The woman emperor paused for a moment, then broke into a gloating smile.

"Kang Luo has lost to you over and over. Now that you're not in the Great Xuan, he's bound to take the chance to get his revenge.

And there's the Tuoluo Kingdom. You flattened the North Royal Court and even burned down their Imperial Court. With you no longer guarding the Great Xuan, do you think they'll pass up a chance like this?

It looks like this emperor really doesn't need to lift a finger. The Great Xuan is about to be in big trouble!

Still, this emperor can't just do nothing. Double the price of the glass and everything else we sell to the Great Xuan!"

Ning Chen: "..."

The woman emperor smiled. "Of course, this emperor won't raise prices now. This emperor will raise them when Nanyue and the Tuoluo Kingdom come for their revenge... If the new emperor of the Great Xuan dares say no, he won't just be facing Nanyue and the Tuoluo Kingdom. He'll be facing the Wu Kingdom's army too."

Ning Chen gave her a thumbs-up. That was a beautiful way to loot a house while it burned.

If she raised prices now, the new emperor of the Great Xuan might not agree. But if she raised them once the Great Xuan was in trouble and he refused, he'd have enemies on every side. (TL Note: Literally "Chu songs on all four sides," from the story of Xiang Yu, who heard his enemies' camps all around him singing the songs of his own homeland of Chu and knew he was surrounded and lost.)

The woman emperor stretched. "All right. The road was bumpy, and this emperor is a little tired... Find this emperor somewhere to stay."

Ning Chen smiled. "As you command!"

That evening, Ning Chen held a banquet for the woman emperor.

Yudie and the others were all at the table.

Ning Chen had meant to smooth things over between them, but the woman emperor and the Ninth Princess started going at each other again.

But both of them were…