Chapter 255: The Emperor Takes Action

Cining Palace.

Xiao Yurou knelt beside the Empress Dowager's feet, sobbing softly: "Aunt, the Emperor just now didn't even give Rou'er a proper look…."

The Empress Dowager rolled her Buddhist beads, never lifting her eyelids, and said coldly: "Why the hurry? There is plenty of time ahead."

Sitting at the lower seat, Xiao Mingshu heard the words, sneered, and said with sarcasm: "If tears could buy the throne, this palace would already be full of empresses."

"Ruling the world as a mother requires tactics and wit, not this pitiful, delicate appearance."

Xiao Yurou lifted her tearful eyes and timidly looked at Xiao Mingshu.

Her tone, however, hid a soft sting: "Sister Mingshu's reprimand is that Rou'er doesn't understand why so many people in the palace have suddenly started imitating Bai Li."

"Even the subtlest gestures are mimicked with such precision; unless someone 'carefully guided' them, how could they be so?"

"Isn't this treating the Emperor's past concerns as a play that can be manipulated at will?"

She glanced over Xiao Mingshu with a look that seemed both present and absent.

"No matter how good something is, when it appears in piles, it loses its appeal!"

Xiao Mingshu's complexion changed abruptly, and she sprang up: "What insinuations are you making?!"

Xiao Yurou flinched as if startled, then whispered: "Also, why did you specifically take Rou'er's portrait to show the Virtuous Consort?"

"Isn't this making the Virtuous Consort develop an early aversion toward Rou'er…?"

"Enough!" the Empress Dowager slammed the Buddhist beads onto the table, her icy gaze sweeping the two, "Useless things, besides infighting, what else can they do?"

Xiao Mingshu watched the Empress Dowager's unabashed contempt, and also caught the hidden smugness beneath Xiao Yurou's demure demeanor.

She let out a sudden mournful laugh, as if all her strength had been drained in an instant.

She no longer looked at Xiao Yurou, but stared straight at the Empress Dowager, her eyes laced with self‑mockery and sorrow: "Aunt… no, Empress Dowager."

"So in your heart, Mingshu has been nothing but a chess piece that can be discarded the moment it's spent."

"Your heart truly is cruel."

Xiao Yurou hurriedly pretended to counsel: "Sister Mingshu, please don't say that; Aunt also means well for us…"

"Shut up!" Xiao Mingshu snapped, her gaze sharp as a blade, "Put away that hypocritical act."

"With only this little cultivation, you're nowhere near enough in front of Wan Tang."

"I'm afraid you've been gnawed to the bone, yet you still count silver for others."

"How dare you!" the Empress Dowager roared, leapt to her feet, raised her hand and struck Xiao Mingshu hard. The "Snap!" echoed crisply through the hall.

Xiao Mingshu tilted her head, a red welt flashing across her face in an instant, yet she smiled—a bleak, desperate smile.

The Empress Dowager's chest heaved violently as she pointed at the hall doors, her voice as cold as ice: "Get out!"

"From now on, without the Imperial Household's edict, you need not return to Cining Palace!"

Xiao Mingshu said no more, straightened her back, and walked step by step out of Cining Palace, her silhouette bearing a resolute loneliness.

Xiao Yurou lowered her head, and her mouth twitched ever so slightly where no one could see.

The next day in the palace, every breeze seemed to carry hushed whispers.

In the palace corridors, pavilions and water pavilions, everywhere people whispered to each other, voices hushed, eyes flashing with excitement.

"Did you hear? At last night's Mid‑Autumn banquet, the Virtuous Consort's move truly turned the tide!"

"More than that! You didn't see the Emperor's gaze toward the Virtuous Consort—that's true affection!"

"The people the Empress Dowager painstakingly selected, before the Virtuous Consort, are like fireflies before the bright moon."

"As for the phoenix throne, besides the Virtuous Consort, who else could fill it? It's practically nailed down."

Wan Tang held Li Ping'er's hand and strolled through the Imperial Garden, expression indifferent, as if the faint rumors drifting around meant nothing to her.

Wherever she passed, whether low‑rank concubines gathered nearby or sweeping palace staff, they all fell silent instantly.

They then hurriedly bowed their heads, kneeling with utmost reverence, a posture of unprecedented awe and veneration, not daring even to breathe.

The junior attendant behind, seeing the scene, plastered a sycophantic smile on his face.

He stepped closer, whispering: "Your Highness, look, now inside and outside the palace, who doesn't say it's the people's desire…"

Before he could finish, Wan Tang's steps abruptly halted.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze landing on the junior attendant's face, containing no hint of flattered joy, only a chilling coldness.

The smile on the junior attendant's face froze instantly.

"The people's desire?" Wan Tang's voice was low yet each word crystal clear, bearing undeniable authority: "I can't believe I didn't know, you servant, now you dare to speculate on the state's foundation and guess the Holy Will?"

The junior attendant, terrified, "thumped" onto his knees, cold sweat streaming: "I dare not! I misspoke!"

Wan Tang looked down from her height, voice cold: "In half an hour, if I hear any similar baseless speculation in the palace again—"

"You need not return to Palace of Eternal Joy to serve any longer."

"I obey the edict, I'll go do it at once! Right now!"

The junior attendant scrambled up, almost crawling with hands and feet, retreating in a panic.

Wan Tang withdrew her gaze and continued her leisurely walk, her face still calm, as if the harsh words had never been spoken.

Li Ping'er watched silently beside her, heart stern, following even more cautiously.

Wan Tang kept walking slowly, and when she reached a relatively secluded flower path—

She saw a familiar yet disheveled figure dragging an obviously unnatural leg, laboriously sweeping fallen leaves.

Wan Tang stopped, feigning surprise, her tone suitably concerned: "Oh, isn't this Grandfather Li?"

"How could you, esteemed elder, lower yourself to such heavy labor?"

Li Defu heard the voice, looked up, and upon seeing Wan Tang, his aged face flashed with embarrassment and panic.

He forced out a smile uglier than crying, hunching his body to hide his broken leg's wretchedness: "Old servant…"

"I, the old servant, have nothing to do, just moving my limbs; I dare not trouble Your Highness with questions."

【Haha, are you trying to kill me with laughter? 'Moving my limbs'—it's really because the Dog Emperor beat me.】

The once most trusted servant actually committed such a betrayal, and still being alive is already a miracle.

It is still Wan Tang's methods that are best; Xiao Luzi reported to the Emperor both the matter of Xiao Mingshu flaunting her portrait and Wan Tang's way of handling it.

Now in Gou Royal Brother's heart, Wan Tang is the most virtuous person. Gou Royal Brother has now decided that he may not be the one who loves Wan Tang the most, but in this world there is absolutely no second person who loves him more than Wan Tang.

Wan Tang heard this and smiled lightly.

But the smile never reached her eyes: "Since Li Gonggong is so idle, my palace actually lacks an experienced overseer."

"Li Ping'er is missing a mentor; if you are truly idle, go serve her, it will also give you a chance to stretch your limbs."

Li Defu jerked his head up, and in his cloudy old eyes instantly burst an incredulous light, which was then swallowed by a surge of gratitude.

He fell to the ground with a heavy "splash," and despite the pain of a broken leg and a piercing heart, he knelt and shuffled a few steps on his knees.

His trembling hands reached to lift the hem of Wan Tang's skirt and the sole of her shoe, his voice hoarse and choked: "Thank you, Your Lady's grace!"

"Thank you, Virtuous Consort's great kindness!"

Wan Tang still wore a gentle faint smile, allowing his mud‑splattered hands to lightly touch the tip of her embroidered shoe.

Then she said lightly: "Very well, go."

After Li Defu, having thanked a thousand times, limped away, Wan Tang's smile vanished without a trace.

She took Li Ping'er's hand, quickened her steps back to Palace of Eternal Joy, and upon entering the inner hall could no longer conceal the disgust in her brows.

"So filthy," she whispered, her tone icy.

The senior palace maid standing nearby understood immediately, stepped forward respectfully and said: "Your Lady, I will now attend to your changing and bathing."

Wan Tang shook her head, her gaze falling on the embroidered shoes that Li Defu had just brushed against.

The shoe surface was made of the finest Su brocade silk, its toe adorned with a round Eastern Pearl, exquisitely delicate.

"No need to replace them," she said coldly, with an almost cruel resolve, "Take this entire outfit I am wearing today, from inside to outside, together with these shoes, and burn them all."

The palace maid, hearing this, showed a flash of shock and sorrow in her eyes, and could not help but whisper: "Your Lady, just these beaded embroidered shoes alone are recorded by the Imperial Household Department as worth three hundred taels…"

Wan Tang did not even lift an eyelid, merely repeated: "Burn them."

The palace staff dared not speak further, hurriedly and carefully removed all of her garments for the day, along with the costly embroidered shoes, and carried them out together.

Flames leapt, devouring the splendid robes and dazzling pearls, and also burning away the nauseating aura that the momentary false benevolence had brought.

Li Ping'er, hearing Li Defu's current wretched state, could not help but let a satisfied curve rise at the corner of her mouth.

She whispered: "Serves him right! That old castrated dog finally gets his day, it's truly gratifying."

Wan Tang sat upright at the dressing table, and upon hearing it only glanced at Li Ping'er through the bronze mirror, a barely perceptible faint curve appearing at her lips.

Her tone was calm and even, as if speaking of an ordinary matter: "I have already ordered that Li Defu serve by your side in the future."

Li Ping'er's smile froze instantly, turning into obvious shock and disgust: "Sister! Let him come into my palace?"

"Just seeing his face makes me sick; why let him dirty the place?"

Wan Tang slowly turned, her gaze calmly fixed on Li Ping'er.

With a cool, world‑wise detachment she said: "Ping'er, have you never heard that saying?"

She leaned forward slightly, her voice gentle, yet each word struck Li Ping'er's heart:

"If you have never seen a fairyland, how could you know… how bitter hell truly is?"

Li Ping'er was first stunned, then the hatred swirling in her eyes ignited like dry wood thrown onto a fire, suddenly becoming deep and fierce.

She inhaled deeply, suppressed the surge in her heart, nodded heavily, her gaze turning icy and resolute: "Sister, I understand."

【Sisters, look at the spectacle, the Emperor actually went to Xiao Mingshu.】

【Indeed, Xiao Mingshu spread everywhere the matter of her white moonlight, and Gou Royal Brother was completely enraged.】

【It was once thought that the Empress Dowager and the Xiao Family were tolerated endlessly by the Emperor, but now he dares to touch his white moonlight— that's unforgivable.】

【Hahaha, Xiao Mingshu thought the Emperor was coming to see her, but unexpectedly, he gave her a slap.】

【Now it's perfect: the Emperor wishes her dead, the Empress Dowager wishes her vanished, Xiao Mingshu is truly isolated.】

【Interesting, Xiao Yurou doesn't seem kind either; the Empress Dowager just gave up on Xiao Mingshu, and she immediately stole many of Xiao Mingshu's years of incriminating evidence from the Empress Dowager.】

From outside the hall, Xiao Luzi's respectful report came at the right moment: "Your Lady, Xiao Gu Niang is requesting an audience outside the Gongmen, saying she has come especially to pay your respects."

Wan Tang, looking at her own brows and eyes in the mirror after removing her ornaments, heard the words and, without stopping, replied lightly: "Oh?"

Li Ping'er immediately frowned, whispering: "Sister, she comes now, surely with ill intent; why not find a reason to send her back?"

Wan Tang gently shook her head, a faint hint of playful amusement at the corner of her lips: "Avoiding her only makes my palace seem lacking in dignity."

"Go respond, invite Xiao Gu Niang to the Main Hall to sit briefly; after I change, I will go."

"Yes." Xiao Luzi answered outside the door, his footsteps fading.

Inside the hall only the two of them remained, and Li Ping'er still felt uneasy: "Sister, after all she is from the Empress Dowager's side, and she bears that kind of face…"

Wan Tang stood, letting the palace staff drape a modest‑colored yet exquisitely crafted regular robe over her, and said calmly: "Precisely because she bears that face, she ought to be seen."

"I want to see what act this 'Future Empress', whom the Empress Dowager has high hopes for, intends to perform on her first visit."