Chapter 113
Chapter 113
After the three women restrained the agitated female dog, Shengsheng Zhou held out her arms and looked up.
“Survivor, it’s safe. Jump down.”
“Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!”
Imperial translation: *Insolent maid! Why aren’t you serving our beloved consort in the harem? What are you doing here?*
Shengsheng thought he was barking with emotion at seeing her in his hour of peril. Her smile grew even more maternal. “Good dog. Come down.”
Xunlan Liu produced what he believed was a mocking sneer. Exerting all four paws, he leaped down with elegant, thoroughly imperial bearing–
and landed face-first in dog shit.
Literally.
By dreadful coincidence, the agitated female had defecated there.
The three women froze. Only the frantic barking of the inexplicably amorous female dog remained.
They looked at one another. No one moved.
Not until the dog involved puffed up all his fur, rolled his eyes in humiliation, and fainted atop the excrement–
did the female dog’s owner swallow and say, “Not my dog.”
Shengsheng looked at Meiren Liu.
Meiren blinked innocently, near tears. “Chief, I don’t want to touch poop.”
Shengsheng weighed the merits of abandoning the dog and leaving. In the end, her excellent mind devised a solution.
Thus, another person appeared in the room.
The attendant looked at the foul-smelling dog and excrement before him, then gave Shengsheng a dry smile. “Miss, didn’t you say this humble one was coming to rescue a beauty?”
Shengsheng nodded and pointed at the two women present, including herself. “Beauty.”
Then she pointed at the attendant. “Hero.”
Finally, the dog. “Rescue.”
The attendant fell silent. If only he had rotted in his mother’s womb.
In the end, he separated the dog from the excrement and most “kindly” bathed Survivor, who had fainted for unknown reasons.
Even Shengsheng, miserly as she was, gave him a substantial tip.
The thoroughly clean Survivor lay on the floor like a dead dog. For now, no one wanted him on the bed.
Qingbai flew over. Under Shengsheng’s surprised gaze, it sniffed Survivor.
The bath had removed every stray odor, leaving only the dog’s own scent.
Shengsheng was about to call Qingbai back when it suddenly flew in a panic through the window.
Chewing a candied hawthorn, Zhiyu Jiang asked, “Shengsheng, did the smell drive it away?”
Shengsheng looked at Survivor. Did he still smell?
——
“I understand.” Fusheng Duan reclined on his couch with long hair loose. The maid beside him steadily worked a fan, displaying no curiosity that her mistress could speak to birds.
After the white bird flew away, the fanning maid said quietly, “Your Highness, Shengsheng asked this servant to learn whether an animal of unknown origin appeared near the emperor’s bedchamber.”
Fusheng nodded carelessly. “Tell her someone saw a black dog on the night the emperor disappeared.”
“Yes,” the maid answered respectfully.
“From now on, you needn’t continue monitoring her.” He half closed his eyes, looking sleepy.
The maid acknowledged the order, set down the fan, and left with light steps.
“Xiangxiang, has Her Highness awakened from her nap? The Empress Dowager has summoned her.”
The moment the expressionless young woman stepped outside, her face took on an innocent, unworldly look that made her seem none too clever.
“She woke just now, then fell asleep again.” Xiangxiang glanced back and spoke softly.
The young eunuch nodded. “All right. I’ll report to the Empress Dowager that Her Highness is sleeping.”
——
Inside a barbarian city:
“City Lord, this subordinate sent envoys to the three kingdoms and very politely asked whether our Divine Envoy had left any trace there. Without exception, those Central Plains people mocked us publicly and insulted our envoys. The Zhu Kingdom even killed the envoy we sent!”
The handsome, foreign-featured man sat high above them with stern authority. Hearing the report, his face immediately darkened.
With one sentence, he ignited the atmosphere throughout the council hall.
“Gentlemen, shall we wage war?”
After the crowd withdrew and only two people remained, the unremarkable guard behind City Lord Jierge began hissing with laughter.
“City Lord, you truly are wise. Those envoys likely never met a genuine court official before being mocked away by disguised ‘officials.'”
Jierge glanced coldly at him. “How is the task I gave you?”
The man laughed again. “Rest assured, City Lord. Following your order, we planted ‘calamity’ in a small border city of the Zhu Kingdom. Barring accidents, it should have spread by now. They ought to have noticed, but it’s too late and nothing can be done.”
Jierge did not withhold praise. “Well done.”
“Still, I don’t understand. Why does it feel as though you’re targeting the Zhu Kingdom alone?”
Jierge looked at him coldly. His sinister, serpentine gaze hooked into the man and froze his body.
Only after a long moment did he recover.
“Then I won’t ask. With public fury aroused, the High Priest can no longer use the ancestors’ teachings as a reason to avoid war.” The man laughed quietly again.
——
Since ancient times, natural disasters had dealt fatal blows to humankind.
Before Shengsheng Zhou could return to Qianyi Palace, she heard the news.
A small border city of the Zhu Kingdom had suffered a locust plague. Overnight, locusts swept nearly the entire town. These insects differed from ordinary ones: as though mad with hunger, they gnawed not only houses and crops but people.
A merchant happened to return after the swarm withdrew. His newly built home was ruined, and his wife and children had become fleshless skeletons.
The locusts did not retreat. Instead, they surged purposefully deeper into the Zhu Kingdom.
But pest control had nothing to do with Shengsheng. What concerned her was–
“A black dog? Xiangxiang, are you certain that maid said black dog?”
Xiangxiang nodded. “Yes, a black dog. The maid grabbed a tool and drove it out immediately.”
A wounded black dog.
By coincidence, there was one beside Shengsheng.
A-Pang had already flown out. Eyes wide, he stared at Shengsheng in disbelief. *What an incredible coincidence, Shengsheng!*
But Shengsheng was thinking–
She had personally witnessed the ruler of a kingdom chew dog shit.
Fusheng Duan, protect me. Please don’t let him silence me!
The Shengsheng drawn by artist Renjian Shamake–hehe, the details are incredible!