The next morning at court, Shen Yu stood outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, yawning, her face full of exhaustion.
Looking at the row of uniform court robes ahead, Shen Yu’s outfit of a fox fur coat over a white ruqun seemed somewhat out of place, like a girl next door who had wandered into a formal occasion by mistake.
Shen Yu stood in the ranks of seventh-rank officials.
From the way they looked at her, all she could feel was disbelief and shock.
After all, Shen Yu was too young.
Those who had climbed step by step through the Imperial Examination to reach the position of seventh-rank official—which of them wasn’t in their thirties or approaching forty?
Some were even past fifty.
Shen Yu was barely over twenty, having risen to prominence through the Medical Recruitment Exam.
She had been in the Capital for only a few days and already had the right to attend court outside the hall.
Even the Emperor didn’t seem to mind that she wasn’t wearing court robes.
Most importantly… she yawned!
She actually found attending morning court boring!?
Was this the treatment of the Son of Heaven’s favored minister?
If any of them behaved so recklessly, forget about being an official—they’d probably be charged with contempt for the sovereign and dragged off to be executed.
“Where is Shen Yu, Lord Shen?”
Shen Yu was in the middle of yawning, pondering whether to bathe first or take a nap when she got back, or maybe just do both at once, when she suddenly heard a eunuch calling from inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Shen Yu instinctively looked up and saw a little eunuch hurrying toward her.
He trotted all the way to Shen Yu’s side, not even having caught his breath before speaking urgently: “Lord Shen, His Majesty requests your presence to answer questions.”
“Me? Oh, right. Please lead the way, Eunuch.”
Shen Yu was a bit confused.
She thought the Empress forcing her to attend morning court was just to make her stand outside a little longer and torment her a bit more.
Shen Yu understood that the Empress, that wicked woman, simply enjoyed the feeling of ordering her around.
She liked bullying her.
But she never expected… there would actually be business about Shen Yu in court?
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was so big.
Standing outside at the back, she couldn’t hear anything.
She had no idea what was going on inside.
But as Shen Yu passed by the ministers who didn’t have the right to enter the hall for court, the looks they cast at her were filled with envy and sour jealousy.
It was as if they were silently asking… Why did Shen Yu, at such a young age, win His Majesty’s favor?
Why had they worked hard for half their lives yet still remained unfulfilled?
Shen Yu paid no attention to those looks.
Mainly because she was different from those Capital officials.
Her ambitions lay elsewhere, so she naturally couldn’t understand the jealousy in their eyes.
Entering the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it was much warmer inside than outside.
Of course, the atmosphere was also much more tense.
As soon as she entered, Shen Yu saw two familiar figures standing in the center of the hall, speaking to the Empress who sat high above on the dragon throne.
Those two were naturally Marquis Wuding and Marquis Dingyuan.
As the core of the military nobles, once they finished speaking, the remaining military officers chimed in unison.
“Nonsense! The maritime ban is an ancestral system. Your Majesty, please see clearly. Marquis Wuding may not know, but surely Marquis Dingyuan knows? Our dynasty’s northern coastline is vast, and there are foreign barbarians causing trouble. If we open maritime trade, wouldn’t that give those overseas barbarians a chance to exploit us?”
“You must understand, the Capital is in the north, Your Majesty is in the north, and all of our dynasty’s core is in the north. To the west are the steppe barbarians who haven’t been pacified, to the north are vassal states eager to bite the hand that feeds them, and further east… are the tall-masted treasure ships of the overseas barbarians.”
“Faced with pressure from three sides, how can you two speak of supporting something as absurd as opening maritime trade? If we open the seas, how much would the defense of the northern coast cost?”
The civil and military officials in court were locked in a fierce argument.
Shen Yu was led into the great hall and stood quietly in a remote corner, listening, watching the civil and military officials hurl spittle at each other, and found it somewhat amusing.
No wonder Grandpa said the court was just a super shoddy stage production.
It really was.
Then she thought about how all of the Imperial Court’s major decisions were made by them shouting and spitting at each other like this, and Shen Yu found it even more interesting.
“Ancestral system! How can it be changed at will!?”
“Ancient scriptures have long recorded the ferocity of the overseas barbarians. Our court’s treasury is empty, you crude… people! You can’t even deal with the steppe barbarians, where would the money come from for you to squander overseas?”
“Your Majesty, your subject has a memorial. Your subject requests that henceforth, military officer selections also include the Four Books and Five Classics. Otherwise, it is truly difficult for us to communicate with these boorish…”
“Boorish who?”
“Boorish you!”
“Presumptuous!”
Shen Yu stood on tiptoe like a melon patch… badger.
The umpteenth session of the Taihe Hall Octagon Cage officially began.
On the red side was the Minister of Personnel.
Though frail, he wielded his hu board with such vigor, aiming eagerly at his opponent’s head.
Was that what the hu board was for?
On the blue side was Marquis Dingyuan, Cao Zhen.
Wearing his armor to court gave him a natural defensive advantage.
Coupled with his fist the size of a sandbag, who knew how many rounds the Minister of Personnel on the red side could last.
Now then, the Taihe Hall Octagon Cage officially… begins…
“What does Beloved Minister Shen think? Why is the minister laughing?”
Just as Shen Yu was entertaining herself, the Empress’s clear, cold voice drew everyone’s attention to Shen Yu.
At that moment, Shen Yu felt like a dark mouse suddenly caught in countless spotlights, instantly panicking.
Wait, how was she involved?
With her mere seventh-rank official level, did she even have the right to speak in the Hall of Supreme Harmony?
And being called upon by the Emperor to speak?
“Minister Shen?”
Seeing Shen Yu not responding, the Empress couldn’t help but ask again.
“Your Majesty, your humble subject is merely an Imperial Court Physician, truly unqualified to discuss such important state affairs. I should leave it to the ministers to debate.”
At this point, Shen Yu felt like hitting the dog emperor with a club.
Wasn’t tormenting her all last night enough?
Now she was putting her on the fire first thing in the morning?
“Your Majesty, your subject has a memorial. I wish to speak about the seventh-rank inner court physician Shen Yu, who attends court without wearing court robes, shows disrespect to the sovereign, and holds the court in contempt.”
A Censor, seeing Shen Yu’s attire and reaction, immediately smelled an opportunity.
He thought this remonstrance would leave a glorious mark on his career.
As soon as he spoke, the previously noisy court fell silent.
Everyone stared straight at him, especially the two marquises, Wuding and Dingyuan, whose looks could seemingly kill.
After all, these were military nobles who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The look in the eyes of men stained with the blood of tens of thousands was enough to scare a person to death.
“Minister Shen, do you disrespect the sovereign?”
The Empress seemed somewhat displeased.
On the surface, she appeared to be asking Shen Yu, but it felt more like she was sternly questioning the Censor.
“Your Majesty, your subject would never dare to harbor the slightest hint of impropriety.”
“Do you hold the court in contempt?”
“Even less so!”
“Oh.”
The Empress nodded, then turned her gaze to the Censor, her slightly narrowed eyes already carrying a hint of killing intent.
“Last night, Princess Yulan was critically ill. I urgently summoned Minister Shen to the palace to save her. Minister Shen exhausted herself all night and brought Princess Yulan back from the Guimenguan. She didn’t sleep a wink and is now utterly exhausted. But Minister Shen was worried that I also hadn’t slept all night, so she insisted on accompanying me to this morning court. She was concerned for my health.”
“Minister Shen has such a heart of love for her country and sovereign. How dare you claim she holds the court in contempt and disrespects the sovereign? If she truly disrespected the sovereign, as an Imperial Physician, she could simply not come to court and go back to rest.”
The Empress’s words were undoubtedly taking Shen Yu’s side.
She placed Shen Yu in the position of someone close to her, while also loudly proclaiming Shen Yu’s merit in saving the princess, subtly belittling those incompetent physicians of the Imperial Academy of Medicine.
It was as if she were saying…
The skill of the Imperial Physicians in the Academy of Medicine wasn’t even worth half a pig from the butcher shop.
Half a pig could fill your belly and strengthen your body.
Even if they threw those Imperial Physicians into a pot and stewed them, the Empress would find it disgusting.
“Beloved Minister Shen, step forward. Stand before my throne.”
“I ask you, I wish to open maritime trade. You are a physician, who should heal people and heal the nation. I wish to know what you think.”
The Empress’s meaning was clear.
She wanted Shen Yu to stand with her.
“It’s fine. Speak freely. I won’t punish you.”
Shen Yu really wanted to just curse the Empress as a dog emperor.
She might even win applause from the ministers.
You won’t punish me, but what about these ministers looking at me like wolves and tigers?
They don’t see me as human.
If I stand on your side and support opening maritime trade today, tomorrow these civil officials will come to my door and spit me to death.
You’re deflecting fire, you wicked woman!
Wicked woman!
No wonder you’re stuck being a widow with a daughter!
If you ask me, no one wants you!
No one wants you!
“Your subject believes this matter…”
“Imperial Physician Shen, I apologize for interrupting, but I have a dispatch of eight hundred li urgency here. May I first present it to Your Majesty?”
Just as Shen Yu was about to play peacemaker, Marquis Dingyuan, Cao Zhen, suddenly stepped forward and cupped his hands to Shen Yu.
“Then…”
“Thank you, Imperial Physician Shen.”
It was clear that Cao Zhen had no intention of seeking Shen Yu’s consent.
He thanked her before she even finished speaking.
“Your Majesty, an urgent report of eight hundred li has arrived from the border. The Qingfeng Village forces in the border region are growing increasingly powerful. The border army is helpless against them. Several noble families have also submitted a joint petition, requesting Your Majesty to immediately… send troops to suppress the bandits of Qingfeng Village.”
“Your Majesty, your subject requests to lead the vanguard. Since the matter of opening maritime trade cannot be resolved for now, let us follow popular sentiment and eliminate the current bandit menace.”
Hearing about Qingfeng Village, Shen Yu’s expression froze.
Hearing about going to the border to fight bandits, those civil officials couldn’t help but brighten up.
Fighting bandits could also yield plenty of profit.
Who didn’t know that the Qingfeng Village at the border was overflowing with wealth?
Although opening maritime trade and fighting bandits were both difficult, comparatively, fighting bandits was a bit easier.
Moreover, the noble families would contribute both money and effort to fight bandits.