Harem Daily Life

Chapter 776: Prince Liang Enters the Palace to Pay His Holiness

Butler Zhao suggested, "How about sending a memorial to the palace saying that the princess is returning to her parents' home to visit her seriously ill father and won't be entering the palace this year. Every family has their own emergencies, and I'm sure the palace won't mind."

Nanny Chang echoed, "Yes, there are so many families from various mansions entering the palace every year, so it's not a big deal if the princess is absent once."

King Liang was a little hesitant.

Butler Zhao looked at Prince Liang's expression and said, "Or, let Concubine Fang do it?"

Prince Liang immediately rejected the idea, saying, "No, she's just a concubine, not suitable for public appearances. Well, then, send a memorial to the palace, paying your respects to the Queen Mother and the Empress, and saying that the Princess is not in the capital and will come to the palace to pay her respects when she returns."

Just as Butler Zhao was about to go down and do as he was told, King Liang stopped him.

"Forget it. Last year, the Queen Mother was away from the capital, so I didn't pay my respects often. This year, the Princess is away, but I am. It doesn't make sense for me not to pay my respects." The Great Zhou ruled the country with benevolence and filial piety. If the Prince of Liang were to address the Queen Mother as "Aunt," he would likely be criticized by his cousins if he broke even basic etiquette. Most importantly, the Prince of Liang's mansion had been largely unknown for years, practically untraceable in the capital. Sometimes, when one feels so insignificant, one desperately wants to make a presence felt.

Prince Liang was also a man of high aspirations. He did not want to be like his father, whose reputation in the end was only left in people's mouths as "unlearned and unskillful, a dandy boy".

Upon receiving word that Prince Liang would personally pay his respects at the palace tomorrow, Tao Yanyan chuckled, "Is this about to confront the real boss? Very well, then let me go meet him and see what kind of man he is." According to the information Qi Yizheng had sent back, Prince Liang was most likely the umbrella behind the Yixingtang. However, the Yixingtang members were being stubborn, and Qi Yizheng hadn't yet obtained any substantial evidence.

"What about Zhao Songde and the jailer? Can't they pry anything out?" Tao Yanyan asked after closing the memorial.

Eunuch Zhang reported, "The jailer admitted to the poisoning, saying that Zhao Songde had raped the jailer's sister in his youth, leading to the girl's suicide out of shame and anger. The jailer didn't implicate anyone else, only saying that he had finally had the opportunity and wanted to avenge his sister. As for Zhao Songde, after the jailer confessed the old story, he also admitted that he was indeed wrong."

Tao Yanyan sneered, "How could someone with such character actually become a city governor? Go get the Minister of Personnel to pull out all of Zhao Songde's performance evaluations over the years and take a good look at how he was pushed to that position. Have the Ministry of Personnel write a self-reflection. They should also be held accountable for improper personnel selection and lax evaluations."

Eunuch Zhang quickly agreed, and seeing Empress Tao's displeased expression, he said, "The Ministry of Justice said that Zhao Songde has committed multiple crimes and is scheduled to be executed in the autumn."

Tao Yanyan nodded. "He's got a life on his hands. If we don't kill him, how can we let him live for the New Year? All his property will be confiscated, as will his family. Accomplices and accomplices will be dealt with more severely, and those who have done nothing wrong will not be implicated. Let the Ministry of Justice handle cases with reason and evidence, and don't easily let a bad guy off, nor easily misjudge a good person."

Eunuch Zhang took the order and left. Recently, because there were too many things going on, the Empress seemed to have let go of the matters concerning the Emperor and had not inquired about the Emperor's whereabouts. It was not known whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Tao Yanyan really had no time to care about He Linzhang. She was now extremely busy. The incident of Yixingtang had given her a wake-up call. Although the Great Zhou had been thriving in recent years, there were still some dark organizations hiding evil in invisible places. These organizations were like cancer, corrupting the people's impression of the court. If they were not eliminated, they would one day become a hidden danger threatening the Great Zhou regime.

After much deliberation, she decided to set up a new organization, similar to the anti-black groups of later generations, to eradicate these cancers one by one and restore peace to the world.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, Tao Yanyan went to Changchun Palace early.

Like Prince Liang, there were several families who came to the palace to pay their respects in person instead of having their families attend. Prince Liang looked at Prince Yong and Prince Jing, the three of them gathered together waiting to be summoned. He was very glad that he had come today, otherwise he would have been criticized.

"Brother Prince Liang, what have you been busy with recently? I asked you to play polo, but you didn't have time. Is there anything fun that you don't want to play with your brother?" Prince Jing pulled Prince Liang aside to chat, while Prince Yong listened without saying a word.

Prince Liang smiled and said, "I'm not busy. It's freezing cold, and I just don't feel like going out. Speaking of which, you're already a regent, and you still have time to go out and have fun? I heard the Empress ended her rest a long time ago and started to take care of government. Didn't she summon you?"

Prince Jing said with a sad face, "Isn't this just taking a break from the busy schedule? The busier you are, the more you need to relax. To be honest with you, Brother Liang Wang, I was called into the palace before dawn yesterday. You've heard about what happened in Yuecheng, right? The Yuecheng prefect, Zhao Songde, committed a serious crime. The Empress was so angry that she summoned the Minister of Personnel to the palace and scolded him several times. The Empress was worried and asked me to keep an eye on the Ministry of Personnel and supervise them to investigate the prefects in each city. Such a heavy workload is not easy to handle."

The more Prince Yong listened, the more he felt that Prince Jing was talking nonsense. He was the first one to enter the palace yesterday, and he hadn't seen Prince Jing all day. Moreover, the Minister of Personnel was not called into the palace either. How come he was scolded by the Queen several times?

However, Prince Jing would not deliberately talk about these things in front of Prince Liang just to highlight his busyness, so Prince Yong did not expose him and just listened quietly from the side.

When Prince Jing saw that Prince Yong did not come to disrupt the plan, his worries were relieved a lot. He continued to follow the instructions of the Queen Mother and deliberately leaked the news to Prince Liang.

"I didn't want to come today, but my princess insisted on dragging me along. One has to pamper one's own woman, so I had no choice but to get up early and come to the palace with her. My princess has a very good relationship with Empress Tao. She said that the Empress has been losing her appetite lately and she needs to pay more attention to her. It's really hard for me. I have so many errands to do that I don't have any free time."

Prince Yong gritted his teeth silently. "No appetite? Then who was the one who ate two big bowls of rice yesterday? Who was the one who said that only when you are full can you have the strength to work?"

Prince Yong's mind could not help but recall the day before when he had gone to the palace to report on the defense of the capital. It happened to be lunchtime, and Empress Tao invited him to eat with her. He had seen Empress Tao eat two large bowls of rice with his own eyes. How could an ordinary woman eat so much? Prince Yong had a deep memory of this.

Prince Yong raised his eyebrows, becoming more and more certain that Prince Jing must have a purpose for saying these things today. He was as quiet as a chicken and said nothing more.

After hearing what Prince Jing said, Prince Liang's mind turned to a thousand things. He casually asked with a smile, "The Queen has lost her appetite. Why is that? Is it still about Zhao Songde?" After saying that, he looked around and whispered, "Could it be because of His Majesty? I heard that His Majesty hasn't appeared in a long time..."

Prince Jing waved his hand and said, "It's not just because of Zhao Songde. That Zhao Songde bastard is probably not going to make it. As for Your Majesty, there may be some reasons as well. But the most important thing is the Yuecheng incident. Yuecheng is no simple matter. Have you heard of Yixingtang? They say they've uncovered a lot of shady dealings, and the people involved behind the scenes are beyond your imagination."

Prince Liang was very nervous. He was about to ask something when he saw Eunuch Qin who was beside the Queen Mother come out and invite the princes in with a smile on his face.

Prince Liang had no choice but to shut up and followed Prince Yong and Prince Jing into the main hall of Changchun Palace.

This was the first time that Tao Yanyan paid so much attention to King Liang.

It has to be said that none of He Linzhang's brothers and cousins are ugly.

The He family's genes produce many handsome guys.