Chapter 302 Yuwen Ye, also...
Chu Yang's face immediately darkened.
The eunuch Yu was so frightened that he hurriedly apologized: "This servant has been disrespectful before Your Majesty. This servant deserves to die. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"..."
Chu Yang squinted at him for a while, then said coldly, "You're getting old, even doing such a small thing makes you so clumsy."
Eunuch Yu kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "This servant deserves to die, this servant deserves to die."
Shang Ruyi hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please forgive Eunuch Yu. He is old and his hands and feet are not so convenient."
Chu Yang continued to look at the kneeling eunuch Yu. After a long while, he said with a half-smile, "Someone is pleading for you. Why don't you hurry up and thank them?"
Eunuch Yu then turned to Shang Ruyi and said, "Thank you, young mistress."
Chu Yang waved his hand coldly: "Go down and do your business."
Grandpa Yu seemed to have escaped death, and he got up from the ground with a cold sweat on his face and left. However, as he left, his small, gleaming eyes glanced at Shang Ruyi, and then he lowered his head and closed the door.
Shang Ruyi's heart stirred slightly.
At this moment, Chu Yang turned to look at her: "What did you want to say to me just now?"
Shang Ruyi thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "It's nothing."
Chu Yang looked at her for a while, a slight smile seemingly floating on his handsome face, but there was no smile in his slender phoenix eyes. He slowly stood up and said, "Since there's nothing wrong, let's go. Accompany me to the garden."
Shang Ruyi dared not delay and hurriedly stood up: "Yes."
That day, the two of them strolled around the picturesque inner palace garden for half a day. When the sun set and the evening light turned the bluestone pavement red, Shang Ruyi dragged her somewhat tired body back to the palace. Wo Xue had already had hot water prepared for her to wash. After she had cleaned up a bit, dinner was served.
The table was still laden with exquisitely beautiful dishes.
Shang Ruyi couldn't help but frown.
Although she was exhausted and hungry, she had no appetite when she picked up the bowl and chopsticks. Instead, she felt a heavy weight pressing on her chest. Just then, Eunuch Yu brought a bowl of herbal medicine with a young eunuch and said with a smile, "His Majesty ordered that the young mistress must take this after the meal."
Shang Ruyi said, "My body has fully recovered."
Eunuch Yu said, "Your health has fully recovered. This medicine is for strengthening your body and restoring your vitality. The young mistress's recent long journey has damaged her vital energy. If she doesn't take good care of herself and replenish it, it will not be good for her in the future."
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi could only nod and say, "Put it down."
So the young eunuch put down the medicine bowl, turned around, and left.
As Eunuch Yu bowed and was about to leave, Shang Ruyi stopped him and gestured for Wo Xue and the other palace maids to leave. Once they were all gone, she asked softly, "Why did you stop me today, Eunuch?"
Grandpa Yu glanced at her, smiled, and said nothing.
Shang Ruyi said, "Although you are old, you are not a rash person and would not make such a mistake as disrespecting the emperor. You didn't want me to finish speaking, so you deliberately interrupted me, right?"
"..."
"Can't those things be said?"
Eunuch Yu looked at her for a while, then finally sighed and said softly, "Young Madam, since you came to Jiangdu Palace, have you ever stepped out of the palace gates?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head.
Let alone stepping out of the palace gates, she had never even seen the gates of Jiangdu Palace, let alone seen the outside world. What exactly was Jiangnan, the place that haunted Chu Yang's dreams and which even inspired him to write poems about "good dreams and old colors, why be trapped in the secluded court"?
Eunuch Yu said, "The young mistress has never even left the palace gates, yet she knows about vegetables and grains. How could those ministers in the court who worry about the country day and night not know? Wouldn't they advise the emperor against it?"
Shang Ruyi said, "Does Father-in-law mean that someone has already said that?"
Grandpa Yu sighed: "It's not just one person who's said it, but more than one person has said it."
"That--"
"Minister Ji, who dared to defy the Emperor, was beheaded; Vice Minister Su of the Ministry of Rites, who advised His Majesty, has been demoted three ranks; and several others, whose words carried little weight, are in prison."
"..."
A ray of fiery red sunset light shone through the window onto Shang Ruyi's pale face, revealing the blankness and helplessness in her eyes. She opened her mouth, and after a long while, she said in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, you won't listen?"
Grandpa Yu could only manage a bitter smile.
He turned and said, "This servant stopped you, young mistress, only because I didn't want you to waste your efforts. Neither His Majesty nor the court officials can actually think of a solution to this matter. The only solution—"
Shang Ruyi looked at him with shining eyes: "What is it?"
Eunuch Yu said, "It was the slain Lord Ji who suggested that His Majesty should not stay in Jiangdu any longer. He should immediately regroup, lead his army north, and return to Luoyang to retake Luoyang."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi sighed inwardly with a sense of helplessness.
Hearing this, she understood why Lord Ji had been executed.
This was indeed the only feasible path at the moment, but he wanted the emperor to abandon his attitude of escaping and return to Luoyang to face his failures and mistakes. How could this not anger Chu Yang and bring about a deadly disaster?
Eunuch Yu continued, "This servant does not want the young mistress to anger His Majesty, as it would be of no benefit to her; and if His Majesty is angry with the young mistress—given her special status, she may not be punished like those other officials, but who knows who will be the unlucky one."
"..."
"Moreover, it's not just that His Majesty ignores the affairs of Jiangdu; now, he's even ignoring the battle reports sent back from Luoyang."
"Battle report from Luoyang?"
Shang Ruyi's heart skipped a beat again.
She took a deep breath, trying to make her expression and tone appear calm, and asked, "How is it over there now?"
Eunuch Yu smiled bitterly and said, "We don't know the specifics, but we've heard that after Liang Shide captured Luoyang, he successively captured several other cities, and the surrounding counties didn't send a single soldier to resist or stop him. Now, they are the most powerful force among the rebels."
"..."
Shang Ruyi's heart clenched.
Liang Shide's advance was unstoppable, meaning that his military operations encountered no obstacles.
No one tried to stop him.
Yuwen Ye, also...
How is he doing now?
Has he already returned to Taiyuan with those he cares about, to live the life they wanted? Or, due to excessive blood loss and irreversible injuries—
The question, like a knife stuck in her heart, seemed to pierce deeper the more she thought about it. Shang Ruyi's breathing became rapid, and her face turned pale. She could only barely support herself by gripping the edge of the table with both hands.
Seeing her struggling to breathe, Eunuch Yu seemed to be deep in thought.
After a long pause, he said, "Young Madam, please take care."
After finally calming her heartbeat and breathing, Shang Ruyi looked up at him again and could only say weakly, "Thank you for your concern, Father-in-law. I understand what you said."
"..."
"However, if Your Majesty does not listen to these matters, then I do not know what else I can advise Your Majesty on."
Upon hearing this, Eunuch Yu gave another bitter laugh.
He said, "At this time, the only thing the young mistress can do is to not upset His Majesty and to take good care of herself."
After saying this, he bowed, turned and left.
Shang Ruyi watched his figure disappear into the fiery sunset. After a long while, she lowered her head, looked at the exquisitely prepared dishes on the table that were so delicate they were almost nauseating, picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat them with a bland taste.
By the time she finished her dinner, it was already dark.
The sound of the palace gates slowly closing echoed around the massive Jiangdu Palace, their hoarse cries in the night like the roar of a strange beast. When the heavy palace gates slammed shut with a muffled thud, everything returned to calm.
But tonight wasn't so peaceful.
On the plaza in front of the main hall of Jiangdu Palace, the Imperial Guards were patrolling in formation. They reached the Bright Gate to the south. This gate was the largest after entering Jiangdu Palace and led directly to the plaza in front of the main hall. Seeing it still open, they immediately asked, "What's going on? Why isn't the gate closed?"
No one answered them.
The Imperial Guards shouted even louder: "Are there dead people? Are all the guards of Jiangdu Palace dead?"
Amidst their shouts, a group of people hurriedly ran in from outside. They were the guards of Jiangdu Palace. They had just closed the palace gates on both sides of the square, and were only a few steps late in arriving when they heard the people's foul cursing. They immediately shouted angrily, "Why are you cursing people!"
"So what if I scold you? Even if you're useless, you'll still get scolded."
"You're the dead ones!"
Just as a fight was about to break out, Cheng Qiao stepped forward, stopped his men, and then looked at the Imperial Guards, saying calmly, "Several of our brothers were beaten and can't get up today, so we're short-handed and that's why we're a little slow. Please be quiet."
"So what if you got a beating?"
A lieutenant general from the Imperial Guard sneered, "Beaten with a baton? Our brothers were implicated and stabbed because of you! And you're complaining in front of us?"
Cheng Qiao glanced at them and could tell that these people were deliberately causing trouble, but it was already past closing time, and he couldn't delay any longer. So he stopped arguing and simply turned and waved his hand: "Close the door and lock it."
His men immediately came over and slowly closed the two heavy palace doors.
Finally, the palace gates were closed.
However, the guards standing inside the gate all had ferocious expressions and fierce eyes.
After everyone outside had left, they were still standing at the palace gate. Several of them were indignant and said to the adjutant, "Brother, we shouldn't have wasted our breath talking to those people. We should have taught them a lesson. So many brothers have been beheaded and had their homes confiscated. We can't swallow this!"
At that moment, a cold, eerie voice rang out from the crowd—
"You can't swallow this anger? You think beating these people will make you feel better? Don't you know who made us suffer this injustice?"
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