Emperor Chen stared at Yan Heng's retreating figure with a grim face and a sinister gaze. Although Emperor Chen was not smart, and could even be described as foolish, Yan Heng's treasonous words and the smugness that was about to spill out of his mouth were enough to enrage any emperor, and naturally, they had also successfully angered Emperor Chen.
Following Li Langxuan, the elite soldiers of the merchant family knelt down and paid their respects at Shang Yunlan's prompting, making quite a commotion. Li Langxuan seemed to realize that someone had arrived.
Emperor Chen no longer cared about traveling incognito or concealing his identity. He immediately narrowed his eyes and said in a cold tone, "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are subjects of the king... What do you mean by saying that the entire city of Hangzhou is your territory? Prefect Yan, you have quite the audacity!"
Yan Heng's face turned deathly pale, and he knelt on the ground, unable to utter a single word.
Li Langxuan felt a sense of relief, then quickly knelt down and bowed, his face filled with fear: "Your subject greets Your Majesty!"
Upon seeing Li Langxuan, Emperor Chen immediately thought of Li Langhuan, remembering that his beloved concubine was seriously ill and nearing death. His expression softened considerably. He quickly stepped forward, personally helped Li Langxuan up, and sighed, "Jinyu, there's no need for such formalities... What are you doing here?"
Li Langxuan stood up, seemingly wanting to ask Emperor Chen why he was in Hangzhou, but he held back.
Shang Yunlan followed behind Emperor Chen and asked Li Langxuan with feigned concern, "Jinyu, how did you get into a conflict with this scoundrel?"
With a single sentence, Yan Heng was branded a "traitor," and the Emperor Chen did not refute it. Yan Heng was so frightened that he dared not raise his head, but in his heart he was filled with hatred: "Your Majesty, please see the truth..."
Li Langxuan interrupted Yan Heng, knelt down directly before Emperor Chen, and said with tears streaming down his face, "Your Majesty, I beg you to do justice for me and my wife!"
Emperor Chen was startled and immediately ignored Yan Heng, helping Li Langxuan up again and asking with concern, "What's wrong? Tell me slowly, there's no rush."
Shang Yunlan spoke up beside Emperor Chen, "Your Majesty, why don't we go inside and handle this? Look, there are already quite a few people watching us around here..."
Emperor Chen had originally planned to do the same. He looked at Shang Yunlan with appreciation and said, "Minister Shang is always so considerate. Let's go in and handle this."
Yan Heng didn't get a single word in the entire process.
This is the cruelty of imperial society—if the emperor dislikes you, you can't speak out no matter how much suffering you have; if the emperor loves you, there is room for maneuver even if you do something wrong.
Moreover, Yan Heng's actions were a constant back-and-forth on the emperor's sensitive spots.
Shang Yunlan and Emperor Chen brought many guards with them to Hangzhou, and they were stationed outside the city. Shang Yunlan then very "thoughtfully" sent people to invite the guards into Hangzhou and surround the prefectural government office. Only then did she leisurely follow Emperor Chen into the prefectural government office.
Yan Heng was brought in and knelt on the ground, trembling. Aunt Ding and Yan Yushuang also knelt behind him. The latter's makeup was smeared with red and white patches, and she was no longer as charming and cute as before.
Chen Huang looked at the three people kneeling below, snorted coldly, and was in a very bad mood—he had finally managed to come out for some fun, but he had run into such a troublesome person. He wished he could drag them all out and behead them.
Li Langxuan knelt at the front, kowtowed deeply, and then said, "Your Majesty, since the Imperial Concubine fell seriously ill..."
He told a story called "The Coldness of Human Nature" with the most poignant tone, the most vivid language, and the most pitiful expression. This story included, but was not limited to, factors such as "favoring concubines over wives" and "not distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate children," and was occasionally interspersed with some of the treasonous remarks of Prefect Yan.
Emperor Chen's face grew increasingly dark—even if he had no real feelings for Consort Zhao, Yan Heng was truly trampling the royal family's face underfoot. Consort Zhao wasn't even dead yet, and he was already in a hurry to distance himself from her.
Shang Yunlan stood beside Emperor Chen, playing the role of a straight man, sometimes asking, "Is he really like that?" and sometimes sighing, "He's disgusting."
The more Li Langxuan talked, the more Yan Heng felt disheartened.
Finally, Li Langxuan kowtowed again, saying sorrowfully, "...I beg Your Majesty to do justice for the Yongle Marquis's residence!"
Emperor Chen took a deep breath, and Shang Yunlan quickly poured him a cup of tea, saying casually, "Now it seems that Prefect Yan is deliberately pushing his concubine's daughter forward in hopes of catching Your Majesty's eye."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chen became angry again—this Prefect Yan is truly unreasonable! Seeing that he can't get in touch with Consort Zhao, he's now thinking of sending his own daughter out?
Bah! Doesn't he even look at what his daughter looks like!
Even the disfigured Consort Zhao was prettier than her!
The disgust in Chen Huang's eyes was palpable, and he said with some irritation, "You are truly a vicious person!"
He completely forgot that he was far superior to Yan Heng back then.
This is what a tyrannical ruler is like; he can do bad things himself, but others cannot.
Emperor Chen was still preoccupied with the West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce that Shang Yunlan had just told him, and had no interest in investigating the matter thoroughly. He immediately wanted to kill Yan Heng.
After Li Langxuan played the bad cop, it was Shang Yunlan's turn to play the good cop—after all, they didn't want Yan Heng to die, as he would still be useful later.
So Shang Yunlan pleaded earnestly for mercy, but Emperor Chen was still eager to eat West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, so he arbitrarily charged Yan Heng with a serious crime of disrespect, sentenced him to have his property confiscated, and personally ordered him to divorce Cheng.
Li Langxuan was naturally overjoyed and immediately kowtowed to thank the emperor for his kindness. Emperor Chen, feeling that he was a wise ruler, happily helped Li Langxuan up and then invited him to eat West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce.
The three men left chatting and laughing, their voices echoing throughout the prefectural government office.
Yan Heng, who hadn't uttered a single word from beginning to end: "..."
He collapsed to the ground, drenched in cold sweat—it was all over, all over.
...
Northwest, Shuocheng.
It was a rare rainy day in the Northwest. Shang Shaoyan, wearing long boots and holding an umbrella, walked towards Lu Shuangyi's residence.
Lu Shuangyi was already packing her luggage. As she gestured for Shang Shaoyan to sit down, she kept rambling on, "When I get there, I'll definitely keep ten or eight male concubines..."
Shang Shaoyan spoke to her intermittently, but in his heart, he became increasingly suspicious of Lu Shuangyi.
Based on her understanding of Lu Shuangyi, this princess, who always held herself in high esteem, could not possibly accept this series of blows so quickly—although people can do anything when pushed to the limit, Lu Shuangyi was clearly not the kind of person who could not build something from nothing.
She became involved with Xie Huayin, who was a very strange person; no one knew what kind of bewitching drug she had given Lu Shuangyi.
Shang Shaoyan subtly probed, "Will someone take care of you when you get there?"
Lu Shuangyi was a bit of a simpleton, and without thinking, she readily replied, "Of course, she's a very nice older sister."
Shang Shaoyan didn't ask any more questions, lest he alert the enemy.
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