Princess Consort Chen could only glare from the side.
"Didn't I tell you to get ready earlier?"
Shen Lang strode confidently before them and smiled sweetly. "I know I was wrong."
'And I'll do it again.'
Prince Chen said coldly, "Don't think you can get away with this. You neglect your studies and you're incorrigibly lazy. I'd like to see who in the future will—"
Before he could finish, Shen Lang cut in, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness. "Father, can we have the kitchens make some crispy aromatic duck today? Please? I haven't had it in a month, and I'm really craving it."
Prince Chen: "Alright."
Princess Consort Chen: ...
...
"Your Majesty! You can't go out like this, Your Majesty...!" The gray-haired Eunuch Zhang trembled, looking as if he wanted to cry but had no tears left. He gingerly held up a jade hairpin, a symbol of imperial dignity.
Meeting His Majesty's icy, dagger-like glare, Eunuch Zhang shed a stream of bitter tears.
'He's the living, breathing Emperor, yet he's dressed like some dashing, aristocratic playboy. How is this appropriate?'
"I am the Emperor. Can I not even decide whether to wear this wretched hairpin?" Jiang Yu laughed in fury. "If you like it so much, you can wear it yourself."
Eunuch Zhang broke into a cold sweat and pleaded with him, "Your Majesty, you mustn't! If the Empress Dowager finds out, this servant will have a leg broken for sure..."
Jiang Yu stared coldly at the old eunuch.
"I will say this one last time: either move, or scram back to Cining Palace."
Eunuch Zhang's eyelid twitched. Heaving a long, bitter sigh in his heart, he shuffled aside with a world-weary posture. "Your Majesty, please proceed."
"Finally showing some sense."
Jiang Yu arched an eyebrow, flicked open his folding fan, and made to walk out.
"And where might the Emperor be going, dressed like this—"
Jiang Yu froze. His eyes met his mother's, which were completely devoid of emotion, and he instinctively took a wary step back.
"...Mother, I am no longer a child. Naturally, I can make my own decisions."
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager let out a contemptuous snort. "Since Your Majesty feels he has grown up, then you should be filling the imperial harem and producing heirs for the royal family."
Jiang Yu: "No. I don't want to. Stop spouting nonsense."
The Empress Dowager stared at this troublesome son of hers, the urge to shove him back into her womb for a complete do-over growing increasingly intense.
She seriously suspected that back then, she must have given birth to the placenta and left the baby inside.
Aside from his handsome face, which had cherry-picked the best features from her and the late Emperor, what part of him resembled either of them in the slightest?
'This little whelp was unbelievable.'
The Empress Dowager pressed on her throbbing temples, desperately suppressing a ferocious scowl. Her eyes shot daggers, sharp enough to kill.
"You are the Emperor. Is it right for you to behave like this day in and day out?"
"You are the Empress Dowager, yet you meddle in court affairs and control my every move. Is *that* right?"
The Empress Dowager: "Then in Your Majesty's opinion, what should I do?"
Jiang Yu replied without an ounce of fear, "Stop trying to control me."
The Empress Dowager took a deep breath, then laughed in fury. "Fine. Just fine. I would very much like to see what sort of disaster you manage to cause this time!"
And so, the Little Emperor left the palace openly and honorably—under the watchful eye of Eunuch Zhang.
The Little Emperor was seventeen, and exquisitely handsome. His face was like a peach in springtime, his complexion like a flower at dawn. He was tall and slender, with a natural air of dashing, heroic charm.
Unfortunately, this Little Emperor ran with the most notorious rakes in the Capital City, so his reputation was, naturally, quite poor.
The mission Shen Lang received was:
[Main Quest: Make the Little Emperor fall in love with you, OR make the Little Emperor despise you. (Choose one)]
Shen Lang was eager to get started. "Only a child would make a choice. I want both."
System: ... [??]
[Side Quest: Enact physical revenge on the female lead, OR enact psychological revenge on the female lead. (Choose one)]
After learning that her manipulative stepsister was the female lead, and after getting a crash course on the general plot, Shen Lang arched an eyebrow. "I'll take both."