As soon as he finished speaking, the guards waiting outside the main hall escorted three young men in.
They were all captured in bed, so naturally their clothes were disheveled and their hair was messy.
But that's not all; it's their expressions right now that are terrifying.
They were all crying, their faces covered in snot and tears, looking as miserable as demons.
The guards threw them to the ground, and they began to roll and crawl around, their eyes glazed over, shouting incoherently.
"Give me the magic cream! I want the magic cream! Ah, just let me take one puff, just one puff!"
"Please, please, give me a bite! Help, I'm dying!"
Among the officials, the fathers and brothers of the three young masters had turned pale.
Whether they were shocked because it was the first time they had seen it, or angry that their family scandal had been made public, it's unclear.
But the other officials kept their distance from them discreetly.
Marquis Xinting glanced at them, stepped on the back of a young man, and said, "I'll give you the magic ointment, but tell me, what secret does your grandfather hold?"
"Give it to me, give it to me!" The young master, as if possessed, grabbed the other leg of the Marquis of Xinting and cried out in a trembling voice, "My grandfather keeps a male prostitute in the small courtyard in the south of the city. He's only sixteen! Waaah, give me a puff! I already said, give me a puff!"
Everyone's expression turned strange.
The grandfather that this young master was talking about was a usually rigid old man who was full of etiquette, but now his face was as red as a monkey's bottom!
At this moment, another guard brought in a servant boy from outside.
The servant took a long pipe and a small lampstand, and with trembling hands, scooped out a little hibiscus ointment from the jade box and began to melt it...
The young master and the other two at the feet of the Marquis of Xinting, as if seeing a blood-soaked zombie, rushed over madly.
Unfortunately, the guards held them firmly in their grasp.
Unable to struggle, they roared like wild beasts.
"My grandfather is dead, sob sob, I don't know what secrets he had, please, just give me a puff, please!" The other young master's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, wishing he could drag his grandfather out of the coffin just to ask him what secrets he had and get him a life-saving puff of tobacco!
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he shouted, "Yes, my father... my father has a secret! My father and my second aunt were having a secret rendezvous in the ancestral hall! They didn't come out for an hour!"
The last young master had two companions who served as role models, and as if they had found the secret to survival, they also started to shout.
But his father reacted quickly, rushing out and lunging forward to cover his son's mouth tightly...
Everyone, including the Emperor, was somewhat bewildered.
What was supposed to be a performance critique session turned into a gossip session...
An old censor secretly keeps a male concubine; a pear tree in full bloom overshadows a crabapple!
A handsome middle-aged official secretly met with his brother's wife in the ancestral hall, which delayed him by an hour...
Even the Marquis of Xinting remained silent.
His original intention was to get the kid to talk about his grandfather's bribery, but how did it end up so strangely?
What exactly went wrong?!
Li Lao Er and Mr. Wen exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with shock.
The Marquis should still be the same Marquis, but when did someone replace his soul with a gossipmonger?!
The main hall was eerily quiet for a moment!
Apart from the three young masters who were frantically rushing towards the lantern, the rest of the people dared not speak and did not know what to say.
In the end, it was the Emperor who spoke first, and the crooked building was straightened back into place.
"My dear ministers, have you seen the power of this Hibiscus Cream? It can make people lose all shame and fear."
"These people would sell anything for a puff of this so-called cigarette, including their fathers, grandfathers, teachers, and even Tianwu!"
"If the general guarding the frontier is controlled by this hibiscus ointment, he will voluntarily open the country's gates and allow foreign tribes to invade."
"If the officials of the Ministry of Personnel are controlled by Furonggao, will they also have to obey the orders of others when selecting and appointing officials?"
"If all the civil and military officials, powerful families, and newly appointed scholars are controlled, then Tianwu will no longer be Tianwu, but merely a thing controlled by Furong Ointment!"
"And then there are the noble ladies of various families. Once they become addicted to the hibiscus ointment, like these fools on the ground, what innocence can they possibly have left?"
"For the sake of hibiscus cream, in the end, perhaps even a prostitute in a brothel is not as good as her!"
With each word he spoke, the heads of the civil and military officials lowered further, and their fear deepened.
Although there was a minor mishap along the way, they were indeed fully aware of the dangers of the hibiscus ointment!
It was unexpectedly vicious and powerful!
At this moment, the servant had already prepared the tobacco puffs, put them in the tobacco pipe bowl, and continued to gently roast them over the fire.
The guards released their grip on the young master.
The usually dashing and handsome young noblemen were now like vicious dogs unleashed from their cages, frantically lunging at the pipe.
But with only one pipe among the three of them, everyone wanted to be the first to take a puff.
So the three of them started fighting!
After all three of them had taken a puff and were lying comfortably on the ground, lost in a daze, their faces were bruised and swollen, and their necks were covered in blood...
All the court officials, staring at the three men, or rather, the three piles of rotting flesh, fell silent once again.
It's rare for a veteran minister who has always maintained neutrality to be the first to kneel down.
"Your Majesty, such a harmful substance will truly corrupt the backbone of Tianwu; it must be eradicated completely!"
Subsequently, seven or eight of Old Chen's nephews and disciples also knelt down.
The civil and military officials looked at each other, and all of them knelt down with resolute expressions!
"We beseech Your Majesty to issue an edict to eradicate this harmful creature completely and punish it severely!"
The Emperor and the Marquis of Xinting exchanged a glance, and the Emperor's face finally showed a hint of joy.
He knew that after this incident, regardless of whether he could completely eradicate the hibiscus ointment, his prestige among the court officials would rise to a new level!
If this continues, neutral officials will gradually be won over, and one day, the Tianwu court will inevitably fall into that trap...
In the entire world, only his voice is heard!
All the civil and military officials were loyal to him alone!
More than thirty households were raided and people were arrested. The Princess's residence was ransacked. Smoke curled from the ruins of Yaochi. The court officials rushed to the capital.
One incident after another made the entire city like a cat with its fur standing on end, tense and afraid to relax.
Even the street vendors have disappeared!
Friends and relatives gathered together, speculating about what had happened.
Behind a house, two women, an aunt and her sister-in-law, were drinking tea and chatting.
The sister-in-law asked, "What exactly happened at the Princess's residence? They were holding a flower-viewing banquet just the other day, how could their property have been ransacked?"
The younger sister-in-law shook her head and replied, "I don't know either. Although I know the Emperor doesn't like the Eldest Princess, he shouldn't be too bad off. At least the Third Princess gets along very well with the Eldest Princess's granddaughter!"
My sister-in-law sighed, somewhat regretfully.
"That's why I often let our Hui'er associate with the eldest princess's granddaughter. If she can get the chance to befriend the third princess, it will raise her status when it comes to marriage proposals!"
The younger sister-in-law admired her sister-in-law's shrewdness and praised her, saying, "Sister-in-law is so clever! How come I didn't think of that!"
The two were talking animatedly when the young woman sitting to one side suddenly burst into tears.
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