In this entire palace, only his mother consort was here, so the crying could only be coming from her.
Tantai Yu concealed the impatience flashing across her eyes, pushed the door open, stepped over the threshold, and walked into the run-down room.
"Mother Consort."
The crying stopped abruptly. Chen Yunxiang, who had been lying on the bed weeping, stood up, rushed over excitedly, and threw her arms around Tantai Yu.
"Yuer, my Yuer! Why did you take so long to come see me? This place is so terrifying. Last night, there were so many cats meowing that I couldn't sleep at all. Yuer, you're the smartest one. Can you take me away from this place?"
Tantai Yu took a small step back, looking at her birth mother Chen Yunxiang as she said, "Your child has no power to change things. Please wait for me, Mother Consort. Once I come up with a plan, I will definitely get you out of here."
Chen Yunxiang's body went rigid. "Yuer, what do you mean? How could you be helpless? You were able to alter the way the Emperor sees me, to hide the truth from His Majesty and all the imperial physicians! You are a little fairy child! Ever since I conceived you, you could talk to me while still in my womb, telling me exactly what to do to live a good life, how to win the Emperor's favor, and how to outshine everyone else! What's wrong with you now? Why won't you help me?"
Tantai Yu's face darkened. "I can help you once, but I cannot look after you for the rest of your life! Back then I told you to kill Cui Huaiyin and put an end to everything once and for all! Why did you hesitate? Why did you spare her and her daughter? If you had killed them right then, we would never have been exposed!"
Chen Yunxiang's face drained of all color, her eyes full of regret. "It was Mother Consort's mistake. I've regretted it for so long. But you have to understand, back then I was just a servant of the Cui family. I grew up alongside Cui Huaiyin, and she treated me so well, like a sister. How could I bring myself to kill her?"
Tantai Yu scoffed. "What sister? No matter how well she treated you, she still saw you as just her maid! If she really cared about you, why wouldn't she share half of all her good things with you?"
Chen Yunxiang nodded vigorously. "Yes! Exactly! I've thought it through now, I regret it all. Ever since I found out she had come to the capital, I've been kicking myself. I never thought she'd be so lucky, that she'd make it this far, meet your father the Emperor, and be brought into the palace by him!"
"Yuer, help me kill her, so I can take her place again. You are that little fairy child from heaven, you must have a way, right? Once I win your father's favor again, you and your younger brother will have an even better future."
Tantai Yu let out a cold laugh. "There are no second chances like that, Mother Consort. Cui Huaiyin has not only been made Consort Cui by the Emperor, her daughter was also brought into the palace yesterday, and this morning the Emperor named her Princess Fuxi."
Chen Yunxiang froze completely, collapsing onto the floor as if she could not process the shocking news.
Tantai Yu said, "I may not be able to get you out of here, but I can see to it that you are properly cared for. As long as I am alive, you will be able to spend the rest of your days peacefully here in Qiuling Palace."
Chen Yunxiang lifted her head dazedly, her face streaked with tears, her hands clenched tight. As if suddenly remembering something, she stared at Tantai Yu and said, "You! Yuer, you must keep your true identity hidden at all costs. Never let anyone find out!"
Tantai Yu frowned slightly. "I know that. As long as you don't run your mouth and tell anyone anything, I will be fine."
Chen Yunxiang let out a sigh of relief, looking at her daughter through tear-blurred eyes. At the very least, her daughter was safe and well, she hadn't dragged her down.
That's right. She was going to stay alive here. She still had a son and a daughter to raise, she wanted to see them grow up to be adults, and she absolutely could not die!
Tantai Yu soon left Qiuling Palace.
She tilted her head back, looking up at the sun hanging in the sky. It was dazzlingly bright, but her mind was clearer than ever.
Right now, the most important thing was to let the Emperor see how capable she was. Even if Princess Fuxi was older than her, she was a hundred, a thousand times more outstanding than that girl.
Only by gaining the Emperor's favor could the road ahead of her be smooth.
As long as she was around, she would make Princess Fuxi look like nothing more than a useless, foolish idiot!
...
The Emperor had just gained a new daughter, who had been named Princess Fuxi. This Princess Fuxi was already six years old, having been living outside the palace all these years, until the Emperor fortunately found her recently.
The little princess was so exquisitely pretty, like a fairy child who had fallen straight down from the heavens, and she quickly won the deep affection of both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager!
News of this spread across the entire capital city in less than a day.
In a lively little tavern in the capital, Zhu Wangbei poured himself a full cup of wine, grinned warmly at the other men sitting around the table, and said, "Thank you all for treating me today, gentlemen. I'll drink this first cup down to the last drop!"
There were three other scholars seated at the square table with Zhu Wangbei, each taking up one side of it, all dressed in neat, proper clothes. Seeing Zhu Wangbei drain his cup in one go, the three of them exchanged a glance, just smiled, and said nothing for a moment.
One of them picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and placed it in Zhu Wangbei's bowl, saying, "Brother Zhu, don't drink too much. You've just recovered from a serious illness, and if drinking hurts your health, we will all feel responsible."
Zhu Wangbei gave a sheepish smile. "My illness is completely gone now. Thank you for your concern, Brother Wei. Having a good friend like you is such a blessing for me."
"We are all scholars aiming to pass the imperial examinations, so of course we should look out for one another," Brother Wei said, then casually probed, "By the way, that 'vicious woman' you divorced, Brother Zhu, her surname wouldn't happen to be Cui, would it?"
Zhu Wangbei froze for a second, not expecting his friend to bring that up. Now that Cui Huaiyin was in the palace, having become the Emperor's woman, just thinking about it made his heart twist with pain. But there was also a strange, smug feeling bubbling up inside him: the woman the Emperor was sleeping with had been his first.
So what if he was the Emperor? He was just using a woman that Zhu Wangbei had already gotten his hands on.
No matter how beautiful Cui Huaiyin was, she was a woman who had been married before. Even before they wed, she had already been pregnant with some unknown man's bastard child.
He refused to believe the Emperor wouldn't mind! Even a commoner like himself couldn't stop dwelling on her past, thinking about all the times she'd been intimate with other men. How could the dignified Emperor not be disgusted by Cui Huaiyin's history?
One day, when the Emperor got tired of playing with Cui Huaiyin, he would surely remember her sordid past, cast her aside, and even kill her in a fit of rage! What's more, Cui Huaiyin's body had long been damaged, she could never get pregnant again. She would never be able to bear the Emperor a royal heir. Without a son to rely on, she was nothing at all. She was doomed to be abandoned and scorned!
He was just waiting for that day, waiting to see her humiliated and left to die in the palace!
Zhu Wangbei coughed lightly, downed another cup of wine, then exchanged a mysterious look with his three friends. "Yes, that's exactly who she is, just as you all guessed."
"Brother Zhu! You really are a lucky man!"
"Absolutely, no doubt about it!"
Zhu Wangbei lifted his head high. At that moment, he felt strangely superior, as if he was no different from the Emperor living deep in the palace.
They were all just men, after all.
They had both been men in Cui Huaiyin's life.
"Did you know..." Brother Wei's tone suddenly shifted.
Zhu Wangbei held his wine cup halfway to his mouth. "Know what?"
Brother Wei blinked at him. "Are you really in the dark, Brother Zhu? We all know the story, how could you not?"
Zhu Wangbei looked even more bewildered. "What is it that I'm supposed to know?"
