18. Lowly
After the palace examination results were announced, the emperor held a ceremony in the Hall of Supreme Harmony to announce the results of the palace examination, and almost all of them who had taken the exam were invited to attend.
Yun Zhihe and Cui Mingyu exchanged glances and then looked away. Li Miaomiao's face showed a calm and relaxed expression.
They followed the leader's steps, no one dared to breathe, but their eyes would still wander to look at the magnificent palace.
It is already early winter and the weather is slightly cold. A thin layer of snow fell yesterday, covering the red walls and golden roofs. The double eaves of glazed tiles and the vermilion lacquered doors show a sense of majesty and solemnity.
As they stepped into the Hall of Supreme Harmony, they were amazed by its magnificence. The inner pillars of the hall were huge and sturdy, and each pillar was carved with a magnificent, majestic and lifelike golden dragon. The dragon head looked at them, which was heart-pounding.
His Majesty stood on a high place, looking down at them.
He was wearing a black robe with dragon patterns on it. The dragons on the clothes were lifelike and seemed to be hovering over him, making him look cold and handsome. His face was as white as jade. He looked down with a look of arrogant majesty.
Everyone went through the formalities, and some people were frightened and trembling, but nothing serious happened. After all, they were taught palace etiquette before entering the palace. If they lost their manners, it would be a serious mistake that could cost them their lives.
Yun Zhihe grew up in the palace, so he didn't seem nervous at all. He had a calm expression and followed everyone in paying his respects.
These ladies who passed the imperial examinations were a bit older, and it was rare to find someone as young as Yun Zhihe.
Her appearance was truly outstanding, and she looked like an immortal isolated from the world in the hall, standing out from the crowd.
Even though Xuanyuan Ying had a stern expression, he still looked at her several times.
All the officials were wearing flowery robes and standing on both sides of the steps. Yun Zhihe glanced at Minister Song on the other side, then lowered his eyes.
Xuanyuan Ying raised the corners of his lips slightly, and the ceremony began.
The Honglu Temple official began to announce, "...the first class will be awarded the title of Jinshi Jidi, the second class will be awarded the title of Jinshi Chuanchuan, and the third class will be awarded the title of Tong Jinshi Chuanchuan."
Several officials from the Honglu Temple who were holding the golden list began to read out the rankings one by one in loud and melodious voices, calling out loudly.
"First place in the first class—Yun Zhihe..."
Yun Zhihe paused, lowered his head and walked forward.
Xuanyuan Ying smiled. The answer she wrote was the one that best suited his taste. The viewpoints in the article were well-reasoned and even the difficult questions he had deliberately asked were mostly correct. He personally reviewed the papers without any partiality. He also graded the top scorer's paper himself.
He looked around at the entire court, and said, "The number one scholar's wife has truly lived up to the reputation of the former counselor. Heroes emerge from youth..."
"According to tradition, the top scholar should have been granted the position of editor in the Hanlin Academy, but since she is so talented and deeply favored by me, I have granted her the position of attendant. Are you willing?"
The Hanlin Academy Compiler is of the sixth rank, while the Emperor's Attendant is of the sixth rank and can accompany the emperor, which has been a good job since ancient times.
Yun Zhihe lowered her head and then knelt down. Everyone thought she was going to accept the order, but they heard her voice was neither humble nor arrogant, but clear and pleasant.
"Your Highness, I do not wish to—"
Xuanyuan Ying's expression froze for a moment, and the other ministers were also at a loss. For a moment, the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony fell silent, and everyone's eyes were fixed on Madam Xiaoyun in the hall.
Since ancient times, no one has dared to resist the imperial decree at this time...
After a pause, the ministers next to her began to talk in whispers, and the other wives of the Jinshi scholars also stared at her, as if she was crazy.
"This... Madam Xiaoyun... is she crazy..."
"…What is she doing?"
Mother Cheng did not join in other people's discussion. Instead, she stared at Yun Zhihe who was kneeling down, with a dazed expression, as if she had thought of something, and her fingertips curled up.
Xuanyuan Ying was silent for a moment, the smile on his face faded, his eyes were filled with ripples, and his voice was hoarse, "...Why don't you want to?"
Someone winked at her, asking her to be sensible and say something nice. Prime Minister Wen frowned, thinking about whether he should stand up next, and his body was already about to move forward.
Yun Zhihe's back faltered, and he looked up at Xuanyuan Ying and said, "Although being a Zhongshu Sheren is a great honor, I can't really serve the people and do things for them."
Xuanyuan Ying just looked at her.
"Your Majesty once wrote, 'The Way of the Great Learning is to manifest the illuminating virtue, to love the people, and to abstain from the highest good and righteousness.'"
She met Xuanyuan Ying's eyes, calm and composed, her voice as clear as jade, clearly not loud but reaching everyone's ears.
"...I, your humble servant, am heartbroken to see some officials acting without compassion and without the highest virtue."
Xuanyuan Ying's expression turned completely cold. He didn't say anything, but motioned for her to continue.
There was no doubt that she was going against the entire officialdom and the majesty of the emperor. Yun Zhihe had a calm expression, kowtowed, and her voice was crisp.
Others thought that what she said meant that there were people in the officialdom who were extremely corrupt and they did not want to associate with them. If an official could not do anything for the people, it would be better not to do the job.
These words offended many ministers. Some honest ministers were regarded as treacherous and flatterers by her words and their faces turned red with anger. Chen Shiniang was stubborn and refuted her on the spot.
"You're just a young boy, you haven't even entered officialdom yet, but you've already assumed it's corrupt! You've taken over all the ridiculous, noble temperament of a scholar!"
His Majesty's aura was extremely low, and his expression was even a little gloomy. He gently raised his hand to stop Chen Shiniang from speaking, and stared at Yun Zhihe.
"……continue."
Cui Mingyu suddenly stopped, somewhat incredulous. She opened her mouth and wanted to step forward, her body trembling, but Madam Cui glared at her and told her not to act rashly.
wrong.
Their plan was clearly to use the title of being the top scholar to expose the indiscriminate killing of innocent people by Song Shangshu and Song Er in front of all the civil and military officials in the court. For the sake of the court's face, Song Shangshu and Song Er would definitely be severely punished.
I didn't... I didn't... I refused the imperial edict and went against the entire court...
What a joke.
Yun Zhihe's few words had already slapped the entire court in the face. The other officials looked at each other in shock.
If this goes on...she will be punished.
She looked at Madam Cui, took a deep breath, and raised her foot tremblingly to step forward, but was pulled back by Li Miaomiao next to her.
Li Miaomiao frowned and looked at her, telling her not to act rashly.
Cui Mingyu knew that if he stepped forward, he might be punished as well.
Disrespecting the imperial power and defying the imperial edict were enough to get her head chopped off. Madam Cui beside her was so anxious that she wanted to rush down and pull Cui Mingyu back.
She pulled Li Miaomiao's hand away and was about to go upstairs. Li Miaomiao whispered, "She has a way. Don't make trouble!"
Is there any way for her to avoid being beheaded by relying on her reputation as the descendant of a loyal minister?
Cui Mingyu looked up unwillingly, his lips trembling, but he finally yielded to Li Miaomiao's pull, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Yun Zhihe spoke and presented a stack of documents with both hands.
"This is the statistics of the number of pariah households in the Ling Dynasty. Since the population survey three years ago, there are 100,000 pariah households."
The low-class households were even lower than slaves. They were not considered human beings, but objects at best. Most of them were private slaves or prostitutes. This household registration system was a tradition that had lasted for hundreds of years and had not changed for a long time.
"I recently learned of something." She turned to look at Minister Song, who paused. "Minister Song and his daughter, Second Lady Song...indiscriminately killed innocent servants."
Minister Song immediately stood up and shouted, his voice was strong and he looked like a gentleman.
"Madam Yun, even if you speak nonsense, you should be moderate! If you slander my innocence like this, I will not be easily offended."
"Your Majesty! She is truly insane, making up such nonsense in front of Your Majesty. Your Majesty, please do not trust such a villain."
She shouted loudly to Xuanyuan Ying with a righteous tone, and many officials promoted by her also spoke to her.
Xuanyuan Ying frowned and raised his hand to stop talking.
Minister Song closed his mouth unwillingly, staring at Yun Zhihe with his cloudy eyes.
"Song Eryou likes dog fighting and has raised many hunting dogs..." Yun Zhihe closed his eyes.
"Hounds, from small to large, eat—"
He gritted his teeth, as if he couldn't bear to say it out loud, "——Human flesh!"
As soon as she said this, everyone in the court was shocked and started talking about it.
Yun Zhihe raised his hand again and handed over a stack of documents. "This is the confession of the servants of the Song Mansion and a list of slaves who have recently passed away! It's written in black and white, and every word is heartbreaking!"
"In the past few years, nearly a thousand slaves have died in the Song Mansion... If you look carefully, you will definitely find their burial place."
There was a turbulent flow in her eyes, making it impossible to tell what her emotions were.
The eldest lady Song died at birth, Shangshu Song was weak and had difficulty conceiving, and the harem had not given birth to a daughter for many years. The second lady Song was the daughter she had in her old age after praying to the gods, so she naturally spoiled her in every way and treated human life as a toy.
Minister Song suddenly shouted and rushed forward, "Your Majesty, please be clear-sighted! This little girl must have fabricated evidence to smear this old minister's innocence!"
"Shut her up."
Xuanyuan Ying turned around to speak, but the guards immediately stopped her and blocked her mouth, leaving her to whimper and scream.
He looked down at Yun Zhihe, nodded slightly, and motioned her to continue.
Yun Zhihe kowtowed, resting her forehead on the ground, and her voice suddenly increased. "If even a single word of mine is false, I am willing to be punished."
She exhaled, her voice hoarse and each word deep.
"The ancestor was born in a time of war, facing imminent danger of extinction. He rose up in rebellion because of the indiscriminate killing of innocent people, which left the people destitute and starving them to death... After ten years of rebellion, the Daling Dynasty was established."
"The new dynasty was established, and there was much to be done. Yet, foreign invaders harassed our people along the border. Our ancestor ordered the construction of the Great Wall, but... there was no one available."
"——The mighty Daling can't even muster a hundred thousand remnant soldiers!"
She said it out loud, looking up at Xuanyuan Ying's stunned eyes.
"In the early days of the Ling Dynasty, the country sought refuge with foreign tribes and was bullied and humiliated. Marrying and giving away gold were the norm for decades. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that this situation of being bullied and humiliated was ended."
“It’s all because of insufficient population!”
"The Ling Dynasty is now rich and powerful, but corvée labor is still unbearable, and the Great Wall, which was built many years ago, has been damaged."
"But... the Song family alone has slaughtered nearly a thousand lowly families over the years, treating human lives as worthless. If the Song family is like this, what about the thousands of families?!"
"Where's the Wan family?!"
His voice was already a little hoarse, and the ending tone was trembling.
"...Daling is a vast country, there is definitely more than just the Song Mansion!"
Prime Minister Wen narrowed his eyes and looked at Yun Zhihe with a pair of fox eyes that looked very similar to Wen Yanhe's.
——Look at the beads of sweat oozing from her temples, her pair of cold and indifferent eyes are firm and seem to flash with a bright light.
She continued to speak, her voice as clear as jade, getting louder and louder, as if deafening.
"Oh……"
Prime Minister Wen thought for a moment, sneered slightly, and raised the corners of his lips as if in mockery, and understood what she meant.
If one wants to punish the mother and daughter of the Song family, one can just expose them directly instead of disobeying the order and making public announcements on such a festive day.
——This caused displeasure among all the civil and military officials in the court and brought shame to His Majesty.
She understood what Yun Zhihe meant.
Prime Minister Wen took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and murmured, "...you really don't want to die."
She wanted to use her next life's official career and even... her life, in front of all the civil and military officials in the court, to fight against this system of slavery that had existed in the world for a hundred years.
She clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and said again, "...don't want to die."
"Don't want to die!"
"She has the exact same personality as her mother! She's unreasonable!"
Just like the way that stubborn Yun Qianli once looked at her with a burning gaze, "May the seas be peaceful and the rivers be clear."
Then, as he turned around, he murmured, "...I don't mind dying."
“That’s unreasonable!”
Prime Minister Wen shouted as if he was suddenly angry, and then took rapid breaths to calm himself down. The officials next to him were so engrossed in listening to Yun Zhihe's speech that they were startled and looked at Prime Minister Wen in surprise at his excitement.
How could this system be something that a mere top scholar like her could fight against with her own future and fate!
If she failed, future generations would realize the disadvantages of being a lowly person... one day, or perhaps in a few decades...
Yun Zhihe's throat was a little hoarse and hurt every time he spoke.
"Your Majesty——!" She broke out in a light sweat on this winter day, and her jade-white cheeks turned slightly red. She looked at Xuanyuan Ying on the stage as if pleadingly.
A pair of eyes as bright as moonlight, filled with burning light.
The voice is sonorous and powerful.
“——The lives of the untouchables are also lives!”
The author has something to say:
I was so excited that I picked up the pen and started writing, but I got stuck. Damn it.
How about this chapter? I have never tried such a plot before. Will it be too childish?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
