Another Banquet at Rongguo Mansion

The disturbance at the birthday banquet had seemed like nothing more than a minor episode.

Yet its subsequent effects had been plain to see.

A considerable number of the Crown Prince's original supporters had firmed up their convictions because of it.

Among the court officials, too, there were no shortage of conservative old hands who had begun showing goodwill toward the Crown Prince.

In truth, many of them did not support the Crown Prince himself, but rather ritual law, established rules, and the legitimacy of the cause.

In their eyes, though the Crown Prince had been cut off at the root, he remained the rightful heir of the imperial house in name, while the Grand Heir Apparent had likewise received official recognition from the court.

Since they represented the orthodox line, they were worthy of support.

Put bluntly, they were the villainous characters in costume dramas who shouted, "The ancestral laws must not be lightly cast aside!"

And as one of the central figures among those villains, Sun Shaozong had naturally drawn considerable attention of late.

On the eighteenth day of the tenth month, Emperor Guangde issued a palace decree, commending Sun Shaozong's resolve while reproving his conduct. In the end, his merits and faults canceled each other out, and he was docked six months' salary to observe his future behavior.

That night, the Crown Prince held a lavish banquet for Sun Shaozong. Besides Sun Tao, the Hanlin Academy's presiding academician and the Crown Prince's tutor, and Uncle Zhao, the Empress's younger brother, several important court officials were also in attendance.

The highest-ranking official among them, however, came as quite a surprise to Sun Shaozong.

For he was none other than Zhao Rongheng, the Right Vice Censor-in-chief who had served as deputy chief investigator during the Dragon Root Case.

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