The next moment, Wang's face turned sorrowful, she took Su Wanwan's hand, and tears streamed down her face.
"I probably don't have much time left. Lately I keep having dreams about Emperor Xianzong, who blames me for not managing the inner palace well."
"The emperor has been married for almost two years, but has no children."
"Wanwan, now that you are the Empress, it is your duty to help the Emperor to have many concubines and bear him imperial heirs."
"Never be like those petty, jealous people."
Su Wanwan knew that Madam Wang had finally gotten to the point, and simply smiled obediently:
"Grandmother is absolutely right."
"I am young and have only recently married into the family. I am unfamiliar with many things. I would like to ask my grandmother to give me some guidance so that I may follow it and avoid disturbing Emperor Xianzong in the afterlife."
Nowadays, apart from the two concubines in the Cold Palace and the deposed Empress Xia Xueyi.
Lu Xingjian's harem consisted only of her.
If she doesn't take a concubine, people will only point the finger at her, the empress, and say that she is jealous.
Lu Xingjian was not interested in Yanruo.
Adding another Yanruo would simply mean receiving an extra imperial concubine's salary.
Wang looked quietly at Su Wanwan, and finally laid her cards on the table:
"Since the Empress is reasonable, I will make the decision myself and bestow the title of Consort upon Yanruo, so that she can assist you in managing the harem and serving the Emperor."
Before he finished speaking, Lu Xingjian and Yanruo walked in one after the other.
Lu Xingjian's face was tense, his eyes were cold, and his sharp gaze fell on Wang Shi on the bed and Su Wanwan sitting by the bedside.
The atmosphere in the room seemed harmonious.
This was completely different from the situation he had worried about—that Su Wanwan would be bullied.
Su Wanwan had a slight smile on her lips, her face serene, though still showing signs of weakness and paleness from her illness.
There was no embarrassment or awkwardness about it.
He wasn't jealous at all.
Lu Xingjian's eyes grew even colder.
Yanruo, on the other hand, tensed up like a frightened bird and involuntarily looked up at Lu Xingjian.
He is really tall.
A blush crept onto her face.
The image of the fire-avoidance diagram that the Empress Dowager had shown her flashed through her mind, and her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest.
So fast?
She wasn't mentally prepared.
So soon I'm going to become his woman?
She will definitely do everything she can to please him and make him never forget her!
Su Wanwan paused for a moment, then went to pay her respects to Lu Xingjian.
Just as she was about to curtsy, Lu Xingjian stopped her, interlocking their fingers: "The Empress is not fully recovered yet, why bother with formalities?"
The reproachful tone was filled with doting affection.
Wang's gaze fell on the Emperor and Empress's tightly clasped hands, and her eyes darkened.
Lu Xingjian was someone she watched grow up.
Seemingly elegant and composed, but actually cold and aloof.
He has always maintained a distant attitude towards Su Wanwan.
Today, however, they deliberately showed affection for each other, probably because they felt that the power in the palace had been purged sufficiently.
It's also possible that he was refuting what she just said.
Wang clenched her fist.
No matter what, she had to fight for a proper status for Yanruo today.
Su Wanwan smiled sweetly and said softly, "Your Majesty, I congratulate you."
The gentle look that had just appeared in Lu Xingjian's eyes gradually cooled down.
"What's there to be happy about?"
He exuded a terrifying aura that sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room.
Su Wanwan quietly took a step back and turned to look at Wang Shi.
"It was the Empress Dowager's intention."
Lu Xingjian followed her gaze and looked at Madam Wang.
Wang couldn't help but flinch.
It must be said that Lu Xingjian's terrifying sense of oppression was exactly the same as that of his grandfather, Emperor Xianzong.
Wang felt a great deal of resentment and unwillingness.
She was also an empress.
Emperor Xianzong treated her like a decoration, never favoring her, and only using her as a tool to save face.
Lu Xingjian doted on Su Wanwan, and the couple lived together in Xiaoyuan these days, no longer even coming to the palace.
The pain and helplessness that had been suppressed for decades suddenly came crashing down.
Madam Wang gritted her teeth and revealed her trump card: "Your Majesty, my intention is to make Yanruo a concubine."
Lu Xingjian didn't want to pay any attention to her at all, his tone icy:
"It seems that Grandmother is much better now and has the leisure to concern herself with my affairs."
"Emperor!" Wang Shi said, her voice rising in exasperation.
"I only have one request: I will never interfere in the affairs of your harem again."
She stared sharply at Lu Xingjian, not giving an inch.
"Regarding the death of the Annamite envoy, doesn't His Majesty still need the Marquis of Anyuan's mansion to provide substantial assistance?"
"I will instruct Marquis Anyuan to do his utmost and obey the Emperor's orders."
Lu Xingjian pursed his lips.
His narrow eyes held an icy gaze.
He was the emperor, and the local officials he personally appointed were actually subservient to the Empress Dowager, an old woman in the harem.
How ridiculous.
How ironic.
“And another one,” the Empress Dowager continued, throwing out another bargaining chip.
"If rice from Hubei and Hunan can't be transported out, can silver be transported out?"
"Your Majesty, you cannot do without the support of the Wang family."
Su Wanwan clenched her fists.
I recall the most heated discussion among everyone at my birthday celebration regarding the grain reserves in Hubei and Hunan.
This is a blatant threat from the Empress Dowager.
Using the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi and Annam, and the grain reserves in Huguang, they coerced the emperor into accepting Yanruo as a concubine.
Love between a man and a woman, mutual affection, should be a beautiful thing that happens naturally.
Nowadays, however, it has become a matter of profit, leading to forced buying and selling.
For some reason, she suddenly felt an overwhelming pang of sadness.
This was even after Lu Xingjian had been on the throne for more than three years and held real power over the capital's military, yet he was still being coerced like this.
One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him when he first ascended the throne.
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