It was late at night. The bustling streets gradually quieted down. Only a few sporadic firecrackers announced the arrival of the New Year.
In a corner of the room, an oil lamp flickered a few times and then burned out. Li Wanming didn't refill the lamp oil.
In the large Qinghui Hall, the candles were waning.
Xiao Jingnan looked pained.
"After I entered the palace today, I told the Empress Dowager everything... She flew into a rage and immediately summoned my father, Grand Tutor Lü, and Prime Minister Fang into the palace."
"My father swore on the ancestors of the Xiao family that the reason he concealed your existence was just to let me marry and have children safely and preserve the Xiao family's lineage. He absolutely had no intention of deliberately hiding it from her."
"Of course, the Empress Dowager didn't believe it. But she took advantage of the situation, asking my father for the roster, and said..."
Xiao Jingnan's face was as pale as paper. His dark pupils were filled with indescribable pain. "She said that if I wanted her to agree to you becoming the Crown Prince's consort, I must enter the court as an official and swear to be loyal only to her from then on."
Li Wanming couldn't help but gasp.
Empress Dowager Kang wasn't satisfied with just taking the military power of the Xiao family. She actually... wanted to make Xiao Jingnan a hostage?
Entering the court as an official...
It sounded nice!
Now all the civil and military officials in the court had pledged their allegiance to Empress Dowager Kang. Asking Xiao Jingnan to serve in the court was clearly to keep him under her nose so as to restrain the Xiao family!
"Did... did you agree?" Li Wanming asked in a trembling voice.
"The enemy wields the knife, and we are the fish on the chopping block. We lost this battle completely. I had no choice but to agree. Moreover," Xiao Jingnan turned his head and looked deeply into Li Wanming's eyes. "If I didn't agree, I couldn't protect you..."
The Prince of Ning was a first - class royal relative. When the Ning Mansion was to marry a consort for the heir, it must have an imperial edict from the palace.
In the current situation, Zhao Yanke was struggling to protect himself and had no real power. To obtain this imperial edict, they must get the approval of Empress Dowager Kang.
Li Wanming's identity had been exposed. If she was left outside the mansion now without the protection of the title of the heir's consort, she would be in danger of losing her life at any time.
"But... but..."
Li Wanming grabbed his sleeve and asked anxiously, "Aren't you supporting His Majesty? You just told me that only His Majesty could pacify the Southern Border. Empress Dowager Kang... she..."
Of course, she could hear the affection in his words, but now she didn't feel touched. She only felt heart - rending pain.
Three sons of the Xiao family had died in the Southern Border, and six cities of the Great Sheng Dynasty had been lost.
This was an irreconcilable blood feud and also something Xiao Jingnan must do in his life.
When he was explaining the whole story to her today, he had already said that Empress Dowager Kang was only obsessed with the power struggles in the court and was content to stay in the northern border. She had no intention of conquering the south at all.
To subdue the Southern Border, they could only rely on Zhao Yanke.
However, now he told her that he was going to defect to Empress Dowager Kang... and the only reason for doing so was to protect her...
"No... no... you can't do this..."
Li Wanming grabbed his lapel. Her eyes were red, and tears were rolling down.
Don't talk about being loyal to one side while serving another, or feigning surrender and secretly passing information to Zhao Yanke... That was just the talk of an ignorant child. In practice, it would be extremely difficult.
Working under Empress Dowager Kang, surrounded by the Empress Dowager's informants, how could one be loyal to one side while serving another?
One slight mistake might lead to a fall into the abyss.
Moreover, he had promised to defect to Empress Dowager Kang in front of Grand Tutor Lü and Prime Minister Fang today. This matter couldn't be hidden. Sooner or later, this would reach Zhao Yanke's ears. What would Zhao Yanke think?
Once the seed of doubt was sown, it would surely take root and sprout one day.
Once there was a rift between brothers, they would surely not be of one mind...
Using his brother and his unfulfilled ambition in this life to exchange for her safety... Li Wanming couldn't accept it.
Her tears were like broken beads, falling continuously.
Xiao Jingnan didn't say a word. He just gently patted her on the shoulder. "I haven't finished the bad news yet. Do you still want to hear it?"
"Yes, I do!"
Li Wanming wiped her eyes and said stubbornly.
She wanted to see what more disastrous bad news there could be today.
Xiao Jingnan opened his mouth. His eyes were dim, but he said something that seemed completely irrelevant: "Su Xiaozhu... she's going to be a noble lady in the palace."
...
What?
Li Wanming was stunned. For a moment, she couldn't remember who Su Xiaozhu was.
Xiao Jingnan gently reminded her, "The chief actress in your inn, the daughter of Su Dingyao, the prefect of Yongzhou... The day your inn just opened, His Majesty went there and immediately took a fancy to her and said he wanted to marry her as the queen?"
"Oh, it's her..."
Li Wanming came to her senses and immediately realized something was wrong. "You said she... she's going to be a noble lady in the palace?"
"Yes."
Xiao Jingnan let out a long sigh. "Empress Dowager Kang was extremely angry. She severely scolded Grand Tutor Lü and Prime Minister Fang, saying that the Lü family had blatantly deceived her. Lü Songyuan could never be the queen... In the end, she reached an agreement with Grand Tutor Lü and let Lü Songyuan enter the palace as a concubine."
"After His Majesty heard about this, he caused a big scene in the study. He refused to agree no matter what, saying that if Lü Songyuan was to enter the palace as a concubine, he must also choose one he liked."
"The mother and son had a big fight. Finally, Empress Dowager Kang gave in a little and agreed to let Su Xiaozhu enter the palace as a noble lady."
...
Li Wanming stared blankly with her mouth open.
She didn't expect that while she had been struggling outside all day, the drama inside the palace had been so exciting.
The original candidate for the queen had become a concubine, while the actress in the inn had suddenly become a noble lady.
How absurd...
The Ning Mansion, which had been superficially neutral but actually strongly supported the emperor for many years, had defected to the Empress Dowager's camp. Grand Tutor Lü and Prime Minister Fang, who had been wavering and trying to defect to the emperor, had been firmly grasped back by Empress Dowager Kang overnight.
The situation was unpredictable, and the world was changing suddenly.
Fate, it seemed, could be so capricious...
Li Wanming's mind was in a daze. There was a dull pain in her chest. A jumble of thoughts came to her, making it hard for her to breathe.
She took two steps back and supported herself on the corner of the table.
No...
Something was wrong.
Amid the chaos, she still caught a hint of information.
Su Xiaozhu entering the palace and Lü Songyuan becoming a concubine... Neither of these could be considered bad news for her.
Unless, there was something else.
Xiao Jingnan still had something to say...
Li Wanming looked up blankly at Xiao Jingnan and saw even deeper pain in his eyes than before.
"Wanming..."
A thought roared in Li Wanming's mind, but her body was stiff, and she couldn't say a word.
What could the bad news related to her be?
It couldn't be about the Li family. The Li family was about to become in - laws with the Ning Mansion.
Then, there was only...
Through the cold and dim light in the room, Li Wanming saw Xiao Jingnan's lips tremble as he slowly uttered a sentence:
"The Empress Dowager said that since the heir's consort is a royal noblewoman and cannot engage in business, she has confiscated all your shops and the academy..."
Xiao Jingnan's Adam's apple rolled. There were bloodshot eyes in his eyes.
"I'm sorry... Wanming."
His hands drooped powerlessly.
"I still couldn't protect what you wanted in the end."