Few people in Chu had ever seen His Majesty the Emperor, who had lived in seclusion in the palace for decades. None of the officials and soldiers searching the Scholar's Residence today had seen him, for instance. They froze at the sight of the man emerging from the old madam's room, wondering if he was a madman.
Minister Jin Cheng was a veteran official who had entered the Imperial Court in his youth. He had been fortunate enough to glimpse His Majesty at the enthronement ceremony twenty years earlier. The emperor had been only a ten-year-old boy then. He should now be thirty, already middle-aged, so why was the face revealed beneath his parted black hair still so handsome, so unchanged?
His Majesty's sudden appearance at the Scholar's Residence, the exposure of their plot, his unchanged appearance-these three things struck Minister Jin's heart like three thunderbolts, making him drop instinctively to his knees. He stammered, "Long live Your Majesty, you..."
Only then did the officials and soldiers react. Stunned into silence, they knelt in a ragged wave.
The old madam emerged from her room, leaning on her cane, just in time to see everyone in the residence falling to their knees like a receding tide.
Jing Jiu turned to her and said, "I promised him that as long as I remained emperor, I would guarantee your family wealth and honor for the rest of your lives."
These words stirred the old madam even more deeply. She sank trembling to her knees and said, "Thank you for your compassion, Your Majesty."
The Scholar's Residence was silent as the grave, then suddenly filled with weeping.
The cries came from Grand Academician Zhang's descendants, as well as the stewards and serving women.
There had already been much weeping in the Scholar's Residence during