Chapter 112: Celebration Gift

The hall's joyful whispers abruptly ceased.

The Virtuous Consort's veil fell into a wine cup, and Lady of Grace Lan's crystal goblet shattered with a "pop" onto the floor.

Xu Chengyuan's complexion instantly turned iron‑blue, and the wine cup in his hand was crushed with a "crack".

He could not possibly believe how a person destined to die could have returned.

Wan Tang lifted her gaze, taking in everyone's vivid expressions, and a faint, ambiguous smile curled at the corner of her lips.

The cold wind outside the door had not yet faded, and Chu Yunzheng's figure already appeared beneath the corridor.

Each of his steps struck the taut heartstrings of the onlookers.

The court officials immediately knelt.

"Tangtang has returned at just the right time," the Emperor said with a smile at the corner of his mouth, though his eyes were bottomless. "Without you, this banquet always lacks a certain charm."

He reached out to brush away the unmelted snowflakes on Wan Tang's shoulder, his fingertips lingering at her neck. "These past days, I have even missed you," he said.

"I, your humble concubine, think of you day and night," Wan Tang lifted her face, her eyes shimmering with just the right tenderness.

She took the emperor's hand and gently pressed it to her own lower abdomen, saying, "The imperial son also misses his father."

Chu Yunzheng chuckled lowly, then suddenly hoisted her sideways in front of everyone.

The consort knelt on the ground, and Lady of Grace Qi clutched tightly the fabric before her five‑month‑pregnant belly, her nails showing a bluish pallor.

Both were pregnant, yet their treatment differed as vastly as heaven and earth.

"Your Majesty," Xiao Mingshu's armor scraped and cracked the phoenix‑carved armrest, "Sister Consort Wan is weary from travel; perhaps let her rest a moment first."

With a glance, Xiao Mingshu already had someone bring a stool.

After all, by the Emperor's side, only she, the Empress, and Xiao Mingshu could stand at his left and right.

"The Empress has taken the initiative," Chu Yunzheng said casually, yet squeezed Wan Tang even tighter, "What rare treasure did the beloved consort seek on this outing of hers?"

Wan Tang lightly descended from the emperor's embrace, stepping back half a step, "I indeed have brought something good."

Her gaze swept over the iron‑blue face of Xu Chengyuan, "But it was blocked outside the city gates."

"Oh?" Chu Yunzheng's eyes suddenly turned cold, and the hall's temperature seemed to drop to freezing point in an instant.

He lightly tapped the dragon‑patterned table with his fingertip, each knock sounding as if striking the spines of everyone present. "I shall see who dares to block Consort Wan's items; this is something I sent her to procure!"

In other words, anyone who blocks Wan Tang is blocking me.

"Old servant will fetch it at once!" Li Defu hobbled as he prepared to step down.

"Ouyang Qing," the Emperor called suddenly, "You handle it."

The atmosphere instantly grew a bit cold; Xiao Mingshu reacted swiftly, quickly adjusting her demeanor.

A smile returned to her face: "After all, the younger sister understands the Emperor's thoughts."

"Then this palace will have to take a good look at the younger sister's thoughts," she said meaningfully.

She spoke with deep implication.

Wan Tang's smile was full of meaning as she lightly said, "Empress, rest assured, this red plum is especially fitting."

Wan Tang stepped forward: "After all, the red plum takes root amidst a pile of corpses!"

The hall erupted in a roar.

Xu Chengyuan slammed the table and rose sharply: "Consort Wan must be frozen‑stupid!"

His tiger‑like eyes widened, "Outside the city, it's only the snow that's heavier; where does a corpse pile come from?"

Minister Xiao immediately chimed in, "The Empress has lived in the inner palace for so long that seeing a few frozen refugees makes her overreact."

He stroked his beard with a cold sneer, "A woman meddling in state affairs is a grave violation of ancestral law!"

"Oh?" Chu Yunzheng toyed with the Nightlight Cup, then with a "crack" snapped the cup's handle, "I sent Consort Wan out of the palace to procure items; is Minister Xiao implying that I was wrong?"

The hall's temperature dropped sharply.

"Your Majesty, I see clearly!" the Deputy Minister of War suddenly knelt, "I only returned from Jingjiao yesterday; aside from a few refugees, where did any refugees come from?"

The argument was at its peak when a heart‑rending howl suddenly echoed from outside the hall.

Xu Yanchuan dragged a madwoman inside, his black armor frosted with ice: "Your Majesty, I found an interesting trinket outside the city."

The madwoman, upon entering the hall, lunged at the gilt charcoal basin, her withered‑claw hands plunging directly into the glowing silver‑bone charcoal.

"Warm… so warm…" she giggled dazedly, the smell of burnt flesh spreading, yet she seemed to feel no pain.

"Even a madman dares bring this here; I think Consort Wan is becoming increasingly unruly."

Minister Xiao scolded sharply, his gaze at the Emperor now laden with many grievances: "Even though you adore her, Your Majesty, you must not let her run amok!"

Xu Chengyuan kicked the table over with a foot, shouting, "That vile woman is clearly a performer arranged by Consort Wan!"

The wine splashed onto the Tiger Tally at his waist, "And this rebellious son—last time you were lenient for his mistake, yet now you still dare to act recklessly!"

"I must kill this rebellious son, lest he tarnish the Xu family's name."

Su Yanci suddenly emerged from the shadow of a beam, his jade crown crooked on his hair.

He pinched a silver needle between two fingers and casually jabbed it into the madwoman's nape, "A frozen‑stupid person reacts like this to heat."

The needle's tip quivered lightly, "A matter of common sense."

The woman suddenly shivered, her cloudy eyes gradually clearing: "Where is this?"

She looked around the hall filled with gold and jade, then collapsed, "Heavenly Lord… am I in a fairyland?"

"This is the imperial palace," Wan Tang whispered.

The madwoman trembled like a sieve, her forehead knocking against a gold brick with a clatter, "The common woman must die! The common woman should not eat…"

She suddenly began dry retching, "But Niu Niu has been dead for three days; if she doesn't eat, little Shuanzi also…"

A young eunuch, seeing this, flashed a cold blade in his hand and rushed forward to kill.

Chu Yunzheng raised his hand, and the guard immediately restrained the eunuch.

The emperor's voice was colder than the wind and snow outside: "Continue speaking."

The snow crushed the house, and the county elder said the court hadn't allocated any silver.

The mad woman's tears, mixed with bloodstains, slammed onto the ground, "Zhang the Retainer's family's granary is piled up and moldy, yet we can't even get bark to eat."

She suddenly tore open her collar, exposing a rib‑cage‑studded chest, "Look! It's not that I want to eat people; it's that I have no meat left. The last good piece of meat, I even fed to little Xiao Shuanzi."

Bang!

Chu Yunzheng's fist shattered the dragon‑pattern desk.

The members of the Xiao Family looked ashen, yet Xu Chengyuan kept shouting, "Emperor, see clearly, this is obviously a plot set by Consort Wan and the rebel son!"

Just then, the hall doors thundered open.

Ouyang Qing's black armor was stained with blood; a century‑old red plum stood on the wooden cart, and behind it Li Ping'er and Xiao Shunzi staggered in.

Li Ping'er's half sleeve was soaked through with blood, and she still clutched a broken arrow in her hand.

"Master!" she cried, kneeling, "Just after passing The City gate, arrows rained down."

She raised the feathered arrow in her hand, and the arrow tail was conspicuously engraved with the character "Xu".

Wan Tang pinched the tip of her finger into her palm before she could hold back the tremor.

She turned and bowed deeply to the Phoenix Throne, "Empress, this is the congratulatory gift I, your humble servant, have found for you."

She lifted her gaze, and in her eyes reflected Xiao Mingshu's pallid face, "Do you still like it?"

Between the branches and twigs of that red plum, bite marks were everywhere.

The mad woman lunged under the tree, her withered hand brushing the densely etched marks on the bark, "It's the tree spirit of our village."

She suddenly wailed, "Since the great snow, everything has been dead and stagnant, only the red plum can still bloom."

"Whenever someone froze to death, we placed them beneath the red plum. Later, as the dead accumulated, we piled them beside the plum; the corpses grew taller than the plum itself."

Xiao Mingshu was admiring the blossoms; upon hearing that, she staggered backward and knocked over the jade screen.

"Consort Wan! How dare you use such filth to clash with my birthday!" she pointed directly at Wan Tang, "Such intentions are truly terrifying."

"Enough!"

Chu Yunzheng struck the dragon desk with a palm, shattering it; splintered wood flew as the officials all knelt in unison.

The Emperor's dark‑blue dragon robe moved without wind, and the murderous intent swirling in his eyes made the nearest minister shudder on the spot.

"Inauspicious?" he asked, grabbing a handful of blood‑stained frozen earth and hurling it at Minister Xiao's face, "I think this red plum is excellent! Tomorrow we shall transplant it in front of the Golden Throne Hall."

Chu Yunzheng stepped down, his boot crushing the finger of the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, "Let the whole court of civil and military officials see the marvels you cultivated with a bit of Fēng xuě in your mouths!"

Xu Chengyuan's Tiger Tally fell to the ground, and Xiao Mingshu's phoenix crown tilted to her ear.

The entire hall was left only with the mad woman's sobbing echoing among the beams and pillars.

Chu Yunzheng suddenly chuckled lightly, his fingertip brushing Wan Tang's pallid lips, "You are right; the woman truly should not meddle in governance."

His sharp gaze swept over the Empress's rigid body, "I cannot eat this table of mountain delicacies and sea fare; you all enjoy it."

Arrange the carriage, cherish Tang's courtyard.

The Emperor personally lifted Wan Tang and walked away hand in hand with her.