Extra (4)
In less than three days, detailed notices were posted all throughout the city.
The Empress Dowager, Grand Tutor Xu, Lu Rongluo, Lu Lingshuang, Liu Jinglan, and Liu Mingyue were to be punished for their many crimes together, and five days later, they would be beheaded at the Eastern Gate.
The Xu family was reduced to slave status, their property confiscated and their household exiled. All the other officials implicated in the matter were likewise dragged out one by one, their wealth seized and their offices stripped away.
As for Lu Rongbo, the false prince who had passed off fish eyes for pearls, his name was struck from the imperial clan. He was imprisoned in a temple on the outskirts of the city where the incense offerings were not especially flourishing, and for the rest of his life he would not be permitted to leave.
What made people sigh was that Empress Xu Zhizhi had hanged herself in the palace and gone after the late Emperor.
After this cleansing, half the officials in Ye Jing were gone.
The matter implicated far and wide, and its effects were immense. These past days, the number of people in the tea houses and wine shops had swelled greatly, all of them discussing the matter with keen relish. By the day of the execution, the vendors of the eastern and western markets directly closed their stalls and all ran to the Eastern Gate to watch the beheadings.
Within Prince Li’s residence, in the elegant and quiet apricot-garden waterside pavilion, Chu Yuan and Lu Ronghuai sat side by side on soft cushions. On the low table before them were piled thick stacks of documents.
Chu Yuan turned a page with his left hand and held a vermilion brush in his right. Beneath long crow-feather lashes, his clear eyes were earnest and intent. With the brush in hand, he left annotations upon the paper.
The two of them were highly efficient when reviewing documents together. In less than an hour, the mountain-like pile of documents before them had already all been annotated.
Chu Yuan stretched his waist, then raised a hand and lightly pounded his lower back twice. At the same time, he turned his head and asked, “When does Your Highness intend to ascend the throne?”
The moment the words fell, Lu Ronghuai’s warm and broad palm had already settled at his waist. With measured strength, he kneaded Chu Yuan’s waist. His technique was not bad. Chu Yuan’s brows and eyes relaxed, and the smile in his eyes grew all the brighter.
Lu Ronghuai said, “The arrangements for the enthronement have already been handed over to Nie Siran and Su Ruhe. As for the exact day, it is not yet known.”
“Oh. I hope Your Highness ascends the throne soon.” He looked at Lu Ronghuai with bright, sparkling eyes as he spoke.
Seeing the joy all over his face, Lu Ronghuai asked with a smile, “Why?”
Chu Yuan said, “That way I will have time to take the baby out to play. Once Your Highness becomes Emperor, those memorials will have to be reviewed by Your Highness alone.”
“No. Ah-Yuan will review memorials together with me.” Lu Ronghuai spoke without even thinking. He had no wish to remain alone in the study reviewing those tedious materials. So long as Ah-Yuan was there, he could still bear them.
“I refuse.” Chu Yuan wrinkled his nose and deliberately cast him a sidelong glance. “Your Highness, even Little Fish knows that one’s own affairs should be handled by oneself. How is it that Your Highness is not even as good as a two-year-old little baby?”
“You are my Prince Consort. In the future you will also be...” Lu Ronghuai had originally wanted to tell him outright that he would also be Emperor, but on second thought, he wished to give Ah-Yuan a surprise in this matter, and so he swallowed the words back down.
“That is not the same.” Chu Yuan spoke in all seriousness.
Lu Ronghuai did not understand. “How is it not the same?”
Chu Yuan’s gaze was gentle. “In other small matters, I can help Your Highness, but not in reviewing memorials. Once Your Highness becomes His Majesty, if I do that, it will be meddling in affairs of state. The court officials would stand out and oppose it. They might even put a hat on me.”
“I am His Majesty, but even more, I am your husband. Let me see who dares speak recklessly. I will strip him of office.” Lu Ronghuai clasped Chu Yuan’s hand, and the words he spoke were overbearing in the extreme.
Chu Yuan shook his head and continued reasoning with him. “It was the same before. When Your Highness went to the prison to question them, there was no need to bring me along. I was of no help there either.”
Lu Ronghuai knew that Chu Yuan was avoiding suspicion, and even more, hiding his sharpness and not showing the tip of the jade scepter.
He was about to ascend the throne and become Emperor. Many things were quietly beginning to change. Even Xian Feng and the others bowed to him now with a degree of deference they had never shown before.
Such changes were inevitable, yet they were not what he wanted.
“Ah-Yuan, those matters I can handle, and you can as well.”
Chu Yuan felt there was something beneath Lu Ronghuai’s words, yet he did not think too deeply on it. “So long as Your Highness is here, there is no need for me to handle them.”
“There is.” Lu Ronghuai said it with unshakable certainty.
Chu Yuan stared blankly.
Lu Ronghuai met those clear and beautiful eyes of his directly. “I need you, very much.”
More clearly than anyone else, he knew how clever and capable his Ah-Yuan was. It was only because his temperament was placid in daily life, never contending and never seizing, that it was easy for others to overlook the learning and talent filling his heart.
While Chu Yuan was still lost in thought, those words from him made the tips of his ears flush red despite himself.
They had clearly been discussing official matters, so how had the taste of it changed as they spoke?
Taking advantage of his distraction, Lu Ronghuai directly gathered him into his arms. He wrapped an arm around Chu Yuan’s waist and held him firmly enclosed. That deep, pleasing voice sounded beside his ear. “Ah-Yuan, rule the realm with me, all right?”
Those words were already a fairly obvious hint, yet Chu Yuan’s thoughts strayed elsewhere, and his understanding went awry.
Once Lu Ronghuai ascended the throne, he, as the Primary Consort, would be the Empress entering to preside over the rear palace, while Lu Ronghuai would command the hundred officials in the front court. He, too, would have to manage the... consorts of the inner palace.
Chu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
“What is it?” Lu Ronghuai keenly sensed the change in the aura of the person in his arms.
“Wangli.” Chu Yuan suddenly called out, and the tone was not the familiar sweet softness he knew, but was instead mixed with a strange note he could not quite make out.
Lu Ronghuai’s brows twitched. “I am here.”
“It is nothing.” Chu Yuan lowered his eyes. Staring at the delicate leaf pattern embroidered upon his sleeve, he mocked himself inwardly for worrying without cause.
He ought to trust Lu Ronghuai.
Trust the feelings Lu Ronghuai held for him, rather than allowing wild thoughts to overturn the vinegar jar within his heart, leaving him in no pleasant state.
Thinking thus, he lifted both arms and looped them around Lu Ronghuai’s neck. The smile on his face was sweet and clear. “I suddenly wish to eat the dishes from Fuxian Tower. It so happens that Little Fish has been taken away by Eighth Brother. Let us go to Fuxian Tower at noon.”
Lu Ronghuai studied his face carefully. Seeing that his expression was normal and nothing strange showed there, he leaned his exceptionally handsome features close and lightly pecked the corner of Chu Yuan’s lips. Then he scooped him up in his arms, his smile roguish and unrestrained.
“Very well. I shall take my Duofu to eat at once.”
“You are not allowed to call me Duofu again!” Chu Yuan bit his shoulder in anger.
The two of them went to Fuxian Tower, bickering playfully along the way. After they had finished eating, they passed by Prince Jing’s residence. When the child awoke from his afternoon rest, they rose and took their leave.
“Little Fish, come play again tomorrow. Imperial Uncle will bring you to hear the opera.” Lu Rongshen and Bai Qingyu stood at the gates of the residence, watching the three of them leave with eager eyes.
Seated on his father’s arm, Lu Duoyu turned back and waved his little hand.
“All right! Bye-bye imperial uncle! Bye-bye imperial aunt!” The little dumpling’s adorable voice rang out.
Imperial Aunt?
Lu Ronghuai and Chu Yuan exchanged a glance, held back their laughter, and walked faster.
“Pff, hahahahaha...” Lu Rongshen covered his stomach and bent over laughing.
Standing beside him, helpless indulgence flashed through Bai Qingyu’s blue eyes. “Do not teach Little Fish nonsense.”
“It is not nonsense. Are you not his Imperial Aunt?” Lu Rongshen slanted his eyes at Bai Qingyu, shaking with laughter. Had they not been standing at the gates of the residence, he likely would have laughed until he rolled upon the ground.
Bai Qingyu took his hand and pulled him toward the residence. The moment the gates closed, he hoisted him up over one shoulder and strode toward the main room.
“Hey, hey, hey, put me down. Xiao Bai, Bai Qingyu, they are all watching.” Laughing all the while, Lu Rongshen twisted about and beat at him, while the household servants and steward around them all cast amused looks over, kindness in their eyes.
On the other side, Lu Ronghuai held Lu Duoyu in his left arm and Chu Yuan’s hand in his right, and the three of them strolled slowly toward Prince Li’s residence.
“Ah-Die, Imperial Uncle said Papa is going to be Emperor. Then what is Little Fish, Little Fish?” Lu Duoyu blinked his big eyes and asked Chu Yuan in that childishly adorable voice of his.
Chu Yuan curved his eyes and teased the little fellow. “Baby is the little Emperor.”
“The little Emperor?” Lu Duoyu tilted his head and asked obediently, “Then is Ah-Die the great Emperor?”
Chu Yuan: “...”
All of a sudden, he did not know how to explain it.
Lu Ronghuai burst out laughing. He cast Lu Duoyu a look of praise. “That is right. Ah-Die is the great Emperor. In our household, Ah-Die is the greatest.”
“Your Highness, do not play the fool.” Chu Yuan looked at the pair, one great and one small, with helpless amusement.
As the three walked and talked, and were just about to reach the gates of the residence, they suddenly saw many people standing there.
After spotting them, Xian Yu immediately ran over. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he quickly said, “Your Highness, people from the Ministry of Rites and the Directorate of Astronomy have all arrived.”
Lu Ronghuai’s sharp and narrow phoenix eyes swept over. His pitch-black gaze revealed none of his true emotions.
These people had clearly come to confer with Lu Ronghuai. It would not do to leave them standing at the gate, yet the gate was no place for such matters.
After thinking briefly, Chu Yuan made the decision for Lu Ronghuai. “Invite them to sit in the main hall. His Highness will come shortly.”
Xian Yu accepted the order and withdrew.
Lu Ronghuai stared coldly at that group. “It would be enough to drive them straight away. I have no wish to see them.”
Chu Yuan lightly scratched his palm, like one soothing a certain person who was losing his temper. “Your Highness cannot keep refusing to see them indefinitely.”
Since their return to the capital, Lu Ronghuai had shown no pleasant face toward these officials of the court. No matter how many times they sought an audience, Lu Ronghuai was too lazy to bother with them.
He had long since lost all patience with these parasites. If Nie Siran and the others had not held him back from dismissing every one of them, then with his temper, he would long ago have thrown them all out of Ye Jing.
After returning to the residence, Lu Ronghuai handed the little fellow over to Xian Yu and brought Chu Yuan with him to the main hall.
Seeing Prince Li stride in with a fierce and imposing air, not one of the ministers waiting in the main hall failed to feel his scalp tighten.
Yet on second thought, remembering the purpose of their visit today, they felt their hearts settle somewhat again.
Last time, they had failed to visit Nie Chouwen. By chance, they had encountered the young master of the Nie family returning home. The young master of the Nie family had given them a hint, telling them to think more on what Prince Li truly cared about.
They had gone back and pondered bitterly for a long time, then gathered together and discussed the matter for several days, and only then had they gained a little understanding. At once, without stopping their horses, they had hurried over to seek an audience.
No matter what, they had to seize this opportunity and perform well before Prince Li.
Once Prince Li ascended the throne, the military generals who had followed him back to the capital would, without exception, receive high rewards. As for them, these civil officials who had once been deeply at odds with Prince Li, if they did not now strive to secure a place for themselves, there would be no room left for them to speak in court in the future.
“This subject and the others pay respects to Your Majesty.” The ministers knelt and kowtowed, their voices ringing loudly.
Lu Ronghuai had always loathed this sort of ceremony. He walked in wearing a cold expression.
“Everyone, please rise. His Highness has not yet been enthroned. Perhaps everyone might revert to the previous form of address.” Seeing him seated at the place of honor, casting cold eyes over the crowd and saying nothing, Chu Yuan sighed inwardly and took the initiative to give them a step to descend from.
Everyone hurriedly stood, then thanked Chu Yuan in turn.
“What do you want from This Prince?” Prince Li’s whole body carried a baleful chill that made them all shiver in spite of themselves.
Everyone turned to look toward Han Zheng.
Han Zheng could not help cursing his ill luck inwardly.
He had originally been standing at the back with his sleeves drawn together. He had been unwilling to come, but his fellow officials had all grown so anxious that blisters had risen at their mouths, and by force they had dragged him here.
He had never offended Prince Li and was not worried that Prince Li would make him wear small shoes, so with an unchanged expression he stepped forward and said, “Your Highness, this subject has only come as a companion today. The one truly seeking Your Highness is Lord Wang, Chief of the Directorate of Astronomy.”
Lu Ronghuai’s gaze moved slowly to the face of the Director of Astronomy. “What matter does Chief Wang seek This Prince over?”
Chief Wang straightened his official cap and stepped out from the crowd with confidence. “Your Highness, a few days ago, this humble official performed divination at home and have already divined the best date. If the enthronement ceremony is held on the sixteenth, it will be beneficial for the kingdom and, for Your Highness, an utmost auspicious choice.”
Lu Ronghuai looked impatient. “This matter has already been handed to Young Master Nie. Speak to him, and that will do.”
“This humble official has one more matter.”
“Speak.”
“After Your Highness ascends the throne, the rear palace must not be left empty. Among the households of officials of the third rank and above in the capital, there are at present unmarried daughters of suitable age...”
He and the other officials had deliberated over the matter for several days. Once Lu Ronghuai ascended the throne, what he would value most would surely be heirs, the root of the State of Lu’s continuation. That was why they had dared to come today. Yet before Chief Wang could finish speaking, a teacup smashed down at his feet.
It shattered into pieces, and the harsh sound instantly silenced the hall.
Chief Wang scarcely dared breathe. Uneasily, he looked toward Lu Ronghuai in the seat of honor.
“All of you, get out at once.” Lu Ronghuai’s face had turned dark. Blue veins stood out on the back of his hand, and it seemed that if they dared say another word, he would crush them to death.
The people below all dropped to their knees in a rustling wave.
“Your Highness, calm your anger. This humble official is only considering matters for Your Highness and for the realm of Lu. I have absolutely no selfish intent.” Chief Wang kowtowed to the floor and, at the same time, was crying out his own grievance.
Lu Ronghuai was so enraged that his breathing had grown uneven. His left hand held Chu Yuan’s hand firmly, while his right hand pointed at Chief Wang’s head.
“This Prince has wife and child. In the future, the realm of Lu will be handed to Lu Wuyin. There is no need for you to concern yourself over it.”
Chief Wang felt himself wronged beyond endurance. However much he feared Prince Li, he still could not help saying, “Your Highness, according to ritual law and ancient precedent, the allotment of palace consorts has already long been fixed. This humble official is only...”
“Then watch carefully. After This Prince ascends the throne, the first law This Prince will abolish is that very one.” The firmness in Lu Ronghuai’s voice made it clear to everyone that this was no jest.
Cold sweat broke out on everyone’s backs, and they felt that once again they had misunderstood the matter.
Chief Wang still refused to relent. What Emperor has ever not taken consorts into the rear palace? Would that not invite the laughter of all under Heaven?
“Your Highness unified north and south, gathering the whole realm into your hands. Once Your Highness becomes the one honored as Nine-Five, it will naturally be necessary to choose the finest imperial son from among the many dragon sons and establish him as Crown Prince. Only thus may the fortune of the realm of Lu flourish unceasingly.”
A clear voice, touched with a slight chill, entered their ears. “Is Chief Wang suggesting that Lu Wuyin lacks qualification??”
Director Wang froze.
He looked up at Chu Yuan, who had spoken, unable to understand why this Prince Consort had chosen to interject.
Although Prince Li had once publicly declared in the western borderlands that Lu Wuyin was the child of himself and the Prince Consort, they were not fools. A man could not bear a child, so that child must surely have been born of Prince Li and some other woman.
Moreover, what Chief Wang feared most was precisely this male Prince Consort bringing chaos to the rear palace, enchanting Prince Li so thoroughly that he was unwilling even to select consorts.
Had he not feared Prince Li, he would even have wished to imitate those remonstrating officials and offer blunt admonition. How could a man be made Empress? He could not bear a legitimate son, and thus could not continue the great line. In the future, the history books would surely leave a severe stroke against him.
He said, “This humble official does not mean that. The Prince Consort is worthy and virtuous. In the future, when you hold the phoenix seal, you will be Your Highness’s right arm and left arm. All the more should you persuade Your Highness to expand the rear palace, receive consorts in abundance, and let the imperial line of Lu spread branches and leaves.”
No emotion showed on Chu Yuan’s face. He listened quietly to Chief Wang’s words, and beneath the gaze of everyone present, unexpectedly smiled once. That clear and lovely smile caused all those present to lose themselves for an instant.
“Very well.”
Light shone from Chief Wang’s eyes.
At the back, Han Zheng, upon hearing those words, inwardly offered a moment of mourning for Chief Wang.
Throwing himself forward to court death. Truly, there was no helping it.
The person Prince Li cared for most was the Prince Consort. Speaking such words before the Prince Consort’s face, how could Prince Li possibly tolerate him?
The next moment, Prince Li kicked the man straight out of the main hall. Then, before anyone had time to process what had happened, he gave a cold, clear order.
“Take him to the Eastern Gate. Execute him at once.”
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu Ronghuai [cocking a gun]: “What the @#$% did you just say?”
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