AEOGA CH24

Yujing had not been peaceful recently.

The sleeping dragon and lion within the forbidden palace had slumbered for far too long. Now that they had awakened, the world finally understood the true meaning of the saying: “The Emperor’s wrath leaves a million corpses and blood flowing for a thousand miles.”

The citizens of Yujing had grown accustomed to hearing the chaotic sounds of military raids at night, only to wake up the next day to the news of another prominent household being seized.

The Eastern Depot possessed the authority to monitor officials and had already amassed a mountain of blackmail. In the past, Xie Chongjin could not control his own actions and thus struggled to deal with them. Now, however, all those old cases were being dug up and thoroughly investigated one by one.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard (Jinyiwei) never dragged their feet. The moment a suspect was confirmed, they would surround the estate with torches that very night and throw the culprits into prison. For a long time, Yun Luo’s dangerously beautiful face illuminated by the firelight became the nightmare of countless people in the capital. Officials lived in terror that he would appear like a ghost at their doorsteps in the dead of night and simply say, “Take them away.”

Those with guilty consciences who tried to flee Yujing overnight with their wealth were caught red-handed at the city gates by the Qin family army. Little General Qin guarded the exits so tightly that he guaranteed not even a fly could slip through.

Then there were those who still harbored delusions of luck. When arrested, they wore expressions of righteous indignation, looking like honest men unafraid of shadows. They marched into prison with their heads held high, acting as if they had been genuinely wronged. In reality, they were calculating in their hearts: The Jinyiwei are only responsible for arrests, not sentencing. I have connections in the Ministry of Justice. With a little bribery, an acquittal is guaranteed. At worst, they’ll reduce the major charges to minor ones and I’ll walk out clean.

They were highly experienced in this routine. The Ministry of Justice had long been hollowed out by corruption. As long as gold and silver were paid, even murder and arson could be smoothed over; no one actually investigated cases properly.

But the moment they stepped inside, they were dumbfounded. The Ministry of Justice had undergone a massive purge. The officials responsible for investigating, interrogating, and sentencing were all unfamiliar faces. Leading them was this year’s newly appointed Tanhua (third-place scholar), Fu Xinian. He handled cases with ironclad impartiality; expecting a favor from him was a fool’s dream.

As for those “connections” they had built up? Hah. They were living in the very next cell, staring wide-eyed right back at them.

The Emperor was playing for keeps.

Fu Xinian was resourceful, decisive, and entirely selfless. Though the cases were piled as high as mountains, he judged them swiftly and accurately. Not only did he bring every truly guilty person to justice, but he also overturned the convictions of the innocent who had been wrongfully imprisoned in the past, setting them free.

Under such sweeping and decisive actions, Yujing’s execution ground at Caishikou saw no rest. Countless heads rolled daily, filling the air with a metallic stench of blood that refused to dissipate.

Changli did not practice the “extermination of nine familial lines.” The innocent were not implicated; whoever committed the crime paid the price. Their properties were confiscated by the state, and their families were demoted to slavery. While this approach of not completely eradicating the roots left behind potential threats—which Xie Chongjin was well aware of—he ultimately chose not to slaughter the innocent.

Even with this restraint, the sheer number of people executed daily at Caishikou proved just how many worthless, corrupt parasites had infested the court. The commoners woke up early every day just to rush to Caishikou and watch heads roll. Rather than viewing the current Emperor as tyrannical, they clapped and cheered, praising his divine wisdom.

“Which corrupt official is getting chopped today?”

“Who cares? None of them are good people anyway. I’ve got my rotten eggs and wilted cabbage ready, just waiting to smash those dog officials in the head!”

The citizens were universally beaming with joy. This recent period of unrest heralded a long-lasting era of true peace.

The sheer amount of silver seized from the raids accumulated into a staggering, astronomical figure. When Xie Chongjin saw the number, he let out a cold, furious sneer.

Without hesitation, he immediately allocated funds for disaster relief, ordering his trusted aides to personally escort the silver to prevent any possibility of it being skimmed off layer by layer. He also directed funds to the Ministry of Works to urgently reinforce city walls, water conservancy projects, and farmland. Simultaneously, he reduced or exempted taxes, allowing the suffering populace a chance to finally catch their breath.

With the famously stingy Liu Yansheng overseeing the Ministry of Revenue, anyone trying to line their pockets with state funds would have to get past him first.

With these few massive initiatives, the newly filled national treasury was instantly depleted by more than half. When it came time to allocate military funds to strengthen the army, things began to look a bit tight again.

Indeed, they still needed to develop commerce as quickly as possible.

Because so many officials had been ousted, numerous positions in the court were left vacant. Shen Hezhou, acting as the Vice Minister of Personnel, was working himself to the bone selecting talented individuals to fill the gaps. It wasn’t that the court lacked talent; it was just that those without backing or backgrounds had been heavily suppressed in the past. When the whole world is muddy, those who refuse to wallow in the dirt are naturally ostracized and persecuted. There were many such individuals, and now, they could finally be put to use.

With multiple fronts being tackled simultaneously, the imperial court slowly began to transform.

Hua Yan, Wang Yiming, and Lin Chanzhi hadn’t been idle either.

The first two were busy planning the grand opening of Huamanlou. The interior design schemes alone had been scrapped and redone several times. Hua Yan was even designing new work uniforms for the men in the establishment.

Hua Yan had returned to Huamanlou to see the brothel owner (his “Bao Die”). The owner, whose eyes now bore fine wrinkles, smiled as he bid him farewell. Only then did Hua Yan realize that his adoptive father was truly exhausted.

Yujing was prosperous, and brothels were countless; Huamanlou was merely the most inconspicuous among them. In terms of talent and beauty, its escorts couldn’t compare to those of other establishments. The owner had been an escort in his youth, and because of his exceptional looks, the previous owner used him as a cash cow. If it weren’t for his face keeping things afloat, Huamanlou would have closed down long ago. Before dying, the previous owner entrusted Huamanlou to him.

Tired of the red-light district, the owner had planned to sell Huamanlou, divide the silver equally among the workers, and let them find new paths in life away from this industry. But the people in the brothel had just stared at each other in dismay.

“But… if we don’t do this, what else can we do?”

“We’ve worked in this trade; it’ll be hard to find a good person to marry. Businesses won’t hire us as clerks either—they think we’re dirty.”

“I have no family and grew up in the brothel. This is all I know. If there’s no Huamanlou, there will just be another brothel. I hear other brothels beat and scold their escorts. Brother Hua is so good to us; we want to stay. Please don’t go, Brother Hua…”

At the time, aside from the male escorts who had no other skills, there were also young children like Hua Yan and Hua Yu. If the place disbanded, they truly wouldn’t have known how to survive. The owner had sighed, stayed, and held Huamanlou together for over a decade.

When Hua Yan was redeemed, the owner had been genuinely happy for him. He knew all too well that when an escort was excessively beautiful, they seemed highly sought after, but in reality, they only suffered more humiliation. Knowing Hua Yan had escaped that sea of suffering brought him endless comfort.

He just hadn’t expected… that the person redeeming him would have such an unimaginably noble status.

When he suddenly received a massive stack of banknotes and learned the buyers were from the palace—that the royal family was purchasing Huamanlou—the owner was terrified. He didn’t agree immediately and asked his people what they wanted to do.

The palace representatives said: “Those who wish to leave may take a sum of silver and go. Those who wish to stay will remain as clerks in the restaurant.”

The owner was baffled: “…Restaurant?” Wasn’t Huamanlou a brothel?

When he finally understood that the Emperor wanted to buy the building to open a restaurant, he felt as if a massive pie had fallen from the sky. He asked in trepidation why the Emperor would choose a place with such low fame and a poor location.

The representative simply replied: “The Palace has a Beauty named Hua.”

The owner was shocked, finally realizing that the guest who used to frequent the brothel for Hua Yan was the reigning Emperor. So… Hua Yan has won the Emperor’s ultimate favor?

Later, when Hua Yan met with him, he explained that there was no such thing. He was purely there to help the Emperor make money; the Emperor’s favor was entirely monopolized by the Empress, without a single drop spared for anyone else. Hua Yan reassured him: “Don’t worry, Dad. The Emperor and the Empress are both very kind people. I haven’t been wronged. You can finally rest with peace of mind.”

While the owner could finally rest, Hua Yan became incredibly busy. Almost no one in the establishment wanted to leave. Wang Yiming took it upon himself to teach them business skills that would serve them well in the future.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of the capital, Lin Chanzhi was busy farming.

He thought the Empress meant granting him a plot of land the size of a courtyard. He hadn’t expected… thousands of acres of abandoned land on the outskirts of Yujing.

Not all land was suitable for cultivation, but this was no problem for Lin Chanzhi. Even the most barren soil could be transformed into fertile fields under his hands. He even knew how to build greenhouses to control the temperature, allowing him to grow off-season fruits and vegetables. As long as he made a request, the personnel sent by the Emperor and Empress would arrange everything for him perfectly.

After a month of farming in peace, the Emperor sent someone to inform him that his father had been caught up in the corruption purge. Investigations revealed his hands were dirty; though his father was cowardly and the embezzled amount was too small to warrant the death penalty, he was stripped of his position and banned from ever serving as an official again. His stepbrother would never pass the political background check, completely destroying any chance of an official career.

The Lin family’s assets were fully confiscated, and the family of three was thrown out of Yujing without a single penny. Lin’s father was just as utterly destitute now as he had been before meeting the Tian family.

Hearing this, Lin Chanzhi felt nothing but a fleeting sigh. He didn’t have deep feelings for the Lin family. His only regret was that the majority of the confiscated Lin assets had originally been his biological father’s dowry, which he assumed was now gone forever…

But then, the Emperor’s envoy handed him a thick stack of banknotes and property deeds: “Her Highness the Empress stated that these assets belong to the Tian family, not the Lin family, and thus do not need to be confiscated. I was ordered to deliver them to Young Master Lin.”

Lin Chanzhi stood stunned for a long time. Then, he swung his hoe with even greater vigor.

I must grow the most delicious vegetables to repay His Majesty and Her Highness!

_

After nearly two months of such massive undertakings, the dust finally settled.

Inside the Chongxue Palace, the group gathered. Every single one of them had dark circles under their eyes and looked so weak and exhausted they looked ready to pass out on the spot. Yet, their eyes were incredibly spirited, each burning with a radiant light.

For the past two months, they had hardly slept a wink. They pulled all-nighters catching corrupt officials, investigating crimes, selecting talents, calculating ledgers, and farming… Everyone was busy with their own tasks, and during the day, they still had to convene at the Empress’s palace for meetings. After the meetings, they would dive right back into the grand cause of state-building. One person was doing the work of ten, hovering just a hair’s breadth away from sudden death by overwork.

But no matter how physically exhausted they were or how heavily their eyelids drooped, their eyes remained brilliant. To be able to fight for a career they loved and contribute to building their nation made all the hardship and exhaustion worth it.

Helian Xi looked at this group of overworked individuals and began to wonder why he was even there. To listen to their debriefings?

Over the past two months, the concubines held daily meetings, and Helian Xi had observed them all silently. He wasn’t exactly left out; after discussing official business, they would chat about daily life. Qin Yulong would bicker with him from time to time, and the Empress would check on him appropriately, ensuring he didn’t feel like an outsider.

Helian Xi even suspected that the “casual chat” segment was specifically implemented by the Empress just to accommodate him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a single opportunity to get a word in.

He had never seen such a bizarre imperial harem. The concubines didn’t meet the Empress daily to pay their morning and evening respects; they spent the entire time discussing national affairs. It was completely different from the harem infighting he had imagined. He had fiercely resisted this political marriage precisely because he hated being confined to the back courtyard, yet he never expected the concubines of Changli to be so career-driven.

He actually found himself quite envious that these people had things to do. With nothing to do himself, he didn’t even have the mood to pick fights with Qin Yulong anymore. Besides, Qin Yulong was also incredibly busy training troops and was barely ever seen.

…Damn it, the more he thought about it, the more jealous he got.

The concubines had been gathered for quite a while before Lu Xuechao and Xie Chongjin finally appeared together.

Everyone rose to pay their respects: “Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Your Highness.”

Shen Hezhou stumbled, nearly face-planting into the floor, but luckily Liu Yansheng had quick reflexes and caught him. Realizing what had happened, Shen Hezhou flushed red with embarrassment. “This subject has lost his composure. May Your Majesty forgive me.”

He had stayed up way too many nights reading case files; he could literally fall asleep standing up at this point.

Fu Xinian raised a hand to elegantly cover a yawn.

Hua Yan had provided everyone with refreshing incense, but even that couldn’t withstand two solid months of high-intensity labor. And they were only responsible for their specific sectors! The Emperor, who managed ten thousand affairs daily, actually looked the most energetic out of all of them right now.

As expected of His Majesty. Truly the vigor of a dragon and a tiger.

Of course, they had no idea that although Xie Chongjin was also exhausted, Lu Xuechao massaged him daily to relieve his fatigue and personally formulated medicine to nourish his body. Otherwise, even a body made of iron would have broken down.

Lu Xuechao was busy as well, but Xie Chongjin absolutely forbade him from pulling all-nighters. The Emperor strictly enforced a set work schedule for him; once the clock struck the hour, Lu Xuechao was not allowed to expend another ounce of mental energy on state affairs.

Perhaps because supreme intelligence takes a toll on the body, Lu Xuechao’s constitution was naturally slightly weaker than a normal person’s. Thanks to years of meticulous care, he looked no different from anyone else, but if they weren’t careful, his health would act up again. Xie Chongjin wasn’t about to take that risk; if his Empress collapsed from exhaustion, his heart would break.

Thus, Xie Chongjin led the grueling hustle culture, working 24/7 himself, and making his subordinates work from dawn to dusk—but Lu Xuechao was strictly mandated to follow an eight-hour workday.

If anyone asked? It was just blatant double standards.