Chapter 53 The Passing of the Late Emperor
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
The light snow of the Lantern Festival, amidst the bustling lantern market, drifted into the quiet courtyard of the Shen family.
"Clang..."
The celadon bowl shattered on the brick floor, and the lactose-coated glutinous rice balls rolled on the ground.
Zhang cursed angrily, "You lowly servant! This kind of millet flour coated with sugar doesn't even deserve to be called a dumpling!"
Greenie knelt down with a thud: "Madam... the kitchen staff has even run out of sesame paste, and the sugar in these glutinous rice balls was... it was the eldest daughter who pawned her earring to get it."
Granny Zhou rushed forward, saying, "Madam, be careful not to upset yourself..."
Zhang took a breath, then asked with a cold expression, "Have you mentioned the spring clothes I ordered a few days ago to Madam Lu? Why is there still no word on them?"
Greenie said, "As for the spring clothes, I went to tell her... The mistress said that she really doesn't have the money to buy cloth."
Upon hearing this, Zhang's face turned ashen with rage. She gritted her teeth and cursed, "That useless, lowly woman, Lu! What has she done to the household?!"
She then asked, "What has she been doing these days?"
Greenie said, "Ever since the incident with the eldest daughter, the eldest lady has been ill."
Zhang said, "What kind of precious body is she? She's sick and still lying in bed? Her aunt and uncle are almost starving to death, and she doesn't even think of a way to earn some money for the family."
"Pooh!"
She spat a mouthful of phlegm on the ground: "My son should have married a courtesan from a brothel back then, at least she would know how to earn a few copper coins by selling her smiles! What use is that Lu woman?"
Greenie stared at the phlegm stains on her skirt, not daring to speak.
Granny Zhou then spoke up: "What are you all standing there for? Let the lady come over and apologize."
When Lu Zhaoruo arrived.
Zhang grabbed a teacup and smashed it at Lu Zhaoruo's feet, pounding the table and howling so loudly it hurt the eardrums: "Ancestors, open your eyes and look! On the Lantern Festival, we can't even have a decent bowl of sweet rice balls! Even the butcher on East Street has three plates of those rose-filled glutinous rice balls!"
Lu Zhaoru coughed, her body swaying precariously.
Dongrou rushed forward and supported herself with her body.
"Please forgive me, Auntie..."
Lu Zhaoruo's lips were as pale as paper, and her voice was as soft as falling snow, "My daughter-in-law is really..."
"What a precious disease!"
Zhang suddenly pounced on her, her fingers almost poking her face. "You don't touch the loom when it's covered in dust, you don't take on any embroidery work, and I've never even seen you set up a porridge stall. All you do is lie in bed all day. You're even more leisurely than your aunt."
Lu Zhaoruo lowered her long eyelashes, concealing the mockery in her eyes.
Has this old hag ever twisted even a thread all day long, besides cursing?
"Cough cough..."
She suddenly hunched over and coughed violently, collapsing onto Dongrou's shoulder. "Daughter-in-law... can't even get over the threshold."
Zhang stared at her bluish lips, and irritably tugged at the corners of her mouth: "Has Master Gu returned yet?"
"Not yet..."
Zhang grabbed her sleeve, her cloudy eyes gleaming with greed. "If he comes back, you must immediately borrow three hundred taels—no, five hundred taels! Buy two shops! I can't stand this filthy life for even a day longer!"
Lu Zhaoruo obediently nodded: "Yes."
Seeing that she was still meek and submissive, Zhang snorted and released her sleeve, saying, "Go back to your mother's house today."
Lu Zhaoruo asked, "What is your daughter-in-law doing back at her mother's house?"
A calculating glint flashed beneath Zhang's drooping eyelids: "Take some money from your mother's family to tide you over. After all, you are the daughter of the Lu family. Now that you are incompetent in managing the household, causing your husband's family to fall into such a state, it is your own unfilial behavior!"
She snorted, "They failed to raise their daughter properly, so it's only natural for them to take some money back!"
As soon as I left the hospital.
Dong Rou was so angry that her heart was pounding. She lowered her voice and said, "I have lived for eighteen years and never knew that such a thing existed in the world..."
His ears turned bright red, but he ultimately didn't dare utter those vulgar, common words.
Lu Zhaoruo reached out and brushed the snow off her shoulder: "Don't get upset. Let's just treat it as listening to music."
Back indoors.
Ah Bao lay listlessly on the window frame.
Lu Zhaoruo asked, "Abao, didn't you just go out to play with your husband? Why are you unhappy when you come back?"
The cat's whiskers twitched. "Four days from now... he will return to the capital..."
Lu Zhaoruo's fingertips suddenly froze.
A chill crept up my spine.
Four days later.
It was that urgent news of the late emperor's passing that arrived with the fastest delivery of the message.
And today.
It was precisely on the day of his death.
She removed her hairpins and changed into a plain-colored ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress).
Dongrou asked in confusion, "What is Madam doing?"
Lu Zhaoruo looked out the window at the eastern horizon and said softly, "Last night's dream was ominous, and I still feel uneasy. I should dress more lightly."
Thirty days later, the new emperor will be enthroned.
Forty days later, it will be time for the new emperor to offer sacrifices at the ancestral temple.
Suddenly, an idea struck her.
According to my memories from my previous life, because the imperial merchants had contributed to the war effort, the new emperor issued an edict to reward the loyal merchants of three reigns after the emperor paid homage at the temple.
On the fourth day, officials from the Ministry of Rites entered Jizhou City carrying a yellow silk edict and loudly proclaimed: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: For the descendants of merchants who contributed to the military during the reigns of Emperors Taizu, Taizong, and Zhenzong, each shall be granted 10,000 strings of imperial copper, 3,000 mu of permanent land, and permission to send one son to the Imperial Academy..."
Shen Qingshu's hands trembled as he held the family genealogy: "My ancestors truly contributed military funds to the founding emperor!"
Madam Zhang counted on her fingers: "Five thousand taels of silver! Three thousand acres of tax-free land! Most importantly, it's our grandson. Once he gets his Imperial Academy student certificate, he'll be exempt from that damned preliminary examination. In the future, he'll go straight to the imperial court, wearing red and purple robes!"
The reward must be claimed within three months.
That day, Zhang dragged Lu Zhaoruo into the prefectural government office.
The clerk in the prefectural government's revenue office, flipping through the yellowed "Records of the Taizu Emperor's Military Pay," suddenly burst out laughing: "Your 'loyal merchant'..."
The booklet bears a prominent red annotation: "Jizhou Shenwu falsely reported 400 strings of cash for military pay and fled to avoid punishment."
Back then, Emperor Taizu, mindful that the war had just ended, did not delve into this old case.
...
As her thoughts returned, Lu Zhaoruo smiled slightly. This was the perfect bait to lure Shen Rongzhi back.
Ah Bao also thought of it and leaned over to say...
Lu Zhaoruo said, "What a coincidence, Mother also had the same idea."
Abao continued, "Mother, we can ask Commander Xiao for help first, and then ask Master Gu for help..."
"Then……"
The mother and daughter exchanged a knowing smile.
The plan was already in place—to make Shen Rongzhi willingly walk into the trap.
These past few days, a deep, unyielding melancholy has been etched between her brows.
Although they are reborn, they are still subjects of the Great Clan.
That official was diligent in his duties, loved the people, and treated his subordinates with kindness. Now that he has suddenly passed away, how can we not be heartbroken?
Today is the fourth day.
Lu Zhaoruo was still dressed in plain white. Seeing that she was not going out to run the business, Madam Zhang was furious: "You dress in plain white all day long, are you cursing me to die early?"
Hands raised high...
"clang--"
Suddenly, the evening drum on the city wall of Jizhou resounded.
Zhang's hand froze in mid-air, while Lu Zhaoruo had already knelt down on the ground.
Upon seeing this, Dongrou immediately knelt down as well.
"Could it be... the Emperor..."
Zhang's lips trembled, and her knees buckled, causing her to kneel down.
Grandma Zhou behind him also trembled and fell to the ground.
At the end of the long street, a swift horse trampled the setting sun, and three blood-stained pheasant feathers danced wildly in the wind behind the courier, his roar tearing through the twilight: "The late Emperor... has passed away!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
