good season

Emperor Yongjia understood that Zhao Shiqing had come to avenge the old Liang King Zhao Yuncai!

Who told me that the old Princess Consort of Liang disliked Zhao Shiqing, and that before the 49th day after the old Prince Liang's death had passed, she had Zhao Shiqing expelled from the palace?
Yes, it was Consort Qiao. Consort Qiao had correspondence with the old Princess Liang, and thus knew a lot about the Liang Prince's residence. Otherwise, I would not have made the decision to send Zhao Tingxuan back and replace Zhao Yunnuan with her in the capital.

Even the news of Zhao Shiqing's break with the Liang Prince's Mansion was learned by Consort Qiao from a letter from the old Liang Prince's wife.

But now it seems that this news is not true!

Not only did Zhao Shiqing not sever ties with the Liang Prince's Mansion, she also went to great lengths to get acquainted with the Emperor Emeritus and Zhao Guanyue, and then went to the capital to seek revenge!
That useless Consort Qiao is truly a case of like mother, like son. Both mother and son are incompetent and have squandered my good fortune!
As for the so-called Shi family, Emperor Yongjia was unaware of them.

However, Zhao Shiqing was worried that he didn't know, so she specifically mentioned Zhuxitang in Qinglu County.

Emperor Yongjia was no stranger to this place, because just a few days ago, when Lu Qian reported the information he had found about Yang Shengqiu, he mentioned this place.

The old doctor who was skilled at treating eye diseases settled in this village and died in this village.

Even though he knew this place existed, Emperor Yongjia still couldn't recall what this Old Shi family was.

As the saying goes, when the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer as well.

When princes fight each other, who cares about the life or death of small fry?

However, Emperor Yongjia knew one thing all too well: Zhao Shiqing was largely responsible for his current miserable state.

Even the countless crows were summoned by her.

She's a demoness!
"Witch! Witch!" Emperor Yongjia roared.

Zhao Shiqing was unhappy. She was clearly a fairy, but this old bastard actually accused her of being a witch!

This is intolerable, but not even for an aunt!
But not now!
The three remaining henchmen of Master Shan committed suicide. They were not descendants of the previous dynasty, but well-trained assassins who regarded life as worthless, treating others as they treated themselves.

As he watched his men fall to the ground, Master Shan lacked the courage to commit suicide. Although he was Master Shan, he was just an ordinary person who had taken turns in this position. In terms of ruthlessness and cruelty, he was far inferior to his men.

Master Shan surrendered, convincing himself in the shortest time: "I am a descendant of the royal family, and my body and hair are given to me by my parents. I am different from those orphaned assassins. My refusal to commit suicide is not out of cowardice, but out of filial piety!"

Zhao Shiqing didn't want him to die in vain either. Her parents and relatives had died at the hands of the sect, and she couldn't rest easy until the sect was completely eradicated.

Li Qing led the Imperial Guards to thoroughly clean up Wuji Temple, inside and out. The crisis was averted, and the royal family members and nobles who had been isolated outside Wuji Temple were finally able to enter.

The Emperor Emeritus immediately wrote an edict, declaring that Consort Li, née Wei, had confused the imperial bloodline and deceived the emperor, therefore she was stripped of her title as Consort Emeritus, banished to the Cold Palace, and forbidden from being buried in the imperial mausoleum after her death, to be buried as a commoner.

The Wei clan was implicated and their entire family was executed, with three generations of their relatives banned from taking the imperial examinations and holding official positions for ten generations.

Wei's son, Zhao Xuan, impersonated the heir apparent, usurped the throne illegitimately, and wreaked havoc in the court. He was deposed, expelled from the clan, and given the surname Li. He was imprisoned for life, his descendants were reduced to commoners, male members were exiled three thousand li, and his descendants were enslaved for life without pardon.

Women who entered Ci'en Temple as nuns were forbidden from leaving for life.

The third prince committed regicide and was sentenced to death by a thousand cuts.

Madam Wei, the old lady of the Baoqing Marquis's mansion, deceived the emperor, confused the imperial bloodline, and murdered innocent people. She was stripped of her imperial title and sentenced to death by a thousand cuts.

The Marquis of Baoqing's family has failed to live up to the Emperor's favor; therefore, their title has been revoked and their property confiscated.

Marquis Baoqing was executed by slow slicing, and his other clansmen were stripped of their official positions, returned to their ancestral homes, and were forbidden from ever entering the capital again.

This time, the retired emperor finally disregarded his remaining dignity, posting the edict to depose the emperor in prominent locations throughout the capital and sending it to all corners of the country as quickly as possible.

Thus, everyone in the court and the public knew the reason for the deposed emperor: not only was his ascension to the throne illegitimate, but more importantly, Li Xuan was not of royal blood at all.

The retired emperor raised someone else's son for forty years!
However, some people believe that the retired emperor was too benevolent.

The Wei family was not executed; only three generations of their clan were exterminated, and Li Xuan was still alive.

Tell me, which man could tolerate something like this?

For an ordinary person, this would probably result in a fatal injury.

But the retired emperor spared their lives.

Of course, many people believe that this was the retired emperor doing good deeds for his grandson, not wanting his grandson to have blood on his hands before even ascending the throne.

This is the most logical interpretation, and even later generations have come to believe it.

Meanwhile, in a dungeon in the capital, Li Xuan was enduring daily torture.

This torture wasn't the tiger bench or chili water; it was a bunch of monkeys!
It is said that these are wild monkeys captured from Mount Emei in Sichuan, and they are known for their unruly and untamed nature.

After arriving in the capital, the monkeys' lifestyle changed; they slept every morning.

There was a small door in Li Xuan's cell that led directly to the monkey cell. Every afternoon, that small door would open, and the monkeys would crawl through it. At that moment, Li Xuan was not only their prey, but also their toy, and even the object of their venting.

They stripped Li Xuan of his clothes, dragged him along the ground by his hair, and made him walk on all fours like them.

They also enjoy studying Li Xuan's limbs and bones, and will even fight each other for Li Xuan. Whenever this happens, Li Xuan, which is being fought over, is often the one that is most seriously injured.

When the monkeys are tired from playing, they go back to their enclosure to sleep. The jailer will then treat Li Xuan's injuries. Li Xuan cannot die; he must live, and ideally, he should live for several more decades.

Li Xuan attempted suicide by banging his head against a wall, biting his tongue, and going on a hunger strike, but he was always saved at the crucial moment.

He crashed into the wall, causing his head to bleed profusely.

The monkeys saw him banging his head against the wall, so they came up with a new game: they would grab his head and bang it against the wall whenever they had a chance.

He later regretted hitting the wall countless times.

He tried to kill himself by biting his tongue, but instead of dying, he became half-mute, only able to make indistinct sounds, and could no longer even call for help.

As for his hunger strike, when he was on the verge of death from starvation, it was a monkey that saved him; the monkey defecated in his mouth.
Li Xuan wanted to die, but he dared not attempt suicide again. He didn't know what new tricks these monkeys would learn next.

Over time, Li Xuan went from being rebellious to becoming more and more obedient. When the monkey came, he would lie down to greet his master.

Zhao Shiqing is a responsible and good girl. Since she asked the Emperor Emeritus for a favor and saved Li Xuan's life, she would not abandon him.

Especially when the monkeys first arrived, they were unaccustomed to the environment and were hesitant to move around, so she came several more times until the monkeys completely let loose, and only then did she feel at ease.

At first, she came here every few days, bringing Zhen Wuduo with her. Zhao Guanyue also came a few times in disguise, but she felt increasingly disgusted, and even vomited once. After that, she rarely came. When the group of monkeys began to see Li Xuan as one of their own and lost interest, she brought a new group of monkeys.

Li Xuan had a strong vitality; he spent a full thirteen years in that dungeon, exactly the same amount of time he was in power.

His death was also related to Zhao Shiqing.

By then, Zhao Shiqing had become too lazy to teach the monkeys manners anymore, and the jailers had also become lax. As the monkeys played, they lost all sense of propriety, and since no jailer intervened in time, they fought again over Li Xuan. In the ensuing struggle, Li Xuan died.

The death was extremely gruesome, with the body torn to pieces.

After Li Xuan died, Zhao Guanyue ordered that his body be fed to the dogs.

Consort Li, now known as Lady Wei, has been banished to the Cold Palace. Her neighbor is Consort Qiao, whom we will now address as Lady Qiao.

Because he made his own nephew cuckolded, Qiao Shi completely offended the Qiao family. Although the Qiao family was not implicated, all of Qiao's sons in officialdom were ostracized and had to retire and return to their hometowns.

It is conceivable that the Qiao family members hated Qiao Shi with a passion. The second young master of Qiao even wrote a book, portraying Qiao Shi as a fox spirit reincarnated, a wicked concubine who brought disaster to the country and the people.

Banished to the cold palace, Qiao Shi was penniless and the Qiao family would not care about her. She had been rich and noble for half her life, but now she had to be subservient to those lowly eunuchs. She was living a life worse than death.

One day, she suddenly learned that Xiao Wei had moved next door, and Qiao finally found someone to vent her anger on.

The reason she ended up in this predicament is largely due to Xiao Wei. If she hadn't switched the baby with the baby, would she have suffered such a tragedy?
Taking advantage of her youth, Qiao would often rush next door and punch and kick Xiao Wei. Although Xiao Wei was old, she was not to be outdone when she went berserk.

Thus, these two once powerful figures in the harem spent their days fighting and hurling insults at each other, providing endless amusement for the eunuchs and maids in the cold palace.

Finally, one day, Qiao blinded Xiao Wei's eyes. In desperation, Xiao Wei bit Qiao's throat. Qiao was in unbearable pain and reached out wildly, knocking over a bowl. She groped for a piece of broken porcelain and stuck it into Xiao Wei's back.

This once loving mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, who had a lifetime of love and hate, finally died on the same day, month, and year.

The two women had long been demoted to commoners and could not be buried in the imperial mausoleum after their deaths. The Wei family already had few descendants, and after the extermination of three generations, there was basically no one left. The Qiao family hated the Qiao family to the bone, and no one claimed their bodies. Their corpses were wrapped in tattered mats and thrown into a mass grave.

Of course, these are all for later.

As news of the exile of the adult male members of the Feng family spread, the capital was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, marking the arrival of another Spring Festival.

In the past two months, the retired emperor has resumed his duties. He had been idle for more than ten years, and the daily morning court sessions had left him with a sore back and legs, and he was drowsy.

So, shortly after the Spring Festival, Zhao Guanyue ascended the throne.

The moment the young emperor received the imperial seal from the retired emperor who had abdicated many years ago, a new chapter began for the Great Yong Empire.

Zhao Guanyue's first imperial edict after ascending the throne was to confer upon Xiao Zhen the title of Duke Protector of the Nation.

This is also the youngest duke in the history of the Dayong Dynasty.

When the Duke's mansion was being chosen, Princess Jiayi, no, now Grand Princess Jiayi, and her husband, Xiao Zhen, both had their eyes on a house not far from the princess's mansion. However, Xiao Zhen disagreed and in the end, they chose a house next to the princess's mansion. But this princess's mansion was not the same as the princess's mansion; it was the mansion of Grand Princess Jiabao.

After Princess Jiabao bestowed the mansion upon her, this became Zhao Shiqing's maternal home in the capital.

Xiao Zhen is not yet married, and he is the only master in the Duke's mansion. He wanted Zhen Wuduo to move in, but Zhen Wuduo refused, saying that if he moved in, it had to be in the name of his godfather, otherwise there was no point in talking.

Xiao Zhen, of course, refused to submit.

The old man didn't want to live with him at all. What was the Duke's Mansion compared to the freedom and ease of Sweetwater Alley?

After the emperor was deposed that day, Zhao Shiqing no longer needed to hide her whereabouts. She and Wan Ruyi moved back to Tianshui Hutong together. Wan Ruyi only moved out reluctantly after the Princess's Mansion was repaired.

She preferred the name the old man gave her, Wan Ruyi, to the title Jiabao.

So she would come back every few days to talk to Aunt Ji and do handicrafts with Xiuxiu.

Everyone is changing. Children are growing up, young people are maturing, the elderly have let go of their resentment, and even Xiao Guai has brought back a baby eagle.

Only Wan Ruyi remained unchanged; even though wrinkles crept up the corners of her eyes, her eyes remained clear.

Xiao Zhen still couldn't win over Zhen Wuduo, but Wan Ruyi wholeheartedly supported his relationship with Zhao Shiqing.

Xiao Zhen wrote another sincere letter and sent Da Zhuang to Liang to ask King Zhao Tinghan of Liang to marry Princess Zhao Shiqing of Nanyang.

Zhao Tinghan readily agreed and sent someone to the capital.

The day after the Liang Prince's people arrived in the capital, Xiao Zhen went to see Zhao Shiqing.

"I would like to ask the Emperor to grant me this marriage. Do you agree? If not, then I will wait. I can wait, really."

Zhao Shiqing tilted her head to look at him, and after a while, she suddenly asked, "What about the painting that Princess Huixin gave you at the elegant residence in the woods that day? I'd like to see it."

Xiao Zhen was taken aback: "What painting?"

Zhao Shiqing: "Princess Huixin came to find you, wanting to sleep with you. Later, she even gave you a painting. I'm talking about that painting."

Xiao Zhen was completely confused. No, let him sort things out. Hui Xin wanted to sleep with him? Had Hui Xin said that?
Zhao Shiqing: "Don't play dumb. I've been waiting for you to admit it for a long time. If this isn't clear, what kind of marriage is this? Are you out of your mind!"

Xiao Zhen: Can anyone tell me who is smearing me?
The curtain with its continuous swastika pattern swayed gently, and a round, orange-yellow figure slipped out from behind it and quickly fled.

It won't come back until Xiao Zhen leaves.

However, Zhao Shiqing eventually saw the painting.

That painting is now in the Imperial Study. Zhao Shiqing saw it when she entered the palace.

Of course, Xiao Zhen specifically took her to see this.

"This painting was personally created by the late emperor, and it is of extraordinary significance. For His Majesty, it is a priceless treasure."

After Zhao Shiqing left the palace, an hour later, the imperial decree of marriage was delivered to Princess Jiabao's residence, Prince Liang's residence, and Tianshui Hutong.

However, just three days after the marriage was arranged, Xiao Zhen left the capital. Shan Ye confessed that Xiao Zhen's trip was ostensibly to suppress bandits, but in reality, the bandits were the Shan Men.

This malignant tumor lurking within the Great Yong Dynasty has finally reached the point where it must be removed. (End of Chapter)