Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 311 Chen Yuanyuan’s choice!

Through the information on the bodies and items salvaged, Gao Shun's soldiers quickly found out the results of their investigation.

These people were on a ship heading to Southeast Asia, but the ship was severely overloaded and sank before it had sailed far out to sea.

More than 800 people on board were killed!

The maximum passenger capacity of the ship they were on was probably less than three hundred people.

This time they packed more than 800 people, plus the luggage and belongings each of them brought...

With this kind of overloading method, it would be strange if the ship doesn’t sink!
After knowing the result, Gao Shun laughed and ordered his men to continue to salvage the bodies. At the same time, he sent people to spread the news.

The purpose is to let those landlords, gentry, officials and wealthy businessmen who are preparing to escape know.

Running is also a dead end!
Because it was deliberately publicized, even Zhang Wenshao's family, who were under house arrest, heard the news.

After learning that everyone on board the ship that night had drowned, Zhang Wenshao and his family were frightened out of their wits.

Now, no one questioned Zhang Wenshao's decision anymore.

"What? The boat capsized? Oh my god, it's a good thing we didn't get on this boat!"

"That's terrifying. Does that mean that everyone who boarded the boat that night died?"

"Everyone is dead, everyone is dead, only... only we survived..."

"..."

At this moment, all Zhang Wenshao's family felt was relief.

Although Zhang Wenshao was surprised by this result, it was completely reasonable.

But he did not spend too much energy on this matter.

Because what he cares about most right now is happening in the capital.

……

Beijing.

Forbidden City, Jingren Palace.

Chen Yuanyuan woke up from her nap and let out a soft moan.

The next moment, there were light footsteps sounds in her Anhe Hall.

When the footsteps stopped, the gauze curtain beside her bed was lifted, revealing Gu Hengbo's smiling face.

"My lady, you are awake. Would you like some snacks?"

"Alright."

Chen Yuanyuan nodded and sat up with the help of the people around her.

He first rinsed his mouth with tea, then put on his clothes and washed his hands. Finally, when he sat down on the couch, the table was already filled with delicious meals.

"Your Highness, here is this bowl of medicinal food. It is a recipe given by the Imperial Hospital. It has been stewed on low heat for two hours. It is very nourishing. Please try it."

As soon as Gu Hengbo finished speaking, a maid in green came forward carrying a tray.

When the soup bowl on the tray was brought to the table, the maid in green suddenly lowered her voice and whispered to Chen Yuanyuan, "Your Majesty, Lord Zhang Wenshao is in trouble in Jiangnan. Please help him."

In an instant, Chen Yuanyuan's expression froze.

But she instantly regained her normal expression, then calmly put down the teacup in her hand and spoke to the maids around her.

"You all go down, Hengbo stays."

"Yes, ma'am."

The other maids obediently put down what they were holding and left. Gu Hengbo still had some questions in his mind: "Madam, what's wrong?"

Chen Yuanyuan ignored Gu Hengbo and waited until there were only three of them left in the room. Then she looked at the maid with a serious face and asked, "What did you mean by what you said just now?"

The maid in green knelt down immediately and said, "Your Majesty, Master Zhang Wenshao and his family were captured by the Ming army in Suzhou Prefecture."

"Please ask His Majesty to spare Zhang Wenshao and his family!"

"what?!"

The words of the maid in green frightened Gu Hengbo so much that he opened his eyes wide and covered his mouth with his hands.

Zhang Wenshao is their adoptive father and also their benefactor.

If it weren't for Zhang Wenshao, they would have either fallen into prostitution or become concubines of some wealthy man at an early age, or even died in this world.

How could one possibly enter the palace and enjoy such honor?

But Zhang Wenshao has been captured by the imperial court, and they don’t know the inside story. If they speak rashly, they might...

Thousands of thoughts flashed through Gu Hengbo's mind, her eyes wandered and her gaze fell on Chen Yuanyuan.

"My lady..."

Chen Yuanyuan's expression remained serious, without any change.

"I'm asking you, you have to tell me the truth, how did you get into this palace?!"

The maid in green was startled and said quickly, "Your Highness, I was selected as a maid in the palace five years ago."

"five years ago?"

Chen Yuanyuan's face also became a little surprised, and then her face became even gloomier.

"Were you arranged by Zhang Wenshao to enter the palace five years ago?"

The maid in green was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head vigorously: "No, no, I don't know Master Zhang Wenshao."

"You don't know him? Then how did you get the news? And why did you come to me to ask for mercy?"

Chen Yuanyuan's brows furrowed even more tightly and her face became even gloomier.

The maid in green clothes said quickly, "It was Master Chen Quan, the Secretary of Guanglu Temple, who gave me ten taels of silver and asked me to pass on the message."

"I just brought Eunuch Chen's words to Your Majesty. I don't know anything else!"

"Chen Quan from Guanglu Temple..."

Chen Yuanyuan repeated the name, and the feeling of uneasiness in her heart became even stronger.

Guanglu Temple was one of the Nine Temples, responsible for duties such as sacrifices, court meetings, and banquets.

Simply put, it is responsible for purchasing food in the palace and providing meals for sacrifices or court meetings.

For this reason, officials from the Guanglu Temple would regularly visit the palace to take inventory of the food in stock and bring in fresh ingredients.

Chen Yuanyuan originally thought that only people in the palace knew that Zhang Wenshao had sent someone to find him.

But obviously, this matter now involves court officials outside the palace.

This made Chen Yuanyuan feel deeply uneasy and fearful.

"Is what you said true? Do you know the consequences of deceiving me?!"

Chen Yuanyuan said in a stern voice, frightening the maid in green so much that she trembled all over and kowtowed quickly: "My lady, every word I said is true, there is absolutely no lie!"

"Besides Chen Quan, who else knows about this?"

The maid in green shook her head violently: "I don't know. Only Master Chen Quan told me about this."

The maid in green said something that made Chen Yuanyuan's expression soften. She then waved her hand and said, "Alright, I understand. You can leave first."

"Yes, empress..."

After the maid in green left, Chen Yuanyuan was caught in a dilemma.

After all, this matter involves officials from the outer court, not just the harem.

Chen Yuanyuan didn’t know what to do next.

While Chen Yuanyuan was deep in thought, Gu Hengbo squatted beside her, looked at her and said softly: "Madam, you don't...really want to..." Chen Yuanyuan came back to her senses and looked at Gu Hengbo: "Hengbo, this maid can't stay."

"There's a pond next to East Fifth Institute... Make her shut up forever."

Gu Hengbo widened his eyes and subconsciously clenched his fists. He felt panicked and extremely nervous.

But when she saw Chen Yuanyuan's eyes, she suddenly became determined: "Yes, Madam."

"So, Madam, are you not going to plead for Daddy?"

"Plead for him? Haha."

Chen Yuanyuan revealed a hint of sneer: "Hengbo, it's not easy for us to get to where we are today."

Chen Yuanyuan's words brought back memories of the past to Gu Hengbo's mind. She didn't say anything, but her expression became heavy.

"So, I will never allow anyone to destroy our current life, not even Zhang Wenshao!"

"I don't even have time to avoid suspicion with him, so how can I possibly plead for him? I just hope that he doesn't get into trouble this time and implicate us!"

Chen Yuanyuan had a slightly worried look on her face: "What I am thinking about now is how to minimize the impact of this incident on us."

"I originally thought that it was only someone in the palace who did it, so I wanted to report the matter to His Majesty and let His Majesty handle it."

"But now, this matter involves officials from the previous dynasty. I don't know whether I should report this matter to His Majesty."

Chen Yuanyuan told the story slowly and it turned out that from the very beginning, what he hesitated about was just whether to tell Zhu Youtang about this matter.

Gu Hengbo also leaned towards Chen Yuanyuan's decision. After hesitating for a while, he asked again, "What about Xiaowan and Rushi?"

"Should we tell them about this?"

Chen Yuanyuan shook her head: "No need. The fewer people who know about this, the better."

"If they knew about this, they might really do something irrational under the impulse..."

Chen Yuanyuan was halfway through her words when she looked at Gu Hengbo.

Gu Hengbo nodded solemnly. Even though Chen Yuanyuan didn't finish her words, she understood what she meant.

In the end, Chen Yuanyuan really didn't know how to deal with this matter, so she adopted the tactic of procrastination and chose to deal with it coldly.

Just two days later, the eunuchs in the palace fished out a female corpse from the pond next to the East Fifth Office.

And this matter finally reached Zhu Youtang's ears.

In the Yangxin Palace, Zhu Youtang was sitting on the dragon throne, reading the Jiangnan battle report sent by Wang Zhi, Gao Shun and others.

He had also read the secret letter sent by Gao Shun a long time ago.

He had already known that Zhang Wenshao was under house arrest, but he had been slow to act.

How to deal with Zhang Wenshao is not the point. Zhu Youtang doesn’t care whether he is dead or alive.

But he was very curious whether Chen Yuanyuan, Dong Xiaowan, Liu Rushi and others would know this news.

If they knew, then how did they get the information?
If they knew the news, would they come to plead for Zhang Wenshao?
Zhu Youtang also chose to wait and see what would happen, wanting to see what actions Chen Yuanyuan and the others would take.

At this moment, Xiao Jing pushed open the side door of the Yangxin Palace, lowered his head and walked quickly to Zhu Youtang's side, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, something happened in the harem."

Zhu Youtang put down the battle report in his hand and turned to look at Xiao Jing.

Xiao Jing's forehead was covered with beads of sweat. He didn't know if it was because of the heat, tiredness, or maybe fear.

"Your Majesty, the eunuchs in the palace just fished out a body from the pond outside the East Fifth House."

"The one who died was a maid in Jingren Palace, but I haven't heard anything unusual about Jingren Palace in the past few days. Besides, Dongwusuo is quite far from Jingren Palace, and the place is remote, so not many people pass by on weekdays..."

Xiao Jing spoke hesitantly, saying half and leaving the other half.

In fact, the meaning of the words is that the maid's death was not normal.

Moreover, this maid was related to Jingren Palace where Chen Yuanyuan was, so Xiao Jing had to be cautious.

Zhu Youtang immediately understood what Xiao Jing meant. After pondering for two seconds, he stood up and walked out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Get up and go to Jingren Palace."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Sitting on the dragon chariot, Zhu Youtang soon arrived at the gate of Jingren Palace.

When Zhu Youtang walked into Jingren Palace, the palace maids and eunuchs in Jingren Palace immediately knelt on the ground.

"Slave, I greet your Majesty."

Zhu Youtang ignored these people and walked straight to Anhe Hall.

In the Anhe Hall, Chen Yuanyuan and Gu Hengbo, who were copying Buddhist scriptures by hand, looked up in surprise and stopped what they were doing when they heard the sound outside the door.

"Your Majesty is here..."

After looking at each other, the two men quickly stood up and prepared to receive the emperor.

At the same time, Zhu Youtang had already opened the door and walked in.

"This slave has met Your Majesty."

"I have seen your majesty..."

Chen Yuanyuan and Gu Hengbo, who was standing behind her, saluted Zhu Youtang at the same time.

Gu Hengbo knelt down firmly, while Chen Yuanyuan just squatted slightly and was stopped by Zhu Youtang.

"I've told you so many times, you're pregnant, so you don't have to really perform formal greetings when you see me in the future, just some words will be enough."

Chen Yuanyuan was still a little nervous about Zhu Youtang's sudden visit, and showed a slightly unnatural smile: "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will pay attention next time."

Zhu Youtang gently touched Chen Yuanyuan's slightly bulging belly. After this period of time, Chen Yuanyuan's belly gradually became visible.

Although it was not as big as Zhang Wan'er's when she was about to give birth, it was still visible to the naked eye and was getting bigger day by day.

"Sit down first."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Youtang helped Chen Yuanyuan sit down at the table, and at the same time he saw the two unfinished Buddhist scriptures spread out on the table.

However, Zhu Youtang did not say much, but just glanced at Chen Yuanyuan and Gu Hengbo casually.

Gu Hengbo was looked at by Zhu Youtang, and she became even more nervous. She bowed her head and saluted: "I will take my leave."

Gu Hengbo wanted to leave, but Zhu Youtang would not allow it.

"Wait, you just stay here."

"It just so happens that I have something to ask you."

Hearing this, Chen Yuanyuan and Gu Hengbo were even more shocked.

But Gu Hengbo could not disobey, so he could only obey in a low voice: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhu Youtang took a closer look at Gu Hengbo, then turned his gaze to Chen Yuanyuan: "I heard that Qinghe died. Did you know about this?"

"Who?"

Hearing Zhu Youtang's words, Chen Yuanyuan showed a puzzled expression on her face, while Gu Hengbo turned pale and his body trembled slightly.

Zhu Youtang patiently explained: "Qinghe used to work in your Jingren Palace. Today, she was found dead in the pond of East Fifth Institute. It seems that she has been dead for at least two days..."

"Don't you know her?"

Zhu Youtang stared at Chen Yuanyuan, and Chen Yuanyuan finally understood who Qinghe was.

Suddenly, Chen Yuanyuan's face turned pale uncontrollably.

His hands were nervously clasped together, and the anxiety and fear in his heart were evident in his words.

(End of this chapter)