After the massage, the two lay down to sleep again.

Hua Manman was still feeling anxious.

The man beside her, however, was in a rather good mood and quickly fell asleep.

Listening to his steady breathing, Hua Manman found herself suffering a rare bout of insomnia.

She called out to the system in her mind.

’I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’

The system didn’t respond.

Hua Manman knew it could hear her, so she continued on her own.

’If I complete all the plot points in *Palace Intrigue*, does that mean all my tasks will be finished?’

The system gave a cold reply. "Yes."

Hua Manman perked up. ’After all the tasks are done, there should be a reward, right?’

System: "There is."

Hua Manman asked, full of anticipation.

’What’s the reward?’

Following the usual tropes of web novels, the system’s final reward was usually granting one of the host’s wishes—any wish at all.

Hua Manman also hoped she would get a chance to have her wish granted.

Her wish was simple: to stay in this ancient era and live a long, long life with Prince Zhao.

System: "As a reward for the host completing all tasks, the system will send you back to modern society."

Hua Manman instantly felt as if a basin of cold water had been dumped over her head.

She asked in disbelief.

’I’m going through all this trouble to complete the tasks, and the final reward is to send me back? Do you think that’s reasonable?’

System: "You return to where you came from. That is very reasonable."

’So they’ll just kick me out after they’re done using me? Am I just a disposable tool to them?!’

Hua Manman wanted to curse, but all that came out were a series of beeps.

System: "The system has detected sensitive words and has automatically censored them. Host, please refrain from using foul language and be civil."

Hua Manman: ’BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!’

System: "..."

Hua Manman: ’BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!’

In her extreme fury, she lost all desire to sleep and just "beeped" at the system all night.

’The system had never imagined that it would one day be driven to the brink of collapse by beeping sounds.’

’This host is simply toxic!’

When they woke up this morning, Li Ji noticed that Manman’s spirits were very low.

She seemed to have suffered some major blow. She was completely listless, and her state of mind was terrible.

Li Ji tried to use his Mind Reading Technique to understand her inner thoughts, but all he could read was an endless stream of beeping sounds.

He almost thought his Mind Reading Technique had failed. He turned to test it on someone else and found that it was still working.

In other words, Manman’s mind was currently filled with nothing but beeping sounds.

Li Ji couldn’t understand her thoughts at all.

Unable to get any useful information from his Mind Reading Technique, he could only ask her out loud.

"What’s wrong with you today? Did you run into some trouble? Tell me about it. Maybe I can help."

Hua Manman replied sullenly.

"It’s nothing. I’m just a little annoyed."

Li Ji: "Annoyed about what?"

Hua Manman gave the same answer.

"Nothing."

She pulled the blanket over her head, clearly refusing to communicate.

Li Ji was helpless against her and could only give up on questioning her further.

Hua Manman felt like she was trapped in a vicious cycle.

’If I complete all the tasks as the system requires, I’ll be sent back to modern society in the end.’

’Modern society is wonderful in every way, except for one thing: Li Ji won’t be there.’

’But if I don’t complete the tasks as required, I’ll have to endure the punishment of heart-wrenching pain.’

’The feeling of that pain is worse than death. I never want to experience it again in my life.’

’I’m caught between a rock and a hard place, with no way forward or back.’

’What am I supposed to do?’

Unable to come up with a solution, Hua Manman could only vent her anger on the system, continuing to "BEEP BEEP BEEP" at it.

System: "..."

’It shouldn’t be called a system; it should be called a punching bag.’

...

Although the Emperor had ordered that the matter of Lady Liang’s injury not be spread, the Xiliang Delegation somehow still found out about it.

The Xiliang Delegation demanded an audience with the Emperor in the palace.

They wanted to see for themselves how Lady Liang was doing.

Seeing that he could no longer hide it, the Emperor could only give them a rough account of what had happened.

The Xiliang Delegation was furious.

They demanded that the culprit who harmed Lady Liang be severely punished.

The Emperor said, "We have already dealt with the person who injured Lady Liang, and Lady Liang is fine now. Let’s just let this matter pass."

But the Xiliang Delegation was not satisfied. They insisted on seeing the true culprit who injured Lady Liang before they would drop the matter.

The Emperor, growing annoyed, also took on a colder tone.

"If you insist on blowing this matter out of proportion, We can oblige you.

"But don’t blame Us for not reminding you that this incident started because of Lady Liang.

"She was the one who harmed someone first, which led to others retaliating against her. She was in the wrong to begin with.

"We know you want to make an issue of Lady Liang’s status as a Commandery Princess. You think that because she is a Commandery Princess, she can be forgiven even if she makes a mistake.

"But don’t forget, this is Great Zhou. Everything must be handled according to the rules of Great Zhou.

"If you are dissatisfied, you can take Lady Liang back to Xiliang immediately. After that, you can protect her however you wish."

These words left the Xiliang Delegation speechless. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Princess Longzhu had already been accepted into the Emperor of Great Zhou’s harem. This meant they had completed the task assigned by the King of Xiliang. How could they possibly take the Commandery Princess back to Xiliang?!

Someone said resentfully.

"Princess Longzhu’s status is so noble, yet Your Majesty speaks of sending her back so casually. Don’t you think this is very disrespectful to Xiliang?

"Aren’t you afraid that the diplomatic relations between our two countries will be damaged because of this?"

The Emperor retorted coolly, "A country that was defeated and surrendered—what is there for Us to respect?"

The man’s face flushed red with anger, but he couldn’t find any words to refute the Emperor.

The Emperor looked down on them from his high position.

"For Us to accept Princess Longzhu into the harem is a grace bestowed upon her, and also a grace bestowed upon Xiliang.

"If you do not want this grace, We can take it back at any time."

As soon as he said this, the Xiliang Delegation had nothing more to say.

The reason they had made such a scene was, on one hand, to back up Princess Longzhu, and on the other, to test the Emperor of Great Zhou’s bottom line.

They wanted to see just how much the Emperor of Great Zhou would tolerate from Xiliang.

The result of their test was very disappointing.

The Emperor of Great Zhou remained in a dominant position. Even though he seemed easygoing on the surface, his attitude was actually very forceful. He didn’t take the Xiliang Delegation seriously at all.

In the end, the Xiliang Delegation returned in defeat.

They went to visit Lady Liang, who was recuperating from her injuries.

Lady Liang had already heard about Princess Consort Zhao being punished by kneeling, which made her feel slightly better.

But the bitter resentment in her heart had not completely dissipated.

’I suffered such a serious injury, but Princess Consort Zhao only had to kneel for a little while. She got off way too easily.’

’Just you wait!’

’Once my injuries have healed, we’ll see how I deal with Princess Consort Zhao!’

The matter of the political marriage was settled, which meant the Xiliang Delegation’s mission for this trip was successfully completed.

They bid farewell to the Emperor of Great Zhou and began their journey home.