SBCEJM -Chapter 99 Only When the Knife Pierces Your Own Flesh Do You Know How Much It Hurts

【Next up, Censor Li…】

At that moment, the system’s voice suddenly turned urgent.

【Host, Script No. 12 is showing abnormalities!】

【The target’s mental fluctuations are extremely intense!】

【H-he’s actually trying to resist the script settings!】

The motion of Feng Zexuan chewing her chips paused, and interest sparked in her eyes.

“Oh? That’s possible too? Now this is getting interesting.”

She straightened up, curiosity flashing across her face.

【Let me see what tricks this old man can pull off.】

【Resistance failed… failed again… huh? He actually succeeded?!】

Even the system sounded shocked.

【This guy’s willpower… is really something!】

【Host, he’s taken control of this body and is forcefully rewriting the plotline!】

Feng Zexuan froze for a moment before curling her lips into a grin.

【Finally met one with some backbone.】

On the screen, the script assigned to Censor Li, The Merchant Girl’s Rise to Glory, had already become unrecognizable.

The original setup had been this:
A daughter born into a merchant family, humiliated everywhere because of her low status, eventually dying in despair.

But this iron-willed censor, after his initial panic, forcibly calmed himself down.

He was well-read, highly educated, and more importantly, possessed the pride of a true scholar—

As Heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement!

“If that little girl, the Prince of Zhenbei, could do it, then why can’t the soul of a seven-foot-tall man like me?”

He refused to become a woman trapped in the inner chambers, existing only to marry and bear children!

He wanted to change this absurd fate!

So he began imitating the Prince of Zhenbei—binding his chest, disguising himself in men’s clothing.

Relying on his silver tongue and vast learning, he actually managed to persuade his conservative merchant “father.”

“Your daughter’s ambitions lie beyond the horizon. How can she be confined to a boudoir?”

After his impassioned speech, even that son-preferring merchant father was left completely stunned.

Feng Zexuan watched with great amusement, reaching for another handful of chips.

【Damn, this old man’s really good with words.】

Crunch crunch crunch.

【But, Lord Li… you think changing your identity is enough?】

The provincial exams. The metropolitan exams.

With nothing but the knowledge in his head, he truly cut through every obstacle!

In every examination, he performed brilliantly.

Whenever the examiners read his essays, they could not help but clap in admiration.

“This essay is rigorous in structure and unique in insight. A truly exceptional talent!”

“This candidate must come from a highly educated family!”

Censor Li swelled with pride internally.

See? In the face of talent, what difference does gender make?

In the end, he stood in the grand hall for the palace examination!

At that moment, as a woman, Censor Li wore the crimson robes of the top scholar and proudly surveyed the gathered officials.

His heart surged with heroic ambition—

Among all the heroes in the world, who but me?

“Your Majesty! This subject has strategies to govern the nation and is willing to devote everything to Great Xia’s prosperity!”

Below the throne, the officials whispered among themselves.

“This newly crowned top scholar carries extraordinary bearing!”

“To possess such talent at such a young age… truly awe-inspiring!”

Hearing all the praise, Censor Li grew even more smug.

Hmph! Who says women are inferior to men? This old man can still command the court and shape the nation!

“Heh. Naive.”

A crafty glint flashed through Feng Zexuan’s eyes.

Though honestly, for the old man to make it this far really did take ability.

But, Lord Li… did you think this was the end?

【System, time for his final lesson. Anonymous report: ‘A woman interfering in state affairs.’】

【Received! Host, your move here… is vicious.】

The system answered gleefully.

【Special script event: The Truth Comes Out has been triggered.】

Just as Censor Li immersed himself in the joy of impending glory—

“Report—!”

A young eunuch rushed into the hall in a panic.

“Your Majesty! Someone has reported that the newly crowned top scholar… is… is a woman!”

An anonymous letter was presented before the throne.

Boom!

The entire court exploded into chaos.

“A woman participating in politics, a hen crowing at dawn—this is a calamity for the nation!”

“This woman has corrupted moral order and trampled ritual law. Her crimes deserve death!”

“Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly and restore purity to the court!”

Those words…

Every single one…

Sounded painfully familiar.

Censor Li suddenly remembered!

Weren’t these the exact same words he had once used, standing in this very court, to attack the Prince of Zhenbei in his “previous life”?!

And now, those blades had turned around.

One by one, they stabbed back into his own body.

Memorials impeaching him piled up like mountains in the blink of an eye.

“A woman meddling in politics brings disaster upon the nation!”

“When hens crow at dawn, heavenly punishment will follow!”

“This kind of monster deserves extermination of the entire clan!”

Those officials who had once echoed his denunciations of the Prince of Zhenbei were now using the exact same words against him.

Standing below the hall, enduring the condemnation of thousands, Censor Li felt as if his heart were being sliced apart.

“A daughter’s talent is no less than a son’s!”

Using the female body he had once despised so deeply, he screamed himself hoarse defending “himself.”

“Why can’t the women of the world be given a chance?”

“Your Majesty! You have witnessed this subject’s talent with your own eyes! Just because this subject is a woman, does that talent suddenly become worthless?!”

He believed he could debate the entire court and persuade the emperor.

After all, in his former life, he had built his career in court with that very tongue.

But what greeted him instead was unconcealed ridicule and contempt from every official present.

“Absurd!”

“A woman’s duty is to support her husband and raise children. How dare she compete with men?”

“What a joke! Since when could women govern a nation?”

“This is deception of the throne! Execute her!”

Those familiar voices, those familiar phrases, now pierced him like ten thousand arrows through the heart.

The emperor flew into a rage, slamming the dragon throne’s armrest with a thunderous bang.

“Spreading demonic nonsense and throwing the court into chaos! Guards, throw her into the imperial prison!”

Watching Censor Li’s twisted face filled with agony, Feng Zexuan felt complicated emotions rise within her.

【See that, Lord Li? These are the very rules you people believe in.】

【Now it’s your turn to be crushed beneath them. How does it feel?】

In the end, his father spent half the family fortune to pull him out of prison.

He was stripped of all academic honors and forever banned from the imperial examinations.

To prevent the family from being implicated, he was forced to marry a wastrel noble he had never met.

On their wedding night, the man grabbed his chin and laughed drunkenly.

“I heard you’re some talented lady? Even became the top scholar? Hahaha!”

“Come on, smile for me!”

“If you smile nicely, maybe I’ll show you some affection tonight.”

The rough fingers pinched his jaw painfully, while the stench of alcohol made him want to vomit.

At that moment, Censor Li’s faith completely shattered.

All his talent and ambition were gradually ground away amidst endless inner-courtyard struggles.

Until the day he died, he remained nothing more than a pitiful woman trapped within high walls and deep courtyards—unloved by her husband, childless, forgotten.

Before dying, he remembered the words he once said:

“A woman without talent is virtuous.”

“A woman should simply know her place, support her husband, and raise children.”

Looking back now, how utterly ironic.

【Only when the knife pierces your own flesh do you realize how much it hurts.】

Feng Zexuan nodded in satisfaction, though her emotions were somewhat complicated too.

These stubborn old fools were indeed hateful, but watching them suffer didn’t make her entirely happy either.

【Well, whatever. They brought it on themselves with those foul mouths.】

At this moment, the first script, Farm Girl Da Ya, also reached its climax.