Chapter 230: The Storm Approaches

It looks like Xiao Susu has grown to hate Wan Tang, because for Xiao Susu, it was Wan Tang who, to return to the Emperor's side, let Li Ping'er take the favor that was hers to begin with.

Xiao Susu is ill; isn't Wan Tang doing this for her? Does she have to wait until she perishes in this palace, until Su Yanci is also killed, before she is satisfied?

Sisters, don't get worked up; after all, Xiao Susu can't be blamed—who can deny that the Dog Emperor's looks are truly outstanding.

Wan Tang calmly listened to the words in the Barrage, and let out a light sigh deep in her heart.

Liu Guiren, standing nearby, clearly saw Wan Tang's sudden stiffness and the coldness in her eyes; she hurried forward a few steps, her face full of obsequious flattery.

She lowered her voice: "Your Highness, please don't take it to heart."

"Lady Su has no luck; in these past months, the Emperor hasn't even mentioned her name once."

Seeing that Wan Tang did not immediately rebuke her, she grew bolder.

With a seductive tone: "May I speak, Empress? I have been deposed, and in this Imperial harem, who besides Your Highness is more qualified to be the mother of the realm?"

"Your divine favor is now strong; ascending to the Empress seat is only a matter of time…"

Before she finished speaking, Wan Tang's icy gaze swept over like a blade.

"How audacious!" Wan Tang's voice was not loud, yet carried a chilling intimidation, "Matters of the Imperial harem are also for you to speak of so recklessly?"

"The Empress position is decided solely by the Emperor's divine will; how could you babble nonsense here!"

Liu Guiren's face turned white with fear, and she hurriedly knelt: "Your Highness, calm your anger!"

"I was only pleased for Your Highness, a momentary slip of the tongue…"

Wan Tang looked down from her lofty position, her gaze sharp enough to pierce the heart: "Misspoke in the moment?"

"I see you are scheming!"

"It was hard enough for me to get out of the Cold Palace; are you trying to use these treasonous words to send me back?"

"I dare not! I would never have such a thought!" Liu Guiren lay on the ground, her voice trembling, cold sweat beading at her temples.

Wan Tang stared coldly at her for a moment, then, slightly weary, waved her hand and said, "Step down."

"Remember, keep your mouth in check if you wish to live long in this palace."

"Yes, yes, thank you for Your Highness's teaching; I take my leave." Liu Guiren, as if pardoned, hurriedly kowtowed and, almost using hands and feet, retreated.

Kunning Palace.

The once resplendent chambers now lay so coldly silent that one could hear the sound of incense ash falling.

Xiao Mingshu still wore the Empress's phoenix‑patterned palace attire, sitting upright on the main seat, her back straight as if today were not the day of her deposition but an ordinary morning rise.

Xiao Dongzi held a bright yellow Imperial Decree, his thin voice echoing sharply in the spacious hall.

Wan Tang stood quietly beside her, with an elderly eunuch whose hat brim was pulled down extremely low at her side.

"The Central Palace has lost virtue and is unfit as a model… stripped of the Empress seat, demoted to… Quiet Consort. Granted the title 'Quiet', may she reflect calmly on her faults. Effective today, she is to be moved out of Kunning Palace to a side hall of Zhuijin Palace."

The word "Quiet" now rang with the Emperor's deep‑seated sarcasm.

After the Imperial Decree was read, the hall fell dead silent.

Wan Tang stepped forward, slipped a gold ingot into Xiao Dongzi's hand, and whispered a few words.

Xiao Dongzi understood, bowed and led the remaining palace staff out, the heavy palace doors closing slowly.

"Wan Tang," Xiao Mingshu finally spoke, her gaze level ahead, not meeting Wan Tang's eyes, her voice still bearing the dignity of a matriarch, "Do you think you've won?"

"So you came here specifically to mock me, even to humiliate me?!"

Wan Tang let out a light laugh, stepped forward slowly: "I have little desire to see you."

"Between us, there is no deep hatred, only the victor and the vanquished."

She turned, signaling the elderly eunuch beside her: "The one who truly wants to see you is him."

The eunuch lifted his hand, removed his hat, revealing Qi Qi's face, lined with wrinkles and hatred.

Xiao Mingshu's peripheral glance swept over, and she let out a cold snort: "I have long known you were colluding together."

Qi Qi's cloudy old eyes stared at her, his voice trembling with suppressed anger: "I, an old man, have served the Xiao family as a beast of burden for decades; when my daughter entered the palace, she immediately looked to you for guidance…"

"But you took her life, and even the First Prince she bore you did not spare!"

Xiao Mingshu finally turned her gaze to him, a sharply cold sarcasm curling at the corner of her lips: "Who made you give birth to a fool?"

"You!" Qi Qi's eyes widened to the brink of splitting, he lunged forward, his gaunt hand's veins bulging, as if he could instantly strangle the poisonous woman.

Wan Tang raised her hand to block him, her voice calm: "Calm down. Even now she is unbearable, she remains the Emperor's Quiet Consort."

She then turned to the slightly flushed Xiao Mingshu, her tone gentle yet cutting: "What she cares about most is not the Empress's Phoenix Seal?"

"Let her live, watch her most hated person gradually claim the position she cannot obtain, tormenting her day and night—wouldn't that be more satisfying than death?"

Qi Qi gasped, and hearing that, a twisted smile slowly spread across his face: "Indeed… death is far too cheap for you."

Xiao Mingshu suddenly pointed at Wan Tang, her fingertips trembling, the composure she had maintained finally cracking: "Dream on!"

"You are dreaming! The Empress seat will forever belong to our Xiao family!"

Wan Tang stepped a bit closer, her voice pressed down to a whisper, with a serpentine chill: "Indeed, the Empress seat… naturally could belong to any member of the Xiao family."

"But it could never be yours."

She admired the sudden constriction of Xiao Mingshu's pupils, continuing to whisper, word by word, shattering her final defense: "I will make you regret."

"Regret for a man who will never love you, for your laughable love that you cannot obtain, and have jeopardized the entire Xiao family!"

Xiao Mingshu's face turned stark white: "You… what do you mean?"

"What do you mean?" Wan Tang chuckled lightly, as casually as discussing the weather, "Back then you loved the Emperor to the point of madness, sparing no expense of the Xiao family's power as a dowry, forcing the Late Emperor and the Empress Dowager to arrange your marriage to the then Emperor."

"But do you know?"

"The Emperor also hates you."

"Had you not interfered, he could have kept the woman he loved, called 'Bai Li', rightfully by his side."

"Tell me, when the Xiao family no longer holds any value to him, how will he treat you, the Quiet Consort who ruined the love of his life?"

Xiao Mingshu's whole body trembled violently, she staggered backward, crashing into the Phoenix Throne, murmuring: "Impossible…"

Even if he doesn't love me, he will never act against the Xiao family.

Without the Xiao family, there would be no Emperor today. The Xiao family owes him a mountain of gratitude, having given him the favor of being restored!

Moreover, the Fengqi Kingdom now relies on the Xiao family.

Wan Tang simply stared at her quietly, her smile as sarcastic as ever.

Xiao Mingshu's voice grew ever weaker, she kept shaking her head, saying, "Impossible… impossible…"

Wan Tang no longer watched her despondent state, turned and said to Qi Qi, "Let's go. The good show… has only just begun; we can enjoy it slowly."

The two left, and the Gongmen closed again.

Behind them, only Xiao Mingshu's shattered cries echoed.

Below the Han White Jade Steps outside Kunning Palace, the setting sun was as red as blood.

Qi Qi fell a half step behind Wan Tang, his voice pressed down to a whisper, tinged with fatigue: "Your Highness, the Xiao family, after all, has deep roots; they have now reacted."

In the hall, those voices demanding severe punishment have already quieted.

Empress Dowager, an event that shakes the nation is enough to quell the Emperor's wrath.

Wan Tang's steps did not stop; her gaze fixed on the sky at the far end of the palace wall, reddened by the setting sun, her tone so bland it betrayed no emotion: "How is that enough?"

Qi Qi furrowed his brows, uneasy, reminding, "Your Highness, the old servant speaks too much; excess leads to loss."

"At present… should we temporarily avoid the sharp edge?"

Wan Tang finally halted, turned her head to look at him, the corner of her mouth forming a half‑smile: "Lord Qi, do you think the Emperor will be satisfied?"

She did not wait for Qi Qi's answer, speaking on her own, "What he wants has never been merely the turbulence of swapping a new master in the Imperial harem."

Qi Qi's face showed confusion: "The old servant is dull; Your Highness, what do you mean…?"

Wan Tang's gaze returned to the distance, her voice clear in Qi Qi's ear: "The Second Young Master who manages Yunxiang Pavilion in your household will understand."

She paused, then, in a flat tone, stated a fact, "The monthly profit allocated to my palace from Yunxiang Pavilion usually exceeds ten thousand taels of silver, yet last month the accounts showed only three hundred taels."

Qi Qi's complexion changed abruptly, hastily explaining: "Your Highness, you see clearly! My son would never dare to line his own pockets; it must be…"

Wan Tang lifted her hand lightly, cutting him off, her tone still calm: "Lord Qi, you are overthinking."

"I mention this not because I suspect the Second Young Master."

She turned back, her gaze sharp on Qi Qi, "I only wish to remind the Grandfather that the net cast out for many years should now be retrieved."

Qi Qi was first stunned, then a flash of sudden understanding and shock passed through his murky eyes.

He looked at the woman before him, whose age could make her his granddaughter, observing the astonishing power and scheming hidden beneath her calm visage.

After a long while, he let out a complex, prolonged sigh:

"I am ultimately old. From now on, it will be the realm of Your Highness and the young."

He bowed, his tone reverting to subservient deference: "Old Minister knows what to do now. Please, Your Highness, rest assured."

Wan Tang gave a slight nod, saying no more.

Qi Qi bowed, stepped back a few paces, turned and merged into the shadow of the palace wall; though his gait showed age, his back straightened a few degrees.

Wan Tang stood alone in the afterglow of the setting sun, her hem gently stirred by the evening breeze.

The reckoning has only just begun.

The Xiao family thought the Empress Dowager was the end point, yet they did not know this was merely the first tear.

The real storm lies ahead.

Qi Qi's figure vanished at the corner of the palace corridor, and before Wan Tang could contemplate the next move, she heard a rapid footfall drawing nearer.

Xiao Dongzi, who had just issued the decree, went and returned, his face still damp with sweat he hadn't time to wipe, panting as he ran before Wan Tang, shouting urgently:

"Your Highness! The Emperor orders you to go to Yangxin Hall at once! Not a moment may be delayed!"

Wan Tang felt a chill in her heart, yet her face remained impassive: "What causes such panic?"

Xiao Dongzi leaned closer, his voice pressed low, tinged with tension: "Minister of the Ministry of Rites Xiao has arrived!"

"He came with Xiao Shunzi, bound with heavy five‑flower ropes."

"He is in Yangxin Hall, in front of the Emperor, accusing you… of harming the loyal, directing eunuchs to frame the Former Empress!"

Xiao Shunzi?

Wan Tang's eyes flashed coldly.

"I understand," Wan Tang said calmly, as if merely attending an ordinary summons, "Lead the way forward."

She smoothed her slightly wrinkled sleeves, straightened her back, and walked toward Yangxin Hall.