Chapter 587: Thrown At His Face
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation , Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
In the end, all three women were eliminated. Mo Tu’s gamble was a complete victory!
This was because everyone felt that no matter how powerful the Empress was, she wouldn’t dare to be too unyielding on the matter of taking in concubines for the Emperor. To their consternation, she was truly unyielding!
However, this ended up harming the interests of many aristocratic families. If their daughters could not enter the palace to compete for the Emperor’s favor, wouldn’t the Prime Minister’s family be the only one dominating all in the future?
Many aristocratic families and nobles jointly penned a petition accusing Su Ying of being jealous and they requested the Emperor to choose a concubine again.
During the morning court session, Xiao Jin instructed Zhang Shuming to bring up all the memorials that threw accusations at Su Ying. “Which beloved ministers wrote these memorials? Take them back.”
All the ministers looked at the big stack of memorials and did not step forward.
Xiao Jin wasn’t annoyed. He randomly picked up a memorial and flipped it open. There was a big chunk of impassioned speech in it. It started off by quoting the classics and went on and on about how Su Ying had gone against the teachings of the forefathers and how she shouldn’t be so jealous. This was not how the legitimate wife should behave. If she continued to act in this manner, he would request the Emperor to depose the Empress!
Depose the Empress!
To think that these old farts dared to write this.
“Senior Official of the Ministry of Justice, I remember that day when your daughter came to participate in the final test. When she was faced with danger, not only did she not think of rushing up to shield me, she even screamed non-stop and completely forgot her manners in the hall. I still remember that terrified look and that complete loss of etiquette!”
Initially, the senior official of the Ministry of Justice thought that there was still hope for his daughter. In the end, his hopes were dashed. He was very displeased and blindly followed the crowd to write a memorial to submit to the Imperial Court.
Now that the Emperor had pointed out this matter in front of all the officials, he wished badly that he could find a hole to hide in.
“Your Majesty, my daughter is still young and has been brought up in the comfort of a boudoir since young. This is the first time she has encountered such an incident and she really wasn’t equipped to react appropriately. Please forgive her, Your Majesty.”
Xiao Jin gave a soft snort. “You mean the assassins who want to assassinate me will have to wait until your daughter is trained before they come, is that right?”
“Your humble official didn’t mean that. Please forgive me, Your Majesty.” “Your Majesty, since ancient times, women should stay in the background to assist their husbands and raise their children. Now, not only is the Empress interfering in politics, but she is also very jealous. This is really going against the teachings of the forefathers. If this continues, I don’t know what else the Empress will do to harm the Chu State. I hope that Your Majesty will reconsider the matter of choosing a concubine.”
■■Do you have any idea how empty the national treasury is? As the Minister of Revenue, why are you not thinking about how to replenish the national treasury? Why do you still have the time to care about such a trivial matter like my imperial harem?” Xiao Jin suddenly stood up, picked up the memorial, and threw it at the Minister of Revenue’s face.
Thwack! The Minister of Revenue’s face hurt so much that he wanted to cry!
“Your Majesty, please calm down.”
Before the Minister of Revenue could swallow back his wails, another memorial was thrown at the Imperial Procuratorate’s face. “Corrupt and abusive officials are raping and pillaging, committing all kinds of crimes. I can see their evil deeds, yet you, the Imperial Procuratorate, can’t see them. If your two eyes don’t work, I will have someone dig them out for you!” The Imperial Procuratorate shuddered once and knelt on the ground in fear, begging for mercy repeatedly.
“As officials of the Imperial Court, your contributions to the Chu State are not even comparable to the Empress’s. Yet, you dare to point fingers at the Empress in this main hall over such a trivial matter! Investigate all these officials who submitted memorials. Investigate all three generations of their families. If I find out that there is any negligence on your part or you have committed any crimes, I will teach you a lesson!
The Emperor blew his top while all the officials kept silent.
Who could have climbed to their current position without getting tainted by something covertly? If His Majesty was truly determined to investigate, none of the officials would have an easy time!
This also made the officials fully realize that the Empress was definitely the Emperor’s sore spot which no one could touch at all!
Forget it, forget it. Who cared if their daughter could enter the palace or not? If the Emperor loved to pamper the Empress alone, then he could go ahead and pamper just her alone. They shouldn’t hold unrealistic expectations of getting their daughters to engage in pillow talk with the Emperor. Otherwise, even they themselves would encounter misfortune!
All these various cases that surfaced as a result of getting the Emperor to take in concubines shook the entire Imperial Court. Everyone was in danger. Who had the free time to care if there should be more people in the Emperor’s Imperial harem?
Su Ying happily counted the silver notes from her bet winnings in the Conjugal Phoenix Palace as she munched on melon seeds.
“Your imperial Highness may not know, but that Imperial Procuratorate’s face is still swollen. One can see how much force the Emperor exerted when he threw that memorial at him.”
Su Ying threw the melon seed shells onto the table. “As long as I, Su Ying, am still living in the Imperial harem’s quarters, there can only be one master here.” She did not have the habit of sharing her things with other people.
Chu Min was the one who took the lead in inciting everyone to push the Emperor into expanding the Imperial harem. After his colleagues around him were investigated one by one, he became annoyed and frustrated.
“Come Lord Chu, let’s drink. This wine is a fine wine that has been brewed for decade’s I had to pester the shop owner for a long time before he sold it to me.” Prince Jiangning raised his wine cup in front of Chu Min. His face was already flushed and he looked a little drunk.
Chu Min came back to his senses and picked up his wine cup. “I was wondering why this wine was so fragrant. So it’s a wine that has been aged for a few decades.”
Prince Jiangning threw his head back and downed the wine in his cup. “Ah, excellent wine indeed.”
Chu Min picked up the wine jug and filled Prince Jiangning’s cup. Ever since Prince Jiangning’s eldest son was beheaded, those people in the capital city who tried to curry favor with him in the past did not dare to have too much contact with him anymore. Although the Emperor did not do anything to Prince Jiangning, other people were also afraid of getting into trouble by implication and avoided him carefully. As a result, Prince Jiangning could not even find anyone to drink with.
Chu Min put down the wine jug and pretended to ask casually, “Your Highness, back then, regarding Shihang’s matter… What happened exactly?
Prince Jiangning was already a little tipsy after drinking half a jug of wine. “What happened? That bastard actually wanted to rebel and was later found out by the Emperor and beheaded outright. If it wasn’t for the Emperor having some scruple for me, would I still be able to drink such good wine now?” Chu Min was shocked inwardly, but he did not show it on his face at all. “I see. It’s really unfortunate for your family. Come. Let’s drink, Your Highness.”
“Let’s drink, let’s drink.”
“Then has Your Highness ever thought of returning to your fiefdom?
Prince Jiangning’s second son was sent to his fiefdom not long after the child was born. This son had never left the fiefdom all these years.
Prince Jiangning shook his head when he heard the question. “Why would I go back? I don’t lack anything in the capital city. Why would I go back to that backward corner?”
Chu Min didn’t continue with this conversation topic. After Prince Jiangning became dead drunk and passed out, Chu Min got some people to carry him back.
As soon as he returned to Duke Jingguo’s Residence, the caretaker came over to receive him.
■■Eldest Master, you are back. Lord Duke has been waiting for you in the study. He asked you to hurry over to see him after you have returned.
Chu Min nodded slightly and followed the caretaker to Duke Jingguo’s study.
“Eldest Master, please go in.”
The study room was brightly lit, but Chu Min could see that Duke Jingguo’s face was exceptionally ominous.
“Father.”
Duke Jingguo slowly raised his head from the desk. His turbid eyes were full of stern reproach. He threw the memorial on the desk at Chu Min’s feet and bellowed sternly, “Did you write this memorial?”
Chu Min glanced at the memorial on the floor. He didn’t even need to open it to know that it was written by him.
“Yes.”
“You disgraceful creature!”