Huangming

Chapter 18 Master-Servant Reversal: Power Devouring Master
Let's rewind 15 minutes.

The west side hall of Ciqing Palace.

Inside the eunuch's duty room.

Wei Chao was comfortably drinking tea, being served by his godson sons.

In the past, he was the one serving others in the Forbidden City; now it's finally his turn to be served.

However, before he could enjoy it for long, a woman rushed into the west wing.

The woman wore a dark blue, long, double-breasted coat that covered her voluptuous figure. The gold peony knot buttons at the collar were half-undone, revealing a glimpse of her exaggeratedly round, jade-like breasts. Her arched eyebrows slanted upwards towards her temples, and her eyes were adorned with three-petaled peach blossom decorations in vermilion. Her gaze was alluring and captivating.

If she is not Madam Ke, the wet nurse of the current heir apparent, then who is she?

"Eunuch Wei, what a magnificent sight!"

Wei Chao quickly put down his teacup and said to those around him, "You all go out."

"Yes, ancestor!"

Seeing that the eunuchs on duty had all left and were very tactful in closing the door, Wei Chaofei, who had been putting on a dignified face, immediately forced a fawning smile, leaving only slits in his eyes, making him look somewhat comical.

"What a beauty! I may be powerful, but isn't that also your power?"

He then stepped forward to hug Mr. Ke.

The fat face followed the jade steamed bun, as if it wanted to wash its face with milk.

Madam Ke snorted arrogantly, dodged to the side, and said sarcastically, "I don't think so. None of you men are reliable."

"Other men can't be relied on, but I, Wei Chao, can be absolutely relied on."

As he spoke, he didn't let Madam Ke dodge, and instead embraced her voluptuous body to admire it.

Although he was incompetent, for a eunuch, having a woman could fill the void of his lost dignity.

Not to mention a woman as beautiful and charming as Ms. Ke.

"So even after you became the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, you didn't come looking for me?" Madam Ke said resentfully.

Wei Chao protested as if he had been wronged, saying, "I was just appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and I was too busy to handle everything. I also had to get rid of that old bastard Wang An's men. I only had a brief moment of free time just now."

"really?"

Wei Chao raised his right hand in a gesture.

"If there is a single falsehood, may my Wei Dynasty die without a burial place."

Wei Chao's words convinced Madam Ke to some extent.

"I believe you, okay?"

Madam Ke collapsed onto Wei Chao.

She was originally a peasant woman from Hebei, the wife of Hou Ba'er from Dingxing County. Because of her wealth and abundant milk, she was able to enter the palace and become the wet nurse of Zhu Youxiao, the grandson of the emperor at the time.

Through her careful cultivation, her relationship with Zhu Youxiao went far beyond that of wet nurse.

Spending day and night together, their relationship became like that of a mother and son.

At one point, it even reached the point where he needed Ke Shi's hand-prepared diet to eat and felt uneasy without Ke Shi's personal care to keep him warm.

But the heir has been away from Qianqing Palace for nearly two days and has not summoned her.
How could Ms. Ke, who thought she was about to rise to prominence, tolerate this?

After Li Jinzhong took over the Qianqing Palace, she met with him as the wet nurse of the heir apparent, and the two spent an hour in the duty room of the side hall of the Qianqing Palace.

Afterwards, she entered Cining Palace under the escort of Li Jinzhong's men.

Upon entering Cining Palace, Madam Ke went directly to Duanben Hall (Cining Palace Study) to meet the heir apparent, but was stopped by the guards on duty. So she angrily came to cause trouble for Wei Chao.

She still thought it was Wei Chao's idea.

After speaking with Wei Chao, Madam Ke realized that this was not something Wei Chao had instructed.

Who ordered that?

"Wei Lang, has the heir not mentioned me to you these past few days?"

Wei Chao was currently focused on kneading the steamed buns.

Seeing the fat eunuch's lecherous appearance, Madam Ke blushed and broke free from Wei Chao's embrace, tidying up her somewhat disheveled clothes.

This Wei Chao always teases her, but it's all nonsense.

Now they're even pretending not to hear what she says?
Ms. Ke's eyebrows furrowed, and her powdered face showed displeasure.

Wei Chao put his hand to his nose and sniffed it, looking infatuated, and said, "The Crown Prince hasn't mentioned Sister Ke these past two days, but he must have been too busy."

Madam Ke snorted coldly and said, "No matter how busy you are, you can't forget me." She then said to Wei Chao, "Or you could go to Duanben Hall and inform them for me?"

Wei Chao's eyes darted around, and he said, "The Crown Prince is currently studying, I'm afraid..."

The palace eunuchs were all quick-witted; those who weren't would have been corpses long ago.

Previously, it was rumored that the heir was as virtuous as ever and had a talent for woodworking, but now it seems like a castle in the air, so fake it couldn't be more fake.

How can we know whether the relationship between the successor and Madam Ke is truly as it was before?
"You don't want to go and announce it?"

Mrs. Ke was so angry she wanted to grind her teeth.

This guy took advantage of me so much just now, but when it came time to use him, he actually backed down.

"Sister Ke, you should wait for the Crown Prince to summon you. Since leaving the Qianqing Palace, the Crown Prince's temperament has changed drastically. I think you'd better not cause any trouble."

If she is not summoned, wouldn't she never be able to see the Crown Prince again?

In this harem, there are plenty of alluring and shameless women; given enough time, it's not impossible for them to be forgotten by the heir apparent.

“If you don’t go and announce my arrival, I will force my way in.”

The Wei Dynasty was in a real bind.

"My dear sister, can you please stop causing trouble?"

"You, Wei Chao, are something else."

Seeing that Wei Chao remained unmoved, Madam Ke's temper flared up.

She boasted of her close relationship with Zhu Youxiao, claiming that she would not be punished even if she forcibly broke into Cining Palace or did something outrageous.

Once she sees the imperial heir, she'll make sure you, you fat eunuch, pay the price!

"If you won't go and inform them, I'll go see them myself!"

As he spoke, he jogged out of the west side hall of Cining Palace and headed towards Duanbentang, but was stopped by the guards at the gate.

Without the Crown Prince's summons, they naturally could not allow Lady Ke to enter.

"Do you know who I am? I am the current imperial heir, the wet nurse of the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Do you dare to stand in my way?"

He then tried to force his way in.

“Even His Highness’s wet nurse must be summoned before she can enter,” the Jinyiwei guard, the ‘Great Han General,’ immediately rebuked.

"This is outrageous! This is outrageous! You, the school official, are you just going to stand by and watch these servants humiliate Grandma Ke?"

Seeing this, Wei Chao, who was pretending to be a quail in the west wing, knew that he could not escape this calamity.

His grandma's.

Madam Ke was originally in the Qianqing Palace. Who was it that hurriedly sent her here?

He jogged over to Madam Ke and said, "My dear aunt, please stop shouting. What if you anger the Crown Prince?"

The commotion soon reached Zhu Youxiao's ears.

After hearing the report from his personal eunuch, Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, no one took the risk of attempting an assassination.

His powerful position in the court harmed the interests of many people, making it inevitable that some would want to kill him.

But then I thought, if someone wants to kill him, who would dare to be so blatant?
This had never happened before during the entire Ming Dynasty.

"Your Highness, Madam Ke is making a disturbance outside the hall. What should we do?"

客氏
Zhu Youxiao's eyes flickered, and he said, "Let her in."

This Lady Fengsheng in the original history had a close relationship with Zhu Youxiao that went beyond that of master and servant.

Zhu Youxiao even referred to Madam Ke as "Grandma Ke," allowed her to ride in a phoenix carriage and wear a pheasant robe (the standard for an empress), and bestowed upon her the "Imperial Gift of the Holy Lady" seal, making her power comparable to that of an empress.

Madam Ke would leave the palace several times a month to "return to her private residence," with her entourage "shining brightly on the streets, resembling a grand procession." Zhu Youxiao would personally escort her to the Meridian Gate and watch her carriage depart before returning home.

Furthermore, she formed a "couple's relationship" (nominal husband and wife) with Wei Zhongxian, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, creating a power structure where "Wei Zhongxian and Wei Zhongxian jointly controlled the inner court, while the eunuch faction ran rampant in the outer court."

Although the blame for the collapse of the court, the loss of imperial power, and the alienation of scholars cannot be entirely placed on one woman, she is definitely inextricably linked to the situation.

This reversal of master and servant, and the lust for power that consumed the woman, was something that Zhu Youxiao in history was able to tolerate.

But Zhu Youxiao today.
We will show absolutely no leniency!

(End of this chapter)