zChapter 1019 - Is It Not Great to Have Someone Carry the Burden? (2/2)
On Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s side, the Emperor was finally unable to withstand the loving warmth of his beloved imperial concubine. After doing the deed, he fell into a deep slumber. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu got out of bed and sneakily walked out of the hall. Her personal palace servant, Yue Xiu, immediately stepped forward and told her about what was discovered in Imperial Concubine Li’s Zhang Ning Palace.
Hearing that Imperial Concubine Li was still secretly performing curses of Xuan Tianming in the palace, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu instantly burst into laughter. After laughing, she waved her hand and said: “Don’t make any trouble for her. If she wants to make a fuss, just let her. Either way, the person being cursed is the ninth prince. Could it be that we should worry about the ninth prince being cursed to death? Hmph! It would be great if he really did die. I’m afraid that Imperial Concubine Li does not have that ability. But if she’s willing to carry that burden, why should we not rejoice? Voodoo is extremely taboo in the palace, yet she still continues to go against the current. Sooner or later, there will come a day when she will help block a disaster for us.”
Feng Yuheng stood guard at Zirui’s side for too long. When she reached Zhang Yuan’s side, the sky was already starting to get brighter. This was the first time that she had come into the palace for such a long time. Calculating it, Xuan Tianming should have already reached the palace’s gate and would be attending morning court, but when she had just passed by Zhao He Hall, she had seen Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu walking out. It was likely that the old emperor was in quite a bad state. It was possible that he would be unable to attend morning court.”
Zhang Yuan’s injuries were now much better. She sat on a large tree and looked down. There were two palace servants carrying him out of the firewood storage shed. Although his gait was still a bit awkward, it was not quite to the same degree as when he nearly lost his life from the beating. In addition to this, she had given him some pain medicine. If he truly could not bear it any longer, he could just take a couple pills. There was no threat to his life.
The palace servant helping him into the courtyard said to him: “Eunuch Yuan, you will be sent to the department of guilty servants today. Speaking of, we both served His Majesty in Zhao He Hall. Over the years, there has been a bit of a connection. This servant wanted to help you. For example, turning a blind eye and letting you leave with the bundle that you’re carrying, but you know that it’s currently Eunuch Wu who is in charge. If he found out that we let you go with a bundle of things, and there was quite a large sum of silver in there, our lives would all be lost!”
The eunuch spoke with a strange tone, and his emphasis was even stranger. It was very unnerving to listen to.
Zhang Yuan heard what he had said and quickly hugged the bundle tighter. No matter what was said, he refused to let go, but the two people at his side were much stronger. In addition to this, he was already injured. In just a few moments, his bundle was stolen by those two.
The bundle really was filled with quite a large sum of silver. This struggle caused the silver to fall to the ground, causing more eunuchs in the yard to come and try to snatch some.
Zhang Yuan watched these people steal his money, and he wanted to cry but had no tears. He said in a hollow voice: “I never treated you poorly in the past, so why is it that you aren’t even willing to leave me a bit of money to survive? It’s not like you don’t know what sort of place the department of guilty servants is like. If I go over there without the slightest bit of money, won’t I end up dead in just a few days? Just how can you be so greedy?”
One of the palace servants replied: “The past is the past. The present is the present. In the past, you were the one favored by His Majesty, and it was natural that we would need to curry favor with you, but now, you’re basically the same as a god of plague. If anyone got too close to you, their lives would be hard to preserve. It’s not like you don’t know what happened yesterday morning. Those two who went to help you were beaten to death, and it was all because of you.”
Zhang Yuan watched all of his silver get stolen away, and there were two who began to fight over a bit of money. He sighed bitterly and turned to look at the large room that was once his. He felt extremely emotional. Thinking back to the two eunuchs who had been beaten to death, he felt even more choked with emotion. He kneeled in the direction of Zhao He Hall and loudly called: “Your Majesty!” He then kowtowed three times. When he stood up once more, his forehead was bleeding.
He was escorted out of the courtyard and brought to the department of guilty servants; however, Feng Yuheng stared at the large room and came up with an idea.
Her figured flashed into and out of view a few times, as she entered the room. Previously, this was Zhang Yuan’s room, and everything inside had been given by the Emperor. In the past, the Emperor had doted on Zhang Yuan as if he was his own son. If there was ever anything good, a portion would be given to him. There were times when Zhang Yuan would find something that he liked and would ask the Emperor for it without any reservation. Either way, he could not possibly leave the palace in this lifetime, and he had no relatives on the outside. Once the things had been given to him, they would stay in the Imperial Palace. It was such that this room for the head eunuch was almost as elegant as Zhao He Hall.
But recently, all of these things now belonged to Wu Ying, not to mention the money that Zhang Yuan had hidden. Feng Yuheng thought to herself that she could not let that eunuch have worked so hard in the first half of his life for nothing. She would do a good deed and temporarily hold onto these items!
Thus she exerted her consciousness, and all of the items in the room were quickly emptied. This included the silver hidden in a hollow trunk, the banknotes hidden under the pillow and the jewels in the bed…