Liu Wanting's voice was sweet and charming, a world of difference from the sharpness she had shown when facing the Cui sisters just a few days ago.
Tang Qingwan's gaze swept over the incense burner in the hall. A hint of sarcasm quickly flashed through her eyes, but her face remained impassive.
The Empress suffered from headaches. In the past, the Fengluan Palace had always burned soothing incense that Tang Qingwan had made with her own hands. Up to now, it had been six years.
She truly loved the new and discarded the old.
It was truly not easy for the Empress to find a reason to praise such an inferior fragrance.
Tang Qingwan's expression was indifferent as she followed Old Madam Cui to bow and pay her respects to the Empress.
The Empress sat upright in the phoenix chair above. Dressed in a formal red palace gown, she looked elegant and luxurious. Between her brows, she bore a seventy percent resemblance to the Crown Prince, Xiao Chen.
Only then did she release Liu Wanting's hand and say gently, "Old Madam Cui, please rise."
"Men, bring seats."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Old Madam Cui sat down in the position just below the Empress, while Cui Yunchu and her two sisters stood behind her.
The Empress wore a very warm smile on her face. "I haven't seen you for some days, Old Madam. Have you been well recently?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. Everything is fine."
The two exchanged pleasantries back and forth.
Liu Wanting stood by the Empress's side, a faint look of triumph in her eyes as she looked at Tang Qingwan and her sisters.
Tang Qingwan, however, did not even spare her a glance.
This aloof demeanor instantly angered Liu Wanting a bit, and her expression cooled slightly.
"Qingwan, you seem to have lost weight recently. Are you not feeling well?" After the pleasantries ended, the Empress's gaze fell on Tang Qingwan, her tone very gentle.
It made sense. Although the Liu family needed to be won over, for the Crown Prince to securely sit on the dragon throne, Madam Tang, née Cui, was the greatest reliance.
The Empress knew this clearly, but the Emperor's wariness forced her to be somewhat calculating.
After all, although the Crown Prince was the heir apparent, the Emperor was in the prime of his life. She absolutely could not let the Emperor think that the Crown Prince was standing together with Madam Tang, née Cui, raising suspicions of shaking the throne.
The Empress rubbed her forehead, feeling a bit mentally exhausted.
The previous marriage decree was to consolidate imperial power and secure the Crown Prince's position. But now, this marriage had become a hot potato.
She couldn't throw it away, nor could she treat them too well. It was truly a dilemma.
"The weather has been slowly getting hotter recently, so I haven't had much of an appetite. Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."
"Mm, the grand wedding is approaching, so you must take good care of your health." Setting aside the Cui and Tang families, the Empress was actually extremely satisfied with Tang Qingwan as a person.
Tang Qingwan's eyelashes fluttered imperceptibly as she curtsied and complied.
She knew that the Empress was about to mention the grand wedding.
"Wanting, the incense Qingwan makes is also excellent. In the past, all the incense I used was personally made by Qingwan. If you have time, you can also ask her for advice."
The Empress balanced things very evenly.
Liu Wanting's expression stiffened slightly, but she instantly recovered her usual composure and agreed with a smile.
There were extremely important matters to attend to today, and Liu Wanting disdained squabbling over such trivial things.
Tang Qingwan smiled and said nothing. The hall fell into a brief silence. A moment later, the Empress finally brought up the main topic.
"The Crown Prince has been busy studying government affairs these years, and the Eastern Palace has been quite empty. It would be boring for Qingwan to marry there all alone. Wanting has a gentle and honest temperament. In the future, the two of you can keep each other company, and life will be much more interesting."
It would certainly be interesting, extremely interesting. The way the Empress spoke was also very interesting.
Cui Yunchu suppressed the sneer in her heart as she thought this.
Tang Qingwan was already mentally prepared, and her face showed not the slightest displeasure. "His Highness the Crown Prince had already spoken a little to me about this matter earlier."
The Empress nodded. Seeing that Tang Qingwan didn't show any dissatisfaction, she felt very pleased.
As the official Empress, she thought there was nothing wrong with what Tang Qingwan said, but it sounded completely different to Liu Wanting's ears.
Her marrying into the Eastern Palace was the intention of the Emperor and Empress, yet the Crown Prince had discussed it with Tang Qingwan beforehand.
It was as if she were merely a concubine who needed the main wife's nod to enter the door, while Tang Qingwan was the most important person in the Crown Prince's heart, acting as if she were already the master of the Eastern Palace.
The hands inside Liu Wanting's sleeves tightened slightly.
She was the legitimate daughter of the Minister of War, personally titled as the Crown Prince's secondary consort by the Emperor himself, not some concubine from a lowly household.
But since the Empress didn't think anything of it, she could only endure it; she absolutely could not lose her poise.
"His Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Tang discuss things together with such deep affection. It is a blessing for the Eastern Palace."
Hearing these words, the Empress furrowed her brows.
Discussing things together was for ordinary couples. The Crown Prince was the heir apparent, the future ruler of the nation.
Old Madam Cui's gaze turned cold. Just as she was about to speak, Tang Qingwan gently tugged at her sleeve and took the initiative to take over the conversation.
"Then the one Miss Liu should be praising is not the Crown Prince and me, but Her Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty graces the world with her phoenix demeanor, elegant and virtuous, and has the Emperor's respect. The Emperor and Empress support each other and speak in harmony. The Crown Prince has been constantly influenced by what he sees and hears, so naturally, he resembles them."
Tang Qingwan's words made the Empress feel delighted, and her brows smoothed out.
As the Empress, she and the Emperor were husband and wife, but even more so, they were ruler and subject. With three thousand beauties in the inner harem, talking about love was truly laughable; what she could obtain was precisely that respect.
She smiled as she looked at Tang Qingwan, extremely satisfied with this official consort for the Crown Prince.
Liu Wanting was about to grind her teeth to pieces.
Such a glib tongue! To think that the Cui and Tang families could speak so flatteringly.
And Tang Qingwan's next sentence made Liu Wanting lose her composure even more: "Miss Liu will be a secondary consort in the future. It doesn't matter if you don't understand these things, and from now on, you don't need to learn them either."
Anyone who could sit in the position of Empress was no ordinary person, and naturally, she could hear the tit-for-tat in their words.
But precisely because she was the Empress, she knew the formidable nature of favored concubines from good family backgrounds.
Over the years, to secure her position as Empress, she didn't know how many she had secretly disposed of.
For some reason, she threw all her previously planned warnings and beatings for Tang Qingwan to the back of her mind, instead feeling a slight sense of empathy.
Liu Wanting's eyes reddened as she looked at the Empress.
The Empress silently drank her tea, not saying a word.
Just as Tang Qingwan had said, she was a secondary consort after all. It was completely normal for the official wife to show her dominance and give her a warning. If the positions of the legitimate wife and the concubine were reversed, that would be a major taboo.
More importantly, if she didn't let Tang Qingwan have a little taste of sweetness, how would she continue with what she was about to say and make the Cui family accept it?
After a slap, one still had to offer a sweet date to coax them.
Even if the Emperor disliked the Cui and Tang families, the Crown Prince could not afford to thoroughly offend them.
Liu Wanting knew what the Empress was going to say next, so she could only temporarily suppress the anger in her heart. However, she pinched her palms so hard that the pain made the rims of her eyes slightly red.
Tang Qingwan, in the countless days and nights to come in the Eastern Palace, without the Emperor's favor or the Empress's support for the Cui and Tang families, even if the Crown Prince has you in his heart, how can a beauty compare to the throne? When you are a lone tree unable to support the sky, no matter how many tricks you have, how will you use them?
Thinking of this, Liu Wanting slightly relaxed her hands and regained a bit of calmness.
After the Empress finished the tea in her hands, she handed it to a palace servant beside her. Her gaze turned to Old Madam Cui as she spoke once again.
"The originally scheduled wedding for Qingwan and the Crown Prince was set for the end of this year. However, a fortune-teller said that Wanting's birth chart indicates she is not suitable for marriage in the next two years. The most auspicious time is before August."
"But since Qingwan has not yet entered the Eastern Palace, it would be inappropriate to let Wanting marry in first. I have sought His Majesty's opinion, and we have decided to move Qingwan and the Crown Prince's wedding forward to August, so they can marry at the same time."
The Empress was truly masterful with her words. She had given the Cui and Tang families the utmost dignity, yet her underlying message was unyielding and left absolutely no room for negotiation.
Such was the importance of the art of speaking.
The corners of Cui Yunchu's lips twitched in an almost imperceptible sneer.
Going by that logic, the Cui and Tang families were actually expected to bow their heads in profound gratitude.
Since it was against propriety for a secondary consort to enter the household before the official wife, did that mean it was perfectly in line with propriety for both the official and secondary consorts to be married on the exact same day?
Only the imperial family could be thick-skinned enough to spout such a ridiculous justification.
