Of course, whether Zhang Xianggong decided to stay or not, it was impossible for him to obey the imperial edict immediately.

Especially the regent's decree for a twelve-year term, if one rashly accepts it, one will be despised by the people of the world.

So after receiving the imperial edict, Prime Minister Zhang still insisted on submitting a memorial, asking His Majesty and the Queen Mother to revoke the edict.

Wanli was naturally unmoved and issued another decree to persuade them. Just when the two sides were in a stalemate, an unexpected situation accelerated the development of the situation.

~~

In early April, spring finally arrives, everything comes back to life, grass grows and birds fly, and it is the season for animals to roam...

The eighteen-year-old emperor naturally felt the restlessness in his body, and he also knew what he needed. After all, he had been married for two years and had many wives.

But the problem was that the concubines, represented by Queen Wang Xijie, were too reserved and boring. After the fresh stimulation of tasting the forbidden fruit for the first time, the emperor lost interest in these women who were educated to be strict and never overstepped the boundaries even in sex, and felt that they were far inferior to his own paper wives.

But the benefits of the wedding were obvious. At least it freed him from his mother's day and night surveillance. The queen mother was eager to have a grandson, so in order for the emperor to have a son as soon as possible, she specially ordered Zhang Xianggong to exempt him from his evening homework.

So after dinner every day, Wanli had a lot of free time. After watching anime for revenge, one day, under the guidance of his two personal eunuchs Sun Hai and Ke Yong, he went out of Xihua Gate and came to Xiyuan, which was separated from the Forbidden City by a wall. From then on, he opened the door to a new world!

This royal garden was full of rippling green water, reflected pagodas, scattered buildings, and colorful flowers. There were thousands of white cranes dotted around, as well as countless young and beautiful palace maids, making Emperor Wanli, who grew up in the rigid, serious, and unchanging Forbidden City, feel like he was in a fairyland.

Looking at those young palace maids with graceful figures, charming and enchanting looks, he realized that not all women in the world were like the palace maids and concubines around him, with plain looks and no beauty at all. Instead, they were a treasure trove of enchantment that he would never be able to explore!

Later, he learned that the Empress Dowager personally reviewed every selection of concubines. Those who she thought were seductive and beautiful were sent to other palaces such as the Western Garden to live separately, so that they would waste their youth and avoid copying her experience and seducing the Emperor. This is called welding the door shut...

Thus, Emperor Wanli bid farewell to his harmless life as a otaku and entered a new stage of life without shame. He disliked living in the Forbidden City more and more. Whenever he had the chance, he would wear gorgeous clothes, hang a big health belt around his waist, and stroll around the Western Palace at night accompanied by a group of eunuchs, feasting until dawn, and ordering the beauties in the Western Garden to accompany him with wine and dance to entertain him.

When he was in a good mood, he would simply select one or two who he liked to have sex with, and the eunuchs would cheer him on. He was as happy as a god!

That day he was again wearing tight-sleeved clothes and a precious sword hanging from his waist. He came to the West Garden with Sun Hai, Ke Yong and others following him, and held a night banquet at Yingtai.

In order to please the emperor, in addition to summoning palace maids to drink, Sun Hai and others also lit the Aoshan Lantern.

But today, Wanli, who was sitting on the throne, was in a bad mood and just drank one cup after another.

These days, he kept thinking about his imperial edict, "To Mr. Zhang, the Junior Tutor of the Imperial Academy: I have received the order from the Holy Mother... Wait until you are thirty years old, and then we can discuss this matter!"

Wanli did write it as his mother instructed at the time, but the more he thought about it afterwards, the more uncomfortable he felt.

"Thirty years old, thirty years old..." Wanli held the wine glass with a gloomy look, muttering depressedly: "It will take a long time to wait? By then, I will be an old man!"

"You always treat me like a child. I'm grown up now and can handle my own affairs!" He said hatefully, raised his head to drink up the wine in the glass, and then threw the cup into the lake.

Unfortunately, his strength was far less than he had imagined, and he just threw the wine cup onto the stone steps, where it broke with a snap.

The eunuchs who were busy lighting the lamps seemed to be immediately immobilized by a spell.

"Who made His Majesty so angry?" Sun Hai, who was serving beside him, hurriedly changed the emperor's wine glass and asked softly, "I hope I won't skin him alive."

"Do what you can..." Wanli still didn't dare to tell his worries to those around him. If it got to Otomo's ears, it would be the same as getting to his mother's ears, to Mr. Zhang's ears, and that would be no joke.

"Why haven't the sisters come yet?" He quickly changed the subject and looked around. The Aoshan lanterns had been lit in the audience, but there was no sign of the palace maids who came to accompany him drinking.

"I'll send someone to ask right away." Sun Hai quickly gave a look to his eunuch Wen Tai, who hurried away.

Wanli continued to drink one cup after another. Although the wine was a low-proof fruit wine, he had a lower alcohol tolerance and got drunk before he knew it. His face flushed and he shouted loudly, "Where are the girls? Why haven't they come yet? Do they look down on me too?!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I'm coming right here, right here." Sun Hai looked around while wiping the sweat off his face.

Then Wen Tai came jogging back and whispered in his ear.

"What are you talking about? Are you going to hide it from me too?" Wanli glared.

"I dare not." Sun Hai knelt down and reported: "Wen Tai has already made it clear. It is because the palace maids have been warned not to seduce the emperor, otherwise they will be beaten to death, so they dare not obey the summons again."

"Oh?" Wanli said drunkenly, "Who is in the palace?"

"It should be... the ancestor." Sun Hai hesitated and whispered, "Who else dares to meddle in the emperor's affairs?"

"Otomo? How did he know?" Wanli asked with a complicated expression.

"There is a record in the internal diary that His Majesty visited the palace ladies." Sun Hai's face turned pale and he said, "Besides, what kind of movement in this palace can be hidden from the old ancestor?"

"Humph, this annoying old dog!" Wanli spat fiercely and said, "So you're still staring at me!"

"Your Majesty, how about we just forget about it today?" Sun Hai asked tentatively.

"Forget it? How can that be possible?!" Wanli, however, was emboldened by the alcohol and slammed the table, saying, "A companion is nothing. I am the emperor! I want ladies, and two of them!"

Seeing that the emperor was angry, Sun Hai and Ke Yong dared not say anything more. They quickly ordered people to drag the two unfortunate palace maids over.

"Who do you think I am?" Wanli asked the two palace maids with sleepy eyes, holding a wine jug in one hand and the hilt of a knife with the other.

"The emperor is... the emperor." The two palace maids said tremblingly.

"So do you listen to me or to Eunuch Feng?!" Wanli asked in a long voice.

"Listen...to the Emperor."

"That's better." Wanli's expression eased a little and he said, "Then sing a little song for me."

The two maids passed each other, and one of them timidly began to sing:

"In the first month of the year, plum blossoms bloom, spring snow falls, and spring light shines on willow branches..."

"Stop, stop, stop, what the hell are you singing!" Wanli slammed the table and cursed: "Did I ask you to sing nursery rhymes?"

"That's right, what is a ditty?" The guest knocked the two palace maids' heads hard and whispered, "Can it be called a ditty without a hint of that?"

The two palace maids shook their heads and cried, "Your Majesty, spare us, we won't do that."

"They don't know how to do it. You can teach them on the spot." Wanli said to the guest, "Teach them a simple song, such as "Guizhier"."

"Understood." Ke Yong hurriedly responded with a smile, turned around and glared at the two palace maids, saying, "Listen carefully, I will sing it once!"

Then he sang in a shrill voice:

"My pretty enemy pulled me out of the window. He bit my pink cheek and untied my belt with both hands. Brother, wait a moment. I'm afraid someone will come. If there's no one here for a while, you can untie my belt as you like..."

Regardless of how he sang, his sexy look won the whole audience's applause. Even Wanli clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Great, great, this is a real ditty!"

Then he said to the two dumbfounded palace maids, "Sing well for me. If you sing well, you will be rewarded handsomely. If you don't sing well, you will be beheaded!"

However, he waited for a long time, only to see the two palace maids shaking with fear, yet they dared not open their mouths to sing a word.

Wanli's face gradually darkened, and he drew out his sword and said, "Do you know what it means to be a gentleman?!"

The two palace maids were so scared that they kowtowed hard and stammered, "I really can't..."

"How dare you!" Wanli was so angry that his face turned red. He staggered down the stairs with a knife in hand and said, "Even you bitches dare to look down on me? Do you really think I have to ask Mr. Zhang for permission before I can kill someone?!"

"Your Majesty, calm down..." Sun Hai, Ke Yong and a group of eunuchs were so scared that they rushed forward and stopped the emperor from raising his knife to kill. "These two bitches are not worthy of your Majesty to do it yourself."

"That's right, don't disturb His Majesty's pleasure!"

Killing a few people in the palace is no different from killing a few ants, but the problem is that Eunuch Feng is watching them. Even if Eunuch Feng doesn't dare to do anything to the emperor, but killing a few of them is no different from killing ants.

"No, I will kill him!" Wanli waved his knife stubbornly and said, "Don't I have the final say on this matter?"

"Your Majesty can certainly make the decision, but because, because..." The guest racked his brains with sweat all over his forehead, but could not find an excuse to convince the emperor.

As the saying goes, there is no coincidence in the world. At this moment, the big white turtle that Zhang Xianggong presented a few years ago suddenly crawled ashore from the water.

The guest suddenly realized that there is a thousand-year-old tortoise here, which is a good omen for the gods.

"Ah, this..." Wanli was finally stunned. He saw the big white turtle illuminated by the Aoshan lantern, making it dim and dim, as if it was the most terrifying Mr. Zhang in the world.

Then he got scared, but he refused to admit it, so he froze there, and the situation was very awkward...

"Your Majesty, they disobeyed the imperial decree and should be beheaded." Sun Hai said quickly, "But for the sake of auspiciousness, you can follow the ancients and cut off the hair of the two palace maids to symbolize beheading. If Your Majesty still feels unsatisfied, then just beat them with a stick..."

"Okay." Wanli went down the stairs and sat on them drinking alone, looking angrily.

But soon he became interested again, because he suddenly found that shaving the head of a long-haired beauty was also a very interesting thing.

ps. I'm back. There was a huge traffic jam today. I drove for the whole afternoon to get home. I'm so tired. This is the only update I'll give.