Chapter 47

Xue Jin'an's words landed in everyone's ears like a thunderbolt in a clear sky.

As the saying goes, once the coffin lid is sealed, the soul rests in peace. Many elderly people in modern society hold a deep attachment to traditional burial, let alone people in ancient times who had been nurtured by millennia of ideological education and where the belief in the netherworld's reincarnation was widespread? A funeral not conforming to proper regulations or a burial mound that was not spacious enough would make the departed restless, let alone anything else.

Burning a corpse—to put it nicely, it was the transformation into sarira relics; to put it bluntly, it was reducing the bones to dust and scattering them to the winds!

Moreover, were sarira relics something that could be burned into existence just because one wished it? Since the founding of the Daqi Dynasty, only the former abbot of Wanfu Temple, Master Thelamp, had attained the state of sitting in transformation and leaving behind a flesh sarira, which instantly made Wanfu Temple the exemplary temple under heaven, with his sarira regarded by Wanfu Temple as its ultimate sacred treasure.

In truth, the existence of sariras was largely a gimmick; as long as the procedure was handled properly, anyone could burn them out. In the late years of the previous dynasty, people were particularly fond of staging such spectacles to proclaim the prosperity of their great empire, frequently claiming that such-and-such a temple and such-and-such a master had burned out a hundred or so sariras, directly causing severe inflation in the sarira market.

The current abbot of Wanfu Temple possessed a nimble mind, and the very first thing he said after becoming the leader of the Buddhist community was: "Anyone whose achievements do not reach even half of Master Thelamp's shall not produce sariras."

The unspoken implication was that even if you burned out a sarira, it was a fake.

And who was Master Thelamp? He was a virtuous person who had sacrificed himself several times in the late years of the previous dynasty to save the common people, a universally recognized enlightened monk. Was he someone who could be casually compared or associated with?

It could be said that Xue Jin'an's words clearly intended to utterly ruin the posthumous reputation of Imperial Noble Consort Zhen, ensuring she died a disreputable death. In future history books, whenever she was mentioned, she would only be categorized among the treacherous and wicked concubines.

Judging from Consort Zhen's various actions, she was quite concerned with her reputation. Yet Xue Jin'an directly destroyed the thing she cared about most. While killing someone only required taking their life, this method was truly ruthless!

"Good!" The Grand Empress Dowager clapped in applause. "This mourning empress finds this idea exceptionally good."

"This—" Imperial Noble Consort Min glanced at the Emperor's expression and deliberated, "This seems somewhat inappropriate. Minister Chu is a pillar of the court, wholeheartedly devoted to the people and having committed no faults. To act in this manner would not it chill the hearts of the officials? As the saying goes, family scandals should not be aired publicly. This is, after all, a matter of the inner palace. If word spreads, how are Xuan Yue and Baoning to conduct themselves in the future?"

What Imperial Noble Consort Min actually wanted to express was that if this matter were truly carried out according to Xue Jin'an's proposal, it would bring shame upon the royal family, especially the Emperor. A consort poisoning the imperial heir, imperial princes engaging in fratricide, and an imperial prince executing a consort with his own hands... no matter which one was pinned on the Emperor, it would not look good.

Of course, the Imperial Noble Consort was clever; she did not state this outright, instead using the Fourth Prince and the Seventh Prince as pawns. The Fourth Prince had a venomous viper for a birth mother; his future prospects, if not entirely ruined, were basically cut off from the throne. As for the Seventh Prince... regardless of what one said, Consort Zhen was his father's consort, and the charge of committing insubordination and acting presumptuously against his superiors would be inescapable.

Most people felt that Xue Jin'an had gone a bit too far, thinking: Little Seven is too young after all. Although he has brains and methods, his actions are arrogant and full of sharp edges without knowing how to restrain himself; he is bound to suffer some hardships.

However, precisely because of this, several people who had originally grown wary of Xue Jin'an could not help but relax their tension.

"A youth ought to have some courage; being overly cautious and hesitant at every step looks like what?" Although the Grand Empress Dowager said this while looking at Imperial Noble Consort Min, her words were clearly aimed at the Emperor.

Imperial Noble Consort Min instantly fell silent, not daring to utter another word.

The Grand Empress Dowager continued, "When the founding Emperor established the dynasty, he once said: The foundational principle of our Daqi's establishment is that those with merits must be rewarded, and those with faults must be punished. There must be strict laws and clear administration, upright officials and bright-eyed subjects, wise ministers and an enlightened monarch, and an everlasting, brilliant realm."

"If executing a guilty person is enough to chill the hearts of the officials, then those pillars of the state can well be dispensed with." The Grand Empress Dowager's voice was not stern, but it carried considerable weight.

Suddenly, she called out "Emperor," speaking in a soft, leisurely tone as if she were simply chatting with someone. "Since when do matters of the inner palace have to look to the faces of the court ministers? Reaching one's hand so excessively long—could it be that you truly regard this mourning empress as already dead?"

"Imperial Grandmother, calm your anger!" As soon as these words were uttered, even the Emperor had to lower his head. The concubines who had been singled out dropped straight to their knees, and immediately following that, the imperial princes and guards all thumped to the ground in a sprawling kneel.

The Grand Empress Dowager had not lost her temper in many years, and speaking so many words in one breath made her quite thirsty. She wanted to lift her hand for a cup of tea to moisten her throat, but when she raised her hand, she found there was no teacup. She immediately glared at a certain old eunuch who was pretending nothing had happened while keeping his eyes fixed on his nose and his nose on his heart.

Fortunately, everyone kept their heads lowered, so presumably no one saw this awkward scene—though actually, someone did see it, such as Xue Jin'an, who had only learned the most basic etiquette.

He was probably the only person standing in the entire hall, but he was surrounded by tall, broad-shouldered guards clad in armor. Even when kneeling, they were still a meter and a half tall, and Xue Jin'an, being shorter than them, was perfectly shielded from view.

Thus, Xue Jin'an watched as the Grand Empress Dowager pretended to smooth her sleeves, naturally retracting her hand, and then continued her onslaught. "The capital has always been fervent in its devotion to Buddhism. No doubt those interested in sariras are countless. Why not invite the noble matrons of various households into the palace to witness the event and see for yourselves whether these sariras can truly be burned into existence? If they can be burned out, well and good; if they cannot be burned out, it proves a lack of sincere devotion. Those whose hearts are lacking in sincerity—how can they worship Buddha? I fear they will incur the wrath of the Buddha."

"This mourning empress finds three days from now to be an auspicious day. Let the Imperial Noble Consort oversee this matter, and be sure not to neglect the wives of the various households, lest we chill the hearts of the court officials." The Grand Empress Dowager returned every single word Imperial Noble Consort Min had just spoken right back to her. The latter was left speechless and could only respectfully accept this thankless and offensive chore.

Xue Jin'an's eyes lit up slightly. Having already absorbed a considerable amount of human linguistic art, he was no longer the initial model who completely failed to understand sarcasm and veiled insults. Thanks to the Fifth Prince, he now understood passive-aggressiveness extremely well.

He thought the Grand Empress Dowager's way of scolding people was so high-class, especially this advanced version of sarcasm, also known as using the perpetrator's own methods to treat the perpetrator. It was simply marvelous!

While collecting skill books, Xue Jin'an built a character profile for the Grand Empress Dowager and conveniently updated the remarks column for both her and the Emperor.

The Emperor was a false, useless, kidney-deficient, and inefficient ruler, while the true wielder of authority and legitimate power was the Grand Empress Dowager.

The events that followed made Xue Jin'an increasingly feel that his "How to Be an Emperor" course could be brought forward onto the agenda.

Imperial Noble Consort Min, forced to accept the team-building task of organizing the ministers' wives' delegation for the "witnessing the burning of sariras" tour, ordered that Consort Zhen's corpse be covered with a white cloth and temporarily placed in the Court of Judicial Review—there was no help for it, as the only place in the palace capable of holding a corpse was this very location.

The Fourth Prince struggled desperately, wanting to block them, but ultimately could only collapse pathetically onto the ground, helplessly watching the corpse being carried away with his own eyes.

From beginning to end, he had no voice. His cries and shouts were heard by no one, nor did anyone care. For the first time, the Fourth Prince deeply realized how insignificant and powerless he truly was.

The other imperial princes cast sympathetic glances in his direction, but it was only a single glance before they all quickly withdrew their gazes.

Just when everyone thought the matter had come to an end here, they did not expect that the Grand Empress Dowager's combo attacks had only just begun, and the latter part was far more lethal.

They heard her say to the Emperor, "Little Seven has rendered great service in clearing a miscarriage of justice and executing the wicked. What do you think should be awarded to him, Emperor?"

Upon hearing these words, the Emperor immediately knew that the Grand Empress Dowager intended to crush both body and spirit. He raised his head to meet the Grand Empress Dowager's sharp gaze for a moment, organized his words, and attempted to politely decline the matter. "Imperial Grandmother, this matter is inappropriate. Baoning's actions ultimately overstepped the boundaries. If he is not punished, I fear all the civil and military officials of the court will not agree..."

"Oh? What kind of logic is that? How come this mourning empress has never heard of it?" The Grand Empress Dowager slightly rested her head on two fingers, wearing a deeply contemplative expression. "This mourning empress has thought and thought, yet cannot recall which rule was overstepped. One must admit one's age; once a person gets old, their memory fails them, and they cannot remember anything—Consort Shu, this mourning empress remembers your father, Yang Shunzhi, is the Minister of Rites, right?"

She beckoned with her hand and smiled kindly. "Come, tell this mourning empress, which rule exactly was overstepped here?"

When Consort Shu heard the Grand Empress Dowager mention rules, she had a premonition that she would be implicated. She gently patted the Sixth Prince's back in a soothing manner—the Sixth Prince had entered after the Third Prince. At that time, the hall was in complete chaos, and no one paid him any attention. He had shrunk into a ball in fear, not daring to make a sound, and had actually sneaked over to his birth mother's side.

In any case, the Third Prince, who was closest to him, had only just noticed that the Sixth Prince was missing from his side.

Enhanced by high-definition auditory and visual cameras, Xue Jin'an had a blind-spot-free view of the entire hall and had indeed noticed him. However, the Sixth Prince was not a threatening target, so Xue Jin'an merely logged his relevant data routinely without conducting a detailed analysis.

Consort Shu put down the somewhat frightened Sixth Prince, stood up, saluted, and replied, "Reporting to the Old Ancestor, this concubine is ashamed. Since childhood, she has loved poetry, books, chess, and painting, but her understanding of the ways of etiquette is superficial, and she does not know which rule is referred to."

How could a talented woman renowned in her boudoir not understand what rules were? Coupled with the fact that Consort Shu's final sentence coincided seamlessly with the Old Ancestor's question, it sounded far less like she was saying she did not understand and much more like she was answering the prompt.

However, Consort Shu was someone who remained neutral and would not easily offend anyone. Therefore, after a brief pause, she added, "However, since such a statement exists, I suppose there must be some reasoning behind it."

"Consort Shu speaks very well." The other concubines, seeing the Grand Empress Dowager's gaze sweep over them, hurriedly nodded in agreement with Consort Shu, terrified that they would be the next singled out to become cannon fodder in the hands of the two superiors.

Seeing them lowered their heads with honest expressions, the Grand Empress Dowager did not trouble them further.

The Emperor had already organized his words and picked up the thread of the conversation. "Since ancient times, a son must not accuse his parents. Regardless of whether Baoning's actions had grounds, he ultimately committed insubordination and acted against filial piety. If no disciplinary action is taken, I fear all the scholars of the world will launch a verbal onslaught against Baoning."

"He killed to avenge his mother, executing the villain and relieving his hatred. This mourning empress finds it very filial." Although the Grand Empress Dowager disdained such rhetoric, she knew that the word "filial piety" carried too much weight and could directly drive someone to their death. Thus, she did not needlessly argue the point, instead nodding briskly. "Wrongdoing must be punished. Considering his youth and that he was driven by an eager desire to avenge his mother, let him be grounded for three to five days, and find an etiquette tutor to properly instruct him."

Everyone: "..." Killing someone results in merely three to five days of confinement? Old Ancestor, aren't you being a bit too biased?

"..." Worried that the Grand Empress Dowager would immediately finalize the sentence, the Emperor hurriedly altered the duration. "Confined for one year, as a warning to others."

The Emperor also felt that his Imperial Grandmother was being somewhat too partial, but he knew that his Imperial Grandmother possessed such a nature of loving fiercely; once someone caught her eye, she would protect them like a precious treasure, refusing to let even a single hair be harmed, even if the sky were to fall.

He himself had grown up in that very manner. The Emperor sighed inwardly, and also felt that this was for the best. The act of reducing Consort Zhen's bones to ashes would inevitably cause tremors throughout the court, so letting Baoning avoid the limelight for a while was a good idea. He could also take this opportunity to properly straighten out Baoning's temperament; after all, this promising young sprout destined to secure the northern frontiers in the future could not afford to be someone who acted purely on impulse.