After Lu was imprisoned, Lu Yinghong was also in a terrible predicament. She was in high spirits when her sister caused her trouble!

Their family was a branch of the Lu clan. Because she became a concubine in the imperial harem, she gained some influence within the clan.

The family consisted of three sisters. The eldest sister married into the Cui family; the second sister established her own household and found a husband; and the third sister herself entered the palace as a concubine, enduring years of hardship and biding her time.

"Second Sister is living too well!" Otherwise, why would she be so upset about such a small thing?

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!" A palace maid rushed in, perhaps too anxious to notice, and forgot the proper etiquette. As soon as she entered, she knelt down with a thud.

"Your Highness, there's an eunuch with several guards at the gate, saying they want to arrest Miss Biao!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room fell silent for a moment. Lu Yujie, who had been wiping away tears, was also confused. She raised her reddened eyes and looked at Lu Yinghong, at a loss for what to do.

"Absurd! What do they take this place for! What wrong has my niece done that they have to come all the way to the inner palace to arrest her!"

"Those people have official seals, and they say..." the palace maid stammered, "that according to the law, Miss's whole family should be imprisoned, and then exiled together when the time comes..."

The palace maid anticipated how angry her mistress would be, so Lu Yinghong immediately smashed a teacup, splashing tea onto the maid's face.

"Let them in! I want to see who dares to take anyone away from me!"

A moment later, a eunuch entered with a guard. The guard bowed to Lu Yinghong and then handed over his official seal.

"Your subordinate has been ordered to take Miss Lu away."

Lu Yinghong didn't even look at the seal, but coldly glanced at the guard.

"Whose orders are you on!" she shouted coldly.

The guard was also seeing such a distinguished person for the first time, and he trembled with fear.

"I am here on the orders of the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture... to ask Miss Lu to go to the Jingzhao Prefecture to ask her a few questions." He paused and changed "arrest her" to "invite her".

But Lu Yinghong was unmoved and gave a cold laugh.

"Then let your parents come!"

The guard was trembling, seemingly in a dilemma and unsure of what to do.

"What? My words have no effect?"

The guard dared not disobey and had no choice but to take his leave. Before leaving, he wanted to retrieve the official seal, but he didn't have the courage to ask again, so he gave up.

After sending the man away, Lu Yinghong was not happy. She thought to herself that the Prefect of Jingzhao had a lot of nerve, daring to embarrass her.

Lu Yujie sniffed and whispered, "Aunt, Mother, she..."

"Don't worry, I will find a way."

The news of what happened at Yikun Palace quickly spread throughout the entire harem.

Song Wenyue laughed loudly, "Haven't she been riding high these days? Let's see if she can still be so smug!"

Song Wenyue was in a good mood as she inspected the area outside when she saw Consort Shu picking osmanthus flowers with several maids in the distance.

She disliked this Consort Shu and originally intended to turn around and leave, but several of her palace maids had already spotted her and bowed to her.

"Why does Consort Shu have the leisure to come out?" She had no choice but to bite the bullet and go up.

This Consort Shu usually stayed in her palace and rarely came out. Her presence was as inconspicuous as that of the Fifth Prince; if no one mentioned her, no one would think of her.

"It's the season for eating osmanthus flowers right now. I have nothing to do, so I thought I'd make an osmanthus-scented sachet for the Fifth Prince."

Song Wenyue was just being polite and didn't want to chat with her for long, but unexpectedly, she brought it up herself: "I saw some people from Yikun Palace come here just now. Do you know what happened, sister?"

Thinking of Lu Yinghong's humiliation, Song Wenyue naturally wanted to mock her. But Lu Yinghong was a woman of the same rank as herself, a concubine, who had been in the harem for over a decade. Even if she had little presence, she would still have ways to protect herself. Facing such a woman, Song Wenyue dared not let her guard down.

"I don't know, little sister. I just heard about it."

"Then we should go and ask later." Consort Shu held a branch of osmanthus, a faint smile on her face, as if reminding Song Wenyue. "Now that the Emperor is not in the harem, we women must be especially careful to avoid suspicion. We cannot summon men from outside at will."

Upon hearing this, Song Wenyue wondered if she was implying that Lu Yinghong was spreading rumors about having an affair with another man.

"It would be bad if my reputation were damaged by rumors." Consort Shu threw the flower branch into the basket, which was already full of osmanthus flowers, indicating that she had been in the garden for quite some time.

"I'm almost done here, so I'll head back now." She turned to leave with her maid, but before she did, she suddenly said, "By the way, sister. We women should act like women. We should always listen to our husbands and never try to be ahead or surpass them."

Song Wenyue looked at her blankly, only seeing her slender back.

She wondered if this Consort Shu was mocking her for wanting to compete for power with Lu Yinghong.

Ah, a man's heart is easily changed, but the power in his hands is not!

But she forgot that the rights of the women in the harem were all granted by their husbands.

Song Wenyue turned back to her Gyeongbokgung Palace, feeling unlucky to have been lectured by an old woman.

Meanwhile, Consort Shu strolled back to her Jinxiu Palace with her entourage.

The nanny poured her a cup of tea. "Your Highness, Consort Zhen seems to be a fool. She probably can't understand your intentions."

Consort Shu sipped her tea and rubbed her temples. Standing in the sun for so long made her a little dizzy.

"I thought to myself, she's at least a concubine. Alas, it seems she was just too lucky."

Entering the palace was one thing, as was becoming pregnant.

"Then what should we do...?" the old woman asked hesitantly.

"No rush. Lu Yinghong is in power right now. People easily become arrogant when they're in power. We'll just watch her jump into the fire herself." After saying that, she asked the nanny, "What book is the Fifth Prince reading today?"

"The Grand Tutor found some books on water conservancy for the Fifth Prince, and he is reading them now."

Consort Shu nodded. "The Ministry of Works is already drawing up plans, so the canal digging project should be underway soon. Tell Xiao Wu to work harder, and have the kitchen prepare some ginseng chicken soup for him to nourish him later."

The old woman smiled and agreed.

"It's best that the Crown Prince went to Yunzhou..." Before the old woman could finish speaking, Consort Shu interrupted her.

"No need. The more we do, the more likely we are to be targeted. We don't need to do anything. The Crown Prince already has little popular support because of his mother."

The old woman nodded and then withdrew.

Consort Shu coughed lightly a few times, her fingers gripping the celadon teacup, her gaze deep.

Her son will become the most honored person in the world. She will become the most honored woman in the world.

"Sister Wanqing, I will show you the day I succeed."