Chapter 128 Are you planning a rebellion, working together from within and without?

In the imperial court.

Emperor Qing: "Zhuang Rong, when shall we depart for the southern frontier?"

Zhuang Rong lowered his head, glanced around, and said, "Your Majesty, the 100,000-strong army is ready to depart tomorrow, and the vanguard is expected to arrive in the southern border region on the 30th."

Emperor Qing was very satisfied, "Excellent, truly a fine general."

A thunderous drumbeat came from outside the palace. Emperor Qing frowned and asked, "Who is making a commotion outside the palace?"

Xu Fangtong examined the situation carefully, then turned and bowed to Emperor Qing, saying, "Your Majesty, someone outside the hall is beating the Dengwen Drum."

The crowd in the hall erupted in uproar.

No one has ever struck the Dengwen Drum since the beginning of this dynasty, and everyone is extremely curious about what is happening this time.

The court rules were strict, and officials were forbidden from whispering to each other during court sessions. Otherwise, the officials in charge of etiquette at the back of the hall would lash out with their whips. No one wanted to risk offending them at this time, so they only dared to exchange glances and didn't dare to turn their heads.

Amidst the exchange of glances, Zhuang Ziyang took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and after a few breaths, opened them, his eyes clear and bright.

Li Zhen had been released from confinement, and though his expression remained impassive, his furrowed brows betrayed his inner turmoil. A vague unease welled up within him, but he quickly shook his head, dismissing his suspicions. If this girl truly harbored such thoughts, Prime Minister Zhuang would surely have dissuaded her. Even her father, after receiving the thirty strokes of the cane at the Dengwen Drum, would have needed considerable time to process; how much more so would this girl?

At this moment, a eunuch came to report, "There is a woman outside the hall beating the petition drum..."

Li Yang was swinging his arms around, striking the center of the drum repeatedly.

The drumming continued from the end of Yin hour to the middle of Mao hour, making it impossible to conduct business in the hall.

When Emperor Qing heard the report from the eunuch, his expression changed as soon as he heard the words "Tea Lady".

As the knocking continued, Emperor Qing's face grew increasingly grim, and none of the court officials dared to utter a sound.

Li Zhen was deeply shaken. Was this girl really going to fight to the death for Chen Junbai? Hadn't Prime Minister Zhuang told her what this meant?

As expected, Emperor Qing's dark gaze shifted to the Zhuang family father and son, and he let out a 'humph'—whether it was a sneer or something else was unclear.

Zhuang Ziyang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

Emperor Qing: "What is it, Prime Minister Zhuang?"

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Ziyang raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, the so-called 'Tea Lady' is the daughter of my eldest daughter. She came to my house the day before yesterday and left a letter severing ties with me."

Having said that, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and presented it to the emperor.

Upon seeing this, Xu Fangtong glanced at Emperor Qing, then quickly took the item and presented it to him.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen cursed inwardly, "What a Zhuang Prime Minister! At a time like this, he actually forced his own granddaughter to write a letter severing ties, trying to distance himself from her."

Emperor Qing glanced at them briefly, then let out another cold snort.

Zhuang Ziyang added, "At the same time, Tea Lady also submitted a complaint to Your Majesty, accusing Zhang Youdao, the Salt Commissioner of Songshan Town, of unfair judgment and requesting Your Majesty to retry the case."

Emperor Qing slapped his hand away with a loud "smack!" and shouted, "Zhuang Ziyang! What are you doing!"

After handing the complaint to Xu Fangtong, Zhuang Ziyang kowtowed and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I request that you re-examine the salt permit case."

The man in the hall was furious, his face was grim, and his hands trembled as he gripped the chair. He did not even take the complaint from Xu Fangtong.

This complaint was drafted by Zhuang Ziyang and Zhuang Shutong after Zhuang Ziyang left the Zhuang family. The two knew that Li Yang's mind was made up and they could not persuade him to turn back. They could only blame the fact that three generations of the Zhuang family were all infatuated, but only Zhuang Ziyang's love life was smooth, while his daughter and granddaughter had quite a few bumps along the way.

Zhuang Ziyang was a minister of the previous dynasty who had served Emperor Qing for many years. He knew that if Li Yang simply struck the Dengwen Drum, Emperor Qing would delay until she was exhausted, and there would be no need to reopen the case.

So he prepared this petition, saying that if Li Yang did not beat the drum today, he would let it go; otherwise, he, as the Grand Duke of the Prime Minister, would definitely lend her a hand in court.

Seeing the two locked in a stalemate, Li Zhen, quick-witted, completely forgot about cursing Zhuang Ziyang in his heart just now, and stepped forward, saying, "Father, I have something to report."

Seeing this, Emperor Qing seemed very pleased. "What is it now?"

Li Zhen: "Your Majesty, I heard today that the storytellers in all the restaurants and teahouses in the city are telling a new story."

He then slowly presented the contents of the storytelling to Emperor Qing.

More than a quarter of an hour had passed, and the people in the teahouse watched as Li Yang struggled more and more, almost losing her grip on the drumsticks several times. But if the drumming stopped, she couldn't continue playing, and they were all secretly worried for her.

Li Yang threw out a blow, his left hand supporting the drumhead as he breathed heavily, leaned back slightly, and then swung his arm out again with great force.

Suddenly, the arm holding the drumstick received a helping hand. "You rest, I'll do it." Ziyan's voice, like a willow breeze, brushed against Liyang's ear as her right hand gently supported the drumstick.

Li Yang kept track of the time; almost an hour had passed, yet no one had summoned her. It seemed the drumbeat would take much longer. But she was determined to see the Emperor today and overturn Chen Junbai's case.

Thinking this, she turned and glanced at Ziyan. The two smiled at each other and nodded.

The drumbeats suddenly intensified, causing the veins on the forehead of the man sitting in the court to throb.

After listening to Li Zhen's storytelling, Emperor Qing's hopes that Li Zhen would change the subject were dashed, and he flew into a rage, shouting, "How dare you! Who is it? Who dares to do this!"

Li Zhen said, “Father, most of the folk tales are written by ordinary people and cannot be verified. However, I believe that it is better to guide than to suppress this matter.”

Zhuang Ziyang remained kneeling on the ground. Emperor Qing did not tell him to get up. He listened to the back-and-forth between the two with his head down. A thought suddenly occurred to Zhuang Ziyang.

Suddenly, Li Zhao's voice rang out, "Father, do not let petty people instigate this. The circulation of these picture books among the people must be due to someone's instigation. In my humble opinion, we should first arrest these storytellers and severely punish them. We will surely be able to catch the person behind this."

Before Emperor Qing could react, Li Zhen said fiercely, "Fourth brother! Are you trying to tell the people that Father Emperor refuses to listen to their voices and resorts to cruel punishments and brutal officials?!"

Li Zhao: "Second brother, I didn't say that. It's just that you say it's better to guide than to block. How do we guide? Do we want this picture book to continue circulating? Anyone can see that the storyteller appeared the day before yesterday, and today 'Tea Lady' is beating the drum to appeal. Does Father, the Emperor, the supreme ruler, have to be coerced by a mere woman?"

Li Zhen was about to say something when Emperor Qing interrupted him, "Shut up, all of you!"

Li Zhen hurriedly turned to Emperor Qing and said, "Father, this is what the people want and desire. Please reconsider."

"The will of the people?!" Emperor Qing said in a deep voice, "I never knew that the will of the people was written in storybooks!"

"Father!"

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the palace. Emperor Qing looked out and saw a eunuch reporting the situation outside the palace.

As Li Yang and Zi Yan gradually exhausted themselves, they heard a commotion all around them. The drumsticks in their hands were taken by someone, and Liu Yi went up to the drum platform to take over the drumming, saying to himself, "Consider it returning the roast chicken from prison."

Only then did Li Yang realize that the drum platform where they were located was surrounded by a huge crowd of people.

"Tea Lady, you saved our lives. You are our savior. We have come to support you today."

Li Yang looked in the direction of the sound and saw the old woman who had fainted at the entrance of the teahouse that day. His heart warmed and he squeezed Zi Yan's hand tightly.

"Zhaozhao, look, everyone's here to support you." Ziyan squeezed her hand tightly.

Li Yang was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

When she changed her clothes and went out in the morning, she was only thinking that she would come alone to beat the drum and appeal for justice.

At this moment, Ziyan and Liu Yitong were both by her side, taking turns beating the drum for her.

She never expected anything in return from the disaster relief efforts, but now these same people are surrounding her, shouting "I'm innocent!"

Her eyes searched and she saw Mr. Zheng leading Bifang and Youfeng among the disaster victims, explaining the disaster situation in simple words. He said that the tea lady who saved people from fire and water and her family were falsely accused and were to be exiled to the border. His explanation was quick and clear, and the people quickly spread the word.

Last night, she was still wondering if she had made a mistake in the disaster relief efforts.

At this moment, the disaster victims came spontaneously, and because of word of mouth, many people in the city also gathered there.

Standing at a corner of the drum platform, Li Yang looked at the scene around him and tears streamed down his face.

All that could be heard was Liu Yitong shouting, "Li Yuhan, you bastard, why aren't you coming over to help me? I'll send people to rob your shipping business next year!"

Several people's eyes focused on Li Yuhan, who stood alone in the crowd, his quiet figure standing out among the whispering people.

Hearing Liu Yitong's shouts and curses, he suddenly looked up, looked at the stage, then looked around. He seemed to grit his teeth and stepped onto the stage.

As he passed by Li Yang, he seemed to glance at Li Yang, then took the drumstick from Liu Yitong's hand, and the two took turns striking the drum.

Li Yang felt his back go weak, and he leaned against Zi Yan's embrace, sobbing and swaying as if about to collapse.

"Zhaozhao, are you alright?" Ziyan noticed her agitated state and was somewhat worried.

"Sister Ziyan, I..." A thousand words stuck in her throat, and she couldn't utter a single one, all of them choked back by sobs.

Ziyan reached out and hugged her shoulders, as if to encourage her.

The situation outside the palace was quickly reported into the palace. At this moment, it was impossible to conduct any business in the court. The drums outside the palace were thunderous, and the crowd was making a great fuss, all of which were forcing the monarch on the dragon throne to make a decision.

Emperor Qing stood up angrily, “Where did these people come from! Where did these people come from! She is the Bodhisattva Guanyin who saves people from suffering, am I some heinous ghost messenger?!”

"Zhuang Ziyang! Zhuang Ziyang! Your dear granddaughter! What is she doing?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Ziyang straightened up and bowed again, saying, "Your Majesty, I request that you re-examine the salt permit case."

Emperor Qing stared at him with eyes blazing with fury.

Li Zhen: "Your Majesty, I request that you re-examine the salt permit case."

Emperor Qing's chest heaved as he pointed at the two kneeling figures on the ground. "Very good, very good."

"Your Majesty, I request that you re-examine the salt permit case." Suddenly, another person stood up to second the motion, none other than Zhou Chengli, the newly appointed third-ranked scholar this year.

Following this first seconding, the prince's officials chimed in one after another, "Your Majesty, I second that too."

"I second that proposal."

...

In an instant, a large number of people collapsed in the hall, with only a few remaining standing.

However, seven or eight out of ten people seconded the motion.

Emperor Qing slightly lifted his foot, flicked his sleeves, and said, "Are you planning a rebellion?!"