Chapter 62: Relatives of the Imperial Family

"What's going on here?"

In the inns lining the long street outside the Donghua Gate, many commoners, hearing the suddenly hurried footsteps in the street, quietly cracked open their doors and windows with curious yet fearful gazes.

At the sight before them, someone immediately fell to the ground in shock, pointing with trembling fingers:

"The Weng mansion... it's the Eastern Depot raiding the Weng mansion!"

"Nonsense. His Majesty only just rewarded the entire Weng household a few days ago. Even if the Eastern Depot were that brazen, they wouldn't come to seize the property today!" An old man, hearing the young fellow's words, snorted in disdain and walked over to the window himself to look carefully.

"Besides, Imperial Physician Weng devoted himself to saving lives—what crime could he possibly have committed?"

After watching for a while, the old man breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down, looking at the still-panting young fellow with a reproachful tone:

"If you don't know, don't spread rumors. The agents only escorted out one man and one woman—they didn't touch a thing in the Weng mansion. Stop making wild claims here."

The young fellow didn't fly into a rage out of humiliation; he seemed to know he was wrong, scratched his head with a sheepish laugh, and changed the subject:

"Hey, old sir, what's all that dense writing on your table? I've seen you writing for days now—why not read some of it to us!"

"You can't read?" The old man, seeing the people around him all nod, coughed twice and said:

"I traveled a thousand li from Suzhou to the capital precisely to visit Imperial Physician Weng and an old friend." At this point, the old man couldn't help but shed tears. Taking a towel handed over by a woman, he said with a pained expression:

"But when I arrived, I heard that Imperial Physician Weng had died at his post treating the plague... When the nation faced crisis, he dared to step forward with a heart set on saving the world. Imperial Physician Weng was truly a man of rare medical virtue and skill!"

The old man talked on for a while but never said what was on his table. The young fellow, seeing that the old man spoke with uncommon refinement, knew he must be a scholar and felt a surge of respect.

Moved by the scene and knowing the old man's heart was grieved, the young fellow didn't dare press further, only saying with a troubled expression:

"Then... old sir, where will you go tomorrow morning?"

The people around also looked worried and spoke up one after another:

"That's right—today the capital just posted a notice saying a great plague has struck the whole city, and the roving bandits are locked in a great battle with the government troops at Ningwu Pass and may soon be here. Why not flee south with us?"

"Who's to say otherwise—the farther south you go, the safer it is!"

Flee—the world is vast, but where could one flee to?

Once the capital falls, the state topples, and the roving bandits sweep across the realm—even if he fled back to his hometown in Jiangsu, what good would it do? He'd still be a wanderer whose country was broken and home destroyed.

Though that was what he thought, the old man clearly couldn't say it all aloud. He only said:

"I, Yuan Ban, thank everyone for your care these many days. I had indeed planned to return to Suzhou, but this notice speaks truly—we who practice medicine spend our whole lives studying the healing arts, traveling north and south. For what?"

As Yuan Ban spoke, he looked around at those present and clasped his hands in salute:

"Now the Son of Heaven is wise and enlightened, and the Bureau Secretary in charge of treating the plague is none other than my old acquaintance—Wu Youke. When I saw the notice, it was as if an old friend were calling to me. So I intend to go find Youke and eradicate this plague once and for all!"

"So you're Mr. Yuan!"

"With both Mr. Yuan and Mr. Wu here, we're saved!"

"I'm not leaving—I'm staying in the capital!"

The commoners around hadn't expected that this old man who had lived among them day after day was none other than Yuan Ban, known as the 'Famed Physician of Jiangbei.' Shocked by this revelation and then moved by his selfless words, the crowd burst into cheers and applause.

In the Eastern Depot's prison, the adulterous man and woman seized from the Weng mansion had already been locked up here.

When Wang Cheng'en received the Chongzhen Emperor's decree during the day, he too was startled. He had thought Weng Bingshi had died in the line of duty, but the truth turned out to be otherwise—he had actually been murdered right under Wang Cheng'en's nose.

Wang Cheng'en couldn't help but think it was indeed suspicious. In recent days, the imperial physicians sent to treat the plague had been dying one every couple of days or so. Even if their prescriptions were wrong, they shouldn't have contracted the plague and died so suddenly.

Though the Chongzhen Emperor hadn't said anything, for Wang Cheng'en this was a dereliction of duty by his Eastern Depot—and in a sense, the same held true for the Inner Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Western Depot.

Wang Cheng'en immediately tore into the two Chiliarchs in charge of punishments beneath him, then berated each level down in turn. The entire Eastern Depot was shamed and stifled with determination to drag out the culprits.

The Chongzhen Emperor had re-established the Three Depots and One Guard precisely so he would no longer be deceived and beguiled by the Donglin Faction. Yet now, in the capital teeming with depot and guard agents, such a thing could still happen—it was tantamount to slapping the depots and guards in the face.

The Chongzhen Emperor had only issued his decree to the Eastern Depot, but that didn't mean the other depots and guards could turn a blind eye.

The eunuch Director of the Inner Depot, Fang Zhenghua; Cao Huachun, Director of the Western Depot; and Li Ruolian, Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were all deeply shocked upon hearing the news. They quietly instructed their trusted subordinates to assign some of their offices to investigate rigorously, and to report any findings to the Eastern Depot at the first opportunity.

For a time, nearly all of the Three Depots and One Guard turned their attention to the mysterious deaths of the imperial physicians. Intelligence streamed into the Eastern Depot's offices without cease through the afternoon.

The Chongzhen Emperor took the matter very seriously, even saying it must be investigated to the very bottom. And since the depots and guards had failed in their duty, they naturally hoped to resolve the matter quickly so they could turn the page and redeem themselves.

Lady Xie had gone weak in the legs all the way back—the agents had to carry her. But Li Shancai was a different story. On the way back he was utterly arrogant, shouting that he was a relative of the imperial family and the Eastern Depot had no right to arrest him.

Wang Cheng'en paid him no mind at the time. Once he was in the prison, he had him flogged a few times, and only after the man had calmed down did Wang Cheng'en interrogate him personally.

Seeing the leering Eastern Depot agents about to come at him again, Li Shancai's backbone vanished entirely. Scared out of his wits on the spot, he confessed everything before Li Youcheng could even lay a hand on him again.

It turned out Li Shancai hadn't been bragging—the bastard was actually the half-brother of Consort Li Kang!

He really was a relative of the imperial family. Except this 'imperial relative,' Consort Li Kang, had long since fallen from grace in many people's eyes. Immediately after the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, he had issued a decree casting her into the cold palace, stripping her of any power.

Had the Eastern Depot not uncovered this, many people wouldn't even have remembered such a figure existed in the harem. After learning the results, Wang Cheng'en's expression grew heavy as he said to Li Youcheng:

"Keep this under wraps for now—don't let His Majesty know. Pass the word down for the lads to follow the trail and keep digging. If it really is Consort Li Kang, that's easy enough to handle. But if we turn up some bigger fish, that will be rather troublesome..."

Speaking of this Consort Li Kang, even Wang Cheng'en felt the woman was vicious beyond measure.

Consort Li Kang had personally beaten to death Lady Wang—the birth mother of the Tianqi Emperor—with her own hands in the harem. Beyond that, she was connected to the mysterious Palace Relocation Case from years ago, having once tried to take the young emperor hostage and seize control of the court. During Wei Zhongxian's reign, she had stooped to curry favor with Madame Ke—truly a woman of immense ambition.

The historical Chongzhen Emperor, pitying her loneliness and unable to bear it in his heart, though he utterly loathed Consort Li Kang's character and history, ultimately only cast her into the cold palace to avoid unfavorable influence at court.

By all rights, a consort reduced to such a state shouldn't have been able to stir up any waves. That was exactly what the historical Chongzhen Emperor had thought—yet who would have imagined that after re-establishing the Eastern Depot, the investigation would lead right to her doorstep.