Chapter 258

Completely Alone (Part Four)

Emperor Ning heaved a sigh and stood up from behind his desk.

He looked out through the window, and the bright sunlight shone on the ground with the sound of cicadas chirping in the distance.

“Is it almost time for the Dragon Boat Festival?”

“Your Majesty, today is the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Did you not eat the zongzi?”

It was already the Dragon Boat Festival. Carefully calculating the days, it had already been over a month since Gu HuaiJiang had left for the border.

Emperor Ning glanced at Eunuch Gao, and the latter said with difficulty: “This old servant asked Your Majesty this morning, and Your Majesty said that you wanted to eat the usual, thus this old servant did not bring them out.”

Emperor Ning thought back for a moment. This did indeed seem to have happened.

“You, how can We not eat zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival? We did not hear you clearly. You should have reminded Us about it.”

Ji DaoGong smiled and said: “Your Majesty has been busy with the matter of appointing members to the cabinet. With a constantly troubled expression, how could Eunuch Gao dare to trouble Your Majesty?”

Eunuch Gao gave him a look of gratitude, “Many thanks for speaking objectively for this old servant, Lord Ji.”

“Hey, look at him!”

Emperor Ning pointed at him, “You’ve even formed a group to go against Us. Are you saying that We are not objective? Has Princess DanYang also not come to visit? During previous Dragon Boat Festivals, she would always come and deliver a personally embroidered pouch.”

The pouches given during the Dragon Boat Festival would be filled with wormwood and sagebrush leaves. There would also be some fragrances meant to ward off poisons and ill omens. In the past, the members of the imperial harem and the princesses would vie for the chance to give him a pouch; however, he did not see a single one this year.

He did not wish to see Imperial Consort Xian and others like her, having Eunuch Gao stop them outside, but he did not tell Eunuch Gao to stop Princess DanYang.

Ji DaoGong said: “Your Majesty, do not blame Princess DanYang. She is currently in the middle of preparing for the wedding. She barely even has enough time to embroider her wedding dress, so how could she have the time to embroider a pouch for Your Majesty?”

There was nobody as objective in court as Ji DaoGong. When Emperor Ning heard what he had to say, his heart filled with fatherly love.

When a princess of the imperial family got married, there was no need for her to embroider her own wedding dress. Everything from clothing to accessories would be provided by the Board of Internal Affairs and the Board of Rites.

He had an idea of what Princess DanYang was busy with.

“We have put Ourselves into a position to be completely alone. Who knows what my two eldest sons are thinking, and Our most beloved daughter is no longer close with Us, blaming Us for engaging her to the wrong person. We have both sons and daughters, as well as plenty of concubines in the inner palace, but We are no better than lonely old men!”

Princess DanYang hosted a banquet at ChunHe Garden, and everyone knew that she used that opportunity to humiliate Yin Shuo. Naturally, Emperor Ning also knew about it.

He just pretended not to know unless Yin Shuo truly ran over to seek him out to cancel the engagement.

Fortunately, Yin Shuo was a loyal official and did not do as Princess DanYang had hoped. He did not do something that would not benefit him or anyone else.

“By establishing a cabinet, Your Majesty is openly reducing Prime Minister Yin’s power. By keeping the original plan of engaging Princess DanYang to Prime Minister Yin, it’s to try and console Prime Minister Yin, right?”

These were the words used by Emperor Taizong to praise the virtuous official Wei Zheng, and Ji DaoGong cupped his hands and said: “Your Majesty’s praise is too much. In truth, Your Majesty’s mirror is Lord Marquis Gu. At most, this old official is just using my seniority to admonish the officials on Your Majesty’s behalf.”

“This is your best attribute. You do not get jealous. You are not biased. You are completely fair. If the members of court were more like you and HuaiJiang, We would not be so lonely.”

Ji DaoGong raised his head and momentarily froze. He knew that Emperor Ning was talking about the eldest prince and the second prince.

There were many members of court who were part of the two princes’ factions. Emperor Ning was suspicious of the two and naturally was reluctant to place his trust in the officials who were close with them.

But relying on him alone, how long would it take to finish filling out the cabinet?

He lowered his head once more. His snow-white beard was like a willow, perfectly still.

“Actually, We want to establish a cabinet, but it’s not just because of Yin Shuo. We have been thinking of this for quite some time. By spreading out the prime minister’s power, even if he becomes part of any faction, it will not directly threaten Our court.”