Chapter 224: A Punishment Drink

This is what winter weather is like. The sun was shining brightly one moment, but now the wind is howling.

The retired emperor sat cross-legged on the couch with his eyes slightly closed, counting his beads. The only difference from usual was that the beard on his chin was trembling slightly.

A young eunuch was lying on the ground, blowing at the charcoal fire in the brazier, which was burning redly.

At this time, another young eunuch came in with a pot of charcoal fire, which made a little noise when he put it on the ground.

The emperor suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, “Take him out and give him twenty lashes!”

A eunuch in charge came in and walked towards the young eunuch.

The young eunuch was so frightened that his face changed: “Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please spare me!”

The eunuch in charge grabbed him by the back of his collar and said, “Go away!” and dragged him out.

The emperor was still angry and threw the rosary in his hand to the ground, scattering the beads all over the floor.

The little eunuch who was blowing into another brazier was frightened!
The emperor narrowed his eyes and said, “Get out!”

The young eunuch: “Yes, yes.” He answered and crawled out.

The emperor got off the couch, walked to the desk, picked up the tea bowl and drank it. His hands were still shaking slightly. He took a sip and threw the bowl of tea to the ground: “Don’t you even have a sip of hot water?!”

Then, two palace maids hurriedly ran in from outside, one to pour tea, and the other to clean up the fragments and tea foam on the ground.

The palace maid brought a cup of hot tea to the emperor.

The emperor took a sip and quickly spat it out, “You want to scald me to death!”

With a “slap”, the emperor slapped the palace maid in the face!
The maid stumbled and fell to the ground, then knelt hurriedly on the ground: “I deserve to die. Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please spare me.”

At this moment, Xia Shouzhong walked in from outside the door. He was startled at first, then looked at the emperor.

With a snort, the emperor said, “Get out!”

The two palace maids responded and hurried out.

The emperor looked at Xia Shouzhong: “What’s going on?”

Xia Shouzhong smiled bitterly and said, “I don’t know who reported to the Kong family that Wang Shi lent money at high interest. The emperor doesn’t want Concubine De to be involved in this matter.”

The emperor was startled: “Is it that simple?”

Xia Shouzhong: “It’s that simple.”

The emperor cursed and threw the tea bowl in his hand to the ground!

Fragments flew and tea splashed everywhere!
“Ah!” The retired emperor and Xia Shouzhong exclaimed at the same time.

The emperor’s body was covered with tea, and the back of his hands were burned red!

Xia Shouzhong hurriedly took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the hands of the emperor.

“Check!” The emperor gritted his teeth and said, “I want to see which bastard ruined my plan.”

“Yes. I will get to the bottom of this matter!”

“No evidence left behind, right?”

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will follow the example of the Third Prince and kill the person I sent to kill him.”

The Supreme Emperor nodded.

Xia Shouzhong suddenly remembered: “Oh, right, Jia She’s daughter-in-law ate those cakes and her pregnancy was miscarried and she almost died.”

The emperor’s eyes flashed: “Is the news accurate?”

Xia Shouzhong: “Li Yuanzheng, the director of the Imperial Hospital, went to Rongguo Mansion in person, and Jia She also invited a number of women who knew medical skills to help. It will probably not be long before the whole capital knows about this matter.”

Hearing this, the retired emperor took a few steps back and forth, then said to Xia Shouzhong: “Let someone spread the news that Concubine De is pregnant with a prince.” Xia Shouzhong understood that when these two things were connected, the common people would definitely think that the princes wanted to poison Concubine De.

The emperor suddenly covered his stomach with one hand and grabbed Xia Shouzhong’s arm with the other hand, “Hurry, I need to go to the bathroom!”

Xia Shouzhong did not dare to delay and hurriedly helped the emperor to walk towards the compartment.

“.Damn evildoer! Oh my”

Kong Qingxiang entered the palace again and was kneeling in front of the couch in the warm room of the Yangxin Palace, with his head pressed against the brick floor. Sitting on the couch, only his raised buttocks could be seen.

The brick floor of the warm room was littered with scattered pieces of writing paper. Looking closely, one could vaguely see that some of the writing paper was IOUs, some was confessions, and some was testimonies densely covered with fingerprints.

It can be seen how furious Emperor Yongchang was after reading these IOUs, confessions and testimonies!
“Have you found out everything?” Emperor Yongchang sat on the couch, his voice as cold as the wind.

Kong Qingxiang replied: “In reply to the emperor, all the reports in the letter are here, and some are still under investigation.”

Emperor Yongchang: “Don’t worry about this case. Leave it to the Imperial Household Department.”

“Your Majesty.” Kong Qingxiang was so surprised that he could hardly believe his ears.

Emperor Yongchang: “Your contribution is no less.”

Kong Qingxiang had no choice but to answer, “Yes.”

Emperor Yongchang: “You don’t know who your subordinates are investigating, do you?”

Kong Qingxiang: “In reply to the emperor, I have made it clear to them that it was the servants of Rongguo Mansion who lent money without the knowledge of their master.”

Emperor Yongchang nodded with satisfaction: “You can go back.”

Kong Qingxiang: “Yes.” He bowed his head, stood up and walked out.

Dai Quan, who was working silently at the side, handed a bowl of hot tea to Emperor Yongchang, then bent down to pick up the IOUs, confessions, and testimonies one by one, walked back to Emperor Yongchang, and held them there.

Emperor Yongchang held the tea bowl and looked at the paper in his hand: “The Wang family is too greedy, they dare to make money in any way! What do you think I should do with the Wang family?”

How could Dai Quan give a direct answer? He replied softly, “Thunder and rain are the grace of God.”

Emperor Yongchang was about to speak when the eunuch on duty came in hurriedly and reported to him, “Your Majesty, this is a memorial sent by Shi Nai, the commander of the Five Cities Army. He said that the matter is of great importance.” Then he presented a memorial.

Emperor Yongchang took the memorial and read it. After reading only a few lines, his face darkened.

Dai Quan looked at the emperor in surprise.

Emperor Yongchang threw the memorial onto the table and said, “The news of Wang’s loaning money at interest has spread.”

Dai Quan was shocked.

Emperor Yongchang thought for a moment and said, “You should handle this matter yourself. Wang is the biological mother of Concubine De and cannot be convicted of this crime.”

Dai Quan was shocked when he heard this. Does the emperor really have that idea?

Emperor Yongchang: “First, confiscate the homes of those daring servants and return the money owed to the common people. In addition, Wang will take out all the interest earned over the years and compensate the common people.”

Dai Quan: “Yes.” He placed the IOUs, confessions, and testimonies on the table, bowed, and walked out.

Emperor Yongchang turned his attention to the eunuch on duty.

The chief eunuch understood and said softly, “We have checked and found that the Third and Fourth Princes did not have any suspicious behavior.”

Emperor Yongchang nodded and said, “Let’s investigate slowly.”

At this time, a eunuch’s voice came from outside: “Your Majesty, the cabinet has forwarded a memorial from the Shandong Provincial Supervisory Censor impeaching the Shandong Provincial Education Commissioner.”

The eunuch on duty hurried to the door, took the memorial, walked back to the couch and handed it to Emperor Yongchang who had already stood up.

Emperor Yongchang took the memorial and quickly unfolded it. As he read, his face darkened and he threw the memorial onto the couch. “Waste! You can’t even keep your subordinates under control. Let the cabinet draft an edict to remove Jia Zheng from his post as Shandong education commissioner and have him roll back! Behead those subordinates who embezzled the donated grain on the spot!”

(End of this chapter)