For the past few days, Ma Yu had been hiding at home, avoiding the public eye. He knew that his frequent visits to the imperial palace had drawn too much attention. As the saying goes, a tree that stands taller than the forest will be destroyed by the wind; he needed to lay low for a while and fade from everyone’s focus.
In reality, his intuition was correct: rumors about him had suddenly proliferated. In particular, the incident regarding the "armor-off wind" had been discussed openly, and the news had spread quickly. Naturally, people assumed he was desperate to curry favor with Chang Yuchun, and they looked upon him with utter contempt. The Confucian scholars were the most aggressive in their criticism; after all, they had initially assumed Ma Yu was on their side, only to find him colluding with the nobility after his release from prison. To them, he was a textbook villain, and they seized the chance to disparage him relentlessly. Many nobles were influenced by this, and their attitudes toward him grew noticeably cooler.
When Li Shanchang heard of this, he sneered, "He is nothing but a wet-behind-the-ears brat. I actually considered him a major threat—how laughable." Consequently, he ordered the cancellation of all operations targeting Ma Yu. After all, he had no desire to clash with Empress Ma unless absolutely necessary.
Chapter 53