After Lady Fan left, Xie Siyi looked at the Empress with some worry: “She came to you in the morning, and if she dies in the afternoon, the Crown Prince will inevitably suspect you… You just had a quarrel last time, and His Highness’s health isn’t good either…”
Empress Lu had actually come to terms with it. From the moment she learned that Fan Liangdi had secretly colluded with Old Madam Chen for money and then sent people to intercept and kill them, she had already made her decision. The Crown Prince dared to keep such a venomous snake by his side and indulged her until her audacity grew greater and greater. Even now, when Fan Liangdi hadn’t truly gained power, she was already so arrogant and lawless—what about later? If the Crown Prince truly had a day when he ascended the throne, wouldn’t Fan Liangdi’s first act be to turn around with a blade raised against the Lu family?
A cold, hard smile played at the corners of her mouth, reflecting her mood at this moment: “So what? What can he do to this Palace?” What the Crown Prince had relied upon in the past was nothing more than her soft heart, her guilt, and her repeated concessions. If she was no longer prepared to yield, what could the Crown Prince—as both subject and son—dare do to her, the Empress Mother and his mother?
For the first time, Empress Lu truly felt chilled to the bone. Just because she had done one wrong thing, all these years of careful nurturing and complete compliance toward the Crown Prince had turned to nothing. The Crown Prince even valued Lady Fan more than her.
Previously she had yielded again and again, but she could no longer retreat. The Eastern Palace was acting with less and less restraint. Killing Fan Liangdi served two purposes: first, to eliminate future troubles; second, to remind the Crown Prince that it was far from time for him to be in charge. She could only hope he would understand this principle.
Xie Siyi sighed, feeling a headache on behalf of her mistress. She gently stood behind her to massage her temples and added: “This Sixth Miss of the Song family truly exhausts one…”
From the incident with the Ninth Princess onward, Xie Siyi knew Song Chuyi was difficult to deal with, but she hadn’t expected this young lady to be not only difficult but also capable of creating dilemmas for others—since she could find Chen Mingyu and rescue her from Fan Liangdi and the Prince of Dongping’s hands, she had other ways to handle this matter. Yet she deliberately chose this moment to lay everything bare before the Empress, forcing the Empress to act… While she herself remained completely unstained by blood.
When she mentioned Song Chuyi, Empress Lu instead smiled: “She may be exhausting, but she’s good to Weizhao. If this weren’t for Weizhao’s sake, she could have exposed it all.”
Previously, she had heard Zhou Weizhao speak without concealment about this Sixth Miss Song’s cleverness. She had been skeptical, thinking it was due to Zhou Weizhao’s lover seeing beauty in their beloved, or deliberately trying to win favor for her. But now it seemed this young lady was truly formidable. One had to admit that every sentence she spoke seized upon one’s heart, every sentence forced one to make a decision—with such a capable wife, if the grandson and she worked together with one heart, what fear was there of not living well? She was extremely satisfied with Song Chuyi.
Fan Liangdi only left Qingning Hall and returned to the Eastern Palace after composing herself. Along the way, she walked so quickly that Nanny Fang, Muyao, and Lianqiao could barely keep up. Upon reaching the hall, she shut herself in the bedchamber, truly leaving everyone utterly baffled.
When Fan Liangdi was angry, no one dared to console her. If she calmed down on her own for a while, she might be fine. If someone tried to advise her, the anger would be harder to dissipate. Therefore, though she stayed in the bedchamber for half the day, no one dared to ask.
Fortunately, this time she didn’t cause trouble until too late. After the first lightning flashed outside the hall, she pushed open the door and emerged. Her complexion looked no different from usual, and in a pleasant tone, she withdrew a letter from her bosom and handed it to Nanny Fang: “Deliver this letter to Nanny Qi. Tell her it’s extremely urgent and she must send it out carefully.”
Seeing her expression relatively calm and her tone reasonably good, Nanny Fang couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She agreed and personally went out to assign the task.
Fan Liangdi sat down on the couch, slowly drank a sip of tea, looked around once, and asked Lianqiao: “His Highness hasn’t returned?”
Lianqiao had already asked the palace maids left to watch the house. Hearing this, she hurriedly said: “His Highness came back once earlier. Seeing you weren’t here, he went to the study. He said he’d come later to dine with you.”
She was asking about Zhou Weiqi—though the Crown Prince hadn’t wanted to kill her, he was ultimately displeased that she had privately mobilized people. He hadn’t seen her for several days now.
She nodded and accordingly rose: “I’ll go up front to check on him.”
Indeed, she truly only looked at her son, listening from behind a screen as her son discussed a case with Qian Ying, the corners of her mouth carrying a faint arc. After Qian Ying and the others took their leave, she had someone bring a cup of pearl and dried longan stewed with swallow’s nest to the table.
The Prince of Dongping was somewhat puzzled: “Why has Mother come at this time? I was going to come dine with you shortly. There was really no need to make the trip yourself.”
Fan Liangdi shook her head, gazing at him tenderly: “I just happened to remember something I needed to tell you, so I came.” As she spoke, she watched her son scoop a spoonful of soup and drink it, while simultaneously removing the jade sachet from her waist. She opened the clasp, revealing three small seals of different shapes inside.
She placed all three seals in her son’s hands. Seeing her son look at her in bewilderment, she sighed with a smile: “You’ll be married soon. From now on, you’ll be an adult. What Mother didn’t feel assured giving you before, I’m giving you now.”
Zhou Weiqi instinctively felt something was wrong. Eyes wide, he stared at his mother, not knowing what had come over her.
Fan Liangdi paid no mind to his confusion and explained very carefully the uses of these three seals. Then she pulled from her sleeve another seal that was obviously only half complete and handed it to him: “This one is also for you. Unfortunately, it’s only half…”
She paused, gently reaching up to touch Zhou Weiqi’s hair: “You must think of a way. This represents over two hundred thousand taels of silver—not a small sum. Get it if you can. You’ll have plenty of places to spend silver in the future.”
These words were even more wrong. Zhou Weiqi felt truly uneasy hearing them. He grasped Fan Liangdi’s hand and asked with furrowed brow: “Mother, what’s wrong with you?”
Fan Liangdi burst out laughing: “Just feeling sentimental for a moment—raising a son this big, finally about to have a daughter-in-law… And afraid that after you marry, you’ll forget your mother.” She touched Zhou Weiqi’s head again: “Before, Mother wanted to do everything for you first, but now you’re gradually beginning to shoulder things yourself. This is good. Everything starts from nothing. You’ll certainly go much further in the future…”
Zhou Weiqi felt these words gave him goosebumps. When evening came and he wanted to go back and ask his mother more clearly, only then did he learn where this ominous premonition came from—his mother was dead.