coobybook Chapter 187 Breakthrough Round (2)
Chapter 187 Breakthrough Round (2)
The emperor has been reflecting on his mistakes lately, thinking that if he has the chance to return to the palace, he must be a good emperor.
Sometimes, looking at the mutilated parts of her lower body, he felt that Yao Sanniang was truly despicable and should be torn to pieces.
Occasionally feeling sentimental and saddened, he can no longer be considered a man. Does he really still have a place in the palace?
To outsiders, this appears as being capricious and unpredictable.
Every time Gu Shijiu saw him, she would whisper to Cao Huan, the former Consort Cao and now Cao Huan, "What's wrong with him this time?"
Cao Huan told her with certainty, "It's probably due to hormones. That's gone, there's a problem with your endocrine system."
Gu Shijiu said he had learned something new.
To be fair, the emperor was in pretty good physical condition; he seems perfectly fine now.
It means that the beard will gradually decrease, and when all the old beard hairs on the face fall out, perhaps no new ones will grow.
Cao Huan stated that this is a misconception; many eunuchs actually had beards, especially those who were castrated after reaching adulthood.
Li Gui has also reverted to his original name.
He was very interested in this and kept asking Cao Huan if there was any chance he could grow a beard again.
Cao Huan was powerless to do anything about it.
Just as emotionally complex as the emperor was Yao Daqing, who was imprisoned.
Because the emperor was never found, the empress dowager did not kill him.
The Minister of Revenue's daughter also spent a few days there, but her father has already sent her back.
Who told her that her father was the Empress Dowager's own brother?
Yao Daqing was severely tortured, but had no idea what had happened.
His health has been deteriorating recently, and while in prison, he often reminisces about his past.
Yao Daqing was born into a poor farming family and experienced the hardships of life from a young age.
His parents, brothers, and the whole family lifted him up.
Fortunately, thanks to his intelligence and hard work, he passed the imperial examinations and became a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations), which changed his life dramatically.
Even though a successful candidate in the provincial examination could be granted an official position, he still managed to change the status of the Yao family even though he didn't pass the imperial examination.
Yao Daqing deeply regretted it; he should have disposed of Li and the child long ago.
If it weren't for a momentary lapse in judgment, things wouldn't have come to this.
No one knows what heinous thing that poor daughter did.
Each interrogation was conducted by a stranger, and the prison was cleared out, clearly indicating that there was a secret involved.
That person didn't hold any official position in the court, and he reeked of blood. Yao Daqing always felt that he was... a suicide soldier.
This is something only the truly elite can afford to maintain.
I wonder if my parents and relatives back home have been affected.
Whenever Yao Daqing thought of this, his heart ached as if it were being pricked by needles.
Without them, how could I have access to education?
Every time Mingming sent money home, she would instruct them not to let Li Shi leave the village, and that if necessary, she could be allowed to die suddenly.
How did I manage to get through it?
That Li family member died far too easily.
And that unfilial daughter, I should have strangled her at birth.
Yao Daqing felt as if he was about to die.
Why should I die like this, after all the hard work to get to where I am today?
Yao Daqing was very unwilling.
He held on in prison, believing that as long as he was alive, there was hope.
The Empress Dowager and high-ranking concubines in the palace were also very anxious.
The Empress Dowager, together with several ministers, lied and said that the Emperor was busy, thus temporarily concealing his disappearance.
That's not difficult, since the emperor didn't like attending court anyway.
The ministers were already used to it.
As for what it is, it's nothing more than either a beautiful new woman from the common people's village entering the village, or she's become obsessed with some little gadget.
Who knows.
Occasionally, the Empress Dowager would hear reports from various places that the Emperor and several bandits had been suspected of being tracked down.
But whenever I try to catch up, I always lose track of them.
The emperor's attitude was also very strange.
At first, she seemed to be resisting, but recently, she seems quite satisfied with the trip.
The Empress Dowager cursed inwardly, thinking that she had probably been fooled by the beautiful Consort Cao.
The lawns in Cao Huan's and Li Gui's houses were turned over, but they still couldn't find anyone to hold accountable.
Finally, the Empress Dowager punished the powerful families who had taken away Li Gui's land, since Li Gui was their tenant farmer.
The anger of those in power needs no reason, and the crimes of the powerful need no fabrication; they are simply laid bare.
They found a whole bunch of them, and in the end, he was convicted of more than a dozen crimes and sentenced to death in the emperor's name.
The local people were happy for a long time after the land was returned to the farmers.
With such a behemoth collapsing, life will be much easier for many people.
As for the Yao family, they haven't been having a smooth time lately either.
After Yao Daqing was imprisoned, the Yao family eventually learned that he had offended a powerful figure.
That's how clans are: if one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs rise to heaven; if one person is executed by slow slicing, the whole family is buried with them.
Gu Shijiu's crimes were enough to shake the Yao family so badly that even their eggs would be shaken.
The Yao family keenly sensed that they were in deep trouble. Although they didn't know how the higher-ups would deal with them, they couldn't just sit and wait for their doom.
The clan elder who had approved Yao Daqing's education years ago made another decision overnight to lead the entire clan to safety.
The Yao family thought they had disappeared without a trace, but in fact the Empress Dowager had been keeping track of their whereabouts all along.
They hadn't acted until now, fearing the emperor wouldn't return.
It was also a long-term strategy to catch a big fish, because the Empress Dowager discovered that the Yao family's destination seemed to be the same as that of the people who had kidnapped the Emperor.
She never thought Yao San Niang could accomplish these things independently.
What exactly does the Yao family want? The Empress Dowager felt she had figured out the truth.
On the other side, the imperial concubine was also very depressed.
Not only could she not see the emperor, but even the empress dowager disliked her.
Keep in mind, she was pregnant.
The imperial concubine felt wronged and requested an audience with the emperor, but the chief eunuch always said he was busy.
She requested an audience with the Empress Dowager, but lately, for some reason, the Empress Dowager's gaze was unsettling, and after a few visits, she dared not go again.
The Imperial Concubine was unaware that the Empress Dowager had already discovered that the torture she had inflicted on Yao San Niang and Cao Xuan Shi on the day they kidnapped the Emperor.
If it weren't for the fact that she was carrying the emperor's child, and the emperor didn't even have a son yet, the Empress Dowager would have loved to kick her over the shoulder.
No matter how you look at it, this matter is inextricably linked to the Imperial Concubine.
It seems that these past few years, since I've neglected my duties, the women in my harem have all become arrogant and unruly.
The Empress Dowager was also of commoner origin, but her family was well-off and she was ambitious. She studied and learned to write from a young age and had a lot of knowledge.
With the emperor away these past few days, she managed to control both the harem and the court.
There haven't been any major incidents so far.
But things can't go on like this forever.
If the emperor doesn't appear even when the imperial concubine gives birth, or even during various festivals and sacrificial ceremonies at the end of the year, then something truly terrible is about to happen.
Unless—the Empress Dowager puts her thoughts on the Consort's belly.
If things don't go smoothly at that time, then we won't have time to worry about so much.
She then sent a message to her brother outside the palace: "This time, the Imperial Concubine's child must be a boy, no matter what. There is no need for the Imperial Concubine to know about this."
The Minister of Revenue was always frowning at home.
How can I get this imperial concubine to give birth to a boy without anyone noticing, since she has no connection to my family at all?