C134 — Kill That Top Scholar (1)
by UntamedS“Good boy, do you want your mother to go with you? Can you bear to leave your mother alone?”
Shen Jue’s ears were filled with the cries of a woman; it was so noisy that he had to open his eyes.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he was confronted with a pair of phoenix-shaped eyes that were red from crying.
The owner of the phoenix-shaped eyes saw him open his eyes; her expression suddenly changed, and she cried out in pain, holding Shen Jue even more tightly in her arms.
“Good boy, you really can’t let go of Mother.” The woman turned her head and shouted, “Imperial physician, quickly come over and check Jue’er’s pulse.”
When the Imperial Doctor came to check his pulse, Shen Jue was lying on the bed, his consciousness gradually becoming clearer and clearer, already understanding the realm he was in.
In this realm, he was a tyrant that everyone wanted to beat up; everyone wanted him dead, except for his mother, Tong Meng’er.
Tong Meng’er wasn’t the daughter of any serious official family but of a courtesan who climbed the dragon bed and gave birth to a son. Although she was from a humble family, she had a beautiful face and a delicate heart, and she was good at making the best use of it, so the master of the harem finally became her, and her son, Shen Jue, became the next emperor.
Even though all the civil and military officials were against the establishment of the Empress, the late Emperor was determined. In the ten years that Tong Meng’er was the Empress, the women in the harem produced nothing, not to mention a son of the dragon, there wasn’t even a princess; and even if there were pregnancies, they all had miscarriages, or on the day of delivery, they both died.
The civil and military officials had submitted many petitions requesting the abolition of Tong Meng’er, but the late emperor was completely indifferent. Before his death, he even passed on the imperial authority to Tong Meng’er’s son, Shen Jue.
At that time, Shen Jue was only fifteen years old, and several of his elder brothers had already shown interest in the crown. However, in the three years after he ascended the throne, those brothers died and went crazy, and not a single one was spared.
Shen Jue had been on the throne for fifteen years now, and there were folk songs mocking him and Tong Meng’er, saying that they were a tyrant and a demon queen who would bring disaster to the Wei dynasty.
Perhaps the heavens were also not accustomed to this pair of mother and child. Shen Jue had been weak since he was born, and in the cold winter, he couldn’t get up for ten days and a half months.
He had such a body, yet he became the emperor. Both the civil and military officials had complaints, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
Although Shen Jue’s body wasn’t good, Tong Meng’er’s body was very healthy. She gave birth to Shen Jue at the age of fifteen; now she was only forty-four years old, yet she looked like she was only in her early thirties; her beauty remained.
Since Shen Jue ascended to the throne, Tong Meng’er had taken control of the government, and even when Shen Jue was too sick to get up, Tong Meng’er would still listen to the government from behind the curtain. Although the ministers sent their reports to the Chengde Palace, where Shen Jue lived, Tong Mengye was the one who actually read them.
Tong Meng’er was an iron-fisted empress dowager, but she overindulged in her only son, believing that reading too much would hurt Shen Jue’s eyes.
However, Shen Jue has been spoiled and raised by Tong Meng’er since childhood. After Tong Meng’er became the empress, several imperial brothers had to pay attention to his mood, and his temperament was raised to be cruel and violent. Whenever he didn’t like something, he would beat and scold the servants. There were many servants who were beaten to death, but Tong Meng’er knew about it and would only smile and say, Good boy.
Although Shen Jue served as emperor for fifteen years, he didn’t have any major selection for a spouse during these fifteen years. The reason for this was nothing but Tong Meng’er’s belief that no woman in this world was worthy of her son.
Until the age of thirty, Shen Jue suffered a serious illness that left him unable to sleep and almost on the brink of death.
It was only then that Tong Meng’er began to realize that she could no longer protect her son. She could make her son emperor, but she could not decide how long her son would live, so Tong Meng’er sought out the order of the Minister of Astronomy.
Tong Meng’er thought that Shen Jue’s situation was already beyond the reach of medicine and stone and that perhaps she could only rely on other methods.
After counting for seven days and seven nights, Tong Meng’er was told that there was only one way to prolong Shen Jue’s life, and that was to find the person whose birthdate was the most compatible with Shen Jue’s and hold a wedding ceremony.
Tong Meng’er was already desperate, and when she heard this, she immediately ordered the astronomy minister to go and find the person with the most compatible character.
They finally found it, but that person was not only a man but also Wen Yurong, the top scholar and son of the current prime minister, who had just been selected in the Chunxi Palace Examination.
The name Wen Yurong was given by the late emperor; it was said that Wen Yurong was in swaddling clothes at that time. The late emperor passed by the prime minister’s residence on a visit and went to the door, he saw Wen Yurong, and then gave the word “Yurong.”.
After Shen Jue succeeded to the throne, the people not only had to avoid the word “Jue,” but even the word “Yu” couldn’t be used, except for Wen Yurong. Wen Yurong was the only exception because his name was given by the late emperor, so he didn’t have to avoid using those names.
Wen Yurong became a scholar but had to be sent to the palace to be married by the emperor. When the Prime Minister’s wife found out, she was so sick that she couldn’t get out of bed. Although the Prime Minister was heartbroken, he couldn’t go against the holy will of the emperor and could only send his best first son to the palace.
Tong Meng’er actually minded a bit that Wen Yurong was a man, but as long as she could keep Shen Jue alive a little longer, she didn’t care about the details, but men couldn’t have children, and although he was sent to the palace to celebrate his wedding, the position of empress was definitely not given, so Tong Meng’er drew up a new title for Wen Yurong: “Bongjun Xiao”.
But Wen Yurong’s entry into the palace brought Tong Meng’er, a mother and son, not good luck but a knife that was about to cut into their heads.
From a young age, Wen Yurong had already been the object of admiration of the capital’s noblewomen, and countless noblewomen wanted to marry into the prime minister’s mansion, but in the end, Wen Yurong was brought into the palace by an imperial decree. There were many complaints from the noble families in the capital.
The prime minister had a good reputation among the people, but his first son had to go and be wedded to the tyrant, which set off public anger.
In addition, Wen Yurong had a younger brother named Shi Zhou, who grew up next door. He followed his father to the battlefield at the age of twelve and became famous in the border areas at the age of fourteen. By the time he was seventeen, he had already become a young general with outstanding military achievements.
Shi Zhou had long been in love with Wen Yurong, and knowing that Wen Yurong was going to wed the tyrant, he couldn’t bear it. In the end, it was also Shi Zhou who was the first to start the uprising, overthrowing the rule of the demon queen Tong Meng’er and also beheading Shen Jue in a single stroke from the dragon chair, allowing his generals to hang Shen Jue’s head in the vegetable market for the people to gather around and watch.
While Tong Meng’er was thrown into the snake cave and bitten to death, her body didn’t enter the imperial tomb. Even though the late emperor had long left a phoenix coffin beside Hin for Tong Meng’er, her final end was nothing more than a straw mat wrapped around the body that was thrown to the mass grave.
……
Shen Jue’s mind had hurriedly finished a lifetime, and Tong Meng’er, at this time, was staring at the doctor, like a she-wolf protecting her cub. As long as the doctor said bad words, it seemed as if she was going to immediately rush up to tear and bite off the other party’s neck.
“Mother.” Shen Jue breathlessly called out to Tong Meng’er.
Tong Mengye hurriedly turned back, looking at Shen Jue’s pale face and purple lips; her heart ached too much. “Good boy, mother is here; what’s wrong?”
“Let them all go out!” Shen Jue aggravated his tone a bit.
Tong Meng’er hurriedly nodded, then she turned around and glared, “Still not getting lost? Bunch of losers!”
The crowd exited the palace, and at this point, only the two of them, Shen Jue and Tong Meng’er, were left in the palace.
Shen Jue’s body was really weak, and after a long illness, he had to catch his breath three times before he could speak. “Mother, son had a dream about a fairy who said that son had committed a great sin, which is why I have this disastrous body.”
“Nonsense!” Tong Meng’er couldn’t listen anymore. “Good boy, how could you have sinned? Are you thinking of your several incompetent royal brothers? That’s all mother’s doing. What does it have to do with you? If heaven wants to retaliate, it should just retaliate against Mother. Your poor health is entirely the work of that bit-ch, Ding Yuerong; if it wasn’t for her poisoning mother’s anabolic medicine, you wouldn’t have been born with such a weak body.”
Ding Yuerong was the first empress of the late emperor. Tong Meng’er hated her with venom, and every time she mentioned it, she felt a strong sense of hatred.
“Mother, listen to your son first.” Shen Jue took another big breath.
Tong Meng’er hurriedly responded, “Fine, fine, you say it, you say it.”
“The fairy said that if I want to live longer, I need someone.” Shen Jue’s eyes grew deeper and deeper.
Tong Meng’er’s expression turned grave. “Who?”
“Shi Zhou.” Shen Jue said word for word, “Kill him.”
……
In everyone’s mind, Tong Meng’er was the Demon Empress who should be put to death, but for Shen Jue in this realm, Tong Meng’er was the mother who protected him as he grew up.
During the five years when Tong Meng’er didn’t become the empress, Shen Jue actually did not live a life of being a superior person. Instead, because he was Tong Meng’er’s son, he was excluded everywhere. At the most demanding time, he and Tong Menger ate spoiled food, drank water they brought themselves, or used well water to wash clothes.
Shen Jue had been sick and weak since childhood and was often bullied. Tong Meng’er saw this and felt pain in her heart, so she swore to fight and rob for him.
But the harem had three thousand beauties; when could the emperor see her?
Tong Meng’er had the idea of getting close to the eunuch next to the emperor.
As mentioned earlier, Tong Meng’er’s face was beautiful. How beautiful was it? Even eunuchs were moved.
Tong Meng’er went to accompany the eunuch for seven nights, only to receive a sign flipping from the emperor a month later.
That night, Tong Meng’er let the emperor completely remember her, and since then she has gradually gone on the road of the demon Empress. However, a year after he ascended the throne, the eunuch died suddenly, and even his bones couldn’t be found.
Of course, Tong Meng’er also had good qualities. During her fifteen years of rule from behind the scenes, the country was prosperous, and the people were at ease, with good weather. Even if some ministers privately cursed her as a demon empress and it got to her ears, she only smiled.
On top of that, Tong Meng’er also reduced taxes, carried out drastic army reforms, and didn’t allow some wealthy children to make a living by slacking off inside. She didn’t judge people based on their background but relied solely on their abilities.
In the palace, she took the lead in frugality and even held only one table for her birthday celebration. But she loved her son too much and doted on him to the point of excess. Although she was cruel to herself, she wished she could give all the treasures of the world to Shen Jue.
Shen Jue wasn’t qualified to say that Tong Menger was bad, let alone that she wasn’t a good ruler. However, Shi Zhou shouldn’t have personally pushed Tong Meng’er into the snake den, nor should he have laughed and watched Tong Meng’er be bitten to death.
Tong Meng’er might have wronged the world, but Shi Zhou shouldn’t have k-illed Tong Meng’er in such a cruel way.
The world could say that Tong Mengye died a good death, but Shen Jue wasn’t qualified. He could accept that his and Tong Meng’er’s rule would be overthrown in the future, but he hoped that Tong Meng’er’s death wouldn’t be so cruel; this was one of the reasons for kil-ling Shi Zhou.
The second was that when Shen Jue spent the first night with Wen Yurong, Shi Zhou slept with Wen Yurong on his dragon bed, and he had been dru-gged at the time, and when he woke up, he only saw Wen Yurong sleeping next to him in a state of disarray.
This fact was still told to him by Shi Zhou himself when he kil-led him.
Shi Zhou looked at him with contempt in his eyes and said, ”Rubbish dimwit, do you know how many times I’ve slept with Brother Yurong on that dragon bed of yours? You still foolishly thought that you touched Brother Yurong yourself; hahaha, you’ve never been with him. What an uninitiated fool! Your mother loves you so much; why didn’t she teach you about this?”
The realm lord of this realm was Wen Yurong. How could Shen Jue let Shi Zhou have another chance to get close to Wen Yurong? The best way was to ki-ll Shi Zhou.
TN:
Another world, another target. Will I feel sorry for this one?
I fixed the second to the last chapter of the previous arc, which I skipped unknowingly. Sorry about that. It took a bit but It’s been added.
See ya tomorrow, onto the new arc.
Thank you very much for your translation!