After Entering The Abusive Novel, I Became The Empress - Chapter 37

The streets and alleys of the capital bustled with noise.

“Have you heard? This time it’s heaven’s punishment.”

“The Sixth Princess not only sat for the imperial exam, but also entered officialdom, incurring heaven’s wrath. They say those ministers were punished by the gods.”

“More than that—even the State Preceptor was killed by that demon girl.”

Very quickly, rumors swirled through the capital. Many had already forgotten all that Qin Yuqing had done for them. Just a few months ago, the people had praised her, yet now she had become an object of universal scorn.

Sitting inside a carriage, Qin Yuqing listened to the curses hurled at her. Everywhere in the streets, people repeated the message left behind at the State Preceptor’s death:

A monster has emerged, throwing the court into chaos.
The gods are enraged, and calamity will descend.

Everyone believed that it was because the Sixth Princess, being a woman, had refused to remain obediently in the inner residence. Instead, she had dared to take the imperial exam and sought to become an official, disrupting the order of court. That, they said, was what had angered the gods, and the deaths of the ministers and the State Preceptor were heaven’s warning to Great Yin.

“An oracle of dubious origin, and it dares call itself divine.”

Qin Yuqing sneered coldly. What she needed to do now was to find the young Daoist priest who had first discovered the crime scene. As the earliest eyewitness, he might have noticed something different.

“Tomorrow morning is the selection of the new State Preceptor,” Lu Jingchuan said, glancing at the note Lu Jiu had handed him before passing it to Qin Yuqing. “In their eyes, the State Preceptor is the incarnation of heaven.”

“I know. Which is exactly why I must create a new State Preceptor.” Qin Yuqing set the note aside. She kept replaying what she had seen inside the meditation chamber—she felt as if she had overlooked something.

Soon the carriage reached the young Daoist’s home. Unfortunately, Qin Yuqing had underestimated the enemy’s speed—and their determination to see her destroyed.

The instant Qin Yuqing pushed open the door, she drew in a sharp breath. Her pupils contracted violently, her stomach heaved, and bile surged up her throat. She staggered aside, clutching the wall as she vomited.

Lu Jingchuan walked to her side, handkerchief in hand, gently rubbing her back. He hadn’t yet seen the sight inside, but judging by her reaction, he already knew how horrific it must be.

“The young Daoist has been silenced.” Qin Yuqing wiped her mouth, her voice trembling with fury. Through clenched teeth, she said, “Since that’s how they want to play, I’ll sit across the board and match them move for move.”

She whistled, and from the shadows emerged Pu Qinghe. Qin Yuqing’s tone was icy: “Pu Qinghe.” Her gaze turned toward the open courtyard gate, her killing intent palpable. “Do you want to clear your Pu family’s name?”

“I dream of nothing else.”

Pu Qinghe had already seen the scene inside when Qin Yuqing pushed open the door. He had guessed the young Daoist would be silenced, but he hadn’t expected such a death.

Qin Yuqing, armed with knowledge of the original story, knew the Pu family’s extermination was no small matter. The official charge of privately minting coins was only the surface—what they had uncovered was far more dangerous. From obscure clues in the book, she understood that their demise was tied to the southern natural disasters.

And those disasters… might have been fabricated.

If so, someone had deliberately manufactured calamities, bringing ruin to the people of southern Great Yin.

Such men treated human life as weeds, with no reverence for nature or the divine. For that, they deserved death.

“They must die.”

“All plans move ahead. Once this is over, I’ll take you south,” Qin Yuqing said. Then she turned to Lu Jingchuan. If there was anyone in the capital she could trust, it was him.

Whether it was that strange phrase engraved into her very bones, or the inexplicable sense of security he gave her, Lu Jingchuan was the only one she could rely on.

“Lu Jingchuan, you’ll stay in the capital. I need your help.”

His instinct was to refuse—he wanted to remain by her side. But he chose instead to respect her decision.

“All right. I promise.”

Pu Qinghe did not ask why she needed to go south. The events of the past few months had already convinced him he had chosen the right person. Qin Yuqing had changed his view of princesses—though only of this Sixth Princess.

Receiving his orders, Pu Qinghe left, a blueprint in hand. His next step was to rendezvous with the Gemini brothers. Time was running out.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Yuqing reentered the courtyard. Even prepared, she could not stop herself from retching again.

She instinctively grabbed Lu Jingchuan’s hand, forcing herself to look at the corpse. If she faltered now, she would lose precious clues. She had no time for mistakes.

Though just a young Daoist, the house was unusually large—twice the size of an average home in the capital. Even the courtyard was decorated with ornamental rocks. Clearly, it was no ordinary residence.

Her eyes narrowed. It seemed his death was no accident. Perhaps the State Preceptor’s death was tied to him as well, and silencing him carried deeper meaning.

Together, they examined the dismembered body. The corpse had been sliced into pieces with something incredibly sharp. Every cut was smooth and even. Even in the modern world, achieving such precision without technology would be difficult.

“A headsman did this,” Lu Jingchuan said.

Qin Yuqing nodded. On this point, she trusted his judgment.

Though he was officially charged with interrogations in the Imperial Prison rather than autopsies, he was still familiar with executions.

“All the headsmen are in the Imperial Prison right now,” Lu Jingchuan continued, studying the clean cuts. “Only the old headsman could do this.”

“I know who it is. Chun Tao, I need you to do something.”

Qin Yuqing nodded, and Chun Tao appeared at her side. Qin Yuqing’s voice was rapid and firm: “The Sun family in the eastern district. It’s time to close the net.”

Without hesitation, Chun Tao left to carry out her order.

“She seems more like yours than mine,” Lu Jingchuan remarked.

“That depends on whether you’re willing to give her to me,” Qin Yuqing replied.

“My people are your people,” he said seriously.

She blinked, momentarily taken aback. A smile tugged at her lips. “Then you’d better be careful. I’ll steal them all.”

The reason she so quickly locked onto the old headsman in the eastern district was half coincidence.

Though her recent months had seemed idle, Qin Yuqing had not wasted her time. She had uncovered that this old headsman was linked to the death of Concubine Chen. That night, though he was supposedly confined to duty, he had mysteriously appeared inside the palace. The trail had gone cold, but the connection was too suspicious to ignore. So she set men to watch him, hoping to catch whoever was pulling the strings. Unexpectedly, the trail had led to this.

Not long after they left the courtyard, Chun Tao rejoined them on the carriage. She reported that the old headsman had hurried out at night—heading straight for the young Daoist’s house.

Scanning the courtyard, Qin Yuqing’s gaze fell on the stone table opposite the corpse. She turned to Lu Jingchuan. “Stand there and lift me up. There’s something off about how these pieces are arranged.”

His ears reddened again, but he complied without a word, hands steady at her waist as he raised her easily.

He frowned. She was still so light. Hadn’t he told Chun Tao to make sure she ate properly?

She was training too much. Too thin. If this continued, even her martial skills would suffer.

“As I thought—the mastermind knew we would come.”

The corpse had been deliberately arranged. The limbs were separated, the longer legs divided into two parts. The torso had been cut into various sizes, some grouped together, others placed beside the limbs as though forming a pattern. The skull sat at the center.

The pieces spelled out two words:

Hello.

It was blatant provocation.

“Put me down.” Her tone was icy. Whether as a princess or as a modern CEO, no one had ever dared to taunt her so.

She leaned closer, and on some of the smoother cuts she found fragments of writing. Piecing them together, she uncovered a hidden message:

Sixth Princess Qin Yuqing, I hope you enjoy the gift I have prepared for you.

Lifting her gaze to the thickening clouds above, she spread her fingers to feel the gathering wind. To Lu Jingchuan, she said, “It’s time.”

He nodded. A sharp whistle split the air. At once, Lu Jiu and the other shadow guards sprang into action. A new song began to spread through the capital:

The gods appear, the divine maiden descends.
Disasters end, and dawn returns.
The gods’ messenger carries their oracle.

Whispers rippled through the city. People argued fiercely—if the rhyme was true, then the State Preceptor’s final words were false. Some believed the song, others clung to the warning.

In a private teahouse, the Second Prince, Qin Junyi, sat high above, watching the debates below. Scowling, he hurled his teacup to the floor.

“This is the surefire plan your master promised me to bring down the Sixth Princess?”

Across from him, a man calmly sipped his tea. “Patience, Your Highness. This was but a probe. If the princess cannot even weather this, then she is not worth our concern. And if you cannot handle her, then perhaps we must reconsider our arrangement with you. For one who fears her so, what strength does the Second Prince truly possess?”

Qin Junyi’s face twisted with anger, but he forced himself to hold back. He needed them too much.

“And the young Daoist?” he asked after a pause. “Is he taken care of?”

“Rest assured, Your Highness,” the man replied, setting down his empty cup. “We’ve already made him into a gift for the Sixth Princess. It seems she wasn’t particularly fond of our master’s offering.”

He rose to leave, his voice light, almost mocking.

“No matter. Our master likes her. Perhaps it’s time he prepared another gift.”