Chapter 100: A Prophecy Fulfilled
It was nearly dusk when Yu Mingshu left the Censorate prison. As he passed through the solemn courtyard in front of the hall, several anxious figures stood outside the gate.
The palace ladies-in-waiting, the eunuchs of the Western Garden, and the servants of the Yang family were all waiting for news of Liang Yuanyi.
Seeing her emerge from prison alone, the wine jug she had brought with her nowhere to be seen, the outcome was self-evident.
The palace maid exchanged a glance with her and hurriedly returned to the palace to report.
The people from Xiyuan and Yangfu exchanged glances, shook their heads and sighed, and left the place with sorrowful expressions.
Only He Zheng walked towards her, his gaze never leaving her for a moment, taking in her worried and absent-minded state.
He opened his mouth to speak several times along the way, but felt that nothing he said would be appropriate. Hesitating like this, the two of them quietly returned to the official residence.
As darkness fell outside the courtyard, He Zheng lit candles in the inner room.
Yu Mingshu changed into a refreshing dress, finally pulling herself out of that oppressive mood. Looking at the upright figure under the candlelight not far away, she said, "It's hot today, and I don't have much of an appetite. Let's have cold noodles tonight."
He Zheng looked back at her and smiled with relief, "Okay, I'll have Jing Hong do it."
"I also want to eat cold beef salad."
"I told him to go buy it."
Yu Mingshu smiled and said, "We're off tomorrow, let's have a couple of drinks."
He Zheng hesitated for a moment, then asked with concern, "What did the King of Qin say to you today?"
Yu Mingshu shook his head, moved two bamboo chairs to the porch, and pulled him to sit down. "You don't need to be nervous. I understand the principle of respecting other people's fate."
“Then you…” He Zheng still hesitated.
"I just feel a little regretful." Yu Mingshu looked up at Tianji. "A few years ago in Yongningfang, Madam Zhang and Madam Su helped my mother make dumplings, and you insisted on putting up the Spring Festival couplets for me. At that time, Mr. Yuan and Xie Sanlang were both well, and our families gathered together to celebrate the New Year. The atmosphere was quite warm."
Then she felt the topic was too depressing, so she tightened her grip on He Zheng's arm and changed the subject: "After Xie Huaijin went to Youzhou, it was as if he had disappeared. He didn't send a single letter. If I didn't occasionally hear about his achievements, I would have thought that he had met with some misfortune on the way."
He Zheng's brow twitched upon hearing this. Although he knew she was just reminiscing about the peaceful days in Yongningfang, he still felt somewhat displeased when he heard her reminisce about Yuan Yi and then worry about Xie Huaijin.
"They both had great ambitions. One of them was exiled to the north, and the other is not mentioned. Only I am without desires and ambitions, and can live peacefully by your side."
Yu Mingshu couldn't help but laugh, squeezed his palm, and said, "Isn't this what you men want when you marry a virtuous wife?"
He Zhengxin took her hand, his warm palm tightly enveloping her knuckles. "I don't have the virtuous nature of my aunt, the Empress. If you were to have affairs everywhere, always thinking about other women..."
Hearing his apparent hesitation, Yu Mingshu tilted her head and asked, "What do you think?"
He Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "I will beat them all up and send them to Youzhou to farm."
Yu Mingshu couldn't help but chuckle, leaning against his shoulder, her forehead against his neck, and patting his chest as if to comfort him, "You know perfectly well that I'm not a sentimental person."
He Zheng felt a sense of relief, and his brows relaxed considerably. "These are turbulent times. I don't know if we can still hold a wedding this year."
The happy event he was referring to was, of course, their wedding.
If anything were to happen to the emperor, the wedding would certainly have to be postponed during the period of national mourning. But the problem was that the emperor was only in a coma, showing no signs of waking up, and seemingly not in any danger of death.
Yu Mingshu said, "You can ask your aunt another day."
…
The Prince of Qin committed suicide in prison, and his funeral was kept simple. Everyone in the capital was afraid of being associated with this prince who had failed in his coup, but Yang Congen was unconcerned and gave him an entire box of his treasured ancient books as a burial offering.
Although the Empress and the Crown Prince severely punished the Zhang family, they did not make things too difficult for Consort Zhang. They allowed her to live in the West Garden, provided her with good food and drink, and even left her palace maids and eunuchs to serve her.
Xie Cheng and Zhang Huaijin were sentenced to death by hanging, with the execution scheduled for early August.
On the night before her execution, Zhang Zhuoyan obtained a decree to visit her in prison and, dressed in plain clothes, went to the Censorate prison.
"Madam Zhang, Vice Minister Zhang's cell is just ahead." The jailer still habitually addressed her by her old title.
Zhang Zhuoyan said expressionlessly, "I want to see Xie Cheng."
The jailer hesitated for a moment, then, considering that the warrant she presented did not specify whose cell she was visiting, he nodded in agreement.
Xie Cheng's treatment in prison was quite good. His spacious and clean cell was scattered with books, paper and pens, and there were a few wilted fruits on the table in the corner.
Just as the jailer was about to open the cell door, Zhang Zhuoyan raised her hand to stop him, only asking him to bring over a chair.
Xie Cheng was not surprised to see her there. He shook his sleeves, turned around, and sat down opposite her across the iron bars.
Having served as prime minister for many years, he had always remained calm and composed. Yet, as he looked at the woman outside the prison cell, a suppressed hatred flickered in his aged eyes.
"Why did you hurt him?" Zhang Zhuoyan's hatred at this moment was even greater than his.
Xie Cheng laughed, "He wants money, I'll provide the money; he wants soldiers, I'll provide the soldiers. After it's done, he wants the Xie family to return to the court. This is a deal between us, how can you say I harmed him?"
“He is my son. How could I not know when he ever harbored ambitions to usurp the throne?” Zhang Zhuoyan’s voice suddenly became sharp. “It was you who instigated Zhang Jinghua to reopen his wounds day after day, coaxing and deceiving him into becoming your blade and your puppet!”
Xie Cheng said in a deep voice, "So what?"
There was a moment of silence in the cell.
“I used him and I killed him, so what? He was a wicked child who should never have been born!” Xie Cheng stared intently at the woman outside the railing, his eyes surging with hatred.
"Have you forgotten? You and Liang Heng still owe me a life!"
Zhang Zhuoyan was stunned, her knuckles gripping the armrests of the chair, her thin lips trembling, unable to answer.
"Have you forgotten how this child came to be? Forgive me for not understanding the Consort's magnanimity, but how can you keep saying you hate His Majesty, yet shower his bastard child with love!"
Xie Cheng stood up excitedly, his old face flushed red. "The King of Qin's face bears a resemblance to Liang Heng's. You look at his face and don't feel any resentment at all?"
Zhang Zhuoyan said in a trembling voice, "The child is innocent, how can I take my anger out on the child I carried for ten months?"
"He's innocent, but isn't my Erlang innocent too?" Overwhelmed with grief, Xie Cheng's voice was low and hoarse.
"Sihong was my most beloved child. He should have had a bright future, but you two adulterers ruined his life!"
"It was clearly a case of a ruler seizing his subject's wife and murdering him to cover it up, yet you claimed he drowned while fishing at Erlang Creek! You hypocritically knelt before me, saying you were willing to die for love, but then you had Liang Heng threaten me with the honor and disgrace of the Xie family to force me to swallow this insult..."
Xie Cheng stepped forward and gripped the railing tightly, a cruel smile twisting his face. "Zhang Zhuoyan, the pain of losing your son today is the retribution you deserve."
Zhang Zhuoyan seemed startled, and when she hurriedly got up, she left behind an old jade pendant.
The jade shattered with a sharp crack, the sound particularly jarring in the empty cell.
Xie Cheng's ferocious expression froze slightly, his gaze fixed on the jade pendant broken in two.
This is Sihong's stuff.
Zhang Zhuoyan squatted down to pick up the jade pendant, a strange emotion gradually rising in her heart, her nose tingling, and her eyes burning. When she looked at Xie Cheng again, her eyes were also filled with bloodshot veins.
"You embezzled and accepted bribes, murdered loyal officials, and privately raised an army. None of these acts were to avenge Sihong. You were merely satisfying your own desire to expand the Xie family's wealth. If Sihong were alive, knowing that the Xie family had become a den of evil, he would only feel ashamed of the Xie family."
She put the jade pendant back into her sleeve, gradually calmed her emotions, and coldly looked at the elderly man with graying temples behind the railing.
“Uncle Xie, what did you do for Sihong when he was killed? In front of the Taiji Hall, you also swallowed your anger and only dared to vent your anger on my son and me.”
Xie Cheng was speechless.
As it grew later, the jailer came in twice to urge her on. Zhang Zhuoyan stopped arguing with Xie Cheng, turned around and left the Censorate, without mentioning her visit to Zhang Jinghua.
…
After an autumn rain, the imperial city of Chang'an returned to complete tranquility.
The emperor, who was unconscious, was forced to abdicate and became the retired emperor. The concubines in the retired emperor's palace were free to choose to accompany him to the temporary palace or receive a severance payment and leave the palace to go home.
Most of the concubines chose the latter option, but Consort Zhang was unwilling to go to the imperial palace and had nowhere else to go. After spending the Mid-Autumn Festival in the palace, she stayed at Qingyang Temple, where the remains of the King of Qin were buried.
The Crown Prince ascended the throne and became the new emperor. He arranged for the former officials of the Eastern Palace to enter the Secretariat and also rewarded those who had contributed to suppressing the rebellion on the day of the palace coup.
Liang Yuanjun originally intended to promote He Xiao to Duke and enfeoff He Ting as Marquis of Anyuan, but the imperial edict was persuaded to return before it left the Taiji Hall by the Empress—now the Empress Dowager.
The He family had already reached the pinnacle of their power and could not rise any higher. So, Lady Liang Yuanjun took a roundabout approach and bestowed this honor upon the Yu family.
Women being granted titles and honors was a practice in ancient times, but it gradually became rare in later years.
With her first move, Liang Yuanjun bestowed titles upon two women in the Liang Dynasty. Yang Leyi was granted the title of Marquis Wenxiang for her long service to the Crown Prince, while Yu Mingshu was granted the title of Marquis Lin'an for her meritorious service in reform and suppressing rebellions.
When the imperial edict conferring the title of marquis was delivered to the Yu family, Wu Qiuniang and Yu Dan were both so shocked that they were speechless.
Clutching the imperial edict, Yu Dan examined it again and again, when inexplicably he recalled a joke he had made in his youthful ignorance—
"If either of us can be ennobled or appointed as prime minister, then He Erlang will have a chance to marry into our family."
Is this a case of a prophecy coming true?
When Yu Mingshu returned from the palace, Wu Qiuniang pulled her to sit down and asked hesitantly, "Next month you will be getting married to He Erlang. Someone from your hometown sent a letter asking Erlang to attend as an elder of the Yu family and see you off at your wedding."
"Keep dreaming." Yu Mingshu refused without hesitation.
Wu Qiuniang used to raise her two children alone, and the Yu family never contributed money or effort. Now that she's successful, they want to ride on her coattails? There's no such thing as a free lunch.
"That's my big day, and I wouldn't invite anyone to upset me. But my mother can send a few invitations to my maternal grandfather and uncle."
Wu Qiuniang had just returned from visiting relatives in Huangzhou. Thinking of her father and brothers' current situation, she shook her head helplessly.
“Your maternal grandfather has difficulty walking and can’t go far anymore. When I went back, I told them about your marriage. Everyone in the family is happy for you and hopes that you and He Erlang will be together forever and that everything will go smoothly for you.”
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