Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Hunker Down, Don’t Be Reckless

"I have been too lenient with you lately, so much so that you now dare to defy me."

The Empress Dowager’s face was livid, her eyes blazing with fury. She raised a hand, and someone immediately and skillfully handed her a rattan whip.

Numbness instantly spread through Xiao Yang’s entire body.

The body’s original owner had been a cowardly, incompetent puppet with no will of her own, completely at the Empress Dowager’s beck and call.

Aside from the fact that she was a girl, the main reason for this was the Empress Dowager’s floggings.

To control this Emperor, the Empress Dowager would deliver a harsh beating whenever the original owner showed the slightest hint of disobedience.

The trembling of her body now was a fear rooted deep in the original soul.

Xiao Yang was exasperated. ’If you’re so scared, why don’t you come out and handle it yourself? What’s the deal with hiding and leaving me to face this?’

The Empress Dowager picked up the whip and walked toward her. The viciousness in her eyes suggested this wasn’t about discipline; it looked more like she wanted to beat her to death.

No one moved to restrain Xiao Yang, because they all knew the Emperor would not dare to dodge.

The Emperor may not have dared, but she certainly did!

The moment the Empress Dowager swung the whip, Xiao Yang ducked low to evade it, then bolted out of the palace doors.

CRACK!

The Empress Dowager’s whip sliced through empty air, striking the ground.

"Seize her for me!"

"Your Majesty, stop!"

’She’d have to be out of her mind to stop.’

The Emperor had disappeared.

She had run out of the Empress Dowager’s palace and vanished in the blink of an eye. The Empress Dowager, initially just angry, was nearly frightened to death after a whole night of fruitless searching.

’Could the Emperor have been kidnapped or killed?’

The Emperor’s disappearance was no small matter, and the resulting commotion from the Empress Dowager was equally significant.

Many people knew the Empress Dowager had intended to beat the Emperor, and that the Emperor had run away and vanished.

The major factions were all out searching, and the matter was about to blow up into a full-blown crisis.

But as it turned out, the Emperor emerged from her own bedchambers early the next morning, yawning.

"Morning, everyone. What’s all the commotion so early?"

The crowd of palace maids and eunuchs, who had been up all night, immediately fell to their knees.

’Thank the heavens, our necks are saved!’

The Empress Dowager, pale-faced and trembling with rage, demanded, "Where were you last night?"

Xiao Yang smiled with an innocent face. "I was sleeping. Why, did something happen?"

The Empress Dowager had wielded power for many years, relying on her control over the Emperor and her family’s might to fight back and forth with other factions, yet she had never felt so aggrieved and exhausted.

She had been sick with worry, not sleeping a wink all night.

"You... you..." She wanted to curse, but she was so exhausted she almost couldn’t catch her breath.

"Empress Dowager! Quickly, help the Empress Dowager back to rest!"

After washing up and eating breakfast, Xiao Yang went to the Imperial Study Room.

A table was piled high with memorials. She leafed through a few; they were all nonsense.

The truly important memorials, the ones with real decision-making power, were all reviewed by the Regent King, Duke Rong (the Empress Dowager’s brother), and Prime Minister Song. These three held the power of imperial approval and could issue edicts without the Emperor even seeing them.

The only tasks left for the Emperor were to read inconsequential memorials paying respects, or to serve as the final decision-maker on contentious issues the factions couldn’t agree on, such as selecting an empress.

Yes, and making a decision meant getting taken out instantly.

The Emperor had previously selected two Empresses—one picked by the Empress Dowager, the other by the Prime Minister. As it turned out, she never even got to meet them before both girls died under mysterious circumstances.

So what she decided didn’t matter; it was all useless anyway.

’But even if these memorials are all nonsense, might as well put them to good use.’

And so, Xiao Yang began to write furiously.

From a certain governor: Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Majesty. Autumn has reached its ninth month, the rice paddies are ripe for harvest, the autumn chrysanthemums are in full bloom...

The entire memorial was long-winded, without a single useful sentence.

Xiao Yang didn’t even blink as she wrote: I’m the Emperor. Send cash!

From a certain County Magistrate: Your humble servant wishes Your Majesty good health. I have been stationed here for five years, and my longing for Your Majesty is like a gushing spring...

’Ewww... So cheesy. It’s disgusting.’

Xiao Yang’s reply: Not interested!

From a certain General: Your Majesty, we recruited five thousand new soldiers this autumn. This general will train them rigorously and strive to have them pledge their loyalty to Your Majesty as soon as possible.

Xiao Yang’s reply: Hunker down, don’t get cocky!

The Imperial Eunuch attending her merely glanced over, and his eyes widened in shock.

Xiao Yang grew more and more enthusiastic as she reviewed the memorials. ’Who said these things were useless? They’re an absolute blast!’

"The Regent King has arrived."

Xiao Yang looked up from the pile of memorials to see Rong Yin walking in, his form silhouetted by the light behind him.

Her mind automatically supplied a new announcement: ’Her Highness, the Killing Concubine, has arrived!’

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but marvel at herself. ’The me from yesterday who made Rong Yin a concubine just to provoke him was a bona fide genius.’

"Greetings, Regent King."

Xiao Yang greeted him proactively. She was always very tolerant of eye candy; even if he was an enemy, there was a difference between a handsome foe and an ugly one.

Rong Yin sized up Xiao Yang, his gaze darkening as he made no attempt to hide his sinister, vicious emotions.

But she seemed completely oblivious to it. Seeing that he remained silent, she simply went back to reviewing her memorials.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

Rong Yin gave a slight nod, a token gesture of respect for the Emperor, but not much of one.

His head bowed no more than ten degrees.

Xiao Yang said nothing, continuing to read the memorials.

’He ignored her greeting, so now she was ignoring him. Two could play at being aloof.’

Rong Yin, however, didn’t seem to mind her sudden coldness. His gaze was sharp enough to pierce right through her, yet it was as if she were so thick-skinned as to be completely immune, utterly ignoring him.

"Today it is my turn to instruct Your Majesty. Have you memorized the policy essay from last time?"

DRIP.

A drop of ink fell onto the paper. Xiao Yang looked up in shock. "What did you just say?"

Rong Yin said, "I asked Your Majesty to recite the policy essay."

Xiao Yang pressed, "The line before that."

Rong Yin’s lips thinned. His patience was wearing thin, but he suppressed his irritation. "I am here to instruct Your Majesty."

Xiao Yang felt something inside her snap.

She took back what she had thought earlier. Beautiful things were nice to look at, but only on one condition: they couldn’t be your teacher.

No one, no matter how handsome, could ever make her fall in love with studying.

"Just kill me!"

If the price for being younger was to go back to school and endure this torture all over again, then she decided she didn’t need it.

Seeing the complete sincerity in her eyes—and the absolute lack of any will to live—Rong Yin was rendered speechless. "..."

So Rong Yin took the initiative, retrieving the policy essay from last time and handing it to her. "It seems Your Majesty has not memorized it. Then you may begin now."

With that, he turned, sat down nearby to drink some tea, and settled in to wait for her to begin her recitation.

Xiao Yang didn’t understand. The characters were all the same, so why was it that when she read the memorials, she was full of energy, her brush moving as if divinely inspired, but the moment she looked at that so-called policy essay, her eyes glazed over? The thought of having to memorize it, especially, brought on a wave of drowsiness that was simply impossible to resist.

THUD!

She flopped onto the desk, obediently answering the summons of Zhou Gong.

Rong Yin looked up and found that she had fallen asleep.

He went over to take a look himself. She was genuinely asleep, and soundly at that.

A flash of disbelief crossed his somber eyes.

’What kind of idiot is this?’

"That is not the Emperor."

"What?"

The game piece in his hand dropped back into its box. Feng Xian looked up in surprise at Rong Yin, who sat opposite him with an expression of utter certainty.

Rong Yin was always a meticulous and level-headed man; he would never joke around, especially not about something like this.

He drew in a sharp breath. "The Emperor has been replaced? Who did it? The Empress Dowager would have no reason to."

The Puppet Emperor was the Empress Dowager’s most crucial chess piece. The Emperor was cowardly, incompetent, and lacked any will of her own, keeping her firmly under the Empress Dowager’s thumb. There was no need for her to be replaced.

But aside from the Empress Dowager, who could replace the Emperor and hide it from the woman who was her own mother?

Rong Yin didn’t answer; clearly, he couldn’t figure it out either.

Feng Xian asked, "How did you figure it out?"

A proper replacement for the Emperor wouldn’t have so many obvious flaws.

Rong Yin placed a game piece on the board. "That’s what I can’t understand. Aside from having the same face, she is nothing but flaws."

The Little Emperor was obedient and timid; speaking to her in a slightly raised voice was enough to make her tremble like a frightened quail.

The Little Emperor was terrified of him and never dared to meet his gaze. But the person from yesterday not only looked him straight in the eye but also provoked him—and even dared to humiliate him!

Who would choose an idiot so full of flaws to be a double? Just because of an identical face?

And then there were her comments on those meaningless memorials.

You couldn’t even call it unconcealed; it was pure madness. Utterly without scruples, absurd and arrogant.