Chapter 48: Oh ho, the ancestral graves are smoking with green fire!

Zhao Yizhen stared slowly at the other three individuals. "Do you have anything else to say?"

They say when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push, but the wall built by these few was already so utterly dilapidated.

There was no need for everyone to push it; a single push from just one person would shatter it into dust!

Chu Chu was the first to speak. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this servant, this servant has extenuating circumstances. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and forgive me!"

Zhao Yizhen chuckled coldly. "Extenuating circumstances? Who doesn't have extenuating circumstances? Did Noble Consort Chen deserve to die? Should I, should I have..."

"Emperor!" Empress Dowager Wen abruptly interrupted Zhao Yizhen's words, her expression stern and fierce. "The Emperor might as well draft an imperial edict directly and announce it to the world for the sake of a clean break!"

"Grand Empress Dowager, Grand Empress Dowager, please calm your anger." Empress Dowager Yang hurriedly stepped forward to support Empress Dowager Wen, lowering her voice to persuade her. "Grand Empress Dowager, His Majesty is still young and inevitably led astray by treacherous people. Please, Grand Empress Dowager, do not hold this against His Majesty!"

Those words woke him from a dream.

Zhao Yizhen suddenly snapped out of his shock and anger, regaining his reason.

Indeed, what good would it do to uncover the truth?

He could neither clear her name nor vindicate himself!

After a moment of silence, he suddenly waved his hand. "All of you, withdraw for now!"

Empress Dowager Wen and Empress Dowager Yang exchanged glances, both quietly breathing sighs of relief.

Before that sigh had even fully left their chests, Zhao Yizhen let out another sudden, cold laugh.

"Grand Empress Dowager, this time, you have gotten your wish once again."

Empress Dowager Wen remained silent for a moment. "Emperor, this old woman's only wish in this lifetime is for the great realm of Yu to enjoy peace and prosperity."

"..." Zhao Yizhen gritted his teeth. "Grand Empress Dowager, your son has also uncovered some other matters. I ask that Grand Empress Dowager grant her approval."

Empress Dowager Wen detected the note of concession in Zhao Yizhen's words.

Over these past days, she too had felt that she had pushed Zhao Yizhen a bit too hard.

Empress Dowager Yang had also been repeating warnings in her ear.

Giving it some thought, rather than continuing to press aggressively, she said warmly, "The Emperor may speak freely. As long as it does no harm to the foundation of the state, this old woman will certainly not stand in your way."

Zhao Yizhen glanced at the imperial guards standing within the grand hall.

The imperial guard captain understood the cue and spoke in a deep voice, "The parents of Noble Consort Chen have already passed away, leaving only a younger brother named Li Heyong who remains among the common folk. This subordinate has already tracked down Li Heyong's whereabouts."

"Speak."

"Li Heyong fathered four sons and one daughter. His eldest son is already married. Two months ago, Li Heyong and his eldest son, Li Xushen, were murdered by men from the Ruying Gambling House. Currently, his second son, Li Xubai, is heading the household. The family lives in Banyan Alley, and Li Xubai works as a laborer at the All-Directions Transport Agency."

"Li Xubai?" Zhao Yizhen paused in surprise. He felt no profound grief over the news that Li Heyong was no longer among the living, since he had never even laid eyes on the man and could hardly speak of familial affection. However, the name Li Xubai sounded exceptionally familiar to him. Puzzled, he asked, "Why does this name sound so familiar to my ears?"

The imperial guard was also taken aback.

Yu Zhong hurriedly spoke up, "Your Majesty, back at the Myriad Buddha Temple, that young man was named Li Xubai."

Zhao Yizhen still remembered this person, and a ripple stirred in his heart.

No wonder he had felt such an unusual sense of closeness to the fellow back then; it turned out to have been a bond of blood all along.

He turned to Empress Dowager Wen and said, "Mother Empress, Noble Consort Chen was virtuous and decorous, faithfully keeping vigil for the late Emperor to the very end. It is only right that I show some care and favor to her surviving kin, so as to comfort her spirit in heaven."

Empress Dowager Wen narrowed her eyes.

She knew very well that she could no longer refuse him this time.

Looking after the Li family was Zhao Yizhen's final concession.

Besides, the Li family was desperately poor. Even if Zhao Yizhen elevated them, they would never be able to stir up any waves.

To nurture a tiger that might cause trouble required the subject to actually be a tiger; if it were merely a cat, no matter how much one fed it, it would remain nothing more than a domestic pet.

Empress Dowager Wen said calmly, "Noble Consort Chen led a hard life. She lost both her father and mother in her youth, and her stepmother sold her and her younger sister. In order to survive, she became a Daoist nun at the Quiet Purity Nunnery, and only later returned to secular life to enter the palace as a maid. During the late Emperor's reign, she was neither favored nor ever able to find her family, dying with a lifelong regret. Since the Emperor is benevolent and governs the realm through filial piety, looking after her relatives is only proper."

Having achieved the outcome he desired, Zhao Yizhen's mood suddenly lightened. Fearing that prolonged nights would bring complications and unexpected changes, he hurriedly instructed Yu Zhong, "Go and summon the Li family to enter the palace and see the Emperor!"

The residents living in Banyan Alley were all families of modest means, ordinary commoners through and through, who had never witnessed truly extravagant or wealthy sights in their lives.

Thus, upon catching sight of the magnificent steeds and lavishly adorned carriages parked at the alley's entrance, they could not help but click their tongues in wonder.

From the moment Li Xubai and his companions boarded the carriage until they caught sight of the dark red palace walls in the distance, their heads remained in a state of dizziness.

He initially assumed that because he and Zhao Yizhen had conversed so pleasantly at the Myriad Buddha Temple, the Emperor had simply remembered him.

Yet upon second thought, something felt amiss. If it were merely a pleasant conversation, why would the eunuch bearing the imperial decree ask about the jade pendant, repeatedly instructing and urging him to bring the pendant along into the palace?

"How could His Majesty possibly know about this jade pendant? Could it be that the murderers and arsonists are actually His Majesty's men?" Li Xubai clutched the stiff, heavy money pouch in his sleeve, feeling increasingly unsettled the more he thought about it. "Could it be that His Majesty knows I took the jade pendant from the folding screen and intends to silence me by having me killed?"

"Stop spouting nonsense!" Song Shiyu glared at Li Xubai. "If His Majesty wanted to silence you, would he need to summon you into the palace? He could have just had you killed right at home."

Nodding repeatedly in deep agreement, Li Xubai asked, "Then... I have neither kinship nor connection with His Majesty, nor have I rendered any meritorious service. Why on earth does he want to see me?"

Prompted by some sudden thought, Song Shiyu smiled maliciously. "Perhaps he took a liking to your face and wants to bring you into the palace to keep him company every day."

"..." Li Xubai let out a terrified shriek. "I refuse to be a eunuch!"

Li Xuzhang and Li Yunnuan covered their mouths, muffled laughter escaping them.

The group disembarked at the palace gates, transferred to sedan chairs, and traveled for a full two quarter-hours before finally descending outside the Great Peace Palace.

Entering the hall to pay their respects, before Li Xubai could even rise to his feet, Zhao Yizhen rushed forward impatiently and reached out to help him up.

"Cousin, you have suffered."

Startled by this address of "cousin," Li Xubai shuddered so violently he nearly tumbled backward onto the floor. Eyes wide with shock, he blurted out, "Y-Your Majesty, what did you say? What cousin? I—no, this commoner's family's ancestral tombs could explode, and this commoner still wouldn't dare claim kinship with Your Majesty!"

Those words brought a sudden, bright chuckle from Zhao Yizhen. "Since I dare to recognize you as my cousin, I have naturally verified your identity. Cousin need not overthink it."

Completely bewildered, Li Xubai found his legs unable to support him.

The Emperor's cousin—would someone please kindly explain to him what relationship his own parents shared with the Emperor's parents?

His mind was in a complete fog.

Empress Dowager Wen sat upright and still, watching Li Xubai and his companions—some mere children, others utterly foolish—behaving precisely like unpolished, ignorant commoners from the marketplace. Her worries vanished entirely.

With people like this, even if they were granted high official posts and generous stipends, they would never be able to hold onto them!

They were entirely unworthy of concern!

With this thought in mind, Empress Dowager Wen decided to do a favor and smooth things over, smiling mildly. "Young master, when this old woman saw you last time, I felt a deep sense of affinity. To think you are actually my own junior relative. Speaking of which, you are even this old woman's savior. If not for you back then, this old woman would long since have been reduced to dust."

"..." Li Xubai's lips twitched violently. Hadn't the order of events been reversed? Surely it was he who saved her first, which was why she found him pleasant to look at, wasn't it?

Empress Dowager Yang beamed as well, explaining, "The young master likely does not yet realize this, but your esteemed late mother was the actual younger sister of the late Emperor's Noble Consort. For His Majesty to address the young master as cousin is entirely fitting."