Chapter 15: Creating Cards from the Void, Changing the Past and Repairing the Future

After the matter was explained, Zhu Yijun sat quietly for a while before setting off to pay respects to the two palaces.

These two days he had racked his brains, thinking without stopping for a moment; although his body could handle it, it was truly exhausting.

This was still without starting to handle state affairs, and even because of the mourning period, the afternoon riding and shooting were exempted.

But even so, it made him a bit tired.

It's no wonder there are many who don't want to hold court; wanting to be a good monarch is not much easier than 996.

Rarely having a moment of leisure, Zhu Yijun refused the sedan chair, only following a few palace maids and eunuchs behind him, walking towards Empress Chen's bedroom.

Empress Chen was the legitimate wife remarried by the late Emperor, and she had no children; she was driven to a separate palace by the late Emperor on the grounds of "no children and many illnesses," and the location was remote, almost like a cold palace, which made Zhu Yijun walk well.

But fortunately, he was finally not stopped outside the hall today.

"Your Highness, the Empress invites you in." The palace maid lowered her eyebrows and eyes, leading the way in front.

Zhu Yijun nodded and followed behind.

This Empress Chen was truly a pitiful person, born of a legitimate wife, but not favored.

The heir was about to ascend the throne, and he was not her own son.

Eunuchs and palace maids all went to Li Imperial Consort's place to flatter, and almost no one came to Empress Chen's place to burn cold stoves.

The predecessor didn't see this Empress Chen many times; in his impression, she was a cold-tempered person.

"Your Highness, please wait, this servant will go in and report." The palace maid stopped outside the door and said.

This place was a separate palace, there were not many halls, and there were almost no decorations in the hall.

Zhu Yijun looked around and responded casually.

After a while, the palace maid came out again and invited him in.

As soon as Zhu Yijun entered, he saw Empress Chen wearing the Empress's mourning robes, leaning against the desk by the window.

Empress Chen looked to be in her early thirties, her appearance was extremely beautiful, but her complexion was not very good; the white mourning clothes, the gray collar, and the skirt made her complexion look pale.

Before and after the mourning clothes, black and gold cloud dragon patterns were woven, showing a trace of noble coldness.

Empress Chen saw Zhu Yijun enter and looked over.

Zhu Yijun performed the ritual first: "This child, asks if the mother is well?"

Empress Chen's voice was like a clear spring, slowly saying: "With the late Emperor gone, I have truly become the 'mourning one'; no one has come to this palace for several days."

"Sleeping at the wrong time yesterday, I neglected my child."

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but feel compassion; he replied: "The mother's palace is cold, it is this child's fault; in the future, this child will come to pay respects to the mother every day."

Empress Chen smiled: "You have good filial piety; no wonder, only a good filial son would think of the late Emperor in his dreams."

"Early this morning, I heard that my sister was boasting everywhere to the noble ladies that you had changed your nature and became sensible overnight; now it seems that it is indeed decent, not bad."

Although she was not his biological mother, the patriarchal law was above, and the binding force was only greater, not smaller; Zhu Yijun dared not be vague.

After receiving the praise, he naturally had to be humble: "The mother's teaching is right; this child was indeed too slack in his proper business in the past; in the future, please give this child more training."

Speaking of this, he simply followed the snake up the stick: "Mother, recently the daily lecture is studying 'Shang Shu'; when this child was reviewing, he found some doubts; can he ask the mother to explain?"

Empress Chen was different from Li; she was from a scholarly family.

Her father was from a military family and failed the imperial examination many times. Her mother was the granddaughter of the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor and Minister of Rites, Zhang Wenzhi.

Empress Chen had been familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics since she was a child, and naturally had a deep understanding of classical learning.

Of course, for Zhu Yijun, what he asked was not important; what was important was the act of asking.

People he helped might not necessarily be grateful.

On the contrary, most of the people who helped him would have a good impression of him.

This was the golden rule he summarized in his previous life.

And the so-called asking for advice was even more effective, and he could always gain the favor of leaders—of course, the qualification to ask for advice was the most difficult to obtain.

Now Zhu Yijun followed suit and used it on Empress Chen, which was naturally very effective.

Only to see Empress Chen nod, and the whole person sat upright: "En, at your age, Shang Shu is indeed a bit obscure; you might as well say it and let me hear."

As she spoke, her eyebrows and eyes smiled, obviously very useful.

Zhu Yijun hurriedly called someone to take a book of Shang Shu.

While flipping through the pages, he showed a look of doubt and asked repeatedly.

Most people like to be teachers, and Empress Chen was no exception; not to mention that it was rare for someone to talk, so she naturally didn't stint on advice.

Empress Chen gave pointers, and Zhu Yijun immediately realized, and then drew inferences from one instance.

With Zhu Yijun's intentional support, every time he scratched Empress Chen's itchy spot, she unconsciously immersed herself in it.

Just like this for an hour.

After Zhu Yijun left, Empress Chen, whose mouth was dry, still had an aftertaste.

While she was drinking tea to moisten her throat, the Chief Eunuch walked in with small steps: "Empress, the Crown Prince has gone to Li Imperial Consort's side."

Empress Chen then came back to her senses and nodded.

She looked at the empty hall again, her face a bit sad, and opened her mouth: "Chen Suan, you say, why don't I have a son?"

Eunuch Chen comforted: "Empress, the Crown Prince is your son."

Empress Chen laughed at herself: "That's right, he is a good son, so good that I don't know how my 'good' sister gave birth to him."

After saying this, she looked up again, looking out the window.

It seemed like a murmur: "Let Chen Hong restrain himself; he helped Zhang Siwei privately pass memorials behind my back, and only knew to beg me after being blocked by Feng Bao? Meng Chong died just yesterday, I can't bear to see you old people leave one by one earlier than me."

These two eunuchs surnamed Chen were originally Chen family slaves, who followed her into the Prince Yu's Mansion, and their names were given by her mother.

Chen Suan buried his head very low: "This servant will go tell him."

Empress Chen nodded, looking at the daylight outside the window, and said no more.

……

When Zhu Yijun arrived outside Li Imperial Consort's bedroom, he happened to see Feng Bao coming out from inside from afar.

As soon as he entered the bedroom, he saw Li Imperial Consort's face was livid.

He was puzzled in his heart, but still did the rituals: "This child, asks if the mother is well."

After performing the ritual, he didn't hear Li Imperial Consort reply, so he leaned to Li's side and accompanied her carefully: "Who made my mother angry? Mother tell me, I will go find him trouble right now."

Li Imperial Consort threw out a memorial in a hurry and threw it on the table: "You take a look!"

Zhu Yijun was puzzled in his heart, but expressionless.

He gently picked up the memorial and flipped through it.

It was actually an impeachment memorial by Gao Gong against Feng Bao, listing Feng Bao's crimes of using public office for private gain, corruption and lawlessness, harming colleagues, isolating the inside from the outside, etc., with solid words.

Feng Bao was so honest, and it was presented to Li Imperial Consort like this? So she was angry at Feng Bao? Shouldn't be, right?

Zhu Yijun tested: "Mother, a small matter, not worth mother's anger."

Li Imperial Consort was suddenly out of control: "Small matter!? Then what is a big matter!"

"What exactly does this Gao Gong want to do!"

"You still think he only has the mind of a civil official, so he is always at odds with Chief Eunuch Feng?"

"Do you know what he said!?"

Li Imperial Consort squeezed a few words from her teeth, her tone cold: "He said, a ten-year-old Emperor, how can he rule the world!"

Zhu Yijun looked at the out-of-control Li Imperial Consort and closed the memorial silently.

This was Feng Bao's insidious move.

The sentence "how to rule the world" and "how to rule the world" have completely different meanings.

It changed directly from how a ten-year-old governs the country to how a ten-year-old becomes an Emperor.

This had already touched Li's reverse scale; once these words came out, any words of Gao Gong in Li Imperial Consort's place became fart words.

People who are hated will not be viewed objectively.

And Feng Bao, as Li Imperial Consort's own person, Gao Gong's impeachment memorial immediately became a provocation to the inner court and to Li.

The means were simple, but they were always effective.

Zhu Yijun had no way to deal with it; after all, Gao Gong had really said similar things.

He took a deep breath, his face showing a look of shared hatred: "How dare he bully my orphan mother and son like this!?"

"Mother, wait until I ascend the throne in a few days, and I will drive him out of the court!"

Li Imperial Consort's expression finally eased, but she still felt it was not enough, and tore Gao Gong's memorial to pieces: "Such rebellion, Chief Eunuch Feng also said that this word alone cannot cure his crime! How unreasonable!"

This was leaving it in the palace without sending it out—physically.

Zhu Yijun was very sensible, calling the palace people to burn the broken paper to ashes.

He didn't just watch, but hurriedly stepped forward to pat Li Imperial Consort's back, comforting: "Mother, don't be angry with such an old man, otherwise it will fulfill him."

"Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was evaluated by Prime Minister Chancellor Zhang Dun as 'Prince Duan is light and frivolous, and cannot rule the world' before he ascended the throne, which is exactly the same as Gao Gong's rebellion."

"But after that, Emperor Huizong did all kinds of evil, the capital was broken by the Jin people, he was captured to the Jin country, and died in the hands of others, becoming a laughingstock for the world, which just fulfilled Chancellor Zhang Dun's words."

"Today's Gao Gong is probably taking Chancellor Zhang Dun as his own, proud and complacent."

"Mother should not only not fulfill his scheming and reputation, but should let Gao Gong see well how mother's son is, and how he rules the world."

"At that time, this child will bring up the old matter again and let him apologize to mother well."

Zhu Yijun's explanation finally made Li Imperial Consort's face better.

She said angrily: "You haven't read many books, but you quote classics and tell stories of previous dynasties one after another."

Zhu Yijun hurriedly held Li Imperial Consort's arm: "It is mother's good discipline that made this child understand some learning and principles."

Li Imperial Consort glared at him: "Speaking of this, I haven't settled the account with you yet!"

Zhu Yijun blinked, puzzled.

Li Imperial Consort knocked on his forehead: "The eunuch on duty in the Wenhua Hall today said that you were absent-minded during the daily lecture, were you distracted?"

Zhu Yijun knew what she was referring to as soon as he heard it, and sighed in his heart.

This black report was really endless; he was thinking about Zhang Juzheng's court response at the time, and he was distracted, and it could be reported to Li Imperial Consort.

No need to think, he knew it was the eunuch on duty, who passed it to Feng Bao.

Fortunately, he was not the predecessor, otherwise he would really have suffered a dull loss.

Zhu Yijun restrained his smile, stood up in front of Li Imperial Consort, and then bowed long.

Li was puzzled.

Zhu Yijun didn't explain anything, just knelt on the ground and began to recite the content of the daily lecture word by word: "Tai Jia was established, but was muddled; Yi Yin banished him to Tong, and after three years, he returned to Bo..."

Although Li Imperial Consort didn't understand much, she understood what he was doing, so she listened quietly and nodded frequently.

After a while, Zhu Yijun recited the entire paragraph.

But he didn't stop, and began to explain the meaning of this article.

Li Imperial Consort was satisfied in her heart and recognized that her son had studied seriously today.

She opened her mouth: "Alright, get up."

Zhu Yijun didn't move.

Until Li Imperial Consort began to be a bit impatient, Zhu Yijun finally recited the lessons of the day once.

But he didn't stand up, but buried his head lower: "Mother, yesterday this child promised mother face to face to study and cultivate virtue, and not to be slack."

"Now I am naturally diligent and dare not have the slightest negligence."

"But mother believes in the slander of villains and disparages the dignity of the heir; how is this different from Gao Gong?"

"This child dares to ask mother to trust this child three points more in the future, and watch this child yourself to see if there are any mistakes, so as to save villains from slandering again."

Zhu Yijun suddenly made such a scene, Li Imperial Consort was a bit unable to get off the stage, and helped him up with a red face.

She turned her face and said: "My son is sensible, and knows how to teach mother."

Zhu Yijun was unrelenting: "It is not teaching mother, it is just that mother trusts outsiders more than this son, and blames me for no reason, this child feels aggrieved."

Li Imperial Consort coughed lightly: "Alright, alright, mother knows."

Seeing Li Imperial Consort's attitude finally soften, Zhu Yijun's face turned from cloudy to sunny, and he hurriedly massaged her shoulders again.

The perception was twisted bit by bit like this.

If you want people to feel that you can be trusted, the best solution is to have a gentle attitude, but not give up the bottom line, and argue with a humble attitude.

Especially between mother and son, otherwise once you become a mama's boy, no matter how old you are, it will be in vain.

Li Imperial Consort came back to her senses, still feeling a bit embarrassed, and found a supplement: "It's not that mother doesn't trust you."

"Look, there are officials submitting memorials again, saying that the dog eating the sun is a warning from Heaven, mostly caused by the monarch's lack of virtue, asking you to reflect on your own sins, copy Daoist and Buddhist scriptures, and offer sacrifices to Heaven."

"Mother is also helping you check for omissions, so as not to offend Heaven if you really have something."

After saying this, Li Imperial Consort took out several memorials and handed them over.

Zhu Yijun was speechless, too lazy to take the memorials.

This kind of memorial has always had no nutrition, but it stands on the high ground of political correctness, making people unable to refute.

As for who is so wicked... it's mostly Zhang Juzheng.

Copying Buddhist and Daoist scriptures, it won't stop for half a month, consuming energy and energy.

Every day, except for attending court and daily lectures, the rest of the time is probably spent on this.

In the past, he used miscellaneous and useless documents to drown the leader's desk, but now he is being treated in the same way.

Retribution is not pleasant.

The helpless thing is that he really can't ignore this kind of memorial, which is also part of the current ritual system.

Just like praying for rain in a drought, and issuing a self-criticism edict when the palace catches fire, it cannot be avoided.

And Li Imperial Consort's attitude in taking out these memorials is also very clear: copy Buddhist and Daoist scriptures, good thing, hurry up and copy.

Zhu Yijun could only agree: "This child will copy them well when he goes back."

Li Imperial Consort nodded with satisfaction, which was considered to have skipped this matter.

——