Chapter 74: Empress Dowager Li Displays Her Phoenix Might Once More

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Siwei changed into casual attire for receiving guests and walked into the side hall.

Inside the side hall, he saw a man wrapped in a black bamboo hat, his face obscured, sitting on an armchair with his back to him.

"Are you my relative?" Zhang Siwei asked coldly, frowning.

Hearing the movement, the man slowly turned around. With the help of the candlelight, Zhang Siwei finally saw the man's face clearly.

The man appeared to be about forty-seven or forty-eight years old, with fair skin and regular features; his pair of peach-blossom eyes tilted slightly upward, and his face always seemed to carry a smile that made one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze.

"You are... Eunuch Zhang Cheng?!" Zhang Siwei exclaimed.

Zhang Cheng gave a cold laugh, nodded in acknowledgment, and then sighed with emotion: "Zhang Jing did not know the immensity of heaven and earth and dared to challenge Feng Bao directly; now that he has met with this disaster, he deserves it!"

"You mean, it was Feng Bao who brought him down?" Zhang Siwei asked, then shook his head and said, "That's not right. The Emperor has always trusted Zhang Jing and is quite wary of Feng Bao; how could he possibly listen to Feng Bao and throw Zhang Jing into prison?"

"It wasn't Feng Bao who made the move; it was those two brats, Wei Qing and Zhang Yunxiu," Zhang Cheng said, a flash of cold light passing through his eyes.

Immediately following this, he gave a rough account of the ins and outs of the matter.

"The Little Fire-bringer of mine in the Qianqing Palace told me that the Emperor locked himself in the East Warm Pavilion alone this afternoon; first the Imperial Concubine De went in, then Zhang Yunxiu and Wei Qing went in together, and then the imperial decree was issued to detain Zhang Jing."

After listening, Zhang Siwei's brows knitted into a tight knot.

He had not expected that Zhang Jing, who had been favored by the Emperor just a few months ago, would become a prisoner in less than half a year.

A thought popped into his mind instantly: a monarch is devoid of gratitude.

"Grand Secretary Zhang, rest assured, without that Zhang Jing, I am just as capable!" Seeing that the time was right, Zhang Cheng stated his purpose directly. "I see that Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng don't have many years left to live; as soon as those two die, the inner and outer courts will be ours."

Smiling and stroking his beard, Zhang Siwei nodded slightly.

"Just hang in there; it won't be long now," Zhang Cheng said with a light laugh, stood up, and walked out of the side hall with his hands clasped behind his back.

After a night of turmoil, the next morning, the entire Beijing officialdom was in a state of shock.

First, the Emperor's favorite official, Zhang Jing, had been thrown into prison, and the charges against him could be called charges that were not really charges.

A "food-pairing" relationship?

Embezzling from the palace treasury?

If people were arrested according to these standards, how many Ivory Tablet Grand Eunuchs in the palace would end up in prison?

The clever ones had already secretly guessed what Zhang Jing had done to provoke the Emperor's fury.

But it was only a guess; after all, the Emperor was unwilling to make it public, and if you exposed it, you would only end up smelling foul yourself.

Furthermore, Zhang Jing was accustomed to throwing his weight around, and those civil officials all clapped and cheered upon seeing his downfall.

The second matter was the cancellation of Princess Yongning's wedding banquet.

The reason was also quite sufficient: Zhang Jing had manipulated the Imperial Son-in-law's selection through bribery.

The Emperor decided to cancel this selection, and now the censors were unhappy; they believed that since fraud existed, one should simply be selected from the other two candidates.

Otherwise, the money had already been spent.

If the Princess's wedding was not held, would there be any credibility left for the imperial family in the future?

The Wanli Emperor hated being coerced the most; originally, he had even wanted to marry his sister off quickly.

Now that this had happened, once these censors submitted their memorials, the Wanli Emperor was immediately annoyed.

Once his stubborn donkey temper flared up, no one could stop him!

Inside the Western Warm Pavilion, the Wanli Emperor overturned the memorials on the table and cursed: "A bunch of rebellious subjects! My sister is a golden branch and jade leaf, and she is not worried about not being married; how could she be married off so rashly!"

Wei Qing, who was to the side, hurriedly bent down to pick up the memorials and put them back on the table, fawning: "Your Majesty, why are you getting angry with these poor scholars? What can they do besides fight with their tongues?" "Hmph, a flock of sparrows chirping in your ear all day—aren't you annoyed?" Wanli glared at Wei Qing with ill humor and gritted his teeth, "A bunch of thieves without a lord or father, who only know how to coerce me."

Just as Wei Qing was about to reply, a shrill voice suddenly rang out from outside the palace gate: "The Empress Dowager has arrived."

The Wanli Emperor was startled and hurriedly walked down from the dragon throne, standing with his hands hanging down below the dais.

Li Taihou, wearing a form-fitting bean-green silk pleated long skirt, walked into the great hall with a graceful, swaying gait.

"Your son greets the Empress Mother."

The Wanli Emperor bowed respectfully. Li Taihou waved her hand with a cold face, ordered someone to take out a yellow satin cushion and throw it on the ground, and said, "You all may leave; I have some things to discuss with the Emperor."

"Yes," the attendants replied respectfully, then stepped away.

In the blink of an eye, only the Emperor and Li Taihou, mother and son, were left in the Western Warm Pavilion.

Li Taihou looked at her son, who was hanging his head, and thought of the sordid affairs in the selection process; she was immediately filled with rage. She knit her phoenix brows, pointed at the cushion, and shouted: "Kneel on it!"

The Wanli Emperor hesitated for a few seconds, walked to the cushion, bent his knees, and knelt on it with his back straight.

Scanning her son, Li Taihou paced over to the embroidered couch and sat down, then asked coldly: "Emperor, is Yongning still your own sister?"

"She is," the Wanli Emperor replied timidly, his head drooping.

"Then why did you let Zhang Jing handle her selection? Now it's a fine mess; our Princess has become a piece of merchandise with a marked price. Fifty thousand taels of silver—fifty thousand taels of silver is all it takes to buy our Princess home."

As Li Taihou spoke, her eyes turned red, and her beautiful pupils were already glistening.

"Your Imperial Father died early; is this how you, as an older brother, treat your siblings?!"

"Empress Mother!" The Wanli Emperor cried out in shock; facing his mother's questioning, he could not find a single excuse.

Li Taihou did not soften in the slightest and continued: "You are the Emperor, and the entire world is yours. I only ask that you treat these siblings well and not just look out for yourself."

"Your son would not dare."

"You wouldn't dare? What is it that you wouldn't dare to do?" Li Taihou wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and asked coldly.

Could it be that she even knows about me leaving the palace?

That shouldn't be.

He didn't even know that Liang Bangrui had tuberculosis; how could she know about such a hidden matter?

Faced with this counter-question, the Wanli Emperor did not know how to respond.

At this moment, Li Taihou also regained her usual imposing demeanor; she widened her eyes and shouted again: "Tell me, were you flying a kite in front of the plaza of the Huangji Hall?"

"Was it Yongning?" the Wanli Emperor asked in astonishment.

"Never mind who it was for now; just tell me, did you or did you not?"

"I do."

Li Taihou clutched her chest with her left hand and pointed at the Emperor with her right, saying with disappointment and frustration, "Huangji Hall is a place for ministers and the Emperor to hold court and discuss state affairs. By playing such base tricks in a place like that, where do you put the nation? Where do you put the altars of state?"

"Your son knows he was wrong."

The Wanli Emperor nodded repeatedly to admit his fault, and just as Li Taihou was about to continue, two more figures suddenly burst in.

Li Taihou turned her head to look, and it was none other than Empress Wang and Zheng Defei.

Seeing the Emperor kneeling on the ground, the two of them knelt beside him as well, bowing their heads to plead for mercy: "Empress Dowager, this matter was entirely due to Zhang Jing deceiving the Imperial wisdom, which led to this disaster. We beg the Empress Dowager to calm your anger."

"Enough, all of you rise." Having vented her anger, Li Taihou took the opportunity to step down when someone pleaded for mercy; she waved her hand to signal the three of them to rise, then looked at the Emperor and warned, "If such a thing happens again during the selection after Yongning, Jun'er, you shall go to the Taimiao yourself and explain it to your Imperial Father."

(End of chapter)