Fu Chaoying departed in a great hurry, leaving He Jian behind. Yin Zhuli intended to grab the corner of his robe again to wipe her mouth—her silk handkerchiefs and other belongings had all been confiscated. Having learned his lesson, He Jian took a step back to avoid her. "Did you truly send men to the Dayuezhi?"
Yin Zhuli looked at him with a face of pure confusion. "The Dayuezhi and Great Xing are currently at war. If I sent people there now, wouldn't that be defecting to the enemy?"
He Jian’s face paled in shock. He glanced around to ensure no one was nearby before leaning in and whispering, "You actually dared to lie about such a thing! It did seem strange, though... I haven't seen Tan Yue or Lian Kang with you in the palace lately..."
Taking advantage of his proximity, Yin Zhuli quickly wiped her mouth on his sleeve and replied with a helpless sigh, "That is because His Majesty said the Inner Palace is a restricted area, and no man is permitted near it unless he is a eunuch."
He Jian was so anxious his face turned white. "If the Grand Tutor finds out..."
Yin Zhuli took the opportunity to wipe her hands on his sleeve as well. "I did indeed send Qingwan out of the palace from Zhaohua Palace, and Tan Yue and Lian Kang have truly been away from Chang'an these past few days."
Seeing her composed manner, He Jian breathed a slight sigh of relief. "You nearly scared this old man to death!"
Yin Zhuli gave a radiant smile and turned to the matter at hand. "Was His Majesty truly poisoned?"
He Jian nodded. "Otherwise, why would he have left you to your own devices?"
Yin Zhuli remained noncommittal, a faint smile playing on her lips. He Jian grew somewhat frustrated. "Head Merchant Yin, are you truly ignorant or merely pretending? Since you entered the palace, His Majesty has used all his most capable confidants to guard Zhaohua Palace. He wasn't trying to keep you in; he was trying to keep others out! Furthermore, had you gone out, you would have inevitably been slandered by fabricated rumors. On the surface, he placed you under house arrest in Zhaohua Palace, but in truth, he has placed you at the very center of his heart."
Yin Zhuli returned to drawing a nine-square grid in the dirt, her tone calm and rippleless. "Is that so?"
He Jian pressed on urgently, "Grand Tutor Fu currently holds heavy military power. His Majesty has only just established himself in court, and his foundation is unstable. Every vital position is held by someone else's confidant; he is restricted at every turn. Head Merchant, you are a clever woman. I only hope that even if you do nothing else, you will at least be of one mind with him. Will you?"
Yin Zhuli expressed her doubt. "Empress Dowager He is his biological mother, after all. Why would she make things difficult for him?"
He Jian shook his head. "The Empress Dowager... her lust for power is immense. Head Merchant Yin, when a woman reaches that level, she does not care much for the bonds of flesh and blood. I... only hope that you will show His Majesty some consideration."
Sitting amidst the straw and leaning against the wooden bars of the Imperial Prison, Yin Zhuli closed her eyes, looking somewhat weary. "I did not realize he was so isolated that even soup delivered to the doors of the Imperial Study could be poisoned."
He Jian felt a flicker of hope. "That is because the people he trusts most were all stationed at Zhaohua Palace."
Yin Zhuli waved a hand dismissively. "I am a bit tired. Prime Minister He, please take your leave."
He Jian solemnly cupped his hands in a respectful salute. Just as he was about to exit the cell, curiosity got the better of him. "Why was Your Majesty willing to speak the truth to me? If I were to inform the Grand Tutor, would your life not be in immediate peril?"
Yin Zhuli chuckled softly, her eyes still closed as she spoke. "By following His Majesty, you can reach the pinnacle of officialdom. What could you possibly gain by following Fu Chaoying? You are an outsider to him, after all. Given your consistently prudent nature, it is naturally safer to stick with His Majesty, with whom you share over a decade of teacher-student bonds. Furthermore... even if you told Fu Chaoying that I didn't send anyone to the Dayuezhi, why would he believe you? He would wonder why I would tell such a critical secret to you. He might suspect you want to wait for the Dayuezhi to actually launch an invasion. Once they attack, he will be forced to leave Chang'an, and His Majesty will take command of the capital's troops. At that point, how could Fu Chaoying maintain his influence? Thinking this way, he would conclude that you are not a good man."
He Jian was filled with admiration. "To strike at the heart is the ultimate strategy. Head Merchant, I am truly humbled. However, I have one word to offer you."
Yin Zhuli shifted her sitting position, showing a hint of curiosity. "Please speak, Prime Minister."
He Jian spoke with heartfelt sincerity, "I am loyal to His Majesty not for the sake of high office, but because of our decade-long bond as teacher and student—much like how Master Tang was to you. You have always seen through the ways of the world with great clarity, but in your meticulous calculations, you perhaps lack a bit of human sentiment. If you once trusted Master Tang, why are you unwilling to try trusting His Majesty just once?"
Yin Zhuli finally fluttered her eyelids open, her expression languid. "Prime Minister, you said you had 'one word' to offer, but that was already a whole speech. Moreover, you offered me words but ended with a question—isn't that rather unfair?"
He Jian flicked his sleeves and departed.
Before long, the jailers returned to the prison. The head jailer was visibly astonished to see Yin Zhuli still alive. Yin Zhuli smiled at him. "Is your surname Zhong?"
The man was startled. "How did Your Majesty know my name?"
Yin Zhuli’s smile was as pleasant as a spring breeze. "I heard the others calling you Head Zhong."
The jailer scratched his head sheepishly. "My name is Zhong Ting. Head Merchant, please don't blame me. I have a wife and children to look after, so I must follow orders. Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"
Yin Zhuli stared at the ceiling of the cell for a moment before suddenly saying, "Peanuts, and two more jars of wine."
The head jailer found this an easy request to fulfill. A short while later, he returned with a plate of peanuts and two jars of wine. The wine was *shaodaozi* diluted with water; such cheap liquor easily flushed the face. Before long, Yin Zhuli’s cheeks were a deep crimson.
Before the wine was finished, people arrived from outside to invite her back to Zhaohua Palace to wash and rest. Before the messenger could finish speaking, he was struck on the forehead by a peanut. Her voice was light. "What is the clamor for? I will return once I have finished my sleep."
The messenger retreated sheepishly. Upon learning that she had been restored to her position, the jailers naturally began to flatter her. She did not reject them, instead smilingly ordering Zhong Ting to fetch a feast from Penglai Residence. With her handwritten note, Manager Liu actually gave Zhong Ting some silver coins as well.
Seeing no outsiders present, Yin Zhuli invited the jailers to join her. Having associated with people from all walks of life, she put on no airs, and the atmosphere at the table became quite harmonious.
The job of a jailer was both idle and lonely. A dozen or so men shared various anecdotes from the prison, which Yin Zhuli listened to with great interest. Before leaving, she asked Zhong Ting to deliver a letter to the Yin estate. Zhong Ting figured this was a small matter and agreed. When he delivered it, the Great Steward Hao read the letter and treated the jailers to another round of wine.
The next day, someone near Chang'an paid twenty thousand taels to purchase the position of Magistrate of Wannian County—an eighth-rank minor official post that drew little attention.
When Shen Tingjiao woke up and saw Yin Zhuli by his side, he blinked several times as if unable to believe his eyes. Finally, he gave her a smile. Yin Zhuli, however, was flipping through the memorials on the desk. Many of those memorials were from officials who had originally opposed her appointment as Empress. She pulled them all out. Chen Zhong looked a bit troubled—by ancestral law, the Inner Palace was not to interfere in politics—but he did not dare to speak up.
Yin Zhuli made no attempt to hide her actions, beckoning him over. "Eunuch Chen, these memorials have been here for some time, haven't they? Why hasn't His Majesty dealt with them?"
Chen Zhong tried to curry favor with her cautiously. "The court officials are outsiders, after all. How could they understand the Empress's virtue?"
Yin Zhuli was satisfied, though that wasn't what she meant. "Tomorrow, when you encounter the group that submitted these memorials, say this..."
Chen Zhong’s eyes widened as he listened, his face full of disbelief.
As the two whispered together, Shen Tingjiao’s voice came softly, "What secrets are you two sharing?"
Yin Zhuli set down the memorials and sat by his bedside. "Are you feeling better?"
He nodded and looked toward Chen Zhong. Chen Zhong leaned in and whispered into his ear. A trace of a smile appeared on the Emperor's face as he pulled Yin Zhuli into his arms. "I'm sorry, Zhuli," he said, kissing her forehead.
Yin Zhuli leaned against his chest. Seeing their intimacy, Chen Zhong naturally felt it inappropriate to stay and withdrew. Yin Zhuli looked up, her lips brushing his chin. "Things have become this difficult; why didn't you tell me?"
Shen Tingjiao was stunned. He looked down at her, seeing that she had set aside her usual playful demeanor and replaced it with a look of solemnity. As their eyes met, an inexplicable sense of tenderness arose between them. Shen Tingjiao twined a lock of her hair around his finger and said softly, "I need a little time, Zhuli. Three years at most." He rubbed his chin against the top of her head with boundless affection. "Right now... I am living under another's roof; I shouldn't have kept you by my side. But..."
Yin Zhuli was somewhat unaccustomed to this. "Your Majesty, you are now the sovereign of a nation. How can you achieve great things if you are so preoccupied with romantic sentiments?" Her tone was grave. "You must realize that you are Empress Dowager He's own flesh and blood—at least in the eyes of the public, you are the biological son of the Late Emperor. She will inevitably have to rely on you in the future. The veteran officials in court place great importance on the imperial bloodline. Even though Fu Chaoying holds heavy military power, he won't dare to act rashly unless absolutely necessary. Their greatest concern right now is me. I know too much, and I have a history; they fear a repeat of Qu Tianji's downfall. If you were to take my head, they would be at peace."
Shen Tingjiao grew angry again. His health was poor and he had only just woken up; his anger inevitably led to a coughing fit. Fortunately, Empress Dowager He had been careful with the dosage, only intending to make him sleep for two days. She had wanted to use the opportunity to eliminate Yin Zhuli, but she truly hadn't intended to harm Shen Tingjiao.
Yin Zhuli patted his back, and it took a while for him to recover. "Zhuli, we have been together for over ten years. Is that truly how you see me?"
Yin Zhuli handed him a cup of hot tea and said nothing.
The next day, just as the morning court session ended, Yue Huaiben, the Minister of Rites, had not yet exited the palace gates when he heard some young eunuchs gossiping privately. "Yesterday, His Majesty was unwell, yet he actually took the memorials to his bedchamber to read. He didn't even hide them from the Empress."
Upon hearing this, Yue Huaiben’s heart tightened. He hurried forward with a forced smile. "May I ask, did Her Majesty also read the memorials?"
Seeing someone asking, the young eunuch immediately gave a forced laugh. "Oh, what are you saying, milord? The Inner Palace does not interfere in politics. How could Her Majesty read the memorials? Hahaha..."
He laughed nervously as he hurried away.
With a guilty conscience, Yue Huaiben immediately thought of the memorials he had submitted opposing Yin Zhuli’s appointment as Empress. At that time, the trend was to be outspoken, and his language had naturally been quite harsh. If Yin Zhuli had seen them, he would have offended her deeply.
Eunuch Chen Zhong accepted a dozen or so taels of silver before finally letting a bit of information slip. "His Majesty truly dotes on the Empress. Moreover, that pile of memorials is sitting right in His Majesty’s bedchamber. There's no telling when Her Majesty might look through them. Her temperament... heh, Lord Yue, you'd best pray for yourself."
That night, Chen Zhong received a bank note for two thousand taels. Yue Huaiben, the Minister of Rites, requested that he steal the memorial back. Chen Zhong put on airs, speaking with great righteousness, "What are you saying, milord? Can a memorial that has already been submitted be secretly taken back? That is a crime punishable by the execution of nine generations!" Having said that, he sighed. "Alas, if Her Majesty truly sees that memorial... she is notoriously vindictive. Your entire family, milord... alas."
How could Yue Huaiben not understand his meaning? He secretly cursed the "castrated dog" for his greed, but the next day he delivered a stack of bank notes. When Chen Zhong counted them, his heart skipped a beat—it was a full ten thousand taels.
Over the course of three days, Chen Zhong employed the same method. For twenty-six memorials, the total value of the bank notes reached two hundred and forty thousand taels. Yin Zhuli counted the notes, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied. "This is hardly a fortune. If we truly want to strike it rich, His Majesty would gain a real fortune by seizing their entire estates."
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Becoming the Queen by Serving as Prime Minister | Chapter 60 | A Profitable Bluff | Novela.app | Novela.app
