"Seek justice? What justice? Are you planning to tell the Liu family that the Crown Prince drugged you with that kind of medicine, so they can seek justice for you and let all the court officials know what the Crown Prince has done?" The Empress wore a cold expression, her eyes full of threats.
Liu Wanting immediately stopped her crying. "Your Majesty, please see clearly. That was not my intention, and I have never told my father."
The Empress gave a faint response, her complexion improving somewhat. "At the end of the day, it is just your own uselessness. You married into the Crown Prince's estate, yet you cannot capture his heart at all. Even if this gets out, I am afraid the Liu family will only think you are incompetent."
That was for certain.
Compared to her, his daughter, her father now placed much more importance on her status and the value she brought to the family.
"Your Majesty, this matter was clearly instigated by the Crown Princess. If you do not punish her, there is no guarantee she will not do something even more outrageous."
At this moment, she only wished she could tear that venomous woman, Tang Qingwan, into pieces.
The Empress's eyes darkened. "Tomorrow, Consort Liang is holding a birthday banquet in the Imperial Garden. The Crown Princess should be attending. You will go along as well."
After the Empress finished speaking, she lowered her eyes and took a sip of her clear tea.
Liu Wanting was smart enough this time to catch on. "Your Majesty means that tomorrow..."
"The affection between the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess is, after all, quite extraordinary. Be careful not to play with fire and burn yourself. If the Crown Prince finds out anything, do not say I didn't warn you."
Consort Liang had been even more affectionate toward Cui Yunfeng these past two days. Even the meals were prepared specifically to suit Cui Yunfeng's tastes.
Cui Yunchu was easy to provide for; as long as she was given a bite of food, she would eat anything.
But Cui Yunfeng had a poor appetite and put down her chopsticks after barely taking two bites.
Consort Liang said, "Is the food not to your liking? These were all personally arranged by Yi'er. Logically speaking, he should be the one who understands your preferences best."
"The meals are indeed all my favorites. It is just that I ate a bit too much yesterday and cannot eat anymore."
Consort Liang nodded, coughed lightly a few times, and held Cui Yunfeng's hand, saying, "Yunfeng, seeing as the weather is getting colder and colder, my body is also growing increasingly weary. I want to move up the date of your wedding with Yi'er. What do you think?"
Cui Yunchu raised her eyes and glanced at the two of them.
Actually, there was no need for that preamble. Consort Liang was so young; could it be that she wouldn't survive the winter?
Cui Yunfeng did not expose this either, remaining as obedient as ever. "Whatever works is fine with me. I will leave the decision to Your Highness."
Consort Liang hadn't expected her to be so agreeable.
"Then how about setting the betrothal gift day for tomorrow?"
Beside her, Lady Zhao nudged her. "Your Highness, tomorrow is your birthday."
"Oh, I completely forgot I even had a birthday." Consort Liang was a bit embarrassed. "Then let it be the day after tomorrow. I have already had people prepare all the betrothal gifts."
Cui Yunfeng still nodded, complying without exception.
Cui Yunchu bit her chopsticks, frowning as she watched Consort Liang grinning from ear to ear.
Didn't she find this bizarre?
In any case, she felt something was fishy.
After the meal, Consort Liang asked Cui Yunfeng to deliver some food to Xiao Yi, and then immediately tried to pull Cui Yunchu over for a chat.
"..."
She truly did not want to discuss the origins of those love letters and her remarkable talents again.
"Your Highness." Cui Yunchu gave a forced smile. "You don't need to trouble yourself. I won't run around blindly."
She was merely worried that she would go and disturb the private time between Cui Yunfeng and Xiao Yi.
Consort Liang's smile became a bit more genuine, but as they turned their heads away, both of them gagged slightly.
It was truly because of those love poems by Cui Yunchu... The memories were too unbearable to look back on.
When Cui Yunfeng carried the meal over, Xiao Yi was taking a nap.
His once tall and imposing figure, the man whose gaze used to be devilishly charming and flamboyant, whose every movement carried utter arrogance and domineering pride, was now truly lying sick and weak in bed.
A man who could brush off sword wounds as if they were nothing had been worn down to this state by a mere cold.
Cui Yunfeng gripped the tray tightly, standing at a distance.
The person on the bed seemed to sense something and slowly opened his eyes. His voice was incredibly hoarse. "Have you eaten? The palace has a new chef. Are you used to the food?"
Propping himself up on the bed, he sat up halfway, his peach-blossom eyes fixed unblinkingly on the woman.
Cui Yunfeng lowered her eyes and walked forward. "Consort Liang asked me to bring Your Highness some food."
She opened the food container and served him a bowl of plain white porridge.
It was Xiao Yi's most hated food.
He disliked all bland, watery, and tasteless foods because he found them boring.
It was hard to tell whether he found life boring or just the food.
Every dish Cui Yunfeng brought out was something Xiao Yi strongly disliked.
Standing to the side, Eunuch Liu opened his mouth to say something but ultimately chose to remain silent, watching helplessly as his master obediently ate everything one by one.
"Consort Liang said that our betrothal gift day has been set for the day after tomorrow."
A flash of nervousness crossed Xiao Yi's face before disappearing. "What do you think?"
Cui Yunfeng nodded. "It's fine."
A genuine smile lifted the corners of Xiao Yi's lips.
"When formalizing the betrothal, a man must gift his fiancee a hairpin to show how much he cherishes her. I want to pick the hairpin myself. Could you accompany me tomorrow night?"
"Alright. Whatever you want is fine."
Cui Yunfeng smiled. Though it still lacked warmth, it was at least no longer so unapproachable.
She set down the food container and left.
Eunuch Liu said, "Your Highness, you were never involved in the matter concerning Grand Tutor Tang. It was entirely the Emperor's will. Why didn't you explain it to her? The Second Miss clearly harbors resentment toward you in her heart."
Xiao Yi gave a bitter smile and said nothing.
He had not participated, but he had known about it all along. On that count alone, he was not being wronged.
The banquet was held at noon. It was originally scheduled for the evening so that fireworks could be set off, but since Xiao Yi wanted to accompany Cui Yunfeng to pick out a hairpin that night, he requested it be moved up.
As Consort Liang ordered people to prepare, she grumbled and cursed, "I must have committed sins in my past life to have given birth to a thing like you."
Fortunately, the birthday banquet was just an excuse; going through the motions would suffice.
Just as everything had been set up in the Imperial Garden, the Empress sent someone over with a congratulatory gift.
The Empress knew of Consort Liang's birthday. Thus, as Consort Liang stared at the brocade box, it was as if she were looking at a bottle of poison. For a long while, she didn't have anyone accept it.
She was pondering what kind of scheme the Empress was plotting.
She certainly wouldn't be that kind-hearted.
However, the reason she was so brazen and unafraid of the Empress playing tricks was that both of them were currently very busy. They were so swamped that they simply had no time to deal with each other.
She was busy handling her son's messy affairs.
And the Empress was equally busy dealing with the chaotic mess in her own son's estate.
"Then I shall thank Her Majesty the Empress. Even at a time like this, she still has the leisure to think of me."
Lady Zhao took the item from the messenger, who smiled and said, "My mistress is occupied with many affairs and cannot come personally to celebrate Consort Liang's birthday, so she had our Side Consort come to offer congratulations."
Consort Liang smiled without her eyes. "There's no need for the trouble. I just wanted our family to have a lively meal together."
Irrelevant people, especially the likes of Liu Wanting, had no right to sit at the table.
After all, she ranked among the Four Consorts. Having a Side Consort of the Crown Prince come to congratulate her, putting aside what intentions lay behind it, who was she trying to disgust?
Was it an insinuation that she, too, was merely a concubine?
And wouldn't you know it, the person sent by the Empress actually managed to express that very sentiment in a tactful way.
Consort Liang had been in a bad mood lately, so how could she let this go when she heard those words? "Even if we are both concubines, I am still the Emperor's concubine. By that reckoning, I am Side Consort Liu's elder. Does Her Majesty the Empress intend to treat her daughter-in-law as a sister by comparing Side Consort Liu to me?"
"..."
"Does the Emperor know that his son is now on equal footing with him?"
"Consort Liang." The messenger's face darkened.
Consort Liang's words were always this brazen. Having fought in the harem for years, they had long experienced this.
The messenger bowed and quickly left; regardless, Side Consort Liu was definitely coming today.
Lady Zhao asked, "Your Highness, could the Empress have an ulterior motive in suddenly sending Side Consort Liu?"
"Do you even need to ask? Find an excuse to send her away later." She was very busy and had no time to bicker with the Empress's people.
"Let's begin quickly," she urged Lady Zhao, only wanting to start quickly, end early, and send these people away.
Chatting with Cui Yunchu made her want to vomit.
Just as Lady Zhao was about to start, the Crown Princess and Side Consort Liu arrived, announced by a eunuch.
"The Crown Princess," Lady Zhao looked at Consort Liang.
After all, she was from the future Princess's maternal family.
Consort Liang waved her hand, "Forget it, keep an eye on that Liu girl, don't let her cause any trouble."
She didn't believe for a second that the Empress had good intentions.
Tang Qingwan brought a gift and said softly, "I didn't know beforehand that today was Your Highness's birthday. I hurried over right after receiving the Empress's orders. Please forgive the hasty preparation of the gift."
Consort Liang waved her hand, "The Crown Princess is too polite. Please take a seat."
Eat quickly and leave quickly.
Tang Qingwan sat below Consort Liang, next to Cui Yunchu, while Xiao Yi and Cui Yunfeng sat on the other side.
Liu Wanting sat at the very bottom.
Logically, her rank should place her ahead of Cui Yunchu, but since the host didn't like her, she was lucky to have a seat at all.
Besides, she had a mission today and didn't care about such trivialities.
The meal was eaten in a rather oppressive atmosphere, with only Consort Liang and Cui Yunchu trying to liven things up, while Tang Qingwan occasionally chimed in.
Opposite them, Xiao Yi and Cui Yunfeng appeared calm and amicable, but were intensely silent.
Cui Yunchu didn't think Tang Qingwan would attend such a banquet out of boredom, so she lowered her voice and asked, "Why are you here?"
