The snow had melted under the clear sky, and the long-absent warm sun spilled over everyone, yet it only made the chill seep deeper into one's bones.
Du Guanliu gave a shudder, and his attendant, Second Young Master Du Du Boxian, quickly draped a sable fur coat over his shoulders. Making small talk, he said, "Father, for the sovereign of a nation to publicly select a empress right at the palace's main gate, Xuande Gate, in front of all civil and military officials and the entire city's common people, that is truly a first since ancient times."
"Choosing an empress not based on personal preference or court political situations, but on the merits of helping the people get through the harsh winter, isn't that also a first?" The smile on Du Guanliu's face faded as he thought of something. "This unorthodox way of doing things has caused our Du family to waste so much financial and material resources on those lowly, ignorant commoners!"
Du Boxian quickly soothed him, "But Consort Miao has lost all popular support, the Du family has removed a strong rival, and countless people in the regions under her jurisdiction have died from the plague. The position of empress is definitely going to belong to our Du family. All that we have paid is worth it."
"But I still have a vague unease in my heart..." Du Guanliu frowned and stepped into his palanquin.
The closer the palanquin got to Xuande Gate, the more intense Du Guanliu's unease grew. He had a feeling that today's events would not unfold as smoothly as he had expected.
Well, his intuition had never been wrong before. To be on the safe side, he had to leave himself a fallback plan!
"Someone come!"
...
Half an hour later, all civil and military officials had gathered on top of the Xuande Gate city wall.
Looking out beyond the layers of imperial guards, crowds of commoners from the capital had flocked over to watch the commotion, a sea of people that stretched as far as the eye could see, their voices rising in a deafening hubbub!
The heavy snow was melting, all things were reviving. Bathed in the warm sun's grace, they had survived the harsh, difficult winter, and now bright smiles and vigorous vitality shone on every commoner's face.
Amid the noisy chatter, there were voices brimming with pride for the country and its people, voices of adoration for the wise and enlightened emperor, voices full of hope for the future, voices speaking of ambition to fulfill their ideals... All these sounds wove together a vivid picture of peaceful days and a world at peace, where the people lived in contentment.
Up on the city wall, the officials took turns one after another, each outdoing the last in fawning over the emperor, creating a scene full of worldly sophistication — no, wait, a beautiful scene of a kind ruler and loyal ministers.
The emperor had ordered the night before that all the winter relief records across the capital be searched and verified. It would only take a few more sticks of incense worth of time for the compiled documents to be delivered.
By then, it would be revealed who would take the position of empress.
But all the officials present were well-informed people. They had naturally heard the rumors of the "Calamitous Demon Consort" that had been circulating in the capital for some time, not to mention that the regions under Consort Miao's jurisdiction had suffered greatly from the plague.
This competition for the position of empress, barring any unexpected turn of events, was going to be won by the Du family!
The officials, their eyes rolling shrewdly, glanced at the emperor seated on the dais. His face gave nothing away of his emotions, and he no longer showed the thoughtfulness and affection he once had for Consort Miao.
It seemed the emperor also believed the rumors of the Calamitous Demon Consort, and had grown estranged from Consort Miao!
Everyone who could hold a position in the imperial court was a seasoned veteran, used to currying favor with the powerful and abandoning the fallen. So many of the officials immediately swarmed over to Du Guanliu and the Du faction, showering them with excessive flattery and fawning over them shamelessly.
The officials who had once offended the Du faction huddled in the corners, smiling bitterly with heavy hearts.
"Seeing Minister Du so full of glory, it feels worse than killing I, Fan," one of them murmured.
"If the position of empress really falls into the Du family's hands, then in this imperial court, apart from His Majesty, the world will truly be Du Guanliu's to command," another whispered.
"Fellow colleagues, my old bones are feeling unwell. I'll take my leave first..."
Du Guanliu basked in the praise of others, the corners of his eyebrows lifting high, his arrogance and sense of having gained the upper hand completely unconcealed.
He was a senior official who had served two emperors, and the Du family was an illustrious clan of officials stretching back generations. Anyone who dared to oppose the Du family was as good as seeking death.
What even if it was that walking lucky charm? If it blocked his path, it could only be crushed under his feet, never to rise again!
Du Guanliu gave a subtle signal with his eyes, and the Du faction members hidden among the officials immediately understood. They pushed through the crowd and dropped to their knees with a heavy thud in front of Yun Yaoyao.
"Your Majesty, this official has something that I must report! A few days ago, I observed the celestial phenomena at night, and noticed that the five planets had deviated from their courses, the year star had lost its proper position, and a faint star that had not shone for hundreds of years had blazed brightly again. It had a smaller star trailing behind it, as if it was about to crash into the sun and the moon. This... this is an omen that the country will fall into chaos, and natural disasters and man-made misfortunes will soon arrive!"
One official exclaimed, "How could this be?!"
Another official quickly picked up the thread, dropping to his knees. "Recently, there have been folk rumors that Consort Miao is the reincarnation of the ancient Calamitous Demon Consort Daji. These rumors should not be believed normally, but they happen to line up perfectly with this faint star shining again. This... this!"
Yet another official knelt down. "This official does not think it is a rumor, but the truth! The plague disaster is another solid proof of this. If we let things continue like this, I fear... I fear the dynasty will face the threat of extinction!"
One after another, a whole crowd of officials knelt on the ground, their words sounding earnest and their voices resounding with conviction.
"Consort Miao is the Calamitous Demon Consort. We request Your Majesty to execute Consort Miao, to restore clear and bright skies to our Great Yan Chi Kingdom!"
"We urge Your Majesty to execute the Calamitous Demon Consort at once!!"
Even the neutral and royalist factions paled at these words, and quite a number of their members also knelt down, joining the call to execute the Calamitous Demon Consort.
Down beneath the Xuande Gate city wall, even some commoners knelt of their own accord, shouting "Execute the Calamitous Demon Consort immediately!" and similar cries.
For a moment, the words "Execute the Calamitous Demon Consort" echoed through the air, reaching the very clouds.
Niu Xiu'er was so furious that her fists as big as sauce pans creaked with the force of her grip, and she wanted nothing more than to beat the nonsense-spouting crowd until they were smashed to pulp.
"Miss! They..."
"It's fine." The Calamitous Demon Consort herself, Tu Shanjin, took a sip of her tea calmly, and turned her gaze to the emperor seated on the dais.
To her surprise, the emperor did not even spare her a single glance. His voice was icy cold, brimming with boundless majesty.
"I have already made my decision. After we have appointed the new empress, we will deal with this matter!"
Seeing the emperor's reaction, Du Guanliu and the members of the Du faction were completely relieved now.
At that very moment, the compiled winter relief documents were delivered. Xiao Wuzi took the documents, cleared his throat, and read them out publicly.
"The losses of livestock and crops to cold under the jurisdictions of Consort Miao and Consort Ling are both very minor and roughly equal. Draw."
"As for the commoners who suffered from the cold: in the region under Consort Miao's jurisdiction, a total of 4,351 people died from the cold, of whom 4,300 died after contracting the plague. In the region under Consort Ling's jurisdiction, a total of 29 people died from the cold, of whom 10 died of the plague."
"The position of empress belongs to Consort Ling!"
The final result was just as all the officials had expected. The Du faction members all puffed out their chests proudly. That shrewd, opportunistic minister surnamed Li even rushed to Du Guanliu first to offer his congratulations. "Lord Du, congratulations! I will have to rely on your guidance from now on. This lowly official has a treasured work by the Calligraphy Sage Feng Tan in my collection..."
A clear, lazy voice rang out at that moment, shattering the celebratory bustle.
"Your Majesty, this concubine also has a matter to report. In this urgent situation, I ask for your forgiveness for concealing it before."
"A month ago, the Du family's Fourth Young Master devised a plan to use the plague incident to fight for the position of empress. That very night, the Eldest Young Master of the Du family personally brought the dying, plague-infected people who had been quarantined on the outskirts of the city into the capital, and made them move around in West Street, the area where I reside. This caused the commoners there to contract the plague. The very next evening, I captured this group of people who had deliberately spread the plague. Three of them are still alive in my custody to this day."
"To make the Du family mistakenly believe that I have fallen into their sinister plot, let down their guard, and save the common people from the next disaster of their poison scheme, I played along with their trick, created a false impression, and spread the news that a plague had broken out on West Street and was out of control. In reality, the epidemic was brought under control the very next day. A total of thirty-six people died from the plague, not the four thousand three hundred that was claimed. Whether what I say is true or false, there are both witnesses and physical evidence. Your Majesty can find out as soon as you investigate."
"But Minister Du, in order to fight for the position of Empress, deliberately spread the plague, disregarding the lives of the entire city's people. He also intentionally sent people to spread rumors that I am a Calamitous Demon Consort, manipulating public opinion. His heart is utterly treacherous."
"I say Minister Du is the calamity-bringing demon minister, and he deserves to be executed immediately!"
The situation on the scene shifted sharply with these words.
The weathervane minister's face paled drastically, and the fawning words on his lips came to a sudden, abrupt halt. "That was something I kept for my own personal viewing!" he blurted out, before hurriedly shrinking back into the crowd of other court officials.
Du Guanliu's hands tightened slightly under his sleeves, but he did not show a hint of panic on his face. "Your Ladyship, at this critical juncture, you still dare to spout nonsense and slander me? I have never done such a thing, nor would I ever deign to do something so underhanded! Your Ladyship has forged evidence and bribed my servants..."
"Lord Du, there is no need to rush to defend yourself. You have three major crimes today, and what I just mentioned is only the first. You might as well keep listening to the rest," Tu Shanjin put down her teacup and smiled faintly, cutting off his words.
Du Guanliu let out a cold snort. "Then I would like to see what other baseless accusations you plan to throw at me!"
Right after his voice faded, a familiar, arrogant and annoyingly cheeky voice drifted over from nearby.
"Greetings, fellow colleagues! We haven't seen each other for days, I've missed you all so much~"
"Lord Du, let me be the one to properly lay out your second major crime for everyone."
