“Yes, I’ll do that right away.”

Supporting the Empress with a pillow, while letting a small eunuch wipe his face and hands, Eunuch Guo went to the outer room to brew the honey pomelo tea for the Empress. When Eunuch Guo came in with the tea, he saw the Empress closing his eyes, looking pained, with one hand placed on his abdomen. Eunuch Guo suppressed the sadness in his heart and forced a smile, saying, “Your Highness.”

The Empress slowly opened his eyes, but he seemed weak. He hadn’t eaten for many days and he was very frail. Eunuch Guo handed the tea bowl to a young eunuch, then supported the Empress against his body. He then took the tea bowl from the eunuch’s hand and fed it to the Empress.

As the sweet and sour honey pomelo tea touched his throat, the Empress felt that the taste was good. As the tea entered his stomach, he thought he might be imagining things, as the abdominal pain seemed to ease slightly.

“Your Highness, how does it taste?” After chewing on some pomelo peel and flesh, the Empress said, “The taste is really good. It’s not sour and bitter like before. Can you make it even sweeter?” Seeing that the Empress wanted more, Eunuch Guo was overjoyed and immediately went to prepare another cup. The sweet and sour pomelo tea was already appetizing and after drinking three cups, the Empress felt a bit hungry. 

While Eunuch Guo was busy preparing the meal and sending a report to Emperor Yongming, he secretly wiped away his tears, clasped his hands together, and murmured, “Heavenly Lord, please bless the Empress with safety and health. If this honey pomelo tea can relieve his abdominal pain, I will repay Shao Yunan like an ox or a horse in my next life. In this life, Shao Yunan and his family are already like my own family, and I will not allow anyone to bully them. Heavenly Lord, please protect the Empress and let this honey pomelo tea work its magic!”

“Eunuch Zhuo, the Empress wants to drink another bowl, saying that his stomach doesn’t hurt as much after drinking it.”

“Good good! I’ll go make it. Has the meal come yet?”

“It’ll be here soon.”

“Urge them to hurry!”

In the imperial garden, Emperor Yongming, who had already skipped half a day of work, was still furious. Elder Weng accompanied him on a quiet walk for a while and spoke, “Your Majesty, your body is important. This time, I will do my best to help your majesty eliminate the Marquis of Hengyuan.”

Emperor Yongming stopped and looked at the dried up, not yet revitalized lotus pond. Elder Weng said, “Wei Hongzheng’s words, it is not too much for Your Majesty to execute the nine clans of the Marquis of Hengyuan. I just hope that Your Majesty realizes that your body is the most important thing, so don’t suppress your anger and hurt your body. Your Majesty is indispensable to the Great State of Yan and Your Majesty is indispensable to the thousandth year of the sovereign empress.”

Emperor Yongming took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. After a long time, he opened his mouth, his voice carrying some hoarseness after suppression. “If they say these words to me, I can still leave them a whole body. But they went so far as to say this about my Empress, they cannot be spared!”

Elder Weng… “I’m afraid that what Wei Hongzheng said is what a lot of people think in their hearts, especially those who can’t stuff their daughters into the palace of the great families. The Empress is a stumbling block to them. They look down on the Empress because of his weak physique and lack of achievements. Regarding the former, the Empress needs time to recover; as for the latter, instead of choosing a woman from the common people, the Emperor might as well select a woman from the court, have her bear a child, and then entrust the child to the Empress as his legitimate heir.”

Emperor Yongming clenched his lips tightly. Elder Weng asked, “But the Empress wouldn’t object to that, would he?” Emperor Yongming replied, “Why would he object? He has advised me to choose a consort from the selection process many times. It’s me who refuses. Qiyou sacrificed himself for me and lost his own child, so I cannot betray him!” Elder Weng sighed and stopped persuading him further. There was a moment of silence between the two.

“Your Majesty!” Emperor Yongming and Elder Weng turned around and saw a eunuch from Jingyou Palace. Emperor Yongming’s expression changed instantly. The eunuch hurriedly kneeled and kowtowed to Emperor Yongming, saying, “Your Majesty, the Empress has awakened. After drinking the honey pomelo tea, he surprisingly regained his appetite. Eunuch Guo ordered me to report it to you.”

“The Empress has an appetite now?” Emperor Yongming was overjoyed. “Quickly, let’s go to Jingyou Palace!” Elder Weng was also greatly surprised and didn’t try to avoid going. He hurriedly followed Emperor Yongming to Jingyou Palace.

Meanwhile, inside Marquis Hengyuan’s residence, which was surrounded by five hundred guards, chaos ensued. Wei Hongzheng was brought back from Yongxiu County by Dai Jiang and taken directly to the palace. Upon hearing the news, Marquis Hengyuan and Wei Chunlin felt that things were not looking good. He urgently summoned his eldest son, Wei Hongru, and several other sons back to the mansion. He also ordered people to find Wei Hongwen, who had disappeared without a trace. 

Before he could figure out what Wei Hongzheng had done, news came from the palace that the Emperor was furious in the East Hall and had cut out Wei Hongzheng’s tongue, ordering him and the guards from the marquis’ residence who were also arrested to be executed by Lingchi (death by slow slicing). Wei Chunlin nearly fainted on the spot. However, he didn’t have the time to catch his breath or prepare for the situation. As soon as he dispatched servants to the execution site, Xiao Baichuan led the Imperial Guards to surround the entire Marquis Hengyuan residence and delivered the Emperor’s decree, that no one was allowed to leave, while any violation would be punished by death.

At this point Wei Chunlin was truly flabbergasted. He never imagined that the Emperor would suddenly make a move against the Marquis Hengyuan residence. He had no idea what had happened! Wei Hongru personally inquired with Xiao Baichuan about what had happened. Wei Hongru had a good reputation in the court, modest and low-key, living up to his name as a “learned” individual. 

Xiao Baichuan did not hide the truth and only said that Wei Hongzheng seemed to have said something disrespectful to the Emperor, which infuriated him. As for the exact words, he did not know, as only the Imperial Tutor was present at the time. However, he did remind Wei Hongru that Wei Hongzheng had bound and injured someone in Yongxiu County.

After Wei Hongru returned and truthfully reported everything to his father, who was just awakened with difficulty, Marquis Hengyuan was furious. As soon as he heard that Wei Hongzheng had caused trouble, Wei Chunlin immediately erupted in anger. Even though Wei Chunlin might not be the smartest, he understood that this situation was serious. This was the Marquis Hengyuan residence, not an ordinary noble’s mansion. The sudden decree from the Emperor must indicate genuine anger.

No one in the Marquis Hengyuan residence was allowed to leave. Wei Chunlin anxiously grabbed his eldest son, Wei Hongru’s hand and said, “Hongru, you have to find a way, find a way to save our Marquis Hengyuan residence!”

“Hongru, quickly think of a solution to help your father. What should we do now? That incompetent Wei Hongzheng! If I had known that he would cause such a huge disaster, I should have killed him when he was born!” Wei Chunlin’s mother, Madam Wei, was in such a panic that she started crying. Then, she pointed at her daughter-in-law and scolded, “It’s all because of you, being so difficult to deal with! You’re always weighing the favor of the lord between the legitimate and illegitimate sons, making a mess of our whole family! If it weren’t for you supporting Wei Hongzheng, would he dare to be so audacious?!”

Lady Wei cried, “Mother, this is not the daughter-in-law’s fault. This daughter-in-law did speak to Hongzheng a few times, but she didn’t tell him to go to Yongxiu County to kidnap anyone.”

“You’re still trying to defend yourself! Someone, take the lady back to her room. If this matter can pass, you can go back to your parents’ home. If it can’t, you and everyone in our Marquis Hengyuan residence will die together.”

“Mother!”

Immediately, maids and servants came forward and dragged away Lady Wei. Her only son was so frightened that he started crying, making the old lady displeased with him as well and had him taken away as well.

Wei Chunlin had no time to attend to his wife now. All his hopes were pinned on Wei Hongru, who remained calm during this crisis. Usually, Wei Chunlin had neglected his two legitimate eldest sons. If it hadn’t been for Wei Hongwen’s business acumen, he would have entrusted the business to another son long ago. But now, he suddenly realized that if there were real trouble in the Marquis Hengyuan residence, he could only rely on his two legitimate eldest sons.

Wei Hongru said, “This matter was caused by Wei Hongzheng. The immediate priority is to find out exactly what he did and said to provoke the Emperor’s anger. Father, you didn’t know about Wei Hongzheng’s trip to Yongxiu County, did you?”

Wei Chunlin immediately shook his head. “I didn’t know. If I had known, I would have stopped him!” Then, he became angry, “He’s dead now! Yet, he caused us such a huge disaster!”

Wei Hongru felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this. His father had doted on Wei Hongzheng so much before, but now, he seemed indifferent to his death. No matter what Wei Hongzheng had done, he was still their flesh and blood. Moreover, his death was so tragic.

However, Wei Hongru didn’t show any emotion on his face and said, “The Emperor ordered that no one in the Marquis Hengyuan residence is allowed to leave. We cannot send people out to gather information. The Emperor only ordered to surround the residence, not to raid it. There might still be room for maneuver in this matter. Once the Emperor’s anger subsides, he will inquire about the situation in our residence and as long as we report truthfully, there might still be hope.”

Old Madam Wei, who was beside them, added, “Wei Hongru is right. We really didn’t know that Wei Hongzheng went to Yongxiu County. But we must thoroughly interrogate the people around him. If they concealed his secret trip, they should be punished!”

Upon hearing this, Wei Chunlin found an outlet for his frustration and immediately sat up with renewed spirit, loudly shouting, “Bring them here!” 

Edited by: Jaisland

Proofreader: 

Support translation: