Attempts to assassinate monarchs were common, and cases of subordinates killing a monarch before placing their own lord on the throne were hardly rare.
Many instances of having the yellow robe draped over one's shoulders were mere monuments to virtue, though some truly had been forced into it.
Grand Academician Zhang genuinely knew nothing of this assassination attempt, and naturally neither did the emperor, but many others had known about it beforehand.
The guards in the palace were all the Grand Academician's men. Although they had received no direct orders, they knew where the assassins hidden in the water cart had come from, and naturally kept silent. The eunuchs who had caught vague rumors trembled beneath their covers, not daring so much as a glance out the window. The entire palace lay in an eerie Quiet.
Grand Academician Zhang rose, washed, and dressed in his official robes with his elderly wife's help, preparing to attend the morning court session. Yet he discovered that one of his sons was missing from those seeing him off outside the residence.
"Where is your eldest brother?" he asked with a slight frown.
The young masters of the Zhang Household exchanged glances and said somewhat nervously, "Eldest Brother met friends last night. He seems to have drunk a little too much and stayed out. He hasn't come back yet."
Grand Academician Zhang was somewhat angry, but thought little of it. Only after stepping into his sedan chair did he feel that the atmosphere in the residence was rather strange today.
Eldest Young Master Zhang had neither been drinking nor spent the night with prostitutes. He was sitting in a room deep inside a large residence somewhere in the capital.
The faint morning light, further blocked by the paper windows, left the room so