Chapter 126: Chapter 122: Simpleton

Bai Lun obediently lifted his head and silently recited the principles as he did so: when the Emperor asks you to lift your head, you can only lift your head, nothing else, and you must not gaze directly at the Emperor out of curiosity.

Otherwise, you could lose your head!!

With this mantra in mind, Bai Lun managed not to have the audacity to lock eyes with the Emperor, narrowly passing the first hurdle.

Yet upon seeing Bai Lun’s face, the Emperor felt oddly puzzled. This boy was far inferior to Wen Ranchen in every way. How did Yi Fen take a fancy to him?

Could it be that after feasting on rich delicacies for too long, one occasionally craves a lighter taste?

Before summoning him to the palace, he had specifically investigated the identity of this Bai Lun.

Fatherless, motherless, without fame or family, a lone figure—a character indeed easy to discard after some casual play… No, no, no, what was he thinking!

He couldn’t think of Yi Fen as a bad child!!

The Emperor cleared his throat and discarded his idle thoughts, speaking earnestly to Bai Lun, “Is your name Bai Lun?”

Bai Lun kept his eyes down, kneeling, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What do you think of Princess Yi Fen?”

Bai Lun was about to answer ’beautiful, truly beautiful,’ but the advice from Dark Ten echoed in his ears. He quickly shifted his tone, feigning the demeanor of an honest man. “This commoner dares not comment on the Princess.”

“I’ve heard about Song Yun’s matter too. You’re the friend whose poem was stolen by Yi Fen, aren’t you?”

“Unworthy of being called a friend!”

The Emperor found himself slightly puzzled by the blunt response. Did this child truly not understand his implication, or was he pretending?

“When did you and Yi Fen meet?”

“Replying to Your Majesty! Just a few days ago in the dungeon!”

This matched what he had found.

This meant that this person had absolutely no prior contact with Yi Fen; the dungeon incident was their first meeting, with only the poem being questionable.

If they had never met before, how did Yi Fen know the poem and recite it?

Considering Yi Fen’s act of imprisoning Bai Lun in the dungeon, the Emperor came up with a bold hypothesis—that the poem was not created by Bai Lun, but he had stolen it and sold it to Song Yun. Bai Lun, to avoid responsibility, betrayed Song Yun and used flowery words to deceive Yi Fen!

His pure and lovely Yi Fen, who had barely awoken to the world’s deception, was tricked by a few words from a scoundrel. As a father, he had to handle those harboring ill intentions towards his daughter!

The Empress timely whispered a few words to the Emperor. After a round of “thorough deliberation,” the Emperor concluded, “I’ll give you a hundred taels; leave my daughter.”

This time, Bai Lun truly collapsed.

His mind uncontrollably recalled that phrase: ’I’ll give you five million, leave my son.’

So, it turns out that this phrase is unisex.

But… a hundred taels, did he hear that right? Did such a beautiful princess only hold a hundred-tael value in the Emperor’s eyes? Look at the domineering CEO next door, five million!

“Your Majesty, isn’t a hundred taels a bit too little…”

Feeling the air pressure around him drop sharply, Bai Lun timidly explained, “This is definitely not the commoner bargaining; it’s just… is the Princess worth only a hundred taels in Your Majesty’s eyes?”

Hearing this, the Emperor couldn’t help but laugh out of anger. He was now certain that Bai Lun was genuinely foolish and not pretending.

“Bai Lun, it’s not that the Princess is only worth a hundred taels; it’s you who is worth only a hundred taels. This hundred taels is your life. Take this hundred taels and leave the Princess; your life will be spared. If you refuse, I’ll execute you immediately!”

Having said that, the Emperor muttered under his breath that a palace attendant only earns thirty taels, yet this kid dares to find it insufficient.

Bai Lun trembled upon hearing this—this, this, this, why resort to threatening lives so easily? How inappropriate.

But as foolish as he was, he knew he couldn’t take the hundred taels. If he took the hundred taels, he would have to leave the Princess, and his mission would be impossible to complete; failing the mission would result in the system eliminating him, in which case he might as well take a risk.

In CEO novels, heroines express their unwavering feelings for the male lead by dismissing money as dirt, so he must do the same!

Bai Lun bowed his head and said “sincerely,” “This commoner cannot accept the hundred taels.”

After speaking, a smirk appeared at the corner of Bai Lun’s lips. Now, the Emperor must be immensely moved by his noble character.

In reality, the Emperor only considered him greedy.

Wasn’t a hundred taels enough, and he wanted more?

Even if the national treasury were flush with funds, it wasn’t meant for squandering like this.

“Guards, take him away and behead him!”

Bai Lun: ?!! What the hell! This isn’t what I expected!! This world is too difficult!!

System: Idiot.

The system felt increasingly disdainful of this host and only wished to quickly gather enough energy to detach.

In his heart, Bai Lun called out to the system: What do I do, System! I’m about to be executed! Save me!!

The system couldn’t let Bai Lun die, at least not yet, but it didn’t want to speak at the moment. It had never encountered such a foolish host and felt he needed a lesson.

The system didn’t realize that this behavior was only driving it and its host further apart.

“Wait!” Shen Jingxian had just reached the door of the Imperial Study Room and heard her father about to execute someone.

She didn’t know what Bai Lun had done this time to anger the Emperor to such an extent, seeing as she had never witnessed her father executing someone since she was born.

“Father, calm down. Bai Lun doesn’t understand palace protocols, and it’s inevitable he might be impolite. I promise to restrain him properly after we leave.”

To the Emperor, this sounded like Yi Fen was asserting her ownership. He was furious!! How could his daughter become estranged from her beloved father over a man!!

The Emperor felt wronged.

Truly, a grown daughter can’t be kept! (an idiom meaning daughters grow independent or become strangers)

The Empress also glanced disappointedly at Shen Jingxian, then went to console the Emperor.

Shen Jingxian: …

What on earth is going on now?

She could only have the Hidden Guards take Bai Lun away for now, dismiss the others, and had them close the door before she began explaining, “Father, Mother, whatever you might be thinking, it’s not what you think! There’s something off about Bai Lun.”

Upon hearing this, the Emperor was immediately relieved of his grievances and curiously beckoned Shen Jingxian, “What’s off?”

“He says he can predict the future.”

Predict the future?

The Emperor and Empress’s expressions shifted.

Even in the Yunyi Country, the State Preceptor had no real power and could at best predict fair weather; if someone could predict the future, wouldn’t they be a deity?

But recalling Bai Lun’s foolish demeanor from earlier—was that divine?

Impossible, right?

“This claim sounds impossible, but the strange thing is that Bai Lun really can foresee some things. I kept him by my side to get to the bottom of this.”

In other words, you two elders shouldn’t meddle.

After listening to this, the Emperor breathed a sigh of relief internally. He knew his daughter wasn’t a bad child!

To avoid further embarrassment, the Emperor quickly changed the subject, “Yi Fen, the Song Family is outside the palace asking for forgiveness with Song Yun. How do you want to handle it?”

“That girl has a malicious mind and has harmed many; her death would not be a loss. However… I’ve been privately close with Sister Song Yan, so I’d like to ask Father to hand Song Yun over to Sister Song Yan.”

The Emperor stroked his chin, having an idea, “Guards, summon Song Runzhi in.”

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