That would be for the best—it would spare her the trouble of scheming further. Still, she couldn’t help but curse this man, so ready to favor beauty over the realm, a hundred times over in her heart!

Having read it, Yuwen Jie refolded the letter and said, “Send it back to their hands. Come into the palace tonight and wait in Zichen Hall.”

“Tonight?” Hua Chun startled, frowning. “What are Your Majesty’s orders?”

“Just wait there,” the emperor said. “I have my own arrangements.”

Well, it seemed he had no intention of letting her know in advance. She resigned herself and agreed, then went to prepare.

The letter was delivered into the hands of the Western Xia envoys, and several of them were overjoyed—the Western Xia king had relented, sparing them from being caught in the middle. Two gold mines was two gold mines, and it happened to suit Great Liang’s emperor’s wishes too. With Ling Niang in favor as well, relations between Western Xia and Great Liang would surely improve even further!

With that thought, Yang Yuanchen went to find Hua Jinghua, smiling as he relayed the Western Xia king’s decision.

“Understood,” Prime Minister Hua said with a faint smile. “You may prepare to return to your country with an easy mind.”

Why didn’t she look as pleased as expected? Yang Yuanchen frowned—was this Prime Minister simply too greedy? Could he still be dwelling on the original ten gold mines?

Truly insatiable, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant!

Smiling as he took his leave from Prime Minister Hua, Yang Yuanchen’s face darkened the moment he turned around. He waved someone over and asked, “Does Prime Minister Hua have any weaknesses?”

Those around him all shook their heads. Even Great Liang’s own people couldn’t find a weakness in Prime Minister Hua—how could they, strangers in a strange land, hope to know one?

Pursing his lips, Yang Yuanchen was still sulking when someone ran up from a distance and said, “Lord Yang, Prince Xi is in the garden nearby. If you have time, why not go see him?”

Prince Xi? Yang Yuanchen thought it over and nodded. “This subject will go right away.”

Hua Chun returned to the Prime Minister’s residence, ate dinner with a stern expression, and quietly waited for nightfall before preparing to enter the palace.

“What’s wrong with you today, my lord?” Qing Niao asked curiously. “You’ve been in a bad mood all day.”

Waving a hand, Hua Chun said, “Probably just too much to do, worn out.”

“That’s not it,” Qing Niao shook her head. “When you’re tired, you lie down to rest. But today you’ve just been sitting and staring off into the distance—something must be weighing on your mind.”

Hua Chun turned her head slightly to look at her. “Wife, why don’t you become a detective?”

“If something’s on your mind, you can tell me,” Qing Niao said, ignoring her teasing and sitting down beside her. “Just think of me as a friend to confide in—it’s better than keeping it all bottled up alone.”

Should she say it? How would she even explain it? Hua Chun sighed deeply. “I can’t quite figure out what I’m unhappy about myself. I just feel very low.”

“That’s easy,” Qing Niao said. “First answer me this—what happened today that left an impression on you?”

Hua Chun thought about it. “I had mushrooms in soy sauce for breakfast, which I hadn’t had in ages. I got into an argument with Prince Xi at court. His Majesty received word that Western Xia would offer up two gold mines, and he seems to have gone along with it—all because of one Ling Niang, giving up eight gold mines!”

Qing Niao laughed. “Listen to your own tone—can you really not tell what you’re angry about?”

By the time she’d mentioned that last thing, her teeth had practically been gritted.

“Fine,” Hua Chun admitted, nodding in resignation. “I am a bit angry about that. Though thinking about it, it’s really none of my business, but I’m still angry anyway.”

“If you feel it’s not necessary, yet you’re still angry anyway, that means what you actually care about isn’t the surface issue,” Qing Niao said. “It’s simple logic. It’s like if you gave this servant a plate of pastries and I dropped it on the ground. The pastries themselves wouldn’t be worth being upset over, but because you gave them to me, this servant would surely be sad for a good while.”

Hua Chun froze.

Qing Niao’s words were like a key, clicking open the knot she’d tied shut inside herself.

What she cared about wasn’t the surface issue—so what was it that she actually cared about? Yuwen Jie?

How could that be… such a lecherous emperor, not even comparable to He Chang’an—how could she possibly care?

And yet, thinking it over carefully, the anger she’d been feeling all seemed to have started from the moment the emperor took Ling Niang away from the Prime Minister’s residence. She’d been using the excuse of him favoring beauty over the realm as a shield, but stripping that cover away, her real feelings were… probably that she didn’t want to see the emperor favoring other women.

Though this emperor wasn’t hers to claim, after being held and embraced, only for him to still not take her seriously and keep bringing other women into the rear palace one after another, she couldn’t help feeling angry regardless. It wasn’t so much anger at him as anger at herself.

He clearly hadn’t taken it to heart at all, while she’d quietly opened her own heart’s door, foolishly anticipating something, only to have no one show up.

This kind of fury, upon discovering it had all been one-sided wishful thinking, was enough to make her slam that door shut again, hard.

“I understand now.” Having figured it out only made her mood worse. Hua Chun sighed and stood. “I need to prepare to enter the palace. I don’t know if I’ll be back to rest tonight, so don’t wait up for me—go to sleep first.”

“Yes,” Qing Niao nodded in acknowledgment.

Boarding the palanquin and entering the palace, Hua Chun composed herself, beginning to guess what the emperor wanted tonight. Summoning her this late at night surely meant something out of the ordinary.

Could it be he wanted to secretly plot how to dig up a few more gold mines?

Though not very realistic, aside from that, she couldn’t think of any other reason he’d call her in at this hour.

Arriving at Zichen Hall, Eunuch Qin greeted her and led her in, saying, “His Majesty asks the Prime Minister to wait a moment.”

Yuwen Jie wasn’t even here? Hua Chun was surprised. “Where did he go?”

“His Majesty is still at Wanbao Hall,” Eunuch Qin said. “It’ll be a while before he comes. Please have some tea while you wait.”

Hua Chun: “…”

What could he possibly be doing at Wanbao Hall at this hour? Calling her into the palace in the dead of night while he ran off to enjoy himself, leaving her to wait? Hua Chun pursed her lips, mentally drawing a huge X over him.

She wasn’t some chaste widow anyway, and she had no actual physical relationship with him, so there was no need to overthink things on his account. He’d already gone this far—she really had no reason to harbor any illusions anymore.

She’d just wait it out. Once whatever business he had was done, she’d go home and sleep. If he gave orders, she’d follow them; if not, she wouldn’t bother worrying either. Starting today, she was done playing nursemaid to Yuwen Jie—better to live her own carefree life!

Pouting, legs crossed, Hua Chun finished off every pastry on the table. After waiting half an hour, she finally heard commotion outside.

The commotion was substantial.

“Someone, quickly! Fetch the imperial physician, help His Majesty inside first!” Eunuch Qin’s panicked voice rang through the entire Zichen Hall, startling her badly.

She rushed out to look and was stunned by the scene before her.

The bright yellow dragon robe was stained with blood, a large patch spreading crimson down from the chest. Yuwen Jie’s face was ashen, weakly leaning on Huo Zichong as he was slowly brought toward her.

“Prime Minister!” Huo Zichong called out anxiously, sweat covering his forehead. “Come quickly and help!”