Outside the Imperial Study, Grand Eunuch De spoke softly: “Your Majesty, Lord Shen has arrived.”
When Shen Du entered, he made sure the smell of blood on him had completely dissipated before stepping into the Imperial Study. Catching sight of the Eldest Princess, he offered her a slight, respectful nod before taking his seat nearby: “Today’s matters are concluded, so I am requesting half a month of leave. If Your Majesty has any urgent matters, just send someone to notify me.”
Hearing that Shen Du was taking leave, Xie Min raised his gaze slightly and spoke in a soft voice: “In that case, I will send two imperial physicians to follow Teacher back to his estate. Teacher has just been detoxified and still needs to properly recuperate his health.”
Shen Du raised his gaze slightly, uttered an acknowledgment, and then shifted the topic to the Eldest Princess: “The Empress Dowager is currently unwell. Recently, the inner palace will require much of the Eldest Princess’s time and care. When the new year sacrifices arrive, the Eldest Princess should also attend together.”
The new year sacrifices required the Emperor to lead all the civil and military officials to Tianshui Temple to pray to the heavens for blessings, wishing for favorable weather, national peace, and the people’s security in the coming year.
Hearing this, the Eldest Princess nodded: “There are plenty of medicinal herbs in my residence; later, I will have someone send them over to Lord Shen. Thank you as well, Lord Shen, for your efforts today. His Majesty is still young, and Lord Shen has truly put much thought into this.”
Shen Du gave an acknowledgment and then took his leave.
It was not until Shen Du had departed that Grand Eunuch De re-entered the Imperial Study, his expression completely calm as he reported: “Your Majesty, a palace maid from the Empress Dowager’s side has come to report that the Empress Dowager has fallen ill.”
Hearing these words, Xie Min, who had been conversing with the Eldest Princess, raised his head slightly with a trace of puzzlement in his gaze, then asked: “I remember that when we left the banquet just moments ago, the Empress Dowager was still perfectly fine.”
“Lord Shen led men to search all the palace staff within the Empress Dowager’s quarters and unexpectedly discovered that quite a few court attendants harbored malicious intentions, attempting to instigate discord between His Majesty and the Empress Dowager. Consequently, Lord Shen ordered them all executed on the spot. Upon seeing this, the Empress Dowager fainted.”
Hearing this, the Eldest Princess paused slightly with her teacup.
“Have the imperial physicians gone? Have someone select some medicinal herbs from my personal treasury and send to the Empress Dowager.” Xie Min instructed, but the Eldest Princess shook her head: “Reason and propriety dictate that since both His Majesty and I are still within the palace, we should also go pay a personal visit.”
Only by going in person could one watch a good show.
When Shen Du returned to his estate, the imperial physicians had already been waiting within the Shen residence for some time. Shen Du paid them no mind, simply instructing the head steward to assign a courtyard to the two of them. Once he entered his own bedchamber, with everyone else dismissed from his side,
Shen Du finally opened his mouth and spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the floor.
The blood was mixed with dark clots, and the system spoke softly: “I have done my absolute best to suppress the toxins to this level. Rest assured, as long as I am here, you will not die.”
The system offered this assurance; from the very beginning, it had stated it would protect Shen Du’s life.
Shen Du naturally believed it.
If the system wanted to harm him, it likely would never have bound itself to him in the first place.
It almost seemed that even if the mission failed, he wouldn’t suffer any permanent loss. Shen Du had died early in his own world, but now that a second life was laid out before him, he would grasp it firmly and cherish it dearly.
“By the way, the Enlightened Monarch index has risen by another five percent. Your efforts are yielding results.”
With that, the system fell silent.
Shen Du yawned, thinking that the steward could clean up the mess here tomorrow. Rolling himself up in the quilt, he fell into a deep sleep.
Over the next few days, imperial physicians came to take Shen Du’s pulse daily, but each result remained largely the same: toxins still lingered within Shen Du’s body. Even though he had survived, the remaining poison would likely leave him exceptionally frail from then on.
The only solution was careful recuperation in hopes of extending his lifespan by a few more years.
Shen Du dismissed the two imperial physicians and began cultivating his own secret guards. In the original text, not only did the original owner hold immense power, but he also commanded a personal network of elite shadow guards who acted like hawks and hounds, clearing away one trouble after another for him.
After arriving, Shen Du had initially set aside the establishment of these secret guards because he understood that building such a force would turn him into a thorn in the emperor’s side.
Yet, after experiencing the palace banquet, Shen Du understood even more clearly that without his own independent power base, anyone could move against him. Rather than dying at someone else’s hands, he would rather make himself strong enough from the outset so that no one would dare lay a finger on him.
Watching Shen Du’s efforts, the system offered guidance from time to time. Shen Du’s progress was rapid, and his own sphere of influence gradually took shape, beginning to execute tasks on his behalf.
Throughout these half-months, Shen Du’s factional network continuously matured, starting to resemble the powerful minister of the original text. The current Shen Du was unfathomable, and he finally experienced a true sense of power.
If his earlier success relied on system hints and exploiting the weaknesses known from the original text to keep the court in check, then wielding actual power now truly made him an Imperial Tutor in the true sense, one who could genuinely master human lives and deaths as depicted in the novel.
During this half-month, Shen Du accomplished a great deal. He collected comprehensive dossiers on the majority of the court officials, deployed his available secret guards systematically, and even began planting his own people inside various officials’ households.
Precisely because Shen Du was so occupied, the Shen residence closed its doors to visitors for half a month; regardless of who wished to visit, they were turned away at the gates.
Only endless streams of memorial folders and classified intelligence dispatches were delivered into the estate. The memorials reviewed by Shen Du were subsequently forwarded to the palace, while the confidential letters were burned by Shen Du himself.
Ever since the incident, the Empress Dowager had claimed illness and remained sequestered within her palace, failing to show herself in public.
Among the personnel Commander Kang had sent into the Empress Dowager’s palace on Shen Du’s orders, quite a few were actually Shen Du’s agents. They were specifically assigned to monitor the Empress Dowager’s every move so that Shen Du could be informed the very instant she plotted anything.
Yet the memorials arriving over the past two days frequently discussed the upcoming new year sacrifices and the approaching spring imperial examinations, leaving Shen Du with no choice but to give them extra consideration.
Preparations for the new year sacrifices had begun early within the court, especially since this was the first sacrificial ceremony since the new emperor’s ascension, making it the most grand and solemn occasion.
Shen Du paid particular attention to this matter, handling almost everything personally despite being on sick leave throughout the past half-month.
Meanwhile, historical imperial examinations served as prime opportunities for court officials to elevate their own protégés and faction members, prompting each minister to harbor their own hidden agendas.
Shen Du’s objective was to select the talents Xie Min needed during this spring examination session and cultivate them from the outset as his own people. That way, even if Xie Min remained detached from state affairs in the future, the surrounding officials would still ensure he functioned as an enlightened monarch.
Candidates who showed genuine loyalty, capability, and clear vulnerabilities that could be easily managed were Shen Du’s primary targets. After all, only when someone had weaknesses could one know how to keep them under control. Shen Du had already instructed his secret guards to investigate the backgrounds and origins of the candidates sitting for this year’s examinations; no doubt, comprehensive dossiers on those individuals would soon land on his desk.
“My lord, Prince Lin’an has arrived again.”
The steward spoke in a steady, calm tone. However, the person inside the study remained silent. Just as the steward turned to go turn him away, he heard Shen Du’s cold voice echo from within the room: “Bring Prince Lin’an into the study.”
Prince Lin’an strode in boldly, clutching a bundle of medicinal herbs. He nearly bypassed the leading steward to march straight toward the study, acting as though he had walked this path countless times before.
Yet the steward knew full well that Prince Lin’an had never set foot inside the Shen residence before. With a suspicious look, the steward eyed Prince Lin’an, though in the prince’s presence, he kept his mouth shut, deciding to mention it to Shen Du only after Prince Lin’an left.
After tidying up the memorial folders, Shen Du walked out and sat down at the outer desk. The steward opened the doors, and upon seeing Shen Du, immediately stepped aside to let Prince Lin’an enter. Afterward, instead of closing the doors, the steward stepped inside to pour tea for Shen Du, openly displaying his guard against Prince Lin’an.
Yet Prince Lin’an paid it no mind, placing the medicinal herbs he brought off to the side before taking a sip of tea: “The tea you have here tastes even better than the tea in my fiefdom.”
“This is tea bestowed by His Majesty; I hear it was tribute sent from elsewhere.” Shen Du remained entirely unconcerned. He still had plenty of this tea left in his residence and did not view it as precious.
Prince Lin’an raised an eyebrow, then shifted the topic to the herbs he had brought: “These are rare medicinal herbs I had people track down; they have certain detoxifying properties. Have the imperial physicians inspect them later to see which ones can help purge the poison from your system. I see your complexion is still deathly pale; you really ought to let the imperial physicians properly nurse you back to health.”
Hearing this, Shen Du felt a flicker of surprise: “To think Prince Lin’an has the leisure to run over here and care for my health. Aren’t you afraid the Empress Dowager might take issue with it?”
After all, as the Empress Dowager’s biological son, Prince Lin’an could not possibly be unaware that the poison had come from her. Furthermore, the Empress Dowager was currently still feigning illness, yet Prince Lin’an was bringing medicinal herbs to show concern for someone the Empress Dowager wished to eliminate at all costs. Whether Prince Lin’an was truly oblivious or merely feigning ignorance, Shen Du found it quite amusing.
“You and I are friends; why would I need my maternal mother’s permission to come see you? If I want to come, I come. Besides, since my mother is nursing a psychological illness, I might as well stay away to avoid adding to her agitation.”
When Prince Lin’an uttered these words, even he could not help letting out a brief chuckle. After all, the very reason he had been banished to his fiefdom earlier was due to Shen Du’s machinations; otherwise, he would still be living the life of an idle prince in the capital.
Now he could only stay far away from the capital, finding it exceptionally difficult to build his own faction. Yet here he was, declaring to Shen Du that they were friends—Shen Du himself would likely find such a claim laughable upon hearing it.
“Prince Lin’an didn’t come to see me today just to pay a social visit, I presume.” Shen Du spoke directly, picking up his teacup to take a sip and clear his throat.
Prince Lin’an took the rebuff in stride without losing face. Instead, he remained seated, resting his entire gaze unblinkingly on Shen Du with a slight shrug: “Then you’ve overthought it; I truly just came to check on you.”
“Since you’ve seen me, steward, please escort Prince Lin’an out.” Shen Du requested bluntly.
Prince Lin’an couldn’t help laughing out loud at those words: “Shen Du, you really don’t hold back at all. Very well, the truth is I came to tell you that you executed so many attendants from my mother’s palace—including quite a few of her closest confidants—that my mother is probably plotting how to eliminate you right this second.”
Having finished his piece, Prince Lin’an didn’t bother checking Shen Du’s expression, because he knew Shen Du’s face would likely show zero fluctuation; Shen Du simply didn’t care about such things.
He had come merely to see whether the toxins in Shen Du’s body had truly left him unimpaired.
From the look of it, he had underestimated Shen Du. Even with a compromised physical state, Shen Du had still driven his imperial mother to the point of faking illness, and even the imperial court had quieted down considerably over recent days.
Everyone was well aware of the blood-soaked night at the Empress Dowager’s palace, yet the most arrogant and clamorous officials didn’t dare utter a single word against Shen Du regarding the incident.
They likely realized that if Shen Du dared to deal with the Empress Dowager’s personal staff like that, it was already a stern warning to the Empress Dowager herself.
Not even the Empress Dowager dared to say a word in response.
If Shen Du wished to find an excuse to dispose of them as well, it would be a completely effortless affair.
Consequently, during Shen Du’s half-month of leave, the very ministers who used to flood the memorials with curses against him had all quieted down, and a few even came knocking on his door bearing gifts to check on him.
This actually made Shen Du feel somewhat at a loss, seeing as those officials who used to curse him possessed genuine literary talent with insults that never repeated themselves.
When Shen Du had recovered sufficiently and reappeared at morning court once again, the court officials below maintained a pin-drop silence, too terrified to speak.
Shen Du briefly inquired about the progress of the sacrificial ceremonies and the spring examinations, posed a few simple questions, and thus brought that morning’s court session to a peaceful close.
Inside the Imperial Study, Shen Du gave a light, dismissive click of his tongue.
Xie Min looked up from the memorial he was reviewing and cast a puzzled look toward Shen Du.
He thought he might have written something incorrectly, but no matter how Xie Min checked it over and over, everything seemed appropriate. Xie Min wasn’t a genuine young child emperor, even if he deliberately wrote his mature ideas with a slightly immature flair.
Such responses still looked quite commendable from Xie Min’s perspective.
Unaware of what was passing through Xie Min’s mind, Shen Du muttered to himself offhand: “Today’s morning court lacked even a single official cursing me; it almost makes me feel a bit unaccustomed to it.”
[Did I scare them too much? With no one cursing me now, why does it feel so boring? Oh well, my favorite mealtime reading material is gone.] Shen Du sighed inwardly.
The system sneered: [Are you getting addicted to being cursed at?]