Noon.
A procession of palace attendants carried lunch into the hall. Luo Xin's meal was very simple, while Liu Heng's was lavish. Liu Heng had long since grown accustomed to this sight.
Partly, Luo Xin's appetite had diminished considerably after years without practicing martial arts; partly, he was subtly setting an example for Liu Heng. Adults had an enormous influence on children.
During the meal, Luo Xin opened the letter Luo Yi had specially sent him.
He skimmed it quickly, anger flashing between his brows. He had never expected the Marquis Liu's Residence to do such a thing.
He glanced at Liu Heng, then quietly placed the memorial on the table without a word, as though nothing had happened.
The Marquis Liu's Residence was, after all, the emperor's maternal family. With Lü Zhi and Liu Ying dead, the Lü Clan belonged to the past. The Zhang Clan was now the foremost family of maternal relatives under heaven.
Unless the Empress Dowager was deposed, it would be impossible to move too harshly against the Marquis Liu's Residence openly.
As for deposing the Empress Dowager, even Luo Xin could not do that as regent. After all, the power he exercised was the emperor's.
A regent exercising the emperor's authority only to cut down the emperor's own mother-was that not a joke? The Great Han, which governed the realm through filial piety, would become a laughingstock.
He also had to consider Liu Heng's mental well-being. Having lost his father at a young age, Liu Heng was closest to Empress Dowager Zhang Yan. A scandal involving the Zhang Clan would certainly affect him.
Naturally, Liu Heng knew nothing of these events. That afternoon, he would study the classics with the Erudite Scholars, focusing primarily on Huang-Lao and the Confucian School, with some theories from