Yusui Chang'an

Chapter 1329: Imperial Decree
On the way back home, he heard that Lin Yanqing strongly invited Grand Tutor Yao to his house for tea. Gu Hongzhang, who always avoided court officials, rarely asked to go with him.

Lin Yanqing took the two back to the Lin Mansion. He did not bother to take people to reminisce with the old lady. He went straight to the study and sat down. He sent away the servants who served tea, asked Lin Song and Yanshu to guard the gate, and asked Gu Hongzhang's guards to guard outside the door. Only then did Lin Yanqing feel at ease to ask:

"Gong Nei, what do you mean by asking Zheng Cheng?"

Master Yao slowly picked up the cup and blew on it for a long time without taking a sip. Lin Yanqing was so anxious that his brows were knotted. He snatched the cup and put it beside him:

"Drink after you finish talking."

Master Yao looked at the two men with serious and anxious expressions and smiled calmly:
"Why are you as impatient as Qin Xian? I was just joking with Zheng Cheng."

Lin Yanqing: "Not to mention that you are not a nosy person, making fun of the late emperor is even more nonsense for you, Yao Yunting."

Master Yao's smile faded, and his half-closed eyelids blocked his complicated gaze:
"Same question, who would you two choose?"

Gu Hongzhang and Lin Yanqing looked at each other, their doubts growing even stronger:

"I am a warrior. When the late emperor was alive, I was often on the battlefield. Although I rarely spent time with the late emperor, I always admired him. Your Majesty... is only the Son of Heaven. Why do you ask this question, Grand Master?"

Lin Yanqing also said: "I am the same as Brother Gu. Following the late emperor is an act of the heart, and being loyal to Your Majesty is the duty of a subject."

Master Yao was not surprised that Lin Yanqing would say this, but he was a little surprised that the previously loyal Gu Hongzhang was so clear:
"Back then, I was appreciated by the late emperor, who appointed me as the Grand Tutor to teach the heirs of the throne, and later promoted me to the position of Grand Master to assist in state affairs. If the late emperor had not worked so hard for Tian Chu that he exhausted his body, how could he have lost his life due to an ordinary emergency?

The candidate that the late emperor had chosen for the throne was Prince Ling. Because of the emergency, Prince Ling, who was far away in Zhangzhou, was unable to return to see the late emperor for the last time, so that person was allowed to sit on the throne. "Gu Hongzhang: "When the late emperor was alive, it was true that he valued Prince Ling more. When he was critically ill, he passed the throne to Your Majesty, perhaps because he was grateful for the Queen Mother's care for him."

Master Yao sneered:
"He takes care of you without taking off his clothes? I think he is watching you all the time to prevent the throne from falling into someone else's hands. Because the previous emperor passed the throne to Prince Ling."

Lin Yanqing and the others were shocked when they heard this, but they thought it was because Grand Tutor Yao valued Prince Ling more and did not think much about it.

Lin Yanqing sighed:
"It's all God's will. His Majesty's last words were testified by not only the Queen Mother but also Lord Zhao. How could it be false?"

"I have the late emperor's edict as evidence, so how can the oral order not be false?"

Grand Tutor Yao's cold words were like thunderclaps from a clear sky, shocking Gu Hongzhang and Lin Yanqing so much that they hurriedly asked about the whole story.

Master Yao took a deep breath and revealed the secret that he had kept in his heart for more than 20 years:

That year, the emperor was not feeling well, and the imperial physician diagnosed that it was due to overwork and he needed to rest. It was winter at that time, and the people affected by the disaster were hungry and many people froze to death. Mobei was also eyeing the situation covetously, and state affairs were extremely busy.

The late emperor, who was in poor health, did not take his minor illness seriously. He continued to handle state affairs day and night with Grand Tutor Yao and others as usual, and caught a cold.

At that time, no one considered the cold a serious illness. It was Imperial Tutor Yao, seeing that the late emperor was in a depressed mood, who forcibly took over the state affairs, united the Zheng and Cheng families, and took a tough attitude to let the late emperor rest and recuperate.

Thinking that he would recover after a few days of rest, Grand Tutor Yao and several of the late emperor's confidants stayed in the imperial study day and night, preparing to take this opportunity to settle all state affairs so that the late emperor could rest for some time.