Chapter 21: What Present Do You Want?

Translator: 安贝-Peggyan

Silence reigned in the Throne Room.

It had been five days since Lady Shan was poisoned.

During this period, changes were made among ministers.

Lady You, Lady Yu, and the other two imperial maids were arrested, for they were involved in the matter.

Besides, it was concluded that some ministers were also involved therein. The father of Lady Yu was Yu Daren, a minister of the third-ranking. The father of Lady You was Jiang Shaoweng, a minister of the second-ranking.

Those ministers conspired with imperial concubines to frame the empress, which was spotted.

His Majesty was furious, so he made some changes among the ministers.

All ministers related to this incident got laid off, including Yu Daren and Jiang Shaoweng.

From the start to finish, a dozen ministers were laid off, several of whom were because of perverting justice for bribes…

In a word, many imperial concubines, imperial maids, and eunuchs were handled during the five days.

A dozen ministers were fired, so no one dared to provoke His Majesty in the imperial morning session. They all wondered when His Majesty stopped his anger…

“The session is over!” shouted Zhou Qing sharply. Long Xiaoyuan had walked out of the Throne Room from the backstairs. All the ministers sneakily looked at each other and wondered whether the incident was over since His Majesty didn’t deal with anyone…

They should learn a lesson from this and couldn’t join in the fights of the Imperial Harem…

“General s.h.i.+.” A minster of the second-ranking stopped s.h.i.+ Qingshan.

The latter slightly turned his head around. “Oh, Minister Zhang, what’s up?”

“Haha, Minister s.h.i.+, it’s alright. Just for a chat,” said Minister Zhang hurriedly.

s.h.i.+ Qingshan said with a smile, his eyebrows furrowed, “Oh, a chat.”

Minister Zhang coughed twice to hide his nervousness and said like he recalled something, “Well, bandits are rampant in Mount Yong. It’s said that Minister w.a.n.g got nothing this time. Minister s.h.i.+, do you hear this?”

s.h.i.+ Qingshan said with a smile after a pause, “Really? Can’t Minister w.a.n.g handle it as a military minister? I think you’re over-worried!”

“Er…” said Minister Zhang with embarra.s.sment. As he wanted to continue speaking, s.h.i.+ Qingshan said lightly, “I have something to attend. I have to go.”

“Haha, Minister s.h.i.+, please,” said Minister Zhang in a hurry. When s.h.i.+ Qingshan kept a distance from him, he added with a sneer, “How can a man win His Majesty’s favor forever? Can he give birth to anything? s.h.i.+ Qingshan becomes more and more intrepid…”

After spitting, Minister Zhang walked away.

Left-Prime Minister and Right-Prime Minister looked at each other, lowered their eyelids, and walked away silently…

Long Xiaoyuan didn’t care about those ministers’ thoughts at all. Now, he felt hungry, so he went to the Qiankun Palace. When he arrived there, s.h.i.+ Qingzhou was reading. He immediately came over and hugged s.h.i.+ Qingzhou. “Qingzhou, I’m hungry.”

s.h.i.+ Qingzhou said with a smile, “I’ve ordered breakfast to be served, and we’ll eat soon.”

Long Xiaoyuan said with his lips curled, “Finally, those ministers become a little quiet.”

s.h.i.+ Qingzhou said with a smile, “Your Majesty, you don’t like listening to nonsense, do you?”

“Of course, nonsense is meaningless,” said Long Xiaoyuan. “But, balance is also important. Forget it! Don’t mention them. The new year is coming. What present do you want?”