Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 272 The Demon Queen's Plan: The True Emperor Replaces the False Emperor

Hall.

Roujia, wearing a light pink dress, stood by the window in a daze, looking sad. She hadn't seen Zhu Qizhen for several months, and she couldn't stop missing him, missing his rudeness.

"Miss, Master Zhu is here." The maid's voice came.

Roujia turned around and saw Zhu Qizhen standing at the door, dressed in a white robe and as handsome as jade. She moved lightly and bowed: "I greet you, sir. I haven't seen you for a long time."

Zhu Qizhen walked in with a calm expression and said, "Go and get the letter from Mr. Ning."

"Yes, I have prepared everything." Roujia turned around, brought a box, opened it, and it was full of letters.

She knelt down beside him, picked up a letter and handed it to him.

Zhu Qizhen took it and started to read it. Although Ning Rongrong also gave him a secret report, he still wanted to understand Ning Rongrong's mentality from multiple perspectives. He was very attentive in reading it. Roujia was waiting on him, and she would rub against Zhu Qizhen from time to time.

Zhu Qizhen knew what this woman meant. It was obvious at a glance that she was coveting his body. What a despicable thing!
He now has many beauties in his harem, and has completely lost interest in Roujia. In order to have more princes, he has been consuming a lot of energy recently, and he doesn't want to waste his energy on women outside.

"Recently, I have learned a life lesson, which is to use limited things to exchange for unlimited things. There are unlimited girls in this world, but our energy is limited. If we use limited things to flirt with unlimited girls, we will definitely lose. So I decided that I will no longer flirt with unlimited girls, but will focus on flirting with rich girls. There is only one way to become rich: to eat gigolos!"

This is a line from a movie in his previous life. Zhu Qizhen now fully understands this. It is not about being a gigolo, but about concentrating one's energy. One cannot fall in love with every woman he meets, as that would be too harmful to one's health.

"Sir, do you dislike me?" Roujia suddenly asked, her face full of sadness. She had just seen the expression of disdain on Zhu Qizhen's face.

Roujia was about to cry, her voice trembling with a hint of crying.

Zhu Qizhen felt helpless. It seemed a bit too ruthless to treat Roujia like this. He waved his hand and said, "You should know my identity, so stop thinking about it. You won't have a chance. I don't want to hurt you."

After saying this, he even called himself a scumbag. Damn, he really just took out his thing and didn't even recognize me.

"I understand." Roujia blinked slightly, her eyes were tearful, and there was deep sadness in her delicate eyes. She looked at him timidly.

"Okay, I understand." Zhu Qizhen said lightly.

But Roujia was still kneeling aside, with her hands folded on her belly, looking like a slave.

Zhu Qizhen sighed inwardly and continued to read the letter attentively.

……

Judging from the content of the letter, Ning Rongrong has completely controlled Kyushu in Japan. Of course, she is still hiding behind the scenes, supporting the three puppet daimyo of Kyushu, namely Shimazu, Otomo and Ryuzoji.

On the surface, Ning Rongrong was still a businessman, or even a pirate. Daimyo from all over Japan and the shogun would buy supplies and firearms from her.

Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sozen both asked her to order a large number of firearms. Zhu Qizhen knew about this matter, and Ning Rongrong reported it in detail in her secret report to him.

The reason why Ning Rongrong attached so much importance to these two people was because Zhu Qizhen had predicted to her that these two people would cause civil unrest in the entire Japan because of the different successors to the general they supported.

Onin War!

Since then, Japan has entered the Warring States Period for half a century. That was Ning Rongrong's opportunity. Japan was in chaos and no one could control her.

"The Onin War won't happen earlier, right?" Zhu Qizhen muttered in a low voice.

He couldn't remember the exact time of Japanese history, but he remembered that the Onin War took place during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. But now the timeline was a bit messy, and he felt that it was related to his time travel.

The Butterfly Effect.

Because he had planted Ning Rongrong in Japan, the timeline of Japan was also messed up. Thinking of this, he wrote a letter to Ning Rongrong, asking her to be prepared to deal with the chaos in Japan.

Firearms can be given to the daimyo of Japan, but they can only be used to clear out the stock of obsolete firearms. The latest and most advanced ones cannot be given, lest they be used on their own people.

Also, she had to expand her own strength. Although the Warring States period in Japan was just a few counties fighting each other, if Ning Rongrong wanted to dominate, she would have to have at least tens of thousands of troops under her command, right?
……

After coming out of the guild hall, Zhu Qizhen came to the Ming Trading Company.

He was familiar with the route and came to the lobby. He didn't see Chao Xiaotian, but saw Qi Feng and Qi Shu, father and daughter, arguing quietly about something. When Qi Shu saw Zhu Qizhen coming in, her face changed slightly, and she hurried forward to greet him: "Master, you haven't been here for a long time."

Qi Feng also came over and smiled: "Brother Zhu, I haven't seen you since their last wedding."

"It's not convenient for people from the government to come here often." Zhu Qizhen spread his hands, "Brother Qi, you are not as free and easy as me. I heard that your Qi family fleet has also sailed to the West?"

"It's not just our Qi family. There are dozens of fleets in the Ming Dynasty now, all of which are open to the South China Sea and the West." Qi Feng sighed, "This is all thanks to your Majesty. Not only has the sea been opened, but a powerful navy has also been formed. Pirates dare not rob our Ming Dynasty merchant ships."

This flattery feels good.

I almost thought you knew my identity.

Zhu Qizhen complained in his heart, and asked with a smile on his face: "Where is Xiaotian?"

"I'm leading the team to Quanzhou and may not be back for a while." Qi Shu said.

"Ah?" Zhu Qizhen was shocked. "I haven't heard of it before. When did you go there?"

Qi Shu poured tea while saying, "He went there yesterday, bringing a fleet with him. He said he wanted to go to Quanzhou to have a good talk with the Maritime Customs."

"Did the Maritime Customs give him a hard time?" Zhu Qizhen frowned. "Then there's no need to go there. Can't he just talk to the Ministry of Revenue directly? Even the cabinet will do. Just make those Maritime Customs officials obey."

Qi Shu smiled slightly: "Master, I can't always trouble you. He went there to understand the specific situation of the Maritime Customs."

Zhu Qizhen took a sip of tea and nodded: "It's good to go and take a look. Are you in charge of the Daming Trading Company now?"

"Yes." Qi Shu nodded, "My father will come over to help too."

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhu Qizhen stood up, "I'm leaving now, you guys get busy."

Qi Shu smiled as she sent him to the door, and watched him go away. Then she turned to Qi Feng with a worried look on her face, "Dad, Xiaotian's affairs won't be hidden for long. The Jinyiwei will investigate too."

Qi Feng's eyes flashed with murderous intent: "Keep it a secret for now, and we'll tell you later."

……

After Zhu Qizhen came out, he got on a carriage.

In the carriage, Ding Xiu stood respectfully and bowed to him: "Your Majesty."

"Sit down and talk." Zhu Qizhen waved his hand. "Ding Xiu, why are you so reserved? Before, when we went to Henan, didn't we also ride in a carriage?"

Ding Xiu sat down, lowered his head slightly, and continued: "Your Majesty, the Qi family married their daughter to Chao Xiaotian. I guess they have other purposes. They may have targeted Chao Xiaotian's Daming Trading Company."

"Is there any evidence?" Zhu Qizhen asked.

"Not yet." Ding Xiu frowned, "But I have checked Qi Feng. He is very good at disguising himself, but in fact he is cruel and ruthless. He fought against the Ning family and lost his two younger brothers in the fight."

Zhu Qizhen's eyes suddenly turned cold: "If there really is another purpose, then Xiaotian must have fallen for it. He has true feelings for Qi Shu. Qi Shu's feelings for him... in my opinion, are also true."

"Your Majesty, feelings are worthless when it comes to interests," Ding Xiu said.

"Hey, Ding Xiu is still so direct." Zhu Qizhen chuckled, "It doesn't matter. No one can take away the Daming Trading Company. It belongs to me. When Xiaotian comes back from Quanzhou, I will talk to him."

Ding Xiu was surprised: "Chao Xiaotian went to Quanzhou?"

"Yes, I went there yesterday." Zhu Qizhen spread his hands, "Qi Shu just told me."

"Yesterday? Oh, no wonder I saw him rushing to the dock." Ding Xiu nodded slowly, then knelt down and bowed, "Your Majesty, there is still no clue about the false emperor. Nowadays, there are many fleets of the Ming Dynasty traveling to the West and South Seas, and many people come in and out. It is difficult to investigate."

Zhu Qizhen snorted: "It will come to me eventually, I will just wait."

……

The harem courtyard.

Qiqige, who was pregnant, was lying on a chair in the corridor. Alena placed cakes on the side and handed one to her, saying, "This is sent by Concubine Xian. It tastes good."

"I dare not eat anything carelessly." Qiqige frowned. "Don't worry, Concubine Xian dare not harm the baby in your belly." Alena said, "She is a smart woman. She knows that His Majesty has taken a fancy to the baby in your belly and wants to use him to control the grassland."

Qi Qi Ge's face was as cold as ice, and he snorted coldly: "Your Majesty is indeed a powerful ruler. He even plots against his own children."

Alena smiled slightly: "Without his calculations, we would have no hope of returning to the grassland, and we might have died long ago. It's unpredictable. Who would have thought that the person who would accompany you to give birth would be me? At that time on the grassland, you wanted to kill me, right?"

"It's just that I let you go. I could have done it many times." Qi Qige said coldly.

"You think I don't know?" Alena chuckled. "I'm betting that you can't be cruel. You're not like your father Khan, but like your mother, a kind-hearted person."

Qi Qi Ge sat up, looked at her coldly, and said, "Can you not mention my mother?"

Alena smiled and nodded. A gust of wind blew by, and she stood up and said, "It's cold outside. I'll help you in."

As soon as the two returned to the palace, they heard footsteps coming, and the palace maid came up to report: "Princess, it's Concubine De who came to see you."

"De Fei?" Alena leaned close to Qi Qige's ear and whispered, "She is also a smart woman. Be careful when dealing with her later."

Qi Qige nodded and sat down on a cushion nearby.

Soon, Concubine De came in with a group of eunuchs and palace maids, carrying several boxes of different sizes. Qiqige was about to stand up to greet them, but Concubine De quickly waved her hand and said, "Princess, if it is inconvenient, you don't have to stand up."

"Greetings to Her Majesty the Virtuous Concubine." Alena bowed with a smile.

Concubine De smiled faintly, passed her, and came directly to Qiqige: "I brought some supplements for the princess. You must take good care of yourself in the next few months."

"Thank you, Empress Defei." Qi Qige nodded slightly.

……

Mountain top palace.

The Queen was busy in the kitchen, wearing an elegant green dress with a thin belt around her waist, which cleverly outlined her slender waist and graceful curves. As she walked, her white skirt swayed gently in the wind, showing her graceful and charming demeanor.

"Shuangxi, is that so?"

She smelled the pungent smell of smoke coming from the pot, her thin and long eyebrows slightly wrinkled, and her cold eyes looked at Shuangxi beside her and asked, "How long do you want to fry it?"

"My queen, your fire is too big and it's almost burnt." Shuangxi had a helpless expression.

She didn't know why the queen suddenly had the interest to learn how to cook. In less than an hour, a basket of ingredients had been wasted. She advised softly: "My queen, whatever you want to eat, I will cook it for you."

The Demon Queen shook her head and frowned slightly: "After a while, let's go live in the courtyard by the Gaoliang River. I want to cook a few dishes for him myself."

Shuangxi understood instantly and taught her how to cook again. Another half hour passed, Shuangxi was already choking on the smoke, leaning against the door, watching the Demon Queen fumbling around, admiring her graceful figure, with a smile on his face: "My Queen, God is really fair, giving you the beauty of a fairy but not letting you know how to cook."

"Little girl, are you still making fun of me?" The Demon Queen glared at her. "I just don't believe it. You still can't learn it? Just stay away and don't bother me. When I succeed, I'll serve it to you."

Shuangxi came to the yard, sat on a bamboo chair under the tree, and looked at the Demon Queen in the kitchen. Although the Demon Queen was cooking, she was still so beautiful, ethereal and refined, mature and charming, and it was very comfortable to look at her, especially at this time, adding a lot of worldly atmosphere. Although her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, she had a different kind of beauty.

"Days like this are so nice." Shuangxi sighed lazily.

She was very happy during the days in the mountaintop palace, just her and the demon queen. However, she knew that such days would soon be gone. There would be no chance for them again.

"My queen, I wish I could stay with you." She sighed in her heart.

The demon queen in the kitchen seemed to have failed again. She paused for a moment and looked over with her beautiful eyes: "Shuangxi, come and help me wash the vegetables. I want to start over again."

"Okay," Shuangxi ran over happily.

The Queen was busy for an entire afternoon but still couldn't cook anything that satisfied her. She finally got tired and said she would continue tomorrow.

……

As night fell, a rainstorm suddenly arrived, and a deafening roar echoed between heaven and earth. Silver lightning flashed back and forth through the rolling dark clouds like sharp swords, instantly illuminating the night sky with a dazzling brilliance.

Soon, the rain became heavier.

With a slight "creak", a window was slowly pushed open in a corner of the hall, near the window, allowing the cool night breeze carrying drizzles of rain to invade the room.

The Queen stood leisurely by the window, holding a cup of warm tea in her hand, her beautiful eyes showing a bit of laziness and leisure, quietly admiring the misty rain and the night scenery outside the window. The lightning and thunder did not disturb the tranquility, but added a bit of mystery and romance to this rainy night.

She sighed quietly, looked at Shuangxi who was making tea in the hall, and said, "Shuangxi, you should have guessed what I am going to do, right?"

Shuangxi blinked slightly, with a faint bitter smile on her lips: "I know that you want to kill His Majesty!"

"I have had a wild dream, that is, to keep him alive, and I will find a deserted place with him to live out our lives." The demon queen's eyes were full of yearning, and then she sighed softly, "But, that's impossible. In this kind of situation, it can only be a life-and-death struggle, otherwise there will be endless troubles."

Shuangxi looked up at her, hesitant to speak, and finally asked what he had guessed in his heart: "Madam, do you want to die with him?"

"Yes!" The Demon Queen nodded, "I'm telling you today because I'll need your help when the time comes."

Hey~
A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, startling Shuangxi so much that he almost dropped the teacup in his hand.

She stared at the stern-looking queen, and couldn't help but recall the ridicule that His Majesty often said: "Your queen's beautiful face is unpredictable, just like the weather, changing from cloud to cloud without warning and without any reason."

In her heart, she secretly agreed with His Majesty's joke, and her eyes turned to the raging rain outside the window. This rain really came suddenly and violently, as if it was the most vivid interpretation of that sentence - the sky was clear and sunny during the day, but at night, it was suddenly covered with haze, and the wind was raging, followed by heavy rain, thunder and lightning, shrouding the whole world in chaos and noise.

"My queen, what are you going to do?" she asked, looking up.

"There are only two feasible places. One is to go to the small courtyard by the Gaoliang River." The Demon Queen pursed her lips. "He still trusts me. I have many ways to kill him. Then let my son replace him."

Shuangxi frowned slightly: "Your Majesty is very vigilant."

A sad smile appeared on the corner of the Demon Queen's mouth: "So, I want to make him lose his vigilance. Doesn't he want to get me?"

Shuangxi understood and asked, "If there is no chance in the courtyard, then we should go back to the palace and stay in Kunning Palace directly?"

"Yes." The Demon Queen nodded, "I will tell you in detail how to do it."

Shuangxi listened and nodded heavily.

"It seems that he will not come tonight." The Demon Queen closed the window casually, "I was hoping to see him more often."

……

Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Qizhen was also standing by the window, holding a notebook in his hand, staring at the heavy rain outside the window in a daze.

Xiyao came over with hot tea and bowed slightly: "Your Majesty, have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up."

"It's not that cold." Zhu Qizhen came back to his senses and smiled, "Your master Yao Sanxiao is now a professor at Shuntian University. I introduced him to you. How do you thank me?"

Xiyao blinked her big eyes and gritted her teeth: "When I save up 500 taels, I'll give it all to you."

Zhu Qizhen chuckled: "Oh, so generous?"

"Of course. Even though you haven't done my master a favor, it's almost the same. I will definitely repay you." Xiyao said in a firm tone.

A favor of recognition?

Zhu Qizhen muttered this word, looked at the book in his hand, and sighed in his heart: "Yes, the late emperor showed Yu Qian a favor of recognition. Yu Qian must have remembered it firmly in his heart, right?"

The book in his hand was written by Li Dongyang when he was studying history in the Hanlin Academy. He was quite emotional about the period when the late emperor was with Yu Qian. When Zhu Qizhen went to the Hanlin Academy, Li Dongyang specially presented it to him.

"This Li Dongyang should not just be shown to me, right?" Zhu Qizhen frowned.

……

At the beginning of the month, I’d like to ask for some monthly tickets, brothers.

(End of this chapter)