Chapter 74.3: Disfiguration, All Sides Reaction
"Have all the palace servant at Chen gengyi's side arrested, and gather all the concubines and palace maids of the inner palace to watch their trial together. Anyone who doesn't talk, beat to death with the rod. —-beloved consort should also go see." He lightly patted Noble Consort Su's shoulder.
Noble Consort Su's hands and feet were ice cold. Her hands, somewhat like a puppet's, stiffly saluted as she withdrew.
Anyone who doesn't talk, beat to death with the rod! First setting aside whether or not the palace servants serving at Chen gengyi's side knows about her matter, or whether or not is the person that's helping the perpetrator that's threatening Chen gengyi pass on the message, anyone who don't speak will die, those who don't know anything but make up nonsense will also die, and if the real spy is among them, then naturally they'll still only have a dead end!
This meant, the palace servants previously serving by Chen gengyi's side will all be beaten to death by the rod. This is Le Cheng Emperor killing the chicken to warn the monkey. He is using this kind of method to warn everyone of the inner palace that he is the true master of this inner palace. If someone wants to stir up trouble under his eye, then they need to have the resolve to get severely punished.
Chen gengyi before entering the palace wasn't a virgin. As the Emperor, getting deceived, in addition to the matter of her 'seducing' his own son, this was precisely the so called deceiving the Emperor first, then intending to let Le Cheng Emperor 'wear the green hat'[1] afterwards. Le Cheng Emperor had even 'blindly' pampered her for several months, can be said that this has made him lose all his face. This kind of thing originally should be tightly concealed, yet Le Cheng Emperor instead did the opposite. It could even be said that he was directly announcing it to the inner palace. Being completely undisguised as such, how many officials would not know?
An Emperor who doesn't even want one's face anymore, then just what does he want to do? Too terrifying to even think about!
Perhaps because he'd vented some of his anger, Le Cheng Emperor's mood had calmed down quite a bit. He believed rather firmly that that bastard son of his wouldn't die that easily. Finally recalling that there seemed to have been another incident, he had the letter submitted previously once again brought out. Carefully reading it over, the letter was brief and to the point, just explaining the cause of the incident, as well as who all had fallen off the cliff, and which ones' situation was still unknown. Presumably, the next letter will have to wait until after the matter is resolved.
Le Cheng Emperor frowned. He wasn't sure whether or not the two incidents were connected. After all, an accident suddenly occurs on that side, and his son immediately gets attacked by assassins. He has reason to suspect that this was chaos deliberately created by the assassins to have White Dragon Temple's monks lured away from the mountains. Without White Dragon Temple's monks' help, assassinating his son will also be a bit easier. If matters really are like this, then the entire matter will all become even more complicated and troublesome. If it was just a coincidence, it still wouldn't be any less worrisome. Some people might even meticulously scheme to have these two incidences tied together. After all, it's easier to catch fish in stirred waters.
With that being the case, Le Cheng Emperor had no choice but to consider the worst case scenario. In the imperial court, among that bunch of old foxes, there wasn't a single one that was easy to deal with.
Le Cheng Emperor very much headached. These bastards just can't settle down for a while. In his heart, he secretly vowed, once he catches that behind the scenes culprit, he'll definitely punish them severely.
After pondering over the reasons and connections, there still wasn't a good resolution. Thus, without saying anything further, he had the elders of everyone involved in the letter all summoned into the palace. Supposedly, they should have also long known. Of course, Fu Yun Ting's elders were excluded. That person paralyzed on the bed, probably because his nephew got married, adding some good fortune, although didn't die, he was still just that, like a living dead person. Le Cheng Emperor directly had the troublesome matters thrown to them, a very thug-like manner. Whatever you all want, just say it, whatever is satisfiable, this emperor will satisfy to the greatest extent. And those with too excessive demands, just get lost however far there is. In any case, this matter has nothing to do with this emperor anyways.
Although it sounded tactful, Le Cheng Emperor obviously was just this meaning.
Have to say, Yuan Qiao Qiao and Zhou Ying Shuang's fathers were both somewhat frightened by the sudden favor, momentarily not knowing what to say either. Yuan Qiao Qiao's father, perhaps because still had Luo Pei Shan, this father-in-law, present, partially had the intention of following his lead. Just, Luo Pei Shan had his back towards him. During times when it's not good to open one's mouth, he could only stay silent with his mouth shut.
Although Ruan Rui Zhong was very calm on the surface, there was an indescribable worry in his eyes. He spoke out first, "Emperor, regardless of how this subject's daughter is, it is all her own fate. This matter originally is unrelated to your Majesty, to be able to receive such favor from your Majesty is this subject's fortune, and is this subject's daughter's fortune. This subject greatly does not dare to ask your Majesty of anything else."
This was why the head of the cabinet ministers was different from the rest. Look at these words, look how pleased Le Cheng Emperor is with hearing them.
Compared to Le Cheng Emperor, Ding Duke was rather unpleased inside. He ruthlessly cursed, 'only you know how to pretend to be a good person.' "Emperor, the specifics are still unknown. How about we wait until the situation on that side is clarified, before making a decision." It's not that he wasn't concerned with Sun Yi Jia's wellbeing, but rather he didn't know the specifics of the matter, and thus it wasn't easy for him to open his mouth. If the person died, then naturally he can seek the greatest amount of benefits. After all, that was 'the meat of his heart', 'the treasure of his palm', no? If she's severely injured, then how her future will be, it's best if the Emperor can resolve for her. If she is fortunate and only received light wounds, then they need to exaggerate it as much as possible. In short, the abacus in his heart was resounding loudly.
"Beloved minister Luo, what thoughts do you have?" Seeing Luo Pei Shan silent without a word, Le Cheng Emperor thus asked.
"Emperor, this subject believes that this subject's granddaughter will definitely be safe and sound, therefore, this subject doesn't have anything to ask for."
Le Cheng Emperor looked to him, considerably surprised. Luo Pei Shan on normal days didn't speak like this. However, looking at his appearance, he indeed wasn't saying one thing but meaning another. But, did this mean that he genuinely cares about the younger generation of his family? Only those truly concerned would wholeheartedly only hope for them to be safe and sound, and ask for nothing else. "Fine, this emperor understands."
As for the other two people, Le Cheng Emperor was too lazy to bother with them. They were purely just for appearance sake. At worst, he just needs to bestow them some things after the matter,—- was already extreme benevolence. Any other time, even if more people die in your family, it would still be impossible for Le Cheng Emperor to show interest, no?.
After everyone was saved, each family naturally sent a letter again.
Only Le Cheng Emperor alone still didn't receive his own bastard son's news. The waiting process always makes one anxious, and as the time passed, the more frustrated one got. The serving palace servants, because of some trivial matters that normally no one would care about, got punished one after the other. At first, it was still just ten lashes. Afterwards, it increased to twenty, fifty. Then, it was not doing anything, even just cowering to the side on their knees, they would still get vented on by him, and directly flogged to death with the rod. Even the closest few all couldn't escape without a scratch. Tomorrow, of all the servants in this entire palace of his, at least half needed to be replaced.
The imperial concubines naturally all paid close attention to Le Cheng Emperor's situation, each and every one keeping silent out of fear. They all couldn't help but hope for Li Hong Yuan to be fine. No matter how hateful he was, as long as no one provokes him, he was still unlikely to come to his own old man's harem to stir up storms. But Le Cheng Emperor's anger was not the same. One misstep and they'll all suffer the consequences.
If Le Cheng Emperor, who didn't sleep for the whole night, knew that his bastard of a son not only didn't have any life threatening worries, but he even slept tenderly the entire night, don't know if he will just directly vomit blood and die?
[1] This is euphemism for getting 'cuckold'