Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Does the Regent King Want to Verify My True Identity?

By the time Rong Yin had changed his clothes and entered the Imperial Palace, tranquility had returned.

However, many areas now had new faces. The only thing that remained unchanged was the three brothers of the Xiao Family still standing guard outside the Imperial Study.

Prince Jing was strolling out from within, clutching a thick stack of documents and wearing a troubled expression.

The Ministry of Revenue’s coffers were empty. As its minister, how could he not be worried? He was losing his hair over it.

Xiao Lv stood at the entrance, his smile polite yet insincere. "Regent King, Your Majesty has been waiting for you."

There was nothing outwardly wrong with Xiao Lv, but for some reason, Rong Yin always felt that something about him was lacking.

Rong Yin stepped into the hall, and his eyes immediately fell upon the young Emperor, whose purple and gold robes exuded an air of nobility.

Handsome and audacious, with eyes as bright as the morning sun. All the splendor in the room could not outshine a fraction of her magnificence.

Full of youthful vigor, high-spirited, and untamable.

’This is a woman?’

Rong Yin doubted his own eyes, and even more so, he suspected that Sun Yi had lied to him.

But he didn’t know how to verify Sun Yi’s words.

’Ask directly?’

’That treacherous rebel claimed Your Majesty is a woman.’

Rong Yin had actually been considering it the whole way here. He felt he shouldn’t ask. Yet, his impression of the Emperor lately told him that not asking would change nothing. On the contrary, perhaps she was simply waiting for him to ask.

After all, if she hadn’t delivered the secret right to him, he would have never found out.

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, Xiao Yang didn’t get angry. Instead, she casually raised an eyebrow, her eyes full of amusement. "You believed him?"

Rong Yin didn’t answer. He neither believed nor disbelieved; he was simply suspicious.

Xiao Yang threw up her hands, as if she were helpless against him, and looked at him with a wicked smile. "Fine, I am a woman. Does the Regent King want to come and verify my identity?"

Rong Yin’s face flushed hot, and he didn’t dare to look directly at her.

’How would he verify? By reaching out and touching her?’

’He hadn’t dared to touch her even when he thought she was a man. If she was a woman, and he touched her... what would that mean?’

Rong Yin didn’t dare to raise his eyes, as if doing so could conceal the increasingly improper thoughts stirring within him.

He lifted the hem of his robes and slowly knelt. "You are Your Majesty, the one and only Your Majesty."

"Hah..."

Xiao Yang found them truly amusing. ’I’m the one who should be the most afraid, so how is it that they’re the ones who can’t face it?’

"Alright, get up. With that pitiful look on your face, anyone who didn’t know better would think I was bullying you."

The grand power struggle between the true and false princess fizzled out quietly before it could even take the stage.

The official story was that someone had attempted to poison the Emperor. Consort Hui was implicated and demoted to a commoner, while Princess Suiyi was apparently held in high regard by the Emperor. It seemed as though there were no major consequences.

Of course, some with eyes and ears everywhere may have sensed something was amiss, or perhaps even learned part of the truth.

But those who were meant to die were dead, and those meant to live were still living. Who would stand up for someone with no status?

----

The Empress Dowager didn’t know the identity of Consort Hui’s real child and had been unable to find them all this time. But after hearing what had happened at the Regent Prince Mansion, she knew the dust had settled.

In just over two months, a Puppet Emperor she once held in the palm of her hand had not only suppressed her influence but also seized control of the court. Now, this Emperor had effortlessly eliminated the faction most likely to oppose her.

The Little Emperor was certainly resourceful, but was ultimately too young and lacked foresight.

The charge of harboring an assassin was enough to have the Regent King executed. And that bitch, Xie Wan—her life, especially, should not have been spared.

So be it!

"Wang Hai..."

「In the Imperial Study.」

Xiao Yang continued to wrestle with the mountain of memorials. She used to have the energy to write a teasing remark or two, but now she had lost all interest. At most, she would scrawl a single character to show she had reviewed a document. Her writing became more and more like wild cursive, and yet she managed to make even that one character look like a work of art.

But this was no solution. Most of these officials were just muddling through; very few of them were capable of doing any real work.

If Xiao Yang didn’t find a way to deal with them, she would have to endure this torture indefinitely.

That simply wouldn’t do.

So Xiao Yang hauled in the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and had a mountain of nonsensical memorials piled up in front of him.

"Review them. You’re not allowed to go home until you’re finished."

The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhou Jing, quickly waved his hands in protest. "Your Majesty, this is improper! It’s against regulations."

Xiao Yang brandished the Emperor’s Sword. "I *am* the regulations. Now, start reading!"

With a sword pressed to his neck, Zhou Jing had no choice but to pick up a memorial.

At first, he still thought it improper, but as he read on, he discovered the problem. The memorials were all filled with nonsense, without a single mention of important state affairs.

As a wily old official who had survived in the court for over twenty years, he wasn’t so slow that he couldn’t perceive the Emperor’s intention.

"Is Your Majesty vexed by how long-winded these memorials are?"

Xiao Yang replied, "So you’ve noticed. We’ll discuss it later. Finish reviewing these, then you can talk to me."

Zhou Jing stared at the stack of memorials, which was taller than he was, and took a deep breath. He was nearly sixty; he wondered if he would even be alive by the time he finished.

When Rong Yin arrived, he saw that all the memorials meant for the Emperor were stacked in front of Zhou Jing, threatening to bury him alive.

"What is Your Majesty doing?"

Xiao Yang raised a hand. "Don’t disturb Mr. Zhou while he’s reviewing memorials."

Zhou Jing gave a helpless, bitter smile. "Don’t mind me, Prince. Please, speak freely."

Rong Yin grew thoughtful. ’The Little Emperor wouldn’t do this without a reason,’ he mused. ’Who has managed to provoke her this time?’

The lamps in the Imperial Study burned late into the night. Not until the roosters were about to crow did Zhou Jing finally free himself from the pile of memorials.

However, this was only the beginning. The next day, Zhou Jing was again brought to the palace to face another stack of similar memorials, which looked no smaller than yesterday’s.

"Your... Your Majesty... I still have official business to attend to. Reviewing memorials is not part of my duties."

Xiao Yang sneered. "It’s true that it isn’t your job. But you can’t even stand it for one day, whereas I have to review them all the time."

Zhou Jing argued, "The ministers are simply concerned for Your Majesty. It’s inevitable that they get a bit carried away when sending their greetings."

Xiao Yang couldn’t be bothered to waste words on him. "From now on, the Ministry of Personnel will re-evaluate all officials. Any official at fault within the last year will be demoted three ranks. Any official with no achievements in the last three years will be demoted two ranks. All memorials must state only the facts, with no added flowery language or useless filler. Memorials of greeting may be submitted once a month and cannot exceed thirty words."

Zhou Jing opened his mouth to say something, but Xiao Yang cut him off. "And if the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel cannot accomplish this, he will be demoted three ranks to serve as an example."

Zhou Jing snapped his mouth shut. "This minister obeys!"

No one could have expected that the first department the Emperor moved against was the Ministry of Personnel.

As soon as the Ministry of Personnel got busy, panic spread among all the officials. Those with faults would be punished, and those with neither faults nor accomplishments would be punished as well. It was terrifying.

Everyone believed this was the Emperor’s first move to declare her power.

She intended to purge the influence of others, give the imperial court a thorough cleansing, and seize power firmly in her own hands.

For a time, every official feared for their own position, and the major factions were thrown into turmoil.

Yet no one could have ever guessed that the real reason for all this was simply that the Emperor was sick and tired of reviewing those vexing memorials.