In the early stages of the male lead Chen Yun's storyline, he was just a poor hunter, righteous and kind-hearted. He lived alone in a wooden house in the village, which was located at the foot of the mountain by the edge of the forest, far from the other houses in the village.

In the original story, he met and fell in love with the female lead. Later, the female lead resolutely defied the imperial edict to elope with him, and he hid her in this wooden house. The two of them spent time alone together, their relationship growing more passionate, and they became intimate.

According to the timeline of the plot development, at this point, the male lead should have already been enjoying a romantic time with the female lead in this wooden house. However, at this moment, Liao Tingyan was in the Luojing Palace every day dealing with vicious dogs, so Chen Yun was still alone here.

The furnishings in the house were simple. Chen Yun sat alone at the table, frowning at the emptiness in front of him, his tone tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"The female lead's storyline has deviated, but I can still correct it later. When the rebellion breaks into the palace, I'll let her come to my side to cultivate our feelings. As long as we end up together in the end, it'll be fine. But now that the Mihe flood has disappeared and there are no longer a large number of disaster victims, how can I gather so many people to rebel?"

Others couldn't see it, but in Chen Yun's eyes, there was a floating panel in front of him, on which a paragraph of text suddenly appeared.

-- "It is precisely because of the unknown deviation in the current world that the system has awakened your inner consciousness. You need to handle the plot correction entirely on your own. The romantic storyline with the female lead is extremely important. As an excellent romantic male lead in the JHX09 series, you should be very familiar with these plots, after all, you have also adapted to this type of male lead setting before, with a very high degree of similarity."

Chen Yun sneered, "Of course I'm familiar with it, but for some reason, this female lead actually chose to enter the palace. Obviously, before my inner consciousness was awakened, I performed very well when I saved her that time. Later, when I confronted someone for her sake, she even specifically defended me, clearly indicating that she had a good impression of me at that time.

"If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't find an opportunity to interact with her afterwards and couldn't cultivate feelings, the plot wouldn't have suddenly deviated, and it wouldn't have come to the point of needing to awaken my inner consciousness."

"Forget it, this female lead storyline can only be dealt with later. If I spend more time with her, I refuse to believe that she still won't fall in love with me. Women are all like this, easily moved. Now the most important thing is still the career storyline. If the flood is really gone, we can only wait for next year's drought and plague."

He said this with a cold laugh and tapped the table, "I refuse to believe that the drought and plague storylines can also be so easily deviated!"

-- "Reminder, the current plot deviation is forty-two percent. Please continue to correct it."

"If such a major deviation occurs again next time, give me an early warning."

-- "Received. Wishing you success."

Chen Yun suppressed his anger, waved his hand in front of him, stood up and straightened his clothes. He picked up the bow and arrows and bamboo basket hanging on the wall and opened the door to go out.

After going out, his expression became gentle and bright, full of righteousness, causing some young girls and young wives in the village to secretly look at him.

......

The Mihe flood was indeed resolved, and there was no news of the situation getting worse afterwards. Although it continued to rain heavily for a long time, that water control envoy seemed to be very experienced and worked hard to control the flood.

Therefore, the affected areas and the number of people were not very large now, let alone were there any scenes of disaster victims rioting.

Liao Tingyan watched the development with her eyes wide open and her mouth agape, her whole person falling into confusion.

It seemed that the flood was really gone. What about next year's drought and plague? As she thought about it, she couldn't help but look at Sima Jiao. At this point, she had no choice but to believe it. That flood was resolved by someone sent by Sima Jiao.

He really hadn't been boasting before. Liao Tingyan only now understood that the emperor could indeed do whatever he wanted.

Having figured this out, Liao Tingyan became angry at his lack of effort. Since he was capable of doing it, why didn't he manage anything in the original story! Was he looking to die!

Even if he had taken some measures when the disasters occurred, showed some concern for the disaster victims afterwards, and didn't indiscriminately allow soldiers to slaughter and suppress them when many people died and riots broke out due to the subsequent drought, things wouldn't have escalated to the point of rebellions everywhere in the end.

In this era, the order of importance was heaven, earth, emperor, parents, and teachers, with the emperor even ranking before parents. The emperor's power was second only to heaven and earth. If they weren't really driven to a dead end, those people at the bottom would not have risen up in rebellion out of anger. Sima Jiao with his sick mind simply wanted the country to perish.

Wait a minute... he couldn't be deliberately trying to bring about the downfall of the country, could he?

Liao Tingyan was a little unsure if Sima Jiao's illness was really that severe.

Sima Jiao noticed her gaze, "What? Didn't you hear that the Mihe flood was resolved? Are you still worried?"

Only then did Liao Tingyan react to this matter. The reason why Sima Jiao specifically sent someone to deal with the Mihe flood seemed to be because she had recently been losing sleep over it, in other words, for her sake.

She was actually a little overwhelmed by the favor?

Turning her head away from Sima Jiao, Liao Tingyan said softly, "Since it's resolved, naturally this concubine will no longer worry."

"In that case, since you're not worried anymore, can you explain to me why you were so concerned about a small flood?" Sima Jiao crossed his arms and stared at her.

Liao Tingyan's heart skipped a beat. She lowered her eyes and pretended to look pitiful, "Hexia is also on a branch of the Mihe River. In my worry, I had a dream that the flood continued and submerged Hexia. That's why I was very anxious. I'm afraid it's because I'm far from my hometown and miss my father that I lost my composure like this."

Sima Jiao stared at her for a while. Liao Tingyan didn't know if he accepted this answer or not. Seeing that he didn't ask further, she thought she had gotten away with it. But who knew that when they went to bed that night, Sima Jiao told her--

"I sent someone to Hexia to convey an edict, telling your father to come to Luojing. He'll be rushing over, so you'll be able to see him before long."

"Ah?!"

"Didn't you say you miss your dad? Since you want to see him, then let him come see you."

Liao Tingyan understood that she couldn't speak carelessly, because you never know what the Sima Jiao who hears those words will end up doing.

"Then... thank you, Your Majesty." What else could she do? She could only wish her father a smooth journey and hope that he wouldn't be too frightened by this sudden summons.

Lord Liao received the short, inexplicable edict ordering him to Luojing, and countless ominous speculations arose in his heart. He thought with worry and dread, it didn't even say why he was being summoned to Luojing.

Could it be that something had happened to his daughter? Could it be that his daughter had already died and he was being called to see her one last time? Prefect Liao nearly cried tears of an old father due to his own wild imagination. He immediately settled the county affairs and quickly set off for Luojing with a light entourage.

Let's not mention how Prefect Liao rushed to Luojing. On this day, Liao Tingyan accompanied Sima Jiao to the grand court session again and witnessed quite a lively scene.

As usual, she stood beside Sima Jiao, spacing out. Suddenly, she heard a minister in the hall bring up the issue of the Emperor's heir.

"Your Majesty, without a bloodline to continue, the dynasty will be unstable!"

Liao Tingyan clearly saw Sima Jiao's hand move to rub the wooden beads on his wrist. In the days she had spent with him, she knew this action of his was dangerous.

It was strange. Despite having so many beauties in his harem, Sima Jiao had not seen a single one become pregnant and give birth. Moreover, no one in the imperial court or harem had ever mentioned heirs in front of Sima Jiao - this was the first time Liao Tingyan heard someone bring up this matter before him.

She keenly sensed that this topic seemed somewhat taboo. After this statement in the grand hall, it immediately became incredibly quiet, as if everyone was waiting for Sima Jiao's reaction. Liao Tingyan also noticed many ministers casting strange glances at her.

Grand Tutor Duan, standing at the very front on the right, also seemed to glance at her but quickly looked away.

After a moment of silence, Sima Jiao suddenly laughed. He leaned forward and said to the minister, "With so many beauties in my harem, none have been able to bear an heir for me. Indeed, they have served me inadequately."

Liao Tingyan was speechless, thinking of the nights she had been held while sleeping. Hehe, the beauties aren't serving you well? It's your own damn inability, you can't even do the deed and have the nerve to blame the concubines for not giving you a child?

Sima Jiao tapped the armrest, a smile on his face, and asked the minister as if in a good mood, "Why does the Left Remonstrator think the palace beauties cannot continue my bloodline?"

Liao Tingyan listened nervously, thinking, could it be that Sima Jiao was going to kill concubines again?

That Left Remonstrator was even more nervous than her, sweating on his forehead as he said, "Perhaps Your Majesty should select more women from decent families of suitable age and health to enter the palace..."

Sima Jiao suddenly asked him, "The Left Remonstrator seems to have a daughter at home?"

The Left Remonstrator was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly replied, "This official does have a daughter at home, but she married long ago and has given birth."

He had been prompted by Grand Tutor Duan's son to raise this matter in court, but that didn't mean he was willing to send his daughter into the palace for this Emperor to toy with and kill.

Fortunately, his daughter was already married. He wiped the sweat from his heart.

However, Sima Jiao looked at him coldly, his voice cruel, "Married and given birth? Perfect. Since the Left Remonstrator's daughter can give birth, let her enter the palace. Perhaps she can bear a child for me... However, if she fails to give birth within a year, I will have her executed. What does the Left Remonstrator think?"

The Left Remonstrator blanked, his legs going weak as he knelt down. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, you mustn't! My daughter is already a married woman, how can she enter the palace? She's even married to a son of the Duan family!"

Sima Jiao had a strange expression as he looked at Grand Tutor Duan. "So she's married to a son of the Duan family. Grand Tutor, what do you think of what I just said? My mother is also a Duan family daughter. Since we're all relatives, I'm sure you're willing to share my burdens."

Grand Tutor Duan cupped his hands, his voice calm. "Your Majesty, seizing an official's wife would be a scandal."

Sima Jiao laughed loudly. "A scandal? Are there not enough scandals surrounding me already?"

Although these two had the relationship of maternal grandfather and grandson, there was a subtle undertone to their interactions. The few who knew some inside information, upon hearing the Emperor's seemingly meaningful words, all recalled a certain rumor from back then. They were so frightened they didn't dare breathe loudly.

Liao Tingyan watched the developments from the side, her expression also a bit strange. She had read about this in the original novel. It was a memory the female lead heard from a palace servant after being taken into the palace.

Supposedly, a previous Left Remonstrator had advised the muddleheaded ruler to continue his bloodline early on, and in retaliation, the ruler forcibly summoned the official's already married daughter into the palace. That woman lived each day in fear and soon withered away.

In the original novel, after hearing this, the female lead naturally feared, hated and despised the dog emperor. She thought of her lover every day. So later, when the male lead came to rescue her, moved by emotion, she forgot about the conflict she previously had with him over the other female character, and smoothly reconciled with the male lead.

And now, because she entered the palace much earlier than the original female lead, she directly ran into this incident.

It felt a bit strange. The man beside her was cruel and terrifying, taking lives lightly. But he spent every day with her, sleeping in each other's arms each night. He always had the imperial kitchen make many delicious foods for her, clearly remembering everything she said. He fulfilled many of the wishes she casually mentioned. He never got angry at her or hurt her.

In her heart, this Sima Jiao seemed different from the Sima Jiao in the original novel. But now, following the original plot, he was preparing to force an innocent woman to her death.

Liao Tingyan couldn't describe her feelings. She only knew that in the original story, that woman's life was just a short sentence, the same as the millions who died in floods, plagues, and droughts. In the story, she was an insignificant extra without even a name. But in this world, she was a living, breathing person.

She may have acted a bit impulsively. At this moment, she actually grabbed Sima Jiao's hand and said, "Your Majesty, has this concubine not served you well? You want to bring that kind of woman into the palace too."

Author's Note:

Noble Consort: Watch my acting skills!

Ah Jiao: Heh, full of flaws.