Zhang Yuan knew, staying at the Emperor’s side all these years, he had helped the Emperor stop many concubines who actively sought to close the distance. Most of those concubines who wanted to use one bowl of nourishing tonic to become closer to the Emperor were sent away by him, even Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu had been stopped by him countless times. Now he had fallen into this state, there should be many people who want to torture him, right? Counting them…… forget it, he could not count them at all. If he had time for such thoughts, then he should spend it washing more clothes. The Old Emperor was suffering now, then he would suffer with him, if he was unable to continue to share the joys with him, then he could share his suffering.
Zhang Yuan strongly believed that the Emperor was suffering. This was despite him frequently hearing someone comment how loving the Emperor and Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu were, how much he loved the Eighth Prince, and even when they talked about how the Emperor would praise the Eighth Prince countless times during morning court. The more he heard about the harmonious family, Zhang Yuan was more convinced that the Emperor was not willing to do it. If he was not acting, then the Old Emperor’s mind had malfunctioned. The Old Emperor was too pitiful, and he could not stay by his side. His heart ached when he thought about it.
He wiped his tears again and continued to wash the clothes. And the three who surrounded him were still watching gleefully, one of them continued to take the clothes Zhang Yuan washed and threw them to the ground, even stomping on them twice. Zhang Yuan saw and did not say anything, silently taking them back. Only when that person continued to step on the clothes without stopping did he open his mouth to speak: “These clothes belong to the masters in the imperial harem, it is no small matter if they were damaged from being stepped on. You can give me a hard time, but don’t vent it on these clothes.”
“Oh! You even lecture us?” The guilty servant who stepped on the clothes shouted, pointed at Zhang Yuan, saying: “You still think that you’re the favoured person by the Emperor’s side? You still think that everyone will have to respectfully address you as Head Eunuch Yuan regardless of who they are? Why don’t you take a look at your current state, you’re already in the Department of Guilty Servants, who else can you lecture?”
“Alright! You don’t allow us to step on the clothes, is it? Then we’ll step on you! Come, brothers, the Head Chief Eunuch who we could only look up to is now in front of us and under our control, it’ll be a waste if we do not step on him!”
The sentence ‘it’ll be waste if we do not step on him’, thoroughly raised the mood of the trio, so they raised their feet one after another, making contact with Zhang Yuan’s body with great force. Someone even shouted and ran into the houses in the yard, saying: “Hurry and come out! Those who wish to take revenge and those who want to complain, do it now. It is not easy for this Head Chief Eunuch to fall into our hands, do not miss this chance!”
With this shout, large numbers of guilty servants flooded out of the houses. These castrated people originally had defective bodies and demented minds. In addition, they were already unsatisfied when they were with their masters, else they would not have been banished here just by committing a small mistake. Over time, the degree of their dementedness grew stronger, to the point that once they heard that there was such a good thing, they rushed out of the houses like mad people, and without caring about anything, they followed the three people and made their greetings. With punches and kicks, Zhang Yuan was beaten to the point that he would only curl up in the snow, trying his best to protect his head and face.
To Zhang Yuan, the pain felt by his body was already considered insignificant. Ever since he received the 30 paddles in front of the plaza at Zhao He Hall, these pains were nothing much. He only believed one thing, he only wanted to stay alive. Getting beaten up or even if someone breaks his arms and legs was nothing. His life was insignificant to begin with. The reason why he wanted to live was only to see the Old Emperor once again. As long as he could see the Old Emperor again, even if he died immediately, he was willing to do so.
The punches and kicks on his body became more and more forceful, and many aimed in the direction of his head. Even if Zhang Yuan tried his best to protect his head, it would still be kicked. Gradually, he became a little dizzy, and was beaten until he was close to losing consciousness and felt that he could not hold on any longer. The image of the old Emperor appeared in his mind. The old Emperor drinking, the old Emperor letting him come along to the gate of the Winter Moon Palace to sing a song, the old Emperor stubbornly arguing with the Ninth Prince for the sake of arguing, the old Emperor bickering with him. And the old Emperor secretly leaving delicious food for him, telling him ‘This dish today is especially delicious, We could not bear to finish everything, so We left half for you, Xiao Yuan Zhi must remember to be grateful to Us. And sometimes the old Emperor was being especially awkward, not saying directly that he was leaving something delicious for him, only saying that ‘This was too disgusting, We could not eat one bite. Xiao Yuan Zhi, hurry up and get rid of them.’
These images flashed across Zhang Yuan’s mind continuously and his tears flowed from his eyes without stopping. His vision gradually blurred, to the point that he did not know if it was because of the tears or because his brain was kicked until it became unclear. The aggressive shouts from those people next to his ear gradually decreased in volume, it felt that the pain on his body had decreased, and no one seemed to be kicking him anymore.
He felt that he must be close to dying and started to hallucinate, else how could these people let him off so easily? Just a few days ago, an incident happened where they threw a basin of ice cold water on his body, then chased him out to freeze into an ice-man. After that, if not for the fact that they feared he would truly freeze to death, no one would let him back into the house.
Zhang Yuan still held his head and remained curled up on the ground. His whole body was shivering, but he was thinking, if he did not die, he still had to finish washing those clothes tonight.
At this moment, he heard a woman’s voice, snapping in an aggressively cold tone: “Who gave you the courage to bully someone like this? All of you are guilty servants, what is the difference between all of you and him? Why are all of you beating him up?”
Someone answered: “He was not washing the clothes properly.”
“If he was not washing the clothes properly, then the person-in-charge of the Department of Guilty Servants should be the one handing out the punishment, since when was it done by all of you? When you’re with your Masters, you did not work properly and committed huge mistakes, then were sent to the Department of Guilty Servants, yet all of you are still being so rampant, is it because this Imperial Palace is no longer good enough for all of you?”
Zhang Yuan felt this voice was a little familiar as he listened, then looked over in a daze, but he saw a person dressed like a lady-in-waiting standing in front of him, going up against these guilty servants alone. However, these guilty servants had their heads bowed, not even daring to go against her. His head was kicked until it was unclear, unable to recognise that person after looking at her. At this moment, he saw the person-in-charge of the Department of Guilty Servants, Chief Liu, run out of the house hurriedly. He first froze in front of that lady-in-waiting, then bowed hurriedly, saying: “So it’s Aunt Fang Yi. It is New Year’s Eve, which wind brought Aunt Fang Yi over here?”
Zhang Yuan only reacted then, oh, so it was Fang Yi, the person by the Empress’ side.
He then heard Fang Yi scoff, looking at that Chief Liu and saying: “There was no wind at all. For your place, it’s best that no wind blows me over. Today, I am acting on Her Highness the Empress’ orders to get Zhang Yuan out. But unexpectedly, when I entered the yard, I saw your subordinates beat him up badly. If he dies or is gravely injured from this, if Her Highness the Empress asks about it later, how are you going to explain?”
“This……” Chief Liu froze and asked on reflex: “Her Highness the Empress? Why is Her Highness the Empress taking Zhang Yuan out? He was sent over by the Emperor and Her Highness Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu!”
“Then, in your eyes right now, there is only one Her Highness Imperial Concubine Shu in the imperial harem? Let me tell you this, Imperial Concubine Shu is Imperial Concubine Shu in the end, even if she climbed to the sky, there is still one Empress above her! Even if all of you are devoted to following Her Highness Imperial Concubine Shu, right now the imperial harem does not allow her to make the decisions alone. To hold up the sky alone, she still needs to wait until the Eighth Prince sits on the throne.”
“Of course, of course, in the imperial harem, Her Highness the Empress is still the one with the most authority.” That Chief Liu also knew that Fang Yi was right and did not debate with her. He only asked Fang Yi, “Then Her Highness the Empress wants to take this Zhang Yuan out, do you have a Empress edict? This servant is not trying to make things difficult, if there is no edict, the Department of Guilty Servants will find it hard to release people!”
“There is no Empress edict.” Fang Yi said coldly: “But I have the Phoenix Plaque from Her Highness the Empress, open your eyes wide and take a good look!” As she said this, she showed the plaque in her hand given by the Empress which she had hung around the waist, holding it up in front of Chief Liu’s eyes.
Taking one look, that person quickly knelt down, saying: “Following the orders from Her Highness the Empress, Zhang Yuan will immediately leave with Aunt.” Seeing the Phoenix Plaque is the same as seeing the Empress, this was something everyone in the palace knew. Even though Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu gained power, Fang Yi was correct, since the Emperor did not abolish the Empress seat, even if Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu overturned the sky, there was still the Empress above. For these guilty servants, they did not dare to act impetuous in front of the Empress.
Seeing that he allowed the release, Fang Yi did not say anymore, walking up to personally help Zhang Yuan up. Seeing him sway unsteadily, she asked quickly: “Can you walk?”
Zhang Yuan also understood the situation, that the Empress wanted to see him. He did not know the intentions of the Empress, but based on his many years of experience with the workings of the Imperial Palace and his understanding of the Empress, he quickly thought that it was not the Empress who wanted to see him but probably the Emperor who wanted to see him. The Empress had always been the best spokesperson for the Emperor. Everything she said and did was dependent on the Emperor’s mood. Basically, she mostly did not have her own opinion, suddenly taking him out to meet him, it should be the Emperor who expressed this desire.
Zhang Yuan was very agitated, nodding a few times: “I, I can walk, even if This Servant has to crawl, I will leave the Department of Guilty Servants.”
However, Fang Yi felt that Zhang Yuan’s physical condition was not too good. Seeing his hands covered in frostbite and puncture wounds, she could not help but frown and spoke to that Chief Liu: “Find someone to bring a sedan over. If someone asks, say it is an order from Her Highness the Empress.”
Chief Liu did not dare to say anything more and quickly moved to handle things personally, and a short while later, he asked a few palace servants to carry a soft chair over and even helped Fang Yi to support Zhang Yuan over to the soft chair to sit. Only until Fang Yi left with Zhang Yuan did he wipe away his sweat, mumbling to himself: “What is going on? Could it be that Zhang Yuan is going to rise from the ashes? But if Zhang Yuan rises from the ashes, doesn’t that mean Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s side is going to lose power? Will things change in the palace that quickly?”
No matter what Chief Liu thought about it, Zhang Yuan felt happy because he had left the Department of Guilty Servants. Of course, most of this joy was because he could see the old Emperor. Right now, this was his only wish. He asked Fang Yi: “Did the Emperor remember something? Or has his mind cleared up more compared to the past? Does he remember me?”
Fang Yi shook her head in frustration: “I do not know the details, I just know that the Emperor suddenly fell ill. The imperial physician said it was cold damage. The Emperor asked the Empress to go to Zhao He Hall and only asked one question: Why he did chase you away that time?”
Zhang Yuan cried again, he felt that he was especially useless, crying at the smallest thing, but once he heard that the old Emperor ask this question, he could not hold it back. He could only say this to Fang Yi repeatedly without stopping: “I always knew that the Emperor will not forget me. I knew that the Emperor would wake up one day. Being together with Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu is not what the Emperor wants, the trick behind this will be exposed one day. As long as I am alive, I cannot allow Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu harm the Emperor!”
