The invitation from her little partner made Yun Qiya’s eyes light up. “I can enter the Zongzheng Temple?”
“In principle, no.” The girl’s eyes were so bright that Ling Yanshuai’s heart unconsciously lightened along with them. “But I can find a way.”
“Young Master Ling, you’re amazing.” Yun Qiya began to shower Ling Yanshuai with flattery.
Her judgment was truly excellent. The first royal “golden thigh” she had clung to upon returning to the capital was already proving to be so powerful. She was a genius with a discerning eye for talent!
“Come on, I heard about another food stall yesterday that tastes fantastic. Let’s go try it now.”
When a person encounters happy events, their spirit is refreshed. She had to treat her little partner, who had just rendered such a great service, to a good meal!
Over the past half-month, the two of them had walked through streets and alleys, tasting the delicacies of many food stalls. Yun Qiya even dragged her little partner into ranking these stalls, vowing to take him to eat every delicacy in the entire capital. It was a pity her little partner didn’t like playing with others; otherwise, she would have brought Sister Song and Mingzhu along too.
At times like these, Ling Yanshuai usually lacked any initiative of his own. If Yun Qiya said something was good, he would nod in agreement. If Yun Qiya said it wasn’t great, he would follow her lead and say it was indeed mediocre.
“Young Master Ling, you really don’t seem like someone who lives in the capital permanently,” Yun Qiya remarked as she ate a steamed bun. “You know even less about the capital’s food than I do.”
She shared a sweet pastry with Ling Yanshuai, and he poured her a cup of milk.
“I rarely went out in the past.” Ling Yanshuai took a bite of the sweet pastry. The filling was too sweet, and the crust wasn’t nearly crispy enough.
“I understand. Children from great families who are meant to inherit the family fortune are raised strictly from a young age. They have to learn both literature and martial arts, and their families keep them on a very tight leash.” Yun Qiya took a bite of her pastry, paused for a moment, then finished it in a few hurried gulps. “This cake wasn’t freshly baked. We aren’t coming back here next time.”
She looked up at Ling Yanshuai. He had already silently finished his pastry and was holding his cup, drinking water. He seemed quite easy to look after.
After finishing breakfast, Ling Yanshuai knew Yun Qiya had to head back. He said, “I will pick you up at the gates of the Marquis’s Residence tomorrow morning. We will go to the Zongzheng Temple together.”
“Thank you, Young Master Ling!” Yun Qiya beamed with joy.
She was indeed very happy.
Ling Yanshuai watched Yun Qiya’s departing figure. Even the hem of her clothes seemed to have caught her happiness, dancing and fluttering in the morning breeze.
“Prepare gifts,” he said, withdrawing his gaze and speaking to his attendant. “This Prince wishes to visit the Minister of the Zongzheng Temple.”
The rain gradually grew heavier, turning from a misty drizzle into a dense curtain of rain.
The Old County Prince sat by the window drinking tea and enjoying the rain, but he felt troubled as he recalled the words he had inadvertently overheard. He hoped Prince Ruining was only joking with the young girl and wasn’t actually planning to bring her to the Zongzheng Temple.
“County Prince.” A servant of the household hurried over with a calling card, his expression extremely strange, as if he had seen a rooster laying an egg or a hen crowing.
“Someone from Prince Ruining’s Estate has sent a calling card. They say Prince Ruining wishes to pay you a visit.”
The servant marveled inwardly. Prince Ruining never associated with anyone; why would he send a calling card to the County Prince today?
The Old County Prince swallowed his tea with difficulty and sighed. “Reply to the servant from Prince Ruining’s Estate. Say that no matter when His Highness Prince Ruining deigns to arrive, it will be the honor of my humble abode, and I shall certainly sweep the couch to welcome him.”
He had finally come.
If Prince Ruining wanted to see him, did he dare say no? If he dared say no today, tomorrow he would go from being an “Old Uncle-Ancestor” to an “ungrateful old thing” in the Emperor’s mouth.
At least Prince Ruining hadn’t brought someone to barge directly into the Zongzheng Temple but had instead come to visit him, an elder in charge of the temple, in advance. What a polite child. If it had been the Deposed Prince back then, he would have acted recklessly without a care for anyone else’s life or death.
One had to look at who they were being compared to. If he just kept one eye open and the other closed, life could go on.
The Old County Prince was old and had stayed home to avoid the rain and enjoy the scenery instead of attending court. He didn’t yet know that the moment the Emperor stepped into the Hall of State Affairs, he had taken the initiative to bring up the matter of the Deposed Prince’s punishment to the court.
The Deposed Prince was guilty of the most heinous crimes and was truly difficult to forgive. Some officials, seeking to curry favor with the Emperor, suggested the punishment of death by five horses.
Other officials disagreed, feeling that since the Deposed Prince was the Emperor’s brother, a sentence of hanging would suffice; death by five horses would damage His Majesty’s reputation for benevolence and virtue.
Still others felt hanging was too light and that he should at least be sentenced to a waist chop.
Each side argued their case, citing scriptures and classics. But no matter how they argued, everyone took it as a given that the Deposed Prince must die. Not a single person in the entire court wanted to save his life.
The consensus: the Deposed Prince must die.
The divergence: how the Deposed Prince should die.
“Your Majesty, I have an objection.”
Everyone looked toward the speaker—Assistant Minister Yun of the Ministry of Rites.
“What are Assistant Minister Yun’s thoughts?” The Emperor sat high upon his dragon throne, the crown tassels obscuring his face so the officials could not discern his mood.
“The Deposed Prince treated the common people like fish and meat and brought disaster to Da An, causing public grievances to arise everywhere. His crimes are too numerous to record,” Yun Boyan said loudly. “I believe that the Deposed Prince’s crimes are so great that nothing less than death by a thousand cuts will be enough to appease public anger.”
The court officials were shocked. They truly hadn’t expected Assistant Minister Yun, who usually remained silent, to call for the extreme punishment the moment he opened his mouth. Once these words were spoken, both the radicals and the conservatives fell silent. Compared to Assistant Minister Yun, the holy sarira on their own bodies seemed to be glowing.
The Emperor raised his hand to lift the crown tassels and stared down at Yun Boyan for a moment. “Minister Yun’s words have some merit.”
The astute individuals noticed that the Emperor’s form of address had changed from “Assistant Minister Yun” to “Yun, my dear minister.” Was His Majesty also a radical?
In the end, the argument reached no conclusion. The Emperor waved his hand. “This matter shall be discussed again tomorrow.”
Of the entire court, only Minister Yun truly understands my heart. It is truly a regret. I hope the others can understand my hints.
As the court session was about to end, an official suddenly brought up the matter of Prince Luo entering court.
His Majesty had only two sons. The eldest was twenty, but unfortunately frail and sickly. The second son was nearly eighteen. If he did not enter court to discuss politics now, how would he manage the empire when he inherited the throne in the future?
“Prince Luo will not be eighteen for another three months. There is no rush for him to enter court and discuss affairs.” The Emperor stared at the official who had spoken, his tone seemingly cold. “My eldest son underwent his coming-of-age ceremony five months ago. He is nearly three years older than Prince Luo. It is indeed time to consider the matter of him entering court to discuss politics.”
An Emperor’s joy and anger are not easily shown, but if he expresses them clearly, it means he is already extremely dissatisfied with the matter.
“Your proposal intentionally skipped over my eldest son. What are your intentions?” The Emperor’s voice grew even colder. “Stirring up trouble within the royal family, showing disrespect to Prince Ruining, and failing to respect the order of elders and the young—is this your way of being an official?”
He had been nearly thirty before he had Huai’er. After Huai’er was born, he and the Empress had raised him personally without letting others interfere, treasuring him like the apple of their eye.
Huai’er had suffered so much bullying while he was lost. Now that the child had returned to his side, someone actually dared to overlook him and show him disrespect?
He remembered how terrified and frantic he had been when they found the barely alive child back then, and he was just as furious now. He had become the Emperor, yet people still dared to disrespect his son. What was the point of being the Emperor?!
“A person as disloyal, unrighteous, and incompetent as you—how are you fit to serve as an official in this court!”
Hearing this angry roar, the ministers who understood the Emperor silently lowered their heads. Whenever Prince Ruining was involved, His Majesty was about to go mad again.
“Guards, remove this man’s official hat and strip him of all his official positions.” The Emperor stood up. “Court is adjourned!”
After the Emperor left, the Imperial Guards dragged away the official who had incited the Emperor’s wrath. Everyone knew this man was finished.
“Prince Luo is young and too impatient,” the Minister of Rites remarked as he crossed the threshold of the great hall. No one was a fool; that official was a maternal relative of the Empress. Bringing this up today was clearly done under someone’s instructions.
Did the Empress know what her maternal relatives were doing?
The Empress didn’t know. She only found out when the Emperor returned from court and began cursing loudly in front of her.
Soon, there was another person cursing.
After hearing that the matter involved a distant relative of her family, the Empress cursed as she personally wrote an imperial decree, reprimanding her family members.
Her relationship with her maternal family had never been very good. Seeing them dare to interfere with her two children’s affairs, the Empress scolded them without any psychological burden, even demoting her family’s noble rank by one level while she was at it.
If this had been the Emperor’s decree, outsiders might have thought the Empress had lost the Emperor’s favor. But since the decree was written by the Empress herself, any clever person would know that she was extremely dissatisfied with her own family.
The Empress’s relatives truly weren’t very bright. His Majesty only had two children, both born of the Empress. Even if they did nothing, they could have secured three generations of wealth and honor. Yet, they insisted on being clever, trying to gain merit by supporting Prince Luo’s ascension. Nothing was more terrifying than a fool’s sudden flash of inspiration.
Upon learning that the official who had spoken for him had been kicked out of court, Prince Luo went into the palace to beg his parents for forgiveness.
“Your son did mention in passing at my uncle’s house that I wished to share my parents’ burdens. Other than that, your son has done nothing. What happened today has absolutely nothing to do with me. I beg my Imperial Father and Mother to see the truth.” Prince Luo knelt before the Emperor and Empress, looking very pitiful. He was thirty percent begging for forgiveness and seventy percent acting spoiled.
The sound of slightly hurried footsteps came from behind. Prince Luo’s mind wandered, wondering who was walking so irregularly outside the Empress’s hall.
The footsteps grew closer and closer, finally stepping directly inside.
Prince Luo lowered his head. There were only three people who could act this way in his mother’s palace: his Imperial Father, himself, and… Ling Yanhuai.
Ling Yanhuai had never cared about external things. Even if Prince Luo was kneeling on the ground, it wouldn’t catch his attention.
The Empress, who had been in a rage, saw her eldest son taking the initiative to find her, and most of her anger vanished. “Huai’er, why have you come to find your father and mother?”
Huai’er was her first child, the child born of the infinite expectations of her and her husband. Everything he did—from rolling over and crawling to his first words of “Mother” and “Father” and his very first steps—had filled them with joy.
That little bundle of flesh they had once held in their palms had been tortured until he was barely human. How could she not hate? She even hoped Huai’er would hate her or resent her, rather than just staying quietly in a corner, neither happy nor angry.
“Imperial Father, Imperial Mother. I wish to take someone to the Zongzheng Temple.” Ling Yanhuai cupped his hands. “I ask for your grace…”
“Yes, yes, of course.” The Emperor was overjoyed and exchanged a look with the Empress. “When do you want to go? Do you need us to make arrangements?”
It was rare for the child to ask them for anything; how could they not agree?
Ling Yanhuai shook his head. “I can make the arrangements myself.”
The Emperor and Empress still said yes. In their eyes, as long as Huai’er wanted something, it was a good thing.
Ling Yanhuai came and went, never once looking at Prince Luo kneeling on the ground. Only as he walked out did the fluttering hem of his robe accidentally brush against Prince Luo’s face.
It didn’t hurt, but it made Prince Luo feel an extreme sense of humiliation.
His elder brother wanted to take someone into the Zongzheng Temple, and his Imperial Father didn’t even ask who it was. Yet he only wanted to enter court and discuss politics, and his Imperial Father had immediately kicked out the person who suggested it.
Did he not have any dignity?
Prince Luo left the palace with his head hanging, looking at everyone with equal distaste. He flipped onto his horse and rode to a restaurant. Just as he reached the second floor, an old man in grey robes blocked his path. “Your Highness Prince Luo, disaster is imminent. I can only sigh for you.”
The old man in grey was about to act mysterious and shed a few tears to make Prince Luo curious about his next words, but instead, he felt himself flying through the air.
Prince Luo withdrew the foot he had just used to kick the man and walked away with a tense face.
You old thing, what rank do you think you have to babble in front of this Prince?! I hate these posturing old men the most; looking at them just irritates me!
The old man in grey was like a giant winter melon, rolling down the stairs until he hit the corner and finally stopped. He struggled to sit up and saw a goose-yellow skirt.
The owner of the skirt immediately took three large steps back.
“You fell on your own. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Exactly, exactly! It has nothing to do with my lady!”