Chen Mingyu suddenly lifted her head to look at Old Madam Chen, tears glistening in her eyes. Her jet-black pupils, washed by tears, appeared especially bright: “Does Grandmother mean that the person Consort Xian sent wasn’t to assassinate Princess Rongcheng? But rather went specifically for Sixth Miss Song?”

Old Madam Chen pursed her lips in a slight smile, the spider-patterned headband on her head gleaming with a ghostly green light under the lamplight: “Consort Xian has already lost Prince Duan and the Ninth Princess. How could she possibly be so muddle-headed now as to provoke Princess Rongcheng and the Empress? Everyone knows that after Prince Duan’s death, this empire has already fallen securely into the hands of the Crown Prince. Even if not the Crown Prince, there’s still Prince Gong, and there’s the Imperial Grandson and Prince Dongping. It would never be the turn of Prince Lu, whom Consort Xian bore.”

Under such circumstances, unless Consort Xian had a death wish, how could she possibly provoke the Empress and her faction? If she were truly that stupid, she wouldn’t have been able to compete with Empress for so long in the palace when Prince Duan was still alive, trading blows back and forth.

Therefore, although rumors now circulated saying that Consort Xian harbored a grudge from the past dispute between the Ninth Princess and Princess Rongcheng and sent someone to assassinate Princess Rongcheng, she absolutely did not believe it.

Perhaps even His Majesty and the Empress themselves didn’t believe it, but so what? Consort Xian had indeed sent assassins, and they were remnants of Prince Duan’s faction, death warriors secretly trained. These reasons were already enough to make Emperor Jianzhang completely disappointed in her.

Only then did Chen Mingyu’s eyes truly and completely light up. She wiped away the tears seeping from the corners of her eyes and smiled with just the right amount of mischief and schadenfreude: “I understand Grandmother’s meaning now. Consort Xian was actually targeting Song Chuyi all along.”

Since Consort Xian had now fallen into trouble because of Song Chuyi, and the remnants of Prince Duan’s faction couldn’t all be captured at once, Song Chuyi’s neck would be constantly in danger, never knowing when her head might roll. Song Chuyi thought that having Princess Rongcheng step forward to deal with Consort Xian would benefit her, but little did she know that an even greater danger lurked behind her—there were so many remnants of Prince Duan’s faction. Though they would eventually all be caught, by the time that day came, Song Chuyi would likely have been dead and buried long ago. She had always known how ruthless Prince Duan’s methods were.

Though she felt schadenfreude, she controlled her facial expression perfectly, not revealing even a hint of malice—this was also something Old Madam Chen had deliberately taught her: never show a mean-spirited appearance, no matter when. Men all preferred women who were gentle and delicate, like fresh flowers blooming in early spring, soft and without any aggressive edge. If one was too harsh, even if extremely capable and accomplished, in men’s eyes she would lose the necessity of being cherished.

She patted Chen Mingyu’s hand with satisfaction, smiling at her: “This is why Grandmother always teaches you to remain calm and collected, to observe in all directions and listen in all places, not to always fret over small matters. Only those who can be trampled at the very bottom can one day stand at the highest point and stand firmly. This is the principle your grandfather often spoke of—that a great person must be able to bend and stretch.”

She paused, seeing Chen Mingyu’s eyes bright and clearly listening attentively, then smiled: “The Song family is probably in complete disarray over the matter of her inauspicious fate. If they don’t want to marry her off carelessly, they should send her to the Cui clan and have her stay there for a while, waiting until people in the capital have almost forgotten about this matter before bringing her back. But the journey there won’t be easy. You should take advantage of this time to get along well with the Empress, serve the Crown Princess filially, and also visit Princess Rongcheng more often. If this continues, so what if she returns from Jinzhong in one piece? By that time, you’ll already be the Imperial Grandson’s Consort, while she’ll be nothing more than a inauspiciously fated eldest daughter of a bereaved family.”

Chen Mingyu felt completely refreshed by her grandmother’s words and agreed wholeheartedly.

Princess Rongcheng sat in the seat below the Empress, not embracing her arm as she usually did, with barely perceptible fear in her eyes.

The great hall was filled with suffocating silence. The narcissus flowers in the room had just bloomed, carrying a faint fragrance that complemented the transparent glass vase perfectly. Wisps of smoke rose from the incense burner, mingling with the flower’s scent into an even more intoxicating aroma.

The Empress seemed to be asleep, supporting her head with one hand, eyes closed in apparent rest, her face—which usually bore a smile—now expressionless.

Xie Siyi shook her hand at Princess Rongcheng, signaling her to soften her stance—when the Empress became angry, she never scolded or hit anyone, she simply stopped speaking. Whenever the Princess or the Crown Prince made mistakes, she wouldn’t speak to them, sometimes going ten days to half a month without opening her mouth.

Princess Rongcheng sighed, knelt before the Empress’s couch, reached out to take the Empress’s hand, and called out somewhat helplessly and aggrieved, “Mother Empress,” shaking her hand: “It was Weizhao who asked me to do this. I thought that since Weizhao asked me to do it this way, he naturally had his reasons…”

“Oh?” The Empress opened her eyes, her pale hand sliding lightly from Princess Rongcheng’s palm: “It wasn’t because you indeed found Consort Xian displeasing to the eye, so you went along with it?”

In the past when Prince Duan was still alive, the Crown Prince’s health was extremely poor. Because of this, Consort Xian had indeed been quite arrogant for a period of time. Moreover, after Prince Duan went to Fujian for his fiefdom, he truly did many good deeds, making the Emperor trust him even more. Consort Xian became even more unbridled, and Princess Rongcheng had indeed suffered quite a few losses, both openly and covertly.

She had never liked Consort Xian. When she heard from Ye Jingchuan this time that Consort Xian dared to mobilize Prince Duan’s remaining faction, she naturally went along with the flow and brought the matter before Emperor Jianzhang.

Princess Rongcheng lowered her head, and only after a long while did she say sullenly: “Father Emperor won’t blame me. She was still using Prince Duan’s people originally, so it’s not as if I wrongly accused her.”

“Rongcheng!” The Empress’s brows shot up as she shouted, looking into Princess Rongcheng’s eyes with warning in her voice: “He is your Father Emperor, the Son of Heaven of Great Zhou! Do you think there’s anything in this world that can be hidden from him? He turns a blind eye only because the Ninth Princess has just gone for a marriage alliance for the country’s sake…”

Princess Rongcheng bit her lower lip and stubbornly refused to say another word.

The Empress sighed and glanced at her: “Never think yourself supremely clever. Your Father Emperor may not say anything on the surface and even punished Consort Xian. But in his heart, he may not be without resentment. You must know, he is the heaven of Great Zhou, and also the heaven over you and me…”