Chapter 12: Heaven's Way Repays in Kind — Slow to Act, but Never Missing

Outside the gate of Ciqing Palace, Zhu Youjian helped Zhou Yu down from the shoulder carriage.

He raised his head and looked — this palace, once belonging to the Crown Prince and now the residence of the former emperor's widowed sister-in-law, seemed especially quiet, even deathly still, under the lingering glow of the setting sun.

The red walls remained as they were, the glazed tiles glimmering with a faint light, but the palace gate was tightly shut, as if sealing off two separate worlds, inside and out.

Zhu Youjian stepped forward and, still observing proper ritual, said with a solemn expression, "Your subject, Emperor Youjian, respectfully inquires after Your daily well-being."

The eunuch dared not be remiss and hurriedly bowed. "Your Majesty, please wait a moment. This slave will go in and announce you at once."

The words had barely faded when hurried footsteps sounded from within the gate. A eunuch who appeared to be a steward rushed out, a humble smile plastered across his face.

"Your Majesty, Her Highness has decreed that you and Her Highness may enter directly — there is no need to wait."

Zhu Youjian nodded and said nothing more. Taking Zhou Yu by the hand, he strode into Ciqing Palace.

The furnishings inside were still fairly orderly, but the air was permeated with a faint, elusive scent of incense smoke, along with a barely perceptible sense of oppression.

They crossed the courtyard and arrived at the main hall, where they saw Zhang Yan, dressed entirely in plain mourning clothes, seated upright in the host's place.

Her frame was still frail, her complexion somewhat pale, and her eyes were severely red and swollen — she had clearly just been weeping bitterly.

Seeing Zhu Youjian and Zhou Yu enter, she forced herself to rally, squeezing out a trace of a smile.

"Brother-in-law, sister-in-law — you've come."

Zhu Youjian noted the subtle nuance in how she addressed them, and his heart stirred slightly.

Zhou Yu, for her part, was somewhat ill at ease and still performed a proper, formal bow. "Your subject consort greets Her Highness, my imperial sister-in-law."

Zhang Yan took her hand and had her sit down beside her, studying her carefully for a moment before praising her. "A fine girl. Brother-in-law is a fortunate man."

After taking his seat, Zhu Youjian regarded Zhang Yan with a calm gaze. He knew that any superfluous words of comfort at this moment would be hollow and would only tear open her wounds again.

He chose the most direct, and also the most effective, approach.

"Imperial Sister-in-law," Zhu Youjian said, his voice not loud but exceptionally clear in the quiet hall, "I have come today because there is a matter I must inform you of."

Zhang Yan's gaze turned toward him, tinged with inquiry.

Zhu Youjian paused, then spoke, enunciating each word. "Wei Zhongxian… overcome by excessive longing for the late emperor, has hanged himself within Qianqing Palace, departing to follow His Late Majesty."

As his words fell, the entire hall sank into deathly silence.

The expression on Zhang Yan's face froze. She stared blankly at Zhu Youjian, as if she had not grasped the meaning of his words.

Only after a long while did her lips tremble faintly.

"You… what did you say?"

"The traitor Wei is dead," Zhu Youjian repeated, his tone as flat as before.

Dead…

Those two words struck like twin thunderclaps, exploding with a roar inside Zhang Yan's mind!

First, her eyes widened in disbelief. Then, a colossal surge of wild joy erupted from the depths of her heart, instantly shattering all her reason and pretense!

"Dead? He's dead?"

Her voice began to tremble, and tears burst forth without warning, streaming down her pale cheeks.

But these tears were not of sorrow — they were the hatred and savage satisfaction suppressed for far too long!

"Ha… hahahahaha!"

Zhang Yan suddenly burst into loud laughter, a laughter both shrill and exultant, echoing through the great hall.

She laughed and laughed, yet the tears flowed even more fiercely.

"Good! Good! Good! Heaven's way repays in kind — slow to act, but never missing! Traitorous eunuch! Your day has finally come!"

She slammed her hand violently on the table, grinding her teeth. Every word seemed forced through clenched jaws, saturated with bone-deep hatred.

Abruptly, her laughter ceased. She jerked her head up, her bloodshot eyes fixing dead on Zhu Youjian.

"Then… what about Madam Ke?"

That name stirred her nerves even more than Wei Zhongxian's — she was the direct culprit behind the loss of her child!

Zhu Youjian looked at her and said slowly, "Madam Ke is still in Xian'an Palace at present. How to deal with her — I have come precisely to leave that to Imperial Sister-in-law's decision."

Handing the authority to dispose of her to Zhang Yan — this was something he had long since resolved.

For one, this was the right of vengeance Zhang Yan deserved.

For another, he hoped to gain not merely support in "ritual propriety," but this imperial sister-in-law's more thorough backing in power.

At these words, a terrifying light blazed in Zhang Yan's eyes — a flame mingling wild joy and cruelty.

"Good! Good! Good!"

She uttered three "goods" in succession, then abruptly rose to her feet and shouted toward the outside of the hall. "Someone, come!"

A personal attendant eunuch came scrambling and crawling in.

Zhang Yan pointed at him, her voice a piercing shriek. "Transmit my decree! The Fengsheng Lady, Madam Ke, has defiled the palace precincts — her crimes allow no reprieve! Let… a bolt of white silk be bestowed, and let her take her own life in Xian'an Palace! At once! Immediately!"

"This slave obeys the decree!"

The eunuch accepted the order, not daring to delay an instant, and turned and sprinted away.

The moment the command was issued, it was as if all the strength drained from Zhang Yan's body. She went limp and slumped back into her chair.

She sat there in a daze, her eyes staring vacantly ahead.

The great vengeance… was achieved.

That venomous woman who had killed her child was finally going to die.

The boulder that had weighed on her heart for years came crashing down in that instant.

But what followed was not the relief she had imagined — it was an overwhelming, landslide of grief.

"Wah—"

Zhang Yan suddenly buried her face in her hands and broke into wailing sobs.

That weeping was heart-rending, filled with boundless sorrow and grievance, like a wounded mother beast mourning her lost cub.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian rose to his feet, shot Zhou Yu a look, and the two of them withdrew from the great hall without a sound, coming to stand in the courtyard.

Inside the hall, Zhang Yan's grief-stricken weeping continued, unceasing for a long while, enough to break the heart of any who heard it.

Listening to that sound, both Zhu Youjian and Zhou Yu could not help but feel a pang of sorrow in their hearts.

Yet he knew that this was an emotional release Zhang Yan had to go through — only by crying out all her pain could she truly be reborn.

After a long time, the anguished weeping gradually subsided, turning into low sobs.

A moment later, a slightly hoarse call came from within the hall.

"Come in."

Only then did Zhu Youjian and Zhou Yu re-enter the great hall.

Zhang Yan's eyes were now red and swollen like peaches, her hair bun somewhat disheveled, but her gaze was clearer than it had ever been. Her whole person seemed to have cast off a thousand-jin burden — refreshed and at ease.

"My child was destroyed by those two wretches. My hatred cuts to the bone. I lost my composure for a moment and made a spectacle of myself before Uncle and Sister-in-Law." She looked at the two of them, her voice carrying a trace of apology.

Zhu Youjian and Zhou Yu hurried forward and offered repeated words of comfort.

"Imperial Sister-in-Law, restrain your grief."

"Indeed, Imperial Sister-in-Law, now that the great wrong has been avenged, you must take care of your precious health."

After a few more words of consolation, seeing that her emotions had steadied, Zhu Youjian rose and took his leave.

Stepping out of Ciqing Palace and boarding the sedan chair back to Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youjian closed his eyes.

His heart, however, was far less calm than his surface appearance suggested.

This time, he had eradicated Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke with the force of a thunderbolt — seemingly clean and decisive, resolving a mortal threat in a single stroke.

But he knew very well that this was only the beginning.

His greatest problem was prestige.

A new sovereign, barely seventeen years old, hastily enthroned from a princedom — what did he have to overawe the civil and military officials of the entire court?

Killing a Wei Zhongxian could indeed bring him enormous renown, but that was still far from enough.

He remembered clearly that in another timeline, Liu Hongxun, the new Chief Grand Secretary he had personally selected, had even dared to say to his face, without the slightest courtesy, "The sovereign is, after all, a child ruler."

"Child ruler" — meaning a little emperor.

In the eyes of those jinshi civil officials who had fought their way up through the single-plank bridge of the imperial examinations, what was the Emperor?

Nothing more than a moral symbol who needed to be instructed by them, to be rectified by them.

From the bottom of their hearts, they looked down on the Emperor, wishing only that he would rule with folded hands, managing nothing, while they — these so-called upright and worthy ministers — could, with a wave of the hand and a few words, govern the realm into peace and prosperity.

Ridiculous!

Zhu Youjian sneered inwardly.

He knew better than anyone the perilous state to which the Ming, that battered hulk riddled with a thousand holes, had already sunk.

Hand it over to these ministers, most of whom were empty talkers who banded together by faction and attacked dissenters, and the only outcome would be to accelerate the sinking.

Only he, this soul from a later age, could possibly turn back the tide, and seek a sliver of survival for this realm, for this Han civilization!

If the name is not right, the words will not be smooth; if the words are not smooth, the affairs will not succeed.

Killing Wei Zhongxian was the first step in "rectifying his name" — he wanted all under Heaven to know who was truly the master of this Great Ming.

But this was not enough, nowhere near enough.

He had no time to waste.

At this thought, Zhu Youjian's train of thought was interrupted — the sedan chair had stopped.

He opened his eyes and looked back in the direction of Ciqing Palace; that palace had already grown indistinct in the twilight.

Imperial Sister-in-Law, I have cast you a peach; I hope in days to come you may repay me with a plum.

He turned back and summoned Wang Wenzheng. "Call Wang Tiqian and Si Zhili here. Tell Si Zhili to bring the account books of the Inner Supply Depot."