The next day, Li Rong received Pei Wenxuan’s reply. She glanced at the wedding robe he had selected, thought for a moment, then pulled out the diagram of the other wedding robe and handed it to Jing Lan: “Tell the Ministry of Rites I want the one embroidered with phoenixes.”

Jing Lan was stunned and couldn’t help but say: “Didn’t Lord Pei choose the one with peonies?”

“Actually both are fine,” Li Rong said while washing her hands. “I’m just using a process of elimination.”

Hearing this, the maids beside her all lowered their heads with laughter. After the group finished their playfulness, Li Rong calculated the time. Her mother empress should have risen by now, so as usual she went to Weiyang Palace to pay her respects.

Under normal circumstances, she had to go pay respects to the Empress every day. However, during this time when she was investigating cases and imprisoned, she hadn’t seen her mother for quite a while. She took a cloth from the side to dry her hands, then turned to lead her people to Weiyang Palace.

Just arriving at the entrance of Weiyang Palace, she heard waves of women’s laughter from inside. Li Rong smiled as she entered and saw that almost all the concubines from the rear palace were present. Her mother, Shangguan Yue, sat in the high seat, laughing together with everyone.

“What amusing matters are you ladies discussing to be laughing so happily?”

Li Rong walked in, asking with a smile, then bowed to the Empress on the seat: “Greetings, Mother Empress.”

She then turned to bow to the four Noble Consorts above: “Greetings to all the ladies.”

“So it’s our little Pingle who’s arrived,” just as she stood up, a gentle voice rang out. Li Rong looked up to see Consort Rou looking at her with a smile: “Come sit down quickly.”

The character “Rou” in Consort Rou came from her birth name. Her original name was Xiao Rou. She came from an ordinary family background and entered the palace at a young age as a palace maid. Because she was clever, she served by Li Ming’s side from her youth. It was said that when Li Ming was still a prince, his days were not easy. Xiao Rou accompanied him through his youth in the Cold Palace, so much so that Li Ming always had a special kind of feeling toward Xiao Rou. Later, when Li Ming was still Crown Prince, Xiao Rou was bestowed in marriage to a minister by the Empress at that time. Not long after marrying, Li Ming became Emperor. After some years passed, that minister died of illness at home. Xiao Rou first took Buddhist vows and became a nun. Later, she encountered Li Ming at a temple. After a spring night together, she returned to the palace and from then on enjoyed favor in the rear palace for decades without decline.

To have such ability, her appearance was naturally exceptional. Now approaching fifty, she was still extremely well-maintained with lingering charm. Compared to the Empress beside her who was a full seven years younger, she was in no way inferior.

She was now the head of the four consorts, assisting the Empress in managing the rear palace. She was also skilled at socializing. When Li Rong entered, the Empress said nothing, but she spoke first.

Li Rong smiled faintly and nodded slightly to express her thanks.

A maid set up a small table at the nearest position below the Empress’s left hand. Li Rong sat down behind the small table. Just as she settled, she heard Consort Rou inquire to the Empress above: “I heard that Pingle’s marriage has recently been decided. Is this true?”

“The imperial marriage decree has already been issued,” Shangguan Yue said calmly. “It’s the legitimate eldest son of the Pei family, Pei Wenxuan.”

“Is he Pei Lizhi’s son?” Consort Rou smiled. “Three or four years ago I saw that child once. He was indeed quite handsome. Pingle,” Consort Rou turned her head to look at Li Rong, “I heard you investigated the Yang family together with him?”

“My Lady,” Li Rong said gently, “we haven’t yet married. It’s improper to discuss such matters. Let’s change the subject.”

“Pingle is shy,” Consort Duan beside her smoothed things over, looking up at Consort Rou. “Look how Sister Rou has embarrassed the child. She’s not one of us old things—asking her like this, what young lady would respond to you?”

Consort Rou raised her round fan with a soft laugh. The hall immediately erupted in laughter. Li Rong held her teacup and took a few sips, smiling without speaking.

After the group of consorts laughed and played for a while, the Empress had everyone disperse first. Consort Rou sat without moving. After everyone had left, the Empress turned to look at Consort Rou: “You have something to say?”

“I just wanted to ask Pingle for a favor.”

Consort Rou looked at Li Rong with a smile: “Pingle has always liked to come and go alone and isn’t very close to her other sisters and brothers. Now that she’s getting married, during this final period, many younger sisters want to spend time with their older sister and hear her guidance. So I was thinking, why not have Pingle set aside a fixed time each day to regularly interact and communicate with the other princesses in the palace?” With that, Consort Rou turned to look at the Empress. “What does Your Majesty think?”

The Empress frowned. She knew Consort Rou came with ill intentions. Just as she was about to refuse, she heard Li Rong say: “Very well.”

Consort Rou was slightly stunned. Li Rong looked up at Consort Rou: “What is that expression, My Lady? Did you think Pingle wouldn’t agree?”

“How could that be?” Consort Rou smiled. “I knew that although Pingle usually seems aloof, in her heart she cares about her brothers and sisters.”

“My Lady, your words,” Li Rong tapped her palm lightly with her golden fan, “make it sound as if I normally have no brothers and sisters in my heart. These words of yours really demean me too much.”

After Li Rong’s retort, even the smile on Consort Rou’s face became strained. She could only turn to look at the Empress: “Look at this child. After just two months of not seeing her, she’s become so sharp-tongued.”

“I’ve always cared about my younger sisters in my heart,” Li Rong picked up her teacup, her tone gentle. “There are many things I want to teach them. I think Consort Rou might as well organize it properly—I’ll lecture to my younger sisters for two hours each day. How about that?”

“Lecture?”

Consort Rou was stunned: “What will you lecture about?”

“The Empress Dowager has always been devoted to Buddhist teachings. I’ll lecture to my younger sisters about Buddhist doctrine, and also some daily behavioral etiquette—cultivating the mind and cultivating propriety, lest they make mistakes. Some days ago I heard that Huale beat a maid to death in her courtyard?”

Huale was Consort Rou’s eldest daughter, habitually arrogant and domineering. Hearing these words, Consort Rou’s expression changed drastically and she immediately said: “There was such a thing?! Then you should discipline her well.”

“Very well.” Li Rong smiled. “With My Lady’s words, Pingle will do this properly.”

Hearing these words, Consort Rou suddenly felt somewhat uneasy. Li Rong looked at the time, then said: “Is Consort Rou staying for a meal?”

These words were dismissing her. Consort Rou had finished saying what she needed to say. She stood up: “No, you came for the Empress. I won’t disturb the deep mother-daughter bond between you two.”

Consort Rou exchanged pleasantries with the Empress, then left swaying her fan.

Seeing the Empress about to stand, Li Rong went forward to help her up. The Empress let her assist her to stand, saying somewhat dissatisfied: “Why did you agree just now? She clearly had ill intentions.”

“If she has ill intentions, would she allow me to refuse or not?”

Li Rong supported the Empress as they walked toward the courtyard, saying soothingly: “If I don’t agree now, she’ll go whisper in Father Emperor’s ear, saying something about cultivating sisterly bonds. Father Emperor always listens to her—the decree would probably come down tomorrow.”

“How disgusting.”

The Empress frowned with continued disgust. Li Rong chuckled softly: “So let’s not take this despicable pair to heart. You are the Empress, the most noble woman in the world. You just need to be the Empress well. If that woman wants me to cultivate feelings, we’ll agree. Father Emperor will think I’m more sensible.”

“What if she…”

“She won’t act personally.” Li Rong walked with the Empress in the garden, saying slowly: “After all these years, can’t you see through her methods? This time having me cultivate feelings with several princesses is actually giving those princesses opportunities to get close to me. Among them are some fools. She doesn’t need to act—naturally someone else will.”

“You’ve thought it all through.” Hearing Li Rong’s well-reasoned analysis, the Empress breathed a sigh of relief. “Then you must handle it well.”

“Don’t worry.”

Li Rong’s voice was bland: “Matters of the rear palace—there are only so many tricks. You needn’t worry. Actually we should be a bit happy.”

“What’s there to be happy about?” The Empress looked listless. “I don’t see anything to be happy about right now.”

“You should think of it this way—if my marriage had no value, Consort Rou wouldn’t be trying to sabotage it. Her coming to trouble me now can only prove one thing.”

“What?” The Empress turned her head. Li Rong smiled: “Pei Wenxuan is probably about to be promoted.”

The Empress was stunned. After a moment, the Empress sighed lightly: “You young people—I understand you less and less. You all sent Chuan’er to the Northwest. The past two months truly scared me to death. On one hand, I feared Chuan’er would have an accident on the battlefield. On the other hand, I feared he wouldn’t handle the Northwest matter well and His Majesty would use this reason to punish him. I could only ask your uncles for help. After all this turmoil, the Shangguan family has truly suffered greatly. Chuan’er didn’t gain even a bit of merit, yet you’re all so happy.” The Empress’s eyes reddened. “I’m starting to suspect that Pei Wenxuan—which side is he really on?”

“Mother Empress,” Li Rong raised her hand to put it around the Empress’s shoulder, comforting her. “Don’t worry. Actually you should think—if even you can’t understand, then that’s even better. This proves Father Emperor will have an even harder time understanding. The Shangguan family consuming a bit now isn’t a bad thing. Mother Empress, there’s a very simple principle,” Li Rong persuaded, “hide the blade, and when killing, you can strike fatally in one blow.”

“But you need to have a blade first.”

The Empress was somewhat anxious. Li Rong only smiled without speaking. Together with the Empress, she arrived at the dining place. The two sat down together. The Empress washed her hands in a copper basin. While pouring water over her hands, she said: “This time your uncle helped and made a request of me.”

“Mm?”

“He wants to send Ya’er into the palace.”

Hearing this, Li Rong’s hand-washing movements paused. The Empress took a cloth from the side and glanced back at her: “You still remember Ya’er, right? You met when you were little.”

“Oh, I remember.”

Li Rong came back to herself and hurriedly said: “I remember she returned to Youzhou very early.”

“She’ll return to the capital next month, just in time to attend your wedding.” The Empress chatted casually. “Chuan’er isn’t young anymore. I plan to select an imperial consort for him next year, and I’m starting to look at some good candidates now. The Crown Princess will definitely be Ya’er. As for other good families, you should also help keep watch.”

Li Rong didn’t speak. The Empress picked up her chopsticks and ate while saying: “After marrying Ya’er, I want to marry him to four more secondary consorts. For the secondary consort candidates, the young ladies themselves aren’t too important—their backgrounds are more important. Help me look. It would be best to choose two from military families. Chuan’er has no military authority, which is always a weak point.”

The Empress chatted with Li Rong while eating.

Li Rong spoke little in front of the Empress. Mostly it was the Empress talking. After finishing the meal, the Empress was somewhat tired and planned to take an afternoon rest. Li Rong took her leave.

On the way back, she sat in her palanquin, contemplating the Empress’s words.

In the previous life, Li Chuan had indeed married Shangguan Ya, then married four more secondary consorts. Shangguan Ya had a temperament similar to hers. They had known each other since youth. Later, because Shangguan Ya went to Youzhou, they separated. When she returned to become her sister-in-law, it didn’t affect their relationship.

Marrying secondary consorts didn’t have much impact on Shangguan Ya. She was a woman of extremely firm will. Normally she appeared noble and aloof, but once familiar, she was a hot-tempered big sister. Everything was family first. The rest was all her own hobbies—drinking, playing chess, painting. She lived extremely freely.

When Li Chuan didn’t favor her, Li Rong had specifically tried to think of ways to help her. As a result, Shangguan Ya just looked at the internal accounts and waved her hand: “As long as it doesn’t affect my position as Empress and gives me some face, the rest of the time he can stay as far away as possible. If he weren’t the Emperor, who would bother with him?”

One sentence blocked Li Rong. But Li Rong also knew Shangguan Ya was definitely not forcing a smile. With her literati-like temperament, she probably truly found Li Chuan annoying.

But just because it didn’t affect Shangguan Ya didn’t mean it didn’t affect others. The four secondary consorts fought back and forth. In the end, two died, one became a nun, and one who was more accepting stayed in the palace with Shangguan Ya to live out their later years.

Calculated this way, in the previous life, no one had a good ending.

Knowing the outcome would be like this, should she still follow the path and let everything repeat?

Li Rong tapped her palm lightly with her fan, quietly contemplating.

Qin Zhenzhen absolutely must not enter the palace again. In fact, after this, it would be best if she and Li Chuan never met again.

As for Shangguan Ya…

Li Rong hesitated for a moment, actually uncertain how to decide.

She took a deep breath, rolled up the curtain, and instructed Jing Lan: “Send someone to the Shangguan mansion. If Miss Shangguan Ya returns, have someone report immediately.”

“Yes.”

“Also,” Li Rong thought for a moment, “have Pei Wenxuan write me a letter. The general meaning should be to entrust the letter bearer to deliver it to me, asking me to go to a place where both he and I can meet, saying he has something to give me. After that, have him carry that thing every day and await my summons at any time.”

“Yes.”

Jing Lan acknowledged the order.

After Li Rong finished giving all these instructions, she lowered the curtain and rested against it.

Pei Wenxuan’s letter was delivered through the Princess’s mansion staff the next day. Pei Wenxuan’s letter contained a whole pile of things. Li Rong glanced at the letter he wrote according to her requirements, confirmed this fellow had grasped the key points without error, then placed the letter on her person.

Then she opened Pei Wenxuan’s actual letter and saw just three sentences on it: “How did you decide on the wedding robe? Have you encountered any thorny matters? And, Your Highness is quite wealthy.”

Seeing “Your Highness is quite wealthy,” Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh. She put the letter away and looked at the miscellaneous other things Pei Wenxuan had given her, discovering they were his statistics of her property assets and budget forecasts for expenses.

While looking at the list, Li Rong received a teacup from Jing Lan’s hand. Seeing Li Rong’s smile, Jing Lan couldn’t help but say: “What is Your Highness looking at? You’re smiling so happily.”

“Lord Pei is still quite capable.”

Li Rong held the cup with one hand and took a sip of tea, then set the teacup down and tossed the accounts Pei Wenxuan had sent into the brazier used for burning paper.

After washing up, Li Rong received word that Consort Rou had already arranged the teaching location for the princesses. Li Rong nodded and got up to go, discovering Consort Rou had designated a water pavilion in the Imperial Garden.

“My Lady said,” the eunuch leading the way explained, “that summer days are hot and the water pavilion is cool. For Your Highness to lecture the princesses here on scripture is most suitable.”

Li Rong acknowledged and stepped into the water pavilion. Upon entering, she saw her six younger sisters had all already arrived.

Among these six younger sisters, two—Chang Le and Huale—had already passed their coming-of-age ceremonies. Chang Le was born to Consort Mei, one of the four Noble Consorts. With noble status, she was quite favored and habitually didn’t get along well with Li Rong. Huale was Consort Rou’s daughter, inheriting Consort Rou’s consistent smiling tiger demeanor, but privately she was extremely violent. The remaining four princesses were all under fifteen years old. They looked like children. The age gap with Li Rong was too great, so there was little interaction.

After Li Rong entered, Chang Le turned to look over and immediately smiled: “Oh, Elder Sister has arrived.”

Li Rong smiled: “You all came early. Sit down.”

With that, Li Rong sat in the head position. After several princesses sat down one after another, Chang Le looked at Li Rong and said with a smile: “I heard Elder Sister was arranged in marriage to the legitimate eldest son of the Pei family. Elder Sister has always been favored. Now the person you’re arranged to marry must surely be heaven’s pride, with extraordinary status, right?”

Li Rong didn’t speak. She opened the scroll before her: “Today let’s first recite the Diamond Sutra.”

“What’s this,” seeing Li Rong not answering, Chang Le became pleased. “Does Elder Sister have something unspeakable? Is that Lord Pei a high-ranking official? Though he’s also young, even if he can’t compare to Vice Minister Su, he should at least be a sixth-rank official, right?”

“Chang Le,” Li Rong looked up at her gently, “today we’re lecturing on scripture. If you don’t like it, Elder Sister can teach other things.”

“Oh?” Chang Le raised an eyebrow. “What else can Elder Sister teach?”

“Jing Lan, go to Weiyang Palace and invite Matron Sizheng here.”

Getting these words, Jing Lan obeyed and left. Chang Le didn’t understand. She continued: “Elder Sister, just tell us.”

“Chang Le,” Huale beside her quickly advised, “I heard that Pei Wenxuan is just an eighth-rank minor official. Don’t stab Elder Sister’s heart.”

Li Rong didn’t speak, calmly and composed as she drank her tea.

Before long, an old woman holding a discipline ruler followed Jing Lan over. After entering the room, she bowed to Li Rong.

“Your Highness.”

“This palace has been ordered to teach several princesses the rules of being a princess. I had wanted to lecture on scripture, but seeing today that several younger sisters have forgotten even basic palace rules, I’ll have Matron Sizheng teach everyone once more.”

Hearing this, everyone’s faces turned pale. Li Rong turned to look at the younger princesses: “Chang Le and Huale should study. The other younger sisters are still young, so never mind.”

“Pingle, you dare!”

Chang Le slammed the table and raised her hand to point at Li Rong. Li Rong smiled faintly, calmly and composed as she drank her tea: “No sense of hierarchy—what is a princess doing slamming tables? Matron Sizheng, what do you think should be done?”

“Slap the mouth and strike the hands.”

“Slapping the mouth loses imperial family face,” Li Rong said flatly. “Strike the hands.”

The people beside them dared not move. Chang Le sneered: “I’d like to see who dares touch me today?”

“Who doesn’t dare touch you,” Li Rong looked up at everyone, “then this palace will have to move against someone. This palace is the legitimate eldest princess, coming under Consort Rou’s name to instruct several princesses. Today, can this palace not even establish palace rules?!”

With that, Li Rong suddenly stood up, raised her hand to point at Chang Le, and shouted angrily: “Hold her down for me!”

As soon as the words fell, Jing Lan and Jing Mei rushed forward and grabbed Chang Le. Chang Le’s maids beside her wanted to rush forward. Li Rong’s gaze swept over coldly: “You’d better think carefully. Defying superiors is punishable by beating to death.”

Several maids were frightened. Matron Sizheng stepped forward and raised her hand to mercilessly strike Chang Le’s palm with ten blows.

Chang Le screamed. Li Rong’s expression remained as calm as before. She only said: “After finishing, go out. I still need to lecture the other younger sisters on scripture.”

As soon as the words fell, a young man’s voice came from outside. After a moment, the young man lifted the curtain, and everyone froze.

Li Rong looked up to see a handsome man. He wore a black outer robe embroidered with golden birds, with a single inner shirt underneath. He held a small fan in his hand. His features resembled Su Rongqing’s somewhat, but carried a wild arrogance Su Rongqing lacked.

Behind him stood Su Rongqing, who had been speaking with him. When the curtain was rolled up, Su Rongqing’s smile hadn’t faded. As the curtain was slowly pulled up, Su Rongqing’s gaze naturally fell on Li Rong. His speech abruptly stopped as he quietly gazed at Li Rong.

One standing, one sitting, the two faced each other. The black-robed man beside them reacted first, hurriedly kneeling on the ground and loudly saying: “This humble subject Su Ronghua, together with my younger brother, greets Your Highness!”

Author’s Note:

[Mini Theater]

Empress: “Rong’er, Consort Rou is having you participate in palace intrigue. Aren’t you afraid?”

Li Rong: “What’s there to fear about going to kindergarten to beat up little kids?”

Empress: “…”