Chapter 9 Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip
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In fact, the infamous reputation of Emperor Jingchang was not without merit.
A eunuch led an imperial physician on a tour of the inner prison, and the physician was immediately persuaded to blow the whistle by the bizarre and grotesque torture devices on display.
“Consort Xian?”
Li Jinyu chewed on the name that had been frequently mentioned recently. “What did she do to harm Huo Caiyu?”
Huo Caiyu and Consort Xian had no grudges or grievances against each other. Consort Xian was so far removed from him, how could she benefit from plotting against him?
The eunuch on the side was well aware of the answer. He knew that Consort Xian had employed numerous dishonest tactics to maintain her long-term favor in the harem. Some of the other imperial concubines were eliminated before they even had a chance to capture the Emperor’s attention.
Emperor Jingchang was aware of this, but he viewed human life as trivial and didn’t care about such small matters. In the past, he would simply laugh it off, which only emboldened Consort Xian.
There were still many people in the harem. It was unclear what the Emperor’s intentions were by asking about this now…
Li Jinyu didn’t expect the servant to give him an answer. These eunuchs were all tight-lipped and cautious, never saying more than necessary. He himself was afraid of exposing the fact that he wasn’t the real Emperor, so he dared not ask too many questions.
Carefully observing the expressions of the eunuchs, he found that they all had a calm look on their faces. Li Jinyu knew that this was something he “should know”, so he also pretended to be calm and said, “Zhen understands.”
He first replaced the imperial physician to prevent anyone from having any evil intentions.
As for the others… he remembered the scattered descriptions of the palace in the novel, and carefully considered before making a decision. “Discharge the imperial physician and investigate the matter, and confine Consort Xian to her palace for one month.”
There shouldn’t be a mistake in this judgment… right? It was just right to confine that Consort, so she wouldn’t come to pester him every day…
………
“His Majesty decrees Consort Xian to be confined to her palace for a month.”
When Consort Xian in the Hexin Palace heard this decree, she looked incredulous. “His Majesty is grounding me?!”
She still held the power to manage the Six Palaces, and being restricted from leaving her quarters was basically equivalent to losing control over them!
In the past, when she secretly killed so many women who posed a threat to her, the Emperor never blamed her. Sometimes, he even cooperated with her and enjoyed watching those women’s desperate faces… Why did things suddenly change this time?
Who was this Huo Caiyu, and how did he manage to earn His Majesty’s favor like this?
Consort Xian gritted her teeth, touched a string of pearl hairpins and handed them to the eunuch who passed the decree. “Respected Elder, is there any news from the Empress Dowager?”
She obviously went to remind the Empress Dowager yesterday!
His Majesty had no heir yet. If he favored a man, what would happen to the imperial lineage?
“The Empress Dowager sent a message to His Majesty, but His Majesty is His Majesty.” The eunuch who received the pearl hairpin from her was not young anymore and had been tempered by Emperor Jingchang’s aura. He took the hairpin with a smile.
He surreptitiously looked at the Consort and sighed in his heart. Indeed, His Majesty’s grace was unpredictable. Who would have thought that it would not be a rookie concubine but a handsome man that would make the Consort suffer?”
………
Li Jinyu was very satisfied with his performance in clearing the hidden danger for Huo Caiyu, and felt that he had even earned some hatred points in front of him. That day, he even ate two plates of walnuts.
The little eunuch who was serving him was about to use a hammer to help him crack open the nuts, but Li Jinyu refused decisively. Crunching on the nutshells had a tooth-grinding effect for him!
His current state seemed to be not just a simple human or a simple hamster, but a mix of both their characteristics. This caused him to feel his teeth itching for the past few days, hence he especially wanted to grind his teeth on something.
The eunuch watched His Majesty crunching walnuts in a “crack-crack-crack” manner. A little frightened, he shrank his neck, as if it was his bones that was being bitten.
Li Jinyu felt somewhat amused that the servant beside him wasn’t as tense anymore. Noticing the eunuch’s movement, he couldn’t help laughing a little. He wanted to scare him a bit, so he deliberately made an ugly face and said, “Zhen thinks your bones are also suitable for grinding teeth.”
This remark should have been very threatening coming from the cruel and ruthless Emperor Jingchang, but Li Jinyu’s comical face completely ruined the desired effect.
The little eunuch never thought he would see His Majesty make a weird face in front of him. He was stunned for a moment, then burst out into laughter. However, he quickly realized who he was laughing at, and immediately turned pale and knelt down.
What was wrong with him? He used to be so scared to even breathe in front of His Majesty, but these days he was becoming more and more presumptuous! Weren’t the cautionary tales of those who were now skeletons under the ground enough to make him vigilant?
Seeing the little eunuch laugh, Li Jinyu also felt happy.
There was no Huo Caiyu here, only himself and a random eunuch who was never mentioned in the novel. He didn’t want to always hold onto the tyrant persona.
After seeing the eunuch’s face turn red from laughter and then pale again, Li Jinyu waved his hand helplessly and said, “Zhen doesn’t blame you. What does a little laugh matter?”
The little eunuch looked uneasily at Li Jinyu and saw that His Majesty didn’t get angry, so he quietly breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
However, Li Jinyu also lost interest in teasing him after finishing a plate of walnuts. He clapped his hands and thought for a moment before waving his hand and saying, “Let’s go to the Imperial Garden!”
………
In the morning, when Li Jinyu went to Jiaolan Palace, he missed going to the Imperial Garden for a walk. Now he was taking a stroll and planning to have dinner when he returned.
There were already some early spring flowers blooming in the Imperial Garden. As Li Jinyu wandered around, he instinctively looked for a suitable spot to dig a hole. After a few searches, he found a soil that was just right in terms of hardness, moisture, and color, making him eager to dig a hole and burrow into it.
He enthusiastically dug with his ten fingers, but then realized that human fingers were not as suitable for digging as a hamster’s paws. This dampened his interest, and he suddenly felt the urge to quickly finish the plot again, wishing he could just let Huo Caiyu set off a rebellion and seize the throne quickly
However, what use was his haste? After all, Huo Caiyu’s butt was still recovering!
Li Jinyu sighed and prepared to stand up when he suddenly heard two voices.
“Sister Yan, we won’t offend His Majesty by doing this, right?”
“What are you afraid of? If we both don’t tell anyone, who will know? Besides, we have Consort Xian protecting us!”
“But hasn’t the Consort been confined by His Majesty?”
“It’s just a temporary confinement, what’s there to be afraid of? Just watch, in a few days Her Highness will be out again! We’re helping her with this matter concerning the Huo family, so of course she’ll remember our good deeds.”
“How do you know for sure that Her Highness will come out?”
“Her Highness is backed by the Prime Minister Ye. His Majesty’s throne is stable because of the Prime Minister’s handling of political affairs. Otherwise, do you think His Majesty would have so much spare time for pleasure?”
“This… isn’t His Majesty afraid that the Prime Minister will seize power?”
“The Prime Minister is not a member of the royal family, how could he dare to rebel? His Majesty leaves the political affairs to the Prime Minister to handle, so that he can enjoy a peaceful life. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“But……”
“Heavens, if you’re scared, then go back first! I shouldn’t have brought you out.”
“No, I’m just worried that His Majesty will find out…”
“His Majesty usually comes to the Imperial Garden at noon. It’s almost time for dinner now, so don’t worry.”
Wasn’t this the maid from Consort Xian’s palace?
His sensitive hamster ears allowed Li Jinyu to hear the whole conversation clearly.
The mention of Huo Caiyu piqued his curiosity.
He tiptoed towards the direction of the voices and saw two little palace maids struggling to bury something in the soil. Li Jinyu’s eyesight wasn’t good, so he couldn’t see what it was. However, he had been eavesdropping all the way there and knew that they were burying a voodoo doll. They had used Huo Caiyu’s clothes as a base and written the Emperor’s name on it, apparently planning to use it to accuse Huo Caiyu of cursing the Emperor.
The matter of witchcraft had always been difficult to explain, and in general, Emperors tend to err on the side of killing the accused rather than letting them go free. Especially for a tyrant like Emperor Jingchang, he would prefer to just chop off the heads of anyone involved.
However, Li Jinyu now had some magical abilities and could sense that the voodoo doll was nothing more than a puppet. It was completely useless, and he could even sleep with it without any consequences.
But he didn’t immediately expose the plot. After the two little palace maids left, he walked over and dug out the voodoo doll buried in the ground. He lightly weighed it in his hand.
………
In the Hexin Palace, Consort Xian confirmed that the palace maid had buried the voodoo doll in the Imperial Garden and nodded in satisfaction. She ordered the palace maids to prepare dinner while she went back to her inner palace to change clothes.
Once the voodoo doll was buried and exposed the next day through the hands of another concubine, the Emperor would surely be furious and immediately execute the entire Huo family! Since she was under house arrest in her palace, she could easily clear herself of any suspicion!
Feeling satisfied, Consort Xian entered her chambers, but soon after, a piercing scream was heard. The palace maids rushed in to find Consort Xian pale and unconscious on the floor, apparently frightened out of her wits. As they lifted her up, two little palace maids stared fixedly in the direction of Consort Xian’s bed, their faces as white as hers.
On the peach-colored embroidered bedspread lay a clothed doll, with an eerie smile on its embroidered face and fresh soil still clinging to it.
………
Having scared Consort Xian a bit, Li Jinyu was a little absent-minded during dinner. He didn’t care much about Consort Xian’s well-being.
The conversation between the two palace maids awakened him to something.
Emperor Jingchang was able to ignore state affairs largely because Prime Minister Ye monopolized power and took care of everything the Emperor was supposed to do.
Regardless of whether he did a good job or not, at least Emperor Jingchang himself felt exceptionally relaxed.
On the other hand, to be a qualified Emperor, there were actually many political affairs to be taken care of day and night!
In the novel, it was only after seizing the throne that Huo Caiyu had the opportunity to implement his own national policies.
Why don’t I reverse this and let Huo Caiyu get involved in political affairs ahead of time?
Skipping the plot directly to after Huo Caiyu takes control of political power, wouldn’t it be easier for him to seize the throne?
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