The Female Psychology PhD Who Time Traveled to the Royal Harem

The sudden appearance of Jiang Xinyue caught the old ministers off guard.

While they were used to gossiping about others behind their backs, being caught red-handed by the person in question was rather awkward.

Why is the Emperor acting like this?

The resentful gazes of the old ministers turned toward the Emperor, who scratched his nose and looked up at the sky.

"It is I who am speaking to you. Why are you all looking at the Emperor?"

Jiang Xinyue sneered, "Or is it that you simply look down on women while being overly lenient toward men? When two people commit a wrongdoing, you only mention the woman’s name. Is this what you consider the proper relationship between men and women?"

This is nothing but a warped sense of male superiority.

Why didn’t they mention Meng Qingyu’s name?

He is the beloved disciple of the Cavalry General.

To ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‍drag his name through the mud would mean making an enemy of the Cavalry General’s household.

"Have you all lost your tongues?"

The woman’s domineering voice echoed, "You believe rumors without question—is this how you govern? Without proper investigation, you rush to condemn others. You are officials, not corpse keepers in a mortuary. You hammer people onto the pillar of shame with your words, but have you even bothered to investigate the truth? Do you always act so recklessly?"

"Empress Dowager, there’s no smoke without fire. If there were no truth to the matter, why would it be spreading like wildfire? Where is Shi Ruojun? She didn’t even appear at the New Year’s banquet."

"Lord Ren, I heard your son is involved with the widow Zhang who sells tofu pudding in the east of the city. Is that true?"

"You—"

Lord Ren nearly cursed but held back, remembering who he was speaking to. "Empress Dowager, you yourself said that one should not spread unverified rumors. Why are you now slandering my son?"

"Oh? It’s not true? Well, never mind then."

"You!"

Lord Ren was seething, unable to vent his anger or swallow it.

His son still had to take the imperial exams and enter the court. What if the Emperor took Jiang Xinyue’s casual remark seriously?

"Lord Ren, your anger baffles me."

Jiang Xinyue’s eyes were mocking. "What I just did to you is no different from what you all did to me. A single sentence from me has you fuming, yet when all of you slandered me, should I have been driven to despair?"

Indeed!

Jiang Xinyue had never met Lord Ren’s son and had simply made up a lie, yet Lord Ren was already red-faced and furious. Meanwhile, these elderly officials, relying on hearsay, had come before the Emperor demanding harsh punishment for Jiang Xinyue. How were their actions any nobler than hers?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The old ministers, including Lord Gao and Lord Ren, felt as if they had been slapped in the face by the Empress Dowager.

Lord Gao, being the more composed of the group, didn’t let Jiang Xinyue’s words derail him. "We were indeed hasty. But may I ask, is the matter true or not?"

"False."

...

The ministers waited silently for Jiang Xinyue to produce evidence, but she simply looked at them with unwavering confidence, offering no further explanation beyond those two words.

False!

And then what?

Jiang Xinyue looked at them incredulously. "I’ve already said it’s false. What more do you want? Do you think the Emperor dotes on me so much that he’d willingly wear a cuckold’s hat? Are you insane, or is the Emperor?"

The Emperor’s expression darkened instantly, and his gaze toward the old ministers turned displeased.

Lord Gao knelt in fear. "Your Majesty, that’s not what I meant. I merely—"

Wanted to raise a reasonable question.

"You’re all being utterly unreasonable. When I mentioned Lord Ren’s son and the widow Zhang, Lord Ren denied it, and I believed him. Yet when I say it’s false, you keep pressing."

Lord Ren, who had been caught in the crossfire, was once again on the verge of collapsing in anger!

Jiang Xinyue looked hurt, and this time, the Emperor didn’t pretend not to notice. "Enough. The Empress Dowager is right. As pillars of the court, you shouldn’t believe every rumor you hear. At the very least, you need evidence before coming to me with your accusations."

The old ministers glanced at each other.

Where were they supposed to find evidence?

Meng Qingyu was at the front lines, and Shi Ruojun must have followed him. How could they prove anything?

It wasn’t like they could send someone to the border just to gather evidence!

Not to mention the difficulty of entering the military camp as civilians, the Cavalry General was fiercely protective. If he found out they were targeting Meng Qingyu, he’d likely have them killed on the spot.

Their only evidence was that Shi Ruojun wasn’t in the palace.

But they couldn’t demand that the Emperor parade his concubine before a group of men based on such baseless rumors.

That would be improper.

Jiang Xinyue snorted beside them. "Exactly! Meng Qingyu is the perfect match I found for my favorite maid. Ask anyone in the palace—they all know my Xi Que is the one Meng Qingyu loves. Once this war is over, he’s coming back to marry her."

Huh?

The old ministers exchanged confused glances.

They knew Xi Que!

She was the spirited little maid who always followed the Empress Dowager around.

She was indeed the Empress Dowager’s most trusted attendant.

The Empress Dowager wouldn’t set her up for failure.

So who was trying to manipulate them into being pawns?

"Why are you still standing here? Leave!"

With the Emperor’s dismissal, the old ministers could only slink away in defeat.

Once they were gone, the Emperor turned to Jiang Xinyue with a smirk. "Come here."

Given how he had backed her up earlier, Jiang Xinyue decided to forgive his overly dramatic display and obediently walked over.

"Tell me, what’s your plan in sending Shi Ruojun to Fusang?"

"Your Majesty, I knew I couldn’t hide anything from your sharp eyes. But how did you figure it out so quickly? I wanted to surprise you!"

"Trying to deceive me won’t work. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just guess."

He believed that he and Jiang Xinyue were always on the same wavelength.

Jiang Xinyue covered his mouth. "Don’t guess. I’ll tell you."

If he guessed and it didn’t meet his expectations, even if Shi Ruojun fulfilled her mission, the impact would be diminished.

So Jiang Xinyue had kept her plan secret, giving Shi Ruojun a way out.

"Fusang is a small country, hiding behind Goguryeo. To conquer Fusang, we’d have to defeat Goguryeo first. They think they’re safe, but I plan to use Goguryeo’s name to assassinate the King of Fusang."

"When the King of Fusang dies and Goguryeo is defeated, I’ll spread the word that Goguryeo never intended to attack Great Yan. Instead, they conspired with Great Yan to destroy Fusang and drag the Jin Kingdom into the conflict. The correspondence between the Jin Kingdom and Goguryeo will serve as evidence that the Jin Kingdom planned to attack Great Yan."

How could they let the Jin Kingdom get away with such audacity without striking back?