Chapter 18: Relying on Influence.

Chapter 18: Relying on Influence.

By the time Noble Consort Yan(Yán Guìfēi) , supported by her attendants, gracefully approached Lady Liu and the others, Tang Zhuozhuo had already put on a smiling face, though the smile did not reach her eyes.

“Greetings to Noble Yán Guìfēi.”

Tang Zhuozhuo performed a brief bow and rose immediately. Her peripheral vision caught the fawning, eager smile plastered on Lady Liu’s face, causing her to knit her brows.

Something felt off.

This small pavilion was exposed to the sun; the scorching light beat down without restraint. Yán Guìfēi lightly waved her round fan, her smile gentle and her voice soft as silk. “I was just thinking of heading to the Empress Dowager’s palace to offer greetings. Why do I see you all coming out already?”

Seeing her mother-in-law arrive, Lady Liu felt her spine straighten. She quickly replied with a smile, “Imperial Grandmother rose early today and just said she was a bit fatigued, so she has retired to rest.”

Yán Guìfēi’s movements paused for a split second before she nodded with a beaming smile, though a flash of disdain flickered deep in her pupils.

Her Sixth Prince was excellent in every way, yet Emperor Qiongyuan had betrothed him to such a short-sighted woman. No one in the Liu family seemed to have a clear head; there was no hope of them becoming an asset to her son, she only prayed they wouldn’t drag him down.

With this thought, Yán Guìfēi’s eyes—as moving as autumn waters, fell upon the silent Tang Zhuozhuo. Such vivid beauty made Lady Liu look like mere dust in comparison.

“I heard recently that the Crown Princess had caught a cold. Are you feeling better?”

Suddenly addressed, Tang Zhuozhuo smiled broadly. “To answer Your Ladyship, it was no great illness. A bit of medicine was all it took.”

Yán Guìfēi smiled like a spring breeze, stepping forward to pat Tang Zhuozhuo’s delicate hand. She turned to her maid and said, “In a moment, send the aged ginseng and bird’s nest from my storehouse to the Eastern Palace. You truly ought to nourish yourself; your frame is so thin, it looks as though it might be blown away by the wind.”

Beside them, Lady Liu smoothed the conspicuous patterns on her sleeves and remarked, “Perhaps the Crown Prince likes her just this way.”

Yán Guìfēi felt a headache coming on from such stupidity, but she couldn’t scold her in public. Ignoring Lady Liu entirely, she suppressed her anger and said to Tang Zhuozhuo and the others, “The flowers in the Imperial Garden are in full bloom. You all go and have a look; I shall be heading back first.”

With that, she was assisted onto her sedan chair and returned the way she had come.

Leaning back in her sedan, Yán Guìfēi rubbed her aching temples, filled with both worry and rage. This Lady Liu truly only knew how to use her tongue and play petty tricks. She wondered how the Liu family had raised a legitimate daughter to be so small-minded and unpresentable.

Currently, her son’s influence was waning. Seeing Emperor Qiongyuan’s health failing day by day, she feared he might close his eyes forever at any moment. If that happened, what hope would she and her son have left?

An Imperial Consort and a Prince rejected by the new Emperor would spend their lives in this deep palace at the mercy of others. One day, they might be harmed in secret without ever knowing who did the deed.

At this thought, Yán Guìfēi’s lily-white fingertips turned stark white from the force of her grip. Dark ripples surfaced in her autumn-water eyes. She pursed her red lips and asked her trusted maid walking beside her, “Ru’er, have the words I spoke been relayed to the Sixth Prince?”

The maid replied respectfully, “Rest assured, Your Ladyship. His Highness said he will follow your lead in everything.”

Only then did Yán Guìfēi’s brow smooth slightly. Her well-maintained face carried a look of ruthless determination. As fragmented sunlight fell on her slender fingers, she momentarily drifted off.

Over a decade in the deep palace, endless nightmares night after night. Despite her high position, she constantly feared her current wealth and honor were but a dream, afraid that once she woke, she and her son would fall back into the dust.

When would this life of constant trepidation ever end?

As if reaching a decision, she slowly opened her eyes and  asked indifferently, “Have the matters I ordered been settled?”

The maid lowered her head, cast a quick glance at their surroundings, and whispered with a nod: “Everything is prepared. His Highness handled it personally. Your Ladyship may rest easy.”

Yán Guìfēi finally showed a smile of relief.

She no longer counted on Emperor Qiongyuan. No matter how much she performed her deep affection, no matter how much he favored her, she could never compare to the position the Late Empress held in his heart.

Huo Qiu was the Late Empress’s only son. When he was young, while other princes went to the academy, he was different, Emperor Qiongyuan taught him personally. Crown Prince from birth, he mastered all of the Emperor’s methods in both civil and military affairs. He had utterly overshadowed her son, leading the Emperor to look down upon his Sixth Prince entirely.

Now, as the Emperor’s life flickered like a dying flame, he was using his last breath to purge the court just to leave a prosperous empire for Huo Qiu. No one could stomach such blatant favoritism.

“Regent Crown Prince,” they called him. What a “fine” Crown Prince indeed!

Unfortunately, though the Emperor was old, his prestige remained heavy. Those veteran officials who were inclined to support her son had pulled back their claws, acting more submissive than anyone. Yán Guìfēi grew heart-sick just thinking about it.

Fortunately, after tonight, anyone with eyes would know how to choose. This was one of their few remaining chances to turn the tables!

As the sedan chair disappeared, Tang Zhuozhuo turned to the slightly awkward Princes’ wives. “Let’s go admire the flowers in the garden. Once the sun gets higher, I won’t be able to bear it.”

The Third Prince’s wife responded first with a smile, “We shall follow the Crown Princess’s lead. I see a pavilion ahead; it’s a perfect place to rest our feet.”

Lady Liu hadn’t yet recovered her composure. She flicked her eyelids, fiddled with her bright crimson-painted nails, and spoke tonelessly: “Among us, it is naturally the Crown Princess who has the final say.”

Tang Zhuozhuo was too lazy to waste words and walked straight toward the pavilion.

Lady Liu curled her lip behind her, a flash of unmasked schadenfreude crossing her eyes. She knew a bit about the plan of the Sixth Prince and the Noble Consort, and the more she knew, the more she couldn’t hide her triumph.

Why should Tang Zhuozhuo always be a step above us? Before marriage, she was the one everyone praised; after marriage, she is the one with the highest status.

She simply couldn’t stand that “above-it-all” look of hers!

Tang Zhuozhuo could feel the two burning gazes on her back. She unobservably pursed her lips. Only after she sat on the stone bench did she lightly wipe the sweat from her palms.

The pavilion sat right in the Imperial Garden. Sitting inside, one could admire the multicolored flowers while enjoying the cool air and tea. It was a pleasant spot.

Maids brought fine Longjing tea to their side. Before Tang Zhuozhuo could speak, Lady Liu lifted her tea lid, and her face soured. She spoke snidely to the approaching maid: “Why was Longjing served? I have always favored Junshan Yinzhen!”

The maid hurriedly knelt to admit her fault. The Third Prince’s wife, being of a gentle nature, patted Lady Liu’s hand. “Good sister, the palace is not like our own estates. Why bother being so serious with a maid?”

Lady Liu grew even more emboldened. Eyeing Tang Zhuozhuo’s calm, waveless face, her words became increasingly reckless. “Sister, you are mistaken. This Longjing was clearly served to suit the Crown Princess’s tastes. Everything in this palace knows how to ‘uphold the high and trample the low.’ What do we Princes’ wives even count for?”

At these words, the Third Prince’s wife’s face changed.

Has this Lady Liu lost her mind? To shout such things in a palace full of eyes and ears, one wrong word could offend a high-ranking person. She was even trying to drag the Third and Tenth Princes’ wives into it! Their husbands were honest and law-abiding; they didn’t want to be dragged down by a single reckless sentence.

Tang Zhuozhuo locked eyes with Lady Liu and slowly lifted her teacup lid. Watching the tea leaves unfurl and float, she smiled brilliantly. She then personally helped the kneeling maid up, arched an eyebrow, and said, “This Longjing is brewed well. It suits my taste perfectly.”

Lady Liu’s eyes widened. It felt as though she had been slapped across the face from a distance; she felt her posture sag instantly.

Tang Zhuozhuo didn’t shy away. She curled her lips into a smile at Lady Liu. The tea lid between her two lily-white fingers rolled onto the table, tumbled off the edge, and shattered into several pieces on the ground.

Lady Liu’s eyelids jumped. Before she could speak, she saw Tang Zhuozhuo’s expression turn cold, a look that bore a striking resemblance to Huo Qiu.

“Lady Liu, if you want to throw a tantrum, look at where you are. Do you think this is your Prince’s estate where you can act lawlessly?”

Tang Zhuozhuo’s expression was languid, but her words were like sharp blades that made one’s spine chill.

Lady Liu was used to bickering with Tang Zhuozhuo, but seeing her truly angry for the first time made her lose her nerve. However, the light in her eyes couldn’t be fully suppressed; her anger was stuck in her throat, neither going down nor coming out.

“It’s one thing for you to repeatedly provoke me with snide remarks. I remembered it was Imperial Grandmother’s birthday—a joyous day, and didn’t care to argue with you. I never expected you would insist on being so unreasonable!”

Lady Liu stared with wide, disbelieving eyes. She stood up and shouted, “When have I been snide or unreasonable?”

Tang Zhuozhuo let out a cold snort. Staring at the steaming tea, a mist seemed to rise before her eyes. Her gaze toward Lady Liu held no warmth, only contempt and disdain—yet her words were logical and resonant.

“You say this tea is not to your liking? You could have simply asked the maid to take it away and change it. Instead, you insisted on targeting me.”

“In Imperial Grandmother’s palace just now, Longjing was served. I saw you drinking it quite happily then. I followed Imperial Grandmother’s example by ordering Longjing here, yet you are this relentless with your malicious slanders?”

Tang Zhuozhuo casually picked up the cup and took a sip to moisten her throat. The smile in her eyes was pure mockery as she whispered to Lady Liu: “If you find this Longjing such an eyesore, we can go to Imperial Grandmother once she wakes and let her judge the matter. What do you think?”

Lady Liu’s rage was extinguished as if doused by a bucket of ice water. Not a single spark remained. Her face turned pale, and her lips trembled. Under Tang Zhuozhuo’s intense, smiling gaze, she said sheepishly, “The Crown Princess truly has a silver tongue. I am ashamed.”

She then turned with a cold face and left the pavilion. Her maid ran after her. Tang Zhuozhuo squinted her eyes with satisfaction.

Still trying to treat me like a soft persimmon? People like Lady Liu shouldn’t be given a good face. The more you ignore them, the more they think you are afraid of them. You have to tear off their mask for them to stay quiet for a while.

The Third Prince’s wife finally regained her senses. She looked worriedly at Lady Liu’s retreating back and said to Tang Zhuozhuo, “Your Ladyship, there are many eyes and ears here. The Noble Consort only just left. If gossips spread this…”

Tang Zhuozhuo spread her hands and smiled innocently. “You saw the whole thing. She was the one who insisted on thrusting her face forward to be slapped.”

Was I supposed to save face for my enemy?

As for the Noble Consort… so what if she knew? Would she dare complain to the Emperor or the Empress Dowager? A Prince’s wife acting more high-profile than the Empress Dowager, Yán Guìfēi would likely be the one with the headache.

She might even be thinking of how to appease Tang Zhuozhuo instead.