From street beggar to high-ranking official

Your Majesty, your virtue is profound and far-reaching...

He taught them the proper etiquette for serving their ruler, and encouraged them on how to conduct themselves... He cared for them through thick and thin, and inquired about their food and drink... His beloved carriage has passed away...

Xiao Jizi was reciting the eulogy. In such a solemn occasion, all the servants had to kneel and listen. Afterwards, they would need to prepare for the funeral.

The original bright red decorations in the palace were all removed, and the silver-clad scene was dazzling. At the palace guard post, all the red candles and lanterns were taken down, and all the eunuchs and palace maids immediately took off their original clothes and hats and removed their jewelry. Everyone changed into plain cloth clothes, and those without rank or status wrapped their heads with white mourning headscarves.

Inside the Cining Palace, eunuchs and palace maids had begun to kneel and weep, their sobbing gradually seeping out of the palace.

The Imperial Household Department mobilized personnel to prepare the nanmu coffin, sending craftsmen to work through the night to paint and gild it; at the same time, they rushed to make mourning banners, spirit tablets, soul-guiding banners, and other funeral hall furnishings...

Thirty-six stoves and seventy-two fire pits were used to prepare the first meal of the day and three vegetarian offerings. All the eunuchs and maids in the palace ate vegetarian meals. Slaughtering and drinking eggs and wine were prohibited for twenty-seven days. Anyone who stole meat was punished as a thief of theft of food and was punished one degree more severely. After everything in the palace was ready, the eternal lamps in Cining Palace were lit and were not to be extinguished for twenty-seven days.

Lu Li had no reason to rest. He went with his colleagues to help out at Cining Palace and watched as Cining Palace was transformed from the main hall into a national mourning hall: white silk mourning curtains were hung, plain-colored spirit tablets were set up, white silk tablecloths were laid on the offering table, and paper funerary objects and ceremonial guards were placed on both sides; a white cloth tent was set up outside the hall for officials to rest and mourn.

According to Confucian rituals and customs, one should observe a three-year mourning period. However, due to the importance of the nation, the mourning period is changed to twenty-seven days instead of months.

Lu Li spent his first day in a flurry of activity, the sound of weeping never ceasing. He had to take turns leading patrols at various guard posts, tallying the incense and candles lost, and keeping his subordinates in check to prevent them from slacking off or chatting.

Upon seeing that all the concubines and the empress had arrived, dressed in plain clothes, even the most beautiful Consort Xian had given up her gold and silver jewelry.

The palace maids knelt to greet them, but fortunately everyone followed the rules. They were usually careful and cautious, and dared not be presumptuous at such a solemn ceremony.

The next day, the Directorate of Palace Attendants carried the coffin into the palace, and the Directorate of Imperial Household Department placed the burial gold book, jewelry, and utensils according to the register. The eunuchs of the Directorate of Imperial Wardrobe helped the body into the coffin, and the Crown Prince stood by the coffin, supporting it and expressing his grief.

Emperor Yongxi personally arrived to inspect the sealing ceremony, after which the Imperial Shrine Supervisor conducted the grand encoffining and spirit-pacification rituals...

.......

As Lu Li gazed at the offerings before the coffin from afar, he saw that they were all vegetarian, arranged according to the types of food the Empress Dowager had eaten during her lifetime, following the rule of treating the dead as if they were still alive.

Today is the fourth day of the mourning period. The civil and military officials came yesterday. Now, as long as we keep to ourselves and follow the etiquette of morning and evening mourning, we will receive the officials at the times of serving breakfast, inquiring about their well-being, and offering their evening meal and bidding them farewell. The officials will take turns mourning at their respective offices at the times of Chen (7-9 AM) and You (5-7 PM).

Looking at this scene, Lu Li thought of his own past experiences. Back then, if someone died in the village, it would probably be just one meal a day, breakfast and dinner.

......

On the seventh day after his death, the priests and monks led the monks and Taoists to the site and set up a water and land ritual for a day and a night, chanting scriptures to pray for the deceased. On this day, Lu Li watched as the listless Emperor Yongxi led his concubines and royal family members to perform the sacrificial rites.

They presented the Empress Dowager's clothes and scriptures one by one, and knelt and wept as they burned the funerary objects. Emperor Yongxi then placed a golden pill on the offering, wishing the Empress Dowager a long and healthy life in the afterlife.

As he watched the raging flames engulf the paper offerings and the spirit banners flutter in the smoke and dust, Lu Li burst into tears.

It wasn't just a matter of being moved by the scene; it was simply that the time had come for everyone to cry.

Let alone soft-hearted women and hard-hearted men, even a stone would weep at this moment!

Lu Li watched as the snow on the ground melted due to the heat, coalescing into water droplets, which then mingled with his own tears.

With such a grand funeral for the Empress Dowager, I, a mere ant, have no idea what my fate will be.

Things are different now. Lu Li used to enjoy his death and fantasize about an extraordinary spectacle. Now that he has lost power, the sight of the scene evokes new sorrows.

After the seventh day after death.

There were far fewer people in the mourning hall. The concubines were required to keep vigil every day, one at a time, while the princes and crown princes would keep vigil every three days, sitting quietly in the side hall of the mourning hall with the concubines on duty.

This was the first time Lu Li had ever truly seen the Crown Prince. Usually, he would kneel before the carriages and attendants, but now, seeing the Crown Prince looking so tired, he was surprised to find that he was exhausted.

There are many rumors circulating in the palace about the Crown Prince, such as his ambition, literary talent, love of martial arts, and fondness for a slender waist.

Lu Li didn't care much about the Crown Prince; he was still thinking about his own affairs. A few days ago, Eunuch Qiao had informed him that there was news about his father, but he never expected such a big thing to happen in the palace, so he had to delay for a while longer.

On the 27th, tonight will be the night for the Crown Prince and Consort Ning to keep vigil. The 24th Prince, who is already half a year old, will be held in the arms of his wet nurse, with Little Beard also attending to him.

Lu Li, out of sight, out of mind, focused solely on his own affairs.

Inside the side hall of the mourning hall.

Crown Prince Li Sheng was also thinking about his own affairs.

He was not close to the Empress Dowager. Although he was the Empress's third son, by the time he had his memories, the Empress Dowager had devoted herself to Buddhism. Except for some important days, especially when he accidentally broke the Empress Dowager's beloved ivory carving when he was young, Li Sheng was rarely seen.

He wanted to ask someone to restore it, but the Empress Dowager only said one thing: "How can a broken mirror be mended?"

On the contrary, he saw his mother more often. His mother came from a humble family, and when they met in private, she did not strictly abide by the palace rules, and there was a lot more warmth between them.

At that time, his eldest and second eldest brothers were still alive, and he was even more favored by his father, the emperor, and the empress dowager.

Looking back on his childhood, when his elder brother was still the crown prince, he was not favored in the palace, but Li Sheng still had a comfortable childhood.

They were clearly being neglected and prejudiced, but they didn't even realize it.

Looking back now, it was probably my mother's protection.

Until he was fifteen and granted the title of Prince of Chu, both of his elder brothers fell ill and there was no cure. Since it was not appropriate for the prince to stay in the palace for too long as he was getting older, Li Sheng, who was about to be granted the title of Prince and go to his fief, became the new crown prince.

As a result, Li Sheng often saw his father, the Emperor.

He still remembered his first meeting with his father as the crown prince. His father was reading history at the time, but Li Sheng was not quite sure which dynasty it was. He could not satisfy his father with his answers to several questions.

It seems that because of the contrast with his two elder brothers, even after his death, his father still hoped that the new crown prince would be an outstanding one, but unfortunately he could not live up to his father's wishes.

So he accompanied his father in reviewing memorials, sometimes offering suggestions, and sometimes simply sitting quietly at the head of the table.

Although he held the title of Crown Prince, he did not have the actual power of one. Later, Li Sheng gradually realized that he was more of a tool used by his father to stabilize the court than a crown prince. As long as the Crown Prince was in power, the harem could not be truly influenced by the powerful families. As for who his father truly favored,

Li Sheng didn't know, and dared not guess.

I only learned from the records of the Imperial Clan Court that my father was not valued like me back then, and he was also forced to marry the princess, who was also my mother.

At that time, the struggle for the crown prince affected the imperial court, with infighting, framing, and slander. The emperor's marriage to a woman from a humble family could not secure stable support, until later, many of his elder brothers, who suffered the same fate as him, died one after another...

Li Sheng was unaware of the specific underlying reasons.

The father and son were in such similar circumstances.

Now, as he takes on the role of his father in carrying out the funeral rites and handling state affairs related to the national mourning, he has completely distanced himself from the court.

As for the fatigue that the Emperor had shown recently, it was not due to the Empress Dowager's passing that he was exhausted, but rather due to dealing with memorials. Perhaps in the Emperor's eyes, the Empress Dowager's death was not as important as a memorial from the Imperial Observatory.

There were rumors in the palace that the Empress Dowager's lifespan was too short, but in Li Sheng's view, his father was aging much faster.