Chapter 1 A Real Waste of Effort

"Guigui, is there really no other way?"

[Host, it's already good enough that I'm letting you watch the livestream.]

"But Lu Xiaoyao's livestream perspective..."

Mingmei trailed off, the unspeakable meaning behind her words was not lost on Guigui.

The thought of a palace intrigue survival game being turned into a sand sculpture drama of "#The Years I Spent as a Eunuch#" by Lu Xiaoyao made her not want to watch it.

[But the other players aren't streaming.] Guigui refused mercilessly.

"So, does that mean I just eat and sleep during the day, and dance with Mu Chen at night?"

Guigui: [You can choose not to eat during the day and not to dance at night.]

Mingmei: …

Then what else could she do?

"If it were you, could you resist?" Mingmei pointed to the table filled with steaming breakfast that had been silently delivered that morning, with shrimp dumplings, shumai, char siu bao, sweet and savory porridge of all kinds. "How can I not eat this? There's another table at noon, tea and fruit in the afternoon, and at night there's..."

Guigui: […]

Hmph, it wasn't jealous, not jealous at all!

Seeing that Guigui didn't answer, Mingmei sat down at the dining table and began to enjoy the delicacies. While eating, she gently bit her chopsticks and tentatively asked, "Can't I really see the perspectives of other players? I won't watch, you watch and relay it to me."

Guigui: […]

Her host's demands were becoming increasingly outrageous!

What did she take it for, a relay broadcaster?

"Guigui ah~~~"

Seeing that Guigui wouldn't budge, Mingmei drawled out the last syllable and said, "I'll send you to Lord Main Brain for further study after the game ends?"

[Which player's livestream do you want to watch?]

Mingmei: ?

[Never mind, I've already set it up for you, you can switch and choose yourself.]

Guigui's change of face was so fast that before she could say anything else, the livestream screens of different players in the entire game, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, appeared in front of her, ready to be switched at will.

Wow!

Mingmei carefully watched each livestream. The livestream scenes of five players were almost identical. Mingmei took another look.

Oh, everyone was attending court~

Speaking of attending court, Zhen Hu looked at Yuan Fang, who was standing straight in front of him, and then glanced at Zhen Po, who was swaying noticeably behind him due to sleepiness. The contrast was stark.

Had his brother gone to be a thief last night?

Zhen Hu wondered.

Julian, standing in front of Zhen Po, had also noticed that the other party was dozing off during court. Wasn't this like sleeping in front of one's supervisor at school, or slacking off in front of the boss at work?

In fact, Julian seemed to feel a gaze from above them?

Although it was fleeting, the feeling of palpitation that came with being seen by the other party made Julian think that Zhen Po had definitely been discovered!

Right in front, and above, who else could it be but the Emperor?

Just as Julian thought, Mu Chen saw it, but he didn't expose it. Instead, he multitasked, listening to the other courtiers' reports while watching Zhen Po "pecking rice" (nodding off).

Then he saw Zhen Hu in front of him, carefully trying to block his view with his position to cover up for his brother.

Then, he glanced at Julian behind Zhen Po, who was also moving his feet silently, as if he wanted to be eight hundred meters away from Zhen Po, lest he be implicated.

And Yuan Fang, standing at the very front, with his rigid, formal demeanor, could almost be a stand-in for the other NPCs in the game. The way everyone was trying to "perform" pleased him.

Therefore, Mingmei saw Mu Chen's lips curve slightly in Yuan Fang's perspective. As Mingmei whispered, "He's going to stir up trouble again," Mu Chen really started to stir up trouble again.

He once again questioned the four players about the matter from yesterday.

After yesterday, they had been punished to kneel and reprimanded, and with the information they had digested, the memorials and arrangements of the four, starting with Yuan Fang, had become much more restrained.

Zhen Hu and Julian also knew that the most important thing at hand was the disaster relief, and they didn't cause any trouble in selecting officials to go ahead and provide disaster relief.

However, Mu Chen understood that disaster relief was not an easy task. The reconstruction and governance of the affected areas after the disaster was even more important.

This disaster area had been a prosperous land since ancient times. The unexpected flood had already caused a number of local officials to fall from grace, and the post-disaster construction and governance was in need of manpower.

Therefore, they all tacitly chose to divide the problem into two, first focusing on answering the most important part—the relief and arrangements for the victims of the disaster.

They weren't afraid that the officials who did well in disaster relief would be directly left there, because there were always one or two of their own people among the officials recommended to go.

What surprised Mu Chen the most was Zhen Po, who was so sleepy that he could barely open his eyes. Not only were the suggestions in his memorial pertinent, but the list of officials he selected didn't include any of his own people.

So, Mu Chen took out Zhen Po's memorial and asked him to repeat it in front of everyone.

Mingmei laughed when she saw Zhen Po, who had been suddenly woken up and was dazed and trembling all over. She almost choked on the shrimp dumpling she had just stuffed into her mouth.

"Mu Chen is doing it on purpose~" Mingmei smiled and put down her chopsticks. "He probably noticed Zhen Po secretly sleeping a long time ago."

Mingmei teased, Zhen Po came back to his senses and noticed that everyone was staring at him. He looked up, and Zhen Po almost went weak in the knees and knelt down.

He didn't mean to fall asleep!!!

What to do?!

What should he explain?

"Feng Tai, do you have any reason for choosing these people? Tell me about it."

As if deliberately ignoring Zhen Po's previous gaffe, Mu Chen's attitude was now considered gentle, and Mingmei even saw praise in Mu Chen's eyes.

Even Lu Xiaoyao, that silly sweet girl, could tell that Zhen Po seemed to have left a good impression on the Emperor!

[Woah? Is something up with this Prince An? The probability seems a bit high? The Emperor didn't even scold him for falling asleep!]

[Really?]

[Maybe he's just saving face and will scold him after court? After all, so many people are in the meeting, if he picks on one person, will the other things get discussed?]

[Oh, that's true.]

[That's not necessarily the case, at least Prince An is in the lead today~]

……

"Replying, Your Majesty, I believe..."

Zhen Po was relieved that Mu Chen had suddenly let him off, and quickly stepped forward and began to talk about the list he had spent all night researching.

Actually, he had no choice.

The local officials who were imprisoned first after the flood were from his father-in-law's side, and even his father-in-law, Duke Nan'an, had been claiming illness and avoiding people recently, so he had to avoid suspicion even more.

Moreover, he realized that none of his people were very suitable for this event, so he didn't recommend his own people, but instead recommended some honest, hard-working officials without much background.

After Zhen Po finished speaking, he really didn't expect that the Emperor would actually agree with his suggestion.

"It's a coincidence that the people Ying Wang chose also overlap with your selections. It seems that you brothers are of one mind." After Mu Chen said this, the meaningful, half-smiling look immediately alerted Yuan Fang, who was standing at the very front.

If it weren't for the fact that he was attending court and standing at the front, he would definitely turn around to see Julian's expression at this moment.

Yesterday he was still thinking about the threat Ying Wang posed to him, but today, with one sentence from the "NPC," Yuan Fang directly brought Zhen Po and Julian to the forefront.

He even wondered if these two had secretly joined forces.

Julian only felt that the gazes falling on him had suddenly increased, and Julian, who had originally wanted to be an invisible man, was now feeling uneasy.

Who knew that most of the people Zhen Po chose would actually be his people?!!

The key was that the Emperor had pointed it out!

It was useless for him to continue "playing dead" at this time, so he simply followed Jing An Emperor's words and praised Zhen Po for thinking more carefully, and that he, as a younger brother, still had much to learn.

Even if the two of them were in the spotlight, Julian didn't want to be the one attracting the most fire.

In an instant, Julian had all kinds of plans and strategies in his mind.

In the time it took to eat breakfast, Mingmei watched Mu Chen directly set up two players, while she, so far, hadn't sold a single boxed lunch ＿(：3」∠)_