Xiao Jia knelt down in a panic and said, "Your Majesty, the Empress also said that unless Consort Lian insists on letting her leave the palace, she will absolutely not leave."

The emperor was puzzled and asked, "Why does Consort Lian insist on leaving the palace before she will agree to do so?"

Xiao Jia then said, "Your Majesty, shouldn't we be concerned about Consort Lian's opinion on this matter?"

The emperor then asked, "Then, what does Consort Lian mean?"

Xiao Jia: "Consort Lian said that the Empress can leave the palace if she wants to, and she should not leave the palace if she doesn't want to. She should be in control of her own destiny and should not leave it to men to arrange."

The emperor's eyelids twitched rapidly, and he demanded, "What does she mean by that?"

Xiao Jia: "This servant believes that she wants Her Majesty the Empress to decide whether to stay or leave."

The emperor angrily said, "Is this the question I wanted you to answer?"

Xiao Jia asked, looking completely bewildered, "Isn't Your Majesty asking this servant what Consort Lian meant by those words?"

The emperor was even angrier: "Do you think I don't know that she's letting the empress decide for herself whether to stay or leave?"

Xiao Jia was even more confused and said awkwardly, "So Your Majesty knew." If you knew, why did you ask?

The emperor slammed a memorial down on his head and roared, "Useless dog slave!"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's all my fault for being useless," Xiao Jia quickly replied, kowtowing to the ground and not daring to raise his head. How could he be blamed? If he weren't such a useless dog of a servant, explaining everything clearly and explicitly, he would probably be dead long ago.

When the emperor arrived at Xukun Palace, the servants were useless; the emperor himself had to take charge.

Ever since the day the Empress left Kunning Palace, she's been living here as if she's never been to Xukun Palace. She's really not being polite at all! The Emperor felt furious just thinking about it.

Upon hearing of the emperor's arrival, the two women rose to greet him. After paying their respects, the emperor cut to the chase, saying, "Empress, I have promised the Regent that I will send you out of the palace soon. But you were once the mother of the nation, so..."

"I will not leave the palace." Before he could finish speaking, Chu Susu coldly interrupted him.

The Emperor said, "I have reached a consensus with the Regent on this matter."

Chu Susu: "Niannian said that whether I stay in the palace or not is up to me."

The Emperor asked, "What does this have to do with Consort Lian?"

Chu Susu: "The Lian family is behind Niannian."

The emperor's eyelids started twitching again, and he unconsciously turned his head to look at Chu Nian.

Chu Susu also looked over.

Chu Nian said, "Why are you all looking at me? I've already said that this matter should be decided by the Empress herself."

The Emperor said meaningfully, "If she stays in the palace, she will continue to occupy the Empress's position. My beloved concubine, if you wish to advance your rank..."

Chu Nian: "Does Your Majesty intend to promote me to Imperial Noble Consort?"

The Emperor said, "I want you to be my Empress."

Chu Nian: "But the Empress is still here."

The Emperor said, "So, we have to make her relinquish her position as Empress."

Chu Nian said earnestly, "Back then, she didn't want to enter the palace to become empress, but you insisted on forcing her in. Now you want to push her off the throne like this... Your Majesty, you can't do this!"

The emperor looked at Chu Nian with no surprise, as if he were meeting this Consort Lian for the first time.

The former Consort Lian was so spoiled and domineering, so willful and capricious, but now this one is actually speaking to him with a serious and earnest expression, saying, "Your Majesty, one cannot act like this!"

Is this really the Consort Lian he knows?

Chu Susu took Chu Nian's hand and asked, "Nian Nian, do you want to be the Empress? If you do, I can..."

"Sister, what are you saying?" Chu Nian interrupted her. "Does it matter whether I become empress or not? What matters is that we can live happily."

The emperor's eyes darted around, and he said to Chu Susu, "Look, even Consort Lian is willing to give up her long-desired position as empress for your sake..."

“Your Majesty,” Chu Nian interrupted him, “Don’t try to use me as a pretext to force my sister to leave the palace. If she leaves the palace in this way, then I will go with her.”

The emperor said angrily, "She went out of the palace to find her prince, what are you doing out of the palace?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Nian turned to Chu Susu and asked, "Yes, sister, the prince must be waiting for you to leave the palace. Are you really planning to give up the chance to be with him forever?"

Chu Susu sighed helplessly, "Niannian, you don't know, I can never be the same Susu I used to be..." Things have changed drastically now, but others don't know, only she knows.

The emperor advised, "As long as the prince is devoted to you, that's enough. Chu Susu, priceless treasures are easy to find, but a true lover is hard to come by. He was willing to give up the struggle for the throne for you, and you can't even give up this position as empress for him?"

Chu Susu said, "No matter what Your Majesty says, I will say the same thing. If you don't want me to stay in the palace, I will leave; but if you don't want me to stay, then I will stay in the palace and accompany you through all the turmoil in the harem."

The emperor frowned. He recalled what Li Xiao had said earlier: the empress's gaze toward Consort Lian was rather strange.

He finally realized, somewhat belatedly, that the Empress was being too kind to Consort Lian, and that kindness was not like that between sisters, but rather... He was a little hesitant to think further.

After a long silence, he said, "Your Majesty, you should know that you and Consort Lian are both women. Finding your own place in the world is the greatest happiness for both of you."

Chu Susu laughed, a mocking laugh. She said, "Then, does Your Majesty think that prince who forcibly sent me into the palace is my rightful destiny?"

The Emperor said, “I have seen his love for you. I can say that there is no other man in the world who has treated you like he has.”

Chu Susu: "But I don't think someone who can give me away to someone else so easily can truly be entrusted with my life. Does he really understand the person he loves? Once he truly understands her, will he still love her like this? He's like this only because he hasn't truly lived with me."

The Emperor said, "You're being a bit pedantic."

Chu Nian: "I think what the Empress said makes a lot of sense."

The emperor, exasperated, retorted, "Can't you just stay out of it?"

Chu Nian: "Your Majesty's words are utterly unreasonable. You two grown men, when you need someone, you stuff them into the lonely palace and lock them away, and when you don't need them, you just want to find some excuse to kick them out, and then you think they're being unreasonable."

The emperor patiently replied, "I did all this for you."

Chu Nian chuckled and said, “Your Majesty, please don’t. Even if you send the Empress out of the palace, there are still this concubine and that concubine in the harem, a whole bunch of concubines waiting to become Empress. Are you sure you’re doing this for anyone? In my opinion, you’re not doing this for anyone, you’re only doing this for yourself.”

Chu Susu immediately chimed in, "Sister is right. Now that you've realized this, you must never do anything foolish like you did before, like trying to jump into the lake..."