Keyboard Immortal - Chapter 2972

Chapter 1485 Shocking Change in the Palace

Seeing him stammer, Shang Liuyu chuckled, “How else could he collect them? Judging from his constant pursuit of marriage, we can roughly guess.”

Gong Suyin sighed softly, “Then it seems you’ll have to go to other families to propose marriage next.”

Zu An said seriously, “Of course not. Now that Lord Qiao is willing to marry his two daughters to me, how could I be so ungrateful?”

“Nonsense.” Gong Suyin’s tone was light, but there was a hint of coquetry in it. After so many years of lonely life, this was the first time she had been so happy.

As the three were chatting, Lord Qiao and Lu Zhi suddenly approached.

Seeing his two usually aloof daughters laughing so heartily at the other party’s antics, Qiao Xuan felt particularly bad, as if his carefully nurtured little cabbages had been eaten by a pig.

Lu Zhi then said, “Xuande, the Emperor summons you to the palace immediately.”

“Ah?” Zu An was stunned, not expecting the Emperor to suddenly summon him.

The little eunuch who brought the message also followed behind. Although Zu An was reluctant, he could only bid farewell to the two women and hurriedly followed the little eunuch towards the palace.

“What does His Majesty wish to see me about?” Zu An recognized the young eunuch as one of Zhang Rang’s men and asked directly.

“Reporting to Master, it should be to discuss how to deal with the Grand General,” the young eunuch replied respectfully.

Zu An wasn’t surprised. Emperor Ling had previously wanted to transfer He Jin to the west to deal with Han Sui, but He Jin had temporarily delayed by waiting for Yuan Shao to return from recruiting troops elsewhere. However, Emperor Ling knew that He Jin definitely didn’t want to leave the capital and would find other ways to stay, so a countermeasure needed to be devised.

The two quickly arrived at the palace. Upon reaching the inner court, Zu An didn’t see Emperor Ling, but instead met Jian Shuo, the fully armed leader of the Western Garden Commandant.

Also in the room were Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Guo Sheng, and the other Ten Attendants.

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. What was going on?

Zhang Rang whispered, “The Emperor has passed away.”

“What!” Zu An was utterly shocked. He knew the Emperor of this world wasn’t the frail, elderly Emperor Ling of Han from history; he was the remnant soul of the God of Order. Even as a remnant soul, he was still a projection of the God, not someone who died so easily.

He possessed the authority to kill, and they had just seen him; there was no sign of death on him.

“We don’t know what happened either. He died suddenly. Jian Shuo immediately sealed off the news. Now, besides a few of us, no one else knows about it,” Zhang Rang replied.

“I want to see the Emperor’s body,” Zu An said, wanting to examine the cause of death.

“There are more important things to do now,” Jian Shuo refused directly. “I have already summoned General He Jin to the palace in the Emperor’s name. We will kill him there later. With He Jin dead, the Empress will have no one to rely on, and we can then support Prince Xie to ascend the throne according to the Emperor’s last wishes. At that time, we will all be loyal subjects of the new emperor!”

Zu An frowned. Jian Shuo was Emperor Ling’s most loyal confidant and had long been developed into an envoy of the Order God. It was not surprising that he insisted on the Order God’s plan.

But did he even know who he was dealing with? General He Jin was the incarnation of the Eternal God, and the Empress was the incarnation of the God of Pleasure and Desire. Was he, an envoy, fighting against two true gods?

Although the power of the true gods in this world had been greatly weakened, and Jian Shuo held military power and controlled the palace’s formations, giving him a considerable advantage in battle within the palace, he was at most evenly matched with the true gods. There was

some silence in the room. Everyone had their own thoughts, but no one voiced any objection.

Jian Shuo continued his motivational speech: “We are all deeply indebted to the Emperor, and now it’s time to repay him. Don’t worry, the palace is our territory, and we still hold military power; the advantage is on our side! As long as He Jin comes, he’ll never return…”

But before he could finish, a eunuch rushed in to report: “Report! The General, near the palace gate, suddenly fell ill and turned back.”

“What!” Jian Shuo’s smile froze, then he gritted his teeth and glared at everyone. “A traitor leaked the news?”

Zhang Rang and the others hurriedly defended themselves: “We were summoned here immediately and haven’t left. How could the news have been leaked?”

Jian Shuo’s gaze then fell on Zu An, who calmly replied: “I was just summoned here. Before arriving, I didn’t even know the Emperor had passed away. How could it have been leaked?”

Jian Shuo was completely baffled, unable to understand where the problem lay.

Since He Jin hadn’t entered the palace, there was no point in keeping everyone locked up there, so everyone left. Jian Shuo wanted to keep them, but he couldn’t.

Zu An decided to go to the Empress Dowager’s palace to watch the fireworks first. According to the original historical timeline, Empress He and General He Jin would unite to establish Liu Bian as the new emperor, and Empress Dowager Dong would soon be banished from the palace and quietly executed.

However, halfway there, he was stopped by Zhang Rang and others: “Master, the Empress requests your presence.”

Zu An frowned: “I’ll go to the Empress Dowager first, then I’ll go see the Empress.” But

Zhang Rang and the others wouldn’t let him go: “Go see the Empress first.”

Zu An’s eyes narrowed, and the atmosphere became heavy.

These eunuchs usually called him “Master” and were followers of the Yuyan sect; theoretically, they should obey him completely.

But now, it seemed they listened to the Empress more.

He immediately realized that something he didn’t know had happened.

“What if I say no?” Zu An said coldly.

Zhang Rang and his men forced a smile: “Then please forgive us.”

Just then, a cheerful voice came from the side: “Is Imperial Uncle so unwilling to see me?”

A stunningly beautiful woman, surrounded by palace maids and eunuchs, walked over from afar. She was gorgeous and alluring; it was Empress He, the embodiment of pleasure and desire.

“Greetings, Your Majesty!” Zhang Rang and the others immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling, clearly unable to hide their excitement.

Seeing this, Zu An exclaimed, “Your Majesty truly has remarkable methods.”

Empress He waved her hand, signaling the others to temporarily withdraw. She then led Zu An to a nearby pavilion: “My methods have always been excellent; haven’t you experienced them yourself?”

Zu An: “…”

This woman was indeed a seductress.

“How did you win them over?” Zu An knew that Zhang Rang and his men had abandoned reproduction and turned to the embrace of pleasure and desire.

This was the most unbelievable point; these eunuchs’ lifelong pursuit was to restore their reproductive ability, clearly incompatible with desire.

“What’s so difficult about that? They believe in reproduction; they just want to become complete men in the future. But I can grant them the pleasure of being a man right now. Do I even need to ask how they’ll choose?” Empress He smiled radiantly. She was the goddess of pleasure and desire; even if those eunuchs lacked the necessary physical attributes, she could still bestow upon them the ability to experience pleasure and desire.

Zu An: “…”

He never expected those guys to have such a lowly ambition. Since they betrayed reproduction, he would ensure they would never regain the ability to reproduce.

“Was the Emperor’s death related to you?” he asked, voicing his doubts.

“Yes, I killed him,” Empress He said casually, as if stating something trivial.

Zu An: “…”