Chapter 49: Zhang Biao: I’m A Good Person? Seeking Monthly Tickets
“Mother! One step away, just one step away!!”
Zhu Yunwen’s cries still echoed in the warm pavilion, like the lament of a sensitive and fragile heart breaking under a great blow.
Consort Lü watched her son’s heart being torn apart. Though she remained silent, a tremendous wave surged within her.
Useless! Liu Sanwu, that useless old man!
Mei Yin is also a useless thing!
And this Huang Zicheng!
Things haven’t even settled, and you’re already performing the ceremony to congratulate him!? You fool who doesn’t know death!
You ruined my son! You ruined my important matter!!
If not for the composure and resilience cultivated through long-term forbearance, Consort Lü would have likely collapsed like Zhu Yunwen, her character setting almost shattered.
As for Huang Zicheng, he seemed to be struck with terror by Consort Lü’s murderous gaze.
He, disregarding his persona as a strict teacher, scrambled on all fours to Zhu Yunwen’s side, kowtowing to the crying Zhu Yunwen incessantly: “Your Highness, please quell your anger! Everything I said is true! The Emperor indeed intends to establish you as the Imperial Grandson! It’s all that pair, it’s all Zhang Biao!”
As if grasping a straw to save his life, he began to shift the blame:
“That Zhang Biao is a despicable scoundrel who knows no bounds, like a beggar! It was him! It was him who used such base tactics to ruin Your Highness’s important matter!”
“Zhang Biao?!”
Upon hearing the name, Zhu Yunwen’s cries abruptly stopped. He raised his tear-streaked, resentful face:
“It was him? Him again? Last time he died for a cause in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, sending Lu Ping, Qi Tai, and Zhao Qian to the Imperial Prison, and then he demanded salary from the Imperial Grandfather in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, disturbing the entire Imperial Court and leaving the Emperor helpless, that damnable Censor!?”
“That’s right! It was him! Your Highness! It was he who incited that group of low-ranking Capital Officials to disrupt the Emperor’s Establishing the Crown Prince Ceremony! He deserves to die! He deserves to die, Your Highness!”
“Deserves to die! This damned Zhang Biao!!”
An unprecedented hatred almost consumed Zhu Yunwen.
Consort Lü looked at her son’s collapsing and distorted expression, then at Huang Zicheng, who was kowtowing like a pounding pestle and desperately shifting blame. She then thought of the chaos in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and that frenzied Zhang Biao.
She took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the churning blood within her, and said coldly, “Enough!”
“The matter has come to this. What use is crying and cursing? Teacher Huang, please go immediately to find out the Emperor’s condition and where Zhang Biao is now!”
She interrupted Huang Zicheng’s tearful pleading and Zhu Yunwen’s curses, her tone carrying an irrefutable command and a hint of deliberate soothing:
“Yunwen! Stop your tears! You are the Imperial Eldest Grandson of our Great Ming Dynasty! A noble of the imperial family! What kind of deportment is this? Return to your sleeping quarters! You are not allowed to come out without my command!”
“Mother”
Zhu Yunwen was jolted by Consort Lü’s cold command and the title ‘Imperial Eldest Grandson’. A wave of immense humiliation washed over him, but the long-standing awe of his mother and his current fragile helplessness overwhelmed everything.
He bit his lip, suppressing the surging tears and the lump in his throat. Supported by the Palace Maids, he shakily rose and walked away in a daze, his retreating figure filled with unwillingness and fragile pretense.
After her son and Huang Zicheng left, Consort Lü slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her gaze was filled with unfathomable coldness and calculation.
She stroked the cold entwined lotus pattern on her sleeve, as if stroking cold power.
One step away? Humph, as long as Zhu Yunteng remains a waste, the Emperor will have no choice!
Meanwhile, at the small table outside Wang Mazi’s butcher shop.
The little beggar had just put Zhang Biao’s cold-tossed pig’s trotters into his mouth when his eyes looked at Zhang Biao in shock, even forgetting to chew.
He had tasted countless delicacies, but never a flavor so powerful, so exhilarating.
“Does it taste good?”
Zhang Biao arrogantly lifted his chin and popped another piece into his own mouth.
The little beggar nodded vigorously, his small mouth chewing rapidly, and said indistinctly, “It’s delicious! Big brother, your tossed pig’s trotters are so good!”
Zhang Biao looked at him, who ate like he hadn’t eaten in days, and found it amusing. “If it’s good, eat more! There’s plenty!”
He pushed the oiled paper bag forward again.
“N-no, thank you, big brother!”
“Why aren’t you eating? There’s still a lot left. Why are you being so polite with me? Eat more!”
He thought the little beggar was shy.
The little beggar, however, twisted the torn corner of his clothes with his fingers and said with a barely perceptible choke in his voice, “I-I want to take some to see my parents.”
“You have parents?” Zhang Biao blurted out. After saying it, he felt it sounded strange and quickly corrected himself, “No, I mean…”
“It’s okay, big brother, I understand!”
Before Zhang Biao could explain, the little beggar quickly expressed his understanding and said, “My parents are already gone.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Biao instantly understood and immediately dropped his roguish smile, his eyes showing a rare, rough sympathy. “Forgive my presumption, please accept my condolences!”
The little beggar stared blankly at this unfamiliar big brother who gave him unheard-of delicacies and told him to accept his condolences.
A mixed feeling of absurdity and inexplicable warmth welled up in his heart, making his nose sting. He said softly, “Big brother, you are so kind!”
“Heh!” Zhang Biao was amused, and his mischievous persona returned. “You kid, are you giving me a ‘good person’ card?”
He sighed, and with quick movements, stuffed the remaining pig’s trotters and the oiled paper bag into the little beggar’s arms without his consent. “Alright! Stop being so fussy! Take all of this! Go see your parents, it’ll be something to eat on the way.”
The heavy, fragrant oiled paper bag landed in his arms. The little beggar instinctively hugged it tightly; the warm touch and rich aroma were so real.
Looking at Zhang Biao’s smiling face, tears finally began to roll down uncontrollably, not from sadness, but from this unexpected, sudden warmth from a stranger, carrying the scent of pig’s trotters.
He choked out, “Thank you, big brother! Big brother, you are truly a good person!”
Zhang Biao felt a bit awkward being cried at by him and waved his hand, “Alright, alright, hurry up and go! Stop crying!”
He watched the little beggar run away with the oiled paper bag, looking back repeatedly. The small, thin figure disappeared at the alley entrance.
“A good person?”
Zhang Biao stood in place, smacked his lips, savoring the taste of the cold-tossed pig’s trotters, and laughed self-mockingly. “I’m the scoundrel who’s going to make Old Zhu furious…”
As he spoke, his gaze turned to the majestic palace walls, his eyes becoming sharp and complex, with a hint of imperceptible solemnity and irony.
“Old Zhu, oh Old Zhu! Look at the karma you’ve created! This child is so young and already orphaned! Have you forgotten your own past? Back in Huang Jue Temple, starving with your back to your stomach, didn’t you survive on a bite of food given by a kind person?”
He cast one last look in the direction the little beggar had disappeared, shook his head helplessly, then turned and ambled near the Gate of Heavenly Acceptance, humming a lower tune: “Pig’s trotters warm the heart, Old Zhu is blind, and I am truly a good person indeed~~”
Meanwhile.
After disappearing at the alley entrance, the little beggar emerged from the alley, secretly glanced at Zhang Biao’s departing back, then looked at the majestic Imperial Palace. Just one glance, and he hastily withdrew his gaze in panic.
It was as if a shameful scene of him being pinned down by an icy stare while eating greedily was unfolding there.
The Imperial Grandfather’s gaze last night was not just disappointment; it was complete disgust!
It was the coldness of looking at a pile of waste!
He didn’t even utter a single reprimand!
What have I done! I truly deserve to die!!
