Chapter 890: Chapter 707: Off to the Streets to Recruit Strong Men
Gu Changsheng spoke, Phoenix Eyes gleaming fleetingly, "Unfortunately, her ending wasn’t necessarily going to surpass Sima Liancheng!"
Upon hearing this, the old ministers in the grand hall trembled within, promptly lowered their heads, and dared not speak.
Sima Liancheng, they remembered, was once a hero-like figure in Southern Chen, skilled in schemes. But ultimately, at the climactic moment under Nine Layers of the Celestial Tome bestowed by their Highness, she ended up like Madam Zheng, watching helplessly as all her efforts turned to naught, finally buried under the yellow earth, meeting a miserable end!
"Gu Changsheng, you are simply messing around!" Yue Xilou looked at Gu Changsheng, who appeared indifferent and calm, and urgently growled, "Residual Qianji Poison, unexpectedly involved with Placenta Pill Poison. Even though I’m not skilled in the Medical Path, I know that the Placenta Poison is incurable, and your treatment of Madam Zheng is equivalent to shortening her life. If she dies... if she dies, then Zhou Mu, that kid..."
At this juncture, Yue Xilou’s tone carried a trace of urgency even he himself hadn’t noticed.
"If she’s dead, the evildoer will be buried with her?" Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng turned away from the Dragon and Phoenix Grand Chair, her dazzling expression revealing indescribable arrogance and defiance, "She wishes for beauty! She’s worthy of it!"
"You?" Yue Xilou’s breath caught at these words, and he turned in disbelief towards Gu Changsheng, his beautiful face showing a flash of joy. Hesitating, he nonetheless opened his mouth, "Could it be... Placenta Pill Poison, you could..."
Beside him, Borjigin Nian also seemed to see hope from Gu Changsheng’s words, and everyone eagerly directed their gaze towards Gu Changsheng.
"What can I do?" Gu Changsheng snorted and sniffed, "Placenta Pill Poison, mother and child sharing life, live and die together, the ultimate poison without cure, I can’t do anything! I’m just furious at this ruthless mother and needed to release some anger by ruining her revenge!"
Unless blood drained and one perished, huh? Gu Changsheng finished her words, ignoring the room full of shocked and disappointed stares, turned around and naively walked towards the back hall.
Would blood draining really lead to death?
Laughable!
It’s considered a truth in others’ eyes, but in Gu Changsheng’s eyes, it’s just a ridiculous farce!
Placenta Pill Poison, unless blood drained, is incurable, then let the blood drain!
Gu Changsheng’s dazzling face revealed a nearly imperceptible smile, the evildoer’s residual poison had remained unclear from the time she departed from Liuzhou City, it had been a thorn in her side. Her claim to unmatched medical skills, yet unable to resolve a mere Qianji Poison for that’s beyond arrogance was unbearable. Now, with the ailment identified, it’s not surprising she would treat it effectively!
With this thought, Gu Changsheng’s mouth curled into a wicked smile. Why did she suddenly recall a rumor she heard before entering the Capital City?
It was said that the evildoer brought back a woman from Northern Mongolian, right? In the rumors, she was treated quite uniquely...
Gu Changsheng, who was known for exacting revenge and could not tolerate grievances, with a stingy heart as tiny as a pinhead, though after entering the Capital City, there was no news of the woman that the evildoer treated differently. She had asked the evildoer about her, but he brushed it off evasively. Still, that person, after all, existed didn’t she? Perhaps even hidden away in the "golden house" by the evildoer, right?
Hey! That’s not her fault then!
Gu Changsheng pondered, and suddenly she beckoned the shadowing follower Hongyan Jiaojiao enthusiastically, asking, "Hongyan, among our Southern Country’s fifty thousand-strong Honor Guard Army, are there many male soldiers?"
"Uh?" Hongyan Jiaojiao was startled by her Highness’s sudden question; for a while, she was a bit at a loss. After thinking for a moment, she reported truthfully, "Your Highness, as you are on a diplomatic mission to Zhou Dynasty to fulfill the marriage alliance, hence..."
Therefore, the company mainly consists of female officials from Southern Border Bashu and legitimate children of affluent families. Men, in Southern Country, hold very little status indeed. Even though her Highness wants to elevate the status of men in the Southern Country, a thousand-year-old tradition is not easily changed overnight.
Upon hearing this from Hongyan Jiaojiao, Gu Changsheng instantly understood.
As expected, whether before or after entering the Capital City, wherever she’s stayed, it’s been filled with vibrant colors. It turned out, the majority were women, wasn’t it? The Southern Country is indeed a woman’s realm, no wonder she, as a woman, is forced into leadership!
"There aren’t many men in the Honor Guard Army, and there are only five hundred men in my Dark Night Army. Replacing blood is no trivial matter; it can’t be achieved overnight. Blood types must match, and out of the five hundred male soldiers in the Dark Night Army, who knows how many would pass. That being said, a comprehensive count is still short, indeed!" Gu Changsheng seemed quite satisfied with Hongyan Jiaojiao’s answer, counting on her fingers and muttering for a while before her eyes lit up brightly.
The bright gaze almost dazzled the old eyes of Hongyan Jiaojiao. She looked at her Highness with a puzzled expression, completely unable to comprehend what her Highness had in mind!
The Emperor’s thoughts are indeed unfathomable, deeply unfathomable. Hongyan Jiaojiao has accompanied her Highness for some time, but she’s still baffled by her Highness’s uncertain thoughts!
"Hongyan, come, come, I need you to handle a task!" Gu Changsheng wore an evil smile, filled with fighting spirit, as she beckoned to Hongyan Jiaojiao.
For some reason, as Hongyan Jiaojiao looked at the mischievous smile on her Sovereign’s face, a bad premonition welled up in her heart. Sure enough, Gu Changsheng’s next words struck Hongyan Jiaojiao like a bolt from the blue.
"Hongyan, take your men, grab your gear, and go out to the streets to round up some strapping lads! Make sure they’re good-looking, with no unseemly background or chronic illnesses!" Gu Changsheng smiled like a cat that swallowed the canary, his dark phoenix eyes gleaming.
To change blood for her family’s evildoer, it must be from someone good-looking, pure in family background, healthy and strong. Otherwise, having the blood of some ugly duckling in her evildoer would be unsettling. She was so particular about appearances that it would definitely bother her!
Gu Changsheng nodded to himself confidently.
"Ahem ahem!" After a long while, Hongyan Jiaojiao finally snapped out of her shock, coughing a few times as if something was stuck in her throat, incredulously looking at her Sovereign, "Your Royal Highness, what did you say? This old minister is getting on in years, my ears aren’t so great, didn’t quite catch that..."
Rounding up strapping lads on the street, did she hear that right?
Hongyan Jiaojiao rubbed her ears in embarrassment.
"Rounding up strapping lads on the street, good-looking ones... do I need to repeat it?" Gu Changsheng gave Hongyan Jiaojiao a "you’re so silly" look and said confidently.
With that, Gu Changsheng ignored the dumbfounded Hongyan Jiaojiao and turned away, heading deeper into the traveling palace.
"Rounding up strapping lads... But Your Highness..." Hongyan Jiaojiao looked at her Sovereign’s departing figure, feeling utterly helpless.
Godfather, help! She, Hongyan Jiaojiao, is after all the helmsman of a thousand-year-old lineage in Southern Border, how could she do such a thing as grabbing young men in the Capital City? If this were back in Southern Border, it might not be a big deal; any young man who gets grabbed by a Miao Girl would be secretly delighted. But this isn’t Southern Border!
This is the Great Zhou! Yet her Sovereign wants her, the Chancellor of the Southern Country, to go into the streets to grab young men! And good-looking ones! This is...
This is simply forcing the virtuous into a life of selling themselves!
If she were twenty or thirty years younger, going out to grab strapping lads might still be worth seeing, but she’s already this old, her son is already at the age to discuss marriage, and she has to go out to the streets to grab lads, it would be such a disgrace for her face to lose face all the way to this little country of Zhou Dynasty!
"Lord Hongyan, why are you still in a daze? The Sovereign wants to round up good-looking lads, isn’t this a good thing!" Finally, one female official behind Hongyan Jiaojiao snapped out of it and exclaimed excitedly.
"A good thing? You from Ji Luo’s family, are you mocking me?" Hongyan Jiaojiao replied gruffly upon hearing this. Godfather, what kind of task is this, calling it a good thing? Let a thunderbolt strike me now!
"A good thing! It’s definitely a good thing!" The female official from Ji Luo’s family saw this, beaming, grabbing Hongyan Jiaojiao’s hand excitedly, "Lord Hongyan, our Sovereign has thought it through. Rounding up lads, especially specifying good-looking ones with clean backgrounds, what could this be for?"
"For what?" Hongyan Jiaojiao asked with an expression of bitter enmity, still not grasping the main point.
"Our Sovereign, noble as the Southern Emperor, even if married, shouldn’t be limited to just one spouse. A while ago, our suggestion on this matter was rebuffed by the Sovereign. Now, for the Sovereign to propose rounding up lads to fill the Heavenly Palace, isn’t this a good thing?" The female official from Ji Luo’s family spoke with increasing excitement, lamenting, "If I’d known the Sovereign would come around, our clan would have sent some young men to accompany the mission. It’s too late for regrets now, too late!"
"Indeed, that’s it! Godfather, my family hasn’t sent young men to accompany either!"
"Regretting it to death! Regretting it to death!"
"..."
The other female officials, upon hearing this, suddenly understood, each filled with regret, almost needing to buy some regret medicine to swallow.
Hongyan Jiaojiao also came to her senses from the words of the female official from Ji Luo’s family, and then, her old eyes widened in joyful surprise, and she slapped her thigh excitedly, "Good thing! This is indeed a good thing! Ah! No wonder our Sovereign first inquired if there were men among the Honor Guard Army, turns out this was the purpose!"
"So what do we do now?" The female official from Ji Luo’s family blinked.
"Do what? The Sovereign’s wishes must be fulfilled unconditionally. Although the humble Central Plains men aren’t worthy of our Sovereign, let’s make sure the people below are sharp-eyed, select some good-looking young lads to enrich the Heavenly Palace for the Sovereign, we’ll also be diligent in supervising, make sure this is done to perfection!" Hongyan Jiaojiao, no longer full of bitterness and resentment, spiritedly rallied the female officials around her, and they set off in grand fashion towards the camp of the Honor Guard Army in the traveling palace.
They were to gather troops, to go into the streets and round up strapping lads, oh no, to find those that could enrich the Heavenly Palace for their Sovereign!
After Hongyan Jiaojiao and her entourage left, a figure stepped out from behind a flower tree, clicking their tongue in wonder...