In the past, after Ye Mu returned, she had told Mo Linyuan about the situation in Liangzhou. At that time, he couldn’t restrain his emotions. Who would’ve thought that three years ago today, he would have such an outburst.
Mo Linyuan slightly smiled, “Who gave you the guts to deceive your monarch?”
He spoke gently, but the killing intent present in his question caused everyone to tremble in fear.
Mu Guangcai knew he was a dead man. Now, he could only hope that his crimes wouldn’t bring harm to his family members.
He suppressed his remorseful tears, and gritted through his teeth, “This official received 50,000 taels from Chief Zhou at that time. I have not touched the money at all; it is simply hidden under my resident. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy!”
Mu Guangcai’s accusations caused Zhou Gu to retreat backwards. He gave Wen Ze a pleading look, but Wen Ze wouldn’t meet his gaze at all! Zhou Gu’s heart twisted. Could it be that the scheme tonight was not only to eliminate the Zhong family, but also the Zhou family as well?!
Zhou Gu was confused: Why? The three big families were all doing so well. Why would Wen Ze want to help the emperor?!
He couldn’t comprehend the matter. However, one thing was clear: he absolutely could not admit to committing this sin! As a result, he gritted his teeth and knelt down once more.
“My Honorable King! This old official doesn’t know why these people are slandering me. They made these deceptive claims but this official has done no such thing!”
Either way, this event was already something from three years ago. Who could possibly find evidence to prove that he took the money?
Zhou Qi, the second son in the Zhou Family, who was also a part of the Ministry of Revenue, quickly rushed out to say, “My brilliant sovereign! Back then, the people in the Ministry of Revenue did take one million taels out. However, this was not embezzlement at all!”
Mo Linyuan snorted, “You all think that I don’t have any evidence?”
He waved his hand, once again calling people out, “Tan Junqing, Sun Bai, step forward.”
Those whose names were called stared blankly before slowly walking out with mournful expressions and kneeling on the ground.
“Both of you also work in the Ministry of Revenue under the administration of Zhou Qi. It was originally you two who were in charge of preparing the management of the disaster relief supplies yet so many people have died; what do you have to say for yourself?”
They didn’t hesitate at all and immediately declared the truth:
“Your Majesty please spare our lives! As for the original supplies, because the funds were inadequate, we had no choice but to substitute rice with inferior products. We even had to purchase the lowest quality linen where a light tug could easily tear it apart. In order to prevent this from being exposed, I have the account books that contain this information! At that time, the Zhou family bribed me with 30,000 silver taels, but I have not touched it at all! The only reason why I did this was because the Zhou family coerced me into it! ”
Account book? Everyone was shocked to hear there was even documented evidence.
Zhou Gu could feel the sharp cold air whirling around him; Mo Linyuan was trying to kill him off today!
Mo Linyuan replied, “Okay, you guys can step aside. Whatever proof you have, just hand it over to Zi Xu. Furthermore, we should continue discussing the matter about how the Head of the Zhou family has been buying and selling official positions in the bureaucracy.”
With a wide grin, Mo Linyuan’s eyes honed in on one particular individual who’d returned to the camp alongside Zhou Gu.
“Your name’s Han Pin, am I right? I’ve heard that you purchased your official position from the Zhou family. After that, you’ve held onto this position ever since. Is this true?”
Han Pin flinched in fear. He rapidly rushed up behind Zhou Gu and shouted, “There was no such thing! This official had slowly climbed up through promotions, only through passing the imperial exam and political achievements! Chief Zhou was gracious enough to select this official. Apart from that, there are no other relationships between us.”
Han Pin’s words caused Zhou Gu’s expression to become stiff as a corpse. Even now, he had yet to recover from the realization that the emperor wanted his head.
His questionable defense had collapsed under the attacks of everyone around him. After the confessions from Mu Guangcai and Han Pin, those who were against the emperor before, were now betraying and selling Zhou Gu’s past affairs one after another.
Seeing how now was the best opportunity to do so, everyone was taking advantage of the chance to confess to their own crimes. Under the supposed name of “lawful responsibility”, they revealed the truth. It was not only to get out of the danger from hiding the truth, but also to indirectly assist the emperor. Having helped him, the sovereign will definitely be more lenient in their punishments.
With these thoughts in mind, they each spoke a line, which eventually revealed everything there was about Zhou Gu.
It was the first time in Zhou Gu’s whole life that he had been exposed to have committed so many malicious deeds! Now, he could no longer bend over or kneel for mercy.
Tonight, he had already annihilated the Zhong family. He didn’t think that he would quickly follow in the other’s footsteps, and be eliminated as well. Was all that he’d worked for been in vain?
At last, when everyone had said their part, Wen Ze no longer had the heart to close his eyes. As Mo Linyuan regarded everyone who knelt down below, he finally let out a long sigh.
“All your statements have truly opened my eyes to the truth!” Mo Linyuan wore a half-hearted smile as he said, “I would have never thought this could happen under my rule. Yet, you’ve all already committed all these crimes… Cunning.. Clearly you all are very cunning individuals.”
After hearing this, they all bowed their heads in guilt. Even the ministers sitting on either side were uncomfortable. Having governed for many years, those who genuinely governed with a clear conscience were few and far between. And they normally only worked on the easier state of affairs. It was only by allying with the emperor that they were able to escape danger.
Mo Linyuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows for a while before exclaiming, “Zhou Gu, you have violated Article 31 of the law! 27 of which are unforgivable crimes that are punishable by death. I sentence all the men in the Zhou family to be decapitated! See how your wives are innocent, the women in the Zhou family will become members of the Buddhist temples to atone for the Zhou family’s evil deeds there!”
At that point, Zhou Gu no longer had any rebuttal to give. All of the Zhou family members had their eyes shut in despair. They hadn’t anticipated for this doomsday to come so quickly.
As for the others, with exception to Mu Guangcai, they were sentenced to death. Others who commited lighter crimes were exiled. The remaining simply had their government position demoted in rank.
Now that Zhou Gu’s affairs were exposed and his reputation was dragged into the dirt, his face became dejected. Before, he had an aspiring dream of annexing the Zhong family’s wealth, but now…
He abruptly glared at Wen Ze!
“Wen Ze! You ignorant old geezer, you have deceived us so cruelly!”
The guards were pulling Zhou Gu as he continued to struggle and snarl.
“You thought you could eradicate all of us like this and have your family be the last one standing? You’re mistaken!”
He pointed at Mo Linyuan who stood high above, “That person is not a cub you can control. Someday, you will also face the same fate as me!”
Even till the last moment as he was towed out of sight, Zhou Gu continued to bellow again and again, “You will face the same fate as me!”
Wen Ze’s complexion was pale as he glanced at Mo Linyuan. Although Mo Linyuan did not return Wen Ze’s gaze, his expression was tense.
A while later, besides those who were imprisoned, Mo Linyuan waved his hand to signal for the remaining guests to take a seat.
At that moment, the horizon barely held a faint light, but Mo Linyuan still ordered the chef to prepare dishes for the banquet.
They had already gone through so many repeated bombardments. Having almost not slept for the entire night, he didn’t want them to also not eat anything either.
Yet, none of them felt sleepy or hungry. They only felt that this banquet was honestly going on for a ridiculously long time.
Plate after plate of delicious meals were presented to everyone. There was even an exquisitely juicy golden-brown barbecue roast meat that was cut into fine slices on the table. The last to arrive was the rich fragrance of a good, fine wine. Mo Linyuan first proposed a toast as he happily declared,
“You’ve all worked hard tonight. As it’s nearly impossible to see during a night hunting event, someone’s bound to get injured. Everyone, by drinking this cup of wine, you all acknowledge that those who couldn’t leave the forest are now simply memories in the past!”
Mo Linyuan’s lips curved up slightly. Due to the Zhong family and Zhou family fighting each other, the forest already had quite a few corpses that still needed to be disposed of, but that wasn’t a big problem. It really wasn’t important.
He has seized total victory tonight. He raised his head as he downed his glass and drank the wine in one gulp.
As for Ye Mu, she noticed that many of the people had to secretly wipe away tears as they drank their wine.
The faction conflict was a very bitter, desperate struggle. It was very likely that many of their close relatives and friends died in the forest during the struggle.
A quiet whimper sounded, but Mo Linyuan acted as if he didn’t hear it. His previous threats were so excessive that right now, everyone was afraid to reveal their true feelings for fear he may react erratically.
Notably, Ye Mu saw Wen Ze continuously drown cup after cup of liquor, it was as if he was trying to drink away his sorrows. She unexpectedly left Mo Linyuan’s side and went over to Wen Ze.
“Prime Minister Wen, you seem to be in a bad mood?”
When Wen Ze saw her, he replied in fear and trepidation, “Miss Ye!”
Ye Mu giggled, “No need to be so formal. I simply wanted to see what was bothering the Prime Minister. Why not share with me and let me ease a few of your worries?”
Wen Ze glanced at Mo Linyuan who sat above, shook his head, and muttered, “It would seem my Xiang’er has given Miss Ye quite a bit of trouble tonight.”
Ye Mu deduced that Xiang’er could only be Wen Ze’s daughter that Mo Linyuan saved before.
Ye Mu shook her head in disagreement, “Prime Minister Wen, you aren’t worried about your daughter. You’re worried that the emperor will treat you like he treated Chief Zhou.”
He didn’t expect Ye Mu to be so direct, so Wen Ze simply stared at her, unable to formulate a response.
Ye Mu smirked, “If that is the case, Prime Minister has nothing to worry about.”
Wen Ze knew Ye Mu was the closest person to Mo Linyuan. Hearing this, he didn’t hesitate to ask, “What exactly does Miss Ye mean by this?”
Ye Mu clarified, “His Majesty once said to me that he could raise a fierce tiger as well as raise a snake that bites. With the assumption that those beasts will only be vicious towards others and not him.”
Wen Zi laughed softly. But his smile was filled with bitterness and pain.
“What if the snake has already bitten him once before? Would he still keep it?”
Ye Mu merrily replied, “I also asked him the same questions back then, but he stated that…”
Ye Mu glanced over at Mo Linyuan, “… He said that, since this was a fierce animal, it would clearly be difficult to train it. Not having tamed it yet, he is bound to be bitten. That outcome is only to be expected. As long as it can be tamed, it wouldn’t be a problem. Moreover, once this ferocious beast is docile, it would be extremely loyal and useful, especially because he is in need of this type of pet by his side.”
Wen Ze couldn’t help but guffaw at her words. He praised Ye Mu intently, “No wonder the emperor values you so much. You truly possess the wisdom of an empress.”
Ye Mu blanked, before she promptly waved her hand in dismissal, “I simply didn’t want any distance to form between you two. Previously, you guys always jumped between gratitude and grudges, which is understable. However, that is all in the past now.
Ye Mu suddenly lowered her voice, “Although it was you who indirectly killed the former empress, as long as you agree to continuously help His Majesty, the things in the past will remain in the past. You have my word and promise.”
Her words slowly calmed Wen Ze’s heart. He laughingly replied, with a face filled with gratitude, “Miss Ye, you may still be young, but your promise has put me extremely at ease. Please, if I may request that you also pass the same sense of relief and reassurance to His Majesty for me.”
“Ok, I can do that!”
Unexpectedly, as Ye Mu was grinning happily, Mo Linyuan was looking at her with a seemingly dissatisfied expression.
Really, what is she chatting so happily about with the Wen Family?
Mo Linyuan thought unhappily.
After Ye Mu said goodbye to Wen Ze, she returned to Mo Linyuan’s side. Quickly after, Mo Linyuan began interrogating her, “What did you say to him?”
Ye Mu cheekily retorted, “It’s a secret.”
She had her own reason for preventing a rift between Mo Linyuan and Wen Ze. Mo Linyuan already spent so many years planning his take down of the two big families in one go. Even though he had been successful, he still had an awful long way to go. She didn’t want to tell him that she had helped him so that he wouldn’t feel burdened. Which was why she sought out Wen Ze to discuss with him, in hopes that he wouldn’t get any ideas from Zhou Gu’s demise.
Despite Mo Linyuan’s frown after hearing her retort, he still thoughtfully offered her a skewered barbecued meat, “Eat up, you’re probably famished by now. Eat a little more so that you can keep growing.”
Ye Mu didn’t hear his words as her attention was captured by the golden luster of the tender meat slice. Moving boldly, she eagerly took it and gobbled up the skewer with no trace of politeness.
On the other hand, Mo Linyuan studied her behind the edge of the wineglass, watching her eagerly devour the meat without a care for her image.
I keep feeding you like this, but when will you finally grow up?
Mo Linyuan gently smirked with anticipation as he imagined Ye Mu’s potential future growth in appearance.
Although it was a celebratory banquet, it seemed like Ye Mu was the only one who was cheerfully eating away! A lot of the guests struggled to swallow down any food. The majority were desperately drinking their life away, doing their utmost to become so intoxicated they could forget their sorrows.
The second day, due to the fact that the corpses in the forest needed to be disposed of, the hunting event was cancelled so everyone went home instead. Even though they spent a whole trip just to attend this hunt, no one dared to complain. On the road heading back, there were 87 dead bodies that littered behind them!
During the march back, the women could no longer stifle their tears and sounds of weeping echoed throughout the journey. They were guarded tightly in the tents and had no idea of what went on, let alone, why there were so many deaths over a short nighttime period! Consequently, every inch of outside influence over the imperial court had now crumbled into pieces, leaving Mo Linyuan as the sole authority.
~~~~~~~~~
After returning to the palace, Mo Linyuan promptly wrote around a dozen imperial edicts to publicly denounce those that violated the laws while simultaneously dishing out punishments one after another for their crimes.
All the men in the Zhou family were escorted out of the gates and then publicly beheaded. Their deaths not only signified the demise of the family, but also the end of the era dominated by the aristocratic families. They were now a thing of the past.
In addition, the emperor sent people to confiscate their property. Just from the search and seizure of the possessions of only two eliminated families yielded astonishing wealth; in total it added up to almost ten times the state treasury fund! Everyone was dumbstruck. Just how much embezzlement were they involved in?
During the string of continuous suppression, the one who was most terrified was the Empress Dowager! She didn’t attend the hunt because she knew that the event wouldn’t be safe. However she never considered that the emperor would, not only return unscathed, but also eliminate two big families at the same time!
The Empress Dowager, Zhao Yiqin, was deeply petrified. She wanted to instruct someone to bring Wen Ze to her, but Wen Ze refused to visit. His ridiculous excuse was that a simple foreign state official was not permitted to enter the inner courts.
This made Zhao Yiqin really lose her temper! Unable to sit around passively anymore, she had to think of countermeasures to deal with the situation by herself.
These days, Mo Linyuan kept growing more and more mature. After years of polishing, he was even more difficult to deal with compared to before. Realizing this, Zhao Yiqin was suddenly possessed with fear. It would seem that Mo Linyuan has become a profound obstacle, one that was difficult to overcome and made others feel helpless against.
Zhao Yiqin’s eyes danced crazily as she plotted, “I can’t accept this! Wen Ze, that old nutcase actually helped Mo Linyuan. I didn’t know that they privately made some kind of pact together. Now, I’m just sitting here waiting for death to descend upon me! Do I still have any means of survival left?”
All of a sudden, her eyes lit up!
If she remembered correctly, back then, Mo Linyuan’s mother had a pleasant encounter with Wen Ze in the past. If she seized this information and stirred up a scandal, saying that Mo Linyuan may not be of royal blood, then how could Mo Linyuan be able to face this while sitting in his position above?
With this, Zhao Yiqin became more and more smug. She immediately summoned a reliable aide to her side and carefully discussed the logistics of this plan.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the emperor’s palace:
“Ah, stop that!” Ye Mu evaded Mo Linyuan’s attempt to grab her. Unfortunately, no one around was willing to help her.
Mo Linyuan nervously said, “Be good for a moment and let me take a look! You’re bleeding!”
Ye Mu’s face furrowed and resembled a stuffed steamed bun. Her face was full of bitterness as she made futile attempts to cover her buttocks with her hands, “It’s none of your business, I can take care of it myself!”
“How is that ok? Quick,let me take a look!” Mo Linyuan was under the assumption that Ye Mu was injured by someone while he wasn’t paying attention. He was so cluttered with concern that he was unable to think of any other possible causes for her bleeding.
Ye Mu was blushing profusely, when she finally said indignantly, “You’re just faking your concern! Y-You.. Weren’t you looking forward to me having this!”
“What?” Mo Linyuan’s brows knitted in confusion… He contemplated… Before he reached a revelation and instantly stared at Ye Mu with huge eyes!
“Y-You’re menstrat-!”
Luckily Ye Mu had sharp eyes and deft hands, so she quickly covered Mo Linyuan’s mouth. The surrounding people could only laugh into their sleeves as they witnessed this. They had all already guessed what was going on, it was only the emperor who was too worried to recognize it.
So it was because she’s menstruating! Mo Linyuan could barely contain his grin. How could he have not noticed this?
“Then what are you still running around everywhere for? Come over here and let the imperial doctor examine you.”
“No way!” Ye Mu dipped her head in shame, “Just tell someone to give me some female products and that should be good enough. I’ll take care of it!”
“Are you sure?” Mo Linyuan regarded her dubiously.
Ye Mu puffed her chest and said proudly, “Of course, I already have my own natural female skills!”
Evidently, a big package of female products was delivered straight into Ye Mu’s hands. She flusterly used the product, but was embarrassed with how long it took her to use it correctly. Eventually she changed her clothes and awkwardly came outside.
By the time she made her appearance, it was already dark out. She noted something before she timidly asked Mo Linyuan, “I want to sleep alone tonight. Being on my period makes me unclean. There’s no way you can endure that.”
At that time, Mo Linyuan was looking through some documents. He looked up at her in astonishment after he heard her request. Ever since the hunting event, he had used all kinds of excuses to make Ye Mu sleep beside him every night.
Although right now they still couldn’t go beyond little touches, hugging was still a possibility right? After all, he found Ye Mu’s sweet scent and soft body addictive to cuddle.
Particularly when he caught sight of Ye Mu’s defying expression, it made him unable to let her go even more as he raised his eyebrows in joy.
“I already know everything there is to know about your body. Besides, we’ve already slept together for several days now. Wouldn’t you say, it’s already kinda late for that?”
Ye Mu hugged her pillow tightly in a chokehold, determined to stand her ground!
“That’s not the same. Haven’t you heard?” Ye Mu whispered ominously, “Periods are very unsanitary. If you were contaminated with it, you would be cursed with bad luck!”
Mo Linyuan snorted. He tossed his brush pen aside and started walking towards her.
Ye Mu wanted to run away but was caught by Mo Linyuan in an instant. He brought her back to sit down with him behind his royal office desk filled with paperworks. Now, she couldn’t run all over the place.
“I am the renowned emperor of this country. This sort of filth can’t possibly affect me. Besides…” He swiftly kissed Ye Mu’s cheek, “blood is considered the essence of a person, how could that be considered filthy? Even if it is considered unsanitary, anything that’s a part of you is different from other people.”
Ye Mu flushed crimson, “Let me go right now, I’m seriously really dirty!”
Mo Linyuan intimately murmured, “I’m not afraid. On another note, from now on you cannot run around barefooted.”
He paused before he clarified solemnly, “The doctor said that during these times, you can’t catch a cold. Please, for me, just behave a little.”