Top Scholar

Chapter 535 Mother-Son Conflict
The next day, as soon as the palace gates opened, Marquis Shouning Zhang Heling, along with his son Zhang Zongshuo, nephew Zhang Zongchang, and carrying Zhang Yanling, came to Shoukang Palace to complain to Empress Dowager Zhang and Lady Jin.

After her husband died in the fifth year of the Hongzhi reign, Lady Jin lived in the palace. The Zhang brothers were naturally overjoyed; how much money had they saved over the past ten years?
Since even the Hongzhi Emperor didn't object back then, the Zhengde Emperor now has even less to say...

At that time, Empress Dowager Zhang and her daughter were having breakfast when they were startled to see their male relatives burst in as if they had lost their parents.

"Hey! What's going on? Second brother, what are you doing lying down like that?!" Madam Jin asked, her mouth full of a rice dumpling.

"Mom! Someone hit me!" Zhang Yanling burst into tears, looking as aggrieved as a 140-pound giant baby.

"Oh my, you're the emperor's uncle, who would dare hit you?" Madam Jin was startled. As soon as she opened her mouth, the meat dumpling went straight to her stomach, choking her until her eyes rolled back.

"It was the Emperor! He ordered my buttocks to be whipped!" Zhang Yanling cried, gasping for breath, "They whipped me with all their might, until my buttocks were raw! Waaah... My own father never laid a finger on me!"

"What? Let me see." Madam Jin quickly got up and checked her son's buttocks. Sure enough, they were a bloody mess, a truly gruesome sight. Her heart ached, and she burst into tears, "Oh, my son, what a terrible thing to have done..."

"Stop crying," Empress Dowager Zhang told them to be quiet, and asked Zhang Yanling with a dark face, "What exactly happened? Why did the Emperor beat you for no reason?"

“Sister, it wasn’t for no reason,” Zhang Yanling then added fuel to the fire, complaining:

“Yesterday I heard that the agents of the Western Depot had sealed off Guanghui Temple. I was worried that something might happen to my father’s memorial tablet, so I rushed over to see what was going on, but they wouldn’t even let me in through the temple gate. I said I would go and bring out my father’s memorial tablet, but the Emperor wouldn’t allow it.”

"Our father's eternal flame has been burning for seventeen years, and in one more year it will be complete! Then he can ascend to heaven and bless our Zhang family's descendants with prosperity." He wiped away a tear, then said with grief and indignation:
“If this lamp goes out, not only will the devout offerings of the past seventeen years be wasted, but my father’s soul will also be plunged into eternal suffering without the light to guide it! In my haste, I said that I had to go in no matter what, and the Emperor got angry and ordered his men to beat me to death!”

“Even so, the eternal lamp couldn’t be kept burning,” Zhang Heling sighed, “Last night, Zhang Yong knocked on the door and brought our father’s memorial tablet directly to our residence… Alas, can’t the Emperor even wait until dawn?!”

"This is outrageous! They're trying to bully us, a widow and her children, to death!" Madam Jin trembled with rage, raising her head to shout at her daughter, "Empress Dowager, you must stand up for our family!"

"..." Empress Dowager Zhang rubbed her temples with a headache and said, "You know perfectly well that my son and I have been instigated by those villains and have run into some trouble... The Emperor hasn't come to inquire about my health even once in the past few months. Even if I wanted to scold him, I couldn't find anyone to do it."

"What kind of talk is that!" Madam Jin looked at her with exasperation. "You are his birth mother. The nation governs the country with filial piety, and you are the greatest person in the world! He doesn't even care about the most basic filial piety. Does he deserve to be the emperor?"

"The late emperor only left behind this one son!" Empress Dowager Zhang's voice suddenly rose, filled with deep helplessness, "If he doesn't deserve it, then who does?"

Zhang Yanling was surprised. Why had his sister, who had always been assertive towards the emperor, softened?
She can't back down, or she'll never get her land back!

He then instigated, "Sister! Because of what happened before, there are rumors going around that the Emperor isn't your biological son, so you don't dare to do anything about his disrespect! Now that your own brother has been beaten like this, if you just suffer in silence, wouldn't that just confirm those rumors?"

"Shut up! The Emperor is my own son!" Empress Dowager Zhang was instantly enraged by the provocation. "If you dare utter another word of nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"Hey, I'm not going to say anything more..." Zhang Yanling shrank his neck.

"Second brother, don't make your sister angry. The Emperor is all grown up now, and I can't control him anymore." Zhang Heling said, seemingly sensible but actually trying to stir up trouble.
“Last night, I wore my pajamas, hugged my father’s memorial tablet, and cried all night in the ancestral hall. I also realized that you can’t fight city hall. No matter how aggrieved we feel, we can only endure it!”

"I can't stand it!" Zhang Yanling lay on the ground with his neck stiff, like a turtle sticking its head out.

"We have to endure it, even if we can't. The Emperor just doesn't like the Zhang family." Zhang Heling said, his eyes red. "There will be many more days like this in the future. Get used to it, Second Brother..."

"Waaah..." Madam Jin cried so hard she was almost breathless. "Our family is going to be bullied to death, I don't want to live anymore!"

Empress Dowager Zhang looked helplessly at her family's expressions and finally relented: "Fine, I'll find an opportunity to ask the Emperor myself."

"Looking for an opportunity?" Madam Jin stopped crying and sneered, "You haven't seen the Emperor for months? By the time you find an opportunity, your brother's ass will be healed!"

Zhang Yanling chimed in, "Yes, sister! Our family's assets accumulated over decades are all tied up in Guanghui Temple. If we don't get them back quickly, the Zhang family will go bankrupt!"

Empress Dowager Zhang, unable to resist the two's persistent questioning, had no choice but to nod in agreement: "Alright, alright, I'll listen to you. Tell me about the Emperor."

~~
Subsequently, the steward of Shou Kang Palace went to the Leopard Chamber to convey the Empress Dowager's decree, asking the Emperor why he targeted her maternal family, destroyed her maternal grandfather's memorial tablet, and confiscated her uncle's property.

The Empress Dowager has a knack for this; she always manages to choose the path that most infuriates the Emperor. Even if she doesn't come herself, having the Emperor summoned for questioning would be far better than having someone else reprimand him…

Of course, in the eyes of this woman who was spoiled by her husband, this was not a scolding at all, but a 'show of force' to signal that he should coax her.

But Emperor Hongzhi was swayed by this, while Emperor Zhengde was not—he had been on the throne for four years and was increasingly enjoying the life of an emperor; how could he tolerate someone questioning him from a superior position?

Besides, they even sent a eunuch to question him?
So he ordered Gu Dayong to slap the eunuch Zhou twenty times, turning his face into a pig's head. Finally, he coldly said, "Go back and tell the Empress Dowager that I did this for the sake of my maternal grandfather's reputation. As for those lands, they belong to the temple and have nothing to do with the Zhang family!"

Eunuch Zhou slunk back to Shou Kang Palace, covering his face in embarrassment, to report. When Empress Dowager Zhang saw his face, she nearly fainted from anger. Upon hearing this, she couldn't catch her breath and fainted on the spot…

Upon seeing this, Madam Jin immediately sent someone to summon the emperor, asking him to come and see the mess she had made.

"Hmph, it's nothing more than crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide—the same old tricks he used on Father Emperor." Zhu Houzhao was utterly disgusted and loudly issued an edict: "Order the guards of the Leopard Chamber to not let any more unauthorized personnel in. I don't want to hear anything about the Zhang family!"

The eunuchs were secretly astonished upon hearing this; the Empress Dowager's surname was also Zhang...

~~
“Our family name is Zhang too,” Zhang Yong said, both amused and exasperated. He was speaking in the Dragon and Tiger Hall, inspecting the ceremony venue with Su Lu for the next day.

"What does this have to do with Uncle?" Su Lu asked with a smile.

“Alas, the Emperor is relieved. But if the Empress Dowager’s illness drags on, she will surely be criticized by the ministers for being unfilial.” Zhang Yong sighed and lowered his voice, “At that time, not only will the Emperor be in a passive position, but we may also be made scapegoats.”

"Hmm." Su Lu nodded. Even the emperor couldn't truly disregard filial piety; in the end, he would still have to face a mess...

Zhang Yong pondered for a moment and said, "What do you think we should do about this? How about... we give the Zhang family some land as a concession? But the premise is that they must settle things peacefully and not cause any more trouble."

"How much will you refund?" Su Lu asked.

"Half?" Zhang Yong asked tentatively.

Su Lu raised an eyebrow: "Half of that is 125,000 mu of land, or 1.25 million taels of silver... How does Uncle plan to compensate the Emperor for this?"

“Even if we sold everything, we still couldn’t make up for it.” Zhang Yong waved his hand with a bitter face. “Your uncle isn’t Liu Jin, where would I get such a large fortune?”

“Furthermore, even if we give them half back, they will still hate us,” Su Lu said confidently.

“Hmm…” Zhang Yong pondered for a moment and slowly nodded: “That makes sense. Marquis Jianchang is arrogant and irritable. He has suffered such a great loss this time. Even if we return the land, he will only think that we are afraid of him. He will definitely not be grateful, but will instead take advantage of us.”

“So, since we’ve already offended the Zhang family, let’s just go all the way and offend them to death!” Su Lu said with sharp eyes and a resolute tone, “So what if he’s the Emperor’s maternal uncle? Once the mother-son relationship breaks down, the maternal uncle will be nothing in the Emperor’s eyes.”

"Do you think the Emperor and Empress Dowager's relationship is doomed?" Zhang Yong asked in a low voice. This was what worried him most...

"It's beyond repair." Su Lu shook his head decisively.

"Because of Zheng Wang's seditious remarks?" Zhang Yong's voice was even lower. "Although the Emperor killed Zheng Wang, the thorn in his heart has been driven even deeper."

“I don’t know much about the details of that case,” Su Lu said slowly, lowering his tone. “I only know that there is no love without a reason in this world, and the filial piety between mother and son never comes out of thin air. A mother has the grace of raising and caring for her son, which is why she receives the joy of a lifetime of love and care in return.”

“Your words are cruel, but they are also insightful.” Zhang Yong nodded with emotion and said, “No one understands this better than us eunuchs. It’s no use just taking in godsons. You have to take care of and raise them day after day for more than ten years before you can enjoy their blessings when you get old.”

“Yes.” Su Lu paused, then continued, “But the Empress Dowager only ever knew how to take, control, and even deprive the Emperor during his childhood. How could she possibly have any affection to cultivate? The Emperor isn’t blindly filial. The more she does this, the more estranged they will become.”

"Hmm..." Zhang Yong pondered for a moment, and was finally persuaded, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

After saying that, he looked at Su Lu's overly young face and couldn't help but tease, "I've discovered that you're really a fearless young man, incredibly bold."

Su Lu smiled faintly: "Perhaps after hitting a few walls, he will naturally behave himself."

“It hurts a lot to hit a wall,” Zhang Yong sighed. “Uncle knows this all too well.”

"Isn't Uncle here?" Su Lu said with a grin.

"Of course I'll protect you." Zhang Yong smiled kindly, then warned, "Just be careful, kid. If you make too much of a scene, my old bones won't be able to handle it."

"Okay, I understand." Su Lu nodded in agreement, but it was unclear how much of what he actually took in.

P.S. The next chapter will be another 800 words...

(End of this chapter)