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"Does she really think she\'s a fairy from heaven? How dare she yell at the Emperor? Now look what\'s happened - the Emperor has locked the gates of Hexi Palace. She\'s truly fallen out of favor this time, hasn\'t she? It\'s a pity my people couldn\'t get close to her chambers. I couldn\'t hear clearly how she and the Emperor started arguing."

"It must have been about the Empress Dowager or Consort Su," Consort De pondered. "The Empress Dowager went there once and caused a big scene in Hexi Palace, even injuring Concubine Zhen. But the Emperor only sent the Empress Dowager to live in the palace in Jiangnan. Concubine Zhen is pregnant, so it\'s normal for her to be more temperamental than usual."

Empress Zhu sighed and shook her head. "But she went too far. Does she think she\'s the former Noble Consort Li? Even Noble Consort Li didn\'t dare to be so presumptuous. What a shame. I thought she might be promoted to Consort after the New Year."

Consort Liang rolled her eyes. "It\'s better that she\'s lost favor. Did you see how coquettish she became after gaining the Emperor\'s favor? She even dared to talk back to me. When she was just a Lady before, how could she have behaved like that?"

Consort De glanced at Consort Liang. In the past... who could bring up the past?

When Consort Liang first entered the palace, she was just a lowly serving girl. At that time, Noble Consort Li was already the most favored in the harem. Back then, Noble Consort Li deliberately punished her by making her kneel under the scorching sun balancing water, and she had no choice but to comply.

Later, when she became Consort Liang, she dared to challenge Noble Consort Li. Every time they paid respects in the Empress\'s palace, you could hear Consort Liang\'s sarcastic remarks toward Noble Consort Li.

By that time, Noble Consort Li had already become Noble Imperial Consort Li!

Consort Liang, relying on the Empress\'s support, wasn\'t she also quite arrogant?

It\'s clear that when people\'s status changes, their behavior and actions change as well.

Who, after gaining favor and higher rank, would still be willing to be bullied? They\'re not made of mud - how could they have no temper at all?

Though thinking this, she didn\'t say it out loud. After all, they were on the same side, and Jiang Xinyue, who had joined halfway, didn\'t really count.

The news that Concubine Zhen, who had long enjoyed the Emperor\'s favor, suddenly courted disaster by arguing with the Emperor and driving him out of Hexi Palace just because the Empress Dowager had given her trouble, shocked everyone.

Everyone was saying that Concubine Zhen had completely lost favor this time, that she was finished, and that their chance had come again.

In the dark night, the flickering candlelight cast the silhouette of a graceful figure on the window, its alluring shape enough to captivate one\'s soul and haunt one\'s dreams.

Minister Pei of the Privy Council, his hair already showing signs of gray, sighed and looked at the beautiful young girl with a complicated expression. "Wu, don\'t blame your grandfather. Your cousin is having a very difficult time in the palace. Back then, the Pei family didn\'t say a word for the Song family to avoid being implicated. Your cousin is bitter about it. The Emperor... he\'s a man of deep schemes. He\'s managed to deceive both your grandfather and Prime Minister Song all these years. If there isn\'t a favored consort in the palace, I\'m afraid the Pei family might follow in the Song family\'s footsteps. Your grandfather is sending you into the palace, firstly to help your cousin, and secondly to win the Emperor\'s favor. Wu, are you willing to enter the palace?"

The young girl knelt down with reddened eyes, her delicate hands clenched tightly on the ground, her forehead pressed hard against the floor. "Grandfather... Wu... is unwilling."

Those square palace walls don\'t just confine one woman, but thousands upon thousands of women. It\'s not just one woman\'s conscience that\'s lost, but the extinction of thousands upon thousands of consciences.

Once in the palace, who doesn\'t fight and compete?

Those who don\'t fight and compete are only left to be bullied, trampled upon, and used as pawns to be killed.

Pei Wu had been well-educated from a young age, learning to discern right from wrong, to be cultured and reasonable, to have a clear mind - not to enter the palace and use her knowledge for palace intrigues and scheming against others.

Moreover... she already had someone in her heart.

Minister Pei\'s face darkened. Lady Pei, thinking of her own daughter suffering in the palace while Pei Wu was unwilling to enter and help her, let out a cold laugh. "You\'ve enjoyed the Pei family\'s wealth and status for fifteen years, so you have the responsibility to bear the family\'s prosperity. Do you think my Ni\'er was willing to enter the palace back then? Born into a family like ours, you\'ve reaped the benefits, so when the family needs you, you must step up."

She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Pei Wu. "And don\'t think about the Crown Prince of the Ruyang Prince\'s Residence anymore. The Princess doesn\'t like you, she thinks you have too much personality and will be hard to control in the future. She\'s already found your younger sister as a match for the Crown Prince. They\'ve already matched their birth charts, it\'s a match made in heaven."

Pei Wu was only shocked for a moment before she quickly understood.

If the family wanted her to enter the palace, they couldn\'t wait for the palace selection a year later. Entering through the selection would give her too low a status. Her grandfather must be seeking an extraordinary method to arrange a meeting between her and the Emperor.

The Princess\'s dislike for her wasn\'t new, but she and the Crown Prince had grown up together and had a very good relationship. The Princess had never found an excuse to separate them.

Now, upon learning that the Pei family wanted to send her into the palace, she immediately cut off the connection between her and the Crown Prince.

She just didn\'t know when her younger sister had caught the Princess\'s eye.

Or... was all of this her grandfather\'s idea, which was why everyone in the household kept it from her alone?

"Entering the palace now is the best opportunity," Minister Pei said solemnly. "Concubine Zhen has lost favor, and there is no favored consort in the harem. With your beauty and talent, you can fill this gap. The Emperor will like you."

Who cares about his liking?

Pei Wu lowered her head. "Since grandfather has already decided to send Wu into the palace, why bother pretending to ask for Wu\'s opinion? You can just inform Wu of your arrangements. Wu will follow whatever grandfather decides."

She understood that even if she resisted, she would still end up in the palace. Since that was the case, it was better to be sensible and take advantage of her grandfather\'s guilt to secure some benefits for herself.

"Your Highness..." Shuang Jiang looked at the main gate of Hexi Palace. "The Emperor has come again."

Jiang Xinyue, eating the food prepared by her palace\'s small kitchen, didn\'t even raise her head. "If he wants to stand in the cold wind, let him! He\'s not even that devoted. Why pretend to be a romantic?"

How is this any different from a college boy holding a guitar and lighting heart-shaped candles under the girls\' dormitory?

It\'s all for show, for others to cheer: "Get together! Get together!"

If they don\'t get together, it\'s because the girl is ungrateful. The boy has been so good to you, why won\'t you accept him?

If she forgave the Xuanwu Emperor so easily, he would dare to make the same mistake again in the future.

She wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, frustrated, pained...

She wanted to engrave this lesson deeply into his DNA, so that in the future, whenever she frowned, the Xuanwu Emperor would remember this experience and not dare to anger her again.

The Emperor was once again shut out of Hexi Palace. This was already the eighth time this month.

Recently, the maids and eunuchs in Chengqian Palace had been having a hard time. Just look at how Chief Eunuch Wang was given ten strokes with a rod just for serving tea that didn\'t suit the Emperor\'s taste.