C135 — Kill the scholar (2)

Tong Meng’er had controlled the government for many years. How could she not know about Shi Zhou?

 

 

The Shi family had three generations of descendants from the Humen tribe. His grandfather, Shi Tongru, was an elder statesman of the Third Dynasty and had since passed away. However, he still held a certain level of prestige in the court. His father, Shi Haoran, was a prominent general with outstanding military achievements. His two sons, Shi Ji and Shi Zhou, followed him to the battlefield since childhood.

 

Especially Shi Zhou; he was young, yet the enemy generals were scared of him.

 

 

Ki-ll Shi Zhou?

 

 

Tong Meng’er froze when she heard this request, but when she saw the determination in Shen Jue’s eyes, she still nodded. “The Shi family won’t be easy to deal with, so allow mother to think about how to proceed.”

 

 

If it was someone else, a direct imperial decree could be issued, but because it was the Shi family, it was necessary to think long and hard about it.

 

……

 

 

Although Shen Jue woke up, he still couldn’t get out of bed and even slept for seven or eight hours a day. During the few moments of wakefulness, he could only barely sit by the bed, panting heavily for every word he spoke.

 

Soup and medicine were being delivered to Chengde Palace day by day. Shen Jue almost treated the soup and medicine as food to take, but the effect wasn’t high. Tong Meng’er was so anxious that she couldn’t sit still, and her ki-lling intent towards Shi Zhou gradually became stronger.

 

 

In her heart, nothing was more important than her son. Even if Shi Zhou died, the Great Wei Kingdom wouldn’t perish. But if her son died, what would the Great Wei Kingdom mean to her?

 

When Shen Jue’s health improved a bit and he was able to get out of bed and walk around, Tong Meng’er organized a palace banquet and invited the civil and military officials to have fun.

 

 

She was planning to poison Shi Zhou at the banquet, and the poisoning would take some time to occur. It would happen when Shi Zhou left the banquet, and by then, there would be no evidence of death. Moreover, the poison would make it seem like he suddenly died from palpitations.

 

Shen Jue, the emperor, was naturally present at the banquet, but Tong Meng’er wasn’t prepared to tell Shen Jue about her plans; she couldn’t dirty her son’s ears with such filth.

 

 

At the banquet, Shen Jue was weak. Even though it was summer, he was wearing a thick coat of fur. Speaking of which, Shen Jue’s face inherited the advantages and strengths of Tong Meng’er and the late emperor, but due to his illness and weakness, he was extremely pale, and coupled with the dark circles between his eyebrows and eyes, he looked even worse.

 

His face was as white as paper, and his lips were like spring pear. It was the look of a short-lived ghost.

 

He didn’t have the strength to sit up straight, so he could only lean back on the dragon throne. The civil and military officials below had already become accustomed to it, only bowing their heads to drink and eat. The palace banquet was like a mime convention.

 

Tong Meng’er didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the atmosphere. She sat behind the pearl curtain of Shen Jue’s dragon chair, staring straight at the desk where Shi Haoran was sitting.

 

 

Those two sons of his were sitting next to him.

 

 

……

 

 

Shen Jue was also sizing someone up. Tonight, Wen Yurong, the new top scorer in the imperial examination, also came. As he didn’t have an official position yet, he sat at the back. Shen Jue couldn’t even see his face clearly; only a faint figure could be seen.

 

His body wasn’t good, not even his eyes.

 

“You, send this to the scholar’s table.” Shen Jue called the little eunuch next to him, his eyes glancing toward the grapes on the table.

 

The little eunuch immediately understood, carrying the grapes down the table, and after a while, the person returned, “Scholar Wen said he thanks His Majesty for the reward and will enjoy it.”

 

When Shen Jue heard this, he waved his hand with little expression, signaling the eunuch to retreat. His giving grapes to Wen Yurong was just a habit from his previous lives.

 

He had genuinely liked Wen Yurong in his previous lives because Wen Yurong was different from everyone else in his mind. Onlookers always advised him to take care of his health and not to do this or that, but Wen Yurong wouldn’t; he always smiled and said, “If your highness is happy, you can give it a try.”

 

Shen Jue originally thought this was liking, and only when he died did he realize that Wen Yurong’s difference was only because he hated him.

 

Wen Yurong hated Shen Jue for cutting off his future and making him a hidden concubine in the deep palace. To put it nicely, he was still serving the emperor, but in reality, he was just a male favorite of the emperor.

 

Shen Jue’s imperial decree brought shame to the entire Wen family. How could Wen Yurong not hate him? But Shen Jue, who was used to being a superior, couldn’t put himself in others’ shoes and felt that this was a reward for the Wen family.

 

 

In Shen Jue’s heart, although he did not give the position of empress to Wen Yurong, there was no one else in the harem, which was no different from him having the position of empress.

 

 

Moreover, after Wen Yurong entered the palace, he almost gave all the good things to him and was obedient to him. The grace of the heavenly family was already the best thing in the world.

 

Could being a sixth-rank official in the court be more comfortable than this?

 

Now that he had his memory and was starting over again, he didn’t want to bring Wen Yurong into the palace again; it was better to use a different method to keep him around.

 

It was a habit for Shen Jue to send grapes, but this gesture was extremely significantly in the eyes of the onlookers.

 

 

Tong Meng’er naturally noticed Shen Jue’s actions; Shen Jue rarely paid attention to outsiders, let alone to a recently elected scholar. After thinking for a while, she sent the two plates of fruits on her table to the second and third places, respectively.

 

Impartiality, she had to demonstrate the equal treatment of the heavenly family.

 

Halfway through the banquet, Shen Jue could no longer hold out and could only be helped down by the eunuchs to rest. At the time of bathing, he had almost fainted, and when he returned to the dragon bed, he was already drowsy.

 

The next day, when he woke up, Tong Meng’er was already sitting on the edge of the bed, and when she saw him wake up, she smiled gently and stroked Shen Jue’s somewhat sleep-disturbed hair, “Good boy, the matter has been accomplished, and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

 

Shen Jue paused for a moment before reacting to what Tong Meng’er was talking about.

 

 

“Shi Zhou is dead?”

 

 

“Dead!” Tong Mengye’s tone held extreme joy: “Last night there was a ceremony; mother specially sent an eunuch over; the eunuch has already looked at it; he’s dead through and through; the Shi Mansion has now hung up a white cloth; he’ll be buried after seven days have passed.”

 

 

It was surprisingly so easy?

 

Shen Jue was a bit stunned, but he still revealed a smile: “Mother is really great.”

 

Being complimented by Shen Jue, the smile on Tong Meng’er’s face couldn’t be hidden, and she even went up and gave Shen Jue a kiss on his left and right cheeks.

 

 

The cream-coated lips left two distinct lip marks on Shin Jue’s pale, bloodless cheeks.

 

Shen Jue: “……”

 

 

Tong Meng’er was good at everything, except that he was going on thirty, yet she still treated him like a child.

 

 

Shen Jue frowned and raised his hand to wipe it off, but the more he wiped his face, the more obvious it became. Tong Meng’er let out a sigh and stopped Shen Jue’s movements. “Let Mother do it; don’t wipe too hard and scratch your tender skin.”

 

At breakfast, if Shen Jue hadn’t insisted on eating on his own, Tong Mengye would have been ready to feed him personally. The courtiers on the side had already gotten used to the behavior of this mother and son and didn’t even dare to look at them.

 

 

If Shen Jue’s broken body ate one unnecessary bite, he would be in trouble, so Tong Meng’er always strictly controlled Shen Jue’s diet, never letting him overindulge. And it was only during the meal that Tong Meng’er had time to ask about what happened at last night’s banquet.

 

“Good child, why did you give grapes to that scholar last night? You remember him?”

 

At the time of the selection, Shen Jue didn’t even lift his eyes. Everything was handled by her.

 

“I heard that he was very talented, and son thought that such a person might be able to become a pillar of the country in the future, so that’s why I rewarded him with a plate of grapes.” Shen Jue put down his jade chopsticks and took the silk handkerchief handed over by the eunuch and wiped his mouth. “It’s just that son wasn’t well thought out and didn’t reward the second and third scholars; it’s still mother empress who thought it through.”

 

Tong Meng’er smiled when she heard this: “You had the thought; that’s already good enough; the affairs of the imperial government are trivial; my son should not worry too much.” After a pause, her eyes turned slightly. “Good child, are you too bored in the palace? Do you want mother to find someone to come in and accompany you?”

 

In her previous lives, Tong Meng’er had also asked this, and at that time, Shen Jue had always listened to Tong Meng’er, so he didn’t think much about it and directly nodded his head, and then the matter of Wen Yurong came up.

 

Now it seemed that Tong Meng’er had still sought out the Order of the Astronomy Supervisor.

 

“With Mother Empress, how could son feel tired?” Shen Jue faintly replied, “If one more person hangs around in front of son’s eyes, son will be annoyed; there are already enough lackeys in this palace.”

 

Shen Jue, for example, was surrounded by a large group of people wherever he went, and Tong Meng’er was often in his palace, and there were plenty of palace servants serving around Tong Meng’er.

 

Tong Meng’er laughed, “This boredom relief person is not a lackey, good child; mother empress thought about it; you are now about to pass the age of thirty, and it’ll be good to have someone who is considerate of you around. How about…”

 

“Mother.” Shen Jue interrupted Tong Meng’er’s words, “Son only wants to live with mother; I don’t need anyone else.”

 

Tong Meng’er was interrupted, but not only did she not get angry, she was happier because of Shen Jue’s words, looking at Shen Jue with a pleased expression, her eyes full of love.

 

But Shen Jue was worried that Tong Meng’er would still go down the same old path of her previous lives and repeated, “Mother, son doesn’t need anyone else, just mother.”

 

“Mother Empress knows.” Tong Meng’er smiled.

 

But a few days later, Shen Jue still saw Wen Yurong, but in addition to Wen Yurong, there were other Marquis’ children, and even the second and third top scorers were there.

 

Tong Meng’er had organized a group meeting, inviting all the young talents in the capital. Tong Meng’er didn’t show up; she just sat on the water pavilion, laughing at the group of young boys, and only after a short interval did she look at Shen Jue, who was sitting in the back.

 

“Good child, you don’t want to go have fun with them?”

 

Shen Jue lifted his eyes and shook his head.

 

He didn’t expect that in this life even though didn’t directly agree, Tong Meng’er even created a so-called blind date.

 

 

Why hadn’t Tong Meng’er chosen a woman? There was no other reason; it was just that the astronomy supervisor said that Shen Jue’s body was weak because the harem was too yin and he needed yang to complement it.

 

When she heard it, she thought it made perfect sense. Apart from women, there were eunuchs in this palace, and it could be said that Shen Jue was the only man. The Yin energy was too strong and would always harm Shen Jue. That was why Tong Meng’er organized this mutual recognition meeting.

 

 

And Wen Yurong was the one Tong Meng’er most wanted to bring into the palace; after all, his eight characters matched Shen Jue’s, but she wanted to respect Shen Jue’s intentions.

 

 

However, she has already seen Wen Yurong, so there was no need to talk about his appearance or character; she was just waiting for Shen Jue to see for himself.

 

“Eh, good child, look, who hit the pitcher?” Tong Meng’er suddenly exclaimed exaggeratedly.

 

Tong Meng’er didn’t come from a high background, didn’t read much, and even after fifteen years of being the Empress Dowager, she didn’t have much of an Empress Dowager’s appearance and even acted a bit rudely at times, but when one was in a position of power, why should one care about these petty things?

 

 

Shen Jue didn’t even tease his eyes this time. “Who?”

 

“Wen Yurong, the new top scholar.” Tong Meng’er laughed, “Mother has heard that the common people now call him Yulang. That day, when the top scorer was wandering the streets, the streets were crowded with people, and it was hard to even walk.”

 

 

Speaking of which, Tong Meng’er suddenly quieted down. She looked at her son in front of her and couldn’t help but think that if his son didn’t come from the royal family, he would still have a healthy body. When he walked down the street, who would notice that Wen family kid?

 

Her son was the real Yulang.

 

Tong Meng’er quickly turned her face and put away the glittering tears in her eyes. After a while, she asked the palace maid next to her to invite Wen Yurong up. Of course, in order to be less obvious, she also invited a few other people.

 

Shi Ji, the elder brother of Shi Zhou, was also among them.

 

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