Forever Mine[BL]

Chapter 23: When There Were Dynasties/Arc 3.6

The Celestial sat before the Emperor in the study room. Zhou Jian had just returned and had begun making the preparations for the harem's dismissal.

"Are you going to send them off with anything?"

Zhou Jian looked up at his minister when he heard the question.

If concubines were simply dismissed without any gifts for compensation, rumors would spread and their reputation will be tarnished. Not that it wouldn't just from being dismissed but if they got gifts it would show that they weren't blacklisted by the Emperor.

"Mmm, only to concubine Lan though."

"The poisoning?"

The Emperor nodded at that and Wang Tao smiled slightly. He realized that Zhou Jian was upset about Chen Zing poisoning Chen Xiang, rightfully so of course.

"Ah, speaking of the Chens. I found that the Shu family were the ones responsible for embezzling the disaster relief funds. They planned to cause the commoners to become dissatisfied with the crown since they're planning a rebellion.

Left Prime Minister Chen is involved thanks to this concubine Madame Shu. His two sons from his concubine were in it as well. They left Chen Xiang out because they thought he would be useless."

Zhou Jian raised his eyebrow at this. It seemed he had another reason to punish Chen Zing now. He handed over the task of gathering concrete evidence to Wang Tao. They would expose them during morning court tomorrow.

Suddenly, his head eunuch entered and informed him that Chen Xiang had come to see him. He told them to allow him in and to not stop him next time. A few moments later, his lover walked in and hurried over to sit beside him.

"Jian Ge, Wang Ge, afternoon!"

The young man smiled sweetly at them as he held onto the Emperor's arm.

Wang Tao blinked after hearing the term he was addressed by and met the questioning eyes of his Emperor. Silently shaking his head, he expressed that he didn't agree to it.

Zhou Jian then looked down at his lover to see Chen Xiang gazing at him with those innocent peach blossom eyes and his golden ones couldn't help but soften.

Moving a bit, he made some space for his lover but the boy pouted and sat on his lap. Zhou Jian smiled at him before continuing with his work.

Wang Tao gazed at the two and felt the prickling feeling in his heart start again. Deciding that he didn't want to watch any longer, he greeted Chen Xiang before leaving. Zhou Jian opened his mouth to say something but was blocked by his lover who suddenly kissed him.

After a while, the boy pulled back with a slight blush before snuggling into his embrace. Seeing that Wang Tao was long gone, Zhou Jian out aside what he was going to say. Holding his lover tight, he continued reading through his work.

.

The following day, the ministers and officials gathered for morning court. Seated on his throne, Zhou Jian looked down at his subjects with his signature stone face.

The people below nervously stood, feeling suffocated by the pressure. As court was nearing its end, Right Prime Minister Wang stepped forward and announced his findings.

"Your Majesty, I have completed the investigations on my case and have found some very disturbing news."

Wang Tao raised his hand and a servant brought forward a box. Opening it, he revealed some scrolls and bags of money.

"In this box I have proof of the funds being embezzled by the Shu family. It is also apparent that Left Prime Minister Chen has a hand in all this."

"What nonsense are y-"

Emperor Jian silenced his left minister and gestured for the right minister to continue.
[ How could they have been found out? I'm sure we were extremely thorough in our clean up? ]

Minister Chen clenched his fist as he anxiously looked over at Official Shu.

"After a lot of digging, it was found that the Shu and Chen households had joined hands and were planning a rebellion. There are a number of letters we intercepted which were sent to the Mo tribe who they were colluding with."

The servant boy handed over the box to the head eunuch who brought it to the Emperor. The courtroom was incredibly silent as Emperor Jian read through the evidence.