HomeAfter I Bloom Hundred Flowers DieChapter 602: Another Green Tea (His Highness the Crown Prince's)

Chapter 602: Another Green Tea (His Highness the Crown Prince’s)

Roses filled the courtyard, and the wind rustled through bamboo.

Dragonflies skimmed the lotus pond, creating rippling circles on the water before landing damply on pink lotus buds, innocently fluttering their wings.

Such beautiful scenery became blurred in Xiao Huayong’s eyes as he gazed at Shen Xihe, her image alone remaining clear in his pupils. Her words made him involuntarily raise both hands for a slow but crisp applause: “This move to pull the rug out from under them is brilliantly executed.”

Xiao Huayong naturally understood that to clean up the imperial harem and quickly cultivate their power and informants, the most permanent solution was a great purge, and no purge was more appropriate than dispersing the existing palace maids.

However, to dismiss palace maids, especially in large numbers, they couldn’t bypass His Majesty, and how would His Majesty easily agree?

Even when Noble Consort Rong was in power, His Majesty wouldn’t have agreed. A large-scale reduction in palace staff without reason would only cause panic and lead some restless minds to wild speculation – it would be seen as disrupting court order.

But natural disasters were different. Reducing palace maids could demonstrate the emperor sharing hardship with his people by cutting palace expenses. If they also spread rumors that reducing palace maids could help resolve the natural disaster, even if Emperor Youning was unwilling, he couldn’t prevent it. However, this needed to be handled carefully to maximize benefits.

It would be best to identify early those who opposed their position – better to eliminate the innocent than let the guilty escape. Even those they weren’t certain about could be removed in this reduction.

“With so many people being removed from the imperial harem at once, can Youyou handle it?” Xiao Huayong still showed some concern.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Shen Xihe. While he could help with other matters, even he couldn’t fill the void left by the palace maids. Palace maids had to undergo strict screening and training, only being assigned to various palaces after proving competent in proper etiquette.

“Though I proposed the reduction, it requires His Majesty’s approval. If the new palace maids show any inexperience or negligence, the various palaces should understand His Majesty’s good intentions in benefiting the people and be more tolerant,” Shen Xihe wasn’t concerned about replacing experienced staff with novices or being criticized by the various palaces.

Xiao Huayong suddenly remembered something, his smiling eyes looking Shen Xihe up and down: “I vaguely recall last year when Official Gu happened to save Lady of Ceremonial Matters Lan.”

Shen Xihe smiled without speaking.

When commoner girls were selected to enter the palace as maids, those who stayed were sent to the Office of Ceremonial Matters to learn etiquette. Gu Zexiang was a Sixth-rank Clothing Official who happened to save the Fifth-rank head of the Office of Ceremonial Matters, Lady Lan. Indeed, it wasn’t coincidental – Shen Xihe had arranged for her to bestow this favor.

At the time, no one paid attention to a Sixth-rank Clothing Official saving a Fifth-rank Lady of Ceremonial Matters. At most, the Six Departments and Twenty-four Offices noticed, but later Gu Zexiang seemed to forget about it, never transferring from the Clothing Office to the Office of Ceremonial Matters. As time passed, everyone forgot about it.

Naturally, no one knew that from that time, Shen Xihe had already been planning to control the imperial harem – and this was before she was even betrothed to Xiao Huayong.

“Bei Chen, you surely don’t know that Lady Lan was poor in her youth and voluntarily entered the palace. Before entering, she had someone she loved and left words of farewell, thinking her lover would give up and find another. But recently, I learned that her parents are bedridden, and her still-unmarried lover has been caring for them. Lady Lan very much wants to leave the palace.”

For the last sentence, Shen Xihe raised her tone slightly, showing both playfulness and deeper meaning.

Now that palace authority was in Shen Xihe’s hands, only she could help Lady Lan of the Office of Ceremonial Matters leave the palace smoothly. Lady Lan had been in the palace for twenty years, serving as Lady of Ceremonial Matters for eight years – how many palace maids had she personally trained? Who was suspicious, who was innocent, who was clever, who was useful – she couldn’t have maintained her position for so long without keen eyes.

Through mutual benefit, once she controlled the Office of Ceremonial Matters and used Lady Lan’s hand to remove all suspicious people, she could stabilize the imperial harem within half a year, control it within a year, and make it impregnable within two years!

“Youyou have deceived me again,” Xiao Huayong suddenly said gloomily.

His inexplicable dejection made Shen Xihe look at him suspiciously.

“Didn’t Youyou say you don’t like making long-term plans? Isn’t this a long-term plan?” Xiao Huayong’s eyes couldn’t hide their dimness.

He looked as if Shen Xihe was unfaithful, betraying his devoted heart.

Shen Xihe: …

“This isn’t a long-term plan, this is my necessary path. From the moment I decided to marry you, I knew this path was essential, so naturally I had to plan carefully.” Shen Xihe had only developed these thoughts about a year ago. Originally, she was waiting for a heaven-sent opportunity, not expecting this year’s drought and Noble Consort Rong to fall into her hands – everything seemed to align perfectly.

“When did Youyou decide on this plan?” Xiao Huayong asked again.

Shen Xihe thought he asked this to determine if it was a long-term plan, so she answered truthfully: “Early last year.”

“Oh, so Youyou had already decided to marry only me back then,” Xiao Huayong smiled very smugly.

Because she was determined to marry into the Eastern Palace, she would fight for palace authority and think about controlling the imperial harem. By this calculation, it seemed she had truly decided to marry only him back then.

Seeing his smug expression, Shen Xihe childishly didn’t want to see him so triumphant: “It was deciding to marry only the Crown Prince.”

Xiao Huayong’s smile froze, his eyelids lowering to hide undisguisable disappointment, his voice weak: “I know, Youyou married the Eastern Palace, not Xiao Huayong.”

What was merely meant as a casual retort became something else with Xiao Huayong’s response? The usually cold-hearted Shen Xihe felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest, reflecting on whether she had spoken too harshly, truly hurting him.

Thinking this way made her chest feel increasingly uncomfortable. She knew he cared about her opinion of him, how much weight she gave him in her heart, yet she spoke like this, truly hurting him.

Just as Shen Xihe was about to speak, Xiao Huayong, appearing deeply hurt, silently stood up with pressed lips, staring ahead as he walked past Shen Xihe, leaving her with an endlessly sorrowful, desolate back view.

Quickly catching up, Shen Xihe grabbed his sleeve: “That’s not what I meant.”

Xiao Huayong turned his head, gazing deeply at Shen Xihe: “Not what? Youyou don’t need to comfort me. I always knew why Youyou married me. I’m the greedy one – getting a bit of Youyou’s tolerance made me want more. It’s not your fault, it’s my greed acting up. Let me be alone for a while, I’ll understand eventually.”

Xiao Huayong forced a smile, pulled free from Shen Xihe’s hand, and strode away.

Where Shen Xihe couldn’t see, his lips slowly curved upward, his bright eyes showing no trace of disappointment.

Tianyuan, who had witnessed everything: …

His Highness the Crown Prince was becoming more and more… shameless!

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