TFWYH – Chapter 654 Too Many Clever Ideas

After all, the First Prince was already over forty years old — old enough to be Miss He’s father.

No matter how noble his status was, a young girl naturally wouldn’t fancy him!

Not to mention she would only become a secondary consort.

To put it bluntly, a secondary consort was just a concubine.

Sure enough, once Su Qing heard that she had been promoted to Imperial Noble Consort, she immediately knelt to thank the Emperor for his grace.

Then she clung to him coquettishly, saying that she liked Miss He very much and wished to keep her in the palace as company.

The Emperor asked for Miss He’s opinion, and Miss He also expressed her willingness to serve the Imperial Noble Consort.

Since both parties agreed, the Emperor gladly fulfilled their wishes and kept Miss He in the Imperial Noble Consort’s palace as a senior head maidservant.

The palace system of this era somewhat resembled the Qing dynasty that Tang Wan knew about.

Though those senior palace maids and guards were technically servants, many actually came from official families.

The same applied to places like the Bureau of Clothing and the Bureau of Food — many of the supervisors there were children of government officials.

In short, from this point onward, Miss He belonged to Su Qing’s household. Her parents could no longer make decisions for her.

Tang Wan could not help sighing inwardly. These women were truly crafty — their schemes were endless.

Just look at Censor He and his wife. At this moment, they were glaring hatefully at Miss He.

Yet Miss He did not even glance at them once. She merely stood obediently beside Su Qing, attending to her dutifully.

As for Marquis Yong’an and his daughter, there was no way they could continue staying there.

The Yong’an Commandery Princess had never known restraint, and now that she had caused such a catastrophe, Marquis Yong’an practically wanted to strangle the idiot to death.

After the father and daughter left the hall in disgrace, Marquis Yong’an immediately slapped his precious daughter hard across the face again — though that was a matter for later.

The competition continued.

After such a major incident, the officials no longer had much mood to appreciate performances. But with the Emperor still present, they could only force themselves to remain seated and keep smiling politely.

No one mentioned the previous incident again.

Only Huangfu Yi quietly warned his daughter, glaring at her as he spoke in a low voice, “You’d better behave yourself. Otherwise, today’s Yong’an Commandery Princess will become tomorrow’s you.”

Huangfu Rong’an shivered and obediently nodded, the arrogance she usually carried visibly restrained.

She had almost forgotten about her elder brother losing his heir title.

But the Yong’an Commandery Princess’s downfall reminded her again.

Her elder brother had been the heir apparent, yet Grandfather Emperor stripped his title away the moment he wished to. Compared to that, what was a mere commandery princess title like hers?

The competition continued…

One had to admit that girls from official families truly were accomplished.

Even daughters of minor officials possessed talents they could proudly display.

It was as though everyone had already forgotten what happened earlier. They ate, drank, and continued appreciating the performances.

During this period, Tang Wan was selected once again — and once again, it was a poetry competition.

This luck of hers…

Her opponent had already witnessed Tang Wan’s poetry skills before. The moment the match began, she directly admitted defeat.

Gradually, only three noble ladies remained:

Tang Wan, the Third Prince’s Consort, and Huangfu Rong’an.

The Empress’s face had long since darkened like the bottom of a pot. Throughout the entire event, she watched coldly in silence.

Originally, she had planned that whichever noble lady remained at the end would receive an imperial favor from the Emperor and be bestowed upon the First Prince as a secondary consort.

But among the final three women, one was already married, one was both married and heavily pregnant, and the last was Huangfu Xiao’s own niece.

None of them could possibly become Huangfu Xiao’s secondary consort!

Not only had today’s elaborate arrangement completely gone to waste, Su Qing had even profited enormously from it!

Imperial Noble Consort!

The Empress herself was not even dead yet, yet now there was already an Imperial Noble Consort!

Wasn’t the Emperor openly slapping her in the face?

And Su Qing was merely the daughter of a merchant family, yet the Emperor granted her such exceptional favor. How could the Empress not feel jealous?

The Empress turned her head to look at Su Qing’s smiling face, then glanced at Tang Wan below — that stunningly beautiful face that stirred envy within her.

Smiling faintly, she addressed the Emperor, “Your Majesty, it is getting late, and the Third Prince’s Consort is with child… In this concubine’s opinion, these three noble ladies each have their own strengths. Why not let them determine the winner in a single round?”