Chapter 272

…

After reaching an agreement, the five women began discussing the details: who would approach whom, and how to persuade them?

During this process, the five women briefly calculated that if they could persuade most of the women in the harem, and those women in turn persuaded their underlying factions, the side supporting the lifting of the Imperial Prince's shackles would achieve overwhelming victory.

This was mainly because the most outstanding daughters of the empire's top officials had nearly all entered the harem, including most chancellors and ministers.

Yuan Qing Cheng asked calmly: "Do you think the Emperor long anticipated this? Did he deliberately bring all the daughters of ministers into the harem to form a shared interest bloc, so he could now effortlessly break the Prince's shackles?"

Zhang Chun sneered: "He's just purely lustful. This brilliant idea was mine—he merely reaped the benefits."

Saying this, Zhang Chun wore an expression of exhausted devotion and continued: "He's just lucky—everything is planned and done for him by us. Otherwise, how could he possibly rule so comfortably?"

Yuan Qing Cheng glanced at the confident Zhang Chun and said: "The Emperor ascended the throne entirely through his own abilities—your description of him is far too harsh."

"Ha! If I hadn't used my clever scheme to awaken his ambition back then, do you think he'd have dared challenge Zhao Ji for the throne?"

"Later, I planned how he could seize the throne from Zhao Ji, introduced him to talents like Tong Guan, Liang Shicheng, Li Yan, Cai Jing, Wang Bin, and He Guan, obtained the manufacturing methods for glass and soap from Xiao Jiao to solve his financial crisis, enabling him to win people's hearts—and finally, I personally went to Empress Dowager Xiang's side to keep watch over the most critical figure."

The more Zhang Chun spoke, the more indignant she became: "Tell me—if I hadn't done all this, could he have become Emperor? And tell me, given all I've done for him, the monumental contributions I made to his coronation, shouldn't he have made me Empress? Ha! Yet after all my efforts, he married Zheng Empress instead. Be honest—doesn't he owe me an apology?"

Hearing Zhang Chun's complaints, Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, and Seeing Ma Xiao Jiao all looked at Yuan Qing Cheng with reproachful expressions—as if saying: "Why did you bring this up? Now she's dredging up old grievances again."

After listening to Zhang Chun's tirade, Yuan Qing Cheng internally assessed and realized Zhao Yu's claim—that they had done nothing to help him defeat Zhao Ji and ascend the throne—was inaccurate; at least Seeing Ma Xiao Jiao's glass and soap manufacturing methods had solved Zhao Yu's financial problems.

Of course, from Zhao Yu's perspective, Zhang Chun's contributions and usefulness were certainly far less than Zheng Xiansu's.

Moreover, judging by the present situation, Zheng Xiansu was indeed better suited to be Empress—Zhao Yu's choice was flawless.

Zhang Chun had opened the floodgates and couldn't close them anytime soon.

Zhang Chun continued: "Fine, Zheng Empress did help him quite a bit—her contributions may not have been much smaller than mine, and she's meticulous and skilled, so she's fit to be Empress. I won't compete with her for that title—but granting me a Noble Consort shouldn't be too much, right? Are my contributions less than those of Noble Consort Wang or Noble Consort Guo? And yet, they gave me this ridiculous title of Imperial Consort—just like you four. What even is an 'Imperial Consort'? Is there such a thing as an 'Imperial Consort' among the Four Imperial Consorts? After years of effort, bearing him four sons and one daughter, I barely became Virtuous Consort—and I'm still three steps away from Noble Consort! This is outright oppression!"

Seeing Ma Xiao Jiao comforted Zhang Chun: "You didn't stay with the Emperor for fame or fortune—you were in it for love, weren't you?"

Hearing this, Zhang Chun softened slightly and said: "He's my first love, and I never had the chance to dump him and find another husband. Otherwise, just see if I'd let him off so easily!"

Yuan Qing Cheng added quietly: "Do you think the Emperor might have learned about your nickname 'Empress Dowager Chun' and your earlier treasonous plans—and deliberately let the Empress suppress you?"

"Who betrayed me?" Zhang Chun asked.

"Are you insane? What benefit would we gain by betraying you? Or even—do we have any reason to?" Ye Shi Yun said.

Zhang Chun realized it made sense.

Li Lin was military-born and the eldest—she'd never betray her own reputation.

Ye Shi Yun might be loose-lipped and prone to outbursts, but she only sought luxury and comfort; she had no interest in stirring up trouble and wouldn't betray her.

Seeing Ma Xiao Jiao was kind-hearted, emotionally weighty, and her closest friend—she certainly wouldn't betray her.

Yuan Qing Cheng and she had some friction, but Zhang Chun still trusted her integrity—she wouldn't betray her either.

Most importantly, none of them had any motive or reason to betray her.

So Zhang Chun said: "As long as you don't betray me, he'll never find out about my nickname 'Empress Dowager Chun' or my past plots to kill him. Besides, back then I was young and reckless, and my feelings for him weren't as deep as now—I just had a few twisted thoughts. You all know that since I truly accepted him, I've devoted myself entirely to him, protecting him and helping him become a legendary emperor. But if, just hypothetically, he ever discovers my past sins, you must pull me back—prove I love him, that I've truly turned over a new leaf."

"Fine, I'll speak up for you then," Li Lin said.

"Alright, as sisters, I won't let you die," Ye Shi Yun said.

"Pure-sis, don't worry—I'll definitely help you," Seeing Ma Xiao Jiao said.

Yuan Qing Cheng wanted to say: "No need for all this—the Emperor never intended to hold it against you."

But she couldn't say that—she could only reply evasively: "I'll tell the Emperor the truth."

…

Removing the Prince's restrictions must be done sooner rather than later—if Crown Prince Zhao Shou's power becomes too entrenched, it will be too late.

Moreover, this Prince's departure from the palace is the perfect opportunity.

Thus, after finalizing their plan, the five women immediately split up to act—first securing key figures like Zhang Nan and Cai Xuan, then spreading the word: one to ten, ten to a hundred, a hundred to a thousand, until it reached every corner of the harem.

This wasn't a conspiracy—it was an open, advantageous strategy for most women in the harem besides Zheng Xiansu—after all, even if they currently had no sons, they might bear sons in the future; only by lifting the Prince's shackles could their sons gain freedom, achieve something, and not be raised like pigs.

Precisely because of this, most women in the harem agreed to support the five women and sent messengers to persuade their own families.

In fact, from the very moment the five women began their actions, Zheng Xiansu knew exactly what they were doing.

Given Zheng Xiansu's intelligence, she quickly realized this was being driven by Zhao Yu behind the scenes—and that many women in the harem supported the five women simply because they understood the truth: they were backing their own man, Zhao Yu.

Since Zhao Yu was the one behind it, Zheng Xiansu could not stop it, whether she wished to or not.