Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 92 I Will Be the Fifteenth!
"My lord, please forgive me, I was just in a moment of panic..."

Facing the astonished gazes of Yan Maoqing and his servants, Bai Lu immediately realized she had perhaps lost her composure. She quickly pulled him aside and changed to a gentle, earnest tone to persuade him.
“My husband, although I am just a woman, I don’t understand the affairs of officialdom, and I shouldn’t have said anything.”

"But I understand the principle that the tallest tree in the forest will be felled by the wind. My husband is only a junior scholar now, and yet he has such a move. I'm afraid it's too ostentatious, and you might easily get into trouble if you're not careful."

"Forgive my bluntness, but if I were to witness my husband walking into the fire and burning himself, it would be both glorious and dangerous."

"I would rather see my husband fail the imperial examination and return to his hometown to teach in a school, while I would be a good wife and mother, working hard and peacefully until the end."

"I implore my husband to think this over carefully..."

At this point, Bai Lu's beautiful eyes had already become moist, and she looked at Yan Maoqing with a hesitant expression, revealing her deepest feelings.

"lady……"

Yan Maoqing felt an indescribable sense of emotion and excitement.

Greasy senior sister, so you've been here all along!

Check it out!

Come and take a look!
What kind of ideological awareness is this?!
What kind of telepathic connection is this?!
What a powerful example of a united couple working together!
What you think is exactly what I desire. With such a confidant, what more could I ask for?!

"Husband..."

Seeing Yan Maoqing's deeply moved expression, Bai Lu also felt extremely happy, and tears welled up in her eyes.

These days, men with two legs are everywhere, but where can you find a husband who can listen to his wife's dissenting words?
That's enough, that's enough!
To have married such a wonderful husband in this life, what more could a wife ask for?!

"lady!"

Yan Maoqing pulled Bai Lu into his arms, as if he wanted to meld her into his body and become one with her.

"Husband..."

This perfectly timed domineering and tyrannical behavior caused Bai Lu to inexplicably fall for him, her heart feeling as if a little deer was running wildly inside her.

Although a group of servants could see him from a short distance away, and his behavior seemed indecent, there were no outsiders present, so they had no choice but to let him be.

Anyway, we are already husband and wife... I've heard that high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital often gather in groups and cause trouble, and they don't care at all when maids and servants walk around during the banquet. My husband and I are just getting closer because we are deeply in love. Who does that bother?

With that thought in mind, Bai Lu obediently rested her cheek on Yan Maoqing's shoulder.

"My lady, I promise you, I will retire as soon as possible and return to my hometown to live out my days in peace and quiet with you."

Yan Maoqing's deep voice reached my ears, like a heartfelt confession.

"Eh?!"

Bai Lu was startled, then suddenly looked up at Yan Maoqing, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
"My lord, that's not what I meant..."

"No need for further words, it's all in my heart."

Yan Maoqing gently pressed Bailu's head back onto his shoulder, stroking it lightly. Bailu closed her eyes, savoring the tranquility and warmth of the moment.
"I understand, I understand everything. Just trust your husband, and the good days of us growing old peacefully are yet to come..."

"???"

Bai Lu suspected that her husband had become so overjoyed after passing the imperial examination and being selected as a junior official that he had accidentally contracted a strange evil spirit and developed hysteria. That's why he couldn't understand good or bad words.
But if that were the case, how could he have amassed such a vast fortune in just a few months?

That box of silver alone is probably more than the entire Bai family could save up in their entire lives.
……

Qianqing Palace.

"These are all memorials impeaching Yan Maoqing, requesting that I issue an edict to thoroughly investigate his collusion with the Tartars?"

Zhu Houcong read through several memorials in succession, then coldly tossed them onto the table and pointed to a stack of memorials neatly arranged in front of him, asking a question.

"Your Majesty, there are forty-one memorials impeaching Minister Yan Mao today, all of which are here."

Huang Jin answered softly from the side, but he was not worried.

Yan Maoqing accomplished such a great feat for the Emperor, smearing filth on the dragon robe and blowing his nose on the threshold of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, yet the Emperor tolerated it and even rewarded him with all 400,000 taels of silver. How could these people possibly bring him down?

You should know that when the emperor previously rewarded his officials, such as the old general Zhou Shangwen, he was only rewarded with fifty taels of silver for his military achievements. This is almost ten thousand times more, isn't it?
Furthermore, the phrase "bring him down" is also invalid. He is currently just a low-ranking scholar without any official position; he hasn't even risen to power yet, so how could he be brought down?
However, given that he held no official position, the fact that so many censors and officials vied to impeach him makes Yan Maoqing arguably the first person in history to achieve this.
"Then take them all away. It's just the same few people's idea. They don't submit a memorial themselves, do you think I don't know what's going on?"

Zhu Houcong waved his hand, frowned, and fell into deep thought.

After Huang Jin carried away the memorials impeaching Yan Maoqing and threw them into a basket, he returned to serve Zhu Houcong, only to hear Zhu Houcong ask him a question for no apparent reason:
"Huang Ban, tomorrow is the fifteenth again, isn't it?"

"Indeed, Your Majesty has already ordered the vegetarian meal to be prepared. You may eat at any time. After the meal, please take a bath and change your clothes, and go to bed early to prepare for tomorrow's vegetarian ritual to pray for the well-being of the people and the nation."

Huang Jin bowed and replied.

On the first and fifteenth of each month, Zhu Houcong would hold a fixed fasting ceremony, called the Changjiao or Xiaojiao, which had been done without fail for many years.

In addition to these regular rituals held on fixed days, Zhu Houcong would also occasionally ask Tao Zhongwen to help him choose an auspicious day to hold other, larger-scale rituals.

Therefore, without Zhu Houcong explicitly stating it, he had already made preparations in advance.

As for tomorrow's morning court session... His Majesty certainly won't be attending.

Huang Jin understood, and the court officials understood as well. This had almost become an unwritten rule. There was no need to issue an edict for absence; the officials would simply show up for the morning court on their own.

"No need to prepare."

Unexpectedly, Zhu Houcong said something that Huang Jin couldn't understand.

"If someone can do something on the first day of the month, I can do something on the fifteenth... I have prepared a vegetarian meal for you, but I only want some meat today."

"This……"

Huang Jin was taken aback. The fasting ritual implies purification and cleansing, requiring bathing and changing clothes, abstaining from meat and alcohol, and not residing in the inner chambers; otherwise, the worshipper would be considered not sincere enough.

His Majesty has always been sincere and pays special attention to these details.

If we break with tradition and use meat today, will we still be able to hold the annual ritual tomorrow?

Or did the Emperor mean that the ritual itself didn't need to be prepared when he said "no need to prepare anything"?
"Go, and bring out my leather cap and prepare it. Also, take a close look at that box of accounts; I'll need it for tomorrow's morning court."

Seeing that Huang Jin didn't understand his meaning, Zhu Houcong didn't play the riddle player this time and explained properly.
"Also, don't inform anyone about this, and don't let your subordinates prepare anything."

"This servant obeys the decree..."

Huang Jin bowed down, feeling a strange sense of unease in his heart.

Even if he were stupid, he could tell that the Emperor was going to hold a surprise morning court session tomorrow because he was going to do something important there!

Also.

The Emperor's sudden breaking of precedent may have a hidden meaning; it may not only be a matter of breaking the established customs of fasting and prayer, but perhaps many other things are about to change their established practices.

However, Huang Jin felt that the person who needed to be most careful at this moment was Grand Secretary Xia Yan.

Xia Yan is usually meticulous in his work, but there is one flaw that could be big or small:

He has a terrible sense of time and is always late.

A few years ago, when the emperor went on an inspection tour of Dayu Mountain, Xia Yan was a quarter and a half late to accompany him.

Two years ago, the Fengtian Hall was struck by lightning. The Emperor summoned the cabinet ministers, and Xia Yan was two quarters late again.

These actions enraged the emperor, who reprimanded him for his negligence and rudeness, even revoking his cabinet seal, stripping him of his title of Junior Tutor, and ordering him to retire as punishment.

However, he was only given a slight punishment at the time, and was reinstated to his post after only a few days.

However, such leniency did not serve as a warning to Xia Yan... Although he later restrained himself in front of the emperor, he became increasingly emboldened when the emperor was not around.

I heard that not only was he late for the morning court session, but he was also half an hour late when he served as a reader of the imperial examination papers a few days ago (a foreshadowing that was planted as early as the second chapter; the author has buried many things far in advance, isn't that amazing? Praise me!).

The other examiners had to wait for him in the East Pavilion before they could finally begin reading the papers...

The Emperor will hold a surprise morning court session tomorrow, but he deliberately prevents the notification from being sent out.

Huang Jin had reason to suspect that the Emperor already had designs on Xia Yan. If he dared to make the Emperor wait at the morning court session... then there would be quite a show to watch!
(End of this chapter)