Yu Huan hurriedly took her youngest son and asked anxiously, “Ale, does your stomach hurt?”
Ying Changle had just heard the Emperor change his form of address to “beloved minister,” so he knew the Emperor had already calmed down. Naturally he was no longer so nervous, and the sensation had mostly disappeared.
But to help the Emperor calm down even more, he clutched his stomach, nodded repeatedly, and whimpered, “Waaah, hurts. Mother, hurts a lot.”
The Emperor said, “Beloved Minister Yu, Beloved Minister Ying, take Ale to the side hall to rest first.” Then he ordered, “Summon an imperial physician at once!”
The two carried their youngest son to the side hall, where palace attendants had already prepared everything needed for him to relieve himself.
Ying Changle honestly felt almost nothing now. Mainly, he had already vomited everything out in the imperial garden and had eaten little afterward. Even if he wanted to defecate, there was nothing to pass.
His intestines had only cramped earlier because he was so nervous. Now they were completely fine.
Ying Changle whispered, “Father, Mother, I’m all better. Just now I was scared Mother would be punished. Maybe if I pretend to be sick a little longer, Mother won’t get punished…”
[Hahaha, I’m smart, right? Even if the imperial physician comes later, I’ll say my stomach hurts terribly because I swallowed black dog’s blood!
Hmph, hmph, hmph. It’s not as if old Wei Wu is the only person who knows how to act. I can act too!
Yes, yes, black dog’s blood is filthy. If I swallowed it, of course I’d get sick.
Aaaaah, I’m ill! I’m dying! It’s all the black dog’s blood’s fault. Why didn’t I think of pretending to be sick earlier?
Yay, yay, yay! I’m such a genius!!!]
Ying Ding and Yu Huan: …Little ancestor, stop talking. Your inner voice is perfectly audible in the main hall.
The ministers: …When someone becomes speechless enough, they really do laugh once.
The Emperor barely managed to keep from laughing aloud and only shook his head helplessly.
Yu Huan and Ying Ding had no choice but to tell their youngest son that imperial physicians could see through everything and that pretending to be ill constituted deceiving the sovereign, a serious crime. He was not allowed to fake sickness.
Ying Changle immediately became unhappy, but stopped pretending.
The two waited until the imperial physician finished examining him, then brought their youngest son back into the main hall and allowed the Emperor to decide their punishment.
The Emperor said heavily,
“Both sides were at fault today. Minister Yu should not have impulsively struck someone, but Minister Wei even more should not have encouraged the Noble Consort to use witchcraft against a child!”
Although Duke of Pei Wei Wu was deeply dissatisfied, he could no longer say much.
The ministers were not particularly surprised. They had already expected that the Emperor would not punish Yu Huan severely. After all, every member of this family could be considered a pillar of the state. How could they be brought down so easily?
Ying Ding was the most useful hunting dog and claw the Emperor possessed, specializing in doing dirty work the Emperor could not openly touch and doing it so flawlessly that the Emperor trusted him completely.
Yu Huan was reckless, but her strength was fearlessness. Imperial relatives and nobles whom the officials did not dare offend could all be dealt with by her. Anyone the Emperor found inconvenient to control could be controlled by Yu Huan.
Ying Shenchu and Ying Shendu, one civil and one military, helped the Emperor govern the state and expand its borders.
Now even Ying Changle’s inner voice was being used by the Emperor to monitor the officials.
Once the Emperor had fattened this entire family enough, he would certainly eliminate them—but not yet.
The Emperor continued,
“Yu Huan behaved improperly before the throne and is fined three years of salary. As for injuring a colleague, that was a private grievance, so she will pay one hundred taels of gold to the Duke of Pei for treatment and recuperation.
“Wei Wu, as a founding minister, listened to malicious slander and encouraged the Noble Consort to practice witchcraft. He too is fined three years of salary.”
The treasury was currently empty, and the Emperor loved docking salaries more than anything. Although three years was rather much, neither of them lacked money.
The ministers all felt indignant on the Duke of Pei’s behalf.
They could only comfort themselves by thinking that wicked treacherous ministers like Yu Huan and Ying Ding had never come to good ends throughout history. It was not that retribution would never come; its time had simply not arrived.
Yu Huan remained dissatisfied with the judgment. She said righteously,
“Reporting to Your Majesty, witchcraft has always brought disaster to states and people. If the Duke of Pei is not severely punished, what happens when others imitate him?
“I ask only for Your Majesty’s verbal decree ordering the Duke of Pei to be drenched in black dog’s blood every day. One year should be enough.
“Then perhaps the Duke of Pei can understand a little of the suffering our Changle endured from such schemes at so young an age, while anyone else thinking of copying him will abandon the idea completely.”
The Duke of Pei jumped up in rage and roared, “Yu Huan, don’t go too far! If you make people pour black dog’s blood over me every day, should I have someone come beat you every day as well?”
The Emperor considered briefly, then nodded.
“Beloved Minister Yu’s words are entirely reasonable, but a year is too long. The Duke of Pei was at fault first, yet we must also consider his advanced age. One month will be quite enough.”
[Wow, Mother is amazing. She turned this around even from a losing position, 666! Absolute top-tier jungle play. The Emperor is doing great too, peerless enlightened ruler, god-tier support. This round absolutely deserves dual MVP for jungle and support!!!]
The ministers: What nonsense is this ridiculous inner voice saying now?
The Emperor did not understand either, but the phrase “peerless enlightened ruler” alone was enough to secretly delight him for a long time. Changle’s inner voice rarely praised him!
The Duke of Pei still wanted to argue for himself, but the Emperor merely said he was tired, then quickly left the hall for the inner palace.
Yu Huan had won a complete victory. Carrying her youngest son, she strode out triumphantly with her chin high. Ying Ding, Ying Shenchu, and Ying Chengqi naturally followed close behind.
No matter how much the ministers disliked the family’s arrogant manner, they could only endure it.
For some time afterward, Ying Ding and Ying Shenchu secretly investigated why Wei Wu had targeted Changle—or rather, why he had targeted the Ying family.
Yu Huan went to the Duke of Pei’s residence every day to supervise the punishment of being “splashed with dog’s blood.” She insisted on preparing the blood personally: steaming hot, mixed with many extra ingredients, a huge basin filled to the brim and dumped directly over his head.
By now, merely hearing the words “dog’s blood” made Wei Wu vomit uncontrollably. After a month, the punishment nearly tormented him into the grave.
One evening, Yu Huan unusually returned home early. After eating dinner with the two children, mother and sons sat on the couch in the adjoining room and chatted about family matters.
Naturally, most of the time Ying Changle chattered without stopping. Ying Chengqi barely spoke, but listened very attentively.
Ying Changle was too excited to sit still. Bouncing in Yu Huan’s arms, he asked,
“Mother, how much longer until Aunt Zhenzhu gets here? Didn’t you send people to ask? Still no news?”
Several days earlier, he had heard his parents mention that the newly enthroned ruler of the Turks, Banbur, would probably arrive in the capital in about a month to pay court to the Emperor. At that time Yelü Zhenzhu, as ruler of Northern Di, would also come to pay court.
Northern Di and the Turkic realm were the two largest foreign royal courts to the north. Because both bordered Great Ning and maintained tributary relations with it, every new ruler was traditionally required to appear before the Great Ning Emperor after taking the throne.
For many years Northern Di and the Turks had remained evenly matched. Whenever either ruler came to court, the other would certainly come as well, each seeking equal support from the Celestial Empire.
Naturally, when dealing with these two northern neighbors, the Emperor became a master of keeping the scales perfectly balanced and would never allow either side to dominate.
Yu Huan smiled. “Ale, you may call her Aunt Zhenzhu at home, but not outside.”
Ying Changle hurriedly said, “I know, I know. Mother, hurry and tell me. How much longer until Aunt Zhenzhu arrives?”
Yu Huan laughed. “She only just set out and you ask every day. At least another month.”
Ying Changle then poked at Ying Chengqi, who was reading beside them, and asked curiously,
“Aqi, that’s your mother. Are you really not excited even a tiny bit? I know you want to see her too, right?”
Yu Huan rubbed her youngest son’s little head and said helplessly, “Your Brother Aqi is reading. Don’t disturb him.”
Ying Changle laughed. “He’s not reading at all. He clearly likes listening to us talk; he just won’t admit it! Mother, tell us more stories about you and Aunt Zhenzhu from before, okay?”
Yu Huan said helplessly, “I’ve told them all. How could there be that many stories? When your Aunt Zhenzhu arrives, pester her and ask. Mother has nothing more to tell.”
Of course she had not told them all. She simply did not want to continue.
In the past, she had often told Ying Chengqi stories about her experiences with Yelü Zhenzhu. What child did not miss his biological mother? She had thought telling him more could only be good.
But later she discovered that Ying Chengqi did not like hearing those stories at all. Not only did he dislike them, he even seemed somewhat resistant. The child simply did not know how to express his own feelings, which was why it had taken her so long to notice.
Just then, Ying Ding returned. He sat at the edge of the couch, drank tea, and said,
“This Banbur is a formidable man. The Turkic realm has been divided for so many years, yet in less than half a year after becoming ruler he actually reunified it. Northern Di is probably going to have a difficult future…”
Yu Huan sneered. “Ying Ding, what are you gloating about? How many times have I told you there was nothing between Azhu and me? Why are you so petty?”
Ying Ding said angrily, “Ah Huan, you’re being unreasonable. Which one of your eyes saw me gloating?”
Yu Huan glared at him. “Ying Ding, if you dare oppose Azhu because of that vague nonsense from years ago, just watch how I deal with you!”
Ying Changle hid in Mother’s arms, happily enjoying live gossip. He loved watching his henpecked father get snapped at by Mother.
Suddenly, a maid’s anxious voice came from the outer room. “Eldest Young Master, Madam says the little young master is asleep. You needn’t enter to pay respects.”
Ying Changle hurriedly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
Nowadays he feared sleeping near Brother most, because Brother always tested his lessons. Fortunately Father and Mother always helped cover for him.
Ying Shenchu first paid respects, then said, “Father, Mother, you cannot spoil Ale this way. He has not finished today’s lessons.”
Yu Huan hurriedly said, “Ale is asleep. Go handle your own affairs. Tomorrow I’ll have Aqi supervise him while he works.”
Ying Changle became incredibly nervous. His breathing quickened involuntarily, and he squeezed his eyes even more tightly shut.
[Ah, no way. Why did this stupid System have to pop up gossip right now—and gossip this explosive? What if Brother realizes I’m not asleep?
Start with one backside and rise from male favorite to khan?!
Damn it, one short sentence has completely captured my suspicious nature. Let me see what happened.
Calm down. As long as I don’t open my eyes, Brother won’t know I’m awake.
