A Beating with the Rod

After Zhu Yunwen returned, he told Lü Shi everything that had happened in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

In an instant, Lü Shi collapsed into her chair.

Life had gone too smoothly for Lü Shi these past few years, so smoothly that she had mistakenly believed Zhu Yuntong was still that mediocre, useless imperial grandson she could twist around her finger, who did not even dare to visit Old Zhu.

In reality, Zhu Yuntong not only dared to visit Old Zhu, but also dared to carry a sword into court and demand death.

The old Zhu Yuntong had only suffered in silence. Now he no longer would, and Lü Shi had yet to adjust.

Now that this image had crumbled, how could she help Zhu Yunwen win the succession struggle?

Lü Shi's mind was now utterly blank.

She almost forgot who she was, let alone knew what to do.

Zhu Yunwen was in much the same state, thrown into complete disarray by Zhu Yuntong's counterattack.

"Crown Princess."

Dongqing hurried in at a jog. "Her Highness Consort Hui is here."

"Where is the Crown Princess?"

Consort Guo's voice came from outside.

When she wanted to enter, none of the Eastern Palace servants dared stop her.

Lü Shi was indeed the Crown Princess, but she plainly counted for little before Consort Guo. In both rank and standing, she fell short of Consort Guo, who was also her elder.

"Your Highness Consort Hui, what brings you here?"

Lü Shi finally recovered a little clarity from her blank daze.

She hurried out to greet her, only to see Zhu Lingyue and her three sisters following timidly behind Consort Guo. At once, she felt certain that Consort Guo's arrival meant nothing good for her.

"Lingyue, why did you come back with Her Highness Consort Hui?"

Forcing a smile, Lü Shi said with difficulty, "Dongqing misrepresented my orders earlier. I'll punish her shortly. It's also my fault for failing to keep the maids under control..."

"Enough!"

Consort Guo cut her off.

Lü Shi wanted to shove Dongqing out to take the blame. Dongqing immediately dropped to her knees, not daring to object.

But such a clumsy trick was utterly useless before Consort Guo.

Even now, she did not know to admit her fault. With such an appalling attitude and crooked character, Consort Guo truly could not understand why His Majesty and the Crown Prince had elevated her to Crown Princess back then. Perhaps this woman was simply an exceptional actress!

"Lingyue and her sisters will stay with me from now on. I'll take care of them myself, without troubling the lofty Crown Princess," Consort Guo said.

"Yes!"

Lü Shi lowered her head as she answered. She dared not object either.

"His Majesty also said..."

At Consort Guo's words, Lü Shi's entire body tensed.

She had known it would not end so easily.

She was terrified!

So nervous that cold sweat poured from her.

"His Majesty told me to punish you, so you would understand that the Eastern Palace bears the surname Zhu, not Lü."

"But he didn't say how to punish you. Let's do this, then. Attendants, give the Crown Princess ten strokes of the rod."

"Once that's done, the matter is over."

Consort Guo still knew where to draw the line. Since Zhu Yuanzhang had not specified the punishment, she could not make it too severe, nor could she make it too light.

A beating with the rod was just right.

"Attendants, carry it out," Consort Guo said again.

Two eunuchs hurried in, carrying a wooden rod.

Lü Shi knew punishment was unavoidable, but if this was all, it seemed bearable. It meant Zhu Yuanzhang would not be too harsh on her. Usually, once the beating was over, so was the matter. She was still the Crown Princess.

It seemed she still had a chance. She had merely left a poor impression, but that did not matter. She could gradually restore it.

"Yunwen, go outside!"

Lü Shi did not want Zhu Yunwen to see her being beaten.

Once Zhu Yunwen had left, Lü Shi let them strike her. She could endure this much pain.

Consort Guo had no interest in watching her beating. She led Zhu Lingyue and her sisters out of the Eastern Palace and said, "From now on, you'll stay with me. No one will be able to bully you."

Zhu Lingxiu asked, "Granny Guo, can we still see Third Brother?"

"Silly child!"

Consort Guo smiled. "Of course you can. You're all so close."

Talking as they went, they gradually disappeared into the distance.

Once the eunuchs finished the beating, they too had to return to Consort Guo and report. They were not servants of the Eastern Palace.

"Mother!"

Zhu Yunwen came in with reddened eyes and sobbed, "I think I'm going to lose."

"We haven't lost yet!"

Lü Shi said firmly, "I keep telling you not to cry, yet you still cry. Go to the Great Ben Hall right now and talk to Master Huang and the others. We won't lose. If we had lost, it wouldn't have been Consort Guo sent to punish me today. Remember, we won't lose."

If they had truly lost, Lü Shi would probably have been stripped of her position as Crown Princess.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang had said nothing of the sort, they had not lost.

"All the civil officials at court support us."

"We won't lose," Lü Shi said. "Go to the Great Ben Hall now and find Master Huang."

"All right!"

Zhu Yunwen sniffled. He, too, knew that Lü Shi had a point.

He probably could not rely on Lü Shi now. He could only seek out Huang Zicheng and the others to discuss matters. This was Zhu Yunwen's only way forward.

After leaving the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhu Yuntong searched for quite a while, relying on his memories, before finally finding the Great Ben Hall. It was actually in the Hall of Literary Brilliance, south of the Eastern Palace's Spring Harmony Palace, but the walk from the Palace of Heavenly Purity to the Hall of Literary Brilliance was still quite long.

The imperial palace truly was enormous.

The Great Ben Hall was where the Crown Prince, imperial princes, and imperial grandsons studied. It also served as the palace library.

School-age imperial grandsons like Zhu Yuntong had to come here for lessons every day.

There were lessons today as well, entirely unaffected by yesterday's events.

"Zhu Yuntong!"

He had only just arrived when a young man of seventeen or eighteen called out to him.

Drawing on his memories, Zhu Yuntong recalled that this was his thirteenth uncle, Zhu Gui, the Prince of Dai.

He had originally been the Prince of Yu, but his title had been changed to Prince of Dai this year. He had not yet left for his fief; he would probably go to Datong next year. He was Consort Guo's son.

Since Consort Guo had just helped him, Zhu Yuntong's goodwill toward Zhu Gui instantly soared. He walked over to meet him. "Thirteenth Uncle!"

"You brat, you actually made it!"

Zhu Gui slung an arm around Zhu Yuntong's shoulders, looking particularly friendly, and laughed. "I thought Father would string you up and beat you."

In truth, their relationship had never been as good as it seemed now.

The main reason was that Zhu Yuntong had torn away all pretense yesterday.

Those imperial uncles' goodwill toward Zhu Yuntong had instantly soared as well.

Zhu Gui and the others had no right to compete for the succession in the first place. They would probably spend their futures as princes in their fiefs, but once Zhu Yunwen took the throne, princes like them would be in danger.

By derailing Zhu Yunwen's investiture, Zhu Yuntong had effectively saved their lives.

They all agreed that once Zhu Yunwen took the throne, he would certainly move against them.

"Fourteenth Uncle!"

Zhu Yuntong saw another person behind Zhu Gui.

He was Zhu Yang, Old Zhu's fourteenth son. His title had been changed to Prince of Su this year, and he too had yet to leave for his fief.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to come either."

Zhu Yang spoke with a smile.

After all, yesterday's incident had been so serious that their concern was only natural. Yet Zhu Yuntong had arrived perfectly unharmed, giving them hope.

None of them liked Zhu Yunwen, and they themselves had no chance to contend for the throne. By comparison, having Zhu Yuntong take that seat was the best outcome.

When the imperial uncles saw Zhu Yuntong arrive, they came over one after another to greet him.

They had not been close to Zhu Yuntong before, but that had changed yesterday. After all, Zhu Yuntong had dared to tear away all pretense.

"Silence!"

Just then, an extremely stern voice rang out in the Great Ben Hall.