Even though the young emperor was sitting on the throne, aside from a few veteran servants, almost no one else paid him any attention.

Yet despite all of this, the emperor was still the emperor, and the morning assembly was still the morning assembly.

Revealing skin was out of the question. Even just a wrinkle on the clothing would be considered great disrespect to the emperor. Losing one’s reputation would be considered a light punishment. A more severe punishment could cost one’s head. If anyone went online freely, that might even bring shame to the entire family.

Had the Chief of Shanghai been jinxed or something? Why would he suddenly ask someone to strip their clothes down in public before the crowd?

It wasn’t just Huang Song that had this question. The rest of the ministers and servants were all confused about this request.

While Wuma Shang’s personality wasn’t the most pleasant, he wasn’t a reckless and rude person who would ask someone to prance around naked during a morning assembly.

Wuma Shang ignored Huang Song and said, “Since this person has refused, I cannot force him either. Liu Xi has ulterior motives and will not cooperate with me to reveal evidence; however, I don’t think she can continue getting away with her lies before us. Your Highness, I have a witness who can prove that Liu Xi is a liar who tricks the imperial court and world by stealing identities. He must not be given the title of the Wanzhou Magistrate! Please summon the witness, Your Highness.”

The young emperor was dumbfounded and didn’t know how to react. He turned his head to glance back at the empress dowager.

He had no idea what was happening and always liked to rely on his mother whenever he ran into trouble, like right now.

Behind a thin layer of silk, one could see the silhouette of the empress dowager nodding her head slightly.

The young emperor calmed down a little and said shyly, “Then, shall we bring the witness over? What do my close subjects think?”

“Your Highness, the morning assembly is an important meeting place to discuss the future of the country. How can we let anyone step in as they please?” Huang Song frowned and announced his disagreement. “The way I see it, Chief Wuma doesn’t need a witness. He needs a bowl of soup to sober up. One bowl and I’ll guarantee that he’ll be awake enough to stop this nonsense. How can we let him recklessly do as he pleases during such an important meeting?”

Wuma Shang sneered as his eyes swam between Huang Song and Jiang Pengji.

He then announced, to everyone’s shock, “I see. The reason why Chief Huang is so protective of Liu Xi is that he is a little concubine.”

At this comment, Huang Song was enraged, and the ministers and servants all began chattering among themselves.

As spectators of the meeting, they felt that the morning assembly was much different than previous ones, bringing them some shocking gossip.

Homosexuality wasn’t uncommon, and even among ministers, there were sworn bothers with very close relationships that were comparable to those of good friends or even lovers. Yet these relationships would never be brought up publicly because, despite being considered a refined activity, at the end of the day, it was still a violation of the Yin and Yang order of human relationships.

So even though it wasn’t a shameful act, very few people would ever reveal a sworn-brother relationship in public.

The spectators were all joining in as if they were watching a show, but Huang Song was completely shocked.

He responded with a hint of anger in his tone, “I am not as shameless as Chief Wuma. Same-sex relationships should not be used as slander.”

Then, he shot a glance towards Jiang Pengji to hint that she should also make a statement to clear her name.

Otherwise, if they continued to let the rumor spread, could the two even keep their reputations?

Huang Song felt his legs tremble as he thought about his wife at home.

If she were to learn about this baseless rumor, Huang Song felt like the only thing that would await him when he went home would be his wife’s violent hammer.

However, no matter how much Huang Song hinted at her, Jiang Pengji ignored it as if she were blind.

As the person in question, she glanced down coldly without a word, as if the situation in the imperial court was none of her business.

To make things more interesting, as the father of the person in question, Liu She also remained cold.

The two were completely unaffected and put up the same high-and-mighty “this is none of our business” attitude while Huang Song and Wuma Shang got extremely worked up.

Wuma Shang mocked, “The more you try to hide, the more you expose yourself.”

Verbal fights weren’t Huang Song’s forte, and now, faced with a shameless accuser, Huang Song’s first instinct was to pick a physical fight.

However, violence during the morning assembly was also a crime, similar to a sloppily-dressed person, so he forced himself to contain his anger.

Wuma Shang, who thought he had taken advantage of the situation, glanced toward Jiang Pengji like he was the winner.

“Your Highness, if the liar attempts to trick his way through, he will definitely get on the people’s nerves and cause a wave of unrest. So please allow me to summon the witness and reveal Liu Xi’s true face.” Wuma Shang didn’t back down and made everyone else both anxious and furious.

Jiang Pengji watched with a sneer while the audience in her livestream pulled out their torture weapons to beat up Wuma Shang with their words.

The young emperor had no opinion of his own and turned his head to look at his mother again.

The empress dowager, who was listening in behind the silk curtain, once again nodded at her son. The young emperor thought about it for a little and finally allowed it.

Gugu Gugu: Holy moly! The former queen is way too heartless. She was just asking the host to lay on her lap and taking the host’s hands to make the host touch her breasts. And now she’s completely flipping sides. Anyone with eyes can tell that the reason why Wuma Shang is throwing things out there right now is that he must have some evidence against the host on his hands. The empress dowager should’ve turned it down kindly to buy some time! Why did she allow it?

Gege Gege: Pfft! Hey, person above, you’re too upright. Anyone that doesn’t know this place would think our channel’s dirty. Isn’t it kind of normal for the empress dowager to be mad at the host right now? She tried to get on the host’s good side only to gain the support of their family so that she could secure her and her son’s position. Now that everything’s settled, she doesn’t need the help of the host’s family, so she’s just tossing them away. Isn’t that how it normally is?

Gege Gege: And one more thing. The host never satisfied that sly woman’s desires that day and only watched her suffer under the effects of aphrodisiacs for two whole hours. If that was me, I’d probably also hold a grudge and perform a small act of revenge against the host or something.

Jiang Pengji glanced at the comments on the stream as they continued chatting in a lively manner amongst each other.

However, their reasons were all secondary.

The empress dowager might be short-sighted, but she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t be dumb enough to turn against Jiang Pengji because of a little humiliation.

Unless she had already found stronger support, which would mean she would easily be able to turn against Jiang Pengji with a new layer of protection.

Yet facts proved that Jiang Pengji’s guess was correct.

Wuma Shang thought the throne would be easy to claim until he was hit hard in the face. However, he was very ambitious and not someone who would give up that easily. The empress dowager had entered his hunting zone, and when he controlled her, he would also control the young emperor.

At that time, while Wuma Shang wasn’t the emperor by name, he would still function almost like an emperor.

On the other hand, the empress dowager also wanted to find a stable partner to work with, and hopefully someone who would secure her position with her son.

That was why the two almost immediately clicked.

The empress dowager needed Wuma Shang’s authority, and Wuma Shang wanted to use the empress dowager to control the emperor.

The two both had their own agendas and needs.

This was why it was reasonable for the empress dowager to cooperate with Wuma Shang to publicly shame Jiang Pengji at the morning assembly.

However, their level was still slightly below average.

Jiang Pengji finally spoke.

She smiled and said, “I have no objections. Let the witness come in as the chief said.”

Just then, Wuma Shang’s gaze stagnated slightly and made his expression seem a little bit unnatural.