228: Do you think this is a vegetable market?!

“Saint, please wait here for a moment. This old servant will go ask Your Majesty for instructions,” the old eunuch said.

“Alright.”

Then, the old eunuch entered the Imperial Study. Not long after, he came out again and said to Su Xiaobai with a smile, “Saint, Your Majesty requests your presence.”

Inside the Imperial Study.

The ancient and elegant hall was exceptionally spacious, with expensive ink paintings hanging on the surrounding walls. The tables and chairs were all made of excellent sandalwood.

This was the unique grandeur and luxury of the royal family.

At the end of the hall was a soft couch, obscured by a curtain.

Through the translucent curtain, the graceful and exquisite figure of a woman was faintly visible.

She was lazily lying on her side on the soft couch, her serpentine figure displayed to the fullest. Her curves narrowed at her small waist and then abruptly expanded at her rounded hips.

One look and it was clear she was good for bearing children.

She seemed to be holding a scroll in her hand, reading it with great interest, though its contents were unknown.

Two palace maids respectfully stood guard outside the curtain.

Su Xiaobai walked into the hall and saw the empress at the end of the hall, lazily reclining on the soft couch.

He immediately complained in his heart, “No sitting posture, no standing posture, who is she trying to seduce? Bah! What a tyrant!”

Then, he took two steps at once, striding forward, and with a “thump,” he knelt down and prostrated himself.

“Long live Your Majesty! Long live, long live, long long live!”

The two palace maids’ mouths slightly opened. They had served the empress for so long and had never seen anyone kneel so devoutly and quickly.

The empress, who had been thinking about how to bend his spine, was visibly stunned.

When this guy had cursed her, he had been so unyielding, even saying that if she were to blame him, he would take all the responsibility!

She had thought this person was an unyielding, upright individual, and that it would take some effort to make him submit.

Unexpectedly, upon their very first meeting, he knelt so decisively and resolutely. The series of plans she had prepared felt like punching cotton, with no chance to be used.

If she hadn’t seen Su Xiaobai’s appearance before, she would have suspected that the person in front of her was some random impostor!

Seeing that the empress remained silent, Su Xiaobai frowned.

What is this tyrant doing? I’ve already prostrated myself, at least give a reaction, right? She’s not thinking of some new way to mess with me, is she?

“Rise,” the empress’s clear and cold voice came, saying, “Do you know why I summoned you?”

Su Xiaobai, who had just stood up, immediately prostrated himself again, “This humble one deserves to die!”

“Oh? Tell me, why do you deserve to die?” The woman behind the curtain rested her head on her hand.

“A…a few days ago, this humble one drank some wine in Qingzhou and accidentally spoke a few truths…oh no, I mean, some outrageous words! I offended Your Majesty, please punish me!”

“Then tell me, what exactly did you say?”

“This…” Su Xiaobai looked at the two palace maids with hesitation, “Your Majesty…does this humble one really have to say it here?”

A hint of curiosity immediately appeared in the eyes of the two palace maids. What exactly did he say? He even said he deserved to die?

And Your Majesty even specifically summoned him to the palace!

The two of them caught a whiff of gossip.

Living in the palace, besides hearing some royal gossip and earning a bit of money, they had no other interests.

“…” The empress felt like she had been outmaneuvered by him.

She still cared about her reputation. Although the palace maids were her own people, for a monarch to be openly called a tyrant to her face, she couldn’t possibly let it slide.

She had originally thought he would try to argue, and then she would use irrefutable evidence to slap him in the face and convict him of deceiving the monarch!

Then, fueled by anger, she would thoroughly suppress him.

But now Su Xiaobai had confessed everything. The lengthy speech she had prepared fell on deaf ears, and an inexplicable surge of irritation rose in her heart.

This scoundrel! …She gritted her back teeth.

“How dare you even say it!”

Suddenly, she stood up, grabbed a scroll nearby, and threw it towards Su Xiaobai!

Su Xiaobai did not dodge or evade, honestly taking the hit, letting the scroll strike his body.

Anyway, with his thick skin, it felt like a mere tickle.

The empress’s chest heaved violently with anger, “Since you know you deserve to die, then commit seppuku!”

“Xiaochun, bestow a blade!”

The palace maid on the left quickly came forward with a tray. On the tray was a sharp seppuku knife.

Su Xiaobai was suddenly startled, his pupils wide, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.

Didn’t the Saint say he would speak well of him to the tyrant?

Didn’t the old eunuch say that the tyrant knew everything and that he shouldn’t hide anything?

He had done everything he was told! He had licked her boots so much, why did she still want to kill him?!

He felt like he had been backstabbed by a traitor!

“Black Abyss Saint, please?”

The palace maid named Xiaochun said with a slight smile.

“This… Your Majesty…”

Su Xiaobai looked at the seppuku knife on the tray, then at the palace maid Xiaochun, and then at the empress behind the curtain. He felt like he was about to cry.

Watching his discomfited expression, the empress’s lips curved slightly, and an inexplicable sense of satisfaction filled her heart, even improving her mood considerably.

She sat back on the soft couch behind her, crossing her legs.

Her legs were beautiful, straight and long. When she crossed them, it exuded an indescribable elegance and nobility.

“What, you don’t want to die?”

“…Yes.”

Su Xiaobai nodded very honestly.

After thinking carefully, he believed that the tyrant would not kill him.

However, she must still be angry with him, so a beating was definitely unavoidable.

His earlier prostration, while demonstrating bootlicking to the extreme, had not given her satisfaction, effectively irritating her further.

But after seeing him discomfited, her mood seemed to have improved, so she probably wouldn’t make things difficult for him anymore, right?

Bah! What a tyrant!

Then he continued to prostrate himself, “Your Majesty, please give this humble one a chance to atone for his sins! This humble one is willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty, no matter the cost!”

He looked earnestly at the tyrant behind the curtain.

As expected, the tyrant’s mood clearly improved this time, and she said in a light tone:

“Since you wish to atone for your crimes through meritorious service, then I shall give you a chance.

Eunuch Zhao, who brought you here, is old. I cannot bear for him to continue to toil. You shall purify yourself and enter the palace tomorrow to replace Eunuch Zhao’s position and become my Seal-Bearing Eunuch.”

Su Xiaobai’s body suddenly trembled.

He had considered countless difficult problems, such as humiliation, cutting flesh to pay debts, exile to the frontier, and so on.

He was mentally prepared for all of them.

But this was absolutely not acceptable!

He had only just tasted a few days of joyful life, how could he become a eunuch like the Saint? !

“Your…Your Majesty, this humble one still has wives and concubines at home. If I become a eunuch, what…what will happen to them in the future?

Perhaps, perhaps Your Majesty could choose someone else?”

He asked tentatively.

But the next moment, it provoked the empress’s towering rage.

Slap!

The empress slapped the armrest of the soft couch, and the aura of the Second Realm, like the sky about to collapse, instantly permeated the entire hall.

A few drops of cold sweat appeared on Su Xiaobai’s forehead. Even though he was now a First Realm expert, he felt that the empress could crush him as easily as she would crush a troublesome mouse.

The empress’s furious and cold voice came.

“Black Abyss! Oh no, I should call you Su Xiaobai!”

“Do you take this place for a marketplace? To allow you to haggle!?”