met free Chapter 39 The Legend of Zhen Huan: Su Yunyi 38
Chapter 39 The Legend of Zhen Huan: Su Yunyi 38
After returning to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Emperor ordered Su Peisheng to investigate the fire at the Suiyu Pavilion.
The situation did not go as Zhen Huan and Qi Yuebin had hoped. Zhen Huan had put lamp oil on the flammable curtain to make the fire appear more serious.
After investigating, Su Peisheng understood what had happened at Suiyuxuan. Now all that was left was to interrogate Su Xi.
Su Xi was not a person of strong will, and Su Peisheng used some tricks to get Su Xi to confess.
Su Xi was placed by Consort Duan to serve Consort Nian. Coincidentally, Consort Nian lost power, and Consort Duan wanted to ruin her. Qi Yuebin joined forces with Su Xi to plan an inside-outside attack. Qi Yuebin also sought cooperation from Zhen Huan, all for the purpose of killing Nian Shilan.
When the Emperor saw the evidence that Su Peisheng had found, he was furious: "Just for his own selfish interests, he dared to burn down the Suiyu Pavilion!"
Upon learning that the Emperor had uncovered the truth, Su Yunyi went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to offer the Emperor some advice.
The national treasury was not very wealthy to begin with. In the past few years, the war had depleted the funds of the Imperial Household Department. Now, with the funds allocated for palace repairs, what money was left in the treasury? Su Yunyi felt sorry for the money, as it was all going to Hongxi in the future.
Upon receiving Su Peisheng's report, Su Yunyi entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation and saw that the Emperor was still angry. Su Yunyi asked with concern, "What's wrong, Your Majesty? Why are you so angry?"
When the Emperor saw it was her, he pointed to the evidence on the table.
Su Yunyi pretended not to know anything, and after reviewing the evidence, she said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Perhaps Consort Wan and Consort Duan were careless?"
The emperor was furious upon hearing this: "Don't they know? They're not three-year-olds. Don't they understand how much money it takes to repair a burned-down palace?"
"The thought of the money spent on repairing the palace breaks my heart."
Seeing that the Emperor was already enraged, Su Yunyi quickly changed the subject, as it would be difficult to handle if the Emperor were to have a heart attack like this.
"Since they were the ones who burned down the palace, I have a plan, but I don't know if it will work?"
The Emperor raised an eyebrow, looked at Su Yunyi, and said, "Speak!"
Su Yunyi said calmly, "Since they burned down the palace, why don't we let them pay for its repair?"
The emperor pondered. Although he was tempted, it would not sound good if word got out that an emperor was asking his concubines to pay for the repair of the palace.
Su Yunyi continued, "I believe that if a son is not properly taught, it is the father's fault. Otherwise, if we spread the word about what Consort Wan and Consort Duan did, it would be an immense act of leniency to only ask them to repair the palace. Wouldn't it be even better if their families then paid for the repairs?"
The Emperor thought about it and realized that if their family hadn't failed to properly educate their daughter, they wouldn't have dared to do something so audacious.
Thinking of this, the emperor could no longer be angry and said, "The Imperial Concubine is indeed exceptionally intelligent."
After Su Yunyi left, the Emperor issued an edict demoting Consort Duan and Consort Wan to the rank of Lady-in-Waiting, and ordered Lady-in-Waiting Duan and Lady-in-Waiting, along with their families, to contribute money to repair the palace. The Emperor also thought of Nian Shilan, who had been implicated, and felt pity for her, so he issued an edict to promote her to the rank of Consort Nian and continue to raise Moyaqi.
Zhen Huan and Qi Yuebin were shocked to receive the imperial edict. Qi Yuebin wondered if the emperor no longer had any pity for the face that resembled Chun Yuan.
The Zhen and Qi families were utterly humiliated upon receiving the imperial decree.
The Zhen and Qi families dared not disobey the emperor's decree and could only try their best to raise the money. The Qi family was better off; they had made their fortune early and fought alongside the late emperor, who had bestowed many gifts upon them, which allowed them to barely repay the debt.
The Zhen family hadn't been wealthy for long. Zhen Yuandao was a civil official before, so how much money could he have? Even if he had money, he wouldn't dare to have any under Yongzheng's watchful eye.
The Emperor estimated that it would cost a total of one million taels of silver, and each family would contribute 500,000 taels of silver.
How could the Zhen family come up with such a large sum of money? They could only borrow money from relatives, but it was still not enough to pay for it. They had to sell Zhen Yuandao's ancient paintings and calligraphy to raise the money, and even sold the Zhen mansion to barely raise the money.
The Zhen family is no longer the same as before. Originally, Zhen Yuandao was a meritorious official who quelled Nian Gengyao's rebellion, and the emperor even promoted him to a third-rank official. Zhen Huan was also deeply favored by the emperor. Once Zhen Huan gave birth to her child, wouldn't she be promoted to a higher position? But unexpectedly, the Zhen family was punished by the emperor. Although Zhen Yuandao was not demoted, he was no longer trusted by the emperor as before.
The Emperor realized through this incident that Zhen Huan was not a docile person. Qi Yuebin seemed like a stable person, but the Emperor felt guilty towards her after she killed Nian Shilan's child. Now, she actually conspired with Zhen Huan to kill Nian Shilan. It seems that you can know a person's face but not their heart.
Thinking of this, a dark glint flashed in the Emperor's eyes.
That said, after receiving the Emperor's decree, Zhen Huan hurriedly left Xianfu Palace and ran to Yangxin Hall to beg the Emperor to rescind the decree.
The Emperor's impression of Zhen Huan has been greatly diminished. In addition, the matter of the palace has been resolved, putting his mind at ease. How could the Emperor possibly retract his decree?
Zhen Huan was confined to her quarters by the Emperor because the palace had been burned down. Consort Qi moved to Chuxiu Palace, while Zhen Huan, thinking of Shen Meizhuang, moved to Xianfu Palace.
In Su Yunyi's opinion, Zhen Huan is a real troublemaker. She was a troublemaker back in Suiyu Pavilion, and now that she lives in Xianfu Palace, Consort Jing must have had the worst luck ever.
Because Zhen Huan was confined to her quarters, Consort Qi gained favor and became increasingly arrogant. However, nothing major happened recently. The Empress was busy taking care of the Empress Dowager, whose condition worsened. She was only lucid for one hour a day.
Not long after, a major event occurred in the imperial harem: the Empress Dowager could no longer endure it and passed away.
The Emperor was heartbroken and began preparing for the funeral. The Empress cried uncontrollably at the Empress Dowager's funeral. The system told her that the Empress Dowager had not left an imperial edict not to depose her, which put Su Yunyi at ease.
The palace has been busy with funeral arrangements this month, and the ministers in the court haven't done anything either. I guess the emperor is in a bad mood, and they're afraid of incurring his wrath.
Not long after the Empress Dowager's funeral, Consort Duan passed away, and her death did not cause much of a stir.
The Emperor seemed to pity Qi Yuebin, so he buried her with the rank of Consort Duan. People who had interacted with Consort Duan, or those below Consort Duan, went to offer incense to her.
Moreover, because the Empress Dowager had just finished her funeral, Consort Duan's funeral was held simply before she was buried in the Imperial Concubine's Mausoleum.
Not long after the two funerals, Consort Qi's father, Zhaerjia Emin, disliked Zhen Yuandao. Despite being a Han Bannerman, Zhen Yuandao had risen through the ranks simply because of his favored concubine. Zhaerjia Emin wanted to find something to hold against Zhen Yuandao.
When Zhen Yuandao moved, Zhuaerjia Emin had someone sneak into Zhen Yuandao's study and found evidence that Zhen Yuandao had secretly kept Qian Mingshi's poetry collection.
Unfortunately, the timing was wrong; the Empress Dowager passed away, and Jaarja Emin could only wait for another opportunity.
Fortunately, Jawedia Emin did not act impulsively. Seeing that Jawedia Emin was still looking for more evidence, Su Yunyi revealed to Jawedia Emin the news that Zhen Yuandao had privately taken in a criminal woman and used the child born to her as a maid, and that he had even brought the child into the palace.
When Jawerjia Emin received this news, he was very excited and quickly arranged for people to investigate the truth. It turned out that Zhen Yuandao had not hidden the fact that he had brought Huanbi into the mansion. Soon, Jawerjia Emin followed the clues and found out that Huanbi was the daughter of the criminal He Mianmian.
After the funeral arrangements for the Empress Dowager were completed, Zhuerjia Emin and others immediately submitted a memorial to the throne, impeaching Zhen Yuandao and recounting the whole story.
The next day at court, Jaurga Emin requested an audience with the emperor. Jaurga Emin was very clever. He first mentioned Qian Mingshi's affair. The emperor disliked those who plotted rebellion, and since the rebels had just been captured, expressing his dissatisfaction with Zhen Yuandao's actions after the pacification of the rebellion would be tantamount to blaming him as the emperor.
The Emperor was not idle. Seeing that the Emperor did not speak, Jawjia Emin brought up the matter of Zhen Yuandao taking in a criminal girl and the maid who made a concubine's daughter into a legitimate daughter. She also pointed out that this matter was in the palace.
The emperor was overthinking things. Zhen Yuandao was dissatisfied with him and even put the daughter of a disgraced official into the palace. Wasn't he trying to harm him?