On a quiet spring night, rain and dew nourished all things.

Zheng Bao stood outside the Qianqing Palace, quietly furrowing his brow.

The eunuch from the Office of Palace Attendance had only seen the Emperor flip through the green tablet, but before it could be finalized, a young miss from the Xiao clan had arrived, which truly caused him considerable anxiety. He couldn’t help but lower his voice and ask Zheng Bao: “What do you think—should we still summon Noble Lady Zhang to attend the bed?”

Zheng Bao heard the sounds coming from inside. His refined features were illuminated by the warm yellow glow of the nearby palace lanterns, yet they were shrouded in a layer of gloom. He simply said: “I’m afraid that won’t be necessary.”

The next morning, the Emperor canceled the court session.

The ministers who had entered the palace at the crack of dawn to prepare for the morning audience were all completely bewildered. Only those eunuchs with well-informed sources of information gathered before Duke Dingguo Xiao Yuan, their attitudes seemingly even more attentive than usual.

Xiao Yuan naturally had no idea what was happening.

In the past, Xiao Shu staying overnight in the palace to attend the Empress Dowager was a common occurrence, so when she didn’t return last night, Xiao Yuan didn’t consider it a big deal—she would typically return the next morning.

However, unexpectedly, after he returned to his manor, she still hadn’t appeared.

Just as he was preparing to send someone to inquire, the steward outside came to report with a face full of shock that a eunuch from the palace had arrived with an imperial edict.

This frightened Xiao Yuan considerably. Thinking something major had occurred, when he went to the hall to receive the edict and saw that the one proclaiming it was actually Wang Xingjia, the eunuch holding the seal of the Directorate of Ceremonial who wielded power within the palace, he became even more anxious.

Yet Wang Xingjia was all smiles: “Congratulations, Duke! Felicitations, Duke!”

Xiao Yuan was stunned, momentarily confused: “Congratulations for what?”

Wang Xingjia was an old fox within the palace. Assuming that what happened last night was all carefully orchestrated by the Xiao clan, and that Xiao Yuan before him was merely pretending, he actually reached out and patted Xiao Yuan’s shoulder, his smile carrying a hint of ingratiating intent: “Your daughter stayed overnight in the Qianqing Palace last night. From this morning on, we dare not call her Miss Xiao—we must address her as ‘Imperial Consort Xian’!”

Xiao Yuan first froze, then his expression dramatically changed: “What did you say?!”

“It’s true! When they came to proclaim the edict this morning, that spectacle—you didn’t see it!” Both of Xiao Dingfei’s eyes were gleaming. As he described the morning’s scene, he gesticulated wildly, fearing Jiang Xuening wouldn’t believe him. “All sorts of precious playthings, jade objects, silk, gold, and silver—they flowed down like water in rewards. When I got up early this morning and looked, good heavens, they filled an entire courtyard! Only when I asked did I learn that that stinking wench Xiao Shu went to the palace, slept with the Emperor in one night, really earned herself some face, and was directly enfeoffed as an imperial consort! Hahaha, you didn’t see Xiao Yuan’s expression—I think he almost vomited blood from anger…”

“…”

Jiang Xuening’s fingers gripped the teacup, tightening one by one slowly.

They were still at that theater house.

The snow-white pear blossoms had already begun blooming early, adorning the walls. When the wind blew, they were so delicate they trembled like fluttering paper. The sound of strings and bamboo instruments drifted up from the stage below, accompanied by the lingering melodies with that soft Wu dialect accent from the south, drawing enthusiastic applause from the theater-goers all around.

The private box upstairs was completely quiet.

Because they were secretly plotting the marriage alliance proposal, Xiao Dingfei needed to frequently inform Jiang Xuening of outside circumstances, so they had been meeting often these days, always choosing this theater. Firstly, with people constantly coming and going, the most dangerous place was the safest. Secondly, both of them were of similar character—fond of entertainment and pleasure—and neither was willing to find some overly serious tea garden or music hall.

Xiao Dingfei still wanted to tell Jiang Xuening about the various gossip he’d heard along the way, to make her happy.

But just as he’d taken a sip of tea to moisten his throat and was about to begin speaking, he caught sight of her gloomy, tense expression, and his heart suddenly jumped. He couldn’t help but fall silent: “What’s wrong with you?”

Staying overnight in the Qianqing Palace, enfeoffed as imperial consort!

These words pierced Jiang Xuening’s ears like needles, causing her stinging pain along with an inability to feel even half a measure of satisfaction!

“She actually could bring herself to do this…”

In her previous life, Xiao Shu had been Jiang Xuening’s mortal enemy.

During those days as a study companion at Fengchen Palace, the other woman had been like the bright moon in the sky, a luminous pearl on earth. Her birth was better, her learning was higher, and she was on good terms with Shen Zhiyi—everyone followed at her side.

Later, the other woman also entered the palace. With a powerful maternal family, skilled at winning hearts, and with that old hag the Empress Dowager supporting her from behind, even though Jiang Xuening held the position of Empress at that time, under layers upon layers of pressure, it was very difficult to gain any advantage from her. She had suffered many losses at the other’s hands, both openly and covertly.

In Jiang Xuening’s eyes, Xiao Shu’s conduct was proper, her calculations comprehensive—she was the exemplar of a noble lady cultivated by the aristocratic families of the capital, absolutely more suited to that Empress position than someone with Jiang Xuening’s wild grass-like temperament.

In her bones, Xiao Shu should have been proud and self-important.

Even in this lifetime, Jiang Xuening had no thoughts of underestimating her enemy.

But she had never anticipated that Xiao Shu would debase herself to this extent, actually giving herself to Shen Lang—

For a moment, an unprecedented feeling of bewilderment surged up within her heart, making Jiang Xuening feel as if she were lost in fog. This then transformed into an indescribable sense of absurdity, even making her unable to suppress a laugh: “Times change and circumstances shift—even she has been forced to this state…”

Xiao Dingfei inexplicably felt a chill down his back.

He cautiously moved closer to Jiang Xuening, studying her expression, and said: “With her like this, shouldn’t you be happy? Without name or status, entering the palace under the pretext of visiting the Empress Dowager, yet staying overnight at the Qianqing Palace—even a courtesan in a brothel wouldn’t do such a thing, would she? Those who sell themselves at least collect money first. But her—she gave herself for free first, aren’t you afraid the Emperor won’t pay? Now the entire capital is gossiping about her. Even though she got an imperial consort position, under this foolish move, her reputation is also ruined.”

“Foolish move?” Jiang Xuening gave a cold laugh. “You think she really gave herself for free, and the Emperor’s consort position was really given for free?”

The Xiao clan was currently at the center of a whirlpool of criticism, yet the Emperor’s attitude had remained ambiguously unclear all along.

Although the consort selection was tomorrow, Shen Jie couldn’t possibly risk universal condemnation by selecting Xiao Shu as his princess consort. This person was refined and affectionate, but his nature also had a weak part. Back when she married him and became his princess consort, she saw that he always sought advantage and avoided harm, and wasn’t very willing to get entangled in the court’s many struggles.

But his imperial brother Shen Lang was an entirely different kind of person.

Although in her previous life this Emperor had been exceptionally short-lived, dying “suddenly from illness” two years after she married Shen Jie, and aside from palace family banquets during Mid-Autumn and New Year’s Eve, she’d had no further contact with him, Jiang Xuening found it very difficult to forget the sinister look in his eyes when he sat high upon the imperial throne looking down at people.

Temperamental and unpredictable, indulgent and contradictory.

She remembered that her last time entering the palace for an audience as a princess consort was during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At that time, Shen Jie had already been established as Crown Prince and Imperial Brother, and Shen Lang had been consuming the Five Mineral Powder refined by alchemists for quite some time. His face held a dreamy expression as he slouched on the imperial throne. Upon seeing Shen Jie entering hand in hand with her, his gloomy, flickering gaze fell upon her. After speaking a few sentences, Shen Jie realized something was amiss and claimed he had something to say to Shen Lang alone, first having her withdraw.

Her heart felt uneasy as she lowered her head and took her leave.

But even after withdrawing to sit in the side hall to wait, she still felt that viper-like gaze clinging to her body, giving her a wave of cold shivers.

That day, she didn’t know what the two brothers discussed. The usually peaceful and refined Shen Jie actually emerged from inside with an iron-blue face, and upon returning to the prince’s manor, entered his study and never came out.

At that time, Jiang Xuening was still willing to please this husband.

She deliberated and had the kitchen stew a bowl of chicken and squab soup, personally carrying it to the study late at night.

Normally, the study was open for her to enter and exit freely.

But on this day, someone outside actually stopped her.

A young servant went in to announce her, and only then did Shen Jie come out from inside.

When that study door opened from outside, Jiang Xuening actually saw quite a few people sitting inside. At the position by the window leaning against the curio shelf, there was distinctly a corner of snow-white Daoist robes. Xie Wei turned his face and happened to meet her gaze directly. But before she could react, the door crack had already closed, and standing before her was Shen Jie smiling warmly at her.

Shen Jie personally took the bowl of soup she’d brought, then said he would return to the chamber a bit later, and instructed the servants to carefully escort her back to her room.

After Jiang Xuening returned and lay down, it took her a long while to fall asleep.

It wasn’t until the sky grew dim that a somewhat cool body crawled into the already warm bedding and embraced her. She struggled to open her eyes and saw through the window paper a dark blue expanse after dawn had passed.

The next time she saw Shen Lang again, it was at the time of the Emperor’s death, in that grand coffin he was placed in…

Therefore, regarding this Emperor who currently controlled the life and death of others, Jiang Xuening’s understanding really couldn’t be considered extensive. But judging from various traces and clues, he was definitely not some benevolent ruler with his heart set on serving the realm.

Shen Lang was more like a madman.

Xiao Shu, young in years yet using the jade ruyi incident to frame her, was also no virtuous person.

If she hadn’t paid a sufficient price, Shen Lang would not disregard the world’s wagging tongues and enfeoff her as an imperial consort. Moreover, this Emperor’s thoughts were truly difficult to fathom. Instead of sending someone to escort her back to her manor early in the morning before performing the enfeoffment, he directly had someone keep her in the palace and canceled the morning court session. He truly wouldn’t even bother with the slightest pretense of propriety, letting Xiao Shu fall into a situation where she would be scorned by the world’s wagging tongues—it couldn’t be called anything but ruthless!

Carefully sorting through the events that had occurred before and after, the Emperor’s attitude toward the Xiao clan had obviously made Xiao Shu sense a crisis. And that old hag at Cining Palace was willing to sacrifice even her own biological daughter—what did a niece count for?

Xiao Shu had a proud temperament.

In the previous life, competing with her for the Empress position had exhausted all scheming. When entering the palace as an imperial consort, her grand entrance surpassed even that of the legitimate Empress. How could she be willing to travel far to a foreign land for a marriage alliance?

That’s right.

Indeed, this was the only path left.

Jiang Xuening lowered her gaze, looking at the beautiful teacup in her hand, and murmured to herself: “Like a lizard severing its tail to survive, a desperate counterattack from an impossible position—I actually don’t know whether I’ve overestimated her or underestimated her.”

She had originally thought that Xiao Shu would disdain to do such a humiliating and self-debasing thing…

Xiao Dingfei could already clearly sense her emotions were off. Turning it over in his mind, he understood where the crux of the matter lay—

Grand Princess Leyang!

Originally, Xiao Shu, whom everyone had been clamoring to push forward as a replacement for Shen Zhiyi in the marriage alliance, had already been enfeoffed as an imperial consort. How could there be any principle under heaven of sending the Emperor’s woman for a marriage alliance? Xiao Shu’s reputation seemed ruined, but she had actually preserved herself!

Then Shen Zhiyi…

“Crack!”

The half-full teacup suddenly flew up and smashed against the beautiful painted screen in front, immediately shattering into pieces. The already cold tea water splattered everywhere, staining and soiling the elegant landscape painted on the screen.

Jiang Xuening stared at it expressionlessly, not moving for a long time.