Speaking of which, this son of his had probably spent so long at Longhu Mountain that his mind had become muddled—he couldn’t distinguish who his real father was anymore. No, perhaps it should be said that the Lu clan had never truly pledged loyalty to him from the very beginning.

Thinking of this matter, the Crown Prince’s face twisted into a mocking, scornful smile. Back then, he had thought his mother the Empress had finally been fair for once, willing to give him the legitimate eldest daughter of the Lu clan as his Crown Princess. This was equivalent to handing him the entire Lu clan with both hands. Empress Lu’s maternal family didn’t produce many talented individuals, but each one was exceptionally renowned. The previous dynasty’s Minister of Personnel and Second Grand Secretary of the Cabinet were all from the Lu family.

When Emperor Jianzhang ascended the throne, the Lu family wisely retreated, fearing they’d be branded with the stigma of imperial relatives interfering in politics. They withdrew early to their ancestral home in Taiyuan. But the Lu family didn’t remain idle. Though no one from their household held official positions anymore, they controlled most of the coal mines in Taiyuan and could be said to be rolling in wealth.

Yet he had never liked the Lu family since childhood, because he always remembered that during Prince Tai’s rebellion, the nanny who urged Empress Lu to take the young prince and flee first was someone the Lu family had given to Empress Lu—a servant who had attended her for over twenty years.

Everyone thought he was born to be cannon fodder, that he simply couldn’t survive. Not only did Grand Empress Dowager Rongxian and the others not take him seriously, even his own maternal family seemed to have decided this sickly Crown Prince was unworthy of the throne and didn’t place their bets on him.

Both being sons born to Empress Lu, he was the one abandoned first from childhood. Even when fleeing for her life, his mother could forget about him, first carrying his younger brother and running off without a trace, leaving him alone.

He didn’t particularly like the Crown Princess, but Prince Gong liked her, and since Prince Gong liked her, he had to snatch her away first. He still remembered how conflicted his mother the Empress had been at the time. After all, her younger son’s fief was in Taiyuan, and he had gone to his fief from a young age. It was rare for him to have a childhood sweetheart cousin, and she had originally planned to fulfill her younger son’s wish.

But she couldn’t withstand the fact that he fell ill—gravely ill. After weighing the pros and cons, she finally decided to once again go against her younger son’s wishes and give him her niece Lu Caiwei as Crown Princess.

But even so, the Lu family refused to place all their chips on him. To employ people and maintain retainers and advisors, he needed a great deal of silver. The Lu family clearly had so much silver that it was probably gathering dust in their storehouses, yet they were just too stingy and miserly to take it out.

So he needed to have, besides the Lu clan, a completely loyal, powerful family that stood by his side and could be entirely held in his grasp. And the maternal family of Senior Lady Fan, the Yingyang Fan clan, was precisely such an important chess piece.

Never mind that Senior Lady Fan could never commit adultery—even if she truly did something outrageous, at most he would secretly kill Senior Lady Fan and then demand another daughter from the Fan family to marry into the Eastern Palace. After so many years of cooperation, he had long been inseparably entangled with the Fan clan.

Seeing him lost in thought, Senior Lady Fan didn’t dare interrupt. Only when she saw him let out a faint laugh did she gather the courage to interject: “Right now is a particularly sensitive time. If Qi’er frequently goes to Huangjue Temple, won’t it attract too much attention?”

She had always harbored hostility toward both the Crown Princess and Zhou Weizhao, but as for having major reservations, that wasn’t entirely the case. Having stayed by the Crown Prince’s side for so many years, she keenly sensed the Crown Prince’s faint aversion toward the Lu clan. With this aversion present, she had room to maneuver in between, which was why Zhou Weizhao was sent to Longhu Mountain for spiritual cultivation for seven or eight years, only returning a few years ago.

She leaned against the plush carpet, resting her head in the Crown Prince’s embrace. When the Crown Prince lowered his head, he placed his chin on her head and rubbed it back and forth: “The Song family isn’t so lacking in discretion. They have many things they want to accomplish and won’t stubbornly fixate on Huangjue Temple at this time. Moreover, Huangjue Temple itself has already lowered its posture to indicate a truce. After another month or two, when this matter gradually passes and those foolish students stop making trouble, then we’ll act. For now, we still need to think about what to do with the Chen family.”

The Chen family’s attitude had always been cautious—they never cast their hawk until they saw the hare. Now, thinking that Senior Lady Fan would incur the Crown Prince’s wrath because of the Marquis Jinxiang’s wife’s matter, they wanted to place their bets on Zhou Weizhao again.

But the Crown Prince wanted to firmly grasp the Chen, Song, and Cui families all in his hands. Among the Cabinet ministers, Elder Du was unquestionably in Prince Gong’s faction, while Chief Grand Secretary Chang and another were fence-sitters. Only the Chen family had been branded with the Eastern Palace’s mark early on, and the Song family also had entanglements with the Eastern Palace that couldn’t be severed and could be won over.

He couldn’t pin his hopes on his father the Emperor, who was too sentimental and wanted to preserve all ten of his fingers intact. He was the Crown Prince, the son of heaven—this world should rightfully be his. Now he was merely consolidating power ahead of time.

Even Fan Liangdi, who was accustomed to hearing the Crown Prince’s words, grew somewhat worried. The Crown Prince was really being a bit too greedy—his reach had been extending longer and longer these past two years. It seemed that from the moment Grand Empress Dowager Rongxian died, the Crown Prince’s ambition began to swell, continuously recruiting and arranging his own forces, while Emperor Jianzhang was still in his prime and vigor.

Wanting to gather the Song, Cui, and Chen families all under his banner—setting aside the fact that the Song and Cui families and the Chen family had basically reached the point of mortal enemies after the previous incident, even if they were both under the Eastern Palace’s command these two factions absolutely could not coexist. Even if it truly went as the Crown Prince wished and they all pledged allegiance to the Crown Prince for his use, it would be far too conspicuous.

After the Yangzhou corruption case and the hunting ground incident, Emperor Jianzhang was already dissatisfied with the Crown Prince to begin with.

She let out a deep sigh, but knew she simply had no ability or qualification to oppose the Crown Prince. Everything she now possessed was entirely given by the Crown Prince. Her son was currently so favored by the Crown Prince—if she showed even the slightest negligence, all of the Fan clan’s years of painstaking management and her son’s future prospects would be completely ruined.

She lowered her head, assuming a meek and submissive appearance: “The Chen family has been visiting the palace far too frequently lately. Miss Chen also seems to be quite favored by mother the Empress. Since mother the Empress has found a candidate for His Highness the Grand Prince, she surely can’t be too partial to one over the other. She’s probably planning to give Miss Chen to Qi’er. But if we follow Your Highness’s intentions and have Qi’er choose Sixth Miss Song, then we won’t be able to accommodate the Chen family either.”

They certainly couldn’t give both young ladies to Zhou Weiqi together. If they did that, never mind the Empress—even Emperor Jianzhang probably wouldn’t agree. It would be too conspicuous.

The Crown Prince glanced at her. She would be more than happy to bring these two young ladies together, but wasn’t she afraid of biting off more than she could chew and choking instead? These two girls were no easy lamps to handle. Putting them together, if their inner household didn’t catch fire, that would be the strange thing.