The storm of public opinion in Beijing came more fiercely and faster than anyone had imagined.
The story of "The Emperor's Benevolent Heart Moves the Goddess," personally crafted by Lin Wanwan, is as if it has sprouted a pair of invisible wings.
Within just a few days, it spread like a virus, sweeping through the streets and alleys of the entire capital.
Initially, it was only passed down orally by storytellers in various teahouses. But soon, the largest opera troupe in the capital, "Celebrating a Bountiful Year," brought this story to the stage in a more glamorous and direct way.
The magnificent costumes, the moving singing, and the dramatic plot instantly ignited the entire theater market in the capital! Countless people, whether they were peddlers or ladies of leisure, fought tooth and nail for a single ticket.
Later, the story's plot was even adapted into catchy nursery rhymes by talented folk artists, and sung everywhere by mischievous children in the streets and alleys:
"The floodwaters in Jiangnan inundated the fields, causing the emperor great anxiety and sleepless nights."
In my dream, I suddenly saw the face of a goddess, who presented three strategies to the emperor.
One strategy is to repair the dike and exchange it for rice and flour; the other is to borrow money to alleviate the dire situation.
Who has seen a wise and virtuous ruler? The people have the discernment in their hearts!
This nursery rhyme, simple and straightforward, yet contains extremely strong connotations of praise and criticism. For a time, the comparison between the "wise ruler" and the "virtuous king" became the hottest topic of conversation among the people of the capital.
For the other protagonist at the center of the storm—Regent Xiao Yuan—all of this was nothing short of a sudden public execution that left him utterly powerless.
...
Inside the Regent's Palace, in the study.
"Bang!"
A priceless celadon teacup from a previous dynasty's official kiln was slammed onto an expensive carpet with a dull thud.
Regent Xiao Yuan stood behind his desk with a livid face, his chest heaving violently, and his eyes, which were always as deep as an ancient well, were burning with an unprecedented and raging rage!
Before him, a trusted aide was kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear, not daring to lift his head.
"Your Highness... Your Highness, please calm your anger..."
"Calm down?" Xiao Yuan slammed his fist on the table, his voice like the roar of an enraged lion. "How can you expect me to calm down?! Listen to what those unruly commoners outside are singing!"
He pointed out the window, and although there were thick walls between them, he could still hear the nursery rhymes that sounded like demonic chants.
The aide knelt on the ground, his back soaked with cold sweat. He knew, of course, what was being said outside. Just moments before, he had personally gone out to "investigate" the "people's sentiments," and had nearly fainted from anger on the spot.
He trembled as he reported what he had heard to the enraged regent:
"Your Highness...Now, in the capital, the storytelling and dramas about 'the goddess appearing in a dream' are...they are household names. Public opinion...public opinion...has quite a few complaints about you."
"Some complaints?" Xiao Yuan laughed angrily, a laugh that sounded worse than crying. "Is it some complaints, or are you saying that I am a selfish, shameless villain who almost delayed the gods' disaster relief?!"
The staff member trembled with fear, lowered his head even further, and dared not utter a word.
Xiao Yuan paced back and forth in his study, like a tiger trapped in a cage. He couldn't understand how things had turned out this way.
Just a dozen days ago, he was the "wise prince" who could raise his arm and command a large following in the imperial palace. How could he have become, in the blink of an eye, a despised negative example in the eyes of the entire capital, a stark contrast to the "sage ruler"?
He was used to using political maneuvering, strength, and real political tactics to crush his opponents in the imperial court.
But this time, his opponent didn't even appear on the battlefield he was familiar with!
The other party used the methods he despised and could not understand the most—stories, nursery rhymes, which he regarded as "the words of women and children" and "vulgar language from the streets"!
And yet, in this very field that he looked down upon the most, he suffered a crushing defeat, utterly powerless to fight back!
"Useless trash!" Xiao Yuan abruptly stopped and shouted at the advisor, "What use are you to me?! Hurry up and come up with a solution for me! Send men to arrest all those storytellers who spout nonsense! Shut down all those opera troupes!"
"Yes...yes!" The aide, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, scrambled out of the room.
However, half an hour later, he returned to his study, his face ashen, and knelt down again.
"Your Highness...it's...it's no use." His voice was choked with sobs. "I sent someone to threaten Zhang Yishuo, but he wasn't afraid at all. He said that he's not the only one in the capital telling this story, and even if we arrest him, we can't stop the gossip! And...and the story has already spread. Even if we close all the teahouses and theaters, we still can't stop the people from talking about it in private!"
"Bang!"
Xiao Yuan slammed his fist down on the desk again, creating a clear crack in the hard pear wood surface!
Of course he knows it's no use!
It's like a wildfire that has already started; what's the point of trying to put out the first sparks?
"Then find people! Find the most famous scholars and writers in the capital!" Xiao Yuan's eyes were bloodshot, like a gambler who had lost everything. "Have them write articles to refute these claims! Tell the whole world that they are all nonsense! They are just spreading rumors and misleading the public!"
The aide's face turned even more grim than if he were crying. His voice trembled as he uttered a sentence that plunged Xiao Yuan into utter despair.
"Your Highness... this... there's no way to refute this."
"What do you mean there's no way to refute this?!" Xiao Yuan roared.
“Because…because what they’re talking about is ‘mythology’!” The aide was almost in tears. “From beginning to end, they’ve been saying it was a ‘divine intervention’ and ‘the will of Heaven.’ We…we can’t possibly write articles to debate with the gods, can we? That…that would be utterly treasonous!”
"..."
At that moment, Xiao Yuan felt his mind go completely blank with a "buzz".
yes.
How could he possibly debate with a vague and ethereal deity?
How can he refute a "dream" that doesn't even exist?
For the first time, he realized so profoundly that he had been dragged into a completely unfamiliar and terrifying battlefield that he could not control and whose rules he could not even understand!
On this battlefield, his power, cronies, and troops, which he was so proud of, became utterly useless!
His opponent, however, used a kind of "soft power" that he could not understand at all, to beat him badly and leave him in a complete rout!
He lost.
In the field he despised the most, he lost miserably.
"puff--"
A sweet, metallic liquid suddenly surged up from Xiao Yuan's throat. He could no longer suppress the immense frustration and anger within him. His body swayed violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto the desk in front of him, staining a patch of memorials red.
"Your Highness!"
The staff member was terrified and rushed forward to help him up.
Just then, another trusted aide came stumbling in from outside, his face showing a look of terror more intense than if he had seen a ghost. He knelt down and reported in a trembling voice:
"Your Highness...no...something terrible has happened!"
"What other bad news is there! Tell me all at once!" Xiao Yuan roared, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth as he leaned on the table.
The trusted aide trembled at his ferocious appearance and stammered, "There...there are new rumors circulating outside. They say...the great victory in Jiangnan was entirely due to the Divine Strategy. And that Divine Strategy was...it was Her Majesty the Empress who, moved by the Emperor's benevolence, prayed all night, which...which led to the goddess appearing in his dream..."
"Now...now the people of the capital, even in private, are calling Her Majesty the Empress..."
He stopped there and dared not say any more, but instead slammed his head heavily to the ground.
Looking at his appearance, Xiao Yuan's ominous premonition reached its peak. He mustered all his strength and squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth:
"What should we call her...?"
The confidant trembled and uttered four words in a voice barely above a whisper, words that were enough to completely break Xiao Yuan.
"...a living goddess."
"puff--!!!"
When these four words reached Xiao Yuan's ears, he felt as if his heart had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand!
He could no longer hold back and spat out another mouthful of blood!
"Lin Wanwan!!"
His eyes were bloodshot as he roared to the sky, his voice filled with endless resentment and madness, like a dying beast uttering its final curse.
"It's Lin Wanwan again!!"
"I will make sure you... die without a burial place!!!"
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