The Empress’ Livestream

That was not the only stumped viewer. Soon there were many comments with expletives flying across the screen.

Jiang Pengji inwardly laughed when she saw the comments.

That teacher was infamous for being strict. The fussy, elderly teacher was all about courtesy and postures. If your sitting posture was even slightly off, he would correct it.

For the cousin, who was considered an adult in this era, to have behaved so poorly was an abomination.

It was not just the olden days in which one’s posture and image was important. Even in the modern or the future world, a child would be reprimanded by his elders if he were caught being undignified.

Toudu Feiqiu: “Hahaha… I got it. That kid probably experienced something last night, and the host let him go home to rest.”

Well, he did experience something. But his night had not been spent with a girl, but with a respectable man.

Jiang Pengji was very sensitive to smells. When her cousin was near, she detected another person’s scent on him. He must have been intimate with this person for a long time. She recognized the other person’s scent on him. It belonged to the page boy who served him.

His throat also had a small hickey, and he was walking a little funny… Jiang Pengji tsked with emotion. Kids from the olden days were so much more open-minded.

Wutian: “I got it! This was totally what I just said. An experienced gay guy preying on the younger ones hahaha.”

Jiang Pengji laughed as she read the dirty comments.

Bawo De Pao Nalai: “Eh, if it’s just a joke that’s ok. If it’s real, that feels gross.”

Jiang Pengji was pretty open-minded when it came to homosexuality. In her world, same-sex marriage was legal.

Host V: “It’s not gross. In this time and age, it’s a sort of beautiful bro-mance. It’s common to see a man with a concubine and gay partner in his arms while they talk about their romance or poetry.”

Jiang Pengji had searched through Liu Lanting’s memories and found that this was true for the time period she was in. Men thought that being fair and slim was beautiful. It was normal for men to apply makeup and wear bright colors. In some extreme cases, men would not leave their rooms without applying makeup.

Bawo De Pao Nalai: “But… In this world, once you’re of age, you have to marry. If men ended up being gay… Would they not get married?”

In the modern era, it was common for gay men to have wives. If a wife found out about her husband’s secret, she could just divorce him. But that couldn’t happen in the olden days, could it? Even if the wife felt disgusted, she would have to tolerate it for the rest of her life.

Jiang Pengji had never thought about this problem before. In her mind, there was no such concept as “marriage.”

She rolled her eyes and thought of a good reply for her viewers.

Host V: “No matter how dainty and pretty a guy is, their gender is still wrong for me. No interest there.”

Silence…

Then a System message indicated that Baihe Saigao had given her 520 Hearts.

Hearts and Lollipops had the same value; the only difference was their icons.

Toudu Feiqiu: “I’m fired up! I love this frank and savage side of you.”

A System message indicated that Toudu Feiqiu gave Jiang Pengji 520 Hearts.

Within mere moments, the number of System messages about Hearts and Lollipops flooded the screen.

Jiang Pengji: “…”

Jiang Pengji felt like there was a generation gap between her and the people from the olden days, and she also felt a gap between herself and the viewers. Had she said something that triggered her audience? She was quite dumbfounded by the sudden number of virtual gifts.

The System hid its excitement and poked Jiang Pengji. “Do you see now?”

“See what?” Jiang Pengji raised an eyebrow.

“You need to be relatable to your audience in order to get gifts. Once a viewer starts gifting you, the others will follow… So do you want me to be your ghost user? I can occasionally give you rewards and get the ball rolling.”

Jiang Pengji rejected the System’s offer with vehemence. “No.”

The System was pissed. When will its host be a proper streamer? These were all methods used by other streamers, and they did not consider it fraudulent. It was a small investment on the System’s part in exchange for more benefits. Why would Jiang Pengji reject that?

No matter how talented a streamer was, they would still need some help to create hype. How else would the rich viewers learn of the streamer’s existence?

If it were not for ghost viewers creating hype and splurging on the streamer, how would any streamer have rich viewers? The ghost viewers splurged by giving the streamer Hearts and Lollipops, which caused other viewers to be competitive and give more rewards to the streamer.

As Jiang Pengji chatted with the System, she was caught by the teacher.

“Liu Xi, repeat what I had just said.”

The elderly teacher wore a strict expression. If it were anybody else, he would have reprimanded the student for not paying attention. But he did not have the heart to do that to Liu Lanting. Lanting was currently the talk of Hejian, the one who had been kidnapped by bandits two days ago.

Jiang Pengji stood up and recited everything the teacher had said.

The elderly scholar stroked his beard happily. He asked, “So, what are your views on this?”

There are some people who were born to study, but Jiang Pengji had a perfect memory with top-notch analytical skills. When she memorized something, she could understand it at the same time.

The other students had high expectations of Liu Lanting, Liu She’s only son.

The literary work the elderly scholar had just been talking about was called The Three Noble Families North of Xinjiang: Reconciliation Through Enticement, or Strike Back by Terrorizing?. It was written by one of the renowned scholars of the time. The content of the essay was interesting and had nothing to do with romance. The main topic was about the hidden danger in Dongxing’s northern borders.

The author of the literary work felt that the three noble families and Dongxing had suffered many losses. The borders had taken the worst of the hit. People there had no means of livelihood, and they were exhausted. The three families were currently talking about peace, and they were hinting that they would marry their daughters into Dongxing.

Why not take advantage of the situation? If Dongxing accepted the peace treaty, both parties could finally cease the battles and let their people rest.

However, a peace treaty could only be agreed upon when one side was defeated.

“We aren’t from the same place; therefore our ideology would be different. The three families are greedy. Would that go away with such small favors?”

Without a real victor, who would want to have talks about peace?

Jiang Pengji gave a sardonic smile and continued, “Dongxing and the three families have been in a deadlock at the borders for a few years without a real victor. If there are any plans to agree on a peace treaty, what would come of the sacrifices that were made in the battle? This is a bad strategy that would only help the enemy and damage ourselves. And that renowned scholar who dared talk about the peace treaty should be punished.”

The elderly scholar’s gentle expression swiftly turned stiff. He did not expect Jiang Pengji to criticize the renowned scholar’s work.

The other students became restless. They were just discussing that essay and had mildly given their own views. No one was partial to advocating for war, but they were not partial to the peace treaty either. All the students had their own reasons for their views, but none had dared to pick a side.