Chapter 178
Chapter 178
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Arrived in the Underworld – 2]
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted through his nose and stared coldly without speaking.
Zhu Di remained frozen for a long time before recovering. His face twisted and his cheeks trembled. “Father? It is actually you? How can it be you?!”
He looked struck by lightning. “Zhu Qikun… You, Old Master… No wonder he was so… Now everything makes sense…”
Zhu Di babbled incoherently. The welcome gift in Zhu Gaochi’s hands crashed to the ground. Shock filled his fat face. “Grand… Grandfather?!”
…
Zhu Qizhen was scheduled for the oil cauldron today. Since Zhu Qikun’s glorious return happened to coincide, Zhu Di personally led the descendants out to welcome him. Afraid Zhu Qizhen might sneak from the cauldron, he threw him into the boiling oil, clapped on the lid, and placed a huge vat atop it, leaving him to scream inside.
As Zhu Qizhen’s birth mother, Empress Dowager Sun had no right to attend. But Zhu Di feared she would secretly rescue her son after everyone left, so he dragged her along to make up numbers at the back of the procession.
Before leaving, resentment filled her. She pitied her son for suffering decades of torture in the Underworld and hated Zhu Qikun for cruelly killing mother and son.
When forced to die, she had cherished two hopes: become a vengeful ghost and take revenge on Zhu Qikun and his wife, then complain to her husband and ancestors below so they would give her justice.
Fantasy was full; reality was bony. The first plan nearly dispersed her soul. The second left her utterly despairing.
Every ancestor treated her coldly while praising that traitorous Zhu Qikun. Now that he was dead, Emperor Taizong had even brought the whole family to welcome him!
Furious and incredulous, Empress Dowager Sun looked for an ally and finally settled on her husband, Zhu Zhanji.
If Emperor Taizu were present, one word from him could decide everything. But he had vanished before Emperor Taizong arrived, leaving her nowhere to plead.
Emperor Taizong was hopeless-Zhu Qikun’s greatest admirer. He approved of everything his great-grandson did. Expecting his help was less realistic than expecting a sow to climb a tree!
Emperor Renzong was the same. Zhu Qizhen was a legitimate grandson through his eldest son, Zhu Qikun through his second. Both were grandsons. Why quarrel with his own father for Zhu Qizhen?
But to Emperor Xuanzong, the two were entirely different.
Zhu Qizhen was his own son and honored Zhu Zhanji as father. Zhu Qikun was a nephew with his own father. If his line ruled, it naturally honored Zhu Zhanji’s younger brother, the late Prince Lu. How could that be the same?
Among everyone in the Underworld, only their family of three stood together.
Hearing her son scream beneath punishment, Empress Dowager Sun’s heart broke. She drew Zhu Zhanji aside and appealed to emotion and reason. “You have seen how biased Emperor Taizong and Emperor Renzong are! Zhu Qikun secured his throne and had several sons with Lady Lin. Every future emperor entering the Underworld will belong to their line. Once his descendants grow numerous, where will Your Majesty stand? Your line ended with Qizhen. At this moment, only our family of three can unite!”
Zhu Zhanji was tempted.
He was angry at his unworthy son, but the beatings and curses had been delivered. What came next truly deserved thought.
Yet he saw farther than she did. “He remains my junior and will not dare disrespect me. Besides, no one knows who will laugh last.”
At death, he could never have imagined Zhu Qizhen would be such a monumental fool, be captured by the Oirats, and lose the throne already in his hands.
Who could say Zhu Qikun’s descendants would produce no bastards?
Empress Dowager Sun agreed aloud but felt miserable. “Zhu Qikun has several sons, while Qizhen was reduced to a commoner. Our grandsons can never inherit…”
When Zhu Di rushed everyone out to welcome Zhu Qikun, she looked deeply unhappy. Empress Xu saw at once and frowned. “What is that expression? This is an auspicious day, yet you wear a funeral face!”
She told Zhu Zhanji, “Control your wife!”
Zhu Zhanji glared at Empress Dowager Sun. “Stop pulling faces. Emperor Taizong and the others are watching!”
Feeling wronged, she forced a smile. Fortunately, no one noticed her at the rear.
Ahead, ghost officers escorted Zhu Qikun forward and Zhu Di hurried to welcome him. She stared at her embroidered shoes, afraid hatred would show in her eyes. Instead of hearing family greetings, however, she heard a heaven-shaking secret.
What had Emperor Taizong called Zhu Qikun?!
Half of Empress Dowager Sun’s souls nearly flew away. Tugging Zhu Zhanji’s sleeve, she whispered, “I thought I heard Emperor Taizong call Zhu Qikun ‘Father’?”
Zhu Zhanji shook his head woodenly. “I thought Grandfather called him ‘Sister.'”
She stared at him.
That was even more ridiculous!
Then they heard Emperor Renzong, Zhu Gaochi, tremblingly call him “Grandfather.”
Husband and wife looked at each other, faces rigid, standing like two wooden donkeys in the wind.
The fighting had already begun.
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped Zhu Di’s head and roared, “You still remember I am your father?! Look what you did and what descendants you raised!”
He moved to strike again. Humiliated before his descendants, Zhu Di protested, “You already beat me for those things! And during the Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Yunwen left me no road to live. If resistance was death and submission was death, why should I offer my neck?”
Empress Xu quietly nudged his waist.
Zhu Di looked up, met his father’s murderous gaze, and succumbed instantly to the species-level suppression developed across decades. He shuddered, dropped to his knees, hugged his father’s leg, and complained like an aggrieved child. “Father, I had no choice. Zhu Yunwen went too far and drove several brothers to death. I could die, but I could not drag my wife and children with me!”
He used the argument most likely to move the Old Master. “You enfeoffed me in Yan to defend the frontier. I do not fear death, but would killing me and reducing the princes have pacified the realm? Zhu Yunwen would only have squandered our foundation faster! I raised troops not only for myself, but for you, our family, and the Great Ming!”
Zhu Yuanzhang inwardly scoffed at the wild tale, though honestly, in Zhu Di’s position he might have rebelled too.
Besides, Zhu Di had been a decent emperor.
“Enough. Rise!”
Anger, understanding, and paternal affection mingled in Zhu Yuanzhang’s heart. “You are a bastard, but you ruled acceptably and did not disgrace your father!”
Zhu Di sprang up and grinned with innocent docility. “Father, you are wonderful!”
“Stand aside!” Zhu Yuanzhang turned to Zhu Gaochi.
While Zhu Di knelt, none of his descendants dared stand. They covered the ground behind him, no one daring to raise his head.
Feeling the gaze on him, Zhu Gaochi sweated harder and looked up pitifully. “Grandfather…”
“Yes.” Zhu Yuanzhang liked this adorably fat eldest grandson but deliberately kept a stern face. “According to Zhu Qikun’s generational position, what should I call you?”
Zhu Gaochi instinctively answered “Grandfather,” then realized the ambiguity and kowtowed. “Grandfather, your grandson pays respects!”
His health had been poor in life and remained so as a ghost. Seeing him pant after kneeling briefly, Zhu Yuanzhang softened. “Enough. You did well too. Rise.”
He praised Empress Dowager Zhang. “A virtuous wife and filial sons. You married a good woman, and so your sons were excellent!”
Empress Dowager Zhang thanked Emperor Taizu and helped her husband rise.
Next came Zhu Zhanji and Empress Dowager Sun.
She remained lost in shock that Zhu Qikun was Emperor Taizu himself.
Zhu Zhanji recovered, peeked up, and saw murder in Emperor Taizu’s eyes. Remembering his methods, he shuddered, seized Empress Dowager Sun by the neck, and knocked their heads against the ground more than ten times. Then he raised a humble, flattering face. “Great-grandfather! You look wonderfully well!”
He raised a thumb. “I saw your mortal accomplishments. You were magnificent! Wise, mighty, and unprecedented! My admiration flows endlessly like a river…”
Zhu Yuanzhang calmly raised his right leg, placing his black boot before Zhu Zhanji’s face. “Do you recognize this?”
Zhu Zhanji fell silent. Scratching his head, he whispered to father and grandfather, “Should I recognize it?”
Neither moved.
Several seconds later, Zhu Di tilted his head. “Something seemed to bark.”
Zhu Gaochi said, “Probably a stray dog.”
“Bold. While your grandfather handles business, what stray dog would dare bark?”
“Exactly. None would dare,” Zhu Gaochi agreed.
Zhu Zhanji said nothing.
The next instant, Zhu Yuanzhang’s sole struck his face.
“Bastard! While your ancestor lived, he thought twelve double-hours too few for state affairs. You delegated authority downward!”
Zhu Zhanji tumbled, rose to flee, and was caught. “My health was weak…”
“So you taught eunuchs to read and divided the civil officials’ authority?!”
This made no sense!
Zhu Zhanji felt increasingly wronged.
When Zhu Qizhen was absent, the ancestors beat him. Now Zhu Qizhen was in the Underworld, why were they still beating him?!
He had achievements too. He had been a good emperor!
Half the glory of the Ren-Xuan Prosperity belonged to him!
Why could he not straighten his back and speak like a man?
Courage rose from his organs. Zhu Zhanji stood abruptly. “Emperor Taizu, be reasonable! I committed no unforgivable crime!”
Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi watched coldly while secretly sweating for him.
Emperor Taizu had died before this boy’s birth. He had never experienced what Emperor Taizu’s name meant in the Great Ming.
It meant supreme Heaven, never to be opposed!
Zhu Di shook his head. Foolish grandson. You narrowed your own road.
Zhu Yuanzhang stared in disbelief. “You dare talk back?!”
Zhu Zhanji instantly wilted. “Please, reasoned discussion cannot be called talking back…”
“You dare speak to me like that!”
Zhu Zhanji tried shifting blame. “I made insignificant mistakes, but is Zhu Qizhen not the chief culprit? Emperor Taizu, do not be angry. Let us happily fry Zhu Qizhen together!”
Zhu Yuanzhang sharpened his blade. “Utter lawlessness!”
Zhu Zhanji’s knees weakened and he knelt in tears. “I was wrong. I should not have taught eunuchs to read, valued Wang Zhen, produced that bastard Zhu Qizhen, or replaced the Empress with Lady Sun…”
He choked, “Emperor Taizu, Zhu Qizhen was the chief offender and Wang Zhen his accomplice. I never wanted the Tumu Crisis. Can you forgive me?”
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped him. “I repeatedly commanded eunuchs never to interfere in government. You treated my words as farts!”
Another slap. “You damned fool deposed Lady Hu and installed this!”
A third slap, accompanied by a roar audible far away. “Worst of all, you produced Zhu Qizhen and disgraced the Zhu Family! Had I not gone down and turned the tide, the Great Ming might have been finished! Impressive-you nearly ruined the realm I fought so hard to win with one son!”
Humiliating tears escaped Zhu Zhanji.
He was wronged too!
His son’s uselessness angered him too!
Seeing no sign Zhu Yuanzhang would stop, every organ in Zhu Zhanji trembled. He looked to his father and grandfather for rescue. His father’s fat shook with fear, neck tucked in silence.
He turned hopefully to his grandfather.
Zhu Yuanzhang noticed and barked at Zhu Di, “Fourth, do you have something to say?!”
Zhu Di trembled and looked sorrowfully at Zhu Zhanji. “Zhanji, repent!”
Zhu Zhanji stared in disbelief.
After three slaps, Zhu Yuanzhang’s anger eased. He looked down at Empress Dowager Sun. “You would become a ghost and never spare me? You wanted the ancestors to give you justice?!”
She had never imagined such absurdity: her husband’s nephew was Emperor Taizu reincarnated, the summit of the Ming imperial food chain. Her threats had struck her own feet.
Every Ming ancestor before Emperor Taizu was silent with fear, wishing to retract his head into his neck.
Bitterness filled her mouth. Her face burned with regret.
Zhu Yuanzhang planted hands on hips and sneered. “I conquered the realm and feared nothing. You should have asked who the master of the Great Ming is!”