Chapter 25 – Chickens and Dogs Ascending to Heaven

“In the Lunheng·Daoxu, there is a story: Liu An attained the Dao and became an immortal, and even the animals of his household—the chickens and the dogs—ascended to heaven with him…”

Tang Chaoyang lay sideways, her palm propping up her head, speaking softly as she told her son the tale.

Fei An’an was tucked under a small quilt. His eyelids were about to close, yet he couldn’t bear to stop listening and wanted to hear more stories.

Only when he could no longer keep his eyes open did his small mouth part slightly as he drifted off to sleep.

Seeing her son’s eyes shut, Tang Chaoyang gazed at his adorable sleeping face for a while. Then she quietly climbed out of bed, put on her fur cloak, and left his room.

Madam Wu came in carrying a bowl of warming tonic. She advised gently, “Miss, you should leave this work for tomorrow.”

Tang Chaoyang put down the needlework in her hands. The cloth pouch she was making for her son only needed the embroidery to be finished.

She took the warming tonic from Madam Wu. “I’ll embroider a little longer. I can’t sleep anyway. Madam Wu, today is the fifth day of the month, isn’t it?”

Madam Wu nodded. “Yes, the fifth day. The weather these days is growing colder and colder—it looks like winter is truly setting in.”

Tang Chaoyang sipped the tonic.

Calculating the time, the imperial edict punishing Fei Gang should be arriving at Tiancheng County about now.

That uncle of Fei Yan’s—Fei Gang—was a petty, despicable man. Ever since Fei Yan had become prime minister, everything Fei Gang did perfectly embodied the story she’d just told An’an tonight:

When one man attains the Dao, even the chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

At that moment, in Tiancheng County—

Fei Gang was reclining with his eyes half-closed, enjoying the ministrations of a concubine.

These past two months, he had become the man everyone envied—Second Master Fei. Being surrounded by flattery and admiration had put him in excellent spirits.

Land, beauties, silver—people presented them all to him with both hands.

“My lord,” the concubine said in a soft voice, “the boy hanging from the tree outside…should we take him down? If he dies here, won’t it bring trouble on you?”

Second Master Fei lazily lifted his eyelids, his wrinkled face splitting into a grin. “If he dies, so be it. He dared to try to kill me. Even if we sent him to the magistrate, he’d be executed. The wretched brat doesn’t know what’s good for him.”

Outside the courtyard, the youth tied up and dangling from the tree was none other than Lin Da’s eldest grandson, Lin Liang.

Tonight, he had almost succeeded in avenging his grandfather.

He hated himself for being too weak.

In this bitter cold, suspended from a tree, he probably wouldn’t survive the night.

Next door, a neighbor cracked the door open to peek out. He glanced at Lin Liang’s limp body, then shut the door again with a shake of his head.

Their family needed to start looking for a new place to live—Fei Gang and his clan were simply too vicious.

“Husband…will he die?”

“I don’t know. If he doesn’t die tonight, he’ll die tomorrow. Who told him to try to kill Fei Gang?” The man urged his wife back inside. “This has nothing to do with us. We can’t afford to offend Fei Gang.”

“Fei Yan used to seem like a good man—why can’t he do something about Fei Gang?”

Once, the Lin family had been one of the more prosperous households in the county. Who could have imagined they would fall to such a wretched state?

Outsiders had no idea why the Lins had suddenly declined, but as neighbors of Fei Gang, they had picked up bits and pieces of rumor.

That was the way of the world.

Just as the couple was settling down for the night, pounding knocks suddenly sounded on the gate of the Fei residence.

Soon after came a noisy uproar of cursing and yelling from inside the Fei house.

The couple dared not open their door to look, but they could clearly hear Fei Gang’s wife wailing at the top of her lungs, crying out to the heavens.

Had something happened to Fei Gang?

They didn’t know how much time passed before the Fei household finally fell silent.

At dawn, word spread among the neighbors that during the night, Fei Gang’s entire family had been arrested by government soldiers.

A new magistrate had recently arrived in Tiancheng County.

The farmland that Fei Gang had forcibly seized was promptly returned by the new magistrate to its rightful owners.

The surviving members of the Lin family received compensation, and Lin Liang was rescued, his life narrowly saved.

A few days later—

Ling Guyong reviewed the memorial concerning Tiancheng County. He fell silent for a moment.

So many officials in the court—and those who had served for years had families that were far from clean. All the more so with the gentry clans, the noble houses, the imperial clan, and every other faction.

Ling Guyong closed the memorial. The severe winter was closing in. Who knew how many people would die this year? The soldiers guarding the frontiers still lacked sufficient rations.

The young Emperor rubbed the space between his brows.

Inexplicably, he thought of that vibrant, lively “Big Red Sister.”

And when he recalled her expression when she heard herself called “Big Red Sister,” Ling Guyong, for once, felt a glimmer of mischievous amusement.

In recent days, the hidden guards had been investigating everything he had eaten.

They had identified two suspicious individuals.

One was an old eunuch responsible for washing vegetables in the imperial kitchen.

Who could have guessed that an elderly eunuch washing greens could tamper with the food, dripping ejiao syrup into the dishes?

The other was the official in charge of purchasing supplies for the imperial kitchen.

In order not to alert their enemies, he couldn’t touch either of them for now.

As for the mastermind—he still had no clue who it was.

Chief Steward Feng entered the imperial study and bowed respectfully. “Your Majesty, one of the Dowager Empress’s senior maids just came to deliver a message. The Dowager Empress wishes to see you.”

Lately, there had been so many matters in court.

The Dowager Empress never summoned him without reason.

He put down the memorial in his hand. “To Cining Palace.”

**

Inside Cining Palace—

Dowager Empress Dong sat on the couch, listening as her senior maid reported on palace affairs.

Ling Guyong stepped into the hall, approached, and bowed. “Royal Mother, you summoned your son—has something important happened?”

Once the maidservant had brought tea and withdrawn, the Dowager Empress lifted her eyes to meet Ling Guyong’s gaze. A smile softened her face. “Your Majesty, I do have something I wish to discuss with you.”

The old palace maid gestured for the other attendants to leave the chamber.

“The Imperial Preceptor has informed me that you intend to postpone the selection of consorts?” At this, Dowager Empress Dong’s expression turned serious.

Ling Guyong smiled faintly. “Lately there are too many affairs in court. I truly have no mind to conduct a selection now. I only planned to delay it until next autumn.”

He needed to focus on treating his health—and he still hadn’t discovered who was behind the plot against him. This was simply not the right time for a consort selection.

The Dowager Empress frowned, clearly displeased with the notion of waiting until next year. “You are already twenty—old enough to wear the coronet. Men of your age already have wives and concubines and children running about. Yet you still have no heir.”

“Affairs of state are certainly important, but so too is the matter of your descendants.”

Ling Guyong’s smile remained mild. His tone was warm. “I understand your concerns, but my decision is made.”

The Dowager Empress sighed. “I will not force you. The consort selection may wait until next year. But the position of Empress cannot remain vacant any longer. The Empress must be appointed soon.”

For a while, Cining Palace fell silent.

Ling Guyong asked unhurriedly, “Does Royal Mother have a candidate in mind?”

When she heard this, she knew he had yielded on the point.

Her expression eased somewhat, and she shook her head. “How could I have a candidate? The Empress is the mistress of the harem. Your Majesty ought to have someone in mind. She must be virtuous and capable of managing the palace and assisting you.”

Precisely because the Dong family knew their place and never overstepped their role did Ling Guyong grant them such trust and tolerance.

Besides, the Dong family had never harbored ambitions of sending a daughter into the palace.

Therefore, he had no reason to be overly guarded against them.

“Royal Mother, as for the choice of Empress—I may trouble you to oversee it on my behalf.”

When the Dowager Empress heard this, she was pleased. It meant the Emperor had deep trust in her.

“On the fifteenth, I wish to hold a flower-viewing banquet. Then we can invite the noble daughters of rank three or above, aged thirteen to seventeen and not yet betrothed, as well as the daughters of the noble houses and gentry.”

The reason she suggested ages thirteen to seventeen was because few noble girls remained unbetrothed past seventeen.

Being betrothed didn’t necessarily mean marrying right away—most great families arranged a future spouse in advance.

Ling Guyong considered it for a moment. He truly had no interest in very young girls, nor did he relish the thought of coaxing them.

“Let it be sixteen to nineteen. The mistress of the harem needs to be intelligent. If she’s too young, I will end up having to manage everything for her.”

Once they finished discussing official matters, Ling Guyong inquired after the Dowager Empress’s health. They spoke for a while before the Emperor took his leave.

The Dowager Empress called her senior maid inside and gave a few soft instructions. “Inform the Imperial Preceptor—the Emperor has agreed to choose an Empress first. Make preparations for the flower-viewing banquet on the fifteenth.”