Chapter 178
Chapter 178: Suicide from Fear of Punishment
Zheng Xiao killed himself.
In his bedroom, he hanged himself with his own belt.
The maidservants had not been on night duty these past few days, so no one noticed. In the morning, when they came to help him wash and dress, they found that the door would not open no matter how they pushed, and they could not wake him by calling.
They called the steward’s old maidservant, kicked the door open, and Zheng Xiao’s body was already stiff.
“See, he got scared. He did too many bad things and killed himself out of fear of punishment.”
The whole city was buzzing.
Onlookers talked about it with great interest.
They also felt they had won and were in high spirits. It was their curses and spit that had scolded this wicked young master to death, and they felt satisfied.
Zheng Xiao’s death was cheered by the people.
The Duke of the Realm’s manor did not even have time to grieve before the City Patrol Bureau uncovered the truth about the men who had beaten Luo You.
“Luo You went with his classmates to visit Fahua Temple and met Third Young Master Zheng bullying a novice monk. Third Young Master Zheng was afraid he would leak the secret, so he wanted to get rid of him.”
Luo You had never said this.
It was the novice monk from Fahua Temple who could not bear it anymore and came forward to tell the story.
“Second Young Master of the Luo family was thinking of the pure ground of the Buddhist order and did not want to offend the Bodhisattvas, so he endured jail without saying it. He is a child with a pure and noble mind.”
“His martial arts are good too. He could knock down four of the Zheng family’s servants by himself and did not suffer a loss. I heard those servants of the Zheng family all ran away and are missing now.”
Empress Zheng heard about this.
Her face turned pale, and she went to Shoucheng Palace.
“Imperial Mother, I do not understand why things turned out like this,” Empress Zheng said weakly. “I feel so tired. Imperial Mother, why is it that just by going to Fahua Temple to pray for blessings, I brought so much trouble on myself?”
The Empress Dowager also felt uneasy.
Going around and around, everything had led back to Fahua Temple again.
What was the strange root of this matter?
However, after the Empress Dowager sent Eunuch Wei to investigate, she learned that Zheng Xiao had indeed behaved badly at Fahua Temple. One novice monk there could not bear it and had swallowed gold to kill himself a few days earlier.
“How could this be? That is the Buddhist order, a sacred place!” The Empress Dowager grew angry.
She no longer cared about the Empress’s face. In great rage, she ordered Eunuch Wei to deliver an imperial edict to rebuke the Duke of the Realm.
She also did not want to see the Empress again.
The Empress was indeed wronged, but the things Zheng Xiao had done were shocking, one after another.
The Emperor was not in good health, yet he still came to comfort the Empress Dowager and said: “Imperial Mother, please do not be angry.”
“These prestigious clans are absurd and reckless, and think of nothing,” the Empress Dowager said. “If they had not provoked that child of the Luo family, this matter would probably have been covered up again!”
She added angrily: “They even dragged the Empress into losing face.”
The Empress now belonged to the Imperial House, yet she had to be dragged down by her maiden family’s reputation.
“Zheng Xiao has killed himself, Imperial Mother. I suppose someone in the Zheng family knew what was at stake and dealt with him,” the Emperor said.
“Those great clans are endlessly greedy. They are strong enemies,” the Empress Dowager said.
The Emperor knew this too.
But he really had no strength to deal with them.
He needed to live a few more years, until the Eldest Prince grew sensible and could handle state affairs.
He would leave the task of weakening the great clans to the Eldest Prince.
With powerful clans on the outside and Prince Yong holding overwhelming power within, the Emperor suddenly felt extremely depressed, even more helpless.
The Empress Dowager was truly very angry.
Luo You was finally released and sent back home.
When the Empress heard, she cried again in Kunning Palace.
She had been too tired lately.
When people are tired, their spirits weaken, and it is easy to be shaken by outside matters.
In the past, Empress Zheng would not have cried. The year the rebel army entered the city, her mother left her, and since then she had never been close to her parents. Her feelings toward her younger brother’s wife were also shallow. However Zheng Xiao had brought ruin on himself, it had nothing to do with her, and she had a thousand ways to clear herself completely of the matter.
The only person she truly felt close to was her third uncle, the Duke of Shen.
But lately she had been fragile.
She needed a bit of comfort.
Empress Zheng even thought that if someone could just hold her for a moment, she would feel a little better.
“If I had not become the Empress back then, maybe now my child would be sitting by my knee, and I would not have to suffer like this,” Empress Zheng said softly to her trusted aide.
If she had not become the Empress, there would have been many men she could have married.
Among the aristocratic families, there was no lack of men with good character and handsome looks for her to choose from.
All these years in the palace, she had weathered many storms. Only at this moment did she suddenly feel a faint regret.
It was very faint and passed in a flash.
She still wanted to be the Empress.
From childhood she had never been willing to live under others. She was also gifted and clever, destined to receive the worship of the people under heaven. To be the young madam of any noble household would have been a waste.
Her brother’s death did not make her feel regret. The two siblings had never been close.
What made her sad was that she had been dragged into it and her reputation was ruined.
She had clearly gained much prestige by praying for blessings for the Eldest Prince and her fame had spread throughout the realm, but now she had lost more than half of it.
“Even if they do not support me, they should not drag me down like this,” Empress Zheng added.
Only then did her trusted palace lady dare to speak: “Your Highness, this time it was Madam Luo who did not know what was good for her and insisted on fighting it out.”
Empress Zheng shook her head and said: “The Zheng family was arrogant themselves. We cannot blame others.”
“It might also be Prince Yong,” the palace lady said again. “Prince Yong has long had a disloyal heart.”
Empress Zheng gently closed her eyes.
She did not want to talk about it anymore.
The Duke of the Realm’s manor was once again dragged into public opinion, looking utterly disgraced, and even the Empress grew more haggard.
The Emperor summoned the Duke of the Realm into the palace and harshly scolded him.
Though Zheng Xiao was dead, the scandal involved was too big, so the Duke of the Realm’s manor did not dare hold a grand funeral and only saw him off in a simple, hasty burial.
Madam Zheng cried until she nearly stopped breathing and even vomited a mouthful of blood.
She had lost her son and still had to be scolded by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. The pain and anger almost broke her heart.
“It was the Luo family that harmed A Xiao!” Madam Zheng bit her lip until it bled. “It was because they would not let go that A Xiao was forced to this step.”
The Duke of the Realm was not without pain either.
He had lost his only legitimate son.
But he still had three sons born of concubines, so his line would not end. He was sad, but not in the way that Madam Zheng wished she were dead from grief.
After more than half a month of fuss, the matter finally settled down.
Because of this, the once unknown little young master Luo You became the well-known young master of the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor.
All the commoners in Shengjing now knew he was loyal and righteous and was willing to stand up for a maidservant. The scholarly youth from Lushan Academy and Chunshan Academy, under Pei Ying’s guidance, all wrote essays for him, and so they learned of this classmate.
The great clans also took note of him.
Qiu Shi Dong sat alone, and his thoughts shifted from Zheng Xiao to Luo You.
In fact, it had been Qiu Shi Dong who planned this matter from the start.
He had killed two concubines from the Mei family and felt uneasy, afraid that Luo Ning would catch some handle on him. Inside the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor, all his spies had been rooted out, and Madam Bai was basically a prisoner.
Qiu Shi Dong wanted to send in two more people.
They did not need to be spies, only to care for Madam Bai and make sure she stayed alive.
Qiu Shi Dong wanted to stir up trouble in Luo Ning’s marriage, but he had never thought of killing Madam Bai.
If Madam Bai died, his link to Luo You would be cut off. Without his birth mother to vouch for him, how would Luo You ever admit that he was Qiu Shi Dong’s son?
If he did not admit it and later inherited the marquis manor, what would that have to do with Qiu Shi Dong?
Qiu Shi Dong had clearly plotted for half his life.
So he discussed with Bai Yu Lin that he would do Luo You a favor.
Qiu Shi Dong had a hold over Monk Hui Neng and had learned the secret of what Zheng Xiao did at Fahua Temple. He used this to threaten Zheng Xiao into helping him.
If things went well, he would spend money to smooth things over and have Zheng Xiao withdraw the case himself to get Luo You released. With this favor, he would then use Luo You’s hand to arrange for two maidservants to be placed in the Marquis of Zhen Nan’s manor to care for Madam Bai.
That way he would gain two benefits with one move.
But the suicide of the maidservant Chun Zhi was the biggest change in this plan.
Qiu Shi Dong had been stunned at the time.
After that, everything went out of control.
Qiu Shi Dong’s plan was instantly crushed and became meaningless. It only stirred up a conflict between the Luo family and the Zheng family.
He was extremely troubled.
Qiu Shi Dong thought: [A Rong said this Luo Ning is a bit uncanny. She really does seem that way.]