Zhao Bai quickly understood who the “he” in Wen Yu’s words referred to. The worry on her face froze momentarily, transforming into an extremely complex expression.

After a brief silence, Wen Yu had already taken a wolf-hair brush from the brush stand, dipped it in ink and drafted something. After sealing the letter, she handed it to Zhao Bai who was quietly waiting at the side, instructing: “Have the Azure Cloud Cavalry personally deliver this letter back to Pingzhou.”

Her tone paused for a breath before she continued: “They know what to do.”

This “they” clearly had specific implications.

Those who could see this letter of Wen Yu’s would be none other than Chen Wei, Li Xun, and Li Yao. And the one who had caused the situation to become what it was today was Li Yao’s transgression in acting beyond his authority back then.

Xiao Li had suffered undeserved injustice and nearly met with fatal disaster.

Regardless of whether he would still be willing to stand on the same side as their Great Liang in the future, Great Liang needed to show Xiao Li an attitude.

The one who most needed to untie this knot was the instigator of all this.

After Zhao Bai left with the letter, Wen Yu propped up her somewhat dizzy forehead and closed her eyes at the desk, not knowing what she was thinking. However, somewhat hurried footsteps soon came from outside again.

Tong Que lifted the beaded curtain to enter, her expression not very good as she said: “Princess, Eunuch Li from beside Prince Chen has come.”

It had already been several days since Wen Yu’s grand wedding with Prince Chen, yet Prince Chen had never stepped foot in Zhaohua Palace even once. Although Wen Yu had not taken these matters to heart from the beginning, Tong Que was responsible for liaising with the Internal Affairs Bureau and also shouldered the important duty of monitoring news from the various palaces to prevent harm to Wen Yu. Detecting the contempt the servants of various palaces held for their Zhaohua Palace, she inevitably still held some resentment in her heart.

Hearing this, Wen Yu only raised her eyelids slightly and said: “Bring him over.”

In a moment, Eunuch Li from beside Prince Chen followed Tong Que inside. He had a whisk draped over one arm, while his other hand lifted the corner of his brocade robe as he stepped over the threshold. Upon seeing Wen Yu, he drew out his shrill voice and said: “This servant pays respects to Her Majesty the Queen Consort.”

A pair of wrinkled eyes curved as if piling up a smile, but the smile did not reach its true depth.

Wen Yu sat behind the sandalwood desk, asking neither warmly nor coldly: “I wonder what matter His Majesty has sent the eunuch here for?”

Eunuch Li folded both hands into his sleeves, squinting his eyes as he falsely flattered: “The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. Although Her Majesty has just arrived at the royal court, you are honored as consort of the nation and hold the phoenix seal. The Empress Dowager is extremely fond of Her Majesty, and His Majesty also holds Her Majesty in considerable esteem. For this Mid-Autumn banquet, it was unanimously decided that it should still be organized by Your Majesty the Queen Consort.”

The Empress Dowager’s fondness, Prince Chen’s esteem—this truly sounded ironic.

On Wen Yu’s face, no outward emotion could be discerned. She only raised her eyes slightly and said: “I’m afraid that would be inappropriate. As the eunuch has said, this palace has just arrived at the royal court and there are still many matters regarding palace affairs that this palace is not familiar with. Furthermore, this palace has not yet recovered from serious illness. The imperial physician has also instructed that this palace must absolutely not overwork. This palace knows this matter represents the trust of the Empress Dowager and His Majesty in this palace, only this palace’s body is truly not up to the task. Whichever consort in the palace has organized the Mid-Autumn palace banquet in past years, let that consort handle it again this year.”

On the second day after the wedding, Prince Chen had been dissolute in Xinyu Palace until the afternoon without showing any sign of himself. Wen Yu naturally would not take the initiative to go to the Empress Dowager’s palace to pay respects.

With Prince Chen’s impropriety first, when she turned around and claimed illness, even if it was brought before the court, that group of old ministers of Chen Kingdom would have no way to consciencelessly pin on her the label of being unfilial and discourteous. The Empress Dowager, in order to display her own benevolence and loving kindness, could only hold her nose and exempt Wen Yu from subsequent morning greetings, telling her to properly recuperate from her “illness” first.

The standoff had continued until today when the Empress Dowager and Prince Chen’s side finally could no longer sit still and sent such a eunuch over.

There was still less than half a ten-day period until Mid-Autumn. Having her begin organizing the Mid-Autumn banquet at this time—forget about the Internal Affairs Bureau having insufficient time to procure and purchase the items needed for the palace banquet, even just roughly drafting an outline would be extremely tight on time.

Moreover… since the Empress Dowager and Prince Chen had specifically named her to organize this palace banquet, the possibility of the Internal Affairs Bureau outwardly complying while inwardly opposing was also extremely high.

This was a deliberate difficulty, and also an indirect way to demonstrate her incompetence before the assembled ministers.

—The assembled ministers would not go into the detailed ins and outs of palace matters, but if this palace banquet was ruined, it would show she had been defeated in her power struggle with the Empress Dowager and had failed to control this territory of the royal palace.

Unable to even bring the inner palace into her grasp yet wanting to meddle in the court—when the assembled ministers took their positions, they would naturally need to think thrice.

After hearing Wen Yu’s words, Eunuch Li seemed to have anticipated she would decline in this manner. After a false “aiya” of lamentation, he said: “How unfortunate—in past years the Mid-Autumn palace banquet was personally organized by the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager has also caught a chill these past two days and is currently ill.”

This meant they were determined to throw this hot potato into her hands.

Wen Yu’s eyebrows lifted lightly as she asked in a light voice: “Would it not be acceptable to have the palace consorts handle it?”

Eunuch Li wrinkled up a face that was pale and smooth yet full of sagging wrinkles, putting on a difficult appearance, though his eyes covertly concealed a few parts of pride and mockery as he said with a smile: “This… I’m afraid would be inappropriate.”

Wen Yu asked directly: “What would be inappropriate about it?”

Eunuch Li spoke as if mentioning some secret matter, saying obscurely: “Among the consorts in the palace, those with rank number only five in total. Four of these ladies were already serving by His Majesty’s side before His Majesty went to Liang lands to request marriage. In normal times they live in deep seclusion and have never managed palace affairs. As for Consort Li of Xinyu Palace… the Empress Dowager has never favored her. If the Mid-Autumn palace banquet were entrusted to Consort Li to organize, I fear it would be difficult to account to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

Wen Yu was not interested in how many consorts Prince Chen had, but in order to understand the intricate power entanglements of the court and inner palace, she had still ordered Tong Que to investigate the family backgrounds of the consorts of each palace.

What surprised her was that among Prince Chen’s harem there was actually not a single noble daughter from aristocratic families. Aside from the four consorts with rank who had followed him since being chamber maids, the only one sealed as an imperial consort, Consort Li, had actually been brought back by Prince Chen from a brothel later on.

Wen Yu had always been quite puzzled by this. Since Eunuch Li had proactively mentioned matters of the palace consort positions, she took the opportunity to ask: “His Majesty has been enthroned for nearly three years now. Why has there been no imperial selection?”

Eunuch Li lowered his brows and eyes, putting on an obedient appearance as he replied: “Her Majesty may not know—three years ago after His Majesty quelled the rebellion and ascended the throne, in the victory report sent to Liang lands he made a promise that before you married into the royal court, he would absolutely not hold an imperial selection.”

Hearing these words made Wen Yu frown directly. She knew she did not possess that kind of charm to make Prince Chen guard his virtue like jade for her.

When Prince Chen had gone to petition her Imperial Father to marry her back then, the essence was to borrow troops to seize the succession. He had never even seen her face, but for the sake of giving the maternal relatives of the Ao party an explanation externally, he had said he fell in love at first sight after seeing her portrait.

At that time, Prince Changlian and his wife agreed to this marriage alliance only as an expedient measure to prevent her from marrying into the Ao family.

She also did not care about this nominal fiancé of hers. The only time she saw Prince Chen was because she had playfully snuck into her Imperial Father’s study. Hearing footsteps, she thought it was her Imperial Father and elder brother coming, so she hid behind the screen preparing to jump out and startle them.

Who would have expected that as the voices of those entering the room arose, she realized in alarm that the one who had entered along with her Imperial Father was not her elder brother, but a young man. After the study door closed, the other party knelt before her Imperial Father, head bowed as he choked up and tearfully begged for something.

Because of her curiosity, she had secretly peeked through the gap between two screens and only felt that the man’s appearance could still be considered refined and handsome, but he was far too useless—why would he only know how to cry when kneeling before her Imperial Father?

No affection had been planted from the past, and upon arriving at the royal court this time, Prince Chen’s attitude on the wedding day could also be clearly seen.

Thinking it over, Wen Yu could only work out one barely plausible reason—that Prince Chen had made that promise back then likely also under coercion from Empress Dowager Jiang.

After all, at that time Great Liang was prosperous, and Prince Changlian’s foundation in the court was becoming increasingly solid. Succession was only a matter of waiting for the sickly Emperor Shaojing to breathe his last.

Meanwhile, Chen Kingdom had just experienced a great war of internal troubles and external threats, and with a new monarch ascending the throne, the court was unstable. They were extremely afraid Great Liang would take the opportunity to attack, so they could only continue to increase the stakes in this marriage alliance, promising Prince Changlian that before Wen Yu became Chen Kingdom’s Queen Consort, Prince Chen would not select consorts from among ministers’ daughters.

In other words, this was to guarantee Wen Yu’s absolute position in the inner palace after marrying into Chen Kingdom.

Prince Chen held resentment toward Wen Yu and Empress Dowager Jiang because of this matter. After taking power, unable to overturn the Empress Dowager’s firm order forbidding imperial selection, he simply brought a brothel woman back to the palace to lavishly favor, thereby demonstrating his dissatisfaction to Empress Dowager Jiang.

The deliberate difficulties on the wedding day also made sense now.

Wen Yu traced through the entire matter’s context, but for some reason, she still faintly felt there was a trace of something odd.

Seeing Wen Yu remain silent, Eunuch Li assumed Wen Yu had been dazed by this “sweet date” thrown at her. The contempt in his eyes flashed past as he continued piling on a smile: “For such an important responsibility, we can only trouble Your Majesty the Queen Consort to personally handle it despite your illness.”

Coming back to her senses, Wen Yu glanced at the eunuch thoughtfully and said: “Since Her Majesty the Empress Dowager places such high expectations in this palace, this palace will respectfully comply rather than decline.”

The wrinkles from smiling on Eunuch Li’s face immediately deepened somewhat. Assuming Wen Yu had truly been deceived by these few words, he continued saying many more words praising Wen Yu before saying: “Then this servant will return to report first.”

Wen Yu nodded shallowly and called to Tong Que: “See the eunuch out for me.”

Tong Que made a “please” gesture toward Eunuch Li with an expressionless face. Eunuch Li’s mouth spoke politely “no need to see me out, no need to see me out,” yet even after Tong Que had led him all the way to outside the palace gates, there was still no sign of her wanting to slip him a purse.

Having reached Eunuch Li’s position, aside from not being fawned over in the Empress Dowager’s palace, normally when going to any consort’s palace, the palace attendants would all rush to slip him tribute money.

Coming to Zhaohua Palace this trip today, Eunuch Li believed he had made Wen Yu happy. No matter what, she would not shortchange his benefits.

Eunuch Li walked slower and slower, the corner of his eye glancing toward Tong Que’s side, secretly wondering if perhaps the people of Zhaohua Palace did not yet know the ways of Prince Chen’s palace. Just as he was pondering whether to hint once or twice, they had already reached the palace gates. Tong Que stood still and said to him: “Eunuch, take your time. This servant will not see you further.”

Eunuch Li flicked the whisk in his hand, switching it to drape over his other arm, looking at Tong Que with a smile that was not quite a smile: “Miss Tong Que, is it?”

Tong Que nodded slightly, indicating Eunuch Li had not called her name wrong.

Eunuch Li continued: “The Queen Consort married here from Liang lands from afar. This servant understands all the hardships involved. This servant follows by His Majesty’s side and naturally also hopes for His Majesty and the Queen Consort’s well-being…”

Seeing Tong Que still remained unmoved, Eunuch Li did not know if she truly did not understand his hints or was pretending not to understand. He could only hint more obviously, lowering his voice to say: “These days, His Majesty has been resting at Xinyu Palace every night. He’s even canceled morning court several times…”

Tong Que accordingly also frowned. Just when Eunuch Li felt his purpose had been achieved, he heard the other party say: “If His Majesty does not attend to governance, that falls to the court ministers to remonstrate.”

Eunuch Li choked, only feeling this head palace maid of Zhaohua Palace must be a fool. The conversation had suddenly veered off by tens of thousands of li. He could only follow Tong Que’s words and euphemistically indicate: “In the past when the six palaces had no mistress, it was one thing, but now that the Queen Consort has taken charge of the six palaces, if His Majesty neglects governance due to indulging in feminine charms, the ministers of the previous dynasty will inevitably feel the Queen Consort is not virtuous…”

Tong Que looked baffled: “Eunuch, these words are inappropriate. Even Her Majesty the Empress Dowager could not persuade His Majesty in the past—could my mistress persuade him? If there were ministers who made such accusations, would that not be saying His Majesty is unfilial?”

After all, even his own mother could not control him—what could a Queen Consort he had deliberately made difficulties for several times change?

Eunuch Li was blocked speechless. In his anger he pointed at Tong Que and said “you” several times, but could not work out a follow-up. In the end he flicked his sleeves and left.

—

When Tong Que returned to report to Wen Yu, the Azure Cloud Guards in the shadows had already informed Wen Yu of this matter.

As Tong Que entered the room and recounted it to Wen Yu with great animation, Wen Yu couldn’t help but press her temple and shake her head with a smile: “A petty market scoundrel—why bother arguing with him?”

Tong Que wrinkled her delicate brows: “…Princess, you didn’t see—that castrated dog was extremely shameless and power-hungry. Going round and round saying all that, he just wanted us to give tribute money to curry favor with him, thereby competing for the worthless favor of Prince Chen. Just thinking about it feels unlucky…”

The words chasing words brought up Prince Chen again. The smile on Wen Yu’s face diminished somewhat. Thinking of her purpose in accepting the Mid-Autumn banquet, she interrupted Tong Que: “Go make a trip to the Internal Affairs Bureau.”