After the great battle of words at Xuanzheng Palace, the atmosphere at court grew far tenser than before.
Tu Shanjin became busier by the day. Every morning, when the sky was only beginning to lighten and she was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, he had already finished his exercises and begun dealing with all manner of affairs.
After court, Tu Shanjin practiced swordsmanship, saberplay, and horsemanship while she flopped down and went back to sleep. While Tu Shanjin reviewed memorials, she woke up and snacked on little treats. While Tu Shanjin studied military texts and historical records and sent messages back and forth, she grew drowsy and went back to sleep.
As letter after letter was secretly sent out from Qianqing Palace, the situation outside grew ever more sinister and unpredictable.
Yun Yaoyao, who only had to eat her fill, sleep her fill, and put on a show while occupying Tu Shanjin’s body, declared that the tyrant was truly a perfect all-rounder. He had to train his body and practice with blades, handle state affairs and read extensively, all while plotting how to bring down the Ministry of Revenue.
Goodness, she wondered whether that beautiful little brain of his could handle so many schemes!
At the same time, Lin Qingti, Di Shunzhi, and Zhou Siren—the three great generals under Tu Shanjin—naturally had no time to rest either.
Sometimes, Zhou Siren even fell asleep thinking about how to cooperate with His Majesty, what move they should make next, and how they could bring down the Ministry of Revenue while making as few mistakes as possible.
After some time, the dark circles beneath all three men’s eyes had grown frighteningly deep.
The chill of autumn was intensifying, and only one day remained before Lou Jianshan and his faction would be officially wiped out.
Inside Qianqing Palace, the hardworking empress and the laid-back tyrant were alone together.
Tu Shanjin leaned against the imperial throne, rubbing his temples wearily. Beneath his eyes lay deep bluish hollows caused by a lack of sleep.
Yun Yaoyao reclined sideways on a chaise longue, eating seasonal fruit sent as tribute. The outer layers of her clothing hung open in disarray, and she idly reached beneath them to feel the hard abdominal muscles beneath her fingers.
“So big,” Yun Yaoyao murmured in satisfaction.
They felt just like corn that had somehow become a person. The texture was wonderful!
She liked it!
“What?” Tu Shanjin asked suspiciously.
Yun Yaoyao answered solemnly, “Ahem. I said the fruit is so big.”
Tu Shanjin glanced at the fruit, which was smaller than his fingernail, and fell into deep thought.
“Tomorrow is Lou Jianshan’s fiftieth birthday banquet. How are things on your end?” Yun Yaoyao asked, changing the subject.
Tu Shanjin replied, “Everything is ready. We’re only waiting for the east wind.”
At that, Yun Yaoyao curled her lips into a smile.
“Good. Then tomorrow, I’ll be your east wind.”
“I’ll blow his entire birthday banquet away!”
The next day, the area outside the Lou residence was decorated with lanterns and banners. Lavish carriages came and went without pause, while officials dressed in expensive robes handed their gifts to the servants, their faces adorned with ingratiating smiles.
Inside the residence, singing and dancing filled the air, and cups clinked merrily. The beautiful entertainers glittered with gold and silver jewelry, while the delicacies they carried on trays were enough to make anyone’s mouth water.
In soft, sweet voices, they introduced the dishes.
“My lord, this is five-snake soup. It is made from the most tender pieces of meat taken from the bellies of five kinds of snake: the spectacled cobra, the many-banded krait, the banded krait, the water snake, and the beauty snake. A single bowl requires sixty-six snakes. After they are soaked and cooked, civet cat meat, shredded chicken, shredded abalone, chrysanthemums, shiitake mushrooms, and other ingredients are added to make the soup. The chrysanthemums are all rare and precious varieties. Please enjoy, my lord~”
“My lord, this is stuffed bean sprouts. Both ends of each bean sprout are cut off, and a copper wire is used to hollow out the center. It is then slowly stuffed with the meat of a young deer and steamed. Twenty people have to spend an entire day preparing this single dish. Please have a taste, my lord~”
Even officials who were accustomed to extravagance in their daily lives could not help sighing at the sight.
“Minister Lou, a single man’s wealth can rival that of an entire nation!”
At the highest seat, Lou Jianshan smiled until his eyes narrowed to slits. Rare jade rings covered all ten of his fingers.
“Lou has reached the age of knowing Heaven’s will. I am deeply delighted that all of you have come from so far away. Eat and drink your fill today—don’t say that Lou has treated you poorly!”
While the Lou residence was filled with laughter and cheer, a plainly decorated carriage quietly departed from the imperial palace.
Yun Yaoyao had plenty of time outside the palace this time, so she deliberately had the Dragon Shadow Guard take a longer route, allowing her to see the sights around the imperial city.
As they traveled through the prosperous parts of the imperial city, the buildings gradually changed from lavish to shabby. Once they reached the southern part of the city, beggars with disheveled hair could be seen everywhere, along with children whose faces were sallow and gaunt from years of malnutrition.
They wore coarse cloth clothes and rarely had a decent pair of shoes. Some were so young that they were still toddlers, yet their hands were already covered in thick layers of calluses.
Ten households with rough, callused hands, while a single phoenix hairpin adorned a noblewoman’s head—what a bitterly ironic verse.
Winter had not yet arrived. All she could do was govern diligently for the people and eliminate parasites like Lou Jianshan, who sucked the people dry.
At the very least, she would make sure that this winter, the imperial city under her watch would not become a place where “meat rots behind vermilion gates while the frozen dead lie along the road.”
Yun Yaoyao lowered the carriage curtain, a chill flashing through her eyes.
“To the Lou residence!”
The carriage arrived at the Lou residence. The servant stationed at the entrance immediately changed his expression upon seeing the unremarkable carriage. With a look of disgust and hostility, he came forward to drive them away.
But a hand with distinct, well-defined knuckles lifted the carriage curtain first and produced a bright yellow imperial token.
The servant’s face changed drastically. He fell to his knees with a thud.
“His… His… His Majesty!”
Inside the birthday banquet hall, Lou Jianshan had already been flattered into a state of bliss by the assembled officials. A thin flush of alcohol colored his plump, pale face.
“Hmph. I was already a senior minister during the previous dynasty and was trusted by the late emperor. And now this new emperor, who hasn’t even been on the throne for a full year, thinks he can shake the Ministry of Revenue’s position? How laughable!”
“Fellow colleagues, do you truly think the Ministry of Revenue can be brought down so easily?”
With the wine going to his head, Lou Jianshan rarely let his mouth run so freely.
The officials were just about to echo his words with a few more praises when a shrill announcement suddenly interrupted them.
“His Majesty has arrived!”
Every official’s heart jolted.
Recently, His Majesty and Minister Lou had been practically at daggers drawn. Why would His Majesty come to the birthday banquet now?!
In an instant, the officials who had been fawning over Lou Jianshan dropped to their knees in unison.
Lou Jianshan’s drunkenness vanished, replaced by resentment.
What an arrogant little brat! How dare he barge into his fiftieth birthday banquet and ruin it!
He cursed inwardly, but outwardly he still knew exactly what to do. Lou Jianshan smoothly knelt on the ground.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
Led by Yun Yaoyao, the group passed through the mass of kneeling figures before finally taking their seats at the highest place.
Only after a long while did Yun Yaoyao say languidly, “Rise.”
By then, most of the officials had sobered up. Once they stood, their astonished gazes turned toward the figure beside the emperor—an arrogant young man who was currying favor with His Majesty.
Gao Chongguang!
Not long ago, Gao Chongguang had been a Hanlin Academy secretary. After offending His Majesty, he had been stripped of his position, severely beaten, and demoted to commoner status.
But before long, perhaps because His Majesty had taken a liking to his talent for provoking people, he was put back to work. First, His Majesty had stuffed him into the Ministry of Revenue, then used his influence to place him in the position of Vice Director of the Ministry of Revenue.
Gao Chongguang had always been arrogant and overbearing. After securing His Majesty’s favor, he took the word “arrogant” to an entirely new level.
His mouth in particular was so vicious that it was enough to make anyone furious. In just a few short days, he had offended no small number of court officials.
Some had even been so enraged that they wanted to hire an assassin to kill him with a single stroke of the sword.
Yet because Gao Chongguang’s father was the Vice Minister of Personnel, the Gao family was an eminent aristocratic clan, and Gao Chongguang had even managed to attach himself to His Majesty’s favor, everyone had no choice but to swallow their anger.
Ever since Gao Chongguang had been shoved into the Ministry of Revenue, Lou Jianshan—who had been infuriated day after day and had lost more than ten pounds from the stress—felt both disgusted and instantly enraged when he saw the man at the birthday banquet.
Fuck his ancestors for eight generations. What the hell was this bastard doing here too?!
