“Shuangfei, is there anything I can help you with?”
“No… nothing.” Shuangfei’s face turned pale, her voice trembling. She had just recovered from the shock of the fireball, only to open her eyes and find a cold dagger pressed against her throat.
Her guards were just outside the door, yet she had no choice but to obey Yang Hao’s orders, unable to cry for help. She had to lie to the guards outside.
Hearing Shuangfei’s voice, the person outside paused, seemingly considering whether to enter. At this moment, Yang Hao felt a chill run through him, his heart pounding in his throat.
Fortunately, the person outside paused only briefly before walking away again, seemingly very confident about the safety inside the bedroom, never suspecting that Shuangfei could be in danger.
Only then did Yang Hao feel relieved. He was certain that whoever had just passed by couldn’t possibly be Wang Tao. If it were Wang Tao, he wouldn’t have given up so easily; at the very least, he would have rushed in to check for himself.
What puzzled Yang Hao, however, was why Wang Tao wasn’t guarding outside at such a critical moment. Where else could he have gone?
“I didn’t report you, so can you let me go now?” Shuangfei shivered under the icy touch of the dagger, her skin crawling with goosebumps. She hadn’t fainted again, likely because she was too terrified to even lose consciousness.
Yang Hao had been hiding behind Shuangfei the whole time, so she hadn’t seen his face. Hearing the danger pass, he let out a sigh of relief and finally stepped in front of her.
The moment he appeared, Shuangfei screamed as if she had seen a ghost and immediately dropped to her knees, bowing frantically: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Please don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”
This left Yang Hao completely puzzled. He muttered to himself, “Am I so young that I could possibly resemble that old fart, Emperor Danzhen? She’s insulting me!” He considered giving the woman a beating first and then getting her glasses so she could see what a real handsome guy looked like.
Fortunately, before Yang Hao could carry out his plan, Heyuanzi reminded him, “You’re wearing the old emperor’s clothes. It’s understandable she might mistake you for him in a moment of confusion.”
Yang Hao suddenly understood. Indeed, when he had fallen earlier, the fire had burned his clothes to ashes, so he had taken the opportunity to raid Emperor Danzhen’s wardrobe and put on an imperial uniform while Shuangfei was unconscious. The current “dragon robe” looked quite stylish, fitting Yang Hao’s tall, slender frame so well that he looked like a star from a romantic drama.
Although Emperor Danzhen was old, his build was tall and imposing. Judging from the clothes alone, it was indeed plausible she could make a mistake.
Heyuanzi chuckled mischievously, always quick with a bad idea: “Great! Since she mistakes you for the old emperor, why not ask her the truth?”
“The truth… the truth…” Yang Hao was reluctant. Why did he have to pretend to be someone else—specifically an impotent old man who was already dead? That was unlucky enough, but to escape false accusations, he had no choice but to risk his safety.
He cleared his throat and deliberately mimicked an eerie, aged voice: “Was it you who killed me?”
Shuangfei, already feeling guilty, was too frightened to notice the voice sounded off. She only continued bowing: “No… it wasn’t me, absolutely not…”
“Then who else could it be?”
“It was… it was that man Yang Hao.” Shuangfei continued her lie at this point. “Captain Wang Tao said it was Yang Hao who did it.”
“What!!” Yang Hao was furious. Not only was she lying to his face about something he hadn’t done, but she clearly had no intention of sparing her life.
“Hey, can’t you at least act a little more professional?” Heyuanzi lazily remarked. “You’re supposed to be a ghostly old emperor. This is hard enough without you messing it up. Do you even know how to do this?”
Yang Hao rolled his eyes but had no choice but to suppress his anger and continue: “Impossible! Yang Hao couldn’t have done it—he’s a good person! He’s the best man I’ve ever met. You must be framing him.”
“Framing??” Shuangfei, clearly well rehearsed, fluently spewed nonsense: “Absolutely not! That spring medicine shop owner poisoned the emperor. If Your Majesty wants revenge, you must go after him. It has nothing to do with me, absolutely nothing.”
“If it has nothing to do with you, why are you so nervous?” Yang Hao growled, his voice growing fiercer. At this point, he was practically ready to kill her. If she kept spreading these lies, he would never be able to clear his name.
Yang Hao had assumed that Shuangfei, being a woman, would eventually confess if frightened enough. But he hadn’t expected that Wang Tao had already prepared a script for her, one she was meant to recite when pressured, ensuring Yang Hao would be thoroughly framed.
As Yang Hao pressed harder, Shuangfei’s story grew even more absurd: “It was that scoundrel Yang Hao! He not only poisoned the emperor but also kidnapped and violated me. Such a traitor deserves to be flayed alive, flayed alive! He raped me, Your Majesty, please avenge me. Please go and take his life quickly.”
Yang Hao nearly fainted from anger. What was this nonsense? He had never even met this woman before, yet she dared to accuse him of rape. Clearly, Wang Tao wanted revenge for his brother and deputy captain Jinde, and was determined to destroy Yang Hao completely.
“Enough! Enough!” Yang Hao finally couldn’t take it anymore and shouted to stop Shuangfei’s wild storytelling.
Shuangfei was just getting warmed up, ready to recite the entire script Wang Tao had taught her, but before she could reach the part about usurping the throne, she was interrupted. Only then did she finally look up—and what she saw shocked her speechless.
The person before her wasn’t the ghost of Emperor Danzhen at all, but a handsome young man with short hair and a tall, slender build. This young man’s face was dark with fury, his eyes blazing with murderous intent—he looked ready to kill.
“Who are you? Who are you?” Shuangfei shrank back, trembling on the floor.
“Who am I?” Yang Hao grinned through clenched teeth. “You don’t recognize me? Didn’t you just claim I poisoned Emperor Danzhen and violated you? How come you don’t recognize me now?”
“You’re Yang Hao!!” Only then did Shuangfei realize what had happened.
“Exactly. I’m your grandfather Yang Hao. How dare you frame me? Do you even want to live anymore?” In his fury, Yang Hao’s anger manifested as real flames, making him look like a terrifying demon.
Shuangfei was truly a coward. Frightened like this, she couldn’t even scream for help. She only let out a muffled “Ugh!” before fainting dead away again.
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