Di Lingwei departed just like that. Her Chief Palace Steward, Xing Ruolan, naturally followed closely behind.
With the Heavenly Mandate Empress gone, the civil and military officials in the Great Phoenix Hall all exhaled in relief and rose to their feet.
“Why would Her Majesty leave these issues to us today?”
“This is different from Her Majesty’s past behavior.”
“Indeed. In the past, Her Majesty would have provided methods for all problems, then had us execute them. But this time, she wants us to come up with our own thinking. Why is that?”
“Her Majesty’s conduct today is truly unlike the past.”
The officials murmured, their faces etched with confusion.
“Are Her Majesty’s words difficult to understand?” a voice asked then.
Everyone looked up. A figure stood gracefully in the court hall. She was like a celestial spirit descended to the mortal world, seeming entirely out of place amidst this earthly setting, feeling particularly discordant with the atmosphere of the imperial court.
It was as if she belonged in the heavens, not on the earth.
Shangguan Yuchan turned around, her snow-white dress swaying gently with the breeze. Her bright eyes swept across the assembled officials.
“May we know the Chancellor’s interpretation?” an elderly official asked.
Shangguan Yuchan smiled slightly. “Her Majesty’s action is deeply considered and extremely far-sighted. Her Majesty was worried that if every matter, great or small, were decided by herself, over time it would cause the officials to grow slack and cease thinking. Thus, she decided to hand the problems to all of you. This is to make everyone learn to think. In the long run, this is something with a hundred benefits and not a single harm for our Great Phoenix Dynasty.”
Hearing Shangguan Yuchan’s explanation, everyone’s faces showed expressions of sudden realization.
“But… but the methods we devise will surely fall far short of the methods Her Majesty would conceive. Will that not cause problems?” The elderly official spoke again. His face was wrinkled, his hair white, yet his spirit remained hale, and his eyes were clear.
He was the Minister of Personnel, named Wang Baiyue. He oversaw the records of all officials and held the power of appointments and dismissals, influencing many officials’ careers. He occupied a high and powerful position, which is why he dared to speak back to Shangguan Yuchan directly.
“This is Her Majesty’s test for you.” Shangguan Yuchan spoke with the air of one who held all the answers. “Her Majesty has just ascended the throne, and many of the hundred officials are holdovers from the Shenyuan period. Her Majesty does not yet fully know you all, so she also wants to use this opportunity to test whether your abilities match your official posts. Everyone, you must seize this chance well and display yourselves properly. Do not fail Her Majesty.”
So that was it!
The officials again showed expressions of enlightenment, then became filled with shame.
They reflected that the Chancellor truly deserved her title. She understood matters they hadn’t seen at all. If not for the Chancellor’s insight, wouldn’t they have completely failed to grasp Her Majesty’s profound meaning?
Immediately, everyone began to voice their praise and offer thanks for Shangguan Yuchan’s guidance.
Shangguan Yuchan accepted the praise calmly and added, “Her Majesty has always possessed peerless intellect and stratagems. This move is truly a case of killing two birds with one stone. Of course, these are only two benefits I can see. There are surely deeper implications I cannot discern. After all, Her Majesty’s brilliance is extraordinary. Her thoughts are not something we can fully comprehend.”
“The Chancellor speaks the truth,” everyone nodded in agreement.
…
Di Lingwei returned to her bedchamber—Phoenix Perch Palace.
As the Empress’s bedchamber, it was naturally spacious and magnificent enough. The palace was filled with various furnishings, everything one could need, yet the layout was just right, not giving an overly luxurious feel.
Once there, Di Lingwei dismissed everyone and let out a relieved sigh.
She needed to understand her own situation and her surroundings as quickly as possible. Otherwise, moving around this Imperial Palace would be a struggle. As a place for daily living, the bedchamber should hold a fair amount of information.
Di Lingwei wandered around for a bit, and before long she found several books to flip through. She eventually took them to her bed to read while sitting.
The Book of Phoenix: This recounted the major history of the 120 years since the Phoenix Dynasty’s founding, up to just before the first year of Heavenly Mandate.
There were also books like Geography of the Phoenix Dynasty, Records of Foreign Nations, Register of Officials of the Phoenix Dynasty, and Imperial Palace Architecture. It seemed the original host was quite fond of reading; these should be enough for Di Lingwei to learn about many things.
She started with The Book of Phoenix, skipping directly to the end, beginning with the twentieth year of the Shenyuan Era. That was just last year, likely the easiest way to learn about her own affairs.
In this year, her name was outlined in heavy brushstrokes: establishing the Heroine Battalion, subduing many ministers, compelling the Grand General’s submission with her unparalleled martial power… Rather than a record of the Phoenix Dynasty’s affairs, it read more like a book praising Di Lingwei.
But that was understandable. She had just ascended the throne. Whoever compiled The Book of Phoenix would hardly dare to write anything negative about her. Probably only decades or centuries later would someone use records from other sources to revise it.
Even so, after reading for a while, Di Lingwei felt chills and a prickling sensation on her scalp.
Because from what the book said, she should be a person of peerless intellect and world-shaking martial strength. Setting aside intellect—an intangible, invisible thing—where was this martial strength?
Di Lingwei couldn’t help but clench her fist and punch a leg of her own bed.
“Bang!”
“Oww!”
Di Lingwei clutched her bruised fist in pain, her face a knot of agony.
Where was this promised world-shaking martial power? How could she transmigrate and lose her martial power value? That’s not fair!
Unwilling to accept this, Di Lingwei tried several other methods to test herself. In the end, the result left her in despair. She had truly lost her martial power. Now, she could even be described as someone who couldn’t truss a chicken—a standard, delicately weak woman.
“The fact that I’ve lost my martial power must absolutely not be leaked. Otherwise, trouble will be great.”
Di Lingwei knew how critical this matter was.
She was a new monarch who had just ascended, and through bloody means at that. Countless people in the Imperial Court harbored ill feelings toward her. They were simply held in check by her strength and didn’t dare voice anything. If they learned she had lost that formidable martial power, wouldn’t many develop unlawful ambitions?
Thankfully, her status meant there would rarely be an occasion requiring her to personally fight. This gave her a little peace of mind. Still, she had to be extremely careful about other aspects.
“Judging from how I bathed alone earlier, the original host probably didn’t have any personal maids. There shouldn’t be anyone intimately familiar with my habits… That makes sense. I haven’t been enthroned long; many aspects are just at the beginning.”
“Hopefully, my taste in food is similar to the original host’s… Well, I’ll just sample everything brought to me. That should do the trick.”
“I wonder if I have anyone I’m close to. Perhaps not? Even though The Book of Phoenix embellishes my descriptions, it glosses over the incident of me executing imperial clan relatives. To be able to so easily strike against those tied by blood… the original host was likely a rather terrifying person. It would be normal for someone like that to have no close relationships.”
