Chapter 194: Give Her Twenty Lashes
At the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, the Zhou family did not set off fireworks.
The Crown Prince still disliked fireworks.
Yet the lanterns were brilliant, the opera lively; the food was delicious, and the vegetarian dishes added last minute were fine and thoughtful. The festive atmosphere was thick.
But everyone was tense.
Whether clan members or the ducal household staff, no one dared relax.
With the Emperor and the Crown Prince seated there, who would dare cause trouble?
The vegetarian feast was prepared solely for the Emperor and the Dowager Madame.
There was a food-tasting eunuch, dressed as an attendant, who remained by the Emperor's side throughout, sampling his dishes and serving him.
Huan Qingtang had calmed herself, but her gaze kept flickering to the food-tasting eunuch beside the Emperor.
The Emperor seemed hungry; tonight's vegetarian dishes suited his taste well.
“......Whose kitchen is this vegetarian fare from? It rivals the head chef at Jin'an Temple,” Huan Qingtang heard the Emperor say.
The Emperor did not deliberately lower his voice. His conversation with the Dowager Madame was audible from where Huan Qingtang sat.
The Dowager Madame smiled and said, “We do have a few cooks in the household skilled in vegetarian cuisine.”
“Very good. My mother-in-law practices vegetarianism and deserves good cooks. My lifelong wish is that you enjoy a comfortable life,” said the Emperor.
“All by Your Majesty’s grace,” the Dowager Madame replied with a smile.
The Emperor smiled knowingly.
Huan Qingtang understood.
When a filial child sees their mother living well, they feel a sense of accomplishment, as though they themselves have achieved something great.
It was a way of affirming himself.
So even the Emperor needed such reassurance from the Dowager Madame.
Huan Qingtang glanced over again.
“......If lard or anything else found its way into the vegetarian dishes, the tasting eunuch would certainly notice,” she thought.
The food-tasting eunuch was specifically tasked with that and would never make a mistake.
The Emperor ate sparingly.
Until he finished, and the vegetarian dishes stopped being served, nothing went wrong.
Huan Qingtang’s heart sank.
This was Nanny Qin’s golden opportunity—a small sabotage on such a day could have caused trouble for Cheng Zhao.
Could Nanny Qin have lost her nerve?
No one had known the Emperor would come. Even if Nanny Qin had panicked, the plan was already set—there was no last-minute retreat.
The vegetarian feast was bound to have a problem, so why hadn’t it?
If nothing went wrong, then Cheng Zhao’s decision to give the stewards the day off for Mid-Autumn was flawless—and then...
Huan Qingtang suddenly felt as if she had stepped into emptiness. She was deeply unsettled.
Why wasn’t things going as she had wished?
She glanced at the Emperor again.
The Emperor had already looked her way. Perhaps he had noticed her stealing glances at him, and he frowned slightly.
The Dowager Madame noticed and said, “Lady Huan, come forward.”
Huan Qingtang was startled.
When a person is lost in thought, being suddenly called is the worst. She knocked over her own wine cup, spilling liquor across the table.
She rose in a fluster.
The Dowager Madame said, “Lady Huan, go see what other opera acts are available. Switch to two new ones.”
She casually named two plays and told Huan Qingtang to arrange the change.
Huan Qingtang acknowledged the order.
The Dowager Madame then gave Nanny Sun a signal, and Nanny Sun left with Huan Qingtang.
Once they were outside the Yixia Pavilion, Nanny Sun’s face darkened: “Eldest Young Madam, why were you staring at the Emperor the whole time? He was quite displeased.”
Huan Qingtang’s legs went weak: “I, I was just...”
“Why can’t you keep your composure?” Nanny Sun pressed. “If you are so feeble, how can the Dowager Madame ever entrust you with heavier responsibilities?”
Huan Qingtang tasted bitterness in her mouth.
She lowered her head and apologized: “I lost my composure, Nanny Sun.”
“Return to your room to change clothes. Do not come out again,” said Nanny Sun.
Huan Qingtang trembled, her face turning pale.
Not return to the banquet?
Then tonight, the only absentees from the Mid-Autumn family dinner would be herself and Zhou Yuanshen’s new concubine?
What position would that leave her in? By tomorrow, the stewards would surely gossip about this. Her authority would be ruined.
She looked at Nanny Sun with anguish: “Nanny, I will be more careful. I was only watching His Majesty because I feared something might go wrong with the vegetarian dishes.”
She added, “Nanny Qin holds some grudge against my sister-in-law, and I was worried she might stir up trouble.”
Nanny Sun understood.
Huan Qingtang had clearly hinted to Nanny Qin and urged her to cause a scene.
To sabotage the Dowager Madame’s vegetarian feast!
What filial impiety that was.
“You...” Nanny Sun’s face stiffened with anger. “You conspired with Nanny Qin to make trouble? Do you realize... go back to your room and reflect!”
Huan Qingtang stopped walking: “Nanny Sun, I am still the Eldest Young Madam of the Zhou family. I will speak to Grandmother myself.”
“Are you asking me to have you locked up?” Nanny Sun said coldly.
Huan Qingtang knew she was “in for it” today, and she had no choice but to play her trump card: “Then who will keep that Cheng Shi in check, Nanny Sun? Does Grandmother want to see her reign alone?”
Nanny Sun was caught off guard.
Huan Qingtang lifted her chin slightly: “I will bear this alone. Nanny, go arrange the opera acts. I will change and return to the Yixia Pavilion.”
She turned and walked away.
Huan Qingtang returned to her own courtyard, hastily changed clothes, took several deep breaths, devised a plan for making amends, and went back to the Yixia Pavilion.
Unexpectedly, by the time she returned, the Emperor had left his seat, and the Dowager Madame was gone too—but the Crown Prince was still seated.
Mu Jiang had also disappeared.
It was common for guests to leave the banquet midway to refresh themselves, so Huan Qingtang sat down.
Her mother-in-law, Madam Song, glanced at her, and Huan Qingtang smiled back at her.
In the adjoining small hall used for resting and changing clothes, the Emperor sat quietly, discussing the Sun family’s irrigation canal with the Dowager Madame.
“I have been keeping those memorials on file without acting on them. Mother-in-law need not worry. Let them argue a few more days, and they will forget,” the Emperor said.
“Princess Qing'an’s consort...”
“The Court of Judicial Review will release him. He beat a steward to death, but since the Sun family won’t press the matter, a few days in prison is enough,” the Emperor said.
The Dowager Madame seemed to exhale with relief: “Once this is settled, my burden is lifted.”
“Yuanshen mentioned it to me, saying you were troubled. He also helped with this matter,” the Emperor said.
The Dowager Madame smiled on the surface but felt bitterness within: “Yuanshen is a filial child.”
“A pity he isn’t my son,” the Emperor said. “The one Mother-in-law holds dear—the one you have raised with your own hand—only then can I entrust him with the realm.”
The Dowager Madame thought of Mu Jiang.
But Mu Jiang burst in at that very moment.
She stumbled in like a startled fawn, as though afraid someone would stop her.
She knelt before the Emperor and the Dowager Madame.
The Emperor was briefly taken aback.
The Dowager Madame frowned: “A Jiang, have you no sense of propriety?”
“Your Majesty.” Mu Jiang, without looking at the Dowager Madame, turned her tearful eyes to the Emperor.
The Emperor felt a surge of irritation.
Mu Jiang’s disregard for the Dowager Madame stirred his anger.
A mere orphan girl, how dare she show such disrespect to the Dowager Madame?
“Your Majesty, I have recently been longing for the steamed mutton soup from the imperial kitchen—I’ve eaten it several times at the palace. Could you grant me the favor of letting me come and enjoy it again?” Mu Jiang’s tears fell like pear blossoms in rain. “Your Majesty...”
Her voice trembled at the end.
A little affected, perhaps.
The Dowager Madame understood and looked at Mu Jiang in shock, wanting to stop her.
“Do you want me to take you into the palace?” the Emperor asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Who do you think you are?” the Emperor even smiled. “Have you grown bold enough to swallow a leopard’s heart?”
The Dowager Madame said softly, “Your Majesty, please calm your wrath.”
“Mother-in-law, you have indulged her too much, and now she dares to act so recklessly. In my very presence, she shows no discipline,” the Emperor said.
Then he ordered, “Someone, drag her out and give her twenty strokes of the board, so she learns her lesson.”
Guards disguised as attendants came to pull her away, and Mu Jiang froze in shock.
She suddenly screamed, "Your Majesty, I am, I—"
Her mouth was covered.
The Dowager Madame pleaded, "Your Majesty, tell the executioner to be gentle. She's young—don't leave her crippled."
"She's useless, Mother-in-law," the Emperor said. "She has no sense of rank in her eyes, and she doesn't strive to improve. You and I both wished for a son—the Crown Prince—so why has it suddenly become so difficult?"
Mu Jiang's eyes split wide with fury.
What madness was she hearing?
The Emperor—who, exactly, did he want to bear him the Crown Prince?