Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A minister jumped up and said in agreement, “One shall never speak of the odd, powerful, or godly. Witchcraft? Such a laughable accusation…”
Liu She, who had remained silent all this time, finally commented, “If witchcraft is indeed a laughable trick that is not worth mentioning, then think of the Second Prince’s failed assassination attempt against the late emperor through witchcraft that brought about his doom… Did the late emperor kill the wrong child in your eyes?”
The supporting minister felt cold sweat rolling down his back. He sat back down in his seat in embarrassment.
Even though nobody cared much about the late emperor’s attitude, but in the face of the young emperor, nobody had the right to point fingers or say that the late emperor had been wrong.
Liu She then said, “Regardless if witchcraft exists or not, Lanting suspect that Chief Wu Ma is being controlled by it. Why not do what she asks and say the lines at the same time? A simple line can put a rest to Lanting’s accusations, why should they not take it? What’s the point of refusing?”
Xu Pei, who’d lost his golden chance earlier, also voiced his support. “That’s right! Why can’t Chief Wu Ma and the old lady just say it at the same time? If they say it, it will be clear that Liu Xi is falsely accusing both of you and that witchcraft indeed doesn’t exist. However, if you cannot say it… that would be interesting…”
Suddenly, everyone’s collective attention turned towards Wu Ma Shang and the elderly woman.
Their expressions hardened awkwardly. They finally decided to open their mouths under the numerous pairs of watchful eyes.
However, no matter how much they tried, whenever one spoke the other shut their mouth. They could not speak at the same time, making the scene extremely strange to watch.
Finally, even the ministers who’d only come in for a show started to feel a chill run down their spines, causing them to discreetly move their seats back.
The pair tried to speak at the same time numerous times and failed, their expressions growing gloomier at every attempt.
The ministers started feeling uneasy as they watched, and the entire atmosphere of the assembly room began to shift towards supernatural unease.
Even the livestream audience was completely shocked. They’d made plenty of guesses as to how the event would pan out, but nobody had guessed correctly.
Yin Shuishan: Oh my god—this is too creepy! I can feel my goosebumps already.
YiXiu ShiNianXiang: That’s strange, why can’t they speak at the same time?
BaoBei Yu Princess: Wait—let me take a wild guess, is it because these two are actually being controlled by one person?
Jiang Pengji glanced at the channel and smiled discreetly. Some people’s guesses were very close to the truth, but nobody was completely correct.
Host V: Ever since these two appeared, they haven’t been able to speak at the same time. When one’s facial expression changes, the other’s expression stays blank. Of course, this isn’t really proof, but the most obvious time was when Xu Fei slapped Wu Ma Shang’s face. Wu Ma Shang showed no reaction while the elderly lady turned to dodge the slap and covered her face with her hand. The baton was being swung at Wu Ma Shang and had no chance of hitting the woman. Why then did she dodge the blow?
Some audience members understood Jiang Pengji’s explanation, but others still hadn’t caught the drift.
Sishui Liunian: Let’s just make a quick metaphor for this. You’ve all played online games before, right? Say you opened up two accounts to do dailies and ran into a PVP player and frantically tried to bring out your second combat account or healer to protect yourself, but changing screens takes time. If you’re too caught up at the moment you can sometimes even mix up the two accounts and can’t fully control two accounts at the same time. I think I get what the host is saying. Wu Ma Shang and that woman are two accounts being controlled by one person.
With this explanation, even the slower audience members finally understood and even found some entertainment value in this.
CangXue XiJian: Hahaha, I just remembered the host’s request. One person speaks in Langye dialect, the other uses the Zhangzhou dialect. This isn’t even just controlling two accounts, it’s like controlling four at once! It would be rare to find someone who could multitask on that level.
Clearly, the person before them could not do it.
Just like how it’s said that you should take advantage of your enemies while they’re weak, Jiang Pengji was upholding her standards of crushing a defeated enemy.
“Your highness, I must also point out that Wu Ma Shang gave false testimony.” Jiang Pengji pointed at the frantic and pale elderly woman and said, “This person claims to be my late mother’s servant. As such, she should be used to doing chores. If that’s the case, why are this person’s hands clean and smooth like a child’s and not covered with scars and calluses?”
The elderly woman raised her hands to look at them when Jiang Pengji made this statement, only to see her smooth palms.
There were no signs of a life of hard labor. Her hands were completely clean and smooth.
The ministers were not blind. They noticed this detail as soon as Jiang Pengji pointed it out. They all felt their hearts skip a beat.
This was… an assassin?
Jiang Pengji lifted her eyebrow slightly and continued her speech. “If this was simply to target me, why would Chief Wu Ma need to make a scene during this assembly and find someone to pretend to be my late mother’s dowry servant?” Jiang Pengji accused sharply, “I am only afraid that this apparent witchcraft is a plot by someone who plans to hurt his royal highness and assassinate the ministers…”
The elderly woman trembled in rage. Her voice suddenly changed and sounded like the sharp tone of a young woman!
“Liu Xi, you b*tch!”
Regardless of what she said, there were already high officials calling for rescue as the imperial guards from outside the assembly rushed in.
The assembly was in complete chaos as the imperial guards barged in. Under the eyes of all the ministers, three-centimeter long silver nails emerged from the furious elderly woman’s hands. With her sharp nails, she viciously ripped a few people into strings of flesh.
The young emperor was already scared out of his mind on the throne. The empress dowager and a group of concubines screamed in terror.
“Guard the emperor!”
“Guard the emperor!”
“There’s an assassin!”
The court broke down into chaos as the elderly woman attempted to escape. She caught Liu Xi in the corner of her eyes. She sitting still and calm at her seat as vengeful thoughts and feelings of hatred grew within her heart. She ran towards Liu She. If she couldn’t kill Liu Xi, she still wanted to kill Liu She to appease her anger.
However, before she could act on this thought, she felt a heavy blow to her abdomen as if she’d been hit by a mountain of rocks.
Her body flew off like a kite with a broken string
“You b*tch!”
The elderly woman’s lips ripped open, a trail of red blood rolling down. A minister beside her saw it and hid in the corner of the courtroom in fear.
Jiang Pengji stood in front of Liu She and mocked her. “You know, this is the third time you’ve asked me to kill you already.”
At the same time, a system warning rang through the elderly woman’s ears.
“Host, Liu Xi is not an easy opponent. Take a random hostage and run away quickly.”
The elderly woman was stifled by anger, but she also knew that Jiang Pengji wasn’t easy prey. She could only run away if she didn’t want to die.
She pulled an exquisitely designed long sword out of the air and charged straight at the person closest to her.
Her target was Huang Song.
Even though her prey was right before her, someone else acted faster.
Jiang Pengji picked up an elephant tooth baton from the ground, calculated the direction, and threw it at the elderly woman.
Under the forceful throw, the baton collided like lightning with the elderly woman’s leg, waist, chest, neck, and forehead.
Huang Song ran off. He never thought he could be this unlucky!
As the elderly woman had charged forward, he’d only been able to see the unavoidable silver nails closing in before his eyes.
Just as he’d thought he was going to die, the elderly woman’s body exploded into a pile of blood.
Even though it only took one moment, he felt as if the few seconds had been extended into slow motion, making him witness how a fully healthy person could instantly turn into a broken corpse.