuade Lu Siling not to kill him. Anyway, a gambler like this who beat his family and wanted to sell his daughter wasn’t worth pitying.

Lu Siling’s gaze lingered on her for a long while. The “dog Emperor” had just pondered for a long time without any intent to kill, yet the moment she spoke, she agreed immediately.

“Take him away first.”

Ultimately, Lu Siling didn’t have the man killed in front of Lin Jiayue. She turned and walked back toward the carriage. Lin Jiayue asked in confusion, “Aren’t you going to see Nanny Mute?”

“She didn’t tell me; she clearly doesn’t want me to know.”

Although Guang Wei would definitely tell her, it was better than seeing it with her own eyes. Nanny Mute was a proud person; her self-esteem wouldn’t be able to handle it. Lin Jiayue nodded and followed her, and the two boarded the carriage together.

Lu Siling watched her sit down and asked the question in her heart: “How did Your Majesty know about Nanny Mute’s situation?”

Did she find out about Nanny Mute while investigating her, and then have Nanny Mute investigated further? Was this chance to expose the son-in-law an attempt to see her kill someone in a rage, intending to use it as leverage?

But her bringing Lin Jiayue here for a meal was a sudden decision; she hadn’t told Lin Jiayue where they were going on the road. Even the fact that she knew Nanny Mute was something the “dog Emperor” figured out herself. What was the dog Emperor’s intent? Surely she wouldn’t just support whatever she did.

Is that it? At this thought, Lu Siling’s heart rate quickened slightly. Normally she would be happy if the dog Emperor acted like this, but now she couldn’t help but guess her motives.

Lin Jiayue certainly wasn’t going to hide it. “Nanny Mute had a wound on her hand. She tried to cover it with flour, but because that patch of white was too obvious, I took a second look.”

“Before getting on the carriage, I saw a man lurking nearby, staring suspiciously at this place. I thought he was just a street thug; I didn’t expect him to be Nanny Mute’s son-in-law.”

She wasn’t lying. If she hadn’t seen that, she wouldn’t have debated for so long before choosing to get off the carriage. Normally, she would definitely act as a Good Samaritan; now she was the Emperor, surrounded by “wolves and tigers,” and staying out of trouble was the best policy. Her every move would be magnified or even misinterpreted. Lu Siling’s view of her was already poor; if she stepped in to save Nanny Mute, she would definitely be suspected of having an agenda.

Just like now, being looked at with eyes full of suspicion.

Normally, if you did a good deed only to be suspected, your mood would be terrible—you might even shout out in anger: Believe it or not, I don’t care! But she wasn’t the type to act on impulse. What happened was what happened; she wouldn’t force belief, as she had already explained.

Perhaps it was related to her childhood experiences. Regardless of whether it was her fault, her parents would always blame her—how could her sister ever be wrong? At first, she would explain and argue, but later she just didn’t care.

Facing Lu Siling’s question, her calm explanation caused Lu Siling’s gaze to shift from suspicion to confusion. She added one more sentence: “Does the Grand Chancellor not believe me?”

I don’t.

That was Lu Siling’s answer. She didn’t believe other things and would suspect the dog Emperor’s motives, but this event today was guided by her own lead. How could the dog Emperor have calculated that she would come to Nanny Mute’s?

Therefore, this event truly was the dog Emperor acting out of kindness. In a situation where she could have ignored it, she chose to step up, completely unafraid of being suspected. Today’s “dog Emperor” completely shattered her past impression of her.

Intelligent, open-minded, gentle, and approachable—she lacked the imperial arrogance toward commoners. Her stepping up just now further proved her kindness and courage. Such a “dog Emperor” wasn’t the ruler she expected, but she was a good person. If the dog Emperor hadn’t drugged her, and if she hadn’t been reborn, she would have had the confidence to mold her into a wise sovereign.

However, some things had already happened. Lu Siling’s eyes grew firm. “Regarding the matter today, I believe Your Majesty.”

Only regarding the matter today. But with trust, once there is a first time, there is a second, and eventually countless times.

Lin Jiayue smiled. She could hear that Lu Siling truly believed her. In her past life, when her parents said they believed her, no matter the look in their eyes or their expressions—and given the way they brought up old grudges over and over later—she learned to distinguish between perfunctory words and true belief.

A sweet smile appeared on her face. “It’s good that Teacher Lu believes me.”

Lu Siling rose and bowed. “My thanks to Your Majesty for today. Otherwise, Nanny Mute and her granddaughter might have met a cruel end.”

She didn’t know if this had happened in her past life. She only knew that after hearing news of Nanny Mute’s death, she rushed to pay her respects only to find she had already been buried. The burial site was the grave she had chosen for Nanny Mute long ago, near the Lu family ancestral graves; she had gone to check, and it was indeed there. At the time, Nanny Mute was old and her health was declining; when the news of her death came, she didn’t think much of it. Looking at it now, Nanny Mute’s death in her previous life was suspicious.

Thanks to the dog Emperor, she performed this salute willingly.

Lin Jiayue hurriedly reached out to support her arms. “Teacher Lu, there is no need for this. Since I discovered such a thing, I couldn’t just sit by and watch.”

But too many people did sit by and watch. Lu Siling didn’t believe that when Nanny Mute was bullied, no one saw it. Nanny Mute had always been under her protection as Grand Chancellor; usually, those people were quite friendly to her, but when she was being mistreated, not a single person came to report it.

Lu Siling didn’t intend to act against those neighbors, but the son-in-law… she would definitely make his life a living hell.

“Your Majesty is kind. I am ashamed that I cannot compare.”

She was not a kind person, and the dog Emperor was even less so. Lin Jiayue’s face turned red from the praise. “Oh, Teacher Lu, don’t praise me so solemnly. I’ll start taking it seriously!”

Lu Siling: “…”

Bastard. It’s that same irritating dog Emperor.

“Your Majesty jokes.” Lu Siling held her breath, not wanting to show her speechlessness.

Lin Jiayue bared her white teeth. “It’s fine, I know Teacher Lu is praising me sincerely. I really am that good.”

Lu Siling turned away. She wanted to commit regicide right now.