Well, this was excellent — if she just kept a straight face the whole time, would everything in the harem end up hers?

The gloom in her chest dissolved completely, and her eyes brightened, impossible to hide.

The emperor really was too amusing — did he honestly think coaxing a woman just meant showering her with gifts?

By the time Eunuch Qin got to the eight-treasure jadeite screen, Hua Chun finally couldn’t help herself and cracked a grin.

Letting out a quiet breath of relief, the emperor’s expression relaxed, and Eunuch Qin finally stopped listing off rewards.

Goodness, this single pile of gifts was worth more than everything the emperor had rewarded all his harem consorts combined over the past half year. It looked like they’d have to sneak it in quietly — if the other consorts found out, there’d be an uproar!

“This servant will go make the preparations, then.”

“Mm.” Yuwen Jie said. “Just inform Consort Hui directly.”

Eunuch Qin froze, looking at him with difficulty. “Should this be reported to Consort Hui?”

“Naturally — it’s her responsibility to record all rewards given in the palace.”

Eunuch Qin drew a sharp breath, counting on his fingers — eighteen gifts, and Concubine Hua hadn’t accomplished anything of note yet. Wouldn’t that be a bit much?

But the emperor’s gaze was resolute, leaving no room for negotiation. Eunuch Qin swallowed his doubts back down, dutifully agreed, and turned to head to the Qinghe Hall.

Consort Hui listened with a smile as he relayed the emperor’s wishes, nodding. “This consort understands. I’ll have people record and tally it right away, and get the rewards sent to Concubine Hua promptly.”

“Then this old servant will take his leave.”

“Safe travels, Eunuch Qin.”

The Qinghe Hall was full of people that day — besides Zhaoyi Lan, Consort Shu was there as well. Hearing Eunuch Qin’s report, everyone’s expressions turned sour.

Turning to sit back down, Consort Hui’s smile vanished completely from her face. She swept her gaze over everyone and said, half-smiling, “You all heard that. Before long, it seems this palace might just get itself an empress.”

Zhaoyi Lan frowned. “His Majesty dotes on her far too much.”

“Indeed.” Hua Xunyue said flatly. “Before, when Zhaoyi Lan was rewarded, it was only two or three items. Now, all at once, Concubine Hua gets eighteen — truly unprecedented.”

“His Majesty is doing this deliberately, to show us.” Consort Hui said. “To make it clear just where Concubine Hua stands in his heart, so that from now on we’d better treat her with the utmost respect. Forget just bowing to her as an equal — before long, we might all have to perform full ceremonial bows to her.”

“What’s so good about her, really?” Noble Concubine Meng frowned. “Sure, she’s pretty, but plenty of women in this palace are pretty. Her temperament is domineering too — nowhere near as gentle and lovely as Zhaoyi Lan.”

“Who can ever really say what pleases His Majesty?” Consort Hui said with a light laugh. “In my opinion, everyone should hurry back and prepare, and tell the people in your palaces to be extra careful — don’t go crossing that one in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, or His Majesty might make an example of you.”

Everyone present felt discontented, yet there was nothing to be done about it — after all, even while the emperor favored Concubine Hua, he hadn’t neglected state affairs in the slightest, so there was no basis to complain to the Empress Dowager, especially since it was the Empress Dowager herself who had granted Concubine Hua her title.

For now, all they could do was hope Concubine Hua would bring about her own downfall again, giving them a chance to invoke the Empress Dowager’s authority.

Once everyone who had come to pay respects had dispersed, Consort Hui sat in her inner chamber still fuming. Her maid rushed in and, looking somewhat flustered, whispered something in her ear.

“What?” Her pupils shrank, and Consort Hui stared at Shan Zhu, utterly baffled. “Why would she be interested in the matter of Talented Lady Nie?”

“Perhaps she’s just bored.” Shan Zhu said. “She’s already met with the maid who once served Talented Lady Nie.”

“Did she find anything out?” Consort Hui frowned.

Shan Zhu shook her head. “That much we couldn’t find out. All we know is that the maid stayed at the Qinghe Hall for nearly half an hour before leaving.”

Old matters were being dug up again, and Consort Hui rubbed her temples in irritation. “If she’s just doing it for fun, then this consort won’t even bother with her. What worries me is if that woman is truly ambitious and trying to climb over this consort’s head.”

“So Your Ladyship means…”

“Go make the arrangements.”

“Yes.”

In this palace, no one’s hands were truly clean — it was simply a matter of luck, of who got caught. She now held the reins of the harem, which made her the perfect stepping stone for anyone looking to climb. If someone managed to catch her in a mistake and use it to score a victory, it really could mean a significant step up.

And yet — she’d survived and remained standing in this palace for years now. If she let herself be so easily used as a stepping stone by some little upstart, how could she possibly go on?

Night had fallen. Hua Chun was showing the emperor the exam questions Qing Niao had drafted. The emperor studied them carefully, marking the feasible ones, then finally handed them to Eunuch Qin to send out.

“Has Your Majesty decided when the exam will be held?”

“Once all the questions have been finalized, I’ll post the announcement.” Yuwen Jie said. “Many people wish to sit for the exam, so there needs to be some kind of threshold. I intend to charge one tael of silver per exam paper, to be purchased for entry.”

Hua Chun’s mouth fell open. One tael of silver was enough for an ordinary commoner to live comfortably for a year — that wasn’t a small sum at all.

“If you sell the papers like that, what happens to the many people who have real talent and learning, but are living in poverty?”

Glancing at her, the emperor said, “I don’t believe someone with real talent would let themselves fall into such poverty that they couldn’t scrape together one tael of silver. If such a person truly exists, they’re probably too incompatible with the world, too poor at navigating relationships — and even with talent, they wouldn’t get far in officialdom anyway. Better to let them go their own way.”

Put that way, it did sound rather reasonable. Hua Chun thought it over. “But what about the exceptional cases? Someone with real, unrecognized talent, forced into poverty by circumstance, who simply can’t scrape together the money?”

“Someone like that would naturally be discovered by some official and recommended to me.” Yuwen Jie said. “You don’t need to worry too much about it. Though the imperial exam is fair, it still involves luck — no ruler in history has ever managed to gather every single talented person under heaven.”

“That does make sense.” Hua Chun nodded, thinking to herself that Yuwen Jie’s understanding as an emperor was actually quite impressive.

“Your Majesty.”

Just as they were about to put out the lights and rest, Huo Zichong suddenly called out from outside.

His expression sharpening, Yuwen Jie turned toward the door. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Huo Zichong dragged in a small maid, tossing her onto the floor before cupping his hands in salute. “This subordinate has accomplished the task.”

Hua Chun paused, then jumped down from the couch to take a look. “Huh? Isn’t this Hongtai?”

Lifting her tear- and snot-streaked face, Hongtai kept kowtowing toward her. “Please take this servant in, my lady, please take this servant in! This servant will tell you everything!”

Glancing at the emperor, then at Huo Zichong, Hua Chun asked curiously, “What happened?”

“Someone tried to kill her. Fortunately, the hidden guards had been following her, and managed to save her in time.” Huo Zichong said. “The one who attacked her was a eunuch from the Imperial Kitchen. This subordinate brought him along as well.”

Well, this was excellent. Hua Chun clapped her hands together. “Quick, let’s hold court and interrogate — why is someone trying to commit murder in the middle of the night?”

The emperor shot her a disdainful look, pulled her into the inner chamber, lowered the curtain over the partition, and said, “Bring him in.”

“Yes.” Huo Zichong waved toward the door, and another small eunuch was tossed in as well.

That little eunuch looked even more terrified than Hongtai, his face paler than a ghost’s, trembling as he knelt, his eyes darting wildly.

The emperor pulled Hua Chun into his arms and gave her a pinch.

Coming back to herself, Hua Chun understood his meaning and spoke up. “Bold servant, how dare you commit violence in the middle of the imperial palace at night?”

The little eunuch was nearly in tears. “This servant wasn’t trying to kill her, he only wanted to settle an old grudge.”

“What old grudge?”

“This servant had an arrangement with Hongtai before, as a spirit marriage. Now she’s turned her back on it and refuses to acknowledge him, making this servant a laughingstock among the others. Tonight, he only went to demand an explanation.”

“You’re lying!” Hongtai said through gritted teeth. “I never made any such arrangement with anyone. It was you who came at me first, groping and grabbing, trying to force me into a spirit marriage with you!”

The little eunuch fell silent. Through the curtain, Hua Chun couldn’t see either of their expressions, so she could only glance at the emperor for guidance.

“Ask what happened.”

Hua Chun nodded and dutifully repeated, “What exactly happened tonight?”

There was a pause outside, and finally the eunuch spoke first. “This servant went to talk to Hongtai tonight, but she was in a terrible mood and tried to hit this servant. In a fit of anger, this servant grabbed her by the throat — but before he’d even choked her for long, the guard captain appeared out of the shadows and seized him.”

He added under his breath, “Who would’ve thought a guard would just so happen to be passing by right then…”

The emperor let out a scoff and shook his head at Hua Chun, who then said, “That’s enough. No matter the reason, committing violence within the palace is a crime regardless. Lord Huo, take him away and deal with him according to palace regulations. As for Hongtai, let her stay at the Hall of Mental Cultivation for now.”

“Yes.” Huo Zichong acknowledged, and the eunuch could be heard letting out a couple of pained cries, his voice growing fainter and fainter as he was dragged away.

“Your Majesty saw right through it.” Rubbing his chin, Hua Chun looked at him admiringly. “But this attacker doesn’t seem to have any connection to Consort Hui — what now?”

“Who says there’s definitely no connection?” the emperor said with a faint smirk. “Tomorrow, why don’t you send someone to look into who he’s been in contact with lately.”

“Why does it have to be me looking into it?” Hua Chun didn’t quite understand. “With the guards and hidden agents at Your Majesty’s disposal, wouldn’t things like this be easy to settle directly?”

The emperor gave her a long look. “If I investigate and you pass judgment, those are two very different postures.”

Of course — if he wanted to find a pretext to balance the power at court, the emperor couldn’t very well go picking fights with his own consorts personally. That would look terrible if it got out. He clearly meant to use her as a shield, exploiting the rivalries among the harem women to conceal his real intentions.

Hua Chun quickly caught on and nodded obediently.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation had replaced quite a few of its servants — aside from the menial staff, the emperor had switched out all the close attendants for people he’d personally selected.

“You may direct these people as you wish. Whatever they’re able to do, they’ll do; whatever they can’t, they’ll report back to me, and I’ll handle it.” Holding her in his arms, the emperor said, “I’m giving you unrestricted authority, so long as you and I work together in perfect harmony.”

Hua Chun nodded, touched, thinking to herself that being granted this level of authority as merely a Concubine really was treatment fit for an empress — she’d better work hard, or she really would be letting him down.

The moment Hongtai entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Consort Hui couldn’t sit still any longer. She grabbed Shan Zhu and asked, “Are you certain she doesn’t know anything?”