Chapter 530: Chapter 390 The Mad Queen
Old Deer was right.
At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.
New inmates arrived at the Cold Palace, the forr mistress of Kunning Palace.
Empress Xia.
There were rumors in the palace that Empress Xia pined for the Deposed Crown Prince, and her condition worsened over ti, often losing touch with reality—in short, she went mad.
If you’re mad, you should have stayed quietly in the palace. Instead, she refused to heed the eunuchs’ attempt to stop her and barged into Yangxin Hall, throwing tantrums and rolling on the ground, completely lacking the dignity of royalty.
...
Out of consideration for their past marital bond, Emperor Hongwu did not punish her severely for disrespect but simply demoted her to live out her old age in the Cold Palace.
Eunuch Yuan personally escorted Empress Xia to the Cold Palace and ordered, “Make sure to watch her closely. She must not step half a foot out of the palace. Alarming His Majesty is sothing you cannot afford!”
“Rest assured, Eunuch Yuan, we will definitely watch her closely,” Zhou Yi nodded and bowed excessively, pondering on how to curry favor with Eunuch Yuan, the current favorite in front of the emperor.
Not long ago, Head Steward Wang of the Sili Jian was found to have conspired with the third prince, the King of Chu, planning rebellion and usurpation.
Having already dealt with issues from the Deposed Crown Prince and the second prince’s rebellion, Emperor Hongwu was rciless in such matters, preferring to execute wrongly than let a traitor go unpunished. He had Steward Wang beaten to death on the spot and ordered the King of Chu to assu his fief imdiately.
Seizing the opportunity, Eunuch Yuan took over the position of Head Steward, with power second only to the Head Supervisor of the Sili Jian—a major player within the palace.
Even high-ranking officials of the third rank from the outer court had to clasp their hands and bow when they saw Eunuch Yuan.
Such is the charm of the Imperial Household Bureau, to rise from an ungraded servant to the summit among ministers in just three years. Despite the risk of being executed at any mont, akin to living with a tiger, the allure of power drew countless people to try and get close to Emperor Hongwu.
An aging emperor is even more capricious with rewards and punishnts!
After sending away Eunuch Yuan and his entourage, Zhou Yi returned to the Cold Palace, observing Empress Xia through the window lattice.
I didn’t dare lift my head during our previous eting, as her presence was too overwhelming.
Now that Empress Xia has fallen from grace, she no longer stands out among those old palace maids. However, from her looks and figure, she must have been a striking beauty in her youth.
At this mont,
Empress Xia was tied up with brocade ribbons, firmly secured to the bed, emitting unintelligible screams and struggling to break free from her restraints.
Zhou Yi watched her for a mont and then turned to face Old Deer, who was basking in the sun.
“Old Deer, do you think the Empress Dowager is truly mad or feigning madness?”
The corners of Old Deer’s eyes lifted slightly as he looked Zhou Yi up and down, speaking with a hint of surprise, “You’ve made progress, lad, in the past half-year of study. You’re trying to set a trap for now!”
Zhou Yi shook his head repeatedly, “Old Deer, you jest. My question is out of pure curiosity.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Old Deer shook his head and said, “With my old arms and legs, I fear nothing. In earlier years, I encountered a few formidable madn, and they all did one thing!”
Zhou Yi asked curiously, “What’s that?”
Old Deer’s voice suddenly rose a notch, “They ate their own excrent.”
“Ugh!”
Zhou Yi, upon hearing this and imagining such a scene, couldn’t help but feel nauseated, “Such people must truly be mad, right?”
“Not true.”
Old Deer explained, “The last one who did that was Chu Gonggong, the forr Head Supervisor of the Imperial Household Bureau. He survived an act of revenge from his enemies by ingesting his own excrent and entered the palace as a clean-slate eunuch for the sake of revenge!”
Zhou Yi couldn’t help but admire, Chu Gonggong was indeed ruthless.
“And what of Chu Gonggong’s enemies?”
Old Deer said, “After taking control of the Imperial Household Bureau, Chu Gonggong had the Nine Clans of his enemy arrested and force-fed them excrent until they bloated to death!”
Zhou Yi, once again feeling sick, suddenly feared the prospect of rising to the top of the Imperial Household Bureau, struggling for power against soone as ruthless as Chu Gonggong, seed indeed daunting.
“You’d better keep studying. You still have a long way to go!”
Old Deer laughed mischievously, “Every Head Supervisor of the Imperial Household Bureau throughout Daqing’s history was adept at the doctrines of Confucius, Mozi, and Daoism. They may not have led troops in battle, but they could discuss military formations with sound logic and evidence.”
Zhou Yi shrugged helplessly and squatted down at the door of the room where Empress Xia was confined, continuing to recite the classics of the sages.
Evening.
The eunuch brought in the food box, and Zhou Yi held the ginseng porridge, spoon-feeding Empress Xia bit by bit.
However, after consuming less than half a bowl, Empress Xia clamped her mouth shut, trembling and struggling as if in a fit of madness, unable to ingest any more food.
The following morning.
Empress Xia still refused to eat, seemingly determined to starve herself.
Zhou Yi dared not delay and hastily reported to the Internal Affairs Departnt.
At noon.
Eunuch Yuan arrived at the Cold Palace with his entourage, untied the brocade that bound Empress Xia, and had three or four eunuchs hold her down while the Imperial Physician carefully examined her pulse and complexion, yet nothing unusual could be diagnosed.
With uncertain symptoms, the Imperial Physician dared not make any reckless conjectures and, after pondering for a long ti, finally spoke.
“Madness is a disturbance of the soul and spirit, beyond the reach of dicine; this humble physician does not know how to make a certain diagnosis…”
Eunuch Yuan’s eyebrows twitched at hearing “make a certain diagnosis” rather than “treat,” concluding in his heart that Empress Xia was “feigning madness” and was about to take the Imperial Physician back to report.
Emperor Hongwu was deeply concerned about whether Empress Xia was truly mad or pretending!
In previous days, the Internal Affairs Departnt investigated a sorcerer from the streets who had bewitched the Second Prince into rebellion and found that this demon had preached to Empress Xia before she went mad.
Suddenly.
A foul stench emanated from the bed, and Empress Xia violently shook off the eunuchs, groping under her to retrieve a yellow, shining excrent, then, to the horror of everyone present, she ate it.
The putrid sll was overwhelming, causing revulsion.
The Imperial Physician imdiately covered his eyes and scrambled out of the Cold Palace, terrified of encountering matters worthy of beheading.
The eunuchs went forward to restrain Empress Xia, preventing her from continuing to consu the filth.
Empress Xia let out hoarse laughter, exhibiting no sign of physical disgust, as if she genuinely lacked awareness and mistook feces for a delicacy.
Everyone in the room believed that Empress Xia had gone mad.
Only Zhou Yi’s eyes flashed with brilliance, shocked at Empress Xia’s ruthlessness, yet a sense of triumph at seizing the opportunity grew within him!
…
The news of Empress Xia’s madness spread.
The reactions within the palace varied, with so delighted and others anxious.
Those joyful saw that the position was finally vacant, while those anxious were uncertain whether the Emperor favored King of Qi or Prince Wei.
At such a ti, one could not afford to waver. The clever ones chose King of Qi, after all, Prince Wei’s maternal family was too dominant. Similarly, many chose Prince Wei for this very reason!
The only two genuinely concerned about Empress Xia were Emperor Hongwu and Zhou Yi.
Emperor Hongwu summoned the Deposed Crown Prince, exiled to the Northern Border, back to the palace, confining him in the Cold Palace alongside his mother, in hopes that it might ease Empress Xia’s madness.
Zhou Yi, ever dutiful, attended daily, ticulously serving her als and managing her bodily excretions.
Elderly people often need to relieve themselves throughout the night, and Zhou Yi thus stood guard outside the door, changing Empress Xia’s bedding every few hours to keep her clean and prevent bedsores.
To make Empress Xia more comfortable, Zhou Yi padded the bed with ten layers of bedding; though it seed tightly bound, it no longer caused bruising.
After the year passed.
Zhou Yi had accumulated another three years’ service and, instead of learning Qinggong as planned, he selected a volu of massage secret technique.
This Cultivation Technique could be classified as dicinal, transferring True Qi into a patient’s body and, by following the pathways of ridians, it could balance Qi-Blood, strengthen the body, and over ti even refine the essence and marrow.
Old Lu raised an eyebrow upon seeing this thod.
“Young Yi, you’ve turned all your reading into dog’s fodder!”
“I can’t compare to you, seeing through the world’s affairs,” replied Zhou Yi with a smile. “Without experiencing wealth and glory, one cannot talk of letting go. When I reach your age, I too will retire to the Cold Palace.”
Old Lu shook his head with a sigh.
“The struggle for power admits progress but no retreat; when you’re old, make sure you have no regrets…”
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