Sensing the shift in circumstances, Lady Zhu’s posture transformed into something more confident and dignified.
Sitting up straight, she asked the official, “Then, by when must I prepare to return?”
“The Ming has requested your return as soon as possible, but the decision ultimately rests with you, Your Ladyship.”
At the official’s response, Lady Zhu leaned back against her chair. With an enigmatic smile playing on her lips, she questioned him further.
“So, it would be acceptable to delay the next Emperor’s return date?”
“Our Great Han Federal Empire has no objections.”
“Hmm…”
After releasing a soft hum and considering for a moment, Lady Zhu finally reached her conclusion.
“Though I’ve desperately wished for this, I never expected it to happen so suddenly. It’s difficult to decide right now. I’ll send Royal Eunuch Wang with my answer within a few days.”
“I shall report this. Well then.”
The official placed the imperial edict from Ming on the table, bowed respectfully, and withdrew.
When Wang Chong, who had gone to see the official off, returned, tears began streaming down Lady Zhu’s face.
“Finally…”
Unable to finish her sentence, she could only weep. At this sight, Wang Chong immediately prostrated himself on the floor and exclaimed.
“Your Majesty! This is heaven’s punishment! Now everything will return to its rightful place! I offer my profound congratulations!”
Dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, Lady Zhu responded to Wang’s words.
“Yes, we must restore things to their proper order. Certainly. No matter if it was the late Emperor’s command, we cannot let those who sent His Majesty to Liaodong and pushed him into a trap go unpunished. They must certainly pay the price.”
“Indeed, Your Majesty!”
As Lady Zhu sharpened her blade of vengeance, she suddenly realized something and bolted upright from her seat.
“Wait! Has the prince—no, the Emperor—not returned yet?”
“No, he went out to clear his head, but hasn’t returned yet.”
“Send people to find him and bring him back immediately.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Following Lady Zhu’s command, Wang Chong hurried outside to summon the servants. Lady Zhu sat back down and examined the contents of the imperial edict. As she read it over and over, her eyes burned blue with murderous intent.
“I still haven’t forgotten that day.”
Lady Zhu had witnessed with her own eyes the final moments of Ju Kijin and his principal wife Lady Jeon, who chose to end their own lives when Liaodong fell.
“I will definitely have my revenge!”
After dreaming of revenge for so long, Lady Zhu let out a deep sigh.
“Sigh~ The problem is the Emperor… No doubt he’s chasing after that girl again. What should I do…”
***
While Lady Zhu was sighing, Zhu Jianshen was indeed talking with a young girl.
“Geum-soon~ Come on, let’s go to the entertainment hall together the day after tomorrow. The famous dancer Hongmae from Pyongyang is coming. We can watch her performance and eat good food. You like Western sausage, right? Let’s eat together while watching the performance.”
“I’d like to go, but if my mother hears I went to an entertainment hall with a man outside our family, she’ll scold me.”
“We’re neighbors, so I’m not really an outsider, am I?”
“Still, I can’t.”
“Geum-soon~”
“I’ll get scolded by my mother if I stay any longer. I’m going home now~”
Leaving behind a desperate Zhu Jianshen, the girl called Geum-soon returned home.
With a face full of disappointment, Zhu Jianshen watched her retreating figure before turning away with a long sigh.
“Sigh~”
As he walked dejectedly with his head hung low, several boys approached and teased him.
“Hey, Hidden Dragon! Rejected again?”
Zhu Jianshen looked up at the boy who had suddenly draped an arm over his shoulder and replied with a slight smile.
“Pilsu, and you guys again?”
“Who else would hang out with Hidden Dragon but us? A hidden dragon always stays with other hidden dragons, right?”
At Pilsu’s words, Zhu Jianshen snorted and answered.
“Don’t you mean useless fish, not hidden dragons?”
“You want to die? Useless fish?!”
“I know your grades from Commoner’s School and Middle Academy. Where do you get off calling yourself a hidden dragon?”
At Zhu Jianshen’s words, Pilsu retorted with an unimpressed face.
“What about you?”
Feeling wronged, Pilsu raised his hand to point at one of the boys.
“Has anyone here besides Seokjun passed even the first round of the Science Academy entrance exam?”
At Pilsu’s words, Seokjun smugly raised his chin, while the other boys shouted simultaneously.
“You bastard! Rubbing salt in our wounds!”
“I’m already getting cold treatment at home as it is!”
The alley quickly became noisy with everyone chiming in. Hearing the commotion, nearby adults muttered with disapproving faces.
“Those troublemakers are at it again…”
“They should be studying more characters instead of wasting time…”
“They’re not bad kids… If only they were truly stupid, we could have put them to work from the start… Hidden Dragon or Useless Dragon…”
Zhu Jianshen and the boys around him were well-known in this neighborhood.
***
The relationship between Zhu Jianshen and the boys began at Commoner’s School.
Children admitted to Commoner’s School were divided into several groups and assigned to classes, where they spent most of their day together.
Learning, playing, and eating together, Zhu Jianshen and the boys became close.
It wasn’t that the boys didn’t know Zhu Jianshen’s identity. They had heard adults whispering:
“…You see, it’s his father who’s the problem. The child can’t be blamed.”
“That’s true.”
Though they didn’t fully understand the meaning, the boys knew it wasn’t good. Because of this, they initially kept their distance from Zhu Jianshen.
However, as time passed and they realized Zhu Jianshen wasn’t a bad kid, they grew closer.
Later, when they studied history and properly understood what the adults had meant, they all reached a similar conclusion.
“Yes, as the elders said, Jianshen’s father was the problem. It wasn’t his fault.”
“If the country doesn’t blame him, we have no reason to.”
With that decision, they continued their friendship. And at some point, the boys began calling themselves “Hidden Dragons.”
They called themselves Hidden Dragons, while others called them Useless Dragons, all because of Zhu Jianshen.
When they were learning characters and basic Confucian studies at the academy, Zhu Jianshen came across the term “Hidden Dragon” and immediately raised his voice.
“Oh? I know this phrase! The Noble Consort says this to me every day.”
In that moment, all the boys in the classroom burst into laughter.
“Hahaha!”
“Hidden Dragon? He says he’s a Hidden Dragon!”
Faced with the boys’ mockery, Zhu Jianshen protested with tears in his eyes.
“It’s true! The Noble Consort says it every day!”
And as time passed and the boys learned of Zhu Jianshen’s true identity, they found themselves nodding unconsciously.
“So that’s why he was a Hidden Dragon?”
And that’s how Zhu Jianshen’s nickname became Hidden Dragon.
The adults in the neighborhood clicked their tongues at Zhu Jianshen and the boys because of their potential.
They weren’t exceptional, but they had decent intelligence. Their problem was that they were overconfident in their abilities.
“If I just try a little, success is right there!”
When Seokjun, one of their group, passed the first round of the Science Academy entrance exam, their confidence soared to the heavens.
“See! Just a little effort from us yields results like that!”
As a result, their parents sighed every day.
“Should I just marry him off?”
“No way. He’d be divorced within a fortnight.”
“These thundering knuckleheads…”
***
Amid this boisterous atmosphere, Pilsu spoke to Zhu Jianshen.
“Do you like Geum-soon that much?”
“I do. I like her enough to die.”
“Then, why don’t you try ‘act first, report later’?”
At Pilsu’s suggestion, Zhu Jianshen shook his head.
“A man has his pride. How could I take such an improper path?”
Hearing Zhu Jianshen’s response, Pilsu patted his shoulder.
“That’s right! That’s what makes you the Hidden Dragon! A Hidden Dragon should act like one! Hahaha!”
“Hahaha!”
As the two burst into laughter, a servant sent by Wang Chong found Zhu Jianshen.
“You’re needed back home urgently.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know exactly, but they say something big has happened.”
“Really?”
At the servant’s words, Zhu Jianshen looked back at Pilsu and the others.
“Looks like I have to go.”
“All right. See you tomorrow.”
***
Upon returning home, Zhu Jianshen headed straight to Lady Zhu’s quarters.
“I’m probably going to get an earful again…”
Worried about Lady Zhu’s nagging, he stepped through the door of the inner chamber and froze.
Lady Zhu, Wang Chong, and everyone else who had stayed with them were kneeling and looking at him.
“What is this…”
Suddenly, everyone kneeling lowered their heads to the ground and shouted in unison.
“We behold the Heavens! Long live! Long live! Ten thousand years!”
“Long live! Long live! Ten thousand years!”
Confused by the chorus of cheers, Zhu Jianshen turned to Lady Zhu and asked.
“What is happening? Behold Heaven? What’s going on?”
Wang Chong stepped forward to answer Zhu Jianshen’s question.
“Your Majesty is now the Emperor of Ming.”
“What? What did you say?”
“You have become the Emperor! We offer our congratulations! Long live! Long live! Ten thousand years!”
At Wang Chong’s words, Zhu Jianshen’s face went blank with shock.
“I’ve become the Ming Emperor?”
***
Having finally regained his composure, Zhu Jianshen examined the imperial edict in Lady Zhu’s quarters.
“Is this edict truly authentic?”
In response to Zhu Jianshen’s repeated confirmation, Wang Chong stepped forward.
“It is authentic. An official from the Great Han Federal Empire’s administrative office brought it personally.”
“Hmm…”
At Wang Chong’s answer, Zhu Jianshen’s mind went completely blank.
Me, an Emperor? And the Emperor of Ming? This isn’t a dream but reality?
Zhu Jianshen couldn’t believe the current reality. Of course, after learning about his birth, he had occasionally imagined becoming Emperor.
But imagination is just imagination.
Knowing his reality well, he had dismissed it as mere fantasy, but suddenly that fantasy had become reality.
Right! Let’s accept it! This isn’t a dream! I’ve become the Emperor!
“Sigh~”
Having finally organized his thoughts, Zhu Jianshen looked at Lady Zhu and Wang Chong.
“So, are we leaving immediately?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
At Wang Chong’s answer, Zhu Jianshen crossed his arms and fell into thought again. After a moment of deliberation, he looked at Lady Zhu.
“What do you wish me to do once I ascend the throne?”
Since Lady Zhu had constantly reminded him of past grievances whenever she had the chance, Zhu Jianshen had some idea of what she might say. And her answer did not disappoint his expectations.
“Please punish those who pushed Your Majesty’s father into a trap.”
At Lady Zhu’s response, Zhu Jianshen could only sigh again.
“Sigh~”