Chapter 6: Killing the Chicken to Frighten the Monkey
The accumulated ills of the Zhou Dynasty up to this generation were reflected throughout the entire Zhou Dynasty, and the imperial palace was no exception.
Before Yan Xuanyu ascended the throne, the previous emperor had many concubines. There were more than fifty concubines of certain ranks, and hundreds of other palace maids whose ranks were not counted. The factions in the palace were complicated, and the layers of relationship and interest networks were interconnected. The previous generations of emperors were not unaware of this phenomenon, but since the water is too clear, there will be no fish. As long as they abided by their duties as slaves, they would turn a blind eye to it - this was the art of being an emperor.
When the late empress died of illness and the late emperor passed away, the concubines without children either became nuns in the royal Taoist temple or followed the late emperor. The concubines with children were promoted to the rank of dowager concubine and lived in Ci'an Palace.
Now the position of queen is vacant in the harem, and there are only three concubines who followed Yan Xuanyu out of the prince's mansion. The original owner wanted to expand his harem after ascending the throne, but Yan Xuanyu did not have such an idea. He is asexual and had never even been in love in his previous life, let alone in this life.
How to deal with the three concubines of the original owner really gave Yan Xuanyu a headache. He was not sure what kind of characters they were, because there was not much trace of these three people in the original owner's memory. He planned to hold a simple family dinner after a while to find out how he should treat them.
If there were ministers discussing matters concerning the harem in the court, Yan Xuanyu would just be in a state of "I don't want to listen" - the mission of the tyrant ruler just happened to include the task of not listening to the advice of ministers.
Therefore, the personnel composition of the entire imperial palace will be very simple, with Chengtian Hall as the center.
Yan Xuanyu planned to increase the welfare of everyone in the palace and start to change the current situation in the palace. For some people with high ranks and the ability to manage things, this would mean taking away their power and cutting off their financial resources.
This group of people have not yet woken up from the dream of the previous dynasty. They may have ambitions greater than the sky, so he will kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.
Chen Baocai was a very good "chicken." The Imperial Kitchen was the most lucrative place in the palace, and Chen Baocai, the head of the Imperial Kitchen, was incredibly powerful. Everyone in the Imperial Kitchen had to curry favor with him to survive, otherwise they would be assigned to menial tasks. Once, a young eunuch, ignorant and not having made advance arrangements, angered Chen Baocai, who deliberately assigned him to carry swill buckets in the small kitchen at the outermost edge of the Imperial Kitchen. He also transferred all the eunuchs who were originally responsible for carrying the buckets. The young eunuch carried the buckets day and night until one night he was crushed to death by a pile of swill buckets that had not been properly placed on a cart.
The next day, someone reported the incident to Chen Baocai, who simply instructed them to stuff the body into a泔水袋 and carry it out of the palace.
Chen Baocai has been the general manager for so many years, and he has done countless small things like this.
Yan Xuanyu knew that Chen Baocai had a house outside the palace, where he hid the money he had embezzled from the imperial kitchen over the years—thanks to the memories of the original owner. The original owner remembered this because the Rongdi army that invaded the capital, burning, killing, and looting everywhere, finally discovered boxes of gold and silver hidden underground after burning a house to ashes.
——————
When Chen Baocai was brought into Chengtian Palace, Yan Xuanyu was personally trimming a pot of phlox that he had taken a fancy to in Baicao Garden.
For this pot of phlox, he placed another rack next to the original pearwood rack.
It is called "Fuluo", but to Yan Xuanyu, it looks more like green radish. It must have been tied and guided into a shape by humans with wooden sticks. It must have taken a lot of effort. It looks like a gold ingot from a distance, but not like one when you look closely.
He took the scissors and quickly cut off a lot of branches and leaves, and the good phlox changed its appearance.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the head steward of the imperial kitchen, Chen Baocai, has been brought here." Li Zhongxian bowed outside the hall.
Yan Xuanyu said nonchalantly, "Bring him in."
Chen Baocai's face remained calm after he entered Chengtian Hall. He took two steps forward and saw the emperor behind the curtain. He quickly knelt on the ground and said, "Your servant, Chen Baocai, the head steward of the imperial kitchen, pays homage to Your Majesty."
Chen Baocai couldn't help but wipe the sweat off his head. Li Zhongxian saw it and laughed, "It's not even hot out here, why is Eunuch Chen sweating so much?"
After Li Zhongxian finished speaking, Chengtian Hall was extremely quiet for a while, with only the sound of Yan Xuanyu cutting the branches of the phlox.
Chen Baocai knelt on the ground, and the courage he had just built up slowly faded away with the sound of clicking - he felt anxiously that the emperor was going to chop off his head.
"Get up." Yan Xuanyu said.
The emperor's voice was relatively gentle. Chen Baocai got up from the ground and stood with his head bowed humbly.
He saw several account books on the emperor's desk, which were the ones he had handed over to the eunuchs' office. He felt relieved for a moment.
Yan Xuanyu sat down at the table and asked Chen Baocai with a smile, "I was in the palace and had no idea that prices outside the palace were so high. Ten taels of silver for a cabbage?"
Yan Xuanyu's attitude made Chen Baocai completely relieved. It turned out that the emperor asked him to come here just to ask about the imperial kitchen.
That's right, His Majesty has only just ascended the throne. Chen Baocai breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Zhongxian used to have to call him Grandpa, but now that he became the chief steward of Chengtian Palace thanks to his master Li Ruhai, he started to put on airs with him and was not polite to him at all.
Chen Baocai bowed his head and replied, "Your Majesty, this is white jade cabbage, watered by snow water every morning. It is not ordinary cabbage."
"Oh? Last year's palace banquet actually cost eight thousand taels. Why do I remember that last year's palace banquet was held because the late Empress was seriously ill, and the palace prayed for her well-being, so everything was kept simple?"
"Your Majesty, there are many palace masters. After the palace banquet, they all sent palace maids to the imperial kitchen to pick up the food. This..."
Chen Baocai looked up and met Yan Xuanyu's smiling eyes.
The next second, three account books suddenly flew towards him. Yan Xuanyu shouted, "Chen Baocai, the head steward of the imperial kitchen, are you still not aware of your guilt?!"
The account book hit Chen Baocai on the head.
It was not until today that he faced the new emperor's mood swings for the first time!
"What crime have I committed? Your Majesty, please understand!"
Yan Xuanyu sighed, "I have given you the opportunity to confess your guilt, but you refused."
Chen Baocai heard the new emperor sitting above say, "I heard that you have a farm outside the palace. Are you planning to leave the palace to spend your remaining years?"
His legs went weak and he knelt on the ground, his heart suddenly stopping!
He is the only one who knows about this, how did others know about it?
"Chen Baocai, I didn't ask Li Zhongxian to bring you here to pry anything out of you. I already sent people to find your secret residence. What do you think is under the ground?" Yan Xuanyu said softly, "I'm giving you a chance."
...
The property seized from Chen Baocai's house, including gold, was worth two million silver taels. How could a steward of the imperial kitchen have so much silver?
When the physical evidence was presented, Chen Baocai looked ashen.
...
Chen Baocai, the head chef of the imperial kitchen, was taken away by the emperor's guards, and the news quickly spread throughout the palace.
Everyone in the imperial kitchen felt insecure for a moment.
"What happened? It won't involve us, right?" The little scholar stopped chopping the stuffing and asked in panic.
Liu Yangping, who was kneading dough, didn't even raise his head: "Just do our job." He picked up the ladle from the jar and added half a spoonful of water to the dough.
Xiao Shuzi was a young eunuch who entered the palace after the new emperor ascended the throne. He had been there for only a month and knew nothing about the palace. But after he entered the imperial kitchen, he listened to others and gave all the silver he brought to Chen Zongguan, so he was not bullied.
Thinking of this, the little scholar became nervous: "Manager Chen accepted my bribe... I... I won't be considered an accomplice!"
Both of them were transferred from the imperial kitchen to the small kitchen today. Since the eunuchs' office issued a new order, the small kitchen on the outermost side of the imperial kitchen was transformed into what it is today. People from the eunuchs' office picked a few people from the imperial kitchen and assigned them here. The food prepared here is for the palace maids and eunuchs, so naturally there is no need to be too particular.
"No." Liu Yangping said.
Liu Yangping was the apprentice of Liu Sanshui, the eunuch who was the head chef of the imperial kitchen. Logically, he should not have been "exiled", but after he arrived, he did not complain, nor did he ask his master to ask the people in the eunuch department to transfer him back. He just worked hard and said little.
Seeing him like this, the little scholar's heart began to relax, but he continued to chatter, "How could it be such a coincidence? Chen Zongguan was taken away, and we were transferred here? Who was in charge of the meals for the palace maids and eunuchs before? Where did they go?"
Is everything really alright?
"Don't worry." Liu Yangping said.
Seeing that Liu Yangping couldn't even make a fart after being hit by three sticks, the little scholar got angry and used more force.
Forget it! He only has one worthless life. If the higher-ups make mistakes, he will suffer as well. No matter what happens!
For a moment, the only sounds in the small kitchen were the clatter of the rolling pin and the thud of minced meat.
...
Holding the steaming buns in their hands, the three palace maids in the room looked like they were dreaming.
The skin is soft and fluffy, and a dent will appear when you press it. The skin is thin and the filling is rich, and the gravy inside almost flows out when you take a bite!
The meat filling is seasoned with green onions, ginger and garlic. The pork filling has no peculiar smell and the freshness and fragrance are fully brought out.
They were all palace maids who did menial work, and were different from the palace servants in front of the noble lady. They had never seen anything good since they entered the palace.
"It's delicious, even better than the buns my mother made before I entered the palace!" The youngest palace maid was called Xiuning.
Xiu Bi couldn't help laughing: "You wouldn't put so much flour or meat in the buns you make at home."
"Of course." Xiuning nodded repeatedly, then said with a little sadness, "I don't know how my mother and the others are doing."
Xiu Yu's illness had almost healed in the past two days. She did the same laundry work as Xiu Bi. After dinner, they hurried to the laundry room, but they ran into the nanny at the door.
The nanny they were talking about was named Shen, and she was in charge of the laundry department. Nanny Shen had a bad temper and would beat and scold the young palace maids in the laundry department at will. Every place had its own rules, and the rule here was that they had to pay Nanny Shen some monthly allowance, otherwise they would be assigned to wash the most difficult laundry. It was okay in spring, summer and autumn, but in winter, their hands would be frozen.
After seeing Aunt Shen, the two of them quickly saluted: "Hello, Aunt."
Nanny Shen, who usually had a bad face towards them, seemed like a different person today... No, from the day she asked them to go to the Eunuch's Mansion, Xiuyu found that something was wrong with Nanny.
Nanny Shen's face looked pale as if she was frightened. She tucked her hands into her sleeves and ignored the two of them.
Xiuyu and Xiubi breathed a sigh of relief. Xiubi signaled Xiuyu to leave quickly. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Nanny Shen's muttering voice came from behind them -
"I'm usually very kind to these girls..."
This nonsensical sentence made the two of them look at each other in confusion. It was not until they arrived at the laundry department that they heard someone with inside information say that Chen Baocai from the imperial kitchen had died. Li Zhongxian also asked the maids and housekeepers in all the palaces and departments to go and take a good look.
Many palace maids went to watch, but the maid said she was timid and afraid of being beaten and scolded by the maid, so she didn't go.
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