Outside the room, icicles fell with pattering sounds. Inside, through the screen depicting narcissus and spring plum blossoms, sparks from the brazier faintly showed through, crackling and popping. Song Chuning’s complexion at this moment formed a stark contrast with those intermittently bursting sparks. She slightly raised her arm, supporting her chin with one hand as she looked at Madam Fang, then suddenly let out a cold laugh.

With her right hand, she grabbed a handful of go stones, raised her hand and let them slide out one by one from her palm to crash onto the board, completely disrupting the game. Her tone was extremely cold: “So you never listened to my opinions at all. You only wanted to use my hand to eliminate Empress Dowager Rongxian?”

Madam Fang wasn’t angry. With extreme patience, she picked up the stones one by one and sorted them properly. After quite a while, she unhurriedly straightened her clothing and raised her face to look at Song Chuning across from her: “You are clever, and indeed the things you’ve foreseen are frighteningly accurate. But in the end, you still fall short in some ways…”

Song Chuning waved her hand and knocked away the go stone container Madam Fang was handing over. The motion was so forceful it nearly made Madam Fang lose her balance, and black stones instantly scattered all over the floor with clattering sounds.

A brief silence fell over the room. Inside, Lüyu and Cuiguo exchanged glances, but they only came out to look once before hurriedly retreating—when Song Chuning was learning things from Teacher Fang, their presence was never permitted.

“Fall short?!” Song Chuning laughed angrily in reverse. Though she had a young girl’s face, an expression extremely incongruous with her age appeared on it—savage and fierce: “Fall short in what?! If you had done as I said, if you hadn’t gone mad midway, if you hadn’t let that idiot Song Chumi ruin things, could it have failed?! Are you treating me like a fool? Do you think because I’m cut off from information, I don’t know what actually happened in the capital?!”

Madam Fang’s face was hit by a go stone. She reached up to rub it, still sitting in her seat as unhurriedly as before without moving at all. But the scornful laugh that escaped her lips nearly made Song Chuning unable to maintain the expression on her face.

What exactly was she lacking? Even if Song Chuyi also had dreams and memories, so what?! Under the same conditions in her dream, she had still been able to cruelly trample her underfoot like crushing an ant. In reality, although Song Chuyi had gotten hold of Old Master and Old Madam, she herself had likewise firmly grasped Song Yi in her hand.

Even if Song Chuyi had the Cui family and the Grand Prince behind her, she had similarly followed her dream memories and connected with Prince Duan through the Li family.

Song Chuyi had caused Li Shi’s death, while she herself had nearly made Song Yan’s bones disappear entirely, perishing in a sea of flames. So no matter which way you looked at it, where exactly did she fall short?!

“You fall short in having no sense of the big picture. You fall short in being stupid enough to think we would move against the Song family at this time!” Madam Fang looked at her, extending one hand to press on her shoulder and force her to sit down. Her voice was calm as if teaching a child a lesson: “Think about this past year. Starting from the Zhiyuan Escort Agency incident, how many times have we returned in defeat? Although the Tongzhou matter was blamed on Xingfu, which of those old foxes in the court can’t smell the deep waters behind it? Even those old foxes know—do you think His Majesty doesn’t know? At this time, how could we possibly still risk moving against the Minister of Personnel?”

Song Chuning’s voice was hoarse, somewhat unable to comprehend: “But if the Crown Prince had died, this matter could clearly have been framed on the Song family! This would have killed many birds with one stone!”

“If the Crown Prince died, there’s still Prince Gong and the Grand Prince.” Madam Fang glanced at her coldly: “As long as the Empress’s position in the central palace is stable, the sons she bore all hold legitimate status. On the contrary, it’s the Empress Dowager who has become increasingly troublesome, wanting us to eliminate the Song family for her. If this matter were truly that simple, why did the Xiao family and Fang family meet with misfortune in the first place? Have you thought about it? Prince Duan was already deeply criticized over the matter of increasing his household guards. Your Song family also took precautions against him early on. If truly pushed to desperation, have you considered the consequences if the Song family fought with their backs to the wall?”

She crouched down to be at eye level with Song Chuning and sighed softly: “The imperial court isn’t like you children fighting. Just because you know the other side is an enemy doesn’t mean you chase and bite them without stopping. What constitutes an enemy, whether to guard against them or suppress them, whether to avenge grievances on the spot or behind the scenes—there are proper methods for all of this. Do you understand?”

Song Chuning kept her head lowered, her shoulders faintly trembling. Only after a long while did she raise her head with a somewhat teeth-grinding laugh.

Madam Fang’s words—she couldn’t understand them at all, nor did she want to listen.

“Then why did you seek me out and help me so much?” Song Chuning’s gaze bore into Madam Fang, not letting any trace of her expression escape: “Since you don’t need my so-called foresight and prophecies at all, why did you seek me out and listen to the ideas I proposed?”

Those two undying old people in the Song family were terrified she wouldn’t die and actually wanted to drag her back to the capital. If it hadn’t been for Prince Duan and Madam Fang protecting her the whole time, she truly wouldn’t have been able to stand so firmly in Changsha.

“Who said we couldn’t use you?” Madam Fang smiled softly. Her bright red garments made her complexion appear even more outstanding: “Although we didn’t use the ideas you proposed against the Song family and Song Chuyi, we still successfully removed those two stumbling blocks and burdens—Empress Dowager Rongxian and the Zhang family.”

Song Chuning suddenly realized she had never truly grasped Prince Duan’s intentions. After all, in her dream, Empress Dowager Rongxian should have lived worry-free as the Grand Empress Dowager throughout, and on the surface seemed to get along harmoniously with Prince Duan.

But looking at it now, Prince Duan actually feared Empress Dowager Rongxian and was thinking of using the Emperor’s hand to eliminate her while clearing his own suspicions in the process.

Why were some things from her dream true while others false? Why did some events follow the same trajectory as in her dream while others were completely opposite?

She clenched her fists, struggling to hide the fury about to erupt from within, slowly easing the expression on her face.

Madam Fang nodded with appreciation, a smile of praise on her lips: “In this respect, you’re somewhat similar to that sixth sister of yours… No matter how great the setback, you can quickly regain composure.”

Song Chuning didn’t consider this praise. With a mocking laugh, she turned her head away and spoke in a neither warm nor cold tone: “You mentioned the Fang family just now. If I remember correctly, didn’t your husband Fang Deng die at the hands of the Song family and Prince Zhennan? Yet looking at you, you don’t seem to hate them one bit.”

Madam Fang reached out to lift the teapot and pour herself a cup of tea. With graceful posture, she brought the cup to her nose to sniff: “I just cautioned you that revenge in official circles follows proper methods, and you’ve already forgotten. When the timing isn’t right, you must lie low when you should lie low, act subservient when you should act subservient. I’ve already taught you the principle that a great person can bend and extend, haven’t I?”