The capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was considered the most prosperous place in the world. There were many charitable individuals with spare money, and quite a few charitable halls could be counted. Among them were those run by the government, some by noble families, and some small-scale charitable halls whose owners were unknown.
The wife of Zhu Duohuan came from one such small charitable hall with an unknown owner. This charitable hall had been burned down many years ago, and the orphans there had either died or disappeared without a trace.
Han Ran, investigating the Zhu Duohuan couple with all his efforts, only discovered after multiple inquiries that Zhu Duohuan’s wife was an adopted daughter, and her origins were from that charitable hall.
As the investigation deepened, Han Ran discovered that the charitable hall had once been funded by a mysterious person. What alarmed him was that this mysterious person seemed to have intricate connections with the palace.
Han Ran stared blankly at the investigation results, rubbing his face vigorously: it was becoming difficult to continue the investigation.
As the Commander of the Jinlin Guard, the eyes and ears of the emperor, he shouldn’t conceal anything he discovered, regardless of what it was.
This was the foundation of his position.
But if such investigation results were presented, the Emperor would surely be furious.
After hesitating for days, Han Ran still steeled himself to enter the palace and report.
By this time, a new auspicious date had been set, but the matter of the solar eclipse had become a thorn in Emperor Jingming’s heart. He couldn’t sleep well until the matter was resolved.
Having narrowly escaped the first time, what if something went wrong again? The Great Zhou couldn’t afford so many setbacks in establishing the Crown Prince.
“What have you found out?” the Emperor asked.
Han Ran, with a solemn expression, presented a memorial.
Pan Hai received it with both hands and passed it to Emperor Jingming.
Emperor Jingming opened the memorial and glanced through it hastily. His expression changed dramatically.
Han Ran quickly lowered his head, his palms becoming damp with sweat.
Emperor Jingming coldly glanced at Han Ran and threw the memorial at his feet.
The memorial hit the golden brick floor, making neither light nor heavy sound, yet it felt like a heavy hammer striking one’s heart, making one’s whole body shudder.
Han Ran silently knelt on one knee.
Emperor Jingming, holding onto the table, his face turning pale, asked after a long pause: “Is this the result of your investigation?”
Han Ran lowered his head and honestly uttered a single word: “Yes.”
“That charitable hall opened more than twenty years ago has connections with the palace. Are you telling me that the Empress Dowager is involved?” The words “Empress Dowager” rolled on Emperor Jingming’s tongue before he spoke them.
He had never imagined that such a secret investigation would one day be linked to the Empress Dowager. These words were almost impossible to utter.
Emperor Jingming’s questioning was like a great mountain pressing down on Han Ran, making him bend his back.
Han Ran bit his back teeth and strived to remain calm as he said, “This humble servant dares not make any conjectures. I am only responsible for compiling what I have seen and heard into a report and presenting it before you.”
Inwardly, Han Ran was somewhat surprised.
Although the memorial recorded the details of the investigation, it didn’t specifically point out that it was the Empress Dowager. Yet the Emperor had blurted it out. What did this mean?
With so many events happening in the past two years, had the Emperor unknowingly begun to harbor suspicions about the Empress Dowager?
Thinking about these things, Han Ran dared not show any expression on his face, honestly waiting for Emperor Jingming to react.
Emperor Jingming glared at Han Ran kneeling below, his beard quivering with anger. After a long while, he snorted angrily, “The Jinlin Guard is becoming more and more useless. Get out and continue investigating!”
Han Ran felt as if he had been granted a great pardon: “This humble servant takes his leave.”
Seeing Han Ran flee in panic, Emperor Jingming became even angrier.
None of them were any good. He had sent the Jinlin Guard to investigate the Official of the Five Offices and Spiritual Terrace, and somehow they managed to implicate the Empress Dowager?
Emperor Jingming, filled with anger, unconsciously walked over and kicked the memorial he had thrown on the ground.
The memorial rolled over several times from the kick.
Emperor Jingming glanced at Pan Hai from the corner of his eye. Seeing no reaction, he said with a blackface, “Aren’t you going to pick it up!”
He had thrown the memorial, did he have to pick it up himself?
This Pan Hai, having aged, was far less quick-witted than in his youth. He truly was becoming a muddle-headed old man.
Pan Hai hurriedly picked up the memorial, dusted off the dirt with his sleeve, and presented it to Emperor Jingming.
Emperor Jingming reluctantly accepted it and said irritably, “Go out, I want to be alone.”
Pan Hai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly retreated from the Imperial Study.
He knew the Emperor needed some time alone.
The room fell silent, and Emperor Jingming held the memorial, lost in thought.
The charitable hall had been established more than twenty years ago, yet Zhu Duohuan, who had nearly pushed the new Crown Prince into an abyss of no return, was now linked to this charitable hall.
In other words, the person behind the plot against the Seventh Prince could still control those orphans today, more than twenty years after establishing the charitable hall.
Who had such great ability?
More than twenty years ago, even the Empress had not yet entered the palace.
Emperor Jingming held the memorial, his expression heavy.
If someone in the palace could truly accomplish this, it could only be— A familiar figure flashed through Emperor Jingming’s mind, causing his heart to ache.
Could it be that all of this was truly related to Mother Empress?
Impossible, Mother Empress had absolutely no reason to do such a thing.
Emperor Jingming put away the memorial and walked out of the Imperial Study, unconsciously finding himself outside the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility, lingering for a long time.
Pan Hai carefully asked, “Your Majesty, shall I announce your arrival?”
“No need.” Emperor Jingming ultimately gave up the idea of meeting with the Empress Dowager and turned to walk towards the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
Again without announcement, Emperor Jingming entered with Pan Hai.
The Empress was eating again.
This time, she wasn’t eating grapes, but honey peaches.
A package of sweet, juicy peaches had been cut into evenly sized small pieces. A palace maid was using a silver toothpick to feed them to the Empress, one piece at a time, just right for one bite, without even staining her lip rouge.
Emperor Jingming’s gaze lingered on the peaches, his face subtly darkening.
When he wasn’t around, was the Empress always snacking like this?
He was worried sick, his hair turning white with stress, and this was how the Empress treated him.
Jealousy arose, and Emperor Jingming forgot to even speak.
The Empress wiped her mouth and came to greet him: “Your Majesty, why didn’t you have someone announce your arrival? I could have welcomed you—”
Emperor Jingming’s mouth twitched, and he ate two pieces of peach in succession, gesturing for the attending palace servants to withdraw.
“How is Fuqing lately?” he asked.
At the mention of Princess Fuqing, the Empress’s mood dampened. She smiled bitterly and said, “That child is sentimental. She fell ill because of the Fourteenth Prince’s matter and still isn’t eating properly. I can’t persuade her no matter how I try…”
“Do you have any suitable candidates in mind? Fuqing is not young anymore, it’s time for her to be married.”
The Empress was stunned: “Didn’t Your Majesty say before that we should find out who harmed Fuqing before discussing her marriage?”
“Let’s choose a son-in-law first, to avoid delaying her.”
The Empress frowned slightly.
For the Emperor to suddenly care about Fuqing’s marriage, there must be a reason.
Seeing the Empress hesitate, Emperor Jingming smiled and said, “The autumn imperial examinations are approaching. If the Empress has no preferred candidates, why not pay attention to the autumn and spring examinations to see if there are any suitable young talents?”
As the conversation progressed to this point, the Empress simply smiled and said, “Speaking of young talents, why bother waiting for the autumn and spring examinations? I’ve heard that the son of Lord Zhen, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, the top scholar who achieved the rare feat of ranking first in all three imperial examinations, is still unmarried. What does Your Majesty think of him as a son-in-law for our Fuqing?”
Hearing the Empress’s suggestion, Emperor Jingming pondered as he ate the peaches.
The Great Zhou’s auspicious sign as a son-in-law for Fuqing? This proposal seemed quite good.