Chapter 218 The Emperor's Wedding (Revised)
"Zhuang Wan." After leaving the dark room, Pei Xingju stood two steps away from her, looking at her seriously.
"What's wrong?" Zhuang Wan also looked over.
After a long pause, Pei Xingju shook his head: "Did I scare you?"
Zhuang Wan shook her head. She felt more distressed than scared.
These tablets were surprisingly just across the wall from his bedroom. For so many years, he had lain in front of the tablets of his parents and relatives, and surely he had trouble falling asleep many nights.
"You..." She started to speak, with a thousand words in her heart, but she didn't know where to start, so she simply walked over and hugged him.
"Are you feeling bad?" she asked.
"No, I just feel a little regretful," he said.
"What are you regretting?"
"I regret that I stopped you from coming in."
When the wall opened, he heard her movements, but out of ulterior motives he did not stop her.
Zhuang Wan felt depressed, and then she heard him say, "But I want you to understand me, everything about me."
The sadness in his eyes gradually faded, revealing a little light: "Just now, what you said in there is still true?"
Zhuang Wan blinked: "What?"
"I don't care," he hugged her, "You've already said it in front of my parents, you can't go back on your word."
Zhuang Wan smiled.
"Oh, right," she said, thinking of something, "Qingming Festival is coming in a few days. Do my uncle and aunt have a grave?"
"Yes." Pei Xingju nodded: "It was my mentor, Mr. Gu, who buried them."
"Have you ever been to the memorial service?"
Pei Xingju remained silent and slowly let her go, his brows filled with self-blame and forbearance. "I couldn't offer sacrifices for them, and no one has dared to do so for so many years. I'm sure their graves are nowhere to be found now."
"Why?" After asking this question, Zhuang Wan immediately understood.
The Pei family was a criminal, so naturally no one dared to go to pay their respects. Pei Xingju couldn't expose himself, so he didn't go either. Over the past decade, the grass on the grave had probably turned into unnoticed thorns.
"I originally thought that after this year, I could hold a solemn memorial ceremony for them next year, but I didn't expect..." Pei Xingju paused, but didn't say the rest.
But Zhuang Wan heard something and asked him, "Your father was wrongly accused, right?"
Pei Xingju turned his head.
"The general who defended the country was a renowned figure, having spent his entire life fighting for his country. How could such a man be considered a traitor?"
Pei Xingju looked at her steadily.
Zhuang Wan continued, "I believe the general was wrongly accused, and your father and brother are innocent."
"Zhuang Wan," Pei Xingju took her hand and said, "Please walk with me. I haven't been around this house for a long time."
It gets dark early in the spring evening, and the sky is shrouded in hazy clouds just after the hour of You.
The two of them walked out of the door hand in hand, passed through the courtyard, and walked on the quaint and exquisite corridor.
Reaching a moon-shaped gate, Zhuang Wan paused, her gaze fixed on the remnant of the rockery beside it. It was so because it was old, with some stones already falling off. But one could still make out the landscape, the houses, the small bridges and the flowing water, along with the lush cliffs, cypresses, and pines.
“This is very interesting,” she said.
Pei Xingju's gaze was fixed on it, as if he were reminiscing about something, or perhaps lost in another world. After a moment, he spoke calmly, "The mistress of this house comes from a family of scholars and is extremely talented. Every brick and tile of this house was designed by her."
Zhuang Wan turned around and asked, "How do you know?"
Suddenly remembering something, she was shocked: "Could it be that this... this is actually the General's Mansion from more than ten years ago?"
"Yes." Pei Xingju nodded: "This is the Pei family."
It's where he grew up.
Zhuang Wan opened her mouth in surprise. When she first moved into this house, she heard that it was the residence of a criminal. Unexpectedly, this "criminal" was actually Pei Xingju's father.
And many years later, he accidentally moved into the Pei family mansion.
She looked around and saw that the scenery around the courtyard was in ruins. No wonder she always felt that this mansion was dilapidated but Pei Xingju had not repaired it. So this was the case.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to, but that he doesn’t dare to face it.
She stopped and decided not to go any further.
"Let's go back," she said.
Pei Xingju was puzzled.
Zhuang Wan smiled and said, "I'm hungry. I'll go back and have dinner."
In a house like this, every step feels like a slash to the heart. Why even bother going any further? With vengeance unrequited, blood debt unpaid, how desolate must a house condemned as a "criminal" be?
"Pei Xingju?"
"Um?"
"Who is your enemy?"
Pei Xingju paused and asked, "Why do you ask this?"
"I've already agreed to marry you," Zhuang Wan pinched his fingers, "Isn't that something I can't say?"
"It's not that I can't tell you, I'm just afraid you'll worry."
"Who is it?"
After a moment of silence, Pei Xingju said, "The current Duke of Xin."
Zhuang Wan pretended to be shocked. In fact, she had known for a long time that it was the Duke of Xin, and she also knew that Pei Xingju was facing difficulties.
Although the book does not contain the plot of Liang Yixin entering the palace while pregnant, it does mention that before the Minzhou incident, a natural disaster forced the emperor to suppress Minzhou.
With the natural disaster just before him, if the imperial court were to be in turmoil again, the people would probably revolt. Therefore, thanks to this opportunity, Duke Xin was able to escape disaster.
But it was only a short escape. Two years later, a natural disaster struck again, and Pei Xingju took advantage of it to spark a public outcry that "flatterers were ruining the country." This public outcry spread widely, directly targeting Duke Xin.
Finally, the emperor followed public opinion and brought up the issue of Minzhou again, and quickly sentenced Duke Xin.
This public opinion was described in detail, and Zhuang Wan remembered it very clearly. It originally came from the mouth of a Taoist named Qingxuan.
"It's actually Duke Xin!" Zhuang Wan's expression remained horrified. He then said to Pei Xingju, "But I heard he has a bad reputation."
"How do you say that?"
"A few days ago, I met a Taoist priest on the street. He kept saying, 'Heaven's punishment is coming, and flatterers are ruining the country.' Later, people said that the flatterer he was talking about was the Duke of Xin."
After saying this, she secretly looked at Pei Xingju's expression.
As expected, he had accurately grasped the important information from these words. He frowned and thought for a moment, then asked Zhuang Wan, "What's the name of that Taoist priest?"
"I think his name is Qingxuan."
Pei Xingju laughed: "Wanwan, I can't have dinner with you. I have to go out for a while."
"Yes." Zhuang Wan nodded with particular consideration. "You're always busy, so just go ahead."
Looking at Pei Xingju's hurriedly departing back, she knew that her words had successfully helped him break the impasse.
In fact, the idea of framing Duke Xin with divine punishment was originally thought up by Pei Xingju, but that was two years later.
But now, Zhuang Wan didn't want Pei Xingju to wait another two years. She didn't want him to be sad for even a moment. She wanted to overthrow Duke Xin as soon as possible, to get revenge, and fulfill his lifelong wish.
.
There were bursts of spring thunder and it rained for several days in the capital, which lasted for a month before it stopped.
The day the rain stopped was the emperor's wedding. The grand spectacle of Emperor Dazhao's wedding was so grand that the streets were practically empty. The spectators practically filled the streets, completely unaware of the imperial wedding procession. But listening to the resounding gongs and drums, they felt a sense of honor.
The emperor’s wedding is indeed a grand ceremony. Not to mention the common people, even court officials may not get to see it once in their lifetime.
After so much effort, they finally caught the young emperor Li Jinyu getting married. Everyone ignored the etiquette and rules and stretched their necks to watch.
The officials of the Honglu Temple were busier than ever in their lives. What were they busy with? They were busy disciplining the court officials who were watching the ceremony.
These officials, some in crimson and some in purple, stood at the foot of the long white marble steps. Their official uniforms were dignified, but their faces showed no reserve at all. They were so busy watching the fun that some even had their shoes stepped on.
Fortunately, the purple-robed officials standing in the front row still looked respectable. Pei Xingju, tall, youthful, and handsome, stood out among the elderly. Unlike the others, he stood silently, holding his tablet, occasionally nodding in agreement to those speaking nearby.
The Minister of Rites was overweight, and his legs would ache if he stood. He looked around, then leaned in close to Pei Xingju and whispered mischievously, "After all this, Lord Pei is the most prudent."
Pei Xingju glanced at him.
The Minister of Rites stood up straighter and cleared his throat. "To be honest, this is the first time I've seen an emperor and empress get married. It's quite unusual."
The late emperor's first marriage was to the prince's consort in the Qiandi Palace, so it wasn't considered a grand wedding. Later, after the late emperor ascended the throne and his first empress passed away, he remarried the daughter of the Liang family. However, because it was a second marriage, there was no grand wedding ceremony, only a coronation ceremony, so the excitement was naturally not as great as today.
Moreover, this wedding was prepared by the Ministry of Rites. The Minister of Rites was quite proud that it could be held so grandly in just one month.
He casually asked, "Master Pei, when are you getting married?"
"Thank you Lord Feng for your concern. I am not in a hurry." Pei Xingju looked straight ahead.
"Well, you're not a child anymore, it's time to get married." The Minister of Rites asked stealthily, "Would you like me to introduce you to someone suitable?"
Lord Cheng from the Ministry of War, who was standing nearby, heard this and teased the Minister of Rites, "You still haven't given up? Wasn't your daughter betrothed to someone else two years ago?"
"I have a daughter." The Minister of Rites chuckled, "Next year, when she reaches the age of marriage, we can discuss marriage."
"............" Lord Cheng choked for a moment and couldn't help laughing.
The officials in the front laughed, while those behind them didn't know what was happening and turned their heads to look over.
A minor official from the Honglu Temple saw this and was about to step forward to warn someone when an official from the Imperial Observatory shouted, "The auspicious time has arrived!"
Suddenly, everyone dressed in formal attire.
With the sound of wind instruments playing loudly, the emperor came in a mighty procession, surrounded by a group of guards and eunuchs.
The ministers who had been waiting for a long time at the white marble steps knelt down in unison and shouted like thunder and waves: "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"
.
The wedding of the Emperor and Empress was celebrated with the sound of gongs and drums, but no one knew that at this moment, something suddenly broke out in Hezhou, thousands of miles away from the capital, that changed the situation in the court.
In Li County, overloaded by days of rainfall, the dam burst at dawn. Like a ferocious beast, the floodwaters surged forward, submerging hundreds of hectares of farmland and destroying several villages in just half a day.
People were running, fleeing, crying, livestock sheds were soaked in sewage, trees on the mountain sides collapsed in large numbers, and the area was covered in mud.
For a time, there was widespread grief.
Because the incident happened on the day of the emperor's wedding, the Hezhou officials did not dare to report it and kept the news secret for nearly half a month before sending it to the court.
When the news reached the capital, even the common people began to talk about it.
"I heard that hundreds of acres of fertile farmland were flooded."
"Hiss...hundreds of acres, that's a lot of food."
"A lot of livestock died, and several villages were flooded."
"Alas!" The old man who had been silently listening to the scene sighed, "I wonder how many more people will die this year."
Life was hard for the people, and it was early spring, and the fields were damaged, making it impossible to grow crops that year. Those with savings were fine, but those without were left waiting to die.
Hearing the old man sigh, everyone else also sighed.
At this time, a Taoist priest came out of the teahouse. Holding a banner, he looked up at the sky for a moment and counted on his fingers: "The water will not stop flowing, it is a sign of divine punishment. With treacherous officials in power, the people will suffer."
The waiter who was sent out heard this and repeated it when he returned to refill tea for other guests. In this way, the saying spread throughout the capital without anyone noticing.
The divine punishment naturally referred to the flood. Floods occur every year, but this year was particularly special, for no other reason than that the flood occurred in Li County, Hezhou.
Hezhou has been a sensitive area since last year. First, there were reports of illicit tax collection, with officials amassing wealth in the name of honoring the Empress Ciguang. Then, a toppled Buddha statue enraged the gods. Each incident connected to Hezhou, and to... the Liang family. Furthermore, the flood struck on the very day the emperor married a daughter of the Liang family.
In this way, the term "flattering minister" inevitably reminds people of the Duke of Xin of the current dynasty.
What does this mean?
Is this a sign from God?
Gradually, people unconsciously turned their eyes to the Mansion of Duke Xin.
.
Pei Mansion's study.
"This method is really brilliant!" Chen Yi clapped his hands in approval. "With the Heaven Punished Corrupt Officials, there's no need to worry about Duke Hexin being able to sit still. Even if the Emperor wants to protect him, the people may not agree."
Since ancient times, the gods have been the people's faith. Whenever a natural disaster occurs, it is undoubtedly the result of the gods' anger and punishment. Now that the flood has occurred in Hezhou, who is the gods angry about?
Hezhou is the ancestral home of the Liang family, so it goes without saying that it refers to Duke Xin.
The gods will be angry, and the people will surely rise up and attack him.
"Just wait," Chen Yi vowed, "In three days at most, Duke Xin will definitely not be able to sit still."
Pei Xingju sat quietly at the table writing a letter, listening to his constant chatter in her ears.
After a moment, Chen Yi suddenly asked curiously: "By the way, how did you come up with this idea?"
"Just thought of it."
"exactly?"
The matter was of such grave importance that Pei Xingju naturally would not mention Zhuang Wan. However, as luck would have it, Zhuang Wan had just mentioned the Taoist priest's matter when a natural disaster struck Hezhou.
This was not his original plan, but the news of the Hezhou flood gave him a helping hand.
It seemed as if God was helping him.
Shen Yi looked at him suspiciously, but did not delve into it. After all, in his opinion, Pei Xingju had always been cunning and scheming. Perhaps he had already sent people to investigate such matters.
"What do we do next?" he asked.
"Wait." Pei Xingju didn't even raise his head.
"Wait? Wait for what?"
"Wait until the people's anger ferments, and wait until the one in the palace is forced to make a decision."
At that time, they would join forces with the court officials to write a petition and uproot the Liang family.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
