Although Liao Tingyan intentionally let herself go a bit after discovering that Sima Jiao had no requirements for intelligence, this was just a survival tactic and didn't mean she had actually become an idiot.

As a normal person without the love-induced stupidity buff of the original female lead, she could guess with her toes that something was off when a mysterious panel appeared in front of the already suspicious original male lead.

Most likely he was a transmigrator with a system! Liao Tingyan silently turned her head while clutching her chest, to avoid the original male lead noticing her odd expression. Her IQ was still there, but her acting skills were not.

However, Liao Tingyan was unaware that this original male lead suppressing his anger was not a transmigrator, but the true personality of the male lead's subconscious, awakened by the system due to plot deviation. He was very unhappily trying to correct the storyline, attempting to control his own world and girl.

Chen Yun had no idea Liao Tingyan could see his panel. His face showed no abnormality, still wearing a righteous and bright smile as he said to Liao Tingyan, "I know my actions were too abrupt, but please believe, I absolutely mean no harm." What a display of frankness.

Liao Tingyan turned her head to the side, her expression cold and aloof like a proud white lotus - she had to present different images to different characters. In any case, she couldn't let him discover she wasn't the original female lead, who knows what he would do then.

Also, bro, can you turn off the panel when flirting? It's hard not to show a strange expression when that floating panel is covering half your face.

Liao Tingyan stared at the carriage wall in silence, feeling angry, troubled and exasperated.

In Chen Yun's eyes, the pleasing sickly beauty was weak, pitiful and helpless. Faced with this sudden situation, a noble lady who hadn't experienced much hardship must feel lost and confused.

Yes, this was exactly what he wanted. At times like this, it was easier to take advantage and capture the beauty's heart. This was his tried and true experience for dealing with such female leads.

With a look of certain victory, Chen Yun leaned in closer and said dotingly, "You've already left that tyrant's side. From now on, you can do what you want without living in constant fear."

Liao Tingyan: F*ck... Just mentioning this made her furious. She had finally learned how to handle that vicious dog and made it through the most dangerous time, happily reaching the peak of her life and enjoying good days. But before she could enjoy it enough, this guy had to ruin it all!

If it was at the very beginning before going to Luojing, and someone told her they would kill the tyrant to set her free, she would definitely feel moved and grateful. But now, sorry, she just wanted to beat someone up.

Chen Yun was still displaying his charms, gently comforting her. But seeing Liao Tingyan's continued lack of reaction, he also felt it was a bit tricky. Could it be that missing the early relationship building plot made this much difference?

His thoughts turned. He decided not to rush. First bring her to his side. As for feelings, those could always be cultivated. If that still didn't work, he would wait until his great undertaking succeeded. After becoming emperor, he would bring her into the palace. In any case, the female lead must love him, the male lead.

After Chen Yun finally finished his long-winded speech and left, Liao Tingyan's expressionless face changed. Covering her injured arm, she lightly knocked her head against the carriage wall - half from pain, half to vent the shock in her heart.

Just who was this Chen Yun! Judging from his panel and attitude, could it be he wanted to correct the plot? In other words, make her fall in love with him and walk the path of the original story? If they were both transmigrators, why did Chen Yun seem to have a system while she, also a lead, didn't have one? Wasn't this gender discrimination? Also, those words she accidentally glimpsed on the panel. Plot deviation, Sima Jiao suddenly wants to attack the Lord of Southern Qin?

The plot had really gone off the rails. In the original, rebellions were everywhere. The rebels converged into a force that attacked Luojing together with the Lord of Southern Qin.

Sima Jiao was still doing as he pleased in the palace. Other than sending troops to suppress the rebels, causing public grievances to boil over even more, he couldn't be bothered to actively attack anyone. Every time she thought Sima Jiao had turned into Sima Jiao*, he would do something to make her realize a tyrant was still a tyrant, willfulness was still willfulness.

*T/N: The second Sima Jiao is written with the "Jiao" for delicate.

Liao Tingyan sighed. Just what was Sima Jiao trying to do? Would his actions cause the country to perish prematurely? Also, these actions of his shouldn't be for her sake... right?

......

"Your Majesty, the Minister of War has mobilized the troops and the provisions are ready." Grand Protector Gao looked at the gloomy Sima Jiao and hesitantly said, "Now that we've found those groups who abducted the Noble Consort have no connection to the Lord of Southern Qin, does Your Majesty still insist on attacking the Lord of Southern Qin?"

Sima Jiao didn't say anything superfluous, just coldly uttered one word: "Attack."

Really no connection? That was doubtful.

These past days, they had returned to the imperial palace in Luojing. The captured groups were all sent to a special interrogation room. Unlike the crude side hall at the Jiuhua Palace, the interrogation room in the Luojing palace was controlled by the Emperor's trusted eunuchs and the methods inside were extraordinary.

Even the most tight-lipped masked assassin couldn't hold out under interrogation and confessed one after another, let alone those palace servants and the later captured ruffian.

The most unexpected to Sima Jiao was the identity of the mastermind who hired those ruffians and bandits. Their employer was someone from the Xu family. The Xu family was also a centuries-old noble clan. Although their status in the Luojing aristocracy couldn't compare to the Duan family, they were not to be underestimated either.

The Xu family member who hired the assassins had his only daughter in Sima Jiao's harem. She was previously a Jieyu (Noble Lady). Later, she presented an effective breast enhancement method and was rewarded with a promotion to one of the Nine Concubines.

Upon receiving this news, Sima Jiao didn't even blink. He directly ordered the arrest of Concubine Xu and her father, sending them to the interrogation room. Although this pair had the guts to do such a thing, their will wasn't strong. Before long, they confessed everything.

In the end, it all boiled down to one word - jealousy. Concubine Xu had survived the longest in Sima Jiao's harem, so she often thought herself special. But this notion completely shattered after Liao Tingyan entered the palace. Liao Tingyan showed her what being truly special meant.

At first, Concubine Xu didn't dare to have any ill intentions, even if she was secretly mocked for being overshadowed by Liao Tingyan's rare pearl curtain, which made her most treasured pearl hairpin seem inferior. She could only vent her frustration behind people's backs.

Later, she even cunningly turned around to flatter Liao Tingyan, only to have Liao Tingyan use the breast enhancement recipe she offered to develop such a great figure, enchanting the Emperor even more. Concubine Xu truly gritted her silver teeth in anger.

Hearing that the Emperor was taking the Noble Consort to the Jiuhua Palace to escape the summer heat, Concubine Xu suddenly had an idea. The Jiuhua Palace wasn't as heavily guarded as the Luojing Palace. What if something happened to the Noble Consort there?

This thought was fleeting at first, but she became obsessed with it as if she was possessed. The more she thought about it, the more she felt the urge to act. Finally, her long-accumulated jealousy and ambition erupted. She contacted her doting father to hire a group of notorious bandits to ambush outside the Jiuhua Palace and seek an opportunity to kill Liao Tingyan.

After doing this, Concubine Xu's mind cleared a little. She knew her plan was likely to fail, as the soldiers guarding the Jiuhua Palace were not easily dealt with by a dozen jianghu ruffians. But she still held a glimmer of hope - now, by a twist of fate, her wish had come true. However, her life, including the lives of her family members, would be buried under this momentary lapse of judgment.

Apart from this group of people, the origins of the few treacherous palace servants were also somewhat complex. They were the Duan family's spies planted in the palace, but not by the head of the Duan family, but by Duan Songfeng, the second son of Grand Tutor Duan, who was treated as a discarded son by his father and brother and had "died of illness".

The other Duan family members were unaware of these palace servants he had secretly arranged. So after Duan Songfeng's sudden death, these people no longer dared to do anything.

The two palace servants who had taken Liao Tingyan away in the chaos and later died under a hail of arrows had heard the secret of Sima Jiao's identity along with Liao Tingyan. It was Liao Tingyan's compassion that saved them. Otherwise, they would have been directly executed by Sima Jiao back then.

These two were supposed to be people arranged by Duan Songfeng, but their actions clearly had another mastermind behind them. Since both of them were dead, there was no way to make them confess. Sima Jiao decisively pinned this matter on the Duan family again.

As for the group of masked assassins, their mastermind was none other than the Prime Minister, just as Sima Jiao had suspected.

Hearing this definite news, Grand Protector Gao understood that in this attack on the Lord of Southern Qin, the Emperor was not really targeting the King, but the Prime Minister.

Regardless of whether the Prime Minister won or lost in this expedition, he only had one path to death.

Sighing, Grand Protector Gao turned to look at the lofty platform of the Taiji Hall.

They must find Consort Liao as soon as possible. Otherwise, with the Emperor continuing to kill people so recklessly, the situation would become even more serious than before. He had to admit that when Consort Liao was around, the Emperor was more like a normal person.

He could only hope that the Noble Consort was safe and sound now.

Although Liao Tingyan was safe, her days were not easy. Chen Yun had placed her in a small courtyard with high walls in Yaozhou City, with only a very strong maidservant to take care of her. Rather than care, it was more appropriate to say she was under surveillance.

Going from a palace complex to a narrow little courtyard, losing the entourage of female attendants and palace servants, and no longer having the privilege to pick and choose whatever she wanted to eat or play with as she pleased, it was really hard to get used to at first.

That idiot Chen Yun probably thought of her as a caged bird. That would have been fine, but this cage was too small. In comparison, the treatment on Sima Jiao's side was so much better. With this contrast, Liao Tingyan suddenly felt that she really missed Sima Jiao.

After hiding her here, Chen Yun would come to see her every other day, bringing some interesting little trinkets or precious jewelry to give her. Liao Tingyan felt that having seen Sima Jiao's inner treasury, these things were really quite ordinary. Her standards had been rapidly elevated and she was no longer her past self.

Observing Chen Yun's actions with a cold eye, Liao Tingyan judged that this unidentified original male lead was a typical male chauvinist. His attitude towards her, this "caged bird", couldn't be said to be bad, but Liao Tingyan could sense the perfunctory manner, especially when compared to Sima Jiao's attitude.

Obviously, this brother was most concerned about his own rebellious undertaking, with women being just an afterthought. Liao Tingyan understood, as he was the great male lead. Men of this era who were like Sima Jiao were rare.

Strangely, Liao Tingyan found that ever since leaving Sima Jiao, she had been thinking about him constantly, even feeling that he was really good as a boss. It was all thanks to being spoiled as the Noble Consort, completely corrupted by the sugar-coated exterior.

Deeply feeling that she couldn't just sit and wait for her doom like this, one day, when the maidservant had a stomachache, Liao Tingyan took a stool and prepared to climb over the wall. However, the wall was really too high. Looking down, she estimated that jumping would break her legs. She could only lie on the wall, unwilling to give up as she looked for an opportunity.

Perhaps to prevent her from escaping, the location of this small courtyard was very remote. For a long time, no one passed by the small alley outside. Just as Liao Tingyan was getting impatient from waiting, she saw a passer-by.

"Hey, kind sir! Could you do me a favor? I am Consort Liao, currently being held captive by villains. As long as you rescue me, I will reward you with a million in gold and recommend you for an official position..."

Before she could finish, the man walked away with a complex expression on his face that seemed to say "it's a pity that someone so good-looking has mental issues", not paying any attention to her at all.

Liao Tingyan: ... Damn it, thinking back on what she just said, there was a faint sense of familiarity. Why did it sound so much like a moronic scam?!