Next day morning, Xing entered the Audience Hall along with the Emperor. It was not customary in their kingdom for the Empress to attend the Court. Even the dowager empress will be seated behind the throne separated by a beaded curtain. So there were murmurs inside the court seeing the Empress there.Mo Chen didn"t like his master is being bashed by those people and voiced his opposition. "Don"t talk bad about them", he said but unfortunately only Xing could understand him and others only heard an angry roar from a very crossed panther and the entire court went to pin drop silence.
Xing saw the Emperor smirking at her and she noticed that there were actually cus.h.i.+ons in the Dragon Throne.
Both of them sat in the throne and the court started about discussing the various Issues. Mo Chen was sitting in his hind legs majestically beside the Emperor.
So there were some officials newly appointed to the Eastern Province were complaining about the water shortage and so they should open the government graineries to supply food to the common people so that the prices won"t go up.
And the military official from the Southern Province informed them of the increased activities of smugglers from the Sky Kingdom and the soldiers there are not enough to contain the situation. Previously the Huang family"s private guards would help them but these days they are indisposed making the situation worse.
This caused the entire court to uproar. Usually, in most kingdoms the military officials and the civil officials never agree on most issues. In their kingdom with the Zhong and the Huang family in the higher position and with good personal relations.h.i.+ps, these problems never arose in the recent years. But this time, with the absence of Lord Zhong and Huang AoTian being in a difficult position, the others easily acted up stunning the court from operating.
Even when AoTian tried to speak, he wasnt even let to voice his opinion, making the entire room noisy.
The Emperor stood up to address but no one even listened to him. There was chaos in the entire court. Some of those opportunists left after the fall of the Ran family had this stupid notion that since Lord Zhong is absent and the Huang family is in danger too, the Emperor had no one to support him and so the dragon throne is open to take. Most of them didn"t believe the happenings on the coronation day and deemed that as hallucinations since there are no G.o.ds.
*Roar*
The resounding roar of the black panther echoed once again in the Audience Hall making everyone freeze in horror even those who still believed G.o.ds aren"t real.
"Oh, Mo Chen! Are you hungry? Wait till the court ends, okay! Then we can eat breakfast", Xing spoke in a tone that was not too soft or too loud so that at least half of the court room hears what she said.
Rijun pursed his lips holding his laughter by this tactic of her sister and AoTian got furious by the way that lecherous men in the court were mesmerised by her voice that was so smooth like pearls rolling in a marble floor and the Emperor wondered why this panther is getting more attention than him.
Only after being in a daze did the officials realised the "danger" they were in. Not only they are in the presence of the Emperor but also they are in front of a hungry and angry big panther who is extremely protective of the Emperor. So even if the Emperor let them be, the panther won"t! And even if the panther takes one of them as food , they cannot blame anyone since it is a wild animal! And this wild animal is the Emperor"s pet!
Who brings a hungry wild animal to court?
Those who have been keen on accusing each other felt like leaving the court immediately. Life is more worth than the fight for positions.
"Your Majesty! We don"t have enough resources to address these issues. Please let us gather more informations regarding this", a senior official bowed with reverence.
"Let"s finish our discussion today", the Emperor was adamant making everyone weak in the knees.
The Emperor knows even though Mo Chen could be considered as a pet, he hunts for his own food during nights in the Imperial hunting grounds and he takes care of himself. Also Mingxia had put strict restrictions on him to not hurt humans and do he won"t, unless his life is in fatal danger. Mingxia must be doing this to bring back order in the court again.
"Minister of Justice, how is the investigation on the Huang family businesses going?", the Emperor asked in a relaxed manner.
"Your Majesty! We are only going through the records till now. I"ll hurry up the investigations", the Justice Minister answered.
"No need to hurry up. Investigate deeply", the Emperor ordered. The entire court was stunned by the Emperor"s order as how could the Emperor treat the Empress" family this way.
But only few understood what the Emperor said. If full investigations are conducted and nothing is found, no one could touch the Huang family for another twenty years at least. And everyone knows no one will find anything illegal about the Huang Family. So this will be considered as a wild goose chase against the oldest, n.o.blest and loyal family in their kingdom and it will only work out in their favour once it all ends.
So after addressing every issues hurriedly, the court was ended that day. Also from that day inward the officials had learned the habit of only speaking the necessary things in the court and not dramas and chaos fearing they"ll become the breakfast of Mo Chen, who currently held the status of the Crown Prince in their Kingdom.
There were some officials who came and complained to AoTian that the Empress is not filial to her family because she is not using her influence with the Emperor to help her family from this crisis.
Rijun was the one answered, " Isn"t there a saying that married daughters are like splashed water? And she is the mother of this Kingdom now. She won"t be just worrying about one family! She has to take care of the entire kingdom",he then smirked, "Also who told you that Eagles need help against drizzle? They can withstand heavy storms!"
Those around them who had always seen Rijun quiet and patient were surprised. Since when did he start to retort too?
But in two weeks, the investigations against the Huang family was finished and not even a single case was filed against them.
Lord Huang Zedong thanked the Emperor on that day in court when the reports were released and they were proved the most loyal and law abiding Merchant Family in the entire kingdom.
"Your loyalty is it surprising. We are related by blood after all", the Emperor uttered in front of the entire court making those officials remember a long forgotten truth - The Huang family is the only living relative of the current monarch!
So no one dared to speak against the Huang Family ever again!