Chapter 298: Chapter 299: Simply a Devil
Li Ji heard Hua Manman’s thoughts.
He keenly picked up on a single term—
The original work.
’So that’s why Hua Manman was able to predict the collapse of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It was because she’d read a book.’
Li Ji’s confusion deepened.
’What kind of book could possibly let someone know what was going to happen in the future?’
’And under what circumstances did Hua Manman see that book?’
’Was it because she read that book that her words and actions were being restricted?’
’If that’s true, then all my previous speculations have to be thrown out.’
’Hua Manman’s strangeness has nothing to do with a Gu Worm.’
’To help her break free from her shackles, I have to start with that book.’
Hua Manman walked out of the room with the empty bowl and saw Chen Wangbei, who had been waiting for a long time under the covered walkway.
Chen Wangbei cupped his hands in a salute.
"Greetings, Princess Consort."
Only after Princess Consort Zhao was a good distance away did Chen Wangbei knock on the door. After receiving permission, he pushed the door open and entered.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the Observatory has calculated the time. Work on the Imperial Ancestral Temple will officially begin in three days."
Li Ji was still pondering what he had just learned, so he answered distractedly.
"Mm."
’If the collapse of the Imperial Ancestral Temple isn’t a natural disaster, then it must be man-made.’
’It’s very likely someone deliberately caused the temple to collapse.’
’What was that person’s goal?’
’Repairing the Imperial Ancestral Temple is an annual affair, but the person in charge of the repairs is never fixed. It’s basically up to the Emperor’s mood.’
’The uncertainty in this is just too great.’
’Trying to frame someone this way would be a complete gamble.’
’But if the mastermind isn’t aiming to frame someone, then they must be after the Imperial Ancestral Temple itself.’
’Inside the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the most precious things are undoubtedly the spirit tablets of the past emperors.’
’But those tablets only seem precious. In reality, they’re just a pile of inanimate objects with no real use.’
’Besides the spirit tablets, what other treasures are in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?’
Li Ji thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with anything.
’I need to find a chance to visit Princess Ningyang.’
’Princess Ningyang is old, holds a high rank in the family, and knows a lot. Perhaps I can get some clues out of her.’
Li Ji instructed Chen Wangbei.
"Go and bring Gao Shan here."
"Yes, sir."
Gao Shan arrived shortly after. He bowed respectfully.
Li Ji said, "Go prepare some New Year’s gifts and deliver them personally to Princess Ningyang’s residence.
If she asks about my current situation, don’t say a thing. If she pressures you to talk, just say that I forbade you from speaking. Understood?"
Gao Shan cupped his hands. "I understand."
...
Hua Manman ran into the kitchen and casually tossed the empty bowl aside.
She saw some freshly made glutinous rice cakes, picked one up, dipped it in white sugar, and started eating. The soft, chewy rice cakes paired with the sweet sugar were absolutely delicious.
She said to the cook,
"Cut these rice cakes into long strips, fry them in soybean oil, then coat them in brown sugar syrup and sprinkle them with soybean powder."
The cook was long accustomed to her princess consort’s various creative ideas about food and hurriedly took note of her instructions.
While waiting for the brown sugar rice cakes to be ready, Hua Manman casually picked up a snow pear from nearby and began munching on it with big bites.
The System’s voice rang out in her mind, tinged with a resentful tone.
"You can’t do that again."
Hua Manman: "What did I do?"
System: "You told Prince Zhao that the Imperial Ancestral Temple would be hit by an earthquake. You revealed plot information. That’s against the rules."
Hua Manman feigned ignorance. "Did I mention the Imperial Ancestral Temple? I just told Prince Zhao a couple of little stories."
The System said indignantly, "Do you take me for an idiot? Your hints were so obvious!"
Hua Manman chuckled. "Oh, don’t be so serious. As long as you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, who’s going to know?"
System: "The system side has monitoring. Even if I don’t say anything, the Main God might find out. Anyway, be more careful from now on."
Hua Manman: "I know, I know. If something like this happens again, I’ll make sure my hints aren’t so obvious. You can rest easy."
System: "..."
’How could it possibly rest easy after hearing that?!’
The System felt incredibly aggrieved.
When it was first activated by the Main God, the System was told its task was simple: just issue tasks to the host according to the steps and supervise the host’s completion of those tasks.
And that’s indeed what it had always done.
Until it met a lunatic like Hua Manman, and everything changed.
Not only did she refuse to complete tasks as the plot required, she would also deliberately exploit loopholes in the tasks and even threaten the System in return.
’She’s an absolute devil!’
For the one thousand and first time, the System felt a deep sense of regret.
’Just how blind was I back then to have chosen Hua Manman as the host?!’
Hua Manman: "Are you cursing me in your head?"
The System ground its teeth. "No!"
Hua Manman: "Then why aren’t you talking?"
’Don’t you have a damn clue why I’m not talking?!’ the System desperately wanted to retort.
But the other party had leverage over it, so it could only reply, unwillingly,
"If there’s nothing else, I’m going offline."
Hua Manman: "Don’t go! I have something else I want to ask you. The original work said the Imperial Ancestral Temple collapsed because the earth dragon turned over. But if it was an earthquake, how come there was no movement at all in Shangjing? Is there some inside story I don’t know about?"
The System spat out a sentence coldly.
"Sorry, I don’t know either."
Hua Manman was skeptical. "Do you really not know? Or are you pretending not to know?"
System: "It involves important plot information. I have no comment."
As if afraid Hua Manman would threaten it again, it quickly added another sentence.
"This is a system setting. I have no authority to interfere."
Hua Manman pouted. "What good are you then?"
System: "..."
’If I had a physical body, my mainframe would definitely be smoking with rage right now.’
It took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, "I’m logging off!"
With that, it quickly went silent and made no further sound.
By now, the brown sugar glutinous rice cakes were ready.
The long strips of rice cake had been fried to a golden brown and were coated in red sugar syrup, looking incredibly appetizing.
Hua Manman picked up a piece with her chopsticks and took a bite.
It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside—fragrant, sweet, and chewy.
Hua Manman also had someone brew a pot of milk tea.
There was still a lot of soybean oil left from frying the rice cakes, so Hua Manman had the cook also fry up some tofu skin, taro, chicken legs, and chicken wings. Coated in a special sesame chili oil, they were fragrant and spicy, crispy and delicious.
She took the food to find Feihua Zhenren.
The moment Feihua Zhenren saw the delicious food, their eyes lit up, and they were practically drooling a river.
The two of them sat down by the brazier and ate with great relish.
After eating and drinking their fill, they both leaned back and flopped like salted fish.
Feihua Zhenren rubbed their potbelly and sighed deeply.
"This is the life."
Hua Manman also rubbed her little tummy. "It sure is."
