Chapter 32: You Are All Such Hypocrites

"Hmm? Miss Jiang, are you sleepwalking?"

Li Wenxuan, having opened his door to find the landlord's daughter standing before him with her eyes closed, expressionless and as stiff as a statue, suddenly blinked, the thought of somnambulism crossing his mind.

It was said that when someone was sleepwalking, one should not wake them abruptly.

Still... it was freezing outside; he couldn't just leave the poor girl standing there, could he?

Should he invite her inside?

It would certainly be warmer, but they were a man and a woman alone. He wasn't worried for himself, but if the landlord's daughter had any inappropriate intentions, it might tarnish his pristine reputation.

With a grunt of effort, Li Wenxuan hoisted the landlord's daughter onto his shoulder...

Inside the room, the elderly Jiang couple sat in silence, their grief so profound they seemed to have forgotten how to weep. Only when they glanced occasionally at their young son, who was soundly asleep on a simple wooden bed nearby, did a flicker of life return to their dull, hollow eyes.

*Bang—!*

Just then, the tightly shut door was shoved open.

The young Centurion, draped in a blood-red cloak, strode in carrying the statue-like Jiang Xiaoxiao—who had been prepared to let a beast have his way with her—and set her down on the bed.

"You parents are far too irresponsible. Your daughter is sleepwalking and wandering about, yet you pay her no mind."

After placing Jiang Xiaoxiao on the bed, Li Wenxuan couldn't help but reach out and pinch the chubby cheek of the sleeping Jiang Asheng before turning to leave.

The polite Centurion even made sure to close the door behind him.

A moment later, Old Man Jiang and his wife scrambled to their feet, stumbling to the bedside. The elderly couple stared wide-eyed as their daughter slowly opened her eyes, looking around in utter bewilderment, and sat up as if waking from a dream.

In Jiang Xiaoxiao’s mind, the scene from earlier that day resurfaced—the way the Centurion had acted after she and her father had been frightened into unconsciousness... She had thought then that he didn't seem like a bad man at all. But then, the things that thieving soldier had said, constantly threatening to "slaughter her whole family"... and so she had discarded those hopeful thoughts.

Now, looking at her parents, she shrank her neck and whispered timidly: "It seems... he really was just here to rent a room... that's all?"

***

Deep within the Imperial Palace, the Martial Emperor finished his day of weeding out corruption, his face weary.

So, the ministers who appeared so loyal were all like that behind closed doors?

"I... I am truly disappointed in all of you."

The Prime Minister, complaining of cold legs and feet in winter, had procured four eighteen-year-old virgins. Where he rested his feet, two virgins would cradle them against their bare chests to keep them warm, while two more lay on either