From beginning to end, Empress Lu never once mentioned what she had previously brought up with Princess Rongcheng—the matter of arranging a match between Song Chuyi and Ye Jingchuan. She questioned Song Chuyi in a scattered, disjointed manner, with most of her inquiries appearing to be insignificant small talk.
Yet Song Chuyi broke out in a cold sweat upon listening—the Empress’s questions seemed unrelated and ordinary on the surface, but every single one was a trap. It was clear she was trying to fish information out of her. Unable to grasp the Empress’s true intentions behind such detailed questioning, Song Chuyi simply decided to play dumb, maintaining a gentle and dignified smile on her face as she deftly deflected the inquiries.
After sitting for a while longer, someone outside announced that Fan Liangdi had arrived. The hall immediately fell silent—everyone knew that Fan Liangdi had gotten into some trouble a few days ago. Not only had her family members been disreputable and caused an incident, but the Marchioness of Jinxiang, rather than acknowledging her fault, had actually turned around and scolded the Crown Prince and Fan Liangdi for not helping, which had so infuriated the already frail Crown Prince that he fainted. Although the Crown Prince had now awakened, it had only been a few days—how could she so brazenly come here again?
That said, everyone present began privately reassessing Fan Liangdi’s position in the Crown Prince’s heart. While the Empress was indeed magnanimous and gentle, she had always been extraordinarily attentive to her son whose health was poor, wishing she could nourish him daily with ginseng and bird’s nest. Now that the Marchioness of Jinxiang had offended the Empress’s most precious treasure, could it be that the Empress truly didn’t mind at all?
Fan Liangdi wore the fashionable pear blossom makeup, with hairpins swaying gracefully as she walked. Her ears were adorned with a pair of gold-inlaid jade earrings carved in the shape of roses. With her powdered face and rosy cheeks, her eyes and brows full of smiles, she presented a dazzling and magnificent appearance.
She paid her respects to the Empress and the Imperial Noble Consort separately. When Song Chuyi came forward to greet her, Fan Liangdi immediately supported her by the arm, her face full of warm smiles that seemed especially affectionate. “I wanted to meet you at the hunting grounds last time, but unfortunately didn’t get the chance. Now seeing you in person, I truly don’t know how to properly praise you. The Song family girls are each more lovely than the last—one can’t help but adore them all.”
Had Song Chuyi not known what kind of malicious soul lay beneath this beautiful exterior, she would have been completely defenseless against such a gorgeous woman who was exquisite from head to toe in an almost infuriating way. No wonder His Highness the Crown Prince was so fond of her. Men being drawn to beauty was perfectly natural—if she herself were a man facing such a captivating creature, it would be difficult not to be moved.
The Empress’s attitude toward her was neither warm nor cold. She glanced at her, the smile in her eyes diminishing slightly. “Why have you come?”
The Crown Prince was frail and sensitive. Although Empress Lu had invested much effort in him, she always felt a great distance between them. When the Crown Prince was young, her days with Emperor Jianzhang were not very comfortable—aside from her own younger brother Prince Zhuang, the other brothers circled like wolves and tigers around them. In those days, even drinking tea required trembling with fear. Later, Prince Tai indeed attempted rebellion. She still remembered that during Prince Tai’s rebellion, she had clutched her newborn son who was only a few days old in her arms, so frightened that her entire body went cold and her mind became muddled. The nannies and palace maids around her protected her as they fled, and in that moment she had actually forgotten about her eldest son.
It seemed the rift between mother and son had been lodged there since that time. No matter how hard she tried, this barrier never disappeared. Precisely because of this, she had never dared to interfere much in Eastern Palace affairs.
She had already done everything she could for the Crown Prince. Even the cousin from the Lu family whom her younger son had originally liked, she had given to him as Crown Princess, intending to present the Lu family as his support—but her son didn’t like her.
The Crown Prince was always indifferent toward Lu Shi, and equally indifferent toward Zhou Weizhao, the son Lu Shi had borne him. During the most difficult years, her niece had even been driven to the point of desperation and went to beseech Zhang Tianshi.
She was actually perfectly aware of all these matters in her heart, but whenever she tried to intervene, the Crown Prince only grew colder toward the mother and son. Deep down, she vaguely seemed to understand why her son was so awkward and distant with her, but to say she grasped it completely wasn’t quite accurate either.
The two of them as mother and son should have been mutual support systems, relying on each other for survival, yet they always kept secrets from one another. They weren’t even as close as Prince Gong who was far away in his fiefdom. She knew where the problem lay—the fatal issue was that the Crown Prince never acknowledged that there was a problem between them.
Her reason for summoning Song Chuyi to the palace this time was to evaluate a future Crown Princess for Zhou Weizhao—after all, Zhou Weizhao carried Lu family blood and was her own grandson. Moreover, since descending from Longhu Mountain, his performance had been truly outstanding, even winning Emperor Jianzhang’s deep affection. In her private heart, she still favored Zhou Weizhao more.
But now the senior Fan Liangdi had arrived.
The senior Fan Liangdi had no idea that in that split second, the Empress had already thought so far ahead. The smile on her face grew even sweeter, almost cloying. “I came to pay respects to Mother Empress. Hearing that the Imperial Noble Consort Song’s younger sister from her family had entered the palace, I hurried over to meet her. Sixth Miss’s reputation has been extraordinarily prominent lately—even I have grown somewhat curious.”
Having said this, she turned her head naturally and openly to regard Song Chuyi for a moment, then smiled as she took a brocade box from an attendant’s hand and passed it over. “Inside are several jade hairpins. Sixth Miss, please take them and enjoy them.”
Song Chuyi respectfully accepted it, carefully holding it in her hands as she lowered her eyes and brows to respond to Fan Liangdi’s words.
Fan Liangdi’s questions were nothing more than idle chat about what she liked to eat or play with—not as purposeful as the Empress’s had been. After inquiring for a while, she couldn’t help but smile thoughtfully. “Song Sixth Miss is truly a remarkable person.”
Before, she had only heard Han Zhi and others say how clever Song Chuyi was, but had never truly seen just how intelligent she was. After all, with Song Chengru controlling the Song family and Old Madam Song, who had weathered countless storms, outsiders naturally couldn’t see Song Chuyi’s capabilities clearly. Now having met her face to face, she finally understood that Han Zhi’s words were not false.
She answered whatever was asked, yet what she said was the same as saying nothing at all—she hadn’t revealed half a trace of her true nature. At such a young age with such deep scheming, no wonder Han Zhi had once said he wanted to marry her back as a support. Someone with such powerful family background who was herself also formidable—wouldn’t that be true support indeed?
Only now did she truly pay Song Chuyi serious attention, becoming increasingly warm and kind toward her. Everyone knew who stood behind Han Zhi. To say that she and the Prince of Dongping had no awareness whatsoever of what Han Zhi was doing, no one would believe it. But some matters were better left unspoken—smart people always knew how to seek advantage and avoid harm. If the Song family truly had intentions of pledging allegiance, then naturally all past matters could be treated as if they had never happened.
However, Song Chuyi was on highest alert against her. She felt that Fan Liangdi was like a venomous snake with its forked tongue flickering, ready at any moment to strike a bite from behind.