Chapter 12 The man's slightly narrowed, phoenix-shaped eyes as he reappeared in the martial world...
As night fell and darkness descended, lanterns in the shape of ram's horns lit up under the eaves, adding a touch of warmth to the empty and cold palace.
Xiao Yanzi was efficient and quickly brought back a reply from Manager Heng.
Inside the Phoenix Perch Palace, Chu Yueyuan couldn't wait to open the envelope.
The woman's slender fingers touched the contents of the letter, and an irrepressible smile immediately appeared on her lips.
She pulled two silver notes, each worth five hundred taels, from the letter, and a piece of colored paper folded in half and tucked inside fell out.
The exquisite and gorgeous bamboo-patterned stationery also carried a faint floral fragrance, which suited the temperament of the literati and poets.
Chu Yueyuan glanced at the contents of the note, her eyebrows arched and she smiled faintly: "Heng Fox, you keep your word."
Xiao Yun was engrossed in reading the picture book when he heard the woman's lighthearted laughter. He reached out and tugged at the satin embroidered shawl draped over her arms, blinking his round, bright eyes innocently as he asked:
"Mother, where is the fox? I want to touch the fox."
Chu Yueyuan picked up Xiao Yun, kissed his sweet, milky cheek, and smiled sweetly.
"Yun'er, your mother has money now. Tomorrow, I'll have Granny Xu go to Xiangrui Tower outside the palace to buy Touhua Zi. I guarantee it will taste better than what the Imperial Kitchen makes."
Xiao Yun looked disappointed, pouting and muttering, "I want to pet the fox..."
The "Heng Fox" mentioned by Chu Yueyuan is Heng Tingsi, the young manager of Xiangmo Bookstore, the most famous bookstore in the capital.
When Hu gave birth to Chu Yueyuan, she developed a heart ailment and needed to take precious medicinal herbs such as astragalus, ginseng, and angelica to regulate her body.
For many years, the household affairs of the Chu family were entirely managed by Madam Du. The monthly allowance that Madam Du allocated to Fuxiang Courtyard was barely enough to keep Madam Hu and her daughter fed and clothed.
As Chu Yueyuan grew up and became more sensible, seeing the shabby Fuxiang Courtyard and the mean faces of the servants, she secretly vowed to earn money through her own abilities to pay for her mother's medical treatment.
By chance, she met Heng Tingsi, the young manager of Moxiangju, at a banquet.
Moxiangju enjoys a very prestigious reputation in Beijing.
Three hundred years ago, the First Emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty unified the Central Plains by force.
Not long after the founding of the dynasty, the First Emperor's swift and decisive policies sparked much controversy among the people. The owner of the Moxianju restaurant, who had a past friendship with the emperor, personally wrote a biography of him. The publication of this book gradually reversed public opinion of the First Emperor, ensuring his achievements were forever recorded in history.
Meanwhile, the reputation of Moxiangju also rose with it, remaining strong for over a century. From elegant pavilions and famous teahouses to brothels and alleyways, wherever storytelling took place, the stories told were all based on the tales printed by Moxiangju.
Under Heng Tingsi's persuasion, Chu Yueyuan, using the pseudonym Jade Steps Immortal, sent her stories written in her spare time to the bookstore, hoping to earn a few copper coins to supplement her family's income.
To everyone's surprise, her storybooks were snapped up as soon as they were published in the capital.
Silver coins flowed into her purse like water.
While Chu Yueyuan was overjoyed, she always remembered that she was the daughter of an official and worried that her actions would implicate the Chu family. So she made an agreement with Heng Tingsi that she would regularly send the stories she wrote to Moxiangju, and at the same time, she asked Heng Tingsi to keep her identity a secret.
Manager Heng was very generous, and Chu Yueyuan used the money she earned to hire a famous doctor and buy the best medicinal herbs for her mother. Unfortunately, Hu's illness had long since penetrated to the bone marrow, and even with the help of medicine, it was ultimately impossible to save her.
After her mother passed away, she stopped writing.
Over the years, Heng Tingsi sent people to deliver messages several times, promising that as long as Chu Yueyuan picked up her pen again, he would pay ten times the market price for her new works.
Now that she has broken with her family, Chu Yueyuan, the penniless Empress Dowager, has no choice but to return to her old ways. She wrote a letter expressing her willingness to take up her pen again and sent Xiao Yanzi to deliver it to Hengtingsi.
Upon receiving the letter, Heng Tingsi did not say much, but sent a thousand taels of silver to relieve her urgent need.
It has to be said that the feeling of holding money in your hand is very reassuring.
Chu Yueyuan took out a silver note and handed it to Granny Xu: "Granny, go to the palace tomorrow and exchange this silver note for broken silver and copper coins. According to the usual practice, increase the amount by 20% and give it to the people in the palace as a reward. Remember to take good care of Zichen Palace as well."
A hint of worry rose in Xu Mama's eyes as she hesitated, "If the Regent finds out about this, will he question the Empress Dowager...?"
Things are different now. Chu Yueyuan is no longer the unknown young lady of the Chu family, but the dignified and noble Empress Dowager of the Great Qi Dynasty.
No matter how noble one's status, without money, one is ultimately just a clay idol, whose true form will be revealed in a sudden rainstorm.
Chu Yueyuan said calmly, "Granny, you are overthinking it. The situation in the court is currently chaotic, and the Regent has no time to attend to the harem."
Seeing that Chu Yueyuan had made up her mind, Granny Xu did not try to persuade her further.
Like Xiao Yanzi, the palace servants in the imperial city had untold hardships behind them. Ordinary palace servants received a monthly salary of ten strings of cash, and almost half of that money had to be sent out of the palace to support their families.
The 20% increase in reward money from Chu Yueyuan may not seem like much, but it could be a lifeline for these families.
Soon after, all the palace staff in Fengqi Palace received rewards. The maids and eunuchs were overjoyed, praising the Empress Dowager for her generosity, beauty, and kindness. They worked even harder in their duties.
Chu Yueyuan, who was praised by the palace servants as the reincarnation of a Bodhisattva, has been sitting uneasy on the lotus platform lately.
Her manuscript was returned three times by that cunning fox, Heng Tingsi.
That day, the sun shone brightly outside the window, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Chu Yueyuan hurriedly opened the letter Xiao Yanzi had sent, quickly skimming through its contents. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed more and more tightly. Before she had even finished reading the letter, she couldn't help but let out a cold snort and slammed the peach blossom letter heavily onto the sandalwood table.
This commotion immediately caused the officials behind the curtain to look up in surprise.
The young empress dowager was quiet and reserved. During the month she ruled from behind the curtain, her beautiful figure, hidden behind the jade and pearl curtain, hardly uttered a sound.
Some officials even began to have doubts, wondering if the figure behind the curtain was really the young empress dowager.
Today, a woman's cold snort came from behind the curtain, which dispelled the doubts in the hearts of the ministers.
The Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud, who had been abruptly interrupted by the Empress Dowager, looked displeased. He bowed and asked, "I wonder what Your Majesty's opinion is on what I just said?"
Behind the curtain, Chu Yueyuan quickly covered her mouth, her bright eyes, which were peeking out from her palms, widened slightly, and she sighed inwardly, "Oh no!"
Just now, she received Hengtingsi's fourth rejection of her manuscript. In a fit of indignation, she forgot that she was in the study of Qinzheng Hall, listening to the ministers report on state affairs.
After a long silence, the young empress dowager's clear voice came from behind the jade and pearl curtain.
"Ahem...Does Lord Luo really need me to be so blunt about such a simple and obvious principle?"
Minister Luo was taken aback. The Empress Dowager, who usually didn't concern herself with politics, seemed to have lost her mind today and was insisting on talking to him.
News came from the front that the Futu Army had won a series of victories, and the Canglang Kingdom's troops had been forced back to the Yinshan Mountains. However, after a hundred battles, large and small, the front line was severely lacking in food and supplies.
Before the battle, the commander-in-chief pleaded with the court to send provisions and supplies as soon as possible, so that the Futu army could press on and drive the Canglang Kingdom's troops back beyond the pass by the winter of the following year, thus eliminating any worries about their rear.
In recent years, the Great Qi has enjoyed favorable weather and abundant grain and fodder, but the number of livestock available for transporting grain and supplies is far from sufficient.
The reason for this is that many officials in the Imperial Stud have embezzled the funds allocated by the court for raising horses, and now that they cannot provide enough horses for transporting supplies, they are making various excuses to avoid it.
Caught off guard by the Empress Dowager's sudden rebuke, Minister Luo, though inwardly apprehensive, remained composed, a seasoned veteran of the officialdom.
"Your Majesty, you are unaware that Yunzhou is a treasure trove for horse breeding in the Great Qi Dynasty. However, last year, an outbreak of equine disease occurred in Yunzhou, and almost all the stallions in the horse farms died. It will take at least three to five years to recover. General Feng, disregarding the situation, demanded 50,000 horses from the Imperial Stud to transport supplies. I am truly like a skilled cook without rice to cook..."
Chu Yueyuan removed the Phoenix Seal and knew nothing about court affairs.
She didn't know how to respond to Minister Luo, so she could only secretly look at the tall figure behind the ebony carved and embroidered screen.
The handsome man leaned back in the carved chair, wearing a long purple brocade robe with gold trim. His long fingers supported his forehead, and his eyes, hidden in the shadows, held a playful look as he watched with great interest the Empress Dowager and Minister Luo's nonsensical back-and-forth.
Seeing the man's leisurely demeanor, Chu Yueyuan's dark eyes widened in anger.
Well, all the lotus seed cakes that Granny Xu made have ended up in the dog's belly.
She quietly pulled out a piece of colored paper, quickly crumpled it into a ball, and, using the antique shelf to obscure her view, threw it at the regent behind the screen, hoping to alert him to come to the rescue.
The pale pink paper ball arced through the air, rolled on the rosewood desk, and bumped into the man's slender fingers.
Seeing that the young empress dowager behind the curtain remained silent, Minister Luo secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Hmph, she's just a short-sighted widow with long hair.
Just then, the Regent, who was sitting behind the desk with dragon and cloud patterns, released his hand from his forehead. He slowly took out an account book, and with a flick of his wrist, the account book flew out and hit Luo Siqing's official hat squarely.
The man's voice was clear and deep, like cutting ice and shattering jade, sending a chill down one's spine.
"It's really hard to tell whether Minister Luo is a clever woman or a big rat."
"Even before the equine plague, the number of horses at Yunzhou Horse Ranch had been decreasing year by year. The total number of horses lost over the three years was exactly the same as the number of horses that died from the plague last year. How does Minister Luo plan to explain this coincidence to the Empress Dowager?"
Luo Siqing, disregarding the fact that his official hat had been askew, shakily opened the account book. A moment later, sweat poured down his forehead, and his legs gave way, causing him to kneel on the gilded bricks.
It turned out that the regent had already found evidence of his embezzlement and bribery at the Imperial Stud.
"I was confused for a moment..."
Pei Muwei pinched the pink paper ball on the table with two fingers, as if he were holding a pink peach. His eyes were deep and his tone was indifferent: "The Empress Dowager is kind and gave Lord Luo a chance to admit his mistake, but not only did you not repent, you also made sophistry."
Minister Luo hurriedly turned his head and kowtowed vigorously to the young Empress Dowager behind the curtain:
"Your Majesty, I have been blinded by greed and have failed Your Highness's good intentions. I humbly beg Your Majesty to forgive me this time, considering my unwavering loyalty to the late Emperor..."
Lord Jiaolong, you have quite the tricks! It turns out you had already caught Minister Luo's weakness in the act and were sitting on your high platform like Jiang Taigong fishing!
Suddenly realizing what was happening, Chu Yueyuan looked through the openwork screen and found that the Regent was also looking at her. The man's narrow phoenix eyes, slightly narrowed, held a faint smile.
Upon catching a glimpse of the "evidence" in the Regent's hand, Chu Yueyuan felt a pang of unease. She coughed lightly and said, "I am new to politics and do not know much about the law. As for the fate of Minister Luo, it is entirely up to the Regent."
"Your humble servant obeys."
Pei Muwei shifted his gaze from the Empress Dowager, the warmth in his eyes vanishing, and said coldly, "Luo Min, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, fabricated pretexts and embezzled over 700,000 taels of silver from the court's disaster relief funds under the guise of horse plague. The evidence is irrefutable..."
Before the time it takes to drink a cup of tea is over, the ministers watched helplessly as the unconscious Minister Luo was dragged away by the Imperial Guards like a dead pig. A thought suddenly flashed through their minds.
If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's feigned weakness that led Minister Luo to bring up the horse disease issue, he wouldn't have been completely crushed by the accounts presented by the Regent.
The young empress dowager and the regent worked in tandem, their scheme was truly precise and ruthless!
This thought made the ministers uneasy and their scalps tingle. They immediately abandoned their perfunctory attitude and started discussing the war at the front. They all expressed their willingness to help, saying that even if they had to walk to and from court in the future, they would take off the harnesses of their horses to make up the numbers and deliver food and supplies to the Buddhist army fighting on the front lines on time.
A note from the author:
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