NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12
Chapter 12: High Official Positions and Riches, I Can Offer You (Part 1)
“Hurry up and lead my white horse,” Su Yuzhou’s eyes fell on Lu Cheng’an. In the noisy market, her voice to Lu Cheng’an was not loud, but rather gentle, even a bit soft.
It was more gentle than peaceful.
Lu Cheng’an was stunned for a few seconds. He reached out and took the reins of the white horse. He remembered in the “Empress Development Plan” that the name of this white horse was White Startling Jade Lion.
“Follow this princess back to the mansion,” Su Yuzhou said coldly, “From now on, you belong to this princess.”
No, I won’t let you snatch me like this.
Lu Cheng’an still hadn’t figured out what was going on, but facing several embroidered guards, as well as several sturdy men blocking his way, he would rather sell himself to the Princess Han’s mansion than resist.
The embroidered guards glanced at each other and didn’t dare to stop. Indeed, the title of the Princess Han in the one-character palace was not the most prestigious.
Whether it was Qin or Jin, they were far more noble than Han, but after all, the Princess Han was the eldest daughter of the emperor. They couldn’t afford to offend her.
So they quickly made way.
But at this moment, Su Yuzhou was filled with nowhere to vent her anger.
In the third simulation, she succeeded, but the success was not perfect. At least for her, she paid an extremely heavy price.
Lu Cheng’an was exiled to Liangzhou, and she was powerless to stop it. This was the decree of her father, and her father had also said that as long as she ascended to the throne, she could immediately bring Lu Cheng’an back to the capital and restore his official position.
This was the art of wielding power with both kindness and severity.
To her father, Lu Cheng’an had made a mistake, but her father was unwilling to kill him because of his talent. Her father wanted Lu Cheng’an to remember the favor of being reinstated, it was her, Princess Han Su Yuzhou’s grace. But Su Yuzhou never expected that before that day arrived, Lu Cheng’an would die of illness in Liangzhou.
When Su Yuzhou saw the entry about Lu Cheng’an’s death in Liangzhou, she was already mentally broken. Lu Cheng’an was not only her first historically famous minister, but also a core figure of the Princess Han faction, her beloved minister who had followed her for ten years.
This was clearly a case of being purged and secretly assassinated, something she absolutely couldn’t tolerate.
So from the first day she knew about Lu Cheng’an’s situation in Liangzhou, she began to purge most of the aristocratic and powerful families in Liangzhou.
Even if it could easily cause instability in the situation just after ascending the throne, she didn’t hesitate.
And when she got the memories of the third simulation, this emotional collapse was even more indescribable. The ten years of vicissitudes, from nothing to something, from caution and simplicity to gradually taking over affairs, Lu Cheng’an’s shadow was everywhere. During the most difficult times, it was Lu Cheng’an who forged ahead with her. When she gradually took over the affairs of state, it was Lu Cheng’an who boasted and comforted her.
However, at the time when she ruled the world, Lu Cheng’an had already passed away in Liangzhou, dying in a foreign land.
Su Yuzhou felt that she had learned a lot in a flash, but also felt that she had lost a lot, especially when she shifted her perspective to Lu Cheng’an’s point of view.
Her heart was incomparably suppressed.
From holding a high position, being famous throughout the world, and being a spirited top scholar, to being hailed by scholars from all over the country in the capital, to being despised by local nobles in a remote place like Liangzhou, and even possibly being secretly instigated to humiliate, to writing letters of comfort to herself when she fell seriously ill in Liangzhou, and then, unable to find medical treatment in Liangzhou, lying on a sickbed and passing away shortly after writing the “Gratitude Memorial”.
This not only made Su Yuzhou feel uncomfortable, but also made her more and more angry as she thought about it.
She wasn’t someone who couldn’t share hardships or share prosperity. What she wanted more was for Lu Cheng’an, who had been with her from beginning to end, to be by her side when she ruled the world.
Moreover, since Lu Cheng’an and she had coincidentally given birth to their only legitimate son, Gongzi Weisu, Su Yuzhou’s feelings about Lu Cheng’an’s death in the simulation were not just simple regrets.
Therefore, not long after Lu Cheng’an’s death, Su Yuzhou made a lot of “pretense”, working intensively every day, and finally managed to recover from her illness. In the fifth year of her reign, she passed away.
Su Yuzhou’s idea was simple. Since the simulation could be repeated indefinitely, she had to achieve perfection, or at least not leave any regrets.
In this simulation, she did indeed succeed in seizing the throne and ruling the world, but Su Yuzhou had too many regrets.
First of all, she had to find out the little bitch who had been secretly scheming in Liangzhou. She bet it was either Princess Qin or Princess Jin.
Lu Cheng’an, as her most important right-hand man, was hated to the bone by Princess Qin and Princess Jin. If there was a chance to kick him while he was down, it would definitely be those two who would eagerly do it the most.
Secondly, Su Yuzhou’s idea was that when she ascended to the throne, Lu Cheng’an could assist her in politics by her side. By then, she would also have trusted ministers to rely on. If her own biological son ascended to the throne and he didn’t lend his full support, then what kind of person could he be?
At the same time, the situation in the Princess Jin’s mansion was not very peaceful.
“What, I asked you to find someone, and you let the Princess Han take the lead?” Princess Jin, Su Jinruo squinted her light blue eyes, staring at the several inefficient embroidered guards in front of her, somewhat dissatisfied.
Since a few days ago, a strange thing called “Empress Development Plan” came into her mind, Princess Jin, Su Jinruo had been studying it crazily every day.
At first, she didn’t care and didn’t bother with this strange thing.
But since she didn’t pay attention to it, her head kept reminding her like a death knell, constantly prompting her, “Please proceed to the next step immediately, Princess Han is ready, Princess Qin is ready…”
Because of this, she couldn’t sleep at night. The reminder sound annoyed her so much that she couldn’t sleep at all. She had no choice but to reluctantly start to ponder about it. Once she started to ponder, Princess Jin realized that this “Empress Development Plan” was a formidable existence.
She realized that this strange thing could simulate future events and even see many people’s dirty faces who were not truly loyal.
The seemingly huge Princess Jin’s mansion, the seemingly vast Princess Jin faction, within them, the interests were intertwined, and many people harbored different intentions. She seemed to have many people around her, but in fact, she was always alone. Those who gathered around her were all for their own interests.
During the first simulation, she had been observing many functions inside, and she found that the automatic management function was quite useful. Just by clicking it, she could sleep soundly at night without being disturbed.
In the second simulation, she was looking for anyone among her own people who might have ulterior motives. The most terrifying thing was that she found many attendants and followers who were nothing but idiots, those with white value cards, who caused trouble for her every day and attracted hatred from outside.
She secretly glanced at the attendants of her two sisters.
Wow, one of them had a loyal and highly skilled legendary card with orange values right from the start, and she remembered the name was Lu Cheng’an.
As for the Princess Qin’s mansion, talents with purple values were emerging endlessly.
But as for her Princess Jin’s mansion, it was full of freeloaders.
In the third simulation, she became smarter and started kicking out all the incompetent people who only enjoyed the benefits of Princess Jin’s mansion without doing anything. Instead, she began to recruit talented individuals.
Then she was stunned because she found out that the neighboring Princess Han was making rapid progress. A legendary card-level figure like Lu Cheng’an had single-handedly lifted the Princess Han’s mansion, and the theories he established had even taken away some of the talents she had painstakingly collected.
Most importantly, this person named Lu Cheng’an even had many beautiful clothes on his character card, and he could even disguise himself in various ways.
She, Princess Jin, was known for her love of talent.
Many attendants were recruited before because she had heard many rumors about them.
After “Empress Development Plan” better reflected the values of these people, Su Jinruo found that her hobby had become even more serious.
For example, the legendary card in her sister Princess Han’s hand.
Su Jinruo really wanted it.
So back to reality, she inquired about some information. Not checking was fine, but when she checked, she was shocked to find someone named Lu Cheng’an, a southern scholar who unfortunately got involved in court struggles and had his imperial exam results invalidated this year. Moreover, he was exactly the same person she saw in “Empress Development Plan”.
So she instructed the embroidered guards to arrest him, taking a step ahead of the Princess Han, and bringing him over to her side.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
“No, such talent cannot be left in the hands of the Princess Han.” Su Jinruo paced in the hall, and after thinking for a moment, she decided to take action to snatch him.
If she recruited him to her side, it would weaken the Princess Han and strengthen herself.
Even if she couldn’t recruit him, she still wanted to disgust the Princess Han and make her feel resentful.
“Prepare a horse for me!”
“I’m going to the Princess Han’s mansion in person.”