Wang looked at the paper and saw that it was clean and not stained by the old man's clothes before taking it over, using a handkerchief as a pad.
Once seated in the carriage, Madam Wang eagerly opened the paper and took a look. Chuanyu also craned his neck to glance at it, but found it obscure and difficult to pronounce, and lost interest.
Upon returning to her residence, Madam Wang had her maid bring her paper and pen. After copying the text once, she would read it aloud from that piece of paper every day, more than once a day.
Whether it was true or not, Wang's illness did improve, and she became even more convinced of the power of the Star Worship Sutra.
Later, she discovered that many officials' wives believed in this Star Worship Cult. After hearing Chuan Yi and Chuan Wu complain that everyone was reading the Star Worship Sutra and that their book sales had dropped by half, she began to think about how to join the Star Worship Cult.
One day, Wang returned home happily, carrying something wrapped in red cloth. She walked briskly and showed no signs of illness.
Chuan Hai was puzzled. His wife's illness hadn't improved after so many days of rest, so how come she seemed to be completely better in just two days, without him seeing her take any other medicine?
So he came over and asked her, "Madam, are you... better now?"
Since she started believing in this star-worshipping cult, Wang has been in a good mood every day. She's even less angry with her husband, whom she used to find so frustrating. She smiled and said, "That's right, I feel great now, and I'm not sick at all."
"Thanks to the Star Lord's blessing, I recovered so quickly!"
Wang held up the red cloth-wrapped object in her hand, then ignored Chuanhai. She had gone to great lengths to invite the Star Lord, so she had to settle him in as soon as possible.
Wang hurriedly settled the Star Lord she mentioned and left. Chuan Hai watched her retreating figure, somewhat bewildered. However, this Star Worship Cult seemed to be quite popular recently; he had heard about it from several of his colleagues.
"Is it really that miraculous?" Chuan Hai muttered, then added with some worry, "Don't let anyone fool us again."
"Maybe I should go see Chuanwen sometime," Chuanhai thought to himself before heading off to attend to his official duties.
Ever since Lady Wang invited the Star Lord, she has been burning incense and chanting scriptures every morning, noon, and evening, keeping herself extremely busy. Sometimes she even invites several officials' wives to discuss religious doctrines together.
That's not all. Madam Wang also wants to recruit everyone in the manor into the religion. Apart from Xu Yan and Chuanrui, she won't include them in such a good deal. She'd rather they be the ones suffering from illness and disaster!
Chuanyu saw that her mother believed it a bit too much, so she tried to persuade her. Wang Shi poked her forehead and said, "What do you know? If this isn't taught properly, how can the Fourth Prince believe it?"
Chuan Yu was taken aback. "The Fourth Prince?"
"The Fourth Prince has also joined your Star Worship Cult?" Chuan Yu was a little surprised.
Madam Wang nodded, "The Star Worship Cult is very effective. I've heard that not only the Fourth Prince, but also many concubines in the palace believe in it! Maybe even the Emperor believes in it!"
Chuan Yu looked on in disbelief. The Emperor believed it? That seemed unlikely.
Meanwhile, in the palace, the emperor was having a bit of a headache dealing with government affairs in the Ganlu Hall, so he went for a stroll in the Imperial Garden. As he strolled, he saw the fourth prince sneaking past in the distance.
The emperor was taken aback. What was the fourth prince doing?
Curiosity drove him to follow, but he left the group of palace maids and eunuchs behind him to wait in place, taking only Huang Qi with him.
The emperor followed the fourth prince to the Cold Palace, somewhat puzzled as to why his fourth son was there.
As the fourth prince turned to look around, the emperor noticed that his arms were bulging, and wondered what he was carrying.
Seeing that no one was around, the fourth prince went into the Cold Palace and didn't come out for a long time. When he came out, the thing in his arms was gone.
The emperor did not arrest the fourth prince on the spot, but watched as the fourth prince slipped away with a smile on his face.
The emperor had eight sons in total. The fifth son died of smallpox at the age of three. The seventh son was killed by the third son, who is now imprisoned by him.
He only had five sons left and didn't want to lose any more. Besides, their royal family had been rife with scandals lately, and he really didn't want to add another one—a prince having an affair with a concubine in the cold palace.
Therefore, the emperor arranged a full schedule of lessons for the fourth prince every day, so that he had no time to come to the palace.
Two days later, while the emperor was having breakfast with the empress and Chuanwen, Zhao Dajia requested an audience.
"Zhao Dajia?"
The emperor thought for a moment. He hadn't seen him much lately. Was his injury healed by coming to the palace today?
The emperor had already heard about Zhao Dajia's situation. He was unaware of Zhao Jieyu's elopement with Su Xie, and since Zhao Dajia was so depressed that he wanted to die, he also bore some responsibility. Therefore, he would not pursue Zhao Dajia's matter.
Zhao Dajia came to invite the emperor to court.
When the emperor was ill, he suspended the morning court sessions and entrusted all government affairs to the crown prince.
After he recovered from his illness, he wanted to train the crown prince, so he still did not attend court.
After the Crown Prince was drugged and ran amok throughout the palace, and after he took care of things in the bushes, he was too ashamed to go out. He locked himself in the East Palace all day and refused to see anyone.
There was no other way, so the emperor had to take over the administration of state affairs. However, he didn't want to face his ministers because Wen Yatou was discussing whether he had lost his virility at over fifty.
So it's been delayed until now.
But Zhao Dajia, now fully recovered, disagreed. "Your Majesty, you must let me show my loyalty! As a subject, I must share Your Majesty's burdens. Besides, Your Majesty doesn't hold my poor parenting against me; I must repay this great kindness!"
The emperor sent Zhao Dajia back, but Zhao Dajia was not discouraged and came to see the emperor every day. After several visits, the emperor finally got fed up and promised to attend court the next day. Only then did Zhao Dajia leave satisfied.
After returning home, Zhao Dajia was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. He spent his time organizing various official duties and sitting there thinking about how he could serve the court.
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