The Ming Dynasty's henchmen, working from nine to five

Chapter 86 Emperor Jiajing

Qingxin Hall is the sleeping quarters that Emperor Jiajing personally supervised the construction of two years ago.

The layout and structure are modeled after a Taoist temple, and the materials used are extremely exquisite, with the entire body made of emerald green glazed tiles.

The roof is covered with cylindrical tiles and the bottom is covered with flat tiles. The eaves are carved with cloud patterns, Bagua (Eight Trigrams), and cranes.

Add to that the ring of green bamboo planted around the perimeter, and from a distance, it truly has a touch of otherworldly elegance.

Princess Jing'an stood in front of the palace, frowning as she pondered how best to speak to His Majesty.

Princess Changning ignored all that and rushed out, kneeling down outside the main hall with a thud.

Ignoring the imperial guards who drew their swords, she cried out, "Your Majesty, I beg you to do justice for Changning!"

Princess Jing'an's eyes widened in surprise. Without thinking, she quickly stepped forward to protect her, forcing herself to remain calm, and coldly rebuked the guards, "This princess has urgent business to discuss with His Majesty. You all go and inform him immediately!"

The imperial guards remained unmoved, simply gripping their long swords and coldly watching them.

After a moment of silent confrontation, Princess Jing'an quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The eunuch didn't take her money for nothing; it seems that as long as she doesn't force her way in, nothing will happen.

Upon realizing this, she gritted her teeth and, following the example of Princess Changning, knelt down before the palace.

Then, she opened the wooden box, took out the account books inside, and said loudly, "Your Majesty, please, for the sake of all these years of filial piety, do justice for the Prince's Mansion!"

"Qi Xiaoyun's son, Qi Yan, is utterly wicked. He cruelly humiliated and murdered an innocent woman. My servant, Shen Lang, upholds justice and enforces the law impartially, but has now been imprisoned in the Imperial Guard prison for accidentally killing him."

"Your Majesty is wise; you must not be deceived by those corrupt officials in the Ministry of Justice and commit such acts of persecuting loyal and virtuous officials!!"

Princess Jing'an became more and more enthusiastic and confident as she spoke.

Princess Changning, standing nearby, imitated her and shouted loudly, "Your Majesty, please distinguish between the loyal and the treacherous!"

Her clear voice startled Princess Jing'an. This girl had always been gentle and mild-mannered since childhood, and she had never been seen to raise her voice before. But now, for Shen Lang, she was completely going all out.

So the mother and daughter, one after the other, began to wail and complain as if no one else was around.

Emperor Jiajing's personal eunuch came out several times, his face pale with anxiety, to remind them, but still couldn't stop them.

A short while later, a voice rang out inside the Qingxin Hall.

"Who is making such a commotion outside the hall?"

A eunuch, sweating profusely, ran over and knelt outside a light gauze curtain in the center of the hall. He said cautiously, "Your Majesty, it is Princess Jing'an and Princess Changning."

"Why are they causing trouble here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly rose in the hall, blowing open a corner of the light gauze curtains.

Jiajing was dressed in a pure white Taoist robe, his chest was open, and he was sitting cross-legged on a futon with his feet bare.

Beside him, three plates of sandalwood incense were burning.

The smoke rose straight up and then gathered in one place, enveloping him completely, which looked quite strange.

The eunuch glanced at them, then lowered his head deeply: "They say they came to seek justice and beg Your Majesty to do justice for them."

"Seeking justice?"

"For whom do we seek justice?"

The eunuch trembled, and said in a panic, "This servant... was worried that they would disturb His Majesty's meditation, and was so focused on persuading him that I didn't hear their names clearly..."

""

Jiajing opened his eyes slightly, his neck straight, and tilted his head to look down at him.

The eunuch trembled all over and kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger! Your Majesty, please calm your anger! This servant will go and find out the truth immediately!"

After a long while, until his forehead was a bloody mess, Jia Jing finally uttered a soft "hmm".

"After figuring it out, I sent them away."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The eunuch crawled backwards out.

Emperor Jiajing looked at the agarwood rising straight up beside him and muttered to himself, "This foolish woman, she actually dared to provoke me."

"Hmm... let her donate two more Mount Desentai statues this year!"

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn has passed.

The eunuch returned, knelt down and bowed: "Your Majesty, the matter has been clarified."

"They came for a Jinyiwei captain named Shen Lang."

At this point, he hesitated slightly, then said anxiously, "This man was arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and imprisoned in the Imperial Prison for killing Qi Yan, the son of Duke Qi Chiyun."

"The princess and the princess...have come here to plead for him."

After speaking, the eunuch immediately buried his face in the ground, trembling with fear, not daring to even breathe loudly.

The next second, a roar as loud as thunder rang out.

"Qi Yan is dead?"

"Why did he die without my permission?"

An invisible force suddenly swept across the entire palace!

The eunuch felt as if someone was choking him, making it impossible for him to breathe.

He struggled to say, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Shen Lang, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, dissatisfied with the Ministry of Justice's verdict, resorted to private torture and had Qi Yan... executed by slow slicing in the street!"

The light gauze curtains fluttered wildly without any wind, and the three straight streaks of sandalwood smoke became disordered.

Inside the main hall, the atmosphere gradually became stagnant, and the surrounding air seemed to be about to freeze.

The eunuch's face had turned ashen, his tongue was sticking out uncontrollably, his eyes were rolling back, and he was barely breathing; he was clearly on the verge of death.

At this time.

A faint voice, indistinguishable in gender, rang out from all directions.

"Refine the spirit to nourish the nine heavens, and use the three energies to escape the secrets of heaven."

"The Qi of all the heavens gathers in Niwan, condenses into emptiness, and interacts with the external world."

"Your Majesty, you must not be angry when the Golden Elixir is forming."

"snort."

The light gauze curtains slowly fell down.

The hall returned to silence. The head eunuch breathed a sigh of relief, took a few quick breaths, kowtowed several times, and backed away.

After he left, a phantom figure, like a flower in a mirror or the moon's reflection in water, appeared out of thin air.

Jiajing lifted the curtain and strode out.

He saw the swaying, ethereal female figure, raised an eyebrow, and smiled.

"Imperial Preceptor, your arrival is just in time. I have recently acquired a collection of Qing dynasty poems and was just about to invite you to appreciate them together."

As he spoke, he suddenly opened his arms and moved swiftly through the hall with light, quick steps, as if he were performing in a play.

"Practice until your body resembles a crane, and you can read two volumes of scriptures beneath a thousand pine trees."

"I came to ask the question, but there was nothing more to say; the clouds are in the blue sky, and the water is in the bottle."

As each syllable fell, Jiajing's pace quickened, each step leaving an eerie afterimage.

Some stood on one leg with their hands clasped together above their heads.

Some of them float in mid-air with their five hearts facing upwards.

Some of them have a solemn and dignified appearance, with their arms outstretched, resembling a soaring crane...

In the blink of an eye, the entire hall was filled with his afterimages.

"This poem has an elegant artistic conception and contains hidden mysteries."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"Even the Imperial Advisor thinks it's good?"

"Excellent, excellent!"

Emperor Jiajing was overjoyed, stroked his beard, and laughed heartily.

However, his smile vanished the next second.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said gloomily, "Qi Yan is dead."

"Imperial Advisor, what's your opinion?"