Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Everyone Has Their Own Calculations Recalling that night at Yanxi Palace, given Consort Hua’s temperament, if she hadn’t been the one behind the incident, she would have unleashed a torrent of curses. Yet that night, she was remarkably restrained. During the trip to Tangquan Imperial Travel Palace, she had deliberately tested whether she could hear her Xinsheng. If she could suspect her, might she also suspect the Emperor? That night in the hot spring pool, she claimed her legs had gone numb—was that a deliberate ploy to make the Emperor leave? At this thought, the Empress’s hand instinctively tightened on the edge of the table. First, she managed to manipulate the Emperor into punishing Sun Miaoqing on his own initiative. Then, she used Sun Miaoqing’s knowledge of past events to ensure the Sun Clan’s inevitable downfall. Right under the Emperor’s watchful eye, she leveraged her own usually flamboyant personality to remove Sun Miaoqing’s confidante. She neither aroused the Emperor’s suspicion nor disappointed him in Sun Miaoqing. The Emperor’s disappointment in Sun Miaoqing meant disappointment in the Sun Family. Consort Hua was trying to save the Nian Family! Knowing so much, surely she must be aware that Baojuan was her person? By deliberately sending Baojuan to Sun Miaoqing, was she hinting that she was a friend, not an enemy? The Empress’s heart raced. While others might kill two birds with one stone, Consort Hua had turned Sun Miaoqing into a sieve with a single blow. Since being reborn, Consort Hua’s obsession with bearing a child had paled in comparison to her desire to bestow Zhang Hong. At times, she even seemed indifferent to her own life and death. But there was one thing she constantly dwelled on in her heart: Saving Nian Gengyao. Her obedience was for her brother; her refusal to compete or contend was for her brother; even her feigned flirtation to appease the Emperor was for her brother. It could be said that for her elder brother, she restrained her temper and carefully played the role of Consort Hua. Yet Sun Miaoqing, this blind fool, for the sake of her own future, insisted on using the Nian Family as a stepping stone for the Sun Family. Wasn’t this stepping on Consort Hua’s tail, forcing her to strike back? If these conjectures were true, many future matters would become easier to handle. But but but but but! She couldn’t place too much hope in Consort Hua either. The Empress recalled Consort Hua’s so-called concerns before the new consorts entered the palace—her delayed reactions and overly confident ideas. If everything was merely a coincidence, overestimating her and placing high expectations on her could very well lead to her own demise. Better to wait and see. After exchanging information and analyzing for two days, Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang decided to change their strategy. At Tangquan Imperial Travel Palace, she had merely uttered an inconsequential remark, yet the Emperor immediately suspected her of meddling in court affairs. Clearly, in the Emperor’s eyes, the court and the inner palace were one and the same. Balancing the imperial consorts and concubines meant balancing court officials. And his so-called love for Chunyuan was merely a performance to showcase a ruler’s sentimentality—ultimately, he feared being labeled cold-blooded. But how could a man who could kill his own son be deeply devoted to any woman? On the night Sun Miaoqing fell into the water, Zhen Huan, as an observer, watched coldly. If Sister Mei had shown even the slightest hint of allying with Consort Hua, the Emperor would likely have found a reason to deal with her. Thus, in the Emperor’s eyes, the women of the inner palace were merely pawns in the game of power. He reveled in the sight of women fighting and competing for him, obsessing and raging over him. He delighted in using conflicts among women to strike at court officials, then shifting all blame onto the women once he reaped the benefits— See, it was her lack of restraint that brought ruin upon her entire family. And he? He could simply brush off his sleeves and walk away unscathed. Just because he is a man, an emperor, all his actions can be forgiven, while women are born to be used and blamed? Hmph, how could there be such a good thing in this world? Since one chooses to play with eagles, one must be prepared to be pecked by them. Given the current situation, he is, after all, the emperor who holds the power of life and death. If all of them were to side with Consort Hua, should anything happen, there would be no one left to speak for them. What awaits them would be total annihilation. So having Sister Mei by Consort Hua’s side is enough. What Zhen Huan needs to do is to dispel the accumulated hatred Consort Hua harbored toward her in her previous life and maintain an appropriate distance from Consort Hua. Neither arousing the Emperor’s suspicion nor provoking the Consort’s targeting. That is the best choice for herself, for Consort Hua, and for everyone else. As for the rest… Zhen Huan thought she would wait until going to Yuanmingyuan to decide. After all, Consort Hua had said that she was the new emperor’s adoptive mother. She wanted to meet her future adoptive son. That might be a new hope. Over at Yanxi Palace. Both of Sun Miaoqing’s trusted maids had been sent to Shenxing Si. If not for Baojuan and Baoque, she could have requested the Emperor to allow two more maids from the Sun Family to be sent in. But with Baojuan and Baoque already here, as an Attendant, asking for more would be overstepping her bounds. Among the maids before her, Han Ying and Han Rui, who had been sent to her when she first entered the palace, had served her for over half a year. They spoke little, worked diligently, and were relatively loyal. As for the two newcomers, Baojuan and Baoque, they were clearly traitors, and she dared not trust them. After much thought, Sun Miaoqing decided to win these two over properly, though she would have to be more vigilant in the future. Once she managed to rise to the rank of concubine, she would have her family send another maid in. The Ministry of Revenue requested permission to establish well-field systems, and the Emperor was going to inspect the outskirts of the capital. Before leaving the palace, he specifically visited Yanxi Palace to see Sun Miaoqing. Sun Miaoqing requested a favor: to have Wei Lin take charge of her pulse readings. The Emperor, fearing she might be too foolish and be poisoned by Consort Hua in his absence, agreed. “But he has only just entered Tai Yi Yuan…” The Emperor clicked his tongue, somewhat uneasy about Wei Lin’s medical skills. “After this concubine fell into the water, he was mostly responsible for overseeing the medicinal decoctions. This concubine finds him quite loyal. It should be fine for him to handle daily pulse readings and check the decoctions.” “If you feel at ease using him, that’s fine.” The Emperor nodded. “During this time while I’m away, rest well and take care of your health. We’ll discuss everything after I return.” The Emperor’s meaning was for her to keep a low profile in the rear palace and avoid conflicts with others. Sun Miaoqing understood. With her trusted maids successively removed, if she still didn’t learn her lesson, she would be too foolish. Originally holding the script, knowing everything and planning ahead, she smoothly defied fate and entered the palace, thinking she was the chosen one—like countless transmigrated women in novels—able to seize the female lead’s luck and become Empress Dowager. Now it seemed she wasn’t the only one in the rear palace holding the script. If the three main characters, due to her arrival, had their joint palace audience disrupted, avoided Zhang Hong, lost the initial basis for conflict with Consort Hua, and had their life paths altered… What about Consort Hua? In the original plot, the incident of falling into the Thousand Carp Pond wasn’t Cao Qinmo’s idea, and Baojuan and Baoque certainly couldn’t have been sent to her side by Cao Qinmo. Given the “queen of female rivalry” setting, even if reborn after death, she would likely still be hopelessly in love with the Emperor, arriving with heavy makeup at midnight, yet without donkey-hide gelatin and longan soup to lure the Emperor away—this really didn’t match her style. Could it be that Consort Hua was also a transmigrator? She's really putting on a convincing act. Since she had transmigrated into Consort Hua, she should know that she was destined to never bear a son in this lifetime. Her only chance to rise higher was to win over the Fourth Prince. Almost every transmigrator in The Story of Zhen Huan would do the same. Sun Miaoqing was no exception. But how could an adopted son compare to a biological one? Not only did she need to keep the Fourth Prince firmly in her grasp, but she also had to conceive a son as soon as possible. This was called having a single-minded goal while preparing on two fronts!