Chapter 187

Everything was progressing in an orderly manner and within Jun Zishu’s expectations.

Zeng Qing had gotten his revenge successfully, but he did not choose to take over the Medicine Valley. Instead, he had his junior brother take over and return to the palace to return the favor he owed to Jun Zishu.

It wasn’t fun to be an imperial doctor. It was also an incredibly restrictive and unrewarding position. However, Zeng Qing owed a debt of gratitude to Jun Zishu, and he was also interested to see how far Jun Zishu could go as an empress. So, he willingly chose to remain as an obscure doctor in the imperial palace.

Shortly after Zeng Qing returned, Jun Zishu had a shadow guard put in a request to him to make a very special drug.

Ten days later, Zeng Qing offered the drug to Jun Zishu.

After arriving in this world for so many days, this would be the first time Jun Zishu had visited Meng Lanxi’s place.

Meng Lanxi wore a blue robe and practiced his penmanship in his courtyard when Jun Zishu arrived.

Meng Lanxi was indeed a good-looking man, his style belonging to the cool and carefree category.

When Meng Lanxi heard footsteps coming from behind him, he didn’t even need to look up to know who was visiting him. After putting down his brush, he stood up from his seat, bowed, and greeted, “I greet Your Majesty.”

Originally, Meng Lanxi thought that after the empress suddenly dismissed her harem, she would come to meet him soon after. However, contrary to his expectations, the empress had left him hanging for over two weeks.

What was this person trying to do?

Meng Lanxi scanned Jun Zishu’s face for clues. Unfortunately, he failed to see through her true intentions.

“What a leisurely life you live here.”

“I am simply finding joy in suffering,” Meng Lanxi said, smiling. It seemed like he was a very open-minded person.

However, he only seemed to be open-minded and nothing more.

“Are you resenting me?” Jun Zishu asked.

Meng Lanxi did not nod his head. However, he didn’t shake his head, either.

“You seek to have freedom and achieve both fame and success.”

Jun Zishu sat down on a chair, her gorgeous robe draped to her side.

Meng Lanxi remained silent to Jun Zishu’s words. Nobody knew better what he wanted than this person. It was also this same person who had pushed him to hell. She had deprived him of all his rights and made him fall to the bottom when he was only one step away from achieving his dreams.

Unfortunately, he could do nothing about it since this person was the empress.

“If I let you do what you want, will you be loyal to me?” Jun Zishu asked in a rather teasing tone.

Meng Lanxi froze momentarily, and his brain spun rapidly.

Was this person perhaps trying to make him into a subservient minister?

What Meng Lanxi wanted was authority. He didn’t care what happened to his reputation. After all, so long as he had the authority to decide a person’s life and death, why would he care what a bunch of ants had to say about him?

However, if gaining authority meant sacrificing his body, that was something he refused to do.

In reality, if he was willing to submit, he could’ve long since gained the authority he wanted. He wouldn’t remain as a captive in his palace right now, either.

“Of course, I am just speaking hypothetically.”

Jun Zishu couldn’t help but laugh when she saw Meng Lanxi pondering over her question seriously, her face holding few traces of kind intentions.

She didn’t have a hobby of taming a wolf into an obedient dog. This was because some people were destined to be rebellious no matter what. These people were akin to vipers harboring evil intentions or heroes capable of enduring all types of humiliation. They were capable of enduring all hardships life threw at them and striking back when their enemies were unprepared.

Jun Zishu did not think that she could truly tame Meng Lanxi. There was a real possibility that Meng Lanxi would turn against her once he acquired authority.

Meanwhile, when Meng Lanxi realized that Jun Zishu was toying with him, his face sank.

“Does Your Majesty intend on locking me up here for the rest of my life?”

“Why not?”

After saying so, Jun Zishu snapped her fingers. Immediately, Shadow Three silently appeared behind Meng Lanxi and nudged one of the acupuncture points on his back, sealing his movements.

Meng Lanxi’s eyes widened in shock as his body stiffened.

While he was at it, Shadow Three also tapped an acupuncture point on Meng Lanxi’s throat, saving Jun Zishu the trouble of listening to his words.

Afterward, Shadow Three stuffed a black pill into Meng Lanxi’s mouth. Then, after making sure that Meng Lanxi had swallowed the pill, Shadow Three liberated Meng Lanxi’s sealed acupuncture points and vanished like the wind.

The first thing Meng Lanxi tried to do after regaining control over his body was to make himself vomit. Although his actions did not look elegant, one could see his strong desire to live.

Unfortunately, even after dry heaving a few times, Meng Lanxi failed to vomit anything out.

“What did you feed me?”

“It’s not poison, so don’t worry that it’ll take your life.”

The pill was a drug that would gradually weaken the user’s body. It was akin to a slow-acting poison that would eventually rob the user of their movement and put them in a constantly drowsy state.

There were many ways to rob a person of their ability to think or move. Hence, even if Jun Zishu couldn’t kill Meng Lanxi, she could still make it so he couldn’t create any waves.

“What exactly did I do wrong? Why must you do this to me?” Meng Lanxi asked with gritted teeth, his eyes filled with hatred as he looked at Jun Zishu.

“Nothing in particular. The only wrong you did was to meet me.”

In reality, Meng Lanxi hadn’t done anything wrong as of yet. The only reason he had such an unlucky encounter was for the sake of plot. Meanwhile, according to the original trajectory of his fate, he would overthrow the original owner and become the new emperor.

However, now that Jun Zishu had taken over this body, there was no way she could allow Meng Lanxi to succeed in his usurpation.

There were countless innocent people in the world. If Jun Zishu had to summarize Meng Lanxi’s situation in one sentence, it would have to be…

“It’s probably because you have an unlucky fate.”

While people couldn’t choose their birth, they could change their fate.

However, not everyone could change their fate successfully. To put it bluntly, a person would never know what unexpected events they would encounter in the future. Some events may allow a person to soar, but some events would also make a person fall flat on their face.

Take Meng Lanxi, for example. Originally, he thought that after beating his relatives in his hometown and making a name for himself there, he could achieve greater success, become a powerful minister, and begin a prosperous life that would go down in history. However, shortly after he began treading on his path to success, he stumbled into the original owner.

In reality, he could’ve still fought and risen afterward. Unfortunately, before he could do so, he ended up stumbling into Jun Zishu.

What kind of division is this exactly, Little Fairy?

[Huh? Did I not tell you, Host? It’s the Villain’s Reversal Division.]

Villain’s Reversal… Indeed, that’s the case.

Fate had never been fair. Take the original owner, for example. She had begun her life with blessed conditions. If not for her personality, Jun Zishu wouldn’t have had to come to this world at all. Had the original owner been a responsible ruler, she could have created a peaceful and prosperous empire for herself and become an empress for the ages.

Jun Zishu was by no means a kind person. In her world, there were only things that she could do and things that she couldn’t do. Although she was doing something heinous and cruel toward Meng Lanxi right now, she never purported to be a holy mother.

A holy mother was a rare creature, and it was something Jun Zishu could never understand.

Meanwhile, when Meng Lanxi heard Jun Zishu’s words, the thing called sanity in his mind snapped.

Fate!

Fate was something he had never and would never believe in!

With blood-filled eyes, Meng Lanxi suddenly lunged at Jun Zishu.

However, Jun Zishu swiftly evaded the attack, and Shadow Three quickly appeared and subdued Meng Lanxi again.

“Why do you overestimate yourself?”

“On what grounds do you have to do this to me?!”

“On the grounds that I am the empress, and you are a hurdle in my way. It can’t be helped. I cannot trust your personality. Had you been a good-natured person, I could have let you work for me and let you achieve what you want. Unfortunately, I know that you are a vindictive person,” Jun Zishu said. “If there comes a day where you get to make a reversal, you will undoubtedly strike back at me. You and I both know this.”

“Why don’t you kill me then?! Why must you torture me like this!?”

But I also want to kill you… Jun Zishu sighed.

“Just because I refuse to comply, you decide to treat me like this? What if I say that I can and am willing to do what I previously refused?”

“But I’m not willing to believe you,” Jun Zishu said. Then, she looked toward Shadow Three and continued, “Help him to the bed.”

Shadow Three nodded and carried Meng Lanxi to his bed.

Meng Lanxi opened his mouth, thinking to ask Jun Zishu why she refused to trust him. However, he eventually chose to keep his mouth shut.

Jun Zishu felt that Meng Lanxi was rather smart. At the very least, he didn’t foolishly ask why his enemy would treat him so cruelly.

Not to mention, a person should never ask why a villain was targeting them. A true villain wouldn’t care for their target’s gender or age.

Jun Zishu was well aware of her position in this world. She was a villain with ideals and ambitions. Of course, this “villain” was only relative to Meng Lanxi. To others such as Zeng Qing, Liu Bichen, and the loyal Lord Wu, she might be a good guy.

…

When Jun Zishu returned to her bedchamber, Yue Mingsheng greeted her. Yue Mingsheng had essentially moved in with her in recent days. After all, they ate, lived, and went out together every day. Apart from when she needed to attend morning court, she spent most of her time with Yue Mingsheng by her side.

“Where did you go, Big Sister?

“Did you just return from Meng Lanxi’s place?

“Did you go and find him?”

Yue Mingsheng bombarded Jun Zishu with a series of questions.

Based on her observation of Jun Zishu’s behavior for the past two weeks, Yue Mingsheng was already certain of Meng Lanxi’s position in Jun Zishu’s heart. His existence was simply inconsequential to Jun Zishu. So, why did Jun Zishu suddenly decide to visit him today?

“I fed him something,” Jun Zishu answered.

“Poison?”

“I already said that I wouldn’t kill him. I only fed him something that would weaken him and put him in a constant drowsy state.”

“Are you torturing him?”

This could be considered a form of torture. After all, nothing could be more agonizing for a prideful person like Meng Lanxi to lose his freedom. However, so long as he could see hope for escaping one day, life wouldn’t be too terrible. Yet, judging by Jun Zishu’s actions, it would seem that she intended on crushing even this last bit of hope.

If Meng Lanxi was put into a weakened and drowsy state while retaining full consciousness, it would be an incredibly unpleasant experience. He would probably choose death rather than remain in such a state if given a choice.

“Do you think I’m being too cruel?”

Jun Zishu had no choice but to do this to Meng Lanxi. Although she very much wanted to kill Meng Lanxi and rid this problem from her life once and for all, the system’s mechanisms protected him. Ironically, though, this same protection mechanism had also pushed Meng Lanxi into an even deeper abyss.

“Cruel? No. There is nothing wrong with your actions, Big Sister. You spared his life, at the very least. You also didn’t make him suffer any physical pain.”

Jun Zishu felt that she shouldn’t discuss such topics with Yue Mingsheng. She honestly felt that this little girl’s worldview was distorted. Moreover, the girl was constantly supportive of her words.

However, Jun Zishu was also very satisfied with this situation.