The Yongchang Emperor was utterly exhausted.
Every night these days, he dreamed of the past.
Of the feudal days, of himself and Liu Wangfei.
Back then, whenever storms swept across the sea, countless rooftops were torn off, and every year, many lives were lost because of it.
Even that was bearable—but the damp, cold climate made his joints ache constantly.
Liu Wangfei would often perform moxibustion therapy on him, accompany him to aid the people, brainstorm ideas, work with local officials, divide regions, and teach the people to build sturdier stone houses in relatively safe areas.
She even begged the former emperor to dispatch Ministry of Works craftsmen to teach brick kiln construction and brick firing.
Step by step, they transformed Zhangzhou from a poor backwater into a thriving city, even helping neighboring Quanzhou build its own seaport.
He would also dream of Noble Consort Xiao Liu.
At first, he hadn’t intended to bring her into the palace.
She was far younger—twelve years his junior—and he had always seen her more like a younger sister.
But as time passed, and as she began appearing frequently at court ceremonies alongside the Duchess Chu’s household, while tensions with Empress Feng became increasingly strained, he finally couldn’t help but waver.
Noble Consort Xiao Liu was indeed sweet and charming, gentle and lovable.
She brought him much comfort.
But now, he had lost both women.
The Yongchang Emperor rubbed his brow, preparing to return to reviewing memorials, when suddenly he heard a loud shout outside from Pu Wuyong:
“What’s the matter, rushing about like that? What if you disturb His Majesty?!”
That shout startled Yongchang Emperor fully awake from his weariness. He immediately called out:
“Pu Wuyong, what’s going on?”
Though Pu Wuyong had once been closely associated with Duke Chu’s household—and the Emperor suspected he had something to do with how quickly Qi Wang left the palace—still, he had served him loyally for many years.
And he had not committed any grave mistakes.
His trusted people were growing fewer by the day.
Pu Wuyong rushed in, looking anxious. “Your Majesty, it’s—it’s the the noble consort’s Fengzao Palace…”
Though the Emperor hated Duke Chu’s household, his feelings toward Noble Consort Xiao Liu were far more complicated.
The moment he heard something had happened in her palace, he immediately asked, “What is it?”
Even as he spoke, he was already rising to his feet.
Pu Wuyong hastily shouted at Little Xuzi to fetch the emperor’s cloak, while trying to calm him:
“It’s just—the weather’s dry lately, maybe someone on night watch dozed off or was careless. Fengzao Palace caught fire…”
Caught fire?
The Emperor staggered.
He had still planned to give Noble Consort Xiao Liu a glorious burial!
Even if she couldn’t be buried with him, she could still be interred with the honors of a noble consort!
How could it suddenly catch fire like that?
Without a second thought, he boarded the sedan chair and rushed straight to Fengzao Palace.
Princess Baorong and Qi Wang were already wailing in grief there.
Since Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s death, they had been keeping vigil over her body—something the Emperor had permitted.
Now, seeing them sobbing so pitifully—especially Qi Wang, who was limping—the Emperor closed his eyes briefly, turned his gaze away, and asked coldly:
“What happened?!”
Princess Baorong choked back sobs and cried aloud:
“Your daughter doesn’t know! The fire just suddenly broke out. I wanted to retrieve Royal Mother’s body, but the palace maids dragged me away!”
The Emperor looked around and bellowed in fury: “Where’s the auspicious water jar? Why was the firefighting so slow?!”
Then he turned, urgently asking Lai Chenglong, who had been in charge of guarding Fengzao Palace that day: “Where is Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s body?!”
Lai Chenglong broke out in a cold sweat and knelt down, cupping his hands. “Your Majesty, this subject and Commander Lu managed to retrieve Her Ladyship’s body, but…”
They were well aware of how much the Yongchang Emperor valued Noble Consort Xiao Liu—how could they possibly let her corpse be consumed by the flames?
If that had truly happened, they might as well start preparing to meet their ancestors.
They had managed to retrieve the body, but it was undeniably in a sorry state.
At the very least, half of Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s hair had been burned off.
Her face had also been blackened by smoke.
The Yongchang Emperor closed his eyes briefly, then gently stroked Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s face and gave a heavy order: “Lai Chenglong and Lu Yifeng—failure to guard properly, leading to the fire at Fengzao Palace—are to receive thirty strokes of the court staff from the Imperial Household Department!”
After a pause, he asked again, “Why was the auspicious water jar frozen?”
In the palace, large auspicious jars filled with water were placed every few steps along the long corridors, precisely to guard against fire—if one broke out, the water from the jars could be used to extinguish it.
And in winter, there were dedicated staff tasked with keeping fires burning beneath the jars to prevent the water from freezing—otherwise, in an emergency, they’d be useless.
No one dared to speak. All heads hung low.
The Yongchang Emperor gave a cold laugh. “All eunuchs responsible for maintaining the auspicious jars in Fengzao Palace—executed without exception!”
After speaking, he no longer paid attention to Princess Baorong or Qi Wang. Instead, he ordered that Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s body be carefully moved to Zhongcui Palace.
He then instructed the Ministry of Rites to begin discussing the funeral protocol for Noble Consort Xiao Liu.
This time, he said nothing more about giving her a full Imperial Noble Consort’s burial.
In any case, the rites for a noble consort’s passing had established precedents. The Ministry of Rites, seeing the emperor’s demeanor, naturally understood how to proceed and quickly drafted the appropriate documents.
Meanwhile, someone from the Imperial Household Department came to ask Pu Wuyong, “Gonggong, how should the strokes be administered?”
In the palace, everything—every action—had a code.
Even the administering of court beatings had its gradations.
There were varying degrees of severity for court staff punishments.
If, during sentencing, the master said, “Hit them hard,” that usually meant using standard force.
But if they said, “Strike them properly,” it meant to use real force—truly hit hard.
There were even more nuanced forms, like the “mandarin duck” court rods, and so on.
A light beating might look gruesome, with broken skin and bleeding—but was only superficial.
A heavy beating, on the other hand, could leave no visible marks on the outside—yet the person might die within days.
And this punishment involved officers of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so the Imperial Household Department needed to confirm.
Pu Wuyong exhaled slowly and smiled. “Look at how many people died in Fengzao Palace. His Majesty’s intention isn’t clear enough? Strike them properly!”
Strike them properly!
That meant beating them to death!
The men from the Imperial Household Department froze.
They could hardly believe it.
Didn’t Pu Gonggong know who Lai Chenglong’s father was? He was the emperor’s milk brother!
Was he seriously making an enemy of Commander Lai?
Still, orders had been given by the Gonggong himself. The eunuchs were under his authority—what else could they do but obey?
They quickly responded, “Understood.”
At that moment, Qi Zhen and Old Marquis Qi had just returned home.
Old Madam Qi had already prepared a fire basin and pomelo leaves. When she saw them arrive, she hurriedly had them step over the basin and used the pomelo leaves to swat around their bodies to drive away evil.
The Old Marquis looked at Qi Yuan and said, “Ah Yuan, it’s all thanks to you!”
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