Hearing these words, hatred appeared on Cai Bo’s face.

“That Chu villain is detestable,” he said.

Xie Yanfang sighed: “Cai Bo, you truly haven’t said a single good word about her from the beginning until now.”

Indeed, it was so. From the first time he saw that girl, he disliked her. Why? Cai Bo wondered as he rowed the boat, looking at the young master leaning against the boat’s side, whose once-black hair was now as white as snow.

Perhaps because from the very first meeting, this girl had made the young master treat her differently.

People in the young master’s eyes had no differences, but once there was a difference, the heart would inevitably be biased.

With a biased heart, one would be constrained by it.

Sure enough, the young master had fallen to his current state.

“Now I only regret that I merely spoke unpleasant words,” Cai Bo sighed.

He should have eliminated her directly.

He had underestimated this woman.

Xie Yanfang laughed heartily: “But this time you truly cannot blame her. It wasn’t she who harmed me—I harmed myself.”

Hearing this, Cai Bo’s expression grew even more grim, and the oar creaked as he rowed.

That woman, upon returning to the capital, had first thing sent a cup of poisoned wine to the young master.

This was, of course, anticipated. Xie Yanfang had injured himself earlier to lure her back to the Imperial City, not because he wanted to die or was willingly ready to be killed.

So he had drunk poison beforehand, thinking he could counter poison with poison and avoid harm.

Who would have thought—

“What she gave me wasn’t poisoned wine at all,” said Xie Yanfang.

With no poison to counter, the poison harmed him instead, and he nearly died for real.

“She did it deliberately! No wonder when she left, she said to me, ‘Those who calculate others are calculating themselves.'” Cai Bo still trembled with anger at the memory.

At the time, he hadn’t understood, thinking Empress Chu meant the Xie family had brought chaos upon themselves and thus sought their demise. Only when he saw the young master’s condition worsening did he realize what had happened.

Xie Yanfang laughed again. Unfortunately, by then he had already fallen unconscious from the poison and didn’t know what expression Chu Zhao had worn or what else she had said. He missed the chance to applaud her and call out “well done.”

She was right—she was wary of him, knew he was wary of her, so she went with the flow and let him suffer the consequences of his actions.

She was indeed different from him; she was even more detestable than he was.

Xie Yanfang leaned against the boat’s side with a smile, watching the rushing water flow by, while Cai Bo’s voice continued in his ears.

“The patriarch and others were imprisoned, and our family property was confiscated. Although following your instructions, we had family members change their names and disperse to preserve the bloodline, what relationship do descendants with changed names have to our Xie family?”

“This past year, the Xie family was convicted, but she wasn’t satisfied with that. Like a dull knife grinding meat, she ground the Xie family into dust.”

“Not just the Xie family—the Xie family’s relatives and friends also suffered deeply, enduring unspeakable hardships.”

Xie Yanfang interrupted him: “None of this matters anymore, Cai Bo. The losers are deemed rebels, and this is the fate of rebels.”

He turned his palm downward, and the fallen flowers dropped back into the water, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Cai Bo remained silent for a moment, then sighed deeply: “I understand this principle, but who would have thought we would fall at her hands?”

Xie Yanfang suddenly said: “During my year of unconsciousness, I had a dream where I experienced another life.”

Cai Bo was stunned: “What was this other life like?”

Xie Yanfang said, “Both similar to and different from now. In that life, A-Yu also died.”

Xiao Yu had died. Although knowing it was a dream, Cai Bo couldn’t help but ask: “What was the outcome then?”

Xie Yanfang smiled faintly: “The outcome was still as I wished.”

But it wasn’t very meaningful.

There was no Chu Zhao in that dream, or rather, there was a Chu Zhao who could be ignored.

He hadn’t even seen what she looked like alive.

He only saw a corpse.

So, it was just like that—without shock, without joy, without interest.

Cai Bo wasn’t very interested in dreams; he lived only in the present. He sighed lightly: “Empress Chu brought out Deng Yi but didn’t clear his name, leaving him in an ambiguous state, constrained for life, to be used by her.”

The former Grand Tutor Deng Yi’s crimes were fixed in stone. Now, even if Deng Yi didn’t change his name, even if everyone knew he was Deng Yi, he could never truly be Deng Yi again. Moreover, the name of Deng Yi became a sword hanging over his head.

Once the Emperor no longer wanted to use him, the sword could drop.

It was hard to understand why he even bothered to come out—wouldn’t it have been better to just die? Perhaps he sought death but couldn’t attain it, having become Chu Zhao’s pawn.

“Don’t think too much about it,” Xie Yanfang said lazily.

If he were by her side, he would have advised her to do the same.

This not only constrained Deng Yi but also constrained the Emperor.

Cai Bo continued: “She opened the imperial examinations to women, winning over more noble families to consolidate her power.”

With Grand Tutor Deng Yi no longer in court and the Xie family eliminated by her, her only remaining obstacle was the Emperor.

At this point, Cai Bo sighed sadly again.

“Young master, when you were angered by her not becoming Empress, you fell into her trap.”

“She merely wanted to use that opportunity to eliminate you.”

“While you were intent on making her Empress, she was determined to see you dead.”

Xie Yanfang smiled lazily again: “Don’t think too much.”

He would have advised her to do the same—using the imperial examinations and placing a few women in official positions to win over noble families was a wise move.

What did it matter if the Empress competed with Xiao Yu for power?

Who said that once she became Empress, she could only be an Empress?

Xiao Yu’s life was saved by her; his life belonged to her. She could do as she pleased.

Hearing Xie Yanfang repeatedly say not to think too much, Cai Bo was stunned for a moment, then sighed deeply again. Yes, there was no point in thinking more—the young master’s body was completely ruined, and the Xie family was gone. Deng Yi might exist in an ambiguous state between human and ghost, but at least he could appear in the world. The young master could not.

He had taken the young master wandering about, only hoping to keep him alive.

What use was there in thinking about grand talents and human schemes?

Not wanting to make the young master sad anymore, he rowed in silence.

Xie Yanfang leaned against the boat’s side, quietly watching the flowing water. He wasn’t particularly sad. His body was ruined, his family was ruined, and the outcome was miserable, but none of that mattered.

She had indeed become Empress as he had wished, and what she did as Empress also aligned with his intentions.

So what was this so-called difference about her?

His body, with its thoroughly decayed internal organs, made living difficult, but he had still awakened.

Enduring the pain and suffering, he wanted to see what was so different about her in this world.

……

……

The great hall, empty for over a year, was now filled with people.

Two hundred scholars selected from the first imperial examination after the new Emperor’s rule, along with twenty women who had competed successfully against the scholars, all stood in the imperial court.

Regardless of gender or age, all wore red robes with flowers in their hair. Accompanied by the chanting of ritual officials, they knelt together to pay homage to the Emperor and Empress.

The scholars were excited, but the women were even more so.

Earlier, they had ridden horses through the streets, and it seemed all the women of the capital had appeared to pave their way with flowers.

They had done this sort of thing before, but only standing by the roadside, throwing flowers for men, admiring and envying them.

They had never imagined a day when they would be treated the same way.

Now, standing in the great hall of the Imperial Palace, some had visited the palace before, but always as female relatives in side halls or the inner palace. They had never stepped into the main audience hall, standing shoulder to shoulder with men.

While in the great hall, everyone had forced themselves to maintain composure, but when the audience ended and the Empress personally received them, several women couldn’t help but cover their faces and weep.

Among these twenty women, only seven or eight were Chu Zhao’s familiar companions. Although Qi Leyun and others had participated, not everyone could be selected—after all, not all were exceptionally talented.

These seven or eight who were selected had also worked hard. Chu Tang had studied until she suspended a beam by her hair and stabbed her thigh with an awl to stay awake. Zhou Jiang had been confined at home by her grandfather, who supervised her studies with a ruler in hand.

Being selected was also fortunate because, compared to men, there were still fewer women participating in this examination.

“Are you this emotional?” Chu Zhao smiled. “Weren’t you already emotional when the results were announced?”

“Before, we were excited about winning,” one woman said. “Now, we’re emotional because we’re truly experiencing the results of winning.”

This woman’s surname was Zeng, and she wasn’t one of Chu Zhao’s familiar companions. She was even older, in her thirties.

She called herself Madam Zeng, born to a prestigious family, but she had never been known as a talented woman of the capital.

Madam Zeng had distinguished herself through astronomy, calendrical science, and mathematics, not only standing out among the women but also unmatched among this batch of two hundred scholars.

Although it had been previously decided that women would enter the Hanlin Academy, in the past two days, officials from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works had been hovering around the Empress, indirectly inquiring about this Madam Zeng. They seemed interested but hesitant due to gender separation.

“The result of winning is tangible status and power,” Chu Zhao said with a smile. “For so many years, these are what have made the officials throughout the court willing to sacrifice themselves and even forget death.”

Madam Zeng stepped forward: “Empress, my Zeng family is willing to sacrifice everything for the Empress.”

Neither her father nor her brothers were remarkable enough to become officials, and she was a woman who had remained unmarried for life, keeping her chastity for a deceased fiancé.

The most her clan expected of her was to earn a memorial arch after her death.

She never imagined that the skills she used to pass time would earn her official recognition.

For her family, an official hat was worth more than a memorial arch. As long as it brought glory to the family, the clan didn’t care whether it was a man or a woman—they would provide full support with their connections and wealth.

Not just her—several other women also came forward to express their loyalty.

Their present status was given by the Empress, and their families knew it. Having received, they must give, and their families were willing to give.

When men became officials, they sold themselves and their families to the sovereign, receiving rewards from the sovereign in return.

When women became officials, naturally, they would do the same.

Chu Zhao smiled as she looked at them.

“No, what you need to do is not sacrifice yourselves for me, but for yourselves,” she said. “Now that you have won, what you need to do is not look up, but look down.”