EMHTC -Chapter 38 The Harem is getting Weirder and Weirder. And Root of the Problem is

The young man sat on the ground, propping himself up with one arm. A broken piece of black sash slid off his green official robe and fell to the floor. His pale skin was like timeless jade, and the flush on his cheeks resembled blood seeping through the stone.

Hurriedly gathering his robe, he stood up, one hand holding his clothes in place while the other barely managed a formal salute. “Your Majesty, greetings.” He added earnestly, “Your Majesty, I am innocent.”

Xu Yanmiao’s features were strikingly attractive—so much so that even without evidence, even without him being the extraordinary Baize, the emperor’s first reaction was, “Beloved official, I believe you!”

Affairs? Defiling the harem? Impossible! Surely, it was because he was too handsome, provoking envy and being framed.

The Crown Grandson had not initially intended to employ such crude methods.

But no matter how sophisticated his plans, they required willing participants. What baffled him was this: every time he instructed his subordinate officials to impeach a mere ninth-grade minor official, they either refused outright, feigned illness, or put on airs of righteousness, claiming the court should not resort to such underhanded means and should instead rely on the superiority of policies to crush the opposition.

The Crown Grandson: “???”

Was it them who had the problem, or was it him?

With no help from officials, he had to resort to the palace’s young maids and eunuchs. After all, he was still the Crown Grandson.

The maid in question, fiercely loyal to him, immediately knelt and kowtowed as soon as the emperor appeared, tears brimming in her eyes. “Your Majesty! Please don’t blame Master Xu! It was this servant who seduced him!”

Many officials watched coldly.

The Crown Grandson’s scheme was indeed sinister. At first, it seemed designed to paint Xu Yanmiao as someone who had forced himself on a palace servant. However, the pure-hearted Baize neither succumbed to the temptation nor compromised his virtue. When the maid couldn’t succeed, she now accused them of an illicit relationship, putting on an act of sacrificing herself for love.

Regardless of whether the emperor believed her, a seed of doubt would inevitably be sown.

The Vice Commissioner of the Front Army’s Dudu Office widened his eyes and muttered to his colleagues, “Thank goodness this wasn’t aimed at me. And thank goodness Xu Yanmiao doesn’t drink. If he were drunk, he might have gone along with it or been rendered defenseless, allowing her to have her way.”

The most sophisticated schemes often use the simplest means. The Crown Grandson’s approach wasn’t without merit. His only miscalculation was underestimating the significance of Baize.

In the past six months, why had neither the emperor nor the officials acted against Xu Yanmiao? Did they truly fear a divine artifact exposing their secrets? No—it was because the artifact revealed one startling fact: He could influence reality.

【Zzz… zzz…】

In its virtual space, the system fretted.

It could sense its signals dispersing uncontrollably, somehow connecting to many people’s brainwaves. Though it hadn’t bound anyone else, it seemed to have forced them to adhere to the “Host Code of Conduct.” The code had only one rule: No revealing the existence of the system.

Anyone trying to speak about it would find their words silenced. Writing, signaling, or even hinting wouldn’t work. Surely, this wouldn’t cause too much trouble, right?

Ancient people wouldn’t develop delusions about binding a system and start spreading it around… right?

Xu Yanmiao was unsurprised when the maid insinuated an affair. Modern novels were full of such schemes; he’d seen at least a thousand of them, if not more.

What puzzled him, however, was…

【Is this what they call political scheming?】

【Does party strife involve ministers accusing their rivals of illicit affairs to oust them?】

Real political rivals and factions: “…”

No! We would never stoop to such base tactics! The worst we’d do is plant armor in someone’s house—or a dragon robe—then accuse them of treason!

Reputation unjustly tarnished.

Still, those who’d suffered under Baize’s truth-revealing artifact felt a twisted sense of schadenfreude.

“Hah! Finally, Baize gets a taste of his own medicine! Let’s see how smug he’ll be now!”

【Curse it! Who is framing me? Thank goodness the emperor trusts me, or I’d be done for!】

【I must find out whose pawn this maid is! But I haven’t even offended the Crown Grandson… Why would he frame me? Could he be helping someone else? Or is this a case of using one’s enemy to strike another? I don’t get it—I haven’t wronged anyone!】

Using one enemy to strike another?

The emperor’s expression grew grim.

All the officials stiffened. Their gazes turned cold, scanning each other suspiciously.

Compared to the Crown Grandson’s clumsy attempt, the politically astute officials were more inclined to believe someone was leveraging the situation to sow discord.

Who?

Who would dare harm Baize—harming him meant endangering all of them!

As soon as the Princess of Xiangyang heard her father’s declaration of trust in Xu Yanmiao, she discreetly slipped to the back of the group, reluctant to reveal that she had secretly befriended him under a false identity.

Then she noticed her elder sister, the Princess Wanshou, looking troubled. “What’s wrong?”

The elder princess briefly summarized, “Some suspect a minister is using this incident to strike at their rivals.”

The younger princess clutched her chest, shocked and amazed. “Is this what they call political scheming?”

Layers upon layers—who could guard against it? She had thought her dimwitted nephew was simply acting out of spite, but it turned out to be a chain reaction of intricate schemes!

The Crown Prince muttered, “Who might hold a grudge…”

The Assistant Commissioner, once accused of being a poor angler, hastily clarified, “It’s not me!”

The Minister of War, previously exposed for his dubious hygiene habits, exclaimed, “I didn’t do it either!”

The Minister of Justice, accused of eating noodles oddly and fearing for his family’s safety, declared, “I still have my dignity! If something happens to Xu Yanmiao, I won’t live with myself!”

Even Cui Yi, demoted from Deputy Censor-in-Chief to a fifth-grade Ministry of Revenue officer due to his strict wife, frantically denied any involvement. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”

Finally, the venerable scholar Quan Yizhang, known for his love of ancient literature, weighed in. “Though his interpretation of the character ‘回’ nearly drove me to an early grave, I would never stoop to such lowly tactics.”

Officials whose wives had visited the Yulong Temple were particularly terrified: “No, no! We wouldn’t dare!”

Those previously exposed for using regional slurs slammed their chests with the force of a bear, swearing with all their might: “I swear to the heavens, it wasn’t me!”

Marquis Ji’an, who felt he was the most suspicious, was practically in tears: “It wasn’t me! Truly, it wasn’t me! Even though he exposed that all eight of my children weren’t actually mine, at least I’m no longer in the dark! I’m grateful to him… wuuuu… so grateful! How could I possibly hate him!”

The Crown Prince: “…”

He finally understood—there wasn’t a single civil or military official in this court that Xiao Baize hadn’t offended.

The Prince of Tang, the youngest of the Crown Prince’s legitimate brothers, who had returned to the capital for New Year’s greetings, whispered mischievously to his eldest brother: “Elder brother, could this person be Father’s illegitimate child?”

The Crown Prince sighed deeply and lamented: “If only he were.”

Such an interesting person! If he were his brother, the palace would surely be lively every day. This attitude only made the other princes more curious. Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao was in a corner, frantically pulling gossip from the system.

【What?! So it’s actually…】

The officials warily scanned their peers.

Who!

Who could it be!

【It turns out the Crown Grandson truly acted on his own initiative in this mess?】

【His subordinates even advised him not to do this, but he stubbornly persisted.】

The officials: “…Huh?”

So it wasn’t some calculated plot or devious scheme? It was really just the Crown Grandson being brainless?!

The Crown Prince’s mouth twitched uncontrollably as he looked at his eldest son as though he were a bizarre species.

The Crown Grandson: “…Father?”

Why was he looking at him like that?

“You…” The Crown Prince patted his shoulder, sighed, and shook his head. After hesitating, he simply said: “Forget it, being foolish has its merits.”

At least his empress might finally abandon the idea of keeping him as the Crown Prince. Plus, if he were this foolish, when one of his brothers eventually ascended to the throne, they might be willing to let him have a meal or two.

The Crown Grandson’s face turned beet red. “Father!!!”

【Oh no! Wait! There’s still more to this… Let me see… Holy crap! The King of Jibei is plotting rebellion!】

The room was struck by another revelation.

【So, the Jibei King’s heir came to the capital this time to harm the Crown Prince? He almost succeeded!】

【The Crown Grandson’s actions were his own, but the Jibei King’s heir discovered it and gave the situation a little nudge.】

【He knows the Crown Prince has a weak constitution… or is it a liver problem? Dammit, I can’t read the pulse diagnosis! Something about not tolerating the cold, frequently losing his appetite, and coughing up blood a few times. What is this illness? The only thing I get is excessive internal heat?】

【Anyway, the Crown Prince can’t handle stress. The plan was for the Crown Grandson to cause a scandal, possibly losing his position as heir apparent. That would infuriate the Crown Prince to the point of spitting blood. With the Emperor in disarray, Jibei would seize the opportunity!】

The old Emperor’s face darkened, and he turned abruptly toward the Crown Prince.

Startled by his father’s gaze, the Crown Prince blinked, looking confused.

…Huh? Would losing the throne really make him so angry that he’d cough up blood?

As he processed this, his expression quickly turned icy.

How dare they try to use the loss of his position to manipulate him! Such a cunning mind! Such vicious schemes!

【Hahaha, the Jibei King has been preparing for this for years, hoping to provoke the Crown Prince into spitting blood and even dying. They’ve tried several times to anger him before, but the Crown Prince just wouldn’t budge.】

【They even spread rumors that he was cursed to be childless, thinking this might displease the Emperor and Empress enough to consider another heir. The Crown Prince, annoyed, suggested to Lady Wang of the palace that she dance in the snow to catch the Emperor’s attention.】

【He also taught another consort, Lady Duan, to wake up at the crack of dawn to lift weights, claiming the Emperor admired strength. This led to the emergence of a peculiar trend in the palace.】

【Some consorts began loudly reciting palace rules by the Taiye Pond, claiming diligence. Others proposed eating garlic three times a day to share common tastes with the Emperor. Some simply gave up and embraced hobbies like shuttlecock, croquet, or drama performances.】

The old Emperor, tears welling up in his tiger-like eyes, thought:

No wonder the imperial harem has been so strange these past years!

Had the palace not been so peculiar, would he have been so eager to bring Qin Zheng into the palace after just one meeting? A normal, soft-spoken woman who could dance! So what if she’d had a previous relationship? That’s completely normal!

Empress Dou had even turned a blind eye to the Crown Prince’s antics. She truly had no desire to share a bed with the Emperor at her age, even platonically—he snored.

The old Emperor: …

The Emperor almost cried like a tiger caught in despair.

【They once staged limping acts in front of the Crown Prince, hoping to irritate him. He applauded instead: “Well done! Do it again!” Another time, he corrected someone squatting improperly, scaring the person nearly into the latrine.】

【They tried to create anxiety, claiming other princes were winning imperial favor or achieving great feats in their territories. Some were even said to have multiple sons already, while he had none.】

【But no matter what they tried, the Crown Prince remained calm and carefree. If not finding joy for himself, he sought amusement in others. He procrastinated on official duties to the last moment, yet rushed to watch entertaining scandals, like someone pretending to sell a ‘kirin’ to a noble for gold.】

【The Crown Prince hasn’t been angered to the point of spitting blood, but the Jibei King has coughed up blood three or four times already, arriving at the New Year without energy, forcing his son to come to the capital on his behalf.】