Ever since Tu Shanjin woke up, Yun Yaoyao had not felt this carefree in ages. She ate when she wanted, drank when she wanted, and refused to let anything trouble her heart.
Life was wonderful!
Even attending the six-in-the-morning court session left her feeling refreshed and energetic!
When she arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall and looked down at the assembled officials, even her expression seemed considerably kinder.
Unfortunately, that kindness lasted less than the time it took an incense stick to burn. Yun Yaoyao’s expression changed when someone started making trouble again.
A censor stepped forward and reported solemnly, “Your Majesty, the Yan family has committed the crime of regicide. However, the Ministry of Justice cannot go a single day without a minister. As for the candidate for Minister of Justice, we ask Your Majesty to decide as soon as possible!”
Yun Yaoyao nodded with an enigmatic smile. “That is a reasonable concern. Does Censor Yuan have anyone to recommend?”
“This matter is entirely for Your Majesty to decide! In my humble opinion, anyone capable of serving as minister must possess truly outstanding abilities in order to properly oversee an entire ministry. As the saying goes, the capable should rise to the top…” Censor Yuan continued on and on.
He cited classics and ancient precedents, rambling through such a long string of nonsense that the officials around him began to look increasingly resentful. Some secretly scratched their bottoms, some counted the little golden dragons carved into the beams, and a few had even begun counting how many hairs remained on the baldest official’s head.
The more they counted, the more their resentment eased.
Pfft. That man truly had it rough. There were so few hairs left on his head that each one could have been given a name!
Ha!
At last, Censor Yuan finally got to the point. “If Your Majesty insists that I recommend a candidate for Minister of Justice, I believe Vice Minister Du would be highly suitable.”
The moment he finished speaking, several officials immediately chimed in.
“If we are speaking of ability, Vice Minister Du—who ranks just below Minister Yan—is indeed the most suitable candidate!”
“I second that. During his tenure, Vice Minister Du has worked diligently and demonstrated exceptional ability. He is the backbone of the Ministry of Justice. No one is more suitable than he is.”
“Vice Minister Du…”
The officials praised Du Xiucheng to the skies, as though he were a once-in-a-century genius. Du Xiucheng hurriedly responded with appropriate humility.
“You flatter me, you flatter me!”
“It is all thanks to the support of my fellow colleagues!”
“Not at all, not at all! I still have many shortcomings…”
“You do indeed have many shortcomings.”
The moment those words fell, displeasure welled up in Du Xiucheng’s heart. He had merely been expressing the traditional Yan Chi virtue of modesty. Which tactless person had said that?
He looked up and saw that it was His Majesty.
In that case, never mind.
Du Xiucheng immediately fell silent along with the other officials, none of them understanding what had prompted the emperor’s sudden remark.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the Xuanzheng Hall, and a person entered.
Dressed in official robes, Yan Qinghong faced the wary, startled, and puzzled gazes of the assembled officials and returned to the front of the Ministry of Justice’s line.
“This humble official Yan Qinghong pays his respects to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Long, long live Your Majesty!”
Yun Yaoyao nodded slightly and said in a solemn voice, “Regarding the Yan family’s attempted regicide, I have uncovered the truth!”
“It was all orchestrated behind the scenes by Tushan Ze!”
“Tushan Ze possessed a strange medicine from the Western Regions called Soul-Severing Powder. He secretly had it administered to the Yan siblings, controlling their minds and arranging the plot to assassinate me during the palace banquet!”
“He could use the Yan family to eliminate me and smoothly take the throne, while also removing a powerful minister and placing his own people within the Ministry of Justice!”
Yun Yaoyao turned her sharp gaze toward Du Xiucheng. “The shortcoming I mentioned just now referred to this. As Vice Minister of Justice, you failed to notice that your minister was in danger and did not even uncover the truth behind the Yan family’s attempted regicide!”
“If I had not ordered a thorough investigation, Tushan Ze’s plans would have succeeded, and an innocent minister would have been eliminated!”
Du Xiucheng fell to his knees with a thud. “Your Majesty, please forgive me!”
The other officials were equally shocked and suspicious. Who would have thought that there was another layer to the truth behind the Yan family’s attempted regicide?
They had assumed the Yan family were people of Prince Ze’s faction, which was why they had dared to attempt regicide. As it turned out, they had been innocent parties dragged into this mess.
The officials who had just urged His Majesty to appoint Du Xiucheng as Minister of Justice flushed with embarrassment after hearing this. In their hearts, they secretly cursed Tushan Ze several more times.
Tushan Ze, who had already become a little ghost, had no idea that yet another crime had been pinned on him.
Yun Yaoyao gave a cold snort and continued, “Minister Yan, although you are innocent, you are not entirely without fault. You were insufficiently vigilant, which allowed Tushan Ze to take advantage of you!”
“I sentence you to forfeit one year of your salary. If you commit a serious offense during that year, you will be stripped of your position as Minister of Justice!”
“As for Yan Yuyou and Yan Fengming, who personally attempted to assassinate the emperor—the former will be sent to Manyu Tower, while the latter will be sent to serve in the army!”
The sentence prompted another wave of astonishment among the officials.
The punishment His Majesty had handed down was not especially severe, but it certainly could not be called light.
The Yan family’s only two descendants had been sent to a place like Manyu Tower and conscripted into the army. Whether they would ever return alive was still unknown…
And if Minister Yan committed a serious offense within the next year, he would lose his position. What counted as a serious offense would naturally be up to His Majesty to decide.
It seemed His Majesty had a grudge against the Yan family…
As for the deeper meaning, everyone qualified to stand in this court was shrewd enough to understand it. His Majesty did not want the Du family to become too prominent or too powerful, lest they pose too great a threat. He intended to use the Yan family to keep them in check.
Yan Qinghong’s face went white. His lips trembled as he fell to his knees.
“Yes!”
“Thank you for Your Majesty’s grace. Thank you for giving this guilty subject and his family another chance!”
On the surface, Yan Qinghong looked pained and restrained. Inside, however, his mind was already bubbling with excitement.
The day before, he had secretly entered the palace to meet with His Majesty and discuss their plans for what came next.
His two wayward children had suffered a tremendous blow from this ordeal. His Majesty had suggested taking advantage of the moment to place them in new environments where they could be properly tempered and learn some discipline.
Manyu Tower was no longer the hopeless place where women were forced to sell themselves as it had once been. Every woman there now had both talent and backbone. It might damage his daughter’s reputation, but… correcting her disposition was more important!
As for his son, who shouted every day about repaying his debt of gratitude, it was time to send him into the army for some proper training. Ideally, he would return shouting every day about serving the nation!
Yan Qinghong would spend money and make use of his connections to secretly look after them both.
As for himself, he had originally been eager to throw himself into His Majesty’s warm embrace. However, His Majesty had entrusted him with an even more important mission—one that only he could accomplish:
To become His Majesty’s spy within the imperial court!
At the time, excitement had blazed in Yan Qinghong’s eyes.
He often caught spies and interrogated spies, but this was his first time being a spy himself!
His Majesty had then given him a new persona: a Minister of Justice whose son and daughter had become sacrifices in factional struggles, who himself had become a pawn balancing imperial authority against the nobility, and who had consequently developed hatred and disappointment toward both the court and the emperor, gradually becoming dark and twisted inside.
From this day forth, he would no longer be the simple Yan Qinghong he had once been.
He was now darkened Yan Qinghong—a spy who would stab scheming officials in the back at any moment, secretly clearing away every obstacle in His Majesty’s path!
Yan Qinghong had naturally been born with a pair of sinister phoenix eyes, and his skin was a sickly white. After fully immersing himself in this persona, the dark aura surrounding him grew even heavier, making him faintly terrifying.
The officials who secretly glanced at him shivered.
Had he truly become darkened? He looked like a rat that had crawled out of a ditch. How frightening!
Yan Qinghong swept his gloomy gaze across them.
The officials hastily looked away.
The neutral faction thought as one:
We absolutely cannot afford to provoke him. We’d better stay far away from this unlucky man!
The Du faction: Damn this stumbling block. But it looks like he has grievances against His Majesty too. Perhaps there’s room to make use of him?
Yan Qinghong’s gaze finally settled on Du Xiucheng behind him. With a chilling look and a sinister smile, he said, “Vice Minister Du, have you been coveting my position for quite some time? Then let’s see who’s more capable.”
The glare made Du Xiucheng’s skin prickle with goosebumps. He gave an awkward laugh. “Minister Yan, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
Only after seeing that he had thoroughly intimidated everyone around him did Yan Qinghong contentedly withdraw his gaze and lower his head, veiling his eyes.
Step one of darkened Yan Qinghong’s master plan: take down Du Xiucheng!
