Begging

At this moment, Su Lin snorted through his nose with a, "Hmph", causing them to tremble, but contrary to what they expected, Su Lin had pulled all the pressure off them, and calmly returned to his throne.

But even though there was nothing weighing them down anymore, they didn't dare to get up, they just adjusted their posture and remained kneeling on the ground.

Su Lin crossed one leg over the other, rested his back on the throne chair, put his palms together, and looked at them intently.

His eyes roamed over each one of them with the mindset of memorizing the forms of his servants… his ministers in order to take care of them in the future.

But he didn't know that in return, every time the officials felt the gaze passing over them, their bodies would tremble with fear, and they would lower their heads even more.

The officials waited for the punishment to come down with looks filled with regret and unwillingness, they wanted to resist but they also understood that at this time it didn't matter how unwilling they were.

In front of the absolute power that Su Lin had shown, their resistance was futile. 

Everyone hoped that Su Lin would be wise and think about the future of the Shu Dynasty and not kill all the officials, and that they would be the lucky ones who were not chosen. 

But even after waiting for a long time, Su Lin did not speak or do anything, which made the officials who did not dare to raise their heads and look at Su Lin feel tense. 

A stifling atmosphere spread among the officials, and some felt suffocated and could not breathe normally at this moment. It felt like a whole second was passing by as if it were an hour for them. 

Only when some could no longer bear the situation, Su Lin finished recalling their appearances and noticed the tense atmosphere. 

"Hmm?", Su Lin raised his eyebrows in confusion, thinking to himself, "What is going on with these people? Why are they not getting up.." 

"Could it be that I caused them psychological trauma earlier?", Su Lin felt a little guilty. 

Su Lin thought anxiously, "They won't end up unable to work anymore, right?" 

 "This won't work! I need to do something quickly." Thinking that he wouldn't be able to escape the consequences of the work, Su Lin also felt afraid.

The next moment, Su Lin showed a bright smile and said in a gentle, reassuring tone to the officials, at least if they didn't witness the previous scene, it would be.

"My dear ministers, how long will you stay on the ground? You will catch a cold. Get up quickly."

Their bodies stiffened and they did not understand what Su Lin meant, but the next sentence made them understand.

Su Lin suddenly thought of an idea that might help in this situation and asked expectantly, "Or do you want me to help you stand up myself?"

Su Lin thought that if he helped them stand up himself, they would feel moved and forget what had happened.

But contrary to his expectations, all the officials heard was, "Do you want this emperor to help you myself? Are you looking for death?"

A shiver ran through their bodies and the officials quickly got up in fear. They did not dare to delay. Who knew if the Seventh Prince would feel insulted and kill them just because they were late.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. We can get up ourselves," one of them quickly spoke and waved his hands anxiously.

 Although they had directly endured Su Lin's pressure, because he had retreated because he didn't want to kill them and didn't use his full strength, they weren't hurt much and were able to get back on their feet quickly.

"Um," Su Lin nodded in disappointment.

Su Lin looked at these ministers who, unlike their previous lively and energetic selves, were now looking down with eyes filled with despair and hopelessness.

Su Lin felt uncomfortable and anxious at this appearance, and thought to himself, "They won't resign, right? Isn't this just some bullying with power, do they need to be this sensitive?"

Just when Su Lin didn't know what to do, the next moment, Gu Jung Wei who was behind him stepped forward in front of Su Lin and knelt down without hesitation under the throne chair and cried out loudly with tears in his eyes.

 "The traitorous minister greets His Majesty, I beg Your Majesty to punish this minister but save my life"

"This humble minister still can't die yet, this minister still hasn't served Your Majesty yet, also this minister has an old mother who can't take care of herself, and also a young daughter who he still hasn't seen get married"

"In addition, this minister has a large family to support, this minister begs Your Majesty to be merciful and have mercy on him"

Looking at the prime minister kneeling on the ground with tears and snot pouring down his face without stopping, and screaming in grief, the frightened officials regained their sanity.

At this moment, the saying "behind every mountain is a bigger mountain" resurfaced in their minds, although they thought they were being rude, the prime minister at this moment made them feel ashamed.

A look of contempt flashed in their eyes for the prime minister, they didn't expect him to go to this extent just to save his life, he really is rude, then…

He didn't hesitate and the next second they followed after him and knelt down as well and started performing. 

"Have mercy on me, Your Majesty, I have 67 children who need to be fed, without them they will starve to death..."

Have mercy on me, Your Majesty, I have 10 mothers...mistake I have 10 wives without them they will end up as spinsters..."

"Have mercy on me, Your Majesty, I...this...is true I have, um...have mercy on me, Your Majesty"

"..."