Chapter 2 Entering the Palace If I were to make you a concubine of the Prince of Jin, would you be willing...?
A sharp crack echoed in the imperial study as the emperor forcefully smashed the cup beside him onto the ground.
The eunuchs serving inside the hall shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.
The chief eunuch Fu Shun exclaimed in distress and advised, "Your Majesty, please don't get so angry. Getting angry is bad for your health."
He then gave a wink to the eunuchs who were standing to the side, too afraid to move, signaling them to clean up the broken porcelain shards on the ground.
The emperor, still not satisfied after smashing a cup, paced back and forth in the room several times, cursing as he went: "A bunch of foolish scholars, they don't even realize they've been used as pawns, and they dare to curse me in the street!"
The affair between Shen Yan and Qi Jingxuan occurred at the spring banquet of the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence. There were many people present at the time, and the news could not be kept secret. It had already become a hot topic in the capital.
The emperor ordered the Court of Judicial Review to investigate, but after several days the investigation yielded no results.
The maid from the Cheng'an Marquis's residence who led Shen Yan there said that Shen Yan had soiled her clothes in the washroom and asked her to fetch a clean one before she left.
Shen Yan said she had never said such a thing. The maid left on her own. She waited for a long time after she came out but no one came, so she went back on her own. She was drugged on the way and woke up in the courtyard.
Qi Jingxuan said that he was drunk and was helped to the side courtyard to rest. He didn't know anything else, but he was sure that he was helped into the house by people from the Cheng'an Marquis's mansion. There was no possibility that he had forcibly dragged Shen Yan there halfway. It must have been that Shen Yan saw that he was drunk and took the opportunity to climb into his bed after the others left.
Qi Jingxuan was the emperor's own son, and Shen Yan was Shen Mingshan's daughter, so neither of them could be tortured. The Dali Temple then decided to take the maid away for questioning.
As a result, before the maid could even leave the gate of the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence, upon hearing that the Dali Temple was coming to arrest her, she immediately committed suicide.
With the only direct lead gone cold and the Dali Temple unable to find anything else for the time being, the matter was shelved and made little progress.
If it were any other case, it could be investigated slowly, but because Prince Jin is a member of the royal family and his reputation has been bad over the years, as soon as he got into trouble, many officials submitted memorials requesting the emperor to punish him severely.
Some even said directly at the grand court assembly: "Although Attendant Shen comes from a humble background, he is still an official of our Great Zhou. If his daughter suffers such injustice and injustice, what about the daughters of our ministers? In the future, will Prince Jin be able to do whatever he wants to whomever he desires, and we ministers will be powerless against him? Will the daughters of all civil and military officials be Prince Jin's possessions, whomever he desires, and whoever he wants to seduce without any punishment?"
These words were too harsh. Some people objected, saying that the matter was not yet settled and that it was inappropriate to rush to convict the Prince of Jin.
However, because the Prince of Jin himself had a very bad reputation, there were many who echoed him in the court.
The emperor was already overwhelmed by this, but as the news spread, the public outcry against Prince Jin grew louder and louder. Scholars from humble backgrounds gathered in front of the imperial street where officials went to court, listing Prince Jin's crimes over the years and demanding that the court severely punish him and clear Lady Shen's name.
Some even went so far as to directly criticize the emperor, saying that as the ruler of a country, he did not understand the principle of treating everyone equally, and that his excessive pampering of Prince Jin over the years had led to his current unruly and irresponsible behavior.
There were many different opinions, but they all expressed the same meaning as those in the court: to severely punish the Prince of Jin.
The events unfolded so rapidly, and the narratives were so unified, that the emperor simply couldn't believe it was orchestrated by someone behind the scenes.
He was furious and said to Fu Shun beside him, "Go, tell Zhang Zhenting to take some men and drive those students away! Don't let them gather on Imperial Street and cause trouble again!"
Zhang Zhenting was the commander of the Imperial Guards, a confidant of the emperor, and was responsible for guarding the palace and the capital.
Fu Shun knew that the emperor did not want the students to escalate the matter further, so he immediately agreed and turned to give the order.
He had only taken two steps when the emperor called him back: "Tell him to be careful and not to hurt anyone."
Fu Shun agreed: "Your Majesty, rest assured, Commander Zhang has always been a man of principle and will not stoop to the level of those students."
The emperor nodded, then breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down at his desk to continue reviewing the memorials.
Less than half an hour later, a young eunuch, looking pale and sickly, walked in and said that a conflict had broken out between the Imperial Guards and the students, resulting in deaths, and that Commander Zhang was kneeling outside the hall requesting an audience.
The emperor's breath hitched, and he felt a wave of dizziness. After calling someone in to find out what had happened, he learned that Zhang Zhenting had repeatedly instructed his subordinates not to draw their swords or hurt anyone, but some physical conflict with the students was inevitable when they were being driven away. One of them took advantage of their unpreparedness, drew the sword of one of the imperial guards, and rammed into him.
The student acted very decisively, clearly not intending to live. Half of his neck was slit on the spot, and there was no time to save him.
Blood was seen in front of the Imperial Street; people had died, and the scene was chaotic. Everywhere, people were shouting, "The Imperial Guards have killed someone!" and "The Emperor has killed someone!"
Zhang Zhenting was filled with remorse and said, "It's all my fault. I should have made them take off their swords when I led them there."
They were just a group of students; they could easily drive them away with a few sticks. Why bring a knife?
The emperor sat slumped in his chair, muttering, "It's my fault. I was too worried and fell into their trap..."
The Imperial Guards were responsible for guarding the Imperial City and carried knives everywhere they went. Why would they think of taking their knives off when they were driving away a group of students?
Knowing full well that someone wanted to harm Ah Xuan, he still resorted to the worst method in his haste: he dispatched the Imperial Guards to drive the person away, thus fulfilling that person's wish.
Now things are getting worse.
………………
As the emperor had expected, the next day an official rushed into the palace and reported to him: "Your Majesty, the four major academies in the capital have all gone on strike today. Now, several teachers from the academies have gathered in front of the palace gate with more than a hundred students, saying... saying they want to seek justice for the student who died yesterday."
The emperor had anticipated this situation, but upon hearing it, he still rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
The official hadn't finished speaking when he hesitated and said, "There's more...there's more..."
"What else do you have to say!"
The emperor said irritably.
"And half of the students at the Imperial College also missed classes."
The official said.
The emperor was so angry he nearly fell over, and roared, "They're all scions of noble families, what are they doing, skipping class for no reason?"
Unlike other academies, the Imperial Academy had very few students from poor families. Most of those who entered were sons of officials in the imperial court. Some were admitted through genuine talent and learning, while many others were admitted through patronage.
Since there are few students from impoverished backgrounds, there is naturally no reason to advocate for them. Even though they are all scholars, in their eyes, those from humble backgrounds are different from them.
The official lowered his head and stammered, "Some of them didn't want to go to school and joined in the commotion when they saw others skipping classes. Others... were sons of several high-ranking officials in the court."
Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately understood, and his anger flared even more.
This incident caused a great uproar, and many officials in the court wanted to take the opportunity to suppress Prince Jin and make it impossible for him to recover.
Now that the four major academies in the capital have gone on strike, and since the law does not punish the masses, they took the opportunity to have their own children join in the strike.
With these people taking the lead, the scions of aristocratic families who didn't like studying to begin with joined in the commotion in order to avoid attending classes, resulting in a strike by half of the students at the Imperial College.
Now that things have come to this point, it's no longer possible to wait for the Dali Temple to slowly uncover the truth.
The emperor remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Summon Shen Mingshan's daughter to the palace for an audience."
………………
This wasn't Shen Yan's first time entering the palace. The last time was right after the incident at the Cheng'an Marquis's residence. She was summoned for questioning, but because she was a woman, she was perhaps also a victim. At that time, the Empress and Consort Jia were the ones who questioned her.
She had assumed this would also be another trip to the inner palace for questioning, but to her surprise, it was the emperor who summoned her this time.
Upon seeing the dignified middle-aged man on the throne, she lowered her eyes and bowed respectfully: "Your subject, Chen Yan, greets Your Majesty."
The emperor looked at her for a moment, then nodded: "Get up."
Shen Yan stood up, lowered her eyes and looked very respectful, but her back was very straight. She showed neither the fear of meeting the emperor for the first time nor the cowardice caused by her affair with Prince Jin.
Thinking of Shen Mingshan's proud spirit, and considering that this was his only daughter, he sighed softly and said, "I summoned you here to ask you again whether what you said earlier was true. Did you really not go to the front courtyard on your own that day at the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence?"
Although the courtyard where Shen Yan and Qi Jingxuan were discovered was very close to the hanging flower gate, it was still in the front yard. This is why many people in the capital still believe that Shen Yan intentionally seduced Prince Jin.
The male and female guests were feasting separately in the front and back courtyards. If Shen Yan hadn't gone to the front courtyard herself, how could Qi Jingxuan have quietly brought her there?
Shen Yan replied calmly and firmly, "This subject never went to the front courtyard on her own. As for what happened that day, this subject has told Her Majesty the Empress and Her Highness the Consort everything that I know, and there is not a single falsehood."
"If Your Majesty does not believe me, you can send someone to investigate my whereabouts in the past six months since I entered the capital."
"That day was my first visit to the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence. I knew nothing about it. When I entered, I was led to the back courtyard by the servants along with my mother."
"Since I have never been there, how would I know the way from the backyard to that courtyard, or how would I know that His Highness Prince Jin was drunk and resting in that courtyard?"
"Is the defense of the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence so lax that even a newcomer like me could easily find the location of the distinguished guest in the front courtyard?"
She was clear-headed and gave reasonable and well-founded answers. She was not ashamed to talk about her relationship with the Prince of Jin, nor did she lose her composure and talk nonsense in her eagerness to defend herself. She did not try to shift the blame onto the Prince of Jin in an attempt to clear her name.
The emperor couldn't help but glance at her a few more times, feeling a mixture of admiration and helplessness.
He said, "I once suggested that you become a concubine to the Prince of Jin. Your father should have told you about it when he returned."
Shen Yan nodded: "I told you."
When Chen Mingshan returned home that day, he told them about his conversation with the emperor.
It turns out that in order to protect Prince Jin, the emperor wanted to send Shen Yan to Prince Jin's residence as a concubine. In this way, even if the matter was unclear and confusing, it would just be a romantic affair between a man and a woman. People would discuss it for a while and then move on, without dwelling on it or insisting on finding out the reasons behind it.
But Shen Mingshan knew all too well that while this solution meant nothing to the Prince of Jin, it would ruin his daughter's life.
The Prince of Jin holds a high position and wields great power; even if people bring up this matter in the future, they will only laugh it off.
But his daughter will be gossiped about for the rest of her life, with people saying she entered the Prince of Jin's mansion through underhanded means.
For the rest of her life, she could not hold her head high in the Prince of Jin's mansion, nor could she ever hold her head high in front of the world.
Shen Mingshan was an upright and unyielding man who only had this one daughter in his life, whom he doted on. How could he let her bear such a crime?
Therefore, he immediately rejected the emperor's proposal and insisted on a thorough investigation of the matter.
But he also knew very well that since the emperor had spoken up, he was going to protect Prince Jin to the end. Unless other clues could be found, there would be no turning back.
Shen Mingshan originally thought the emperor was a wise ruler who would surely clear his daughter's name, but the moment he heard this suggestion, he knew he was wrong.
The emperor may indeed have been a wise ruler, but he was also a father...
"He refused, what about you?"
The emperor spoke to Shen Yan, who was standing in the hall.
Just as Shen Yan was about to speak, he added, "If I were to make you a concubine of the Prince of Jin, would you be willing?"
Although a concubine can also be considered a secondary consort, her status and position are different from those of other concubines.
Prince Jin has always been favored, and countless people are eager to gain a place by his side. Not to mention concubines, there are even many maids who want to climb into his bed and become his concubines.
However, Shen Yan's answer did not change because of the title of concubine. She replied without hesitation, "This subject does not wish to."
The emperor was not surprised by the answer, but he was still somewhat disappointed.
"Have you thought this through?" he asked again, "Once you become a concubine of the Prince of Jin, everything between you and him will be insignificant. No one will dare to mention the Cheng'an Marquis's affairs in front of you anymore. If you give birth to a grandson of the emperor in the future, you may even be promoted to the principal wife. At that time, you will have even less to worry about these things."
Shen Yan shook her head and said, "His Majesty also said that no one dares to mention it in front of me, but they still gossip and criticize me behind my back, saying that I became Prince Jin's concubine through improper means."
“But I don’t really care about these things. As long as I know I haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong, no matter how others see me or how they humiliate me.”
“But once I enter the Prince of Jin’s mansion, it won’t just be me who will be talked about, but also my father, my mother, and my unborn younger brother and sister.”
"At that time, I can rely on my status and position in the Prince of Jin's mansion to remain undisturbed by the outside world, but how will my father serve as an official in the court? How will my mother face those officials' wives? What have my unborn younger siblings done wrong? Why must they suffer the scorn of others from the moment they are born because of me?"
“Your Majesty, I do not care about my reputation. As long as I know what kind of person I am, I will not be afraid even if I am condemned by thousands.”
"But Your Majesty, I cannot neglect my family."
Just as the emperor could not ignore the Prince of Jin, she could not ignore her parents.
The emperor clenched his fist, took a few deep breaths, finally closed his eyes, and rubbed his forehead, saying, "Then go back and persuade your father to resign from his post."
A note from the author:
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