The Right Way to Handle a Tyrant - Chapter 2

Jing Yao did appoint me guest minister, but my rapid rise displeased certain people.

The first to make trouble were his royal uncles.

As expected, the first obstacle faced by an outsider at court or an outsider marrying into a family was the same: the annoying local relatives.

After court, Jing Yao summoned me to his study and had someone bring in a whole basket of memorials.

“Guess what all these memorials say, my dear minister.”

What else could they say? His uncles must have put people up to slandering me.

I chose my words delicately. “They accuse Your Majesty of poor judgment and muddled thinking, of being bewitched by an outsider such as myself.”

Jing Yao clicked his tongue.

I hastily bowed. “Your servant would not dare.”

He laughed in exasperation. “What is it you would not dare? You never seem anything less than bold.”

I was talented, and now I could bear your children. Why shouldn’t I be bold?

He dismissed the attendants and shifted to one side.

Taking the hint, I obediently sat beside him.

With his arm draped along the chair back and his chin propped on his hand, he regarded me.

“How, then, do you think we should teach these people slandering me a lesson?”

I sighed. “Your uncles are elderly. They ought not to trouble themselves so much. Perhaps they could return to their fiefs and enjoy their remaining years?”

Jing Yao had only recently taken the throne. These royal uncles disapproved of his policies and spent every day telling him what to do. Thoroughly tiresome.

He was giving me an assignment: find a reasonable, defensible way to send his troublesome relatives packing. He could test my abilities at the same time.

There lay the difference between a sovereign and a husband.

If you married into a family and the relatives bullied you, you could scold your husband for being useless and letting them mistreat his wife.

With a sovereign, you had to make yourself useful, deal with his relatives for him, then thank him afterward.

Ah, to be reborn a king in my next life.

After a moment’s thought, I sat straight down on Jing Yao’s lap.

He narrowed his eyes. “It is broad daylight. What are you doing?”

“Your servant wishes to ease Your Majesty’s burdens.”

I took his hand and lifted it before his eyes.

“Could Your Majesty let a little something slip through your fingers for me?”

He raised an eyebrow and slowly closed his fingers. “What something?”

I leaned to his ear. “Real authority. The authority to command civil officials and military officers.”

He held me close with one arm, turned, and settled me in the chair, then bent toward me.

“You certainly don’t hold back.”

I looked up at that handsome face. If I was about to do the hard work, surely I should collect a little sweetness first?

My words carried two meanings. “Since your servant has asked so openly, Your Majesty might as well give generously.”

Jing Yao was generous indeed.

In broad daylight, desire stirred. The golden dragon plunged into deep waters, and sweat glistened.

After that day, everyone who disliked me was in excellent spirits.

A little inquiry told me why. They thought their basketful of complaints had enraged the king, who had shut me in his study and reprimanded me until I wept helplessly, overcome with shame.