I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 227 Trading
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I know I was wrong, Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

As Mu Meiren's pleas for mercy faded into the distance, every woman present felt her legs go weak.

Emperor Sheng'an seemed not to hear the pitiful pleas for mercy and continued to ask, "In my opinion, how should the Mu family, who sent a concubine who had committed adultery into the palace, be dealt with?"

"Your Majesty!" Consort Xian truly wept this time. "I beg Your Majesty, for the sake of the Mu family's unwavering loyalty, and for the sake of my decades of service in the inner palace!"

Emperor Sheng'an interrupted, "My beloved concubine already said this when Mu Liang was beheaded."

The empress lowered her head, almost bursting out laughing.

Consort Xian choked and continued to plead, but Emperor Sheng'an was already tired of hearing it. "What does the Empress say should be done?"

The Empress considered the matter carefully and said, "Your Majesty, according to palace rules, the crime of a concubine committing adultery extends to her family. The Mu family should be immediately imprisoned and punished!"

Emperor Sheng'an said slowly, "No need to execute him?"

"Of course he should be executed!" But the Empress remembered the Crown Prince's previous instructions and hesitated for a long time before saying, "The life and death of the Mu family should be decided by His Majesty alone."

Emperor Sheng'an's furious heart calmed down slightly. Such a clumsy trick could not escape his eyes, but in any case, the fact remained that Consort Mu had an affair.

Whatever the Empress's or anyone else's purpose was in doing this, it was a way of removing the green hat from his head.

But just as unexpectedly, he was also cuckolded in front of everyone!

Upon thinking of this, Emperor Sheng'an's rage intensified. He looked at the Consort Xian and her son, who were crying miserably on his left, and then at the Empress and her son, who looked completely innocent. He couldn't bear it any longer and fainted.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" The Empress rushed forward and embraced Emperor Sheng'an's collapsed body, shouting, "Quickly, summon the imperial physician!"

The Empress and eunuchs hurriedly helped Emperor Sheng'an onto the imperial carriage, where he was escorted back to his bedchamber by the Imperial Guards.

The Empress turned and glanced at the man kneeling on the ground, being escorted by the Imperial Guards. "Take this beast to the Imperial Prison and wait for His Majesty to wake up before making a decision!"

The man seemed to want to raise his head, but in the end, he lowered his head and was forced back down.

When the Empress arrived at Panlong Palace, she ran into the Empress Dowager, who was always eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist prayers in Cining Palace. The Empress's heart skipped a beat, and she stepped forward to pay her respects, saying, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to the Empress Dowager."

The Empress Dowager fiddled with the prayer beads in her hand, and after a long while, she said, "Rise."

"Thank you, Empress Dowager," the Empress stood up and asked cautiously, "Empress Dowager, how is His Majesty?"

"The imperial physician is still treating the patient; let's wait patiently for news."

The Empress, who had so much to say, suddenly choked up and sat aside waiting for news.

Half an hour later, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy came out from the inner hall, knelt down and reported, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, His Majesty fainted due to anger. I have already administered acupuncture to suppress His Majesty's anger and have also written a prescription to prepare medicine, but a mental illness requires a mental cure."

This remedy, of course, is to deal with Mu Meiren, her lover, and their family.

"Furthermore, Your Majesty's health cannot be subjected to any further stimulation, especially anger."

"I understand," the Empress Dowager said, stopping her hand from scattering the prayer beads. "Go and prepare the medicine."

The head of the academy bowed and withdrew.

"Your Majesty, did you hear what the head of the Imperial Medical Academy said?"

"Your Majesty, I have heard you," the Empress said, her face tense. "I will strictly manage the inner palace and ensure that no trouble arises during His Majesty's convalescence." "Tell the Crown Prince and the Prince of Wei to behave themselves during this time!"

The Empress Dowager recited a Buddhist scripture for the duration of a cup of tea, then suddenly opened her eyes. "Issue my imperial decree: that adulterer shall be executed by slow slicing, his entire family shall be confiscated, and his nine generations of relatives shall be exiled!"

The Empress was startled, "Yes!"

As soon as the Empress Dowager issued her decree, Consort Xian, who was kneeling outside the palace pleading for mercy, fell to the ground. She quickly grabbed her son's hand and whispered, "Quickly, quickly send a message to your cousin. Now, the only one who can save your maternal grandfather's family is your cousin."

"Is Mother Consort confused? No prince is allowed to return to the capital without being summoned, or he will be punished for treason!" The Prince of Wei, kneeling beside the Consort, also lowered his voice and said, "If the Crown Prince finds out that my cousin has returned to the capital, he'll be overjoyed!"

"What can we do then? Are we just going to watch your maternal grandfather's entire family be executed and the Mu clan exiled?!" Consort Xian's eyes widened as she grabbed her son's sleeve and wouldn't let go. "If the Mu clan is gone, you can forget about sitting in that position!"

The King of Wei was furious. "If that's what Mother says, then I'll send a message to my cousin. But whether he'll return to the capital is anyone's guess!"

"He will come back," Consort Xian said with certainty. "He will definitely come back."

Consort Xian's prediction was correct. Prince An, who was far away in the Northeast, was extremely anxious upon receiving the message from Prince Wei. He immediately wrote a letter requesting to return to the capital. However, fearing that the Crown Prince, who was temporarily in charge of the court, would not agree, he asked Princess An to return to Luoyang ahead of him under the pretext of celebrating the Empress Dowager's birthday.

The air inside the Cining Palace was filled with the scent of sandalwood. The Empress Dowager emerged from the small Buddhist hall. "Is Prince An returning to the capital to celebrate my birthday?"

"Yes, that's what the memorial submitted by Prince An says," the Crown Prince said, helping the Empress Dowager sit on the couch. "Prince An's aunt has already set off and should arrive in Luoyang in about five days."

“My birthday is in October, and it’s only September now, yet they’re already celebrating my birthday. Prince An and his wife are truly filial,” the Empress Dowager said, turning the prayer beads in her hand. “Fine, since he wants to come back, let him come back.”

"Yes," the Crown Prince hesitated, "should we wait for Father Emperor's approval?"

"Your father has only just woken up, and he is only lucid for less than an hour each day. He is too busy worrying about state affairs to even think about such trivial matters," the Empress Dowager waved her hand. "Tell Prince An that he may return to the capital, but he must follow the rules for princes entering the capital. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"My grandson understands!"

A few days later, having received permission to enter the capital, Prince An, following the rules for princes entering the capital, set off for the capital with only twenty personal guards. He rode swiftly and arrived in Luoyang in just three days.

The weary Prince An, unable to wait to return to his residence to rest, immediately submitted a petition requesting to enter the palace.

Inside the Panlong Hall, Emperor Sheng'an, who was leaning against a soft cushion, received Prince An's request to enter the palace. After pondering for a long time, he finally granted it.

As soon as Prince An entered the inner palace, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.

After several days of adjustment, Emperor Sheng'an was able to calmly face the fact that he had been cuckolded. "Do you know what the Mu family has done wrong?"

"I have heard from the Princess that Lady Mu has committed a grave error, but I beg Your Majesty to consider that Grand Secretary Mu has worked diligently for the Great Yu for his entire life and to punish her leniently."

Emperor Sheng'an countered, "Are you aware of the Empress Dowager's handling of that adulterer's family?"

“Your subject understands,” said Prince An. “Your subject is willing to offer his princely title and military achievements in exchange for the survival of the Mu family!”

Emperor Sheng'an paused as he drank his medicine. "Is my imperial brother so determined?"

Prince An said firmly, "Please grant my request, Your Majesty!"

"Very well, then I will reclaim your fiefdom. From now on, you will remain in Luoyang, and I will send a new general to command the troops stationed in the northeast," Emperor Sheng'an said, his face weary. "Go."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Prince An bowed and withdrew.