The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 815 - 815 378 Happy (two more updates)

Chapter 815: 378 Happy (two more updates) Chapter 815: 378 Happy (two more updates) “The young master understands all of this, doesn’t he? It’s just that your heart can’t accept it.

Over the years, the Emperor has been too good, too good to her, to the extent that she has forgotten how this favor came to be. Perhaps she hasn’t forgotten, but she too has put in a great deal of effort and believes that an unbreakable bond of mother-and-son affection has been cultivated between them.

In plain terms, her self-respect and pride won’t allow it. She feels she shouldn’t be so charmless that she can’t even manage her own son.

—He must truly have mother-and-son affection for me.

Consort Jing had said this more than once in front of Nanny Cai.

Nanny Cai still remembered Consort Jing’s smile at the time. It was an exceedingly happy smile, but it wasn’t a mother boasting about her relationship with her son; rather, it was more like a victorious general showing off his spoils of war.

Now, those spoils are gone.

Both self-respect and pride have been crushed.

No matter what, Consort Jing is her own young master. As a servant, Nanny Cai would not harbor any second thoughts against her.

She just didn’t want to see the young master continue to sink into such terrible moods that shouldn’t exist.

“Consort Jing…” she looked deeply at the other party.

But Consort Jing swept her wide sleeves and summoned the Dragon Shadow Guard.

A sense of ominous premonition rose from the bottom of Nanny Cai’s heart, and she asked anxiously, “Consort Jing… what are you going to do?”

Consort Jing looked at the Dragon Shadow Guard in front of her, who was as good as a killing tool, and said coldly, “Go to Renshou Palace, kill Empress Dowager Zhuang!”

Nanny Cai was deeply horrified, “Your Highness! You must not do this! If discovered, you’ll have no way out! You will be buried with the Empress Dowager!”

Consort Jing watched the Dragon Shadow Guard coldly, “Do it covertly, don’t let anyone find out, or don’t bother coming back!”

The Dragon Shadow Guard was indeed capable of sneaking into the Renshou Palace and committing murder.

They had not done so before simply because there was no need. Empress Dowager Zhuang lived in misery, constantly at odds with the Emperor; wouldn’t it be better to watch her suffer than to kill her?

Yet the Dragon Shadow Guard did not move.

Consort Jing’s brow furrowed, “I’m ordering you to go to Renshou Palace and kill the Empress Dowager, Zhuang Jinse!”

The Dragon Shadow Guard still did not move.

Consort Jing repeated it again, making sure the Dragon Shadow Guard had heard, but he still refused to carry out her command.

When the Dragon Shadow Guard had been assigned to her side, the Emperor’s order was for them to obey her every command.

But she also knew that the Dragon Shadow Guard’s commands came with a hierarchy.

The first order they followed was from the late Emperor, the second came from the current Emperor.

When her orders conflicted with the ones previously issued by them, the Dragon Shadow Guard would not execute her commands.

Since the Emperor had given her the Dragon Shadow Guard, he had never spoken to them again.

In other words, the order had already been given to the Dragon Shadow Guard before she received them—do not harm Zhuang Jinse.

Who had given the Dragon Shadow Guard this command?

The Emperor? Or the late Emperor?

If it was the late Emperor, then what was the deal with that imperial edict?

If it was the Emperor, the late Emperor had passed the Dragon Shadow Guard to the Emperor on his deathbed, but by that time, his relationship with Empress Dowager Zhuang had already begun to crumble. Yet he still commanded the Dragon Shadow Guard not to harm her?

Consort Jing was at a loss. She didn’t know which of these two men had protected Zhuang Jinse, when she was so clearly undeserving!

As a wife, she had never truly loved her husband; she exploited the late Emperor all her life, turning his entire Imperial Harem into her bowl of chives.

As a mother, she had also never wholeheartedly assisted her son; by holding court from behind the curtain, she monopolized the power of the Court and turned the Emperor into a puppet emperor, an object of ridicule.

Zhuang Jinse is a scourge upon the nation, a siren of calamity, a source of all evil; a person everyone should condemn!

“Your Highness… Your Highness…” Nanny Cai, seeing Consort Jing’s increasingly wrong complexion, stepped forward worriedly, and gently held her arm, “You are tired. Don’t think of anything else now. Let this servant take you to bed to rest for a while.”

Consort Jing looked up blankly, but as she turned around, a surge of blood welled up within her, and she spat out a mouthful of blood—

Renshou Palace.

Empress Dowager Zhuang was very happy today.

Not only had she smacked her foolish son a few times, but she had also earned five pieces of candied fruit for herself—no, including yesterday’s, that made ten in total!

She took out her little candy jar, ate only five pieces, and stashed the remaining five for a day when she might run out of snacks.

That’s the wit of a calamitous beauty who once brought havoc to the nation!

Gu Jiao left Renshou Palace after having lunch there.

Eunuch Qin arranged for a carriage to send her off.

Gu Jiao didn’t head back to the Medical Hall; instead, she instructed the coachman to go to a different location.

The speed of the carriage was neither slow nor fast, maintaining a driving frequency that neither made Gu Jiao anxious nor jolted her excessively.

True to the standards of the Renshou Palace’s coachmen, Gu Jiao was very satisfied.

Gu Jiao was also in a good mood today, humming a few lines of a tune she had heard from Gu Chengfeng while on the carriage, although her voice was better suited to singing pop songs from her previous life than traditional opera.

The coachman almost couldn’t help but drive the carriage into a ditch several times!

The carriage stopped in front of the Embroidery Building.

The coachman said, “Miss Gu, I shall wait for you here.”

Gu Jiao replied, “No need, I will return on my own later, you may go back to the palace.”

The people from Renshou Palace knew their business; sensing that Gu Jiao had things to do on her own, he didn’t insist any further and drove the carriage back to the palace.

Gu Jiao passed through the Embroidery Building and arrived at the underground Martial Arts Arena of the Dye Workshop.

Old He had been pacing at the entrance for quite some time, and upon seeing Gu Jiao, he let out a long sigh of relief, “Ah, you scared me, Young Brother Gu, I thought you weren’t coming!”

Gu Jiao had already changed into her outfit and put on a mask while on the carriage.

She took out her notebook and scribbled, “Is it my turn to go on stage today?”

Old He hurriedly responded, “Yes, yes! Don’t worry, the first match isn’t hard. I’ve taken care of it; with your skill, there shouldn’t be any problems! You remember the rules I told you about, right?”

Gu Jiao nodded.

The rules of the underground Martial Arts Arena were similar to those of the Taihe Martial Arts Academy. It was also a promotion system, but it was more stringent and brutal. Here, there were ten levels, and as a beginner, you must win ten matches to advance one level.

You could challenge those of higher levels, but unlike in the Martial Arts Academy, winning did not directly grant you the opponent’s ranking.

Gu Jiao looked at the most conspicuous wall of the Martial Arts Arena, where a black and gold relief featured prominently with some small wooden plaques hanging in order.

“What is that?” Gu Jiao wrote.

Old He looked and showed a profound respect, “That’s the Arena’s Champion Board, listing the top one hundred fighters.”

“What happens if you’re listed on the board?” Gu Jiao wrote again.

Old He smiled, “You receive offerings from the underground Martial Arts Arena.”

So, there’s a salary?

Gu Jiao’s eyes lit up, “How much are the offerings?”

Old He patiently explained, “Those below the fiftieth rank don’t get much, varying from one to ten taels per month. Those above the fiftieth rank get twenty taels a month, those above the fortieth get fifty taels, and those above the thirtieth get one hundred taels a month. Those within the top twenty are offered according to their own value.”

Gu Jiao quickly scribbled, “How much is the highest?”

Old He, assuming she was only asking out of curiosity and not thinking her ambition would reach so far, said, “There’s no limit.”

Gu Jiao wrote, “So one can ask for as much as they want?”

“It’s based on worth. To my knowledge, there’s a champion who once received this amount in one month.” Old He said, holding up a finger.

Gu Jiao wrote in surprise, “A thousand taels?”

Old He smiled, “Gold taels.”

Gu Jiao looked towards the aura-filled Martial Arts Platform, squinted her eyes slightly, and licked the corner of her lips.

She liked this place.

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