Chapter 250: I’ll accompany you to the end

“Where’s Zhaor? Have you seen Zhao’er?” Wei Guifei woke up from unconsciousness, head not combed face not washed, swollen with a pair of walnut eyes, just pulling the serving palace maid to ask for her son.

The palace maid said anxiously, “Your Highness has forgotten that His Royal Highness the Second Prince is in the Empress Dowager’s Palace, and has not returned at this moment ……”

“–Go and carry Zha’er back! Go!” Noble Consort Wei shoved her hard.

The courtesan prostrated to apologize. Wei Guifei was too angry to kick her, and the courtesan didn’t dare to move even when she was beaten, only saying repeatedly in a frightened tone, “Your Highness, spare the slave girl!”

“Good, good, if you all don’t go, this palace will go by itself!” In a fit of rage, Noble Consort Wei carried her skirt straight to the palace gates, only to see a few eyewitness guards, who were closing the Yongning Palace’s gates and putting up heavy sealing locks.

Noble Consort Wei exclaimed in shock, “What are you dog slaves going to do!”

The guards coldly said, “By imperial decree, the door is sealed and the palace is closed. The Imperial Master ordered the Empress to cultivate her body, not to have to go out of this door again, and not to be concerned about His Highness the Second Prince.”

“This is …… this is to put me into the cold palace? I don’t believe it, the Imperial Master wouldn’t do this to me, I don’t believe it!” Noble Consort Wei hissed, striking the doorway as hard as she could and pulling it to the side, “I want to see the Imperial Master! Let me out!”

“The Imperial Master will not see the Empress again. Please also let go of Your Majesty’s hand so that you won’t be hurt by mistake.”

Wei Noble Consort looked at the guards’ stone-like indifference, tears came to her eyes: ”The Imperial Master refuses to see me, but let me see Zhao’er, right? That is my own son! I worked so hard to carry a child in October, and nearly died in the shock of childbirth to get my own son ah! You give Zhao’er back to me, give it back to me!”

The guards pushed her away expressionlessly and continued to close the door. One of the guards muttered, “Who isn’t born in October from their own mother? When you arbitrarily execute errant courtiers, you don’t see any heartache for other people’s own children.”

The other head guard glanced at him, “Cut the crap.”

Wei Guifei shocked angry sad, desperate to the extreme, in order to enter the palace to learn all the etiquette are thrown away do not want, directly paralyzed sitting on the threshold, patting the thighs while crying and cursing, tears: “pro mom ah, you were blind or lack of heart, non-sent me into the palace, rushed to suffer this old crime! Weekdays eat all the cold not to mention, now even out of a door, also be people horizontal raked vertical blocking …… I only have Zhaoyi so a hope, you still want to rob him, I do not live ……”

“…… Stop howling!” The chief couldn’t bear it and turned his head, calling out to the other guards, “Why don’t you hurry up and send the maiden back!”

Two guards immediately stepped forward, one on the left and the other on the right to set up Wei Guifei’s arms, and dragged them inside the door.

Wei Guifei was flailing, but she heard the voice of the guard who was holding her down say in a low and icy voice: “The only thought left in the minds of others was not also burned by you? It’s just the way of heaven, who’s to blame?”

Wei Guifei froze, gouging him hard with her nails, gritting her teeth: ”It’s the crown prince, isn’t it? It’s all because that little yakuzi is behind the bad …… I want to see the Empress Dowager! Let go of me!”

The guard flung her to the ground in the courtyard and said with a cold smile, “The young master asked my humble servant to send the Empress a message – live well, the days to come will be long.”

The palace door closed with a bang. Noble Consort Wei sat motionless and stagnant.

The clattering of iron chains outside the door suddenly roused her from her disorientation. She wiped away her face full of snot and tears with her sleeve, clenched her back teeth, and from the two points of her raven-black pupils burst out a sharp light of venomous hatred, “Then let’s compare, whose coming day is longer!”

Inside Ci Ning Palace, the first thing the Empress Dowager did when she came back from the Imperial Temple was to order the palace maid to carry the second prince over.

Zhu Hezhao was always favored by the Empress Dowager, and as soon as he saw her, he reached out and pampered her, “Grandma, hug, hug!”

The Empress Dowager took a step back in silence, slowly half squatting down, carefully surveying her young grandson, the stern scrutinizing intent in her gaze was alarming.

Zhu He Zhao went to embrace her neck, but was stopped by her holding her head and face with both hands. She held Zhu He Zhao’s small face like this, her sharp-edged gaze scraped from the other party’s eyebrows, eyes, mouth and nose one by one, and only after a long time did she breathe a slight sigh of relief, and said in a low voice, “Like.”

The empress dowager spread her hands and got up. Zhu He Zhao vaguely feel aggrieved, hugging the grandmother’s legs crying. The empress dowager momentarily lost the mood to hold him, ordered the palace maid: “Coax him well. In addition, tell the emperor, Zhao’er still in Ci Ning Palace to raise. Shufei own a pair of daughters, not a few years should also discuss marriage, busy.”

The palace maid led the order and carried away the second prince.

The Empress Dowager sat back down on the Luohan couch, letting Qiong Gu pinch her neck and pound her shoulders, sighing heavily, “Undisputed!”

Qiong Gu thought about some of the winds she heard from the former dynasty and asked softly, “The Empress …… really won t save the Wei family?”

Empress Dowager reclined on the cushion, eyes slightly closed: “How to save? The handle fell in the hands of the enemy, human evidence and material evidence are complete, but also blocked in front of the door to hold the criminal – you say how to save!”

After thinking about it, Joan of Arc suggested, “A kettle of fish?”

The Empress Dowager knew she was talking about Su Yan.

This son is not very old, but very good at creating momentum as a demon, is not a peaceful and self-contained courtier …… helpless emperor too favor him. Have to clean up his, is with the emperor hard, is not wise move.

It’s better to whisk people far away and out of sight, out of mind.

The Empress Dowager waved her hand in disbelief.

Qiong Gu asked again, “Has the Empress Dowager considered, changing the object of her support?”

The Empress Dowager sighed: ”Full of civil and military forces, only the Wei family has a natural advantage over me, both my sister’s husband’s family, and the mother’s family of the second prince. For so many years, the Wei family is obedient to me, after all, they are also running to make Zhao’er become the Crown Prince. As long as the lifeline of Zhao’er is there, the Wei family will never betray me. Those other vassals, their mouths say ‘willing to serve the Empress Dowager as a dog and horse’, but how can they be as loyal and reliable as this?”

“As the slave girl sees it, Lord Jiao and Lord Wang among the cabinet ministers are also loyal to the Empress Dowager.”

It was said that Jiao Yang, the second assistant minister, and Wang Qianhe.

“They?” The empress dowager snorted, “Li Xifeng is getting old, sooner or later the position of chief minister is going to be vacant. They are aiming for this position, because they are not allowed to be valued by the Emperor, they come to me to find another way, how do I not know what they are thinking!”

Qiong Gu reminded her, “There are also quite a few old ministers who, although they don’t grunt on the surface, are actually mindful of the Empress Dowager’s old favor.”

“You said that group of old fellows ah.” The Empress Dowager lamented, “When the Emperor first ascended to the throne, some important ministers who had been in power since the late Emperor deceived him as he was still young, so they relied on the old and tried to influence the government. I had to personally contact the former emperor’s group of old courtiers to help the emperor suppress and clean up the disobedient ones, and only then did I gain the right to speak.

“Seeing that more than ten years have passed, the Emperor’s prestige is growing, but his dissatisfaction and restrictions on me as his mother have become more obvious. When I summoned a few more masters, he said they were demonic monks and evil paths; when I wanted to promote a few of my own, he said that their character and ability were not enough to serve as an official; even when the various dao and prefectures paid tribute to a few agaric flowers to make me happy, he had a problem with it.”

The more the Empress Dowager spoke, the heavier her tone became, and finally slapped the armrest and questioned the Emperor through the air: ”Do you remember what you said the night before you ascended to the throne, when you came to me in a state of confusion? Said he was not willing to be a loner; said that whenever you encounter difficulties and dangers, want to step back, I hope there is a hand can firmly on your back, said to you, ‘the road ahead is rugged again, I accompany you to the end’.

“In all these years, which time have I, as the Queen Mother, not supported you?

“You wanted to raise the late emperor’s temple name, you insisted on refusing to abolish the Brocade Guards, you set up a new system of examining officials for success, those old ministers whose interests were compromised came to me in tears, and I never spoke up for them. Even you have to set up my extremely disliked chapter as the queen, finally I also nodded! Tell me yourself, I am the mother of the queen, which bit of sorry you?

“But you are good, knowing that I have a knot in my heart, knowing that your third brother died a tragic death, knowing the results of the masters’ divination – that Zhang is the reincarnation of Mo, that her son is here to claim my life and collect a debt – you still want to make Zhu Helin the Crown Prince!

“You have a thin heir, and in the first fourteen years there was only this one imperial son, so I tolerated it. Now that you have Zhao’er, there will be more emperors in the future, yet you refuse to listen to my advice and have to fix your eyes on a crooked one!”

The Empress Dowager took a long breath, still unable to calm her agitation, and said resentfully, “Even if it’s not good enough, Ah is more suitable than him!”

Qiong Gu was shocked, “Empress Dowager, that is the Prince’s son, not Zhengshuo.”

The Empress Dowager laughed slightly, “If I had pushed Cheng’er up to become the Emperor, wouldn’t it have been the rightful emperor? What’s the difference between the eldest son and the youngest son, which one is filial to me as a mother, which one is my good son!”

–The empress dowager is talking in anger. Qiong Gu heart know, but not good in the anger to persuade her, had to say: “The Royal Master is not like Yu Wang Wang Wang will coax the Queen Dowager happy, but it is also extremely filial piety. Empress forgets, once you have a serious wind chill, the Royal Master endured a headache, but also all night in front of the bed, each bowl of medicine is tasted, before serving to the Empress.”

The Empress Dowager was silent for a moment, seemingly touched, and finally said, “He just wants to offer me there as a clay figure. A clay figure cannot speak or intervene, but I am not willing to be the most honorable clay figure under the sky.”

–

Su Yan gave the written impeachment petition to Chu Qiu, the royal historian who came to visit him, and asked him to help submit it to the court.

Chu Qiu was touched and arched his hand and said, “Jun entrusted me with such an important matter, I will live up to my trust. Moral righteousness in front, for the country for the people to punish traitors and eliminate evil, ten thousand deaths.”

This is the true style of a speech official ah! Su Yan returned the salute, “Please, Brother Lingchuan.”

Not to mention the next day at the court, Chu Qiu with a group of imperial inspectors how to bombard the Wei family, but also strongly advocated that the rustic printed in the newspaper, published in the world;

Not to mention the fact that the “anti-Wei faction” was therefore united under the banner of Su XII, and the east wind gradually overpowered the west wind in the courtroom.

Single said the imperial prison in the north township, late at night came in a visit to the prison.

The jailer shouted, “The cell ahead is an important prisoner’s cell, visitors are not allowed to enter!”

The visitor lifted the hood of the cloak, revealing a head full of beads and a face that resembled the Empress Dowager’s: “I am Mrs. Qin.”

No one in the capital knows that Mrs. Qin is the empress dowager’s highly valued sister. Even her maiden name “Qin”, but also in the Empress Dowager’s special approval to retain, so after marrying not called “Mrs. Wei”. The Empress Dowager said that Mrs. Qin had made great achievements for the late Emperor.

Coincidentally, the late emperor before ascending to the throne of the title “King of Qin”, this “Qin” surname will be extraordinarily honored a few points, Mrs. Qin this pride.

At this time, Wei Guifei mouth “sick mother”, although the face is somewhat pale and haggard, but there is no obvious disease, with a food box alone to the sunless Jinyiwei Imperial Prison.

In front of the jailer, Mrs. Qin flashed the waist plate given by the Empress Dowager herself.

“I won’t make things difficult for you, just visiting my husband and little uncle, it’s human nature, even His Majesty will understand and agree. Please also make it convenient.” She finished warmly, handing over a large bag of treasure notes.

The jailer hesitates for a moment, puts the precious banknote into his arms, and nods, “One incense stick of time, finish talking and go …… something to check.”

Mrs. Qin agreed and handed him the food box.

The jailer looked through it and made sure it was just wine and food, no other entrapment, and that it was not poisonous, so he let her into the cell.

While her husband’s cell was in front of her, Mrs. Qin visited her youngest uncle first.

When Marquis Wei Jun of Feng An sees her, he is all agitated, saying that the Imperial Prison is really not a place for people to stay, and begs her to intercede with the Empress Dowager to release himself and his elder brother at once.

Mrs. Qin ignored the request and instead said, “Your son is sick.”

Wei Jun only an only son, is the capital of a hegemony, spoiled lawlessness, heard the shock: “What disease? Have you ever looked for a doctor? What did the doctor say?”

Mrs. Qin said, “It’s useless to look for a doctor, only you, your own father, can cure this disease.”

“–I can cure? What exactly is the disease?”

“You don’t take the blame for the entire Wei family, he’ll die of the disease.”

Wei Jun was stunned for a long time, shocked and angry, “You want me to take the fall alone? How can I carry such a big offense by myself?!”

“You have to carry it even if you can’t!” Mrs. Qin was unmoved, “If you carry it, your son lives and the rest of the Wei family lives; if you refuse to carry it, everyone is doomed. What do you think should be the choice?”

“Isn t the rest of the Wei family …… just you two couples?” Wei Jun was so angry that he coughed loudly.

Mrs. Qin said, “You only have half a life left anyway, what’s there to lose by using it to protect your own son and brother and sister-in-law? Don’t worry, we will definitely treat our nephew as our own son in the future, and whatever my family Que’er has, he will never have one iota less.”

After Wei Joon was shocked and out of breath, he thought about it and didn’t find a second way out, and asked unwillingly, “The Empress Dowager can’t step in to save the Wei family?”

Mrs. Qin proudly said, “My meaning is the Empress Dowager’s meaning.”

Wei Jun was now completely at his wits’ end. For the sake of his son, for the sake of his own bloodline not being cut off, he finally made up his mind painfully and responded, “I’ll carry it!”

Mrs. Qin made a blessing towards him, “On behalf of my husband, and on behalf of the entire Wei family, I would like to thank Junior Uncle.”

Wei Jun revealed a bitter smile that was worse than tears, “You’re doing it for you couple yourselves.”

Mrs. Qin added, “And for your son.”

Wei Joon gasped like a bellows and waved his finger as if he was dying in peace, “Go away. Treat my son well, or I won’t let you couple go even as ghosts!”

Mrs. Qin left Wei Joon’s cell and went back to Wei Yan to give an explanation.

The jailer came to urge. Mrs. Qin pulled her hood back up, covered her head and face, and quietly left the imperial prison.

That jailer after she left, touched the bulging silver in his arms, two legs suddenly started to shake, full of back chills a piece of a piece of the flood, how can not go down.

–He thought of the chief official, Shen Tongzhi. He thought of how miserable he would end up if his actions today were known by the Life Destroying Seventh Son!

He shivered while holding tightly to the heavy gold in his hand, and in his heart he murmured as if he was fuming: people die for money, birds die for food.

–

“What did you say?”

Su Yan’s internal injuries had improved, and he was slowly skirting around the old peach tree in the courtyard, when Shen Qi rushed to see him and said something he had never expected.

He was a bit surprised: ”Wei Jun took all the blame on himself? He’s not a person who is sentimental and righteous, this kind of thing of sacrificing the ego to make everyone whole, I believe he couldn’t do it even if he was dead. I thought that the two brothers would bite each other during the trial and fight to drag each other down to hell.”

Shen Qi agreed with him, but this did happen.

“Wei Joon also wrote an extremely detailed confession of guilt, basically picking Wei Yan clean, at most, staking out a fault of ineffective housekeeping and lax discipline. Wei Yan also claimed to have no knowledge of those charges. The confessions of the two men surprisingly match very well.” Shen Qi said.

Su Yan frowned and asked, “Did these two conspire?”

“Separately detained, just afraid of collusion.” Shen Qi said, “The Ministry of Justice, the Jin Yiwei, and the Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office held a trial in three divisions, and when they got Wei Joon’s confession, the Ministry of Justice immediately reported it, and the entire courtroom knew about it.”

Su Yan pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, “There are people who are forcefully defending the family, unwilling to see it completely destroyed …… What does the royal master mean?”

“It was not finalized on the spot. But I’ve heard it said that the Cabinet is working on a decree – penned by Sub-Assistant Jiao Yang and ready to be presented to the Imperial Court for review.”

This “hear people say” “people”, eighty percent is Shen Qi buried in the Cabinet clerical officials in the eye line. Su Yan saw through it and asked, “Where is Pavilion Master Li?”

“Li Chengfeng had a fall two days ago and had some small stroke, even his speech is not very clear anymore.” Shen Qi said.

Su Yan sighed, “The battle for the cabinet’s chief minister has already begun.”

Shen Qi coldly asked, “Do you want to fight for it too?”

Under Su Yan’s heavy heart, he still lost his smile: ”Me? I’m going to fight for the prime minister? Qilang, are you kidding, how old am I, what qualifications do I have to compete for the position of prime minister under one person and above ten thousand people!”

Shen Qi said with certainty: “Age will always grow, and seniority will always be there.”

Su Yan shook his head, “Not to pull those shadowless things, let’s just say at the moment Wei Joon this matter, how does the Imperial Master intend to deal with it?”

Shen Qi didn’t answer and couldn’t answer.

After he returned to the North Township Division, the guards guarding the Imperial Prison that day were all taken out, one by one, personally interrogated. He soon caught the jailer who was bribed to let Mrs. Qin in.

The jailer was already scared out of his wits before he could be sentenced, and only said that Mrs. Qin was here under the decree of the Empress Dowager, and that he, as a humble official, could not disobey the order at all.

Shen Qi faintly asked, “Did Mrs. Qin choose your tongue on the spot, so that you can’t even report a message to me?”

The jailer wept bitterly and kowtowed for mercy, saying that he was obsessed with money and would never do it again.

“Since the tongue is useless, what’s the point of keeping it?” Shen Qi stuck the torture cone he was playing with in his hand into his mouth, and then chopped off his hands with the embroidered spring knife, “Turn around and build a pair of golden hands out of the treasure money you received, and hold them for the rest of your life.”