This time it wasn’t just Consort Huo Zhaoyi who couldn’t stay calm — Consort Hui and the other palace consorts were also on edge, and one after another they went to sit in the Empress Dowager’s palace, staging a silent protest.

Normally it was one thing for women to compete with women over a man, but now there was a man competing with women over a man — what was going on? Hua Jinghua might be Chancellor, but that didn’t mean he could monopolize the emperor, did it? What were they supposed to do?

The Empress Dowager listened to the consorts go on and on with their veiled complaints and only thought they were making a fuss over nothing.

“You want the emperor to stop focusing on state affairs and focus on you instead?”

“Your servants would not dare,” Consort Hui quickly said. “But… none of us in the harem have ever had His Majesty spend so much time with us. Doesn’t the Empress Dowager worry as well?”

Worry about what? Worry that her own son had turned to men? The Empress Dowager snorted coldly — she knew her son’s temperament better than anyone, his preferences were perfectly normal, no need for them to guess wildly about it here.

Still, to settle everyone’s nerves, she said, “The third young lady of the Hua family will be entering the palace soon. Once she does, the emperor will naturally go to the harem. Handle yourselves accordingly. I’m tired and need to rest.”

The third young lady of the Hua family?!

This remark from the Empress Dowager was like dropping a bomb into the harem. One Chancellor Hua alone was already trouble enough, and now there was to be a Hua daughter as well? How was anyone supposed to live with that?!

So the various factions immediately shifted their attention, hurrying back to their palaces to wash up and dress, waiting to see what excitement this third Hua young lady would bring.

In the Purple Dawn Hall —

Hua Chun lay slumped over the desk, sleeping soundly, the plaster cast on her hand serving as a natural pillow, just the right height, and not cutting off circulation. Only the weather had turned fickle, hot again today, so she kept shifting her position, drifting toward wherever the maid was fanning air.

The emperor was reading a memorial when he felt something soft and fuzzy pressing closer and closer against him, until it settled right by his hand, smacked its lips once, and went on sleeping.

He turned his head and saw Hua Jinghua sleeping utterly without restraint, mouth not even fully closed, a thread of clear, glistening drool trickling out.

“Your Majesty?” Eunuch Qin asked quietly for instructions — should he move the Chancellor to the side hall?

The emperor shook his head, reached out, and unfolded the fan in his hand, fanning himself with one hand while continuing to read the memorial with the other.

Eunuch Qin was stunned.

Hua Chun slept on in a daze, only feeling that it was growing pleasantly cool, an involuntary look of contentment spreading across her face. In her dream the weather was cool and pleasant, and she leaned against green mountains and clear water, resting peacefully.

After five days in the Purple Dawn Hall, she’d grown noticeably less guarded around the emperor. After all, even when she’d knocked over a teacup and soaked a memorial, he hadn’t blamed her, and his expression had softened quite a bit — he looked at her now the way one might look at a little brother from next door, without any of that fierce, hostile air from before.

She was the type who grew bolder when others were meek with her, and meeker when others were tough with her. Now that the emperor himself had given her some slack, naturally she was going to run with it. So the formalities had dropped off considerably; she’d gotten used to life in the Purple Dawn Hall, as comfortable here as if it were her own home.

Getting too comfortable, she’d all but tossed the whole workload onto the emperor and slept blissfully.

Yuwen Jie didn’t say much about it either — Hua Jinghua’s hand was injured after all, and he hadn’t been expecting much help from him anyway. When he was awake, they’d discuss how to revise the memorials together; when he fell asleep, the emperor simply kept reading on his own.

For a moment, he even thought that days like this were rather pleasant.

But Eunuch Qin had begun to worry. Things couldn’t go on like this. He noticed the emperor treated the Chancellor better than he treated any of his consorts, and combined with those subtle moods from before — could it be… His Majesty had truly fallen for the charms of a man?

But if he had fallen for a man’s charms, he still couldn’t lay a hand on the Chancellor of all people — the Chancellor still had to serve the court, and if he really entered the harem, the man would be ruined, never able to offer counsel as a minister again!

After much deliberation, Eunuch Qin quietly sent someone out of the palace to search for something.

When Hua Chun woke up, it happened to be dinnertime. Ruler and minister ate together, with the formalities not nearly as strict as at a bestowed banquet — a dozen or so dishes were brought out, and the two of them simply dug in.

“Stop staring only at the meat,” the emperor said partway through the meal, from his seat above her. “Eat a little of everything on the table.”

Good grief, even what she ate was his business to manage? Hua Chun pouted, and grudgingly reached her chopsticks out for a vegetable dish, popping it in her mouth. To her surprise — even a simple green vegetable tasted this good, truly worthy of palace cuisine.

So she reached for a few more bites.

Yuwen Jie pressed his lips together and watched her, and only after she’d eaten half a bowl of rice did he slowly start on the dishes in front of him.

Eunuch Qin ventured a quiet remark. “His Majesty’s grace truly knows no bounds, even worrying whether the Chancellor is eating his fill.”

“I’m worried he won’t grow any taller,” Yuwen Jie said flatly. “He’s a whole head shorter than Chang’an. He can only really compare himself standing next to a group of old ministers. When the foreign envoys visit in late autumn, that would be nothing but an embarrassment to our Great Liang.”

Hearing this, Hua Chun guiltily reached for two more pieces of meat. Her height was already considered quite good among women — of course it couldn’t compare to him and He Chang’an. If she grew taller than them, and someone eventually discovered she was actually a woman, wouldn’t that be an even worse death sentence? They’d probably add the extra charge of “disgracing the emperor’s stature.”

She finished eating without another word, and once the emperor set down his chopsticks, Hua Chun rose contentedly as well, patting her stomach.

“Your third sister is entering the palace today,” Yuwen Jie said. “Do you want to go see her?”

Hua Xunyue? Hua Chun wasn’t interested, shaking her head. “There’s still so much official business on the desk. I’ll pass.”

“Fine,” the emperor nodded.

Hua Chun pretended to busy herself reading memorials, watching out of the corner of her eye for when the emperor would leave. Once he headed to the harem, she planned to comfortably return to the side hall, take a bath, and go back to sleep.

But half an hour passed, and the emperor showed no sign of intending to set off for the harem.

“Your Majesty?” Eunuch Qin couldn’t help but say quietly, “Consort Hua is already waiting at Yong’an Hall.”

“There’s too much official business today. I won’t go,” Yuwen Jie said flatly.

Hua Chun froze, and Eunuch Qin was stunned too. “This… but the Empress Dowager…”

“Just tell her the Chancellor said so. Word for word.”

Hua Chun: “…”

That was quite the skillful bit of blame-shifting. What she’d said was that she herself didn’t want to go — it wasn’t as though there was anything she could do there anyway, and Hua Xunyue certainly wouldn’t be happy to see her! The emperor was different — his sister had just entered the palace, and if he didn’t go, wasn’t that a slight to the Empress Dowager!

Gritting her teeth, she stood up. “Your Majesty, this humble subject is still young and can still do a great many things for Great Liang. You cannot let me bear the blame before the Empress Dowager for obstructing the harem’s affairs — this subject has been wronged!”

Yuwen Jie glanced sidelong at her. “Do you think your third sister has anything about her that would attract me?”

“Yes!” Hua Chun pressed her lips together, racking her brain for a word. “She’s one of a kind!”

“Oh?” Yuwen Jie asked. “How so?”

“The harem has three thousand beauties, each one graceful and stunning,” Hua Chun said. “My third sister, among them, is like wild grass standing out among a bed of flowers — she has a charm all her own.”

Eunuch Qin shot him a stunned look.

These days, when people recommended their own family members, they piled on nothing but praise, terrified the emperor wouldn’t think highly enough of them. This was the first time he’d ever heard someone compare his own sister to wild grass.

Still, having met Hua Xunyue before, the emperor found the comparison rather vivid and fitting.

He was even somewhat persuaded.

“Then I’ll go take a look.” Yuwen Jie stood, sweeping a glance at Hua Chun. “You stay here in the Purple Dawn Hall. Don’t wander off.”

“This subject obeys!” Hua Chun nodded.

The emperor strode out, and Eunuch Qin hurried after him.

That the Chancellor could so easily talk the emperor around with just a few words left Eunuch Qin feeling a bit gratified, and even more terrified.