Chapter 829 Mutual Testing

Pan Xiuying bit her lip, feeling that Empress Jiang was exaggerating. What gave her the right to say that she would destroy the Pan family? She just wanted to become a princess.

Pan Xiuying feigned a well-behaved and sensible demeanor, and said gently, "Xiuying will remember Her Majesty the Empress's teachings. However, there is one thing Your Majesty may have misunderstood. I did not help the Tenth Prince plot against Prince Qi, nor did I deliberately push Prince Qi out to embarrass himself. I wholeheartedly want to marry Prince Qi, so how could I intentionally damage his reputation! The Pan family has always done its best to share His Majesty's burdens. How could a mere woman like Xiuying possibly have the ability to ruin the Pan family!"

Instead of directly devising a plan that would leave someone vulnerable, she guided the Tenth Prince to provoke Xie Qi.

Jiang Fenghua did not expect Pan Xiuying to be so stubborn. She even brought up the fact that the Pan family was sharing the Emperor's burdens, implying that the Pan family was the Emperor's people and that even the Empress could not criticize them casually given their prestige.

Jiang Fenghua felt that she was meddling in other people's business and that it was none of her concern whether Pan Xiuying was arrogant or not. As long as Lu Xuefei could marry Prince Qi smoothly, that was all that mattered.

Before she could say anything, Pan Xiuying slowly bowed and said, "Xiuying will take her leave now. My grandfather is still waiting for me!"

Jiang Fenghua stared at her face and said calmly, "Go!"

As Pan Xiuying walked away, she stared at her retreating figure. She had no recollection of who Pan Xiuying had married in her previous life, or whether she had entered the palace as an imperial concubine. Perhaps she hadn't entered the palace, or perhaps she had always lived in Chenxi Palace and was unaware of the affairs of the harem.

"What is Ruan Ruan thinking about?" Xie Shang's voice suddenly rang in Jiang Fenghua's ears.

Jiang Fenghua snapped out of her daze, her expression returning to normal, concealing all her emotions. "I wasn't thinking about anything?"

"Ruan Ruan is dishonest; she didn't tell me the truth," Xie Shang said, feigning anger.

As he came out of the side hall, he saw Jiang Fenghua and Pan Xiuying standing not far away. Pan Xiuying had just left.

Jiang Fenghua smiled slightly, took Xie Shang's arm and deliberately acted intimately with him, "Actually, I was thinking about what Prince Qi asked me to do to the Lu family to propose marriage to Lu Xuefei on his behalf. I have never done such a thing before, and I am afraid of losing the royal etiquette."

"You are the Empress. Even if you are impolite, no one will dare to blame you." He seemed to have heard her mention Qi Wang's experiences. How could she know about Xie Qi's past? Had she regained her memories?

As Jiang Fenghua walked, she said, "Although I am the Empress, I still have to observe proper etiquette. I cannot mistreat Miss Lu. I heard from Miss Lu that Prince Qi had a hard time before. He no longer has his mother to support him, and the Tenth Prince often bullies him. He is a pitiful child."

"Xie Qi is months older than Ruan Ruan, yet you call him a child," Xie Shang laughed.

“My elder brother is like a father, and my elder sister-in-law is like a mother. The King of Qi has come to me for help. I can’t just pretend to be stupid and ignore it. If he has a mother, it’s not my place to meddle.”

Xie Shang, thinking of the entanglements between the Xie Qi and Pan Lu families, said in a deep voice, "Ruan Ruan should have discussed the marriage of the Prince of Qi with me, instead of letting him go to Grand Tutor Pan."

"I didn't interfere too much. It was Lu Xuefei and Prince Qi who came to me asking for my help. I was quite moved by their story, but Prince Qi seemed a bit timid. I just gave him a suggestion, saying that since refusing Pan Xiuying was useless, he should go directly to her elders. Grand Tutor Pan is highly respected and wouldn't let his granddaughter act recklessly! Who knew that Prince Qi would actually go to her elders." She did say these things to Xie Qi.

Xie Shang tapped her forehead. "Is it a bit reckless of you to speak frankly to Grand Tutor Pan? Grand Tutor Pan and his family hold important positions in the court. If Xie Qi were to marry a daughter of the Pan family, it would only be more beneficial to his future. He's not even willing to do so. How many people in Shengjing want to marry a daughter of the Pan family?"

Jiang Fenghua retorted, "Perhaps what King Qi cares about is feelings, not power!"

"How hard he used to have worked, how difficult it was for him to get back on his feet, and now he's spending all his time entangled with women instead of fighting for power? Ruan Ruan doesn't know Xie Qi, don't be fooled by him." Xie Shang had seen how hard Xie Qi had tried, and he hadn't changed much since.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fenghua could only think, "Wasn't it the Emperor who took the initiative to promote him and wanted to give him power?"

She realized Xie Shang was testing her. Did Xie Shang suspect something? Had she given herself away? She and Pan Xiuying hadn't said anything just now!

Jiang Fenghua argued forcefully, "His Majesty means that Prince Qi should compromise himself for the sake of power and marry a woman he doesn't love, and live a life of pretense and indecision with Pan Xiuying. How painful it must be for him to torture himself like that. If he doesn't even have the right to love someone, what is the point of having power?"

Xie Shang found her appearance quite adorable, realizing he had been overthinking things; the Jiang Fenghua of the past only cared about power and didn't care about feelings.

He added, "He can also marry Lu Xuefei, then he'll have everything."

Jiang Fenghua rolled her eyes at him and retorted, "So that's what the Emperor is thinking. He's eating what's in his bowl while eyeing what's in the pot. The Emperor already has a ton of concubines in his harem. Is he now thinking of recruiting the daughter of some powerful minister to become a concubine?"

She feigned jealousy, saying, "I cannot tolerate any injustice. If Your Majesty dares to do this, I will run away from home."

Xie Shang's eyes widened in surprise, and he deliberately accused, "Ruan Ruan's ability to lie is so good that even I believe she did it."

He put his arm around her waist and kissed her lips, saying, "I'll only eat from here, whether it's in the pot or the bowl."

Jiang Fenghua pushed him away, "Where is this place? Your Majesty, please stop fooling around. If you disrespect the gods, everything we've done today will be in vain."

She bowed to the surroundings, muttering, "Don't blame me, don't blame me..."

Jiang Fenghua even pulled Xie Shang to bow, saying, "Your Majesty must be sincere."

Xie Shang thought he must be overthinking things; Jiang Fenghua hadn't regained her memory at all.

Jiang Fenghua took his hand and headed towards the main hall, saying as they walked, "I won't be going back to the palace later, and I probably won't be going back to the palace tonight either. I need to go back to the Jiang family; I have two very important things to take care of."

Xie Shang said, "What could be more important than me? Tonight I'm going back to Kunning Palace to sleep. I can't sleep without you."

“Both Prince Qi and Lu Xuefei have come to me for help. We can’t just ignore them, can we? Didn’t His Majesty see how angry Lord Lu was? I bet he thinks his daughter was taken advantage of and abandoned by Prince Qi.” Jiang Fenghua rattled off, “There’s another matter concerning Lin Yu. Last time I summoned Madam Guo to the palace, she made it clear from her words that she disliked Lin Yu. Lin Yu is my friend, and I can’t ignore her situation. At the very least, I should go to the Guo residence to talk to Madam Guo about Lin Yu and Guo Xiao’s marriage.”

She has more important things to do.