All the people drinking soup froze and looked up.

Standing somewhat impolitely directly across from the imperial family of three, staring straight at them with piercing gazes, was an elderly woman with several middle-aged men and women beside her. Some were plump and fair, others dark and weathered. Several of the women were staring intently at Noble Consort Jing, while a few young men and women—the women looking at Tie Ci, the men also looking at Tie Ci.

These people varied in height and build, all reasonably good-looking with traces of Noble Consort Jing’s features visible in them. They shared one common trait: their clothes were all brand new with creases still showing.

Tie Yan slowly set down his bowl and said to Noble Consort Jing, “Your family has arrived?”

Noble Consort Jing replied joyfully, “Yes, Your Majesty! They just arrived in the capital last night. When we departed this morning, I requested your permission to bring them along—have you forgotten?”

Tie Yan coughed. At the time, he had been thinking about bringing some foods his daughter loved and hadn’t really paid attention.

Deep down, he also didn’t want to meet Noble Consort Jing’s family. After all, a mother who could raise such an oddball daughter probably wouldn’t be particularly sensible either.

Nearby, Murong Yi saw that whole family and remained expressionless, ladling a bowl of soup into his hands.

The large family had already begun approaching on their own initiative. Under everyone’s gaze, Noble Consort Jing’s mother appeared somewhat nervous, but a plump, fair middle-aged woman seemed quite pleased with herself, bustling forward to support Noble Consort Jing’s mother as they came to pay respects to the imperial family.

Before the Emperor or Crown Princess could speak, Noble Consort Jing hurried forward to help them up.

Nearby, Minister Yang of the Ministry of Rites watched with a cold laugh, saying to his son, “An ill-mannered family—no wonder they produced such a rebellious one.”

Yang Yixiu whispered, “Father, you’re gossiping behind the Crown Princess and consorts’ backs—do you call that proper?” He then quickly escaped before his father could strike him down.

Tie Ci had already risen, giving Xiao Chongzi a look to disperse the surrounding observing officials, lest some embarrassing incident occur later for the ministers to laugh at.

She smiled at the elderly lady, “Grandmother, honored uncles and aunts.”

Lady Lü, Noble Consort Jing’s mother, looked at Tie Ci and felt dazzled, wanting to respond but not quite daring to. She lowered her eyes and gave a low response. If not for the woman beside her holding her up, Tie Ci felt her knees would have buckled.

Tie Ci immediately felt that familiar headache returning.

She had anticipated the domineering type, the self-important type, the arrogant type, or the harsh and snobbish type—but never this timid and pitiful type.

Though Noble Consort Jing was indeed quite similar to her at times.

While Lady Lü was timid, the plump woman beside her was bold, responding with a beaming smile, “We’ve always heard that the Crown Princess has the bearing of dragons and phoenixes, with unparalleled beauty. Seeing you today, this aunt’s eyes are truly dazzled!”

These words were inappropriate, making both Dan Shuang and Chi Xue frown slightly. Tie Ci merely smiled, but the woman then pulled over a young man who resembled her greatly, speaking with a hint of pride, “Crown Princess, this is your cousin, sixteen years old this year. He’s already passed the provincial examinations and is the top scholar in Guishan County!”

She turned to Noble Consort Jing with a smile, “Your Majesty, Dunzhi has always greatly admired the Crown Princess.”

Noble Consort Jing nodded with a beaming smile, feeling pleased. Tie Yan’s brow furrowed.

Tie Ci glanced at the woman with the lively eyes. She had heard that her grandmother was normally mild-tempered, but after the family produced a consort, they had become something of a local prominent family. Later, the family had married the legitimate daughter of the local prefect—a woman with a fierce temperament who had the old lady completely under her thumb. This must be her.

Not far away, behind a tree, Yang Yixiu whispered to Qi Yuansi, “No way, no way—they’ve just met and already have designs on the Crown Princess?”

Qi Yuansi glanced at Xiao Chongzi passing by and thought to himself that you’re eavesdropping so openly and they haven’t expelled you out of courtesy, yet you’re still discussing it? He wanted to leave but his feet seemed glued in place. He couldn’t help saying, “How is that possible? This family can’t be so lacking in awareness, can they? What kind of person is the Crown Princess? What kind of people are they?”

Yang Yixiu snorted and shook his head, thinking that you haven’t witnessed Noble Consort Jing’s famous lack of awareness.

So it runs in the family.

Over there, the young man introduced as Tan Dunzhi bowed to Tie Ci. His slightly full, fair face flushed red, his head lowered but his eyes darting upward, looking quite smitten indeed.

And his mother, Lady Wang, smiled as she looked between her son and Tie Ci, appearing thoroughly satisfied as if success was assured.

There was no need to get angry at such ignorant fools. Tie Ci waved her hand, trying to think of some way to get this group away from her, when suddenly a bowl of soup appeared out of nowhere, thrust in front of Tan Dunzhi. Murong Yi’s voice sounded warm and laughing, “Crown Princess, since we rarely meet relatives from your grandmother’s family, won’t you invite your admiring cousin to have some soup?”

He emphasized the words “admiring you” clearly and heavily.

Tie Ci glanced at the soup.

He wouldn’t poison it, would he?

Her distrustful look clearly irritated someone. Murong Yi didn’t ask her anymore and enthusiastically shoved the bowl toward the man’s mouth, saying, “The Crown Princess’s favorite soup! Master Tan, you must try it!”

Tan Dunzhi hadn’t eaten dinner yet and was already dizzy from the enticing aromas. With the soup right at his lips, the rich fragrance overwhelming, and seeing across from him in the dim twilight the Crown Princess’s snow-white skin and dark brows, hazy and graceful as if glowing, his head spun and he instinctively swallowed several mouthfuls.

“Gulp”—a tremendously loud sound.

Tan Dunzhi immediately reddened.

He hadn’t expected the soup to be so thick with gelatin, and having been served for a while, the evening breeze had cooled it, making it even more viscous like jelly. One swallow got stuck in his throat—he couldn’t swallow it down or spit it out. Struggling to force it down, he immediately lost his composure.

Worse still, his mouth seemed to be glued shut, with a white ring of congealed soup forming around his lips. Combined with his round, pale face, he resembled the famous white bears of Liaodong.

Dan Shuang burst out laughing.

Palace servants couldn’t make noise freely in the Emperor’s presence, but Dan Shuang was different—she had grown up before the Emperor too, and he had always been lenient with her.

She wasn’t one to laugh carelessly either, but now she just had to laugh. Since others couldn’t make a sound, Chi Xue maintained her dignity, and the Crown Princess remained composed, only she could laugh.

This laugh made Tan Dunzhi’s already red face turn purple. He hastily bowed to Tie Ci and hid behind his mother.

Murong Yi smiled and casually dumped the remaining half bowl of soup.

The imperial father and daughter acted as if they hadn’t seen this scene, while Noble Consort Jing simply didn’t understand what had happened and saw nothing wrong.

Most of the Tan family looked uncomfortable, except for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl who stared fixedly at Murong Yi without moving her eyes even once.

Murong Yi noticed and turned his gaze over, instinctively about to smile. Suddenly remembering that Tie Ci was watching, he immediately straightened his expression and glared at her.

This glare made the girl freeze, then slowly blush.

The eldest aunt, Lady Wang, seeing her carefully dressed and presented son inexplicably lose face before the Crown Princess, immediately became angry. She raised her eyebrows and stared at Murong Yi, “Which palace are you from, you servant? How can you be so ill-mannered! Stand down!”

Murong Yi smiled, “I am the Crown Princess’s man.”

Lady Wang said, “Being the Crown Princess’s man makes it even more inappropriate to disrespect my Dunzhi! He is the Crown Princess’s own cousin!”

Murong Yi smiled, “Then please tell me his examination results? His official rank? I only recognize positions and ranks, not people. Please clarify.”

Tan Dunzhi flushed and said, “I am a provincial graduate!”

Now even the Emperor couldn’t stand it anymore, not needing Dan Shuang to laugh. With a stern expression, he said, “It’s getting late, and I still have memorials to review. Noble Consort Jing, take the ladies to your quarters for a family reunion.”

Noble Consort Jing happily agreed.

The Emperor and Tie Ci also wanted to leave, but were held back by the cypress-roasted venison, river shrimp rolls, pepper-stewed snails, and other delicacies. By the end, the Emperor was eating golden sesame biscuits that scattered flaky crusts with each bite while rubbing his belly as he returned to his quarters.

As Tie Ci was about to leave, Murong Yi stopped her and handed her freshly roasted honey-glazed quail, saying, “Be extra careful during tomorrow’s hunt.”

Tie Ci looked at him, “Did you hear something?”

“There are indeed some rumors, but it’s no matter—I’ll be there tomorrow anyway.”

“I’ll bring more guards…”

“More people aren’t necessarily useful. Besides, are all your guards definitely loyal? Have you forgotten Di Yiwei’s lesson?”

“You mean someone will attempt assassination or cause trouble during the hunt?”

This was indeed very likely. Away from the palace, in the mountains and forests, there were too many opportunities to exploit.

Tie Ci remembered her master saying that in ten out of ten storybooks, hunts always involved assassination attempts on the emperor.

Though she had never read such storybooks, and nowadays no storybook writer would dare write such plots, and she didn’t know where her master had found such treasonous literature, she couldn’t deny that hunts were indeed good opportunities.

But she always felt it wasn’t that simple.

She smiled and bit off half the quail, pointing the quail leg at the person before her, “As long as you don’t cause trouble, where else in this world could there be trouble!”

Tie Ci walked away gnawing on the quail, leaving Murong Yi leaning against the pot, gazing up at the stars with that infatuated smile again.

Mu Si emerged from the shadows, unable to bear seeing such behavior, frowning, “What are you doing now?”

“She smiled at me,” Murong Yi said. “This is the first time she’s smiled at me since Wuse Plain.”

“Yes, she smiled at you,” Mu Si said expressionlessly. “Next are you thinking about children, houses, and carriages?”

“No,” Murong Yi said. “I’m thinking about whether my father would die of anger if my daughter took the surname Tie.”

“Good idea. Your father would surely rest in peace,” Mu Si waved his hand and left. He was afraid that talking more with this person would make him unable to be himself in front of Dan Shuang next time.

Over there, Noble Consort Jing happily led her natal family back to the traveling palace.

The Emperor had brought only her on this hunting trip, intending for her to see the world and broaden her perspective. For safety, she stayed in the western hall adjacent to the main hall. The group followed her into the traveling palace, exclaiming in admiration all the way. Especially Lady Wang, whose mouth hadn’t stopped moving from beginning to end, praising Noble Consort Jing’s favor, her noble status, her youth and beauty, her enduring bloom.

Noble Consort Jing’s smile never ceased. After sitting down and removing her veil, she had Nanny Qin fetch her face cream.

Nanny Qin brought the face cream Noble Consort Jing had been using recently to help her wash her face. Lady Wang craned her neck to see the snow-white, delicate cream and praised it endlessly.

Nanny Qin paused in setting down the cream.

Hadn’t the consort said this cream was sent from her natal family through connections in the capital? Why did Lady Wang seem completely unaware?

She glanced at the purple-gold box containing the cream, inlaid with pearls and precious stones. Just the box alone was worth a thousand gold.

Looking again at the Tan family’s attire, they really didn’t seem like a wealthy family that would be so particular about even containers.

She looked at Lady Lü nearby, who only knew how to smile apologetically, thinking perhaps the consort’s mother had sent it privately, deliberately hiding it from her daughter-in-law to avoid unpleasantness.

After all, this daughter-in-law was very difficult to deal with, and rumor had it that Lady Lü was constrained by her in every way at home.

Nanny Qin thought it through. She herself was entrusted by the Emperor and Crown Princess to watch the consort closely daily, and she really had no opportunity to obtain such items herself. She must be overthinking.

The Tan family sat in a circle, watching Noble Consort Jing wash her face. Noble Consort Jing’s second sister-in-law, Lady Liu, watched as her sister-in-law had three or four people attending to just washing her face, using creams, rouge, combs, and boxes all studded with gems. She stared enviously at those jewels and nudged her husband.

The eldest sister-in-law, Lady Wang, caught this from the corner of her eye and a cold smile flickered in her depths.

She was different from Lady Liu. Apart from briefly surveying the imperial wealth and luxury upon entering, she hadn’t lingered too long.

Because looking too much at things that weren’t hers was pointless.

She wasn’t like the second branch with their shallow vision. The second brother wanted to do big business to compete for the family inheritance but ended up losing money, then convinced their mother to come to the capital seeking help from their noble sister. Didn’t they realize that imperial items were all recorded in registers and couldn’t be casually gifted? Their sister could only reward some jewelry and gold ingots, and how much could that be?

Even if all these jewels and treasures were gifted, so what?

Could it compare to becoming part of the imperial family?

Only by becoming imperial family could all the gold and silver treasures in this hall, this palace, even the entire realm belong to her forever!

With these calculations in mind, meeting the eyes of Noble Consort Jing, who was enthusiastically introducing various precious items to her family, she smiled even more warmly with an even gentler attitude.

She didn’t interfere when the second branch’s wife indirectly asked for rewards from the consort, or when the biased old lady stammered her support.

After all, letting them have their way now would ensure everyone worked together when she brought up her plan later.

Noble Consort Jing was quite surprised by her natal family’s poverty, repeatedly saying she had thought second brother’s business had been going well in recent years, not knowing he had actually lost money. This needed to be remedied quickly, or it would look bad if word got out. She ordered Nanny Qin to open the chest.

Nanny Qin frowned and glanced at these relatives before going to fetch a small chest after a while. When Noble Consort Jing opened it to look, she found only some ordinary jewelry, without even the gold ingots usually used for rewards.

Meeting Noble Consort Jing’s somewhat surprised gaze, Nanny Qin said calmly, “Your Majesty, the borders have been unstable in recent years. Some time ago there was fighting in Yongping, and the Nanyue navy needed ships built to fight pirates. The Ministry of Revenue constantly claims poverty, so His Majesty ordered the palace to reduce expenses. As the Crown Princess’s birth mother, Your Majesty was naturally the first to respond. Precious jewelry is no longer made, and reward gold ingots have been cancelled. This is all we have now.”

She then said to the Tan family, “The imperial family leads by example in reducing expenses, and all officials respond by donating silver and goods. Since Old Madam is the Crown Princess’s maternal grandmother and has heard of this matter, then…”

Old Lady Lü stared at her blankly, obviously not understanding.

The second branch couple immediately changed color and hastily said, “Our family holds minor posts with little authority—we dare not meddle in such great affairs.”

Lady Liu muttered, “They say she’s the Crown Princess’s maternal grandmother, but our family doesn’t even have a Grace Earl title…”

The second master said, “Women shouldn’t speak carelessly. Grace Earl or Grace Marquis titles are only for the Empress’s family.”

The eldest master, who had been stern-faced, suddenly stroked his beard with a cold laugh, “Consort, you claim to be highly favored, and the Crown Princess is your own child, everything in the palace is exclusively yours. If so, why hasn’t the Empress position been given to you yet?”

Nanny Qin paled, “Master, be careful with your words!”

The eldest master said coldly, “We nobles are discussing matters—what business does a servant have interrupting!”

Nanny Qin took a breath.

These country bumpkins.

She was a ranked female official in the palace, a proper fourth-rank position. Old Master Tan was still only a fifth-rank prefect, and this eldest master Tan had failed the imperial examinations repeatedly and bought a county clerk position with money—yet he dared act superior before her!

Truly, the ignorant fear nothing!

Lady Wang frowned slightly. She came from a slightly better background than the Tan family, with an uncle serving as a department secretary at court. She was more familiar with imperial rules and systems, knowing that such nannies usually held ranks, possibly even higher than her husband’s.

Her husband’s temperament—to put it kindly, was straightforward; to put it harshly, he lacked tact and judgment while being self-righteous. Such palace attendants of important personages managed many affairs and couldn’t be casually offended, lest it ruin her plans.

She moved her foot under her skirt and stepped hard on eldest master Tan’s foot. His composed expression immediately flew into chaos, and the words he wanted to continue were forcibly swallowed back down his throat.

Noble Consort Jing still paid no attention to these small actions. Her mind had been distracted by those remarks about the Empress, which truly touched on her years-long obsession. She couldn’t help sighing deeply, her glowing face dimming considerably as she pushed the box over, “In extraordinary times, we cannot be extravagant, or His Majesty and Her Highness would blame me. These jewelry pieces are worth at least a thousand taels of silver—second brother, please take them.”

The second master signaled his wife with his eyes, and Lady Liu quickly accepted the box, hiding it in her sleeve.

Eldest master Tan couldn’t help speaking again, frowning, “Why is Your Majesty so timid and hesitant despite your noble status? After years of family separation, what’s wrong with providing some support? Even if extravagance isn’t appropriate and you fear His Majesty’s blame, why even fear the younger generation?” He looked around, “When maternal grandmother and uncles come, shouldn’t the Crown Princess come to sit and chat?” His tone was quite pained.

The other Tan family members showed similar expressions. Noble Consort Jing flushed red and stammered, “The Crown Princess handles countless affairs daily…”

“We are her close elders, whom she hasn’t seen in years! Doesn’t our imperial dynasty emphasize filial piety above all!”

Nanny Qin felt that even someone as composed as herself wanted to roll her eyes skyward like Dan Shuang.

What did they take the Crown Princess for?

Did they still think she was the former puppet?

Even if she were still a puppet, someone as noble as the heir apparent had no obligation to accompany fifth-rank command wives and seventh-rank clerks!

Not to mention that the Crown Princess now virtually served as regent, with the glory and future of the Tie dynasty resting on her shoulders. Her importance and nobility—to speak treasonously—even surpassed the Emperor’s.

Where did they get such audacity!

Besides, with people of your caliber, why insist on embarrassing yourselves before the Crown Princess? Wouldn’t it be better to preserve some dignity for the maternal grandmother’s family in the Crown Princess’s heart?

Lady Wang’s foot landed on eldest master Tan’s instep again, stomping the remaining insolent words back down. Only then did she smile at Noble Consort Jing, “Don’t mind your eldest brother’s words, Your Majesty. He’s just hot-tempered and wants to get closer to his niece. Speaking of seeing our niece, she truly is stunning beyond words, with such noble status. Has she… oh no, has she become engaged yet?”

Nanny Qin’s ears perked up alertly.

No way!

They wouldn’t really dare covet the Crown Princess!

Lady Wang suddenly looked up at her and said, “Oh yes, we brought some local specialties for Her Majesty. Please trouble this nanny to have people fetch them.”

Nanny Qin was about to refuse when Noble Consort Jing already said, “Please trouble yourself, Nanny.”

Nanny Qin understood that she disliked her and sighed, but being a proper person, she had to go.

With no one else in the room, Lady Wang moved closer to Noble Consort Jing, her expression even more earnest, “Your Majesty, if the Crown Princess hasn’t chosen a husband yet, what do you think of your nephew? Young as he is, he’s already a provincial graduate—the very best in our Guishan County!”

Noble Consort Jing glanced at her nephew, whose face was flushed and eyes bright, and said hesitantly, “The Crown Princess’s marriage isn’t something I can meddle with. Besides, there are already candidates—sons of dukes and marquises, powerful generals… His Majesty will surely choose from among these people.”

The Crown Princess was all her hope—her future match should naturally be the most powerful prince consort. No matter how good her natal family might be, she still found this presumptuous.

“Your Majesty truly has His Majesty’s and the Crown Princess’s best interests at heart. But sister-in-law, from what I observed today, your position seems unstable.”