Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 7 Brother, do you like wood carving?
From the day Yang Lian was arrested and imprisoned, Zhu Changluo ordered the palace gates to be strictly locked, prohibiting all non-essential personnel from entering or leaving. From then on, the outside court lost its means of gaining access to the palace, as the only people allowed in and out of the palace were the eunuchs, servants, and firemen (the lowest eunuchs, responsible for tasks such as purchasing, cleaning floors, and emptying toilets), who were separated from the emperor by countless levels of rank.

Only Liu Heqing, the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau who attended to the emperor's health daily, could provide the Donglin Party with information about Zhu Changluo. According to his description, Zhu Changluo's health was constantly in a quantum superposition of good and bad: one day he had a hearty appetite, the next he couldn't get up from the toilet.

Even when the cabinet chief Fang Congzhe and all the cabinet members requested an audience, Zhu Changluo still refused. If it were not for the daily approval of memorials, the ministers would have thought that the new emperor had begun to follow the old path of Emperor Shenzong.

Zhu Changluo was waiting, waiting for things to ferment. He had already laid all his bait. But before the memorial that would light the fuse arrived, there was one more thing he had to do.

West Warm Pavilion of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Forbidden City

"The Emperor has arrived!" the eunuch announced loudly, but the emperor did not need to wait for the owner's consent before entering.

Concubine Li, who had been beaten with the cane twenty times in the court, was still lying on the bed, so when she heard the eunuch's announcement, she did not get up.

"Hmph, you know you're coming now?" Consort Li muttered softly, thinking about how she would control Zhu Changluo when he arrived.

It's no wonder that Consort Li was so spoiled. Zhu Changluo had two concubines named Li in his harem, known as East Li and West Li, but Zhu Changluo only favored West Li, Li Zhulan, for years. This favor was unparalleled.

In the 32nd year of the Wanli reign, Wang Shi gave birth to the eldest son Zhu Youxiao for the Crown Prince Zhu Changluo. She was awarded the title of Talented Lady for her contribution in giving birth to a son. In the 34th year of the Wanli reign, Wang Shi gave birth to the second son Zhu You for Zhu Changluo (who died at the age of four).

Logically speaking, after the death of Crown Princess Guo in the 41st year of Wanli, Wang Cairen, who gave birth to the eldest son Zhu Youxiao, should have been the woman with the highest status in Zhu Changluo's harem.

However, Li Zhulan, relying on the crown prince's exclusive favor, bullied other people in the harem every day, and even beat Wang Cairen to death in the 47th year of the Wanli reign (last year). Even so, Li Xianshi was still not punished. Zhu Changluo even gave Wang Cairen's son Zhu Youxiao to Li Xianshi to raise.

If the Taichang Emperor had died within a month, or if the son Li Zhulan gave birth to by Zhu Changluo had not died (the fourth son, Zhu Youmo, died at the age of five), then the Taichang Emperor could have easily repeated the struggle for the throne during the Wanli Emperor's reign.

As the eldest son, his biological mother died young, and his father favored another woman. Zhu Changluo was practically immersing Zhu Youxiao in the same suffering he himself had endured. This was bound to cause the child mental illness.

"Why hasn't the emperor come yet?" Li Zhulan asked the palace maid standing beside her.

The maid replied with an embarrassed look on her face, "The emperor went straight to the eldest prince's carpentry workshop." It seems that His Majesty is not here to see you, the maid thought.

The eldest prince, Zhu Youxiao, had certainly heard the eunuch's announcement. But he paid no attention to it, because every time Zhu Changluo came to the Western Warm Pavilion, it was to see Consort Li. If Zhu Changluo was still in a good mood after they finished, he might even come to see Zhu Youxiao.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao always focused on the carpentry work in his hands. Only in this way could he escape from the pain of losing his mother and the abuse of his adoptive mother and gain a brief peace.

"Li Jinzhong, go away! Stop blocking my sunlight! I can hardly see clearly." Zhu Youxiao scolded him. Li Jinzhong was one of the few eunuchs who were willing to curry favor with Concubine Li.

The shadow left, and sunlight once again streamed into the woodworking workshop. Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction, continuing to focus on the wood in his hands. As his head bobbed up and down, he caught a glimpse of a golden hem of clothing from the corner of his eye.

"Father!" Zhu Youxiao quickly dropped the wooden sculpture in his hand and knelt on the ground. The not very delicate wooden sculpture lost its balance and fell to the stone floor.

With a bang, Zhu Youxiao's half month's hard work was broken into two.

"Your son, your son." He was like a child who was caught playing games by his father in the middle of the night. He subconsciously wanted to explain something, but didn't know how to explain it.

Zhu Changluo squatted down and picked up the broken wooden dragon, a five-clawed dragon. "Is this for me?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Your Majesty, yes." Zhu Youxiao supported himself on the ground with his hands, moved on his knees, and turned his head towards Zhu Changluo in a kneeling position.

Zhu Changluo put the wood carving aside, then reached out to help Zhu Youxiao up.

"Father?" What happened to Father today?
"Brother (Zhu Youxiao's nickname), do you like wood carving?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Your son, your son." Zhu Youxiao didn't know how to respond. Although he was not liked by his father, he was the eldest son of the emperor after all, and it was not his duty to indulge in "losing toys."

"If you like it, just do it. I don't object." Zhu Changluo stepped forward, stretched out his hand and gently embraced the fourteen-year-old child.

"Father?" As far as he could remember, his father had never hugged him. In his heart, Zhu Changluo was not the sun, but the dark cloud covering the sun. Every time he saw his father, he trembled with fear.

Zhu Youxiao didn't know where to put his hands, so he just let them hang down.

"Brother, I'm sorry to your mother and to you. I apologize to you." Zhu Changluo whispered sincerely in Zhu Youxiao's ear.

His nose suddenly felt sore, as if some emotion suddenly surged up. Zhu Youxiao bravely reached out and touched his father's back. His father did not refuse, so he mustered up all his courage and hugged his father.

"Brother, come and live with me from now on. I will teach you to read and you will make wood carvings for me, okay?" Zhu Changluo said in a gentle voice.

The dam that held back his sadness and anxiety suddenly broke, and Zhu Youxiao burst into tears. Zhu Changluo said nothing more, but let the child's sad tears hit his chest.

Wang An stood far away, and somehow he felt the same way.

I wish the late emperor had hugged Your Majesty like this.

Zhu Changluo took Zhu Youxiao away directly, and also took away Zhu Youxiao's carpentry tools.

Li Zhulan initially thought that Zhu Changluo was coming to see her, but Zhu Changluo not only did not come to see her in person, he didn't even call her.

When the maid came to tell her that the emperor had left with the eldest son and his tools, Li Zhulan realized a terrible fact.

She seems to have fallen out of favor.

Li Zhulan had recently been actively contacting Consort Zheng, who was also in the Qianqing Palace, in an attempt to cooperate with her. One was the Empress Dowager, the other the Empress.

But at this moment, she felt like a clown jumping around. If she lost the emperor's special favor, let alone moving into Kunning Palace, Yanqi Palace might be her future residence.

Li Zhulan, who has always been domineering, was lying on the bed. She was covered with a quilt, but she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

(End of this chapter)