In the darkness, Song Yue kissed Shen Qingchen's lips, one kiss after another, soft and tender.
Qingchen closed her eyes, letting his breath envelop her, focusing on feeling the heartbeat and throbbing that intertwined with his breath, feeling the softness, moisture, and sweetness of their lips touching.
The night was quiet and warm, flowing gently.
The cold wind was kept out of the doors and windows, and inside there was only the glowing red-hot stove fire and Song Yue's strong and warm body.
After a while, he released the soft person in his arms, gently exhaled, and said to her, "Alright, you should go to sleep now."
Qingchen shook her head, but her lips, which were swollen and red from being sucked, pressed against his again, and she murmured softly, "Not enough."
Compared to their passionate kiss on the carriage ride home last time, tonight's kiss was too short, too short to completely dispel her anxiety about tomorrow. She needed... to borrow him for a little while longer.
Song Yue touched her lips to hers, then tilted his head slightly and whispered in her ear, "It's already midnight."
"teacher."
"Hmm?" He gently stroked her face with his fingertips.
She repeated what he had said to her in the carriage last time, whispering, "Grand Secretary Song, your subordinate wants to tell you that she wants to do it again. Is that alright?"
After a moment of silence, a soft sigh echoed in the room, filled with not helplessness, but only longing and tenderness.
Song Yue kissed Qingchen's lips again, just as she wished.
He sucked on her soft lips twice, then probed his tongue into her mouth. She involuntarily let out a moan.
His subordinates gripped his shirt tightly.
That soft sound sent a sudden tightness through his lower body. A primal desire within him seemed to be ignited instantly, transforming into a torrent that surged through his limbs and bones, the desire about to break through a loose cage and gush out from every crevice.
He frowned slightly. He couldn't kiss her anymore.
Song Yue immediately pulled away from Qingchen's lips, pulled her head into his arms, and took a deep breath. "Go to sleep? If you don't sleep, I'm leaving."
Qingchen breathed softly in his arms, "Teacher, don't go."
She hadn't been able to act coquettishly with anyone for a very, very long time. In modern times, after her father passed away, her mother had to support the family alone, which was very difficult, so she never acted coquettishly with her. Now, in the Ming Dynasty, facing such a family situation and harboring the secret of being a woman disguised as a man, she had no way to act coquettishly or confide in anyone.
She never imagined that one day she could lie in the arms of the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, acting coquettishly and begging him to stay. The scene felt like a dream.
Song Yue patted Qingchen's back and said softly, "Then be good and go to sleep."
"Mmm." She closed her eyes.
He kissed her forehead. "Go to sleep."
The next morning, before dawn, officials from the capital had already flocked to the Daming Gate.
They wore scarlet or blue cream puffs, black gauze hats on their heads, and black boots on their feet. They filed in and lined up to go to court. Because they had not gotten up so early for a long time, many officials were not used to it. They were still adjusting their hats and hats along the way, and a few of them couldn't help but yawn.
Several tables were set up below the city gate of Daming, behind which stood neatly dressed and spirited imperial censors who were called out by name. In addition, there was a row of solemn-looking imperial guards, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, with their hands on their long swords.
The Imperial Guards stationed at the Daming Gate had not seen such a scene in a long time.
At the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu was diligent in his duties, and during his twenty-year reign, the morning court session was held without fail. At that time, officials in the capital had to attend the morning court session on time, regardless of wind, thunder, rain, or snow, or they would be punished. The morning court session was also very long because there were many matters to be discussed. The matters reported by various ministries and government offices were of all kinds and sizes, ranging from major issues such as border military intelligence, disasters in various regions, and rebellions by heretics, to minor matters such as the purchase of cattle and farm tools and the discovery of stolen property from the imperial treasury by the guards of the imperial city. All of these had to be decided by Emperor Taizu personally.
After Emperor Taizu, subsequent emperors placed less emphasis on the morning court sessions, delegating more and more responsibilities to the cabinet while managing fewer and fewer matters themselves. By the time Zhu Rui came to power, except for the winter solstice and the first month of the lunar calendar, it was rare to see officials attending court in such a grand manner.
Shen Qingchen had just been promoted to the fourth rank and was attending the morning court for the first time. In the orange glow of the lanterns and the morning light, she gazed upon the heart of the empire—the Forbidden City—for the first time at this hour.
The palace complex before her was magnificent, with its carved beams and painted rafters. Although it was only a little past dusk, the imperial majesty was evident everywhere she looked. For officials like her, walking from the Daming Gate to the Fengtian Hall to attend the morning court session required passing through layers of vermilion palace walls and climbing up and down stone steps.
Qingchen took the opportunity to observe the expressions of the officials attending court. Some looked relaxed, while others appeared serious and solemn. She couldn't help but wonder if those who looked serious and solemn were worried about the Crown Prince, while those who looked relaxed were likely members of Xu's faction.
Like Xu Yan, they had long hoped for a change of heir to the throne. If Zhu Yuluo were accused of forming cliques and attempting to force the emperor to abdicate, the prospect of Consort Zheng's fifth son succeeding to the position of crown prince would be within their grasp. Once the Xu faction seized control of the future imperial power of the Ming Dynasty, the world would belong to them, and this significant day might become one of the celebrations they would hold together in the future.
Shen Qingchen took a breath, her slender body following the flow of people as she continued towards Fengtian Hall.
Just then, a sedan chair passed by her.
Under the gaze of everyone around her, the person inside the sedan chair lifted the curtain and called out to her, "Lord Shen."
The sound was low and slightly hoarse, sounding both strange and familiar.
Shen Qingchen turned his head and immediately greeted him, "This humble official greets Grand Secretary Xu." The wide sleeves of his scarlet robe caught the wind, making it a little chilly.
Xu Yan smiled. "The figure looked familiar from behind, and it really was Lord Shen. Is this Lord Shen's first time attending the morning court session?"
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"The first time I attended court was more than thirty years ago. I was very nervous back then, afraid of saying the wrong thing," Xu Yan said with a smile. "But Lord Shen is so smart, he is naturally not like me back then. He should know that not saying anything will prevent him from making a mistake."
Xu Yan's words were both a warning and a test. He knew that with Qingchen's intelligence, she would surely guess that this matter was somewhat related to him, and with her recent series of merits, she was one of the few people who could speak to Zhu Rui.
He was cautious by nature, and although he was confident in his plans, he always harbored a sense of vigilance. If there was any variable in today's situation, it was probably only Shen Qingchen.
He was mindful of this variable, but not afraid of it; if it came up, he'd give it a little nudge. Through this incident, he could also test how much of this person was willing to be won over.
"Your Excellency Xu is right. I thank you for your guidance," Qingchen replied respectfully.
Xu Yan smiled, then lowered the curtain again, his voice coming through the curtain, "By the way, Lord Shen, your second uncle is doing well, there's no need to worry."
Watching his sedan chair disappear into the distance, Qingchen blinked and continued walking amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd.
Xu Yan was warning her.
Her second uncle was seriously injured and unable to move; he was still lying in the Xu residence. If her plan succeeded today and thwarted Xu Yan's conspiracy, then Xu Yan might retaliate against her second uncle.
Actually, she had considered this issue yesterday, but she had no other choice. Now, she could only hope that Xu Silin would take good care of her second uncle. She also believed that with Xu Yan's cautious nature, he wouldn't let anything happen to her second uncle at the Xu residence.
After the court assembly ended, she went to find Xu Silin.
After the court assembly began, the officials first reported on some military and disaster situations as usual. Then, a censor from Xu's faction presented a memorial impeaching Gu Shaoheng's father, Marquis Ningyuan, Gu Ru.
"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to present. Marquis Gu Ru of Ningyuan has seized farmland from the people and is forcing them to pay land taxes for him..."
"Your Majesty, Gu Ru has been raising a treacherous servant who, under the guise of divine will, has desecrated Your Majesty's majesty with sheep's blood..."
"Your Majesty, Marquis Ningyuan, Gu Ru, harbors treacherous intentions, and has coerced the Crown Prince into plotting rebellion..."
Just as Song Yue had said, the charges that Xu's faction wanted to level were not limited to forcing Gu Ru to abdicate. They accused Gu Ru of crimes ranging from minor to serious, some with euphemistic wording and others with sharp criticism, all presented with conviction and vivid emotion.
Zhu Rui was already angry, and hearing these accusations only made him more upset, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot.
Grand Secretary Xu Yan stood at the front, listening silently as his subordinates methodically carried out his orders, staring at his boots in silence. Song Yue remained silent as well, for he couldn't speak. Zhao Qiran, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, was anxiously watching, glancing at Song Yue several times, his embroidery on his robe nearly torn apart.
At this moment, the main hall was roughly divided into three groups: the Xu faction, who were putting on a show; the supporters of the Crown Prince, but most of them had already been warned and were not in a position to speak out; and the fence-sitters, who were not concerned about whether the Crown Prince would be in trouble and simply viewed the lively court proceedings as a spectacle.
Because the second and third groups of people didn't speak up, even though five or six members of Xu's faction had already submitted their reports, not a single person stood up to speak for the Crown Prince.
The censors and officials of Xu's faction took turns performing, each one trying to outdo the other in their acting. The uglier Zhu Rui's expression became, the greater the praise they seemed to receive, and thus they performed even more energetically.
When it came to the last person to speak, seeing that everyone before him had already completed their tasks gloriously and successfully, he felt he couldn't fall behind. So he changed his target and instead of impeaching Gu Ru, he directly impeached Crown Prince Zhu Yuluo.
He said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince has indulged his maternal relatives and has lost his moral character. It is inevitable that the people of the world will laugh at the Crown Prince of the Great Ming for being disloyal, unfilial, heartless and ungrateful. Your Highness is no longer suitable to be the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.”
Zhu Rui frowned, glanced at his son standing below the steps, and then looked at the censor. "What did you say?"
The imperial censor knelt down with a thud. "Your Majesty, I risk my life to remonstrate: the Crown Prince should be deposed!"
At this moment, a murmur arose from below. The chief eunuch, Huang Heng, shouted, "Silence!"
Zhu Rui didn't speak; he was waiting.
Let's wait and see how many people will stand up for Zhu Yuluo.
To his surprise, even though some people had already advised against deposing the crown prince, no one else stepped forward. He had to ask, "What else has anyone to say?"
At this moment, someone stood up, and when he opened his mouth, he was seconding the call to depose the crown prince, not pleading for Zhu Yuluo. Seeing this urgency, Zhu Rui was somewhat confused.
So many high-ranking officials and censors were standing below him, yet not a single one was willing to protect his son? They formed a faction to force him to abdicate, but where was their faction? Were they only protecting him?
Thinking this, he glanced at his son, Zhu Yuluo, standing below the steps. Zhu Yuluo's hands were trembling slightly, and his eyes were red, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well the night before. He looked rather pitiful.
Then, someone else stepped forward to speak. At this point, Zhu Rui was starting to feel conflicted, hoping that this person would plead for Zhu Yuluo. But things didn't turn out as he had hoped.
At this moment, Song Yue gave Zhao Qiran a wink, and Zhao Qiran finally breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately turned and gave another censor a wink. Upon receiving the signal, the censor stood up and spoke:
"Your Majesty, I believe that His Highness the Crown Prince is still too young..."
Zhu Rui finally got someone to speak up for his son, and was about to listen carefully when the person simply said, "The crown prince is young, and it's normal for him to make mistakes," before returning to his seat.
This plea was weak and ineffective, completely outmatched by Xu's party's rapid and relentless attacks.
But this was exactly the effect Song Yue wanted. Zhu Rui was originally furious and had even become suspicious of his own son. If the entire court were pleading for Zhu Yuluo today, his anger would only intensify. But once he saw that no one was actually pleading for Zhu, his anger would gradually subside, turning into confusion, and he might even feel some pity for his son.
It would be unrealistic for everyone to remain silent in support of Zhu Yuluo, as that would seem too deliberate. Only by having one or two censors speak in a nonchalant manner could Zhu Rui's doubts be completely dispelled, making him believe that Zhu Yuluo had not formed a faction.
But that wasn't enough. No one pleaded for Zhu Yuluo, leading to a one-sided situation where almost the entire court was advising against deposing the crown prince. If things continued this way, even if Zhu Rui no longer suspected Zhu Yuluo, he would be forced by the situation to make a decision that would satisfy all the officials—to depose the crown prince.
Next, it's up to Qingchen.
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