I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 22.2

Yingying: ???

She clutched her chest with both hands and said sincerely to the system, “I was genuinely feeling for her. I had no intention of mocking her at all.”

Palace Strife Machine: But the mocking effect was maxed out.

Yingying sighed. “That’s why I hate the dog emperor. She makes so many beautiful young women fight over her, breaking so many hearts.”

Palace Strife Machine: And then you go and comfort them one by one?

Yingying: Heh.

She smiled, resting her chin on her hand, watching Xiao Qianxue excitedly accept her rewards and happily walk back. Behind her, the emperor’s gaze never left the girl’s back, as if trying to find the shadow of a long-lost love in her.

Yingying continued to smile faintly as usual, a light glimmering in her eyes. Half-jokingly, she said, “Using someone as a stand-in… that’s a truly detestable thing to do.”

The Palace Strife Machine chimed in, filled with righteous indignation. “Yes! If the person you love is dead, either move on and find someone else or stay faithful to that love and never marry again. Why must you find a stand-in who looks like your true love? It’s so hypocritical and doesn’t treat the stand-in like a person at all!”

“System,” Yingying said. “I never knew you were so principled!”

The Palace Strife Machine proudly wagged its non-existent little tail. “Of course I am.” Having been with so many previous hosts in palace strife, and seeing so many young women waste their youth in the inner palace, it had its own criticisms. It had to admit, the emperor’s role was truly “dog-like.” Sometimes, the person on the throne wasn’t a bad person, but when granted the title of monarch and supreme power, even good people would start to do “dog-like” things. All in all, it was very annoying!

The system thought, My Host is a good youth of the new era, rejecting the feudal evils of the old one. She has a good and proper moral compass.

Just as it was about to praise its host, Yingying’s arm wrapped around the fragrant Lady Li beside her.

The Palace Strife Machine fell silent for a moment before saying, “…You’re just as ‘dog’ as they are.”

Xiao Qianxue happily sat down next to Yingying. “Yingying, how did I do just now?”

Yingying smiled. “Great! I was completely mesmerized. You’re amazing!”

Xiao Qianxue’s face was full of anticipation. “Now I’m waiting for your performance. When it’s your turn, I’m going to shout, ‘Yingying, you’re amazing too!'”

Yingying’s expression turned serious. “No, you can’t.”

A bunch of question marks popped up on Xiao Qianxue’s little head. But when she saw what Yingying’s performance was, those question marks straightened out and turned into huge exclamation marks.

!!!

What is Yingying trying to do?!

The girl sat on a pear wood stool, her eyes lowered, holding a… a two-stringed erhu.

Xiao Qianxue rubbed her eyes, making sure she hadn’t seen wrong. It wasn’t a pipa, a zither, or a guzheng. It was an erhu! Playing the erhu at a Mid-Autumn banquet… was she trying to “send off” someone to the afterlife?!

She wasn’t the only one. All the concubines in the audience looked on in disbelief, their eyes wide with a hint of anticipation. Only the emperor’s lips curved slightly, and her tense body relaxed. She looked at the girl and smiled silently.

The emperor showed no sign of displeasure, so Yingying didn’t hold back. The erhu music started to play, a sorrowful, haunting tune that sounded as if ghosts were weeping and moaning in the wind. If the banquet had been a lively and peaceful river with a hidden undercurrent of strife, this erhu performance had instantly frozen it solid. Whether the currents were hidden or in the open, they were completely locked in place.

Yingying saw that everyone’s attention was on her. At the climax of the erhu tune, she called on the system to use her last “Playing the Ghost” card. With that, all the concubines saw a horrifying scene. The swaying lanterns turned into green ghost fire. The elegant octagonal palace lanterns transformed into bloodstained white lanterns. A white-robed female ghost with her face shrouded by black hair stood in a pool of blood. The mournful erhu music intensified the eerie atmosphere.

With one last pull of the bow, several concubines shrieked at the top of their lungs, and the banquet descended into chaos. The screaming was incessant, but the performer continued to calmly play her erhu until a high-pitched, sharp rebuke brought the song to a perfect end.

The Empress Dowager: “What are you playing? Stop it!”

Yingying obediently stopped, receiving a notification from her system that the task was complete.

Palace Strife Machine: Holy cow, my host. Are you sure you’re not going to be publicly executed?

It was a while before the concubines recovered. They began to whisper amongst themselves.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes, I saw it! It’s a real ghost, there really is a ghost!”

“The ghost has even followed us to the banquet. Wuwuwu, it’s so scary, so scary!”

“Did she play the erhu and summon the ghost? I heard that that ghost used to play the erhu with His Majesty under the flowers and the moon, so it came back when it heard the music.”

“Wuwuwu, then it must have come for His Majesty.”

…

The Empress Dowager’s face was pale, and her body trembled slightly. She frantically rubbed the prayer beads on her wrist before finally speaking in a trembling voice. “You, you are too bold! How dare you play such a song on such a festive day? Playing tricks on us…”

The Empress Dowager hadn’t finished her sentence when the emperor suddenly laughed, cutting her off. “Mother Empress, you are too harsh. What tricks? Noble Lady Ying’s musical artistry is godlike, capable of communicating with the ghosts. She deserves a great reward.”

The concubines were shocked.

The emperor continued, “What’s there to be afraid of? After we die, we all become a handful of dirt, are we not ghosts? Evil spirits were once people just like us. Besides, with me here, even if there are ghosts, they wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous.”

The concubines whispered, “That’s right. Even if that ghost came back, it would be for His Majesty.” With that thought, they suddenly felt less afraid.

The Empress Dowager’s face was displeased. Clenching her prayer beads, she said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, you are too lenient with her.”

The emperor’s eyes curved in a smile. “I’m only learning from your benevolent and merciful example, Mother Empress. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day for reunion and harmony. If you commit murder,” she lowered her voice and smiled, her eyes as cold as ice as she looked straight at the Empress Dowager, her lips barely moving, “it will bring bad karma.”

The Empress Dowager’s body trembled. All the color drained from her face, and she felt dizzy, quickly grabbing the armrest of her chair.

The emperor continued to smile, downing her cup of wine. “Everyone, please continue. Do you want to play another song?”

Yingying, equally bewildered by this turn of events, just blinked.

The emperor said, “The Empress Dowager’s birthday is coming up. You should play another song then. I’ve heard you can play another instrument. Why not let everyone see your skills then?”

Yingying looked at the emperor, suddenly alert. The emperor looked back at her. A sense of mutual understanding passed between their eyes, as if they wanted to seal the moment with a kiss.

Palace Strife Machine: Host? Host?

Yingying lowered her head and clenched her fists.

She also knew how to play the suona! As the saying goes, when the suona plays, it’s either a funeral or a wedding. Was the dog emperor trying to make her play the suona to make the Empress Dowager die of anger?

Seeing the Empress Dowager’s current state, she was probably just a breath away from dying of anger anyway. To play the suona at a birthday celebration… she really wanted to try it! Suddenly, the dog emperor didn’t seem so “dog-like.” She seemed cute.

Yingying: Ah! She gets me!

Palace Strife Machine couldn’t help but comment, It’s not that she gets you. You two are just the same kind of dog.

Yingying chuckled to herself. The dog emperor knows my heart.

Now she understood. There had always been a conflict between the dog emperor and the Empress Dowager, and she had become the… wallflower caught in the middle. The emperor was even rewarding her with many things just to anger the Empress Dowager.

Yingying: Using an assassin’s blade, destroying the enemy’s spirit first. What a tactic!

The emperor looked at the girl several times, her eyes misty and full of unspoken words. In the end, she let out a light sigh, rewarded Yingying with more treasures, and had her step down.

The banquet continued. The Empress Dowager, still shaken, looked unwell. Her grip on the armrest tightened, and she tried to get up to leave. Just as she had the thought of leaving, she was gently pressed back down by someone.

The emperor had appeared by her side at some point and offered her a cup of wine. “Mother Empress, why leave so early? Won’t you stay with me a little longer? Besides, the night road is dark and long. It would be a bad thing to encounter anything else.”

The Empress Dowager took the cup. The wine trembled, shattering the cold moonlight. She was so distracted she didn’t even notice some of the wine had spilled. The emperor’s lips curled up. She continued to watch the singing and dancing on the stage, her gaze drifting to the corner where two people sat. One looked remarkably like a long-lost friend, and the other… was a total little troublemaker, yet one she cared for deeply. They were supposed to be her concubines, yet they were cuddling right in front of her.

The emperor: …Crap.

The harem was so harmonious, yet her mind was filled with expletives.

Xiao Qianxue’s face was pale. “Yingying, did you see it?!”

Yingying pretended to be clueless. “Hmm? See what?”

Xiao Qianxue: “That really scary female ghost!”

Lady Li bit her little handkerchief and nodded, repeating: “Yes, that really scary female ghost!”

“Everyone saw it!” Xiao Qianxue said. “It was right when you were playing the erhu!”

Lady Li continued to copy her. “Yes, yes, everyone saw it!”

“Could you really talk to ghosts with your music? Yingying, you’re so amazing!”

Lady Li, biting her handkerchief, her eyes shining, said, “Yingying is so amazing!”

Yingying picked up a cup of tea and said in a humble voice, “There’s no such thing.”

Xiao Qianxue tilted her head. “Then why did a ghost appear?”

Yingying thought for a moment and smiled. “I think,” she said, looking seriously at the mushroom soup on the table, “you all had wild mushroom poisoning, which caused a mass hallucination.”

Lady Li continued to bite her handkerchief. I don’t understand, but I feel like she’s so smart.

Xiao Qianxue didn’t understand either. She blinked and praised her. “Yingying knows so much!”

Lady Li followed up with, “Yingying knows so much.”

When a sycophant meets a copycat, the result is truly terrifying. Being praised by the two of them, Yingying felt her heart pound with joy, so happy she could fly. She finally understood the pleasure of having an arm around two people at once. It was truly a joy!

Palace Strife Machine: ‘Tui!’ You dog of a host!

The banquet came to a “perfect” end, and everyone went their separate ways. On their way back, the concubines walked in groups of three or five; no one dared to be alone in the dark night. Lady Li, who had been ostracized from Consort Shu’s group, was now pulled back in because Consort Shu was afraid of ghosts.

Lady Li lifted her sedan chair curtain and waved secretly at Yingying. Even though Consort Shu talked badly about Noble Lady Ying and Noble Lady Xiao every day, she still thought they were beautiful and gentle, the best people ever. Lady Li covered her face and giggled.

As Yingying was dozing off in her own sedan chair, she heard the system send her a credit of points.

Palace Strife Machine: Host, 200 points have been credited! Check it out!

Yingying instantly sat up. “What?”

Palace Strife Machine: “200 points have been credited. The notification says, ‘Lady Li has been recruited into your faction?'”

The Palace Strife Machine sounded confused. It hadn’t seen its host do anything, at most giving a few hugs. How had Lady Li defected so quickly? Even if Lady Li was only half on Consort Shu’s side, this was too fast and too ridiculous.

Yingying sighed. “Blame my excessive charm.”

“Alas, my irresistible charm.”

Xiao Qianxue, who had been sleeping with her head resting on Yingying’s, felt her move and asked with a frown, “Yingying?”

“We’re not there yet,” Yingying said. “I’ll wake you up when we arrive. Go back to sleep.”

Xiao Qianxue grumbled and rubbed her head against her. “Yingying, sleep with me.”

The Palace Strife Machine couldn’t hold back anymore. “You dog of a host, ‘tui!'”

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