Emperor Tianwu and this Empress had always been the best partners. For so many years, the two of them, one in front of the court and one in the harem, had governed steadily and properly. The Empress was very good at guessing Emperor Tianwu's thoughts. Often when the other side gave her a look, she would know what to say and what to do. And Emperor Tianwu used to feel that this Empress was very much to his liking. Other than the lack of love, there were still feelings. As the mother of the country, there was nothing to be picky about.
But the two of them clearly understood one thing. It was just that no one pointed it out. They were both waiting, waiting for the other side to appear and lure the fish into the bait. And then whether the Empress could still be the Empress would depend on her luck.
Of course, these were all Emperor Tianwu's thoughts before. Ever since he regained favour with Consort Yuanshu, all of these were thrown to the back of his mind. Sometimes when he was a little more clear-headed, he would remember that he was still waiting for someone to appear. And this person had to be lured out by the Empress, so the Empress could not be abolished. He also knew that touching the Empress was equivalent to touching the foundation of the country. It was not something that could be easily resolved by abolishing the Empress. Thus, the position of the Empress had always been preserved.
But tonight, for some reason, Emperor Tianwu's mind became much clearer. It was not that he remembered something, nor was it that he realized something. He just started to have suspicions, and started to have a doubtful attitude towards the current situation. Especially when he heard that he actually demoted Zhang Yuan to the Department of Guilty Servants, his heart was even more overwhelmed with shock.
He asked the Empress: "Do you know why I sent Xiao Yuan Zhi to the Department of Guilty Servants? Why can't I remember what mistake he made at all? Besides, even if he made a mistake, I can't treat him like that. Xiao Yuan Zhi has made more than one or two mistakes since he was young. I've long gotten used to it. "
When the Empress heard this, she was really happy in her heart. No matter what, the Emperor was willing to think about what was going on. This meant that he was not completely muddled, and did not completely listen to Consort Yuanshu and her son's words. This let her see hope, the hope of Emperor Tianwu's recovery. She said to Emperor Tianwu, "Does Your Majesty feel that something is wrong recently?"
Emperor Tianwu nodded, "There is something wrong, but We can't figure out what is wrong. Other than Xiao Yuan's matter, Empress, tell us, what else is wrong?"
"That's a lot." The Empress said lightly, "For example, Consort Yuanshu. Another example was the Eighth Prince. Does Your Majesty feel that the recent situation is normal? "
Emperor Tianwu thought about it seriously, then shook his head. "I don't think it's abnormal! Consort Yuanshu is Zhen's beloved concubine, and Mo 'er is Zhen's beloved son. It's nothing for Zhen to be close to them. "
"Beloved concubine and beloved son? Then why have they been neglected for more than twenty years? Has Your Majesty never thought of the reason? "The Empress pointed out the truth in one sentence, but Emperor Tianwu was stunned again.
Every time this topic was brought up, he would have a headache. Emperor Tianwu raised his hand to hold his head, his expression pained, and his gaze towards the Emperor carried a bit of resentment. He said, "Empress, We are only asking you about Xiao Yuan's matter, why did you mention Consort Yuanshu and Mo 'er? Hearing your words makes Zhen's head hurt, it's better if you don't say it. "
The Empress was helpless, but seeing Emperor Tianwu like this, she really couldn't say anything more. Thus, she turned the topic back to Zhang Yuan, but said, "Does Your Majesty want to let chenqie bring Zhang Yuan back from the Department of Guilty Servants?" She shook her head as she spoke, "It's not easy! Now chenqie can't do anything in this palace, being restricted by Consort Yuanshu. Does Your Majesty think that chenqie has the ability to bring Zhang Yuan out? Thanks to you, Consort Yuanshu is now the master of this harem. "
"You are the Empress," Emperor Tianwu raised his voice, and said somewhat unhappily, "Why are you still unable to do anything? Consort Yuanshu is such a good person, how can she restrict you? "
"Since Your Majesty thinks so, why don't you just let Consort Yuanshu bring Zhang Yuan out, and call chenqie over instead?" She asked back, "Calling chenqie over, isn't it because Your Majesty subconsciously feels that there are some things that cannot be told to Consort Yuanshu?"
When she said this, Emperor Tianwu also remembered. That's right! Just now, he was dizzy and felt that there were many things that he couldn't understand. For example, how did he spend New Year's Eve twenty years ago? Why did he not see Consort Yuanshu for so many years? Why did he feel that he had forgotten many things? That he had distorted many things? He had a very strong feeling that he wanted to clear up all of these questions, but at the same time, he felt that he couldn't ask Consort Yuanshu. If he had to ask, he had to ask someone reliable. Thinking about it, the only reliable person was the Empress, which was why he called the Empress over.
"That's right," Emperor Tianwu muttered, "This one called you over to guard against Consort Yuanshu. But ….. why? "He couldn't understand it.
The Empress gave a soft sigh and patted the back of Emperor Tianwu's hand as she said, "Since Your Majesty wants to see Zhang Yuan, chenqie will do everything in her power to fulfill Your Majesty's wish." After she finished speaking, she looked at Fang Yi standing outside the door. Fang Yi nodded at the Empress, but did not immediately move because Consort Yuanshu and the Eighth Prince were still standing outside.
The two of them were also very anxious. In the eyes of the palace people, they were so anxious because they were worried about the Emperor's illness. But what they didn't know was that the Eighth Prince lowered his head and whispered into Consort Yuanshu's ear, "What do we do? If the old fellow is not controlled, will this matter collapse? "
Consort Yuanshu shook her head and also said softly, "It won't collapse, it's just a little troublesome. This situation was within our expectations at the beginning. Doing this kind of thing is like overcoming all obstacles, obstacles will always appear. Pass one obstacle at a time and in the end, the matter will be done, "After she finished speaking, she looked at Xuantian Mo and advised," Mo-er, don't be anxious, we still have time. "
At this time, in the servants' yard of the Department of Guilty Servants, everyone had gone back to their rooms to celebrate New Year's Eve. Even in this kind of place, the palace would not be too heartless on New Year's Eve. There were still dumplings that were distributed down for the guilty servants to at least have a bite.
Light snow floated down from the sky again, Zhang Yuan did not have the privilege of hiding in his room to eat dumplings. At this time, he was sitting in the yard washing clothes, the water still had ice, pricking his hands until they were full of bloody wounds. He had to pay attention to the blood flowing out from the wounds on his hands to not get on his clothes as he washed. From time to time, he had to rub his hands in the snow, trying to freeze the wounds.
Zhang Yuan had entered the palace since he was young. His life was good, following by the Emperor's side, he had never suffered like this. These days in the Department of Guilty Servants, he had suffered all the hardships that he had not suffered in the past ten years. What scrubbing the toilet, washing clothes, fetching water, washing the feet of the heads here, he had done all these things. If he did not do well, he would not be given food and was punished to stand in the ice and snow. His feet were all frostbitten and his hands were now in a half crippled state, he was afraid that he would not be able to recover.
However, there was still so much work waiting for him. Almost all of the work was pushed to him alone. As for those who were free, as long as they massaged the shoulders and feet of the leaders here, they would not have to do such dirty and tiring work. In order to survive, in order to survive, it was not that he had not thought of this kind of trick, but no one liked him. Even if he knelt down and begged, no one would pity him. He just wanted to massage the shoulders of the heads, but they did not want him. It was clear that they were deliberately making things difficult for him, wanting him to suffer and get hurt, wanting to humiliate him, the head eunuch who was once popular in the palace, and whom even the authorities had to give some face when they saw him.
And the banknotes and silver that Feng Yu Heng had given him previously also disappeared overnight. Before he could use the money to curry favor with anyone, the money was no longer his.
The more Zhang Yuan thought about it, the more sullen he felt. He wiped away his tears and looked at the tubs of clothes in front of him. He knew that he would not be able to sleep tonight. He was afraid that he would not be able to finish washing these clothes until tomorrow morning, and it was snowing. He really did not know if he would freeze to death outside.
Once he thought of the possibility of freezing to death, he shuddered and quickly got up, wanting to go into the room to get another set of clothes. He still wanted to see the old Emperor in his remaining years, he could not die like this.
But before he could take three steps, he heard someone walking over from the other side of the courtyard, shouting as he walked, "Yo! Zhang Yuan, where are you going? Have you finished washing the clothes? Did I let you leave here? "
Zhang Yuan turned his head to look. There were a total of three people who had come, all of them were eunuchs in the palace who had been punished to the Department of Guilty Servants after making a mistake. They were clearly the same kind of servants, but these three people were very close to the heads here, fawning over them every day, hating that they could not lick his feet. If they did well in this area, naturally they would not have to suffer every day like him. The lives of the three people really seemed to be more enjoyable than when they were with their former master. Of course, they also did not do little to obstruct Zhang Yuan.
For example, right now, Zhang Yuan wanted to go back to the room to put on another set of clothes, and was coincidentally seen by these three people. Not only did they shout at the top of their lungs, they even kicked over the two boxes of clothes that Zhang Yuan had finished washing. Then they looked at Zhang Yuan with a smile and said, "In the past, you were the most popular person by the Emperor's side. When we saw you, we had to speak humbly and subserviently, we suffered a lot. But right now, you are a guilty servant that is even worse than a dog, and you still want to live like before? You still want to be respected by others? Pei! No way! "
"That's right! A guilty servant is a guilty servant, if you don't wash the clothes properly, where do you want to run to? Do you believe that as long as we shout that Zhang Yuan wants to escape, the chief eunuch will come and break your legs! "
"If we kill a guilty servant in the Department of Guilty Servants, we don't need to report it. You have to be clear whose hands your life is in!"
Zhang Yuan saw that the two boxes of washed clothes were dirty again, and his tears almost gushed out again. But he knew that crying was useless, fighting was useless, and quarreling was even more useless. He had used all these tricks, and in exchange, other than a new round of humiliation, there was nothing else.
He silently picked up the two boxes of dirty clothes and added ice water. He did not expect to go back to the room to get the clothes, and just sat on the small stool and started washing again. There were more and more bloody wounds on his hands, and he could only continuously wipe them on the snow or his own clothes, trying his best not to stain the clothes of the nobles.
Zhang Yuan thought, since they hated him so much, they should really want him to die, right? There was no need to report the death of a person in the Department of Guilty Servants. This was a very good opportunity to kill. But the reason why they were still torturing him and not letting him die, meant that there must be someone behind him who did not want him to die, or rather, they did not want him to die too quickly, and wanted him to suffer more torture. This was the true intention of the other party …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
