Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Xu Yanmiao also felt something was off.

[No, wait a minute. The system described his death as resulting from extreme joy and sorrow.]

[Let me check again!]

Ning Chang nodded furiously.

Yes! Go check again! I’m not taking the blame for someone’s death!

And even if he was angered to death, that shouldn’t be pinned on me! I didn’t expect that the so-called “head of the household,” the “pillar of the family,” would be so fragile!

If you’re that fragile, how can you even call yourself a pillar!

[Found it!]

[This—]

[Although he wasn’t a good person either. Aside from those nine daughters, he also drowned another two or three. All just because he insisted on having a son to glorify the family. He believed those girls had stolen the rightful reincarnation spot meant for a son.]

[If he hadn’t found out the fourth one was also a girl, he probably would’ve drowned her too.]

[So disgusting.]

[Alright then, I’ll laugh.]

After Xu Yanmiao’s indignant inner voice came his mocking laugh: [Heh, you liked boys, huh? Thought boys were better, huh? People always say sons resemble their fathers—well, your precious heir thinks boys are better too!]

The Old Emperor: “???”

The Crown Prince: “???”

All the civil and military officials: “???”

Wait, wait—is this implying…?

[Congratulations to the deceased! Your son has come out of the closet! Your son is with a man now!]

“Hisssss—”

The Crown Prince sucked in a sharp breath.

Liang Rui’s first reaction was: …So, does that family that came to lodge a complaint even know about this?

Of course they didn’t. If they did, they wouldn’t be weeping around the corpse and condemning Ning Chang and the Ning family for their “atrocities.”

Aside from the Justice Ministry officials who were half-heartedly listening, everyone else was entirely focused on Xu Yanmiao’s internal commentary—

The only son! The one meant to carry on the family name! And he actually likes men? How spicy!

[The deceased only found out right before dying!]

The officials of Great Xia immediately sharpened their senses—this might actually be the real cause of death.

[He originally read that letter, furious at Ning Chang’s shamelessness. Then he realized the emperor had actually bestowed a brick, tried so hard to hold back his laughter, and muttered something like, “Didn’t expect the emperor to be so poor…” Wait, poor? But his own family wasn’t poor either!]

[Ohhh! That was back when they hadn’t made their fortune yet. Even their underwear got washed only every seven or eight days, because washing too often would wear it out. They didn’t have much clothing at home.]

[Come to think of it, it’s one thing if poor folks don’t bathe often. But the Minister of War… ah, my bad, I instinctively said the wrong title again. I meant the Left Prime Minister. If he rarely bathes too, could it be he doesn’t even change his underwear?]

Feeling the subtle glances cast his way, Left Prime Minister Li Qian’s eyes went wide.

What the—! How did this random grievance case, which has nothing to do with me, drag me into it?!

And underwear? Are they talking about undergarments?!

I change my underwear!

I do change them!

Xu Yanmiao, you better keep talking! Don’t stop here! Otherwise, this is such an injustice!

[Should I take a look…? Nah, maybe not. It’s one thing to eat melons (gossip) normally, but peeking like this feels too intrusive. It’s such a privacy violation.]

Li Qian’s breathing suddenly grew heavy.

His inner voice nearly cracked:

Just look—

I give you permission to look!

Just a glance! Then say something like, “Phew, the Left Prime Minister does change his underwear,” and we’re good!

[Forget it, let’s keep digging up gossip about the deceased.]

After some internal struggle, Xu Yanmiao made this decision and couldn’t help but straighten up proudly.

[I feel like the red scarf on my chest just got even brighter!]

[Even with a golden finger, I still choose to be a decent person!]

The officials of Great Xia all simultaneously cast a pitying look toward Left Prime Minister Li Qian.

Little Bai Ze (Xu Yanmiao) wasn’t wrong at all. If his thoughts weren’t being overheard, everyone would be singing his praises for being restrained even after getting a divine artifact.

But… the problem was… his inner voice could be heard by court officials.

And that made things awkward.

Even the emperor himself couldn’t help but cough lightly, then turned to the commander of the Jinyiwei:

“You tell me… does Li Qian… change his underwear?”

The Jinyiwei Commander: “…”

Uh… how would I know that?

The old emperor hesitated and said, “Should we… have the Jinyiwei investigate—”

The Jinyiwei Commander looked utterly horrified.

In his mind, Xu Yanmiao’s comment echoed:

[I heard that with the Jinyiwei around, the emperor even knows what color underwear his ministers wear!]

Could it be… did Little Bai Ze say that back then because he already foresaw this day?!

Was the Jinyiwei destined to eventually walk down the path of perversion?

The old emperor didn’t notice the look on the Jinyiwei Commander’s face. Instead, he fell into deep thought and muttered to himself, “Forget it. If that brat finds out about this, I’ll never clear my name.”

The Jinyiwei Commander let out a long sigh of relief.

Thank the heavens for Little Bai Ze—otherwise, the Jinyiwei would’ve had to go around spying on people’s underwear.

Only one person didn’t feel grateful toward Little Bai Ze—someone with the surname Li.

He was even wondering whether, over the next couple of days, he should come up with a reason to get Little Bai Ze curious about his underwear…

Li Qian paused, suddenly feeling like that idea sounded weird. No—perverse, even.

Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao was still happily munching on gossip: [Oho! The spot where he was standing was special. There was a mirror next to him, and in that mirror, it reflected his most beloved child getting all lovey-dovey with a man—they were even secretly holding hands! He saw it all, clear as day!]

[What a shame! How could he have died right away from shock and joy? If only he’d held on a bit longer—we could’ve seen the drama escalate even more!]

[Yaozu likes men! I wonder if that’s worth thirty lashes with the rod!]

[Holy sh*t!!!]

Little Bai Ze’s voice nearly cracked.

What started as casual schadenfreude had now exploded into full-on earth-shattering gossip.

The Crown Prince instinctively stood on tiptoe and craned his neck.

What just happened?!

[The man getting all cozy with Yaozu… is actually his uncle!]

WHAT?!!!

The Crown Prince gripped the web between his thumb and forefinger so hard it kept him from shouting out loud.

The old emperor’s cheek twitched involuntarily several times.

Ning Chang, who had been accused, stared wide-eyed, completely stunned by this new development.

Meanwhile, the other officials of the capital instinctively turned to look at the deceased’s younger brother.

Of course, the dead man’s family had no clue why everyone was looking at the younger brother. They thought the crowd was staring at them, and with so many gazes suddenly locking on, they started sweating bullets.

W-what’s going on?

Even the deceased’s wife, who had been clinging to Cui Yi and crying, didn’t dare wail anymore. She awkwardly quieted down and nervously called out, “Lord Official, please… look at my husband…”

At long last, Cui Yi was able to free his leg.

He kindly bent down and helped the deceased’s wife to her feet. In a gentle tone, he asked: “Do you really think… your husband died just from being angered by a letter?”

Ning Chang quickly seized the moment to create an opening for himself: “Exactly! Your family and mine have been at each other’s throats for years—if one family’s ancestral hall stood even three feet taller than the other’s, the other side would claim it was done on purpose to suppress them! Your old man could go toe-to-toe with the men of my family in a screaming match for three days and nights. He’s not someone who’d die so easily from anger! If you ask me, there’s more to this than meets the eye!”

The dead man’s son grew agitated: “What more could there be?! My father read the letter and died! The coroner already examined him—no poison. He died from anger, plain and simple! I see what this is—you’re just protecting your own!”

The rest of the family, already riled up by Yaozu’s earlier outburst, joined in with righteous fury. The old madam clutched her son’s corpse and wailed dramatically: “Oh my son! I might as well go with you! Better than watching the culprit get off scot-free right before my eyes!”

The Grand General had been leisurely enjoying the family’s dramatic performance—until he suddenly felt a gaze on him.

He turned his head. “Hm?”

His Majesty?

The emperor continued staring at him. The Grand General was puzzled at first—then suddenly realized something. Internally, he cursed right along with Xu Yanmiao: “F*ck.”

—This old ba—old emperor was clearly signaling him to step forward and expose that dirty little secret between the uncle and nephew! And the emperor expected him to use the absurd reason that he could tell because he had a sworn brother himself and could recognize his own kind.

Still, he pinched his nose and gave the emperor a subtle nod, cursing under his breath as he walked over to the dead man’s son.

“That’s enough! Quit acting!”

The son rasped out in a hoarse voice, nervously: “Lord Official, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

The Grand General roared: “I could tell at a glance—you and your uncle are lovers!”

The old madam’s cries froze mid-wail.

The rest of the family stood frozen, dumbfounded.

Even Xu Yanmiao was shocked: [No way—he could tell just by looking?!]

[Their eyes couldn’t have been that suggestive, could they?]

[Or… is it some kind of… gaydar?!]

The Grand General remained stone-faced: “You want to know how I could tell? Because I have a sworn brother too. You two looked at each other with eyes that were too familiar. I recognized it instantly.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Wait, that actually works?!”

The murmurs of disbelief from his stunned colleagues rippled through the court.

Seriously, General—don’t you think that excuse is just a little too far-fetched?

But the Grand General remained utterly composed: “I know you’re going to say I’m slandering you. But think about it—why would I accuse you two and not someone else? Don’t you think I know how absurd and scandalous this accusation sounds? There’s a specific piece of evidence on your bodies… that gives you away.”

He sneered coldly: “I’m going to count to five. If you don’t confess, don’t blame me for pointing it out myself. And when that happens, confessing and being exposed will not carry the same sentence.”

With a murderous aura radiating off him, the bear-sized Grand General glared down at the dead man’s son like a predator: “Five…”

The son remained silent.

“Four.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed—he was swallowing nervously.

Being stared down by a massive bear of a man at such close range, his shadow practically engulfing you—it was enough to make anyone crack.

“Three.”

The son lowered his head. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Two… oh right, one more thing I didn’t tell you: your father really was angered to death. But—based on the body, it wasn’t that letter that did it. Wanna guess… who really made him die of rage?”

[Wait, what? You can tell that just by looking at the body?!]

Of course not.

The Grand General kept his intimidating expression and thought to himself: This is basically just an interrogation tactic—breaking down the suspect’s defenses until they crack and confess on their own.

The dead man’s son suddenly looked up, lips trembling: “H-He died because of me?”

The Grand General nodded solemnly and pointed at Ning Chang: “He said it too—your families have been butting heads for years. You’ve taken your share of losses before, so why would this time be any different? I was suspicious at first too. But then I saw how tender you and your uncle were with each other… Why are you blushing?!”

Well, with that flush, the truth was clear to everyone.

The Grand General let out a breath of relief.

He had actually been considering secretly planting a hickey, but fortunately, the guy was useless at lying.

The dead man’s son turned pale, body trembling: “So… my father really died because of us?”

Grand General: “Yes. Saw it from the corpse.”

The son’s face drained of all color: “No… I didn’t want it to be like this!”

Not far away, the dead man’s wife was quietly whispering to her daughters. After she finished, the girls nodded vigorously.

Xu Yanmiao sneakily opened her system for a peek.

The Daxia courtiers, who had been fully engrossed in the ongoing scandal, suddenly heard Xu Yanmiao break into uncontrollable laughter: [HAHAHAHAHA——]

[Help me!]

[That mother just told her daughters: “See that? That’s what happens when you don’t study hard. You better wear out your books reading them!”]

[HAHAHAHA!]

[Turns out the reason she kept her head down in the beginning wasn’t grief—she just couldn’t cry. And even later, she only managed a few tears. The rest was just dry wailing.]

[Tch. So she’d already had enough of that man a long time ago. But since she had no way to make a living on her own, she had to bear with it.]

[Oh snap!]

That last oh snap was for what was happening right now.

Because once the dead man’s mother found out the truth, she lunged at her younger son, beating him furiously: “You beast! What kind of son are you?!”

“You killed your own father! You owe him your life! You have to pay for this with your life!”

“I should never have given birth to you!”

[No! Don’t scratch up his face!]

The Daxia courtiers twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Only Bai Ze could still be focused on the real issue here—he was worried about whether the man’s face would be ruined.

[That face is critical evidence! He looks exactly like the magistrate from Luo County. I was waiting to see if there’d be any follow-up later!]

“?!”

Truly, there had been too many pupil-quaking revelations among the capital officials today.