Chapter 165: The Stolen Dance Garment

"No!"

Lin Wan Yi was frightened and stepped back sharply.

Her face full of fear, she said in a trembling voice, "Grandfather, rest assured, what you and the Empress desire is also what I desire."

"She wants to shine tomorrow, to win the Emperor's favor; I will never give her that chance."

Li Defu's eyes showed anticipation, "What do you intend to do?"

Lin Wan Yi gave a sly smile, the corner of her mouth lifted, and coldly said, "Grandfather Li, tomorrow you just wait to watch a good show."

"After tomorrow, on the Emperor's dragon bed, there will be only me."

Before dawn, Chu Yunzheng rose quietly, and Wan Tang, still half‑asleep, forced herself to fasten his morning bead.

The Emperor's front foot had just taken a step when Xiao Shunzi quietly reported, "Master, Noble Lady Jing has been standing outside the courtyard all night."

"Strangely, when the Emperor passed earlier, she actually hid behind a tree."

Wan Tang laughed lightly, rubbing her sore, soft waist, "She was waiting for me all along."

Before the words finished, Lin Wan Yi had already barged in on her own.

Dew on her hair, yet she still lifted her chin, "Don't be smug, the Emperor will eventually return to my side!"

"Just because of you?" Wan Tang clapped casually, and Li Ping'er immediately presented that set of shark‑silk gauze dance robes.

Morning light filtered through the lattice, the phoenix pattern of twisted gold on the dance robe shimmered brilliantly, and Lin Wan Yi's gaze was instantly glued.

That is the obsession a dancer feels only upon seeing a peerless treasure.

Wan Tang's fingertips lightly brushed the icy bead embroidery on the hem, "You say, if I wear this to perform the 'Rainbow Skirt Feathered Garment'."

She suddenly moved close to Lin Wan Yi, "Will the Emperor still come to watch your Hu Xuan dance?"

Lin Wan Yi snapped back to attention, her flamboyant nails digging into her palm, "Old relic! Men don't like to watch that pretentious nonsense!"

She deliberately loosened her collar to reveal a kiss mark, "I know the Emperor loves the sound of a waist bell ringing until the third watch…"

"Oh?"

Wan Tang's meaningfully furrowed brow looked at her, "Do you know, the dance I will perform today is the Ni Chang dance."

"And it's a part that has long been lost."

Lin Wan Yi's eyes changed instantly.

How could such a dance appear among the common folk?

Mother Yang wants countless silver, so why would she waste her thoughts on such a useless person?

"The dance I know, sister would never master in a lifetime," Lin Wan Yi forced a cold smile, yet couldn't help staring at that dance robe.

"After all, I understand men better."

"Since what needed to be said has been said, I won't stay."

Noble Lady Jing sneered, flicked her hands, and simply sat down on the chair.

With a blatantly rogue expression on her face, "I'm too tired, I want to rest my feet here with Lady Wan."

"Sister, you wouldn't be so petty, would you!"

Wan Tang suddenly withdrew all expression, "The Emperor has issued a decree; Noble Lady Jing may not step into the Xi Tang Courtyard."

She turned and lightly brushed the dance robe, "Servants, throw her out."

Four stout maidservants immediately stepped forward.

As Lin Wan Yi was dragged out, she suddenly screamed, "I am the Emperor's most beloved, you cannot treat me like this!"

"Believe it or not, I'll have the Emperor kill you."

"The Empress also won't let you off."

Before she finished speaking, her mouth was gagged and she was dragged out the palace gate.

【Oh dear, still bringing up the Empress, she's completely in a joyous mood here; yesterday she went to the Empress Dowager's and performed.】

【Indeed, now she has reclaimed the Phoenix Seal, and there is a banquet in the Imperial harem, she will definitely be in charge of arranging it.】

【Moreover, her thoughts are entirely on building the stage; otherwise she wouldn't have left Lin Wan Yi to linger at the gate all night.】

Wan Tang's face was all cold, she sneered, "Empress, at this moment I doubt you have the time to keep you in check."

Lin Wan Yi was thrown at the gate.

Only after seeing the ferocious, demonic stare at the gate did she cease.

Li Ping'er looked out the window anxiously, "Master, Noble Lady Jing is still lingering outside the palace gate, her eyes red with fright, she might cause trouble."

Wan Tang nonchalantly covered the princess with a blanket, "She is willing to be a watchdog; would that mean I have to reward her with a bone?"

She lifted her daughter and walked out, "Tonight all the civil and military officials will come to celebrate Minghui Princess's full moon, and I have no leisure to act in a lovey‑dovey play with her."

The group marched grandly to the palace gate.

Lin Wan Yi indeed lunged fiercely at the imperial carriage, her hair in disarray like madness, "You cannot snatch away the Emperor's favor for me."

"You cannot be so cruel."

"This is very important to me!"

She suddenly reached out to pull the princess's swaddling cloth, but Xiao Shunzi pushed her away.

"Watch the courtyard well," Wan Tang calmly instructed the gate eunuch, as the imperial carriage rolled straight over Lin Wan Yi's collapsed figure.

Li Ping'er turned her head and saw that person, still in the dust, lifting his face.

"Master," Li Ping'er lowered her voice, "In the main hall they still keep the Empress's set of dance robes; if she…"

Wan Tang suddenly chuckled lightly, "It doesn't matter."

"It's a good chance to see what a person does when pushed to the brink."

Li Ping'er still wanted to say something.

Wan Tang smiled, "Moreover, he's a person of the Empress, isn't he?"

When the imperial carriage departed, Lin Wan Yi indeed staggered and rushed into the main hall of Xitang Courtyard.

With a knife pressed to his own throat, Shei would dare step forward to block even a little?

Twilight was like dark ink, the palace lanterns lit up one after another, illuminating Xitang Courtyard as if it were broad daylight.

The faint sound of silk and bamboo drifted from the banquet hall, and Li Ping'er rushed into the inner chamber with a deathly pale face: "Master! The dance costume bestowed by the Empress… is missing!"

Her voice trembled with urgency, "It must have been that murderous Lady of Grace Jing who stole it!"

"I (serving woman) will go to Kunning Palace right away to demand an explanation; later Master still needs it for the dance, I will even seize it, and I will take it back."

【Fool, you can't even throw it away, what are you trying to snatch?】

【Oh dear, Li Ping'er is about to act foolishly.】

"Stop." Wan Tang, facing the mirror and painting floral hairpins on her forehead, did not lift her golden brush, "Going to cause a scene now—do you want all the civil and military officials to see the Imperial harem's joke?"

Li Ping'er plummeted to her knees, tears splashing onto the blue bricks: "But that was your meticulously prepared 'Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Garment'! Without that dance costume, how can we hold the event…"

She suddenly squeezed her own arm hard, "It's all my fault for not watching over it!"

Wan Tang set down the golden brush, the beauty in the mirror's corner of her lips slightly upturned: "Missing a piece of clothing, can this palace no longer dance?"

Suddenly hearing the banquet hall's drums and music rise, she lightly tapped the dressing table with her fingertip, "Change clothes."

"Master!" Li Ping'er suddenly grabbed Xiao Shunzi, "You serve the Lady well, I'll be right back!"

Having said that, she lifted her skirt hem and sprinted out, not even bothering to pick up the fallen jade and emerald ornaments.

Xiao Shunzi, worried, draped the regular attire over Wan Tang: "Sister Ping'er is probably going to seek help, but even if we find an embroiderer to rush a new one now, it will still be too late!"

Wan Tang, however, looked toward a shadow outside the window and suddenly laughed lightly: "Shei says this palace must wear new clothes?"

"Even I might not be certain, we have to go on stage."

From the banquet hall direction, a melody of a hundred birds greeting the phoenix suddenly sounded, signaling the Emperor and Empress's arrival.

The palace lanterns swayed, and Wan Tang laughed lightly: "Stay right there!"

"The good show begins!"