The Hall of Supreme Harmony gleamed with gold and jade, solemn and majestic as ever.Yet today, the air inside was stretched tight—like a bow drawn to its limit—heavy with invisible smoke and tension.
The court session was already more than halfway through. Routine affairs had been dealt with.
At last, Liu Chenghan seized the moment.
He stepped forward, bowed deeply, and spoke in a loud, ringing voice that barely concealed the fire beneath it.
"Your Majesty! This humble minister submits a memorial! It concerns the purity of the inner palace, the ancestral laws of our forefathers! We beg Your Majesty to hear us—even at the risk of death!"
A ripple passed through the court.
Everyone knew it.
The real battle… had finally begun.
Upon the dragon throne, Emperor Tang Yi sat in brilliant imperial yellow, the twelve-stringed beaded crown casting swaying shadows across his face. The jade beads half-veiled his expression, revealing only a pair of deep, unfathomable eyes—calm, cold, unreadable.
"Proceed," he said.
His voice was not loud, yet it carried unquestionable authority.
Liu Chenghan inhaled sharply. From his sleeve, he withdrew a memorial he had long prepared, unfolded it, and began to read aloud.
Its contents closely mirrored the earlier impeachments—but the language was sharper, the accusations more venomous, the tone soaked in righteous fury.
He painted Consort Qing as a lowly kitchen maid who had seduced the throne with culinary tricks, then grown ambitious and arrogant—using petty means to meddle in palace affairs, overturn traditions, and corrupt the ancestral order.
The Demand Slips.The Warm Soup Rotation.The Imperial Culinary Academy.
Each initiative was named in turn and branded with damning labels:
— Overstepping her station— Interfering in governance— Buying loyalty among the lowborn— Deceiving the Sacred Ear
"If this continues," Liu Chenghan thundered, "palace discipline will collapse, ranks will blur, and chaos will spread from inner palace to outer court alike! For the sake of the dynasty, for the sake of ancestral law, we humbly beg Your Majesty to render judgment at once—strip Qing of her title, severely punish those within the Imperial Kitchen, restore order to the harem, and set an example for all!"
By the time he finished, sweat glistened at his temples—whether from passion or anxiety, none could tell.
Behind him, several officials who had co-signed the memorial stepped forward one after another, echoing his words with earnest intensity, as if Qing Tian herself were a calamity threatening the nation's survival.
Silence fell.
Neutral officials lowered their eyes, neither daring to speak nor to breathe too loudly.
Those aligned with the Liu faction nodded faintly, waiting—confident that the emperor would bow to "orthodoxy" and issue swift punishment.
Tang Yi remained seated upon the dragon throne.
After listening to the impassioned denunciation, his face showed no reaction at all—if anything, it appeared almost indifferent.
Only the eyes behind the beaded curtain were terrifyingly calm.
His long fingers tapped lightly against the smooth armrest of the throne.
Tap.Tap.Tap.
The sound was faint, rhythmic—
yet in the dead-silent hall, it rang out with chilling clarity, striking against every heart present.
At last, when Liu Chenghan and the others had finished speaking, the court fell into a suffocating stillness.
Tang Yi stopped tapping.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze.
Through the gently swaying jade beads, his eyes swept across the rows of officials—faces tense, eager, fearful, calculating—before finally settling on Liu Chenghan, who still stood bowed at the front.
"Minister Liu," the emperor said.
"And the rest of you, my loyal ministers."
His voice was even, almost mild, yet it carried effortlessly through the hall, silencing all else.
"You claim that Consort Qing has 'interfered in governance.'"
A pause.
"I find myself curious."
He turned his gaze fully to Liu Chenghan.
"Tell me—what exactly has she governed?"
The question struck like a sudden blow.
Liu Chenghan froze for a heartbeat. He had prepared grand accusations, towering moral banners—but to define precisely what 'governance' she had interfered in…
He recovered quickly.
"Your Majesty," he said firmly, "as a concubine, she has instituted so-called 'new policies' and unilaterally altered palace precedents. This alone constitutes the beginning of interference in governance! Matters of the inner palace are governed by long-standing rules and the Internal Affairs Office. How can a mere consort insert herself? If unchecked, order will crumble, the inner palace will fall into disorder, and inevitably the outer court will be affected!"
"Oh?" Tang Yi nodded slightly, as if acknowledging the point.
"Altered precedents, you say."
"Then tell me—which precedents did she alter?"
Liu Chenghan's breath caught again.
Forced onward, he replied stiffly, "For example—the so-called Demand Slips, forcing each palace to specify their dietary requests! Completely unnecessary, creating needless complication! And the Rotational Extra Meals—wasting firewood and manpower, encouraging laziness among servants! Worst of all, the Imperial Culinary Academy—openly teaching culinary skills to lowly menials, blurring distinctions of rank and status. Her intentions are deeply suspect!"
His voice rang with indignation, as if these acts were unforgivable crimes.
But as the words echoed through the golden hall—
something subtle began to shift.
And the thunder that would shake the court…
had only just begun.