Daman smiled.

His smile was ambiguous and indecipherable.

"Yes, brother-in-law, elder sister will surely return." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Xiao Cheng pursed his lips, watching her without speaking.

But inside, he was filled with an unprecedented sense of melancholy.

Disordered, out of control, as if staring into an abyss.

The two of them stood opposite each other in the study, discussing Feng Yun, who was far away in Andu.

Outside the study, Feng Ying, with a chicken soup stewed for two hours, waited to please her husband.

In the past, Xiao Cheng would have gone with the flow, giving her some face, which also meant giving face to both the Feng Family and the Chen Family.

Today, he was too weary.

Reclining on a couch, his fingers twitched.

"Let her go back. I don’t need it."

Daman smiled faintly.

He intercepted Feng Ying outside the study.

"The Emperor says I am to have the chicken soup. Would Lady Feng be so kind as to carry it to my palace chambers?"

Feng Ying was recently preoccupied with selecting consorts for Xiao Cheng, and upon hearing her elder sister had been involved in such a scandalous affair, she was astonished and wanted to probe for the truth.

When she heard Daman’s brazen words, she fell silent for a moment, gestured for the Palace Attendant to follow, and proceeded to his living quarters, Huiyin Hall, in step with Daman.

Huiyin Hall was right next to the Emperor’s sleeping quarters.

That location greatly irked Feng Ying.

In front of Daman, she maintained her composure, engaging warmly in small talk before bringing up Feng Yun.

"My elder sister is someone who undertakes great endeavors, unlike us women in the deep palace, who have few desires of our own and are surrounded by helplessness."

Daman sneered softly, bending down to pick up a tortoiseshell cat that brushed against him, gently stroking its back while speaking sarcastically:

"Lady Feng keeps so many eyes on me, isn’t that enough to do as you please? Your helplessness must be because you can’t serve in the Emperor’s bed and can’t gain favor for your child, and you can’t force the Emperor to proclaim you as Empress of Daqi, can you?"

Seeing his brazenness, Feng Ying’s face slowly turned pale.

"I may not become the Empress, but that doesn’t mean you will."

"Of course I won’t, nor do I wish to," Daman said lightly as he lifted the tortoiseshell’s face, his fingers tenderly caressing it. "To live like a cat, with food, shelter, and adoration, I’m blissfully happy. Isn’t that right, tortoiseshell..."

Feng Ying felt nauseated by his audacity, her flesh crawling. Biting her silver teeth, she turned on her heel and left.

Daman looked at her retreating back, raising an eyebrow.

"Serves her right."

Feng Ying’s body stiffened, but without turning her head, she coldly said:

"Then let the two of us bide our time in this deep palace, and see who has the last laugh."

These days, not only had she planted spies and agents around Daman, but she had also swallowed her jealousy and was dead set on winning Daman over to her side...

In her eyes, Daman was just someone who gained favor for resembling Feng Yun and couldn’t truly capture Xiao Cheng’s heart.

And she might very well be the first to bear the dragon’s seed; being enemies with such a person would do her no good. Better to use both carrot and stick, keeping a tight grip on her.

Alas...

Daman was shallow, indulging in food and drink, slothful and lazy, immersed in imperial favor, with not an ounce of ambition for anything else.

The daily reports from her spies were always the same.

Lady Huaman was eating, drinking, playing, accompanying the Emperor...

She never seemed to do anything else.

This made Feng Ying doubt whether Daman was truly a spy sent by Feng Yun and whether she genuinely enjoyed Xiao Cheng’s favor...

Back in Fanghua Hall, Ning Xiu presented a letter from Bingzhou.

In the letter, Feng Jingteng informed her of the Young Emperor residing in Huaxi Village, presumably under the sole directive of the Eldest Princess.

He said that among the imperial kin, everyone looked up to the Eldest Princess, and without her wishes, no one could sway the situation, especially with Pei Jue nowhere to be found.

Clutching the letter, Feng Ying wished for the first time that Pei Jue was dead.

If he died, who else could her elder sister rely on?

Wouldn’t she have to lean on her maiden family?

She elegantly penned a reply, "Father, mother should keep frequent contact with Huaxi. Blood is thicker than water. With brother-in-law’s whereabouts unknown and his life in jeopardy, elder sister must be grieving. Family care is of utmost importance..."

-

The temperature gradually rose as the days got hotter.

Yet Taiping Garden seemed shrouded in an aura of dusk.

The Eldest Princess, blamed for controlling the Young Emperor, smiled through clenched teeth as she welcomed the royal carriage to Andu, only to be outraged to the point of spending three days bedridden, unable to eat or sleep.

Puyang Yi felt sorry for her mother, dutifully kneeling beside the bed, yet the Eldest Princess remained angry.

She was furious with her daughter for siding outwards, disobedient, following Feng Yun to persuade her, putting her on the spot and making her a laughing stock.

Angry that her lifelong reputation was compromised by the machinations of the Feng women, doing things against her will.

These frustrations weighed heavily on her heart, hard to dispel, while her son Puyang Zong lay in bed recuperating from his injuries, and her daughter-in-law Ruan’s daily weeping and melancholy behind the courtyard distressed her to no end...