"The current drought has also affected some areas of Yaozhou, the fief of the Lord of Southern Qin," Grand Protector Gao informed Sima Jiao, then thought for a moment and added, "There's one more thing. Not long ago, the Lord of Southern Qin found a son-in-law for his only daughter. This man was born a commoner, quite ordinary."

"Oh?" Sima Jiao pondered for a while and said, "The Lord of Southern Qin dotes on his daughter very much. I suppose it was his daughter who insisted on marrying, otherwise with the Lord's pride, he probably wouldn't have been willing to take in such a son-in-law."

Grand Protector Gao nodded, "Your Majesty is correct. The Lord of Southern Qin's daughter had previously run away from home. After returning, she clamored to marry that man. The Lord couldn't go against her temperament and agreed to it. That man has now leaped from a commoner to becoming the Lord of Southern Qin's son-in-law. It's truly a meteoric rise. Everyone in Yaozhou envies his good fortune."

Sima Jiao gave a strange smile, "Good fortune? I think not necessarily. The Lord of Southern Qin is a schemer. For him to so easily allow a commoner to marry his precious daughter, I'm afraid he must also greatly admire that person. Someone who can be admired by that old fox, could he be a simple character?"

"Now that Your Majesty puts it that way, this servant also feels that man is not simple." Grand Protector Gao smiled slightly, "That man is called Chen Yun. It's said he's an ordinary hunter from Hexia, which sounds quite unremarkable."

Crash--

The sound of a teacup shattering on the ground came from the inner chamber. Sima Jiao was about to speak but upon hearing the noise, stood up and walked inside, exchanging a glance with Liao Tingyan.

Liao Tingyan tugged the brocade quilt, glancing at the broken cup on the floor. She had just been woken up by Sima Jiao's voice and overheard his conversation with Grand Protector Gao. They were discussing the Lord of Southern Qin and the female supporting character Qin Wuxia.

Curious, she had sat up and craned her neck to listen, wanting to hear more clearly.

As a result, when she heard the familiar name Chen Yun, she was so startled that she accidentally knocked over a cup by the bed in her shock.

Chen Yun, the original novel's male lead - it had been a long time since Liao Tingyan last thought of him. She had assumed that by deviating from the path of the original female lead, Chen Yun's fate would also change. But unexpectedly, he had still ended up on a path similar to the original story.

In the original novel, the male and female leads had long been living together and had secretly performed wedding rites. Then, wanting to provide a better and wealthier life for his beloved, Chen Yun had found a way to transport furs to Yaozhou for sale in winter.

On the journey, he had unintentionally saved the Lord of Southern Qin's only daughter Qin Wuxia, and from there, the story had begun its heart-wrenching journey. The main plot revolved around Qin Wuxia pining for Chen Yun relentlessly, while the male lead only had eyes for the female lead, yet fate toyed with them.

The female lead, due to the female supporting character and various other characters' obstruction, constantly misunderstood the male lead. The two kept misunderstanding each other... Misery after misery, near-death experiences.

But Liao Tingyan remembered that at this point in the original novel, Chen Yun still hadn't accepted Qin Wuxia. It was only after a plague outbreak and people's uprising that in order to protect others, he had reluctantly married Qin Wuxia to gain the Qin family's support and help.

When Chen Yun and the female lead had performed their wedding rites, due to the need to keep the female lead's secret fugitive identity hidden, there had been no witnesses besides the two of them. In the eyes of the public, the male lead's marriage to Qin Wuxia was the legitimate one.

The female lead, heartbroken that her lover was marrying another woman, had chosen to leave him. It was precisely at that time that the original novel's male supporting character Sima Jiao had encountered the female lead who had been left alone and brought her back to the palace.

But now, without the appearance of her, the female lead, Chen Yun had married Qin Wuxia ahead of schedule. Liao Tingyan thought this was quite good. Since the two of them had ended up together, there wouldn't be the original novel's messy love triangle. She wished for them to love each other forever.

Liao Tingyan coughed a few times, covering herself with the quilt.

Sima Jiao walked over to her side, lifted her head, and looked at her slightly flushed face.

"You heard us talking?"

"Mm."

Sima Jiao suddenly asked, "Do you know that Chen Yun?"

Liao Tingyan: "...!" Wait, how did you know when I didn't say a word?

Seeing her expression, Sima Jiao's face darkened. "So you do know him. Judging from your strong reaction, I'm afraid it's not just a simple acquaintance."

If it weren't for the countless times she had intentionally cursed him in her mind without him reacting, Liao Tingyan would really think this guy could read minds.

Liao Tingyan decided to come clean and immediately grabbed Sima Jiao's hand to explain, "I do know him. I remember mentioning to you before that I was once saved by someone when I encountered bandits. The benefactor who saved me was Chen Yun."

Sima Jiao sat on the edge of the bed and let out a cold laugh.

Liao Tingyan pretended not to hear and truthfully said, "Besides that time, we met twice more later. Once was when I took my servant to offer incense and we encountered each other while taking shelter from rain in the mountains. The other time was when I took my maid to go boating and we ran into him by chance. In total, I've only exchanged one sentence with him!"

Sima Jiao waved his hand. "Why are you explaining so clearly? It's not like this Lord would misunderstand."

Liao Tingyan: You've already referred to yourself as "this Lord", yet you're still putting on a front. If I don't explain clearly, someone will die from that terrifying expression of discovering your girlfriend has an ex-boyfriend!

Twirling the hair on Liao Tingyan's chest, Sima Jiao asked her in a casual tone, "What do you think of this Chen Yun? What kind of person is he?"

Is there no end to this? You two have no interactions, yet you're inexplicably interested in him. Is this fated? Liao Tingyan inwardly retorted, but after a moment, gave Sima Jiao an answer: "He's a good person."

From their brief interactions, he indeed seemed to be a good person. The original novel's male lead was a good person in the beginning. Otherwise, how could he repeatedly save the girl?

Sima Jiao: "What else? What do you think of his appearance and personality?"

Liao Tingyan had a subtle feeling of being a boyfriend, with the girlfriend meticulously comparing herself to his ex-girlfriend. She must be very sick.

Coughing again, Liao Tingyan cleverly answered, "I don't remember what he looks like, after all, I only met him a few times. As for his personality and such, without a deep friendship, I can't make a judgment."

After she finished speaking, she saw Sima Jiao reach out and caress the side of her neck.

Rubbing it a little, he pulled her over and kissed her lips.

Liao Tingyan: "..." Wait, this old lady will infect you with the illness right now!

"You rest first." Sima Jiao wiped the corner of his mouth and released her, standing up and walking out, looking completely normal, his mood unreadable.

Liao Tingyan flopped back onto the bed with a thud.

...

In Luojing, rumors started spreading at some unknown time.

"Did you know? They say this severe drought is because the Emperor is cruel, favors the bewitching concubine, and kills people for amusement in the palace every day. That's why the Heavens have sent down punishment to discipline the Emperor's atrocities!" Similar rumors spread like wildfire, but the source couldn't be found.

Rumors have always been the hardest to quell. Later on, almost everyone was condemning the Emperor for being brutal, and the beloved concubine for being a femme fatale.

This matter quickly reached Sima Jiao's ears. He summoned the general guarding the palace and said with a sneer, "Those who spread rumors shall be killed."

The general broke out in a cold sweat and said with difficulty, "But Your Majesty, the rumors are rampant and too many people have spoken of them. The law does not hold the masses accountable..."

Sima Jiao leaned back in his chair, his tone cruel, "Then immediately dispatch men to guard every intersection in the city. As soon as you hear anyone gathering to spread rumors, execute on the spot the one with the loudest voice. I want a hundred flagpoles erected on the main streets to hang the corpses of these people, letting everyone know the consequences of criticizing the Emperor."

The general was so shocked he didn't dare speak. This matter had truly blown up too much. Previously in Luoyang, there were also people secretly calling His Majesty a tyrant, but it wasn't crazily spread like now, provoking the Emperor's fury.

He knew this time there would indeed be a bloody storm in Luoyang. Honestly retreating, he immediately mustered the troops to patrol everywhere.

At first, this action caused many people to angrily curse, confirming the rumors. However, as one flagpole after another was raised with corpses hanging from them, fewer and fewer dared to speak out. Even those with intentions to instigate rumors no longer dared to openly incite the masses.

There were still a small number of people who fearlessly proclaimed, "What's there to be afraid of? The law does not hold the masses accountable. There are a million people in Luoyang. Could the Emperor really kill that many?"

Sitting in the highest position in the palace, Sima Jiao said the same thing, "Luoyang has a million commoners, can't finish killing them."

"But it's just a mere hundred people. If there are still those who recklessly criticize the Emperor and spread rumors about the inner palace, then raise another hundred, another thousand flagpoles. I'd like to see if the flagpoles will be filled with people first or if the rumors will cease first."

The facts proved that under such bloody suppression, the previously rampant rumors quickly subsided. Looking at the corpses hanging on the street corners, no one dared to spread those rumors anymore. Luoyang fell into an eerie calm.

In contrast to the calm in Luoyang, in other states and prefectures, the rumors seemed to have grown wings, rapidly spreading to other places, especially disaster-stricken areas and affected regions. Voices of discontent gradually rose.

The first time Liao Tingyan heard news of disaster victims rioting, she was stunned for a long time.

She couldn't understand, things were already different from the original story. Compared to the shocking misery in the original, now because the court was taking it seriously and Sima Jiao ordered it to be handled in a timely manner, the disaster situations in various places had eased. So why were there still riots? Did that mean there would be uprising incidents following it?

Sima Jiao held her and seeing her in a daze, asked, "What's wrong, worrying about the disaster victim riots again?"

Liao Tingyan came back to her senses, looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Why would the disaster victims riot? Didn't Your Majesty already have people properly handle the disaster situation?"

Sima Jiao scratched her chin, "How are you so silly?"

Liao Tingyan: "..."

"Since ancient times, natural disasters have always killed people. As long as a few more people die, the populace will panic. And once the panicked people increase, riots will occur. This is very normal," Sima Jiao said.

It's different. In the era she came from, this wouldn't happen. Liao Tingyan realized for the first time so clearly how different the era she was in before was from the current one she was in now. Different concepts, different political systems, creating different people.

Even after coming here for nine years, Liao Tingyan still couldn't fully get used to this world's disregard for human life and strict class hierarchy. Here, everyone felt it was natural for superiors to execute subordinates, masters to kill slaves, even parents to kill their children. If someone occasionally condemned it, they still acknowledged it fit the rules.

"If riots break out, will Your Majesty send troops to suppress them?" Liao Tingyan suddenly asked.

Sima Jiao replied without thinking, "Of course." He paused, his expression unreadable. "You want me to not harm those rioting rebels?"

Liao Tingyan was silent for a moment before shaking her head, "I won't stop Your Majesty from doing anything."

She was afraid now that if she changed something, she wasn't sure if the resulting outcome would be good or bad from requesting Sima Jiao to change his approach. If that led to an even worse ending, she couldn't bear it.

In the end, she didn't understand where the transmigrated protagonists in those novels and shows got the guts to casually decide the fate and life and death of countless people just from an ordinary person transmigrating into a powerful role. Weren't they scared? She was scared shitless!

Seeing her curled up in his arms listlessly, Sima Jiao held her and said softly, "What are you upset about? Feeling sad for those people you don't know?"

Liao Tingyan burrowed into his embrace without a word. Sima Jiao stroked her hair and said quietly, "It has always been like this since ancient times. When the weather is favorable, the commoners will be at peace. But once a disaster strikes, they will want to be hostile to something in order to vent their fear.

"I am the Emperor. My subjects can submit to me and also turn around and attack me. I've understood this principle since I was young. As long as I show weakness, I'll be pulled down from the top. Sitting in this position, battlefields are all around. This kind of thing is commonplace and extremely boring."

"Look at these rumors. You're so silly, you definitely don't know how many people are pushing them behind the scenes and how many are getting restless in secret."

Liao Tingyan: "...I don't understand."

Sima Jiao: "I know you don't understand. But with me here, you don't need to worry about anything. Just stay by my side at ease."

Author's Note: There are no absolutely good or bad people in this world, and no absolute strong or weak either.