Richest Man: Divine-Grade Reconstruct System Chapter 1268 - 1145: The Officials Pretending to Be Drunk (2)

After all, in this Imperial Palace, not a single one of those official ranks is something they can afford to provoke.

And just being able to come here to attend the Emperor’s grand wedding ceremony is already an honor as vast as the heavens.

As for Leng Yu riding a horse just now, they were only indulging in a bit of gossip here, nothing more.

Their rank is still far too low. Let alone them—are the six Ministers’ ranks high or not?

But do they have the qualification to ride horses inside the Imperial Palace?

Heh, what a joke. If the six Ministers really dared to do such a thing, the moment they swung into the saddle here, they would be shot full of arrows by those Guards and die on the spot.

This is no exaggeration. What does it mean to ride a horse in the Imperial Palace? Isn’t that outright challenging the Emperor’s authority?

Heh, never mind that you’re just a minor official—even if you hold the highest rank, can you possibly be higher than the Emperor?

All along the way, everyone who saw Leng Yu had envy and jealousy flashing in their eyes.

This sort of thing is a height they may never be able to reach in their entire lives.

Of course, as the person involved, Leng Yu herself didn’t take it to heart at all. After all, she has enjoyed such privilege from the very beginning. Even if today weren’t something Lin Yi could justify, even in ordinary times she could still do the same.

Lin Yi wouldn’t scold her or restrain her, and even more so, no outsider would dare to chatter about it.

And those censors and imperial historians, when they see such a scene, will instinctively turn around, deliberately avoid it, and pretend they saw nothing.

After all, Leng Yu’s status is simply too special. In Dayou, to call her the Chancellor is no exaggeration; to say she stands one man below and tens of thousands above is even less an exaggeration. Which blind fool would dare provoke such a person?

Yet even though she has such a special privilege in the Imperial Palace, Leng Yu is still very mindful of propriety.

On ordinary days she very rarely rides in the palace. If not for the Emperor’s summons today, and if not for this incident making her lose her composure a bit, she absolutely would not have done such a thing.

Soon, her horse had already reached a place not far from the great hall where Lin Yi was entertaining the civil and military officials.

Of course, she wasn’t so reckless as to ride straight in. Instead, she handed the horse over to a subordinate at her side, then turned and walked toward the interior.

Naturally, the spot where she stopped the horse was at least thirty meters away from the great hall.

This was, of course, deliberate on Leng Yu’s part.

If Leng Yu really rode all the way, stopping right outside the hall, right at the doors, it would only make her seem arrogant and overbearing, make everyone think that she, Leng Yu, was an utterly domineering person who, relying on the Emperor’s favor, acted wildly as she pleased. How could such a person be entrusted with great responsibility?

Once Leng Yu let go of the reins, a young Eunuch immediately stepped forward to take the horse and see to it carefully.

Leng Yu herself took several deep breaths, forcibly calming the excitement in her heart, and only then did she head toward the interior of the hall.

However, just as Leng Yu’s steps reached the threshold of the hall, she was met by a scene that left her somewhat stunned.

At this moment, looking at everything before her, Leng Yu even suspected that she had come to the wrong place.

She actually stepped back several paces, withdrew outside the hall again, lifted her head to look at the plaque hanging above, then glanced at the Palace Maids and Eunuchs attending on both sides, and only then confirmed that she had not gone to the wrong place.

Only then did she, with somewhat puzzled steps, stride inside once more—and at a single glance, she couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

At the same time, a thought abruptly sprang up in Leng Yu’s heart: could it be that His Majesty intends to use this opportunity to purge dissenters?

Yes, one can’t blame Leng Yu for thinking this way. It’s simply that everything unfolding before her eyes at this very moment leaves her no choice but to think so.

For right now, wherever she looks, nearly eighty percent of the officials are sprawled over the tables, without the slightest movement. This posture is truly a bit eerie.

Not only that, through Leng Yu’s observation, she found that many groups of officials here were all like this.

She hurriedly took a sideways stride to a large round table.

Although Leng Yu was also curious about this round table, at this moment, these people’s condition intrigued her far more.

She then reached out and placed her hand by one man’s nose, and instantly felt his heavy, steady breathing. This made Leng Yu pause in surprise, and in the next moment a thought flashed into her mind.

"Could it be these fellows lying here weren’t harmed by His Majesty, nor is this some pretext to get rid of them, but rather the result of some other, more convenient reason?

Especially when Leng Yu turned to look at those who were unaffected and still upright, she discovered that without exception they were all brawny Military Generals.

And all of them were those with solid builds and good weight, whereas as for those who were older in years, at this moment they had likewise all collapsed onto the tables.

Then looking at the glass cups in their hands, she became all the more certain—these people are definitely not in the situation she had first imagined.

And just then, Leng Yu suddenly noticed many Palace Maids and Eunuchs bustling about, continuously coming and going, carrying these fallen lords out to rest.

And at that very moment, as Leng Yu was sizing everyone up, her figure also already appeared before Lin Yi and the others.

Seeing that Leng Yu had arrived, Lin Yi opened his mouth, but in the end did not utter a single word.

Beside him, Xiao Zihan noticed this, and a smile curved on her lips. She raised her hand and beckoned directly to Leng Yu over there:

"This must be little sister Leng Yu, yes? Come quickly to elder sister’s side."

With that line spoken, in an instant, every gaze in the hall swung toward this side.

One by one they looked at Xiao Zihan, then at Leng Yu over there, and for a moment they all wished the ground would open up so they could crawl in and hide.

They had no desire to be involved in this matter; they did not want the Emperor to think they were people who did not know their place.

Some things are not for just anyone to witness. On the contrary, seeing them brings no benefits, only endless trouble.

The present situation is precisely like that. They truly wished they could find a hole and slip into it, or else—why hadn’t they just drunk themselves under the table like before?

After all, how could they possibly meddle in the Emperor’s domestic affairs?

Precisely because this thought had taken shape, these fellows actually raised their cups one after another, each taking a gulp on his own, and then the sound of thudding bodies kept ringing out.

Those who had still been sitting there feasting just moments ago were now, in twos and threes, keeling over onto the tables.

This in turn badly flustered the Palace Maids and Eunuchs standing by.

Seeing this, they hurriedly called for more help, carrying them all out in succession.

Even as they were being carried out of the hall by Palace Maids and Eunuchs, these people did not dare show the slightest abnormality.

After all, if they were to stand up at this moment, it would mean that what they had just done amounted to a crime of deceiving the monarch.

Though they had their reasons for acting this way out of desperation, that does not qualify as an excuse for deceiving the Emperor.

On the strength of this incident alone, it would be entirely possible for Lin Yi to have them dragged out and executed.

Although today is Lin Yi’s great day of joy, and His Majesty has pardoned many offenders, this is still not the time for them to be wanton.

Especially in the current situation, when His Majesty’s mood is already unlikely to be very good, to step forward now and provoke his displeasure would simply be asking for suffering.

Of course, we are not here to talk about these fellows pretending to be drunk, but to fix our gaze on Lin Yi, on Leng Yu.

When she heard the words of Xiao Zihan, dressed in a blazing red phoenix robe, Leng Yu raised her eyes and looked over in this direction.

[To be continued...]