Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 241 The emperor is seriously ill, and the Wanshou Festival is a time for good luck!
I don’t know if it’s because of the severe drought and the lack of rain for a long time.

Or it was because the censors combined this natural disaster with the Wanli Emperor's heinous crimes and mining operations and criticized them all together.

In short, although Emperor Wanli still stubbornly refused to issue an order to abolish the mining tax, his illness became more and more serious.

……

Yu Shenxing, who had been ill for a long time, finally returned to the cabinet. Although everyone said that his illness was fake, looking at his haggard look, it was obvious that he had just recovered from a serious illness not long ago.

"I heard that the emperor's illness is getting worse and worse, and he wants to find a doctor from outside the palace to come in for treatment. What do you think about this?"

Yu Shenxing asked the other two cabinet ministers weakly. He first stared at Fang Congzhe, but finally his eyes fell on Ye Xianggao, who had just joined the cabinet.

Yu Shenxing seemed to have known something, for example, how Ye Xianggao entered the cabinet, and...

"I'm afraid this is not appropriate." Fang Congzhe spoke first: "Let's not talk about the medical skills of the imperial doctors in the palace. What if those quack doctors outside are careless when prescribing medicine and hurt the emperor's body?"

This is a very official answer. Basically, all ten civil servants would give the same answer.

After all, if something really happened to the emperor's body, when the time came to investigate, whoever agreed to go outside the palace to see the imperial physician would be dead.

In comparison, the warm tonic medicines prescribed by the Imperial Medical Bureau to the emperor, although they might not cure people, were ultimately warm tonic medicines that were harmless to humans.

If anything really happens, it can't be blamed on the imperial physician or people like them.

Yu Shenxing did not answer Fang Congzhe's words. He kept looking at Ye Xianggao, obviously waiting for the other party's answer.

Ye Xianggao had already noticed the strangeness in Yu Shenxing's eyes, but he remained calm and responded:
"I think what Ru Yu said is correct. Moreover, I heard from the imperial physician that the main reason why the emperor's condition is getting worse is because of his mental illness."

"Heart disease?" Yu Shenxing stared at Ye Xianggao: "Is it really just a heart disease?"

Ye Xianggao said calmly, "Of course. To date, many places have been suffering from drought for a year. Tens of thousands of disaster victims are in dire straits. The emperor is the emperor and father, and he is kind-hearted. Naturally, he sympathizes with his people who are suffering from the disaster. How can the emperor be happy in such a disaster? This is natural. It's just a mental illness."

"Is that so?" Yu Shenxing said with a strange smile, "No wonder Jinqing was chosen by the Emperor to join the cabinet. It turns out it's because you understand the Emperor's grace."

Yu Shenxing obviously had something else in his words, and Ye Xianggao could also hear it. Fang Congzhe on the side seemed a little embarrassed.

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly awkward, and if they continued talking like this, there was a chance that a quarrel would break out. Just as the situation was tense, someone arrived.

Zhang Chonghui came uninvited, like timely rain, holding a stack of things.

"What are the ministers talking about? Hey, Yu Yuanfu, you're back? Are you feeling well now?"

Zhang Chonghui came up and inserted himself between the three of them, which was quite presumptuous.

Ye Xianggao seemed to be very displeased with Zhang Chonghui, and said in a bad tone: "What are you doing here? This is the cabinet!"

Zhang Chonghui seemed not to hear Ye Xianggao's words. He ignored him and put the stack in his hand directly on the table.

Seeing such a scene, outsiders would basically think that the two people were incompatible. Yu Shenxing saw all of this, but he still remained suspicious of the two people.

Yu Shenxing didn't know if he was overthinking it, he always felt that there was something going on between Zhang Chonghui and Ye Xianggao.

"We were talking about the emperor's recent illness becoming more serious." Yu Shenxing simply took this opportunity to test Zhang Chonghui and said:
"The emperor wants to send someone out of the palace to look for a doctor. What do you think of this?"

"Leave the palace to find a doctor?" Zhang Chonghui shook his head without saying a word, "How can that be possible? How can a quack doctor treat the emperor? What if he hurts the emperor's body?"

"Do you think so too?" Yu Shenxing asked.

"What if it's not the same?" Zhang Chonghui spread his hands: "Yu Yuanfu, don't you think so?"

For a moment, Yu Shenxing was speechless...

"In the final analysis, the emperor is worried." Ye Xianggao took the initiative to mention: "If God could rain, the emperor's worry might be cured."

"It's not that easy to make it rain." Zhang Chonghui replied in a bad tone, "Since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple have held many 'Da Yu' ceremonies."

Ye Xianggao also asked in a bad tone: "Then according to your opinion, do you have a solution? Zhang Shentong?"

"I don't dare to call myself a child prodigy." Zhang Chonghui said, "But I do have a good suggestion."

"What suggestions?" This time it was Yu Shenxing's turn to ask.

Zhang Chonghui looked at Yu Shenxing and said, "Yu Yuanfu, have you forgotten that someone had previously petitioned the emperor to prepare a wedding for His Royal Highness Prince Fu as soon as possible?"

Yu Shenxing certainly did not forget that it was he who specially asked someone to submit the memorial.

"You mean... a wedding for good luck?" Ye Xianggao asked again.

"Yes." Zhang Chonghui nodded and said, "The emperor has a heart disease due to the severe drought. If we want to make the emperor healthy, we have to make him happy. His Royal Highness Prince Fu is the emperor's favorite prince. I think the emperor will be very happy with Prince Fu's wedding and his heart disease will be relieved."

"That makes sense." Fang Congzhe stroked his beard and nodded.

Ye Xianggao nodded reluctantly, but said nothing more.

Obviously, they were all waiting for the Prime Minister Shen Xing to make the decision.

"Right now, this is the only solution..." Yu Shenxing nodded helplessly and said, "Then let the Ministry of Rites quickly pick an auspicious day for Prince Fu to get married and please the emperor."

"Why do we need to pick an auspicious day?" Zhang Chonghui said with a smile:

"I remember that in two months it will be August 17th, the Emperor's birthday. No matter how auspicious a day is, it cannot compare to the Emperor's birthday."

……

August 17, the 29th year of the Wanli reign.

This was the birthday of Emperor Wanli and also the wedding day of his beloved son, Prince Fu Zhu Changxun.

On this day, the capital was decorated with lanterns and red silks, and the wedding procession was winding like a dragon, with gongs and drums roaring and resounding through the sky.

In Prince Fu's mansion, there are all kinds of delicacies, and jewels and jades are dazzling. Everywhere you go, there is luxury.

The cost of the dresses, jewelry, furniture, etc. purchased for this wedding alone amounted to 300,000 taels of silver.

The brocade woven with gold thread and the dazzling gems inlaid are all made of money.

The common people along the way and the officials in the court were all amazed at this extravagant wedding that was beyond imagination. If they thought about the scene of Emperor Wanli's wedding, it was far inferior to this.

Zhu Changluo naturally could not be absent from his younger brother's wedding, but although he smiled, his heart was numb.

During the entire wedding, Zhu Changluo, the crown prince and eldest brother, sat by and watched it with his own eyes.

It was not known whether it was because the wedding was too luxurious and dazzling, or because the emperor's father, despite his sick face, still had a kind and doting smile that hurt Zhu Changluo's eyes.

It was almost inevitable that Zhu Changluo recalled his own hasty wedding.

In Zhu Changluo's view at this moment, his wedding ceremony with the Crown Princess was as casual and shabby as when Pan Jinlian married Wu Dalang.

In fact, it is not that exaggerated, but sometimes exaggeration or not is the result of comparison. People's jealousy will exaggerate many things.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the Crown Prince?"

The voice of Crown Princess Guo brought Zhu Changluo back to his trance, and he realized that his brother, Prince Fu, was toasting him. "Brother, why are you in a daze? I'm toasting you, you're not going to give me face, are you?"

The fifteen or sixteen-year-old little prince looked more and more blessed, just like his title. However, in Zhu Changluo's eyes, this blessed appearance looked greasy and disgusting.

However, no matter how disgusted he felt in his heart, what could he do? All he could do was force himself to smile.

"Brother, when you and the Emperor's wife got married, was the scene like mine today? Oh, I almost forgot, you guys were...

Hahaha, I didn't bring this up on purpose, please don't misunderstand me, brother. By the way, how is my eldest nephew doing recently? I remember he seems to be three years old, right?
Oh, by the way! I heard that my nephew's biological mother, Wang, was originally a palace maid who served me. I gave her to you because I didn't want her anymore!
My dear brother, you have such a good son, thanks to me, your younger brother, right?"

Zhu Changxun said that he came to toast his brother Zhu Changluo, but in fact he came to mock him.

In such a public situation, Zhu Changluo felt as if he had returned to the age of ten.

At that time, Zhu Changxun was lying on the ground and rolling around, using his father being the emperor to threaten his brother to let Zhu Changxun ride on a big horse.

Although it is not as exaggerated as it was in the past, Zhu Changxun has already shit on the head of Crown Prince Zhu Changluo by making such sarcasm in public.

Zhu Changluo's face turned blue with embarrassment, but he couldn't utter a word of rebuttal. All this honest prince could do was to smile cowardly.

Zhu Changxun was very satisfied with the other party's cowardly reaction. This prince, who was spoiled to the point of being lawless, only thought that his father, the emperor, would always support him, forever and ever.

However, nothing lasts forever.

Even if the emperor is the Son of Heaven, he will die.

……

After Zhu Changluo returned to Ciqing Palace, he had a very bad temper.

The first thing the domineering prince did was to rush into the courtyard of Wang Xuanshi and drive out all the outsiders. Soon, the sounds of things being thrown and women crying were heard in the palace.

Zhu Youxiao, who was not even three years old, was holding a wooden ruyi carved with exquisite landscape paintings. He was chewing on the teether in his mouth.

The little baby just watched as his father the prince rushed into his biological mother's yard, and then he was carried out by the eunuch. Besides confusion, there was also some curiosity in his young eyes.

Zhu Youxiao may have inherited his emperor grandfather's childhood intelligence, and was able to speak many words at a young age.

He took out the wooden ruyi he was holding in his mouth, tapped the shoulder of the eunuch who was holding him, and asked in a childish voice:
"Otomo, mother, are you crying?"

Li Jinzhong touched the little prince's head, with unspeakable helplessness in his eyes. He gently covered the little baby's ears and said:
"Your Highness heard it wrong. No one is crying."

"You lied to me!" Although the three-year-old kid is small, he is not stupid. While shouting "Put me down", he waved the wooden Ruyi in his hand back and forth, as if he was going to seek justice for his biological mother.

As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. Li Jinzhong was afraid that the little grandson would really contradict the prince, so he was scared and quickly carried Zhu Youxiao to a place farther away from the yard, far away from the prince when he came out, where he would not be able to see him.

It was not known whether it was a coincidence or fate, but when the little grandson was about to burst into tears in anger, Li Jinzhong saw a person.

"Dry……"

"Ahem." Zhang Chonghui quickly interrupted Li Jinzhong. Looking at the little grandson who was about to burst into tears and the panicked palace attendants, he held the little baby in his arms and coaxed him. He asked:
"What's going on? What happened?"

Li Jinzhong didn't know what to say. After all, there were people all around him, and he couldn't say anything bad about the prince in front of his colleagues.

Facts have proved that a newborn calf is indeed not afraid of a tiger. Before Li Jinzhong could find a tactful answer, Zhu Youxiao shouted out:
"Dad hits me..."

Seeing that the little grandson was about to speak, Zhang Chonghui, who had already guessed the details of the situation, hurriedly covered the baby's mouth.

……

Zhu Changluo also didn't expect that Zhang Chonghui was so bold that he dared to break into his backyard!

What annoyed Zhu Changluo the most was that Zhang Chonghui not only broke in privately, but also interfered in his family affairs!

"Your Highness, are you crazy?" Zhang Chonghui grabbed Zhu Changluo's hand and shouted, "Your Highness, are you crazy?"
"I just heard that Prince Fu was disrespectful to you today, so I hurried over here, fearing that you would do something stupid in your anger!
You have to understand one thing, today is not only Prince Fu's big day, today is also the Emperor's birthday!"

Zhang Chonghui said, pointing at the woman who had been beaten to death, and said:
"You did something so fatal on the day of the Emperor's birthday. You are just giving Concubine Zheng and her son something to hold against you!
Also, didn't you find something strange about what happened today? Didn't you suspect that it was probably done intentionally by Prince Fu just to anger you?
Your Highness, you are too impulsive! If I hadn't arrived in time, have you ever thought about how the emperor would deal with you if someone died? "

The prince, who was originally furious, was stunned by Zhang Chonghui's shout...

Before he could react, Zhu Changluo saw Zhang Chonghui scolding Wang An:

"Hurry up and find a doctor to treat the concubine. If she really gets into an accident, Prince Fu will not only show off in front of outsiders next time, but will come to the East Palace to occupy the magpie nest!"

Wang An was also stunned by the scolding. Although he had never liked Zhang Chonghui, he knew that the overall situation was important. Especially after he heard the words "occupying the magpie's nest", he hurried out to find a doctor!
Looking at the woman lying on the ground, not knowing whether she was dead or alive, Zhu Changluo did not come to his senses until this moment. He seemed to have lost his mind a little...

He was so irrational that even when Wang Youfu had stopped struggling, he was still attacking her...

"Minghe, what should we do? She wouldn't be...dead, right? What if she's dead? I just want to vent my anger on her, I don't want to beat her to death..."

Zhu Changluo was really panicked. He knew very well that if he caused a death, his father would definitely depose him as the crown prince!

By then, his reputation for honesty and loyalty, which had been ruined for more than a decade, would be gone to waste!
Those censors who support him might turn around and call him worse than pigs and dogs!

The prince seemed to be frightened. After quickly closing the door, he didn't even dare to check the woman's breath, for fear of finding a dead person.

But now that Wang An is not here, besides him, Zhang Chonghui is the only one who is "alive" in the palace.

"Minghe...you...you go and see if she is dead or not?" Zhu Changluo advised with a horrified look in his eyes.

Zhang Chonghui said, "But men and women shouldn't touch each other, how about we ask a palace maid to come in?"

"No!" Zhu Changluo widened his eyes and refused hastily: "What if she is really dead? The more people know, the more risks there are! We can't let anyone else know!"

Zhang Chonghui had no choice but to step forward with great reluctance, turn the poor woman, whose hair was disheveled and whose body was covered with wounds, over, and check her breath.

"Still breathing." said Zhang Chonghui.

Zhu Changluo breathed a sigh of relief...

"But not much." Zhang Chonghui said again.

Zhu Changluo suddenly became worried again!

"What should I do... What if she really dies... No!" Zhu Changluo suddenly thought of something and said hurriedly, "No, doctor! Wang An can't go to the doctor! What if the doctor leaks it?"

"That's right." Zhang Chonghui had an expression of 'why didn't I think of that' and said hurriedly: "Then it seems that we have to let Wang An come back, but... are we going to let her die like this?"

"Wait!" Zhu Changluo suddenly remembered something, his eyes lit up and he said, "Minghe, I remember you also studied medicine, didn't you?"

Zhang Chonghui shook his head without saying anything: "I'm just learning for fun, I'm only half-baked, what if..."

Zhu Changluo said firmly: "Oh! I can't care about that! I believe you!"

"But..." Zhang Chonghui was still hesitating.

"Minghe..." Zhu Changluo played the victim and said pitifully, "You are the only one I can trust. Can you help me?"

The little prince was so pitiful, how could Zhang Chonghui refuse?

Although Zhang Chonghui knew that Zhu Changluo was trying to drag him down and make him a scapegoat!
(End of this chapter)