Chapter 197: Imperial Audience

The night was deep, and Palace of Eternal Joy shone brightly with candlelight.

Wan Tang sat alone at the writing desk, a sheet of xuan paper spread before her, her brows tightly knit.

General Huang was upright and uncompromising; ordinary methods could not reach him, so one had to appeal to his preferences.

But she knew nothing about brewing.

She didn't know, but there were people who did!

She stared into emptiness, appearing to whisper to the air, but in fact she spoke to the "audience": "General Huang is a venerable veteran; ordinary drinks are unlikely to catch his eye."

"I also don't know what kind of fine brew could truly attract him."

【Ah, when it comes to 8+1, I'm an expert; I love red beer, white beer, all of them!】

【What's the use of your love? The key is whether Wan Tang can? Who can brew it? Otherwise there wouldn't be the saying "grape wine Nightlight Cup" in ancient times.】

【Moreover, the brewing techniques in this book aren't lacking, right? It seems it's not just simple rice wine.】

【So what? Can it surpass our modern high‑proof distilled spirit? My family brews sorghum wine, it only requires…】

Wan Tang's heart throbbed wildly!

She dared not delay a moment, almost holding her breath, grabbed a brush and swiftly recorded on the paper.

The tip of the brush darted, capturing each flashing piece of key information—ingredient ratios, distillation apparatus, fermentation temperature control—one by one.

【WTF? Look at what she's writing! Could she be noting the formula just mentioned?】

【Is she really able to see us talking?!】

【Stop worrying about that! Quickly! Who knows brewing? Paste the Baidu Encyclopedia entry! Hurry, hurry!】

The Barrage scrolled even faster, interspersed with more professional or fragmentary information.

Wan Tang's gaze was astonishingly focused; she filled a sheet, immediately switched to another, her wrist barely pausing, transcribing every detail she could capture.

When the Barrage paused briefly, she promptly summoned Xiao Shunzi and handed him the ink‑filled sheets.

In a hurried tone: "Immediately follow what's written here, covertly procure the required materials and tools, and bring them into the main hall."

"Remember, be swift and secret!"

Before long, various grains, wine yeast, and some odd vessels apparently for distillation were quietly delivered into the main hall.

Wan Tang blocked off the sides, leaving only two trusted junior eunuchs to assist, and, referring to those "celestial script" notes, began trial after trial.

The hall soon filled with a strong wine‑lees aroma and the strange odors from various experimental failures.

Wan Tang rolled up her sleeves, personally checked the heat, adjusted the apparatus, and didn't even notice the fine sweat beading on her forehead.

She was completely immersed in this cross‑temporal "technical breakthrough" endeavor.

After days of sleepless, relentless repeated trials and massive material consumption, Wan Tang finally produced several small vats of clear, potent spirit that met the requirements.

The liquid entered the mouth with a spicy, mellow richness and a lingering aftertaste, far beyond any ordinary drink of the time.

She handed the finalized formula and those precious samples to Xiao Shunzi.

She instructed carefully: "Find absolutely reliable people and secretly brew according to this recipe."

"Find an elegant spot in the capital to open a wine shop; it need not be ostentatious, but must have a refined atmosphere."

She paused, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes: "Within the wine shop, set up a Heroes' Board, presenting a different martial‑arts or strategy puzzle each day with a reward for solving it. The day's top scorer will receive a brocade pouch as a prize."

She produced a brocade box she had prepared earlier, neatly containing thirty‑six exquisite brocade pouches, each holding a core principle she had hand‑copied from The Art of War and other military texts—fragmented yet straight to the essence.

Xiao Shunzi looked at the pouches, puzzled: "Master, can this really attract General Huang?"

Wan Tang's lips curled slightly, her tone confident: "It will not only attract him; he will devise every way to be first every day."

She understood the psychology of such martial fanatics perfectly; a genuine fine brew paired with the strategic mysteries that could enthrall him would surely hook him.

Xiao Shunzi still harbored doubts, but seeing the Master so certain, he asked no further and hurried off with the order.

"Aunt Bai Wei, you may not enter."

Bai Wei lifted her chin slightly, her gaze haughty, even her announcement tinged with a patronizing tone, and she strode straight into the courtyard.

Wan Tang had no time to tidy up and had to step out.

Bai Wei sneered, perfunctorily bowing to Wan Tang:

"Virtuous Consort, my Empress requests you come over for tea."

Xiao Tao was a newly appointed palace maid, replacing Li Ping'er, and she was also loyal to Wan Tang.

Seeing this, she hurried forward a step, anxiously whispering: "Your Highness…"

Her eyes were full of anxiety.

Wan Tang merely smiled indifferently, lightly patting the back of her hand to reassure her: "It's fine."

Beside her, Bai Wei, already impatient, urged harshly: "Virtuous Consort, please hurry, lest the Empress be left waiting anxiously!"

Wan Tang's gaze suddenly chilled, and she raised her hand without warning.

"Snap!"

A crisp, loud slap struck Bai Wei's face with such force that her head tilted, and clear red fingerprints instantly bloomed across her cheek.

Bai Wei clutched her face, eyes wide in disbelief, shrieking: "You! How dare you slap me?! I'm a person beside the Empress!"

Wan Tang flicked her hand, her gaze icy: "'You'?"

"I am the Virtuous Consort personally appointed by the Emperor; you, a lowly maid, dare address me as 'you' and 'I'—such disregard for rank."

"It seems the Empress has been too lenient, never properly taught you the Palace Rules!"

She didn't wait for Bai Wei to retort, and barked loudly: "Someone! Keep this disrespectful one restrained, kneeling at the palace gate."

"She shall kneel until I return from Kunning Palace, so she can clear her head and learn what proper conduct is!"

Immediately two senior eunuchs stepped forward, one on each side, restraining Bai Wei.

Bai Wei trembled with anger, struggling fiercely, cursing without restraint: "What are you, daring to humiliate me like this!"

"The Empress will never let you go!"

Wan Tang heard this, and instead of getting angry, she stepped forward a step.

From a high position she looked down disdainfully at Bai Wei, who was forced to kneel, and said, "I am the Virtuous Consort!"

"It is one of the Four Consorts personally appointed by the Emperor! It is the main seat of this Palace of Eternal Joy!"

She leaned down slightly, her voice pressed down to a very low pitch, yet each word was like a knife, stabbing hard into Bai Wei's heart:

"This position is one that you will never be able to move, and will never be able to climb to!"

After speaking, she no longer looked at Bai Wei's twisted, snarling expression, brushed her sleeves and turned away.

She walked with graceful poise toward the direction of Kunning Palace.

Leaving Bai Wei behind in powerless fury, she was held tightly by a eunuch and could only kneel in humiliation outside the palace gate.

If you don't make a big fuss, how can the people who need to know find out?

Kunning Palace.

Wan Tang had just stepped into the hall entrance, and hadn't even performed the bow yet.

The little eunuch who arrived later hurriedly reported the incident at the Palace of Eternal Joy entrance in a low voice to Xiao Mingshu.

Xiao Mingshu instantly flared with anger, slammed the table hard, and scolded in a harsh voice, "How daring you are! To act so overbearing!"

Wan Tang was not frightened at all, meeting the Empress's fiery gaze directly, her tone calm yet with a sharp retort: "Empress, I do not understand this remark.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, her voice clear as it echoed through the hall: "Bai Wei, a mere servant, daring to address me, the holder of the Four Consorts' position, with the word 'you', showing no respect for hierarchy."

"As a palace consort, I am merely reprimanding an unruly servant on behalf of the Empress; what is wrong with that?"

She paused deliberately, her gaze sweeping over the Empress's face flushed with anger, and asked slowly, "In the Empress's eyes, are the rules of hierarchy in this palace free to be trampled at will?"

"Or does the Empress think that the distinction between legitimate and secondary lineage, rank and status, is inherently unimportant?"

"You!" Xiao Mingshu despised most when others invoked legitimate or secondary lineage.

She trembled with anger, pointing at Wan Tang, and was suddenly choked, unable to utter a rebuttal.

Seeing that she could not outreason Wan Tang, and each of her words was met with defiance, Xiao Mingshu became completely exasperated.

She snatched the ornate box that had once held a clay figurine, now empty, and slammed it hard onto the ground before Wan Tang!

The box shattered, emitting a harsh, grating sound.

Xiao Mingshu's chest heaved violently, her face showing a snarling, cold smile mixing anger and triumph, her voice sharp:

"Virtuous Consort, you truly are formidable."

She stared fixedly at Wan Tang's instantly shifting complexion, forcing each word out between her teeth:

"Don't you know whether this thing can make you shut your mouth obediently!"

Wan Tang looked at the shattered ornate box, and felt a heaviness in her heart.

She forced a calm expression, trying to feign ignorance: "Empress, what do you mean? I do not know this…"

"Don't know?" Xiao Mingshu cut sharply, yanking a yellowed slip of paper from her sleeve and flashing it fiercely before her, "This palace tells you."

"If this thing were given to the Emperor, what would happen, you say?!"

She stepped forward a pace, her voice lowered, yet like a venomous snake spitting, bearing a deadly threat: "Wan Tang, you must think this through."

"Your Minghui is not even half a year old! How can you let her be so young to…"

Wan Tang's complexion turned pale instantly, her lips pressed into a straight line, unable to utter another word.

Those eyes, usually full of smile, now held only cold, dead silence.

Xiao Mingshu looked at her demeanor, and finally a victorious, smug smile appeared on her face.

She leisurely sat back on the Phoenix Throne, calmly smoothing her sleeves, her tone as if discussing the weather:

"This palace has recently encountered a little trouble."

"You also know that Xu Chengyuan is dead, the Grand General's position is vacant, and must be filled quickly."

She shifted her tone, adding venom: "Everything was fine, yet that immortal old thing, the Duke of Ning, relying on being Hui Guifei's maternal grandfather, dares repeatedly to oppose my father in the court!"

"Truly an eyesore!"

Wan Tang lowered her eyelids, her voice hoarse: "Matters of the court, how could I, a woman of the harem, possibly influence them?"

"Besides, the Duke of Ning is such a figure; how could I dare to provoke him?"

A cup of scalding tea was suddenly splashed onto Wan Tang's face!

Tea froth soaked her hair and collar, and droplets slid down her cheek.

She twisted her face, voice sharp: "Stop pretending in front of this palace."

"This palace sees you as someone who doesn't weep even when seeing a coffin!"

She stood, walked to Wan Tang, and jabbed her shoulder with her fingertip: "Aren't you quite capable? Aren't you on good terms with Hui Guifei?"

She leaned close to Wan Tang's ear, her voice like a curse: "If this palace causes Hui Guifei a little 'accident', making her good maternal grandfather, the Duke of Ning, fall ill once, and stop being a hindrance!"

"Fall ill once, and stop being a hindrance!"

Wan Tang's face was wet, tea dripping down her jaw, she remained silent, like a jade statue that had lost its vitality.

"How? Refuse?" Xiao Mingshu sneered, waving the paper in her hand, "It seems you really want your precious daughter…"

"The Emperor has arrived!"

Outside the hall, a sharp eunuch's announcement rang suddenly!

Xiao Mingshu's complexion changed abruptly, she swiftly slipped the paper back into her sleeve and glared fiercely at Wan Tang, full of warning.

Chu Yunzheng strode into the hall, and at a glance saw Wan Tang, her face stained with tea, clothing disheveled, kneeling on the ground.

His brows knit instantly: "What is going on?"