Yu Taifu glanced at the parrot gasping for breath in the birdcage, his well-maintained face showing a hint of helplessness: “The Yu family’s power is weak now. Although I temporarily manage the rear palace, as long as the Imperial Consort Xu is here for one day, there is no way to interfere in court politics. The Empress is about to come of age, and the country cannot be without a monarch’s consort for a day. New imperial consorts will soon fill the palace. I schemed to frame and kill Imperial Consort Jia, but countless imperial consorts and male consorts will continue to pour into the palace afterwards. Once my power to control the six palaces is weakened, the Yu family will completely decline.”

The Yu family of the Marquis of Changxin had fought alongside the founding Empress to establish the country, and was specially granted the title of Marquis of Changxin, with hereditary nobility. In those years, they were once glorious and unrivaled in the entire Jinling City.

Unfortunately, their female descendants lacked strength.

Except for the old Marquis who was brave and good at fighting when following the founding ancestor to establish the country, the later female descendants became worse with each generation. By the time of the current Marquis Yu’s generation, they only obtained an idle position in the court. With neither great power nor talent, though holding the title of Marquis, they ranked last among the Three Dukes and Six Marquises.

If it weren’t for the fact that the six palaces had no master and Yu Taifu temporarily managed the rear palace, the future of the Marquis of Changxin’s household would only be a downgraded nobility.

Seeing that the Empress would come of age in a year, how could Yu Taifu not be anxious?

He had no daughters, and the only Imperial Consort Pei Yunzhi he raised by his side was not close to him.

In earlier years, the Taifu had still planned to use Pei Yunzhi as a bargaining chip, marrying him to the Prince of Zhennan as a gesture of goodwill. Who knew that after probing openly and secretly, Jing Huan was indeed unwilling.

Considering that the Imperial Consort would not worry about marriage, he had to use the only Imperial Consort raised by his side as a bargaining chip to help the family, so this matter was left unresolved.

Later, when news of his nephew Xie Nianci’s death reached the palace, it was the joint work of the Prince of Zhennan and Pei Yunzhi. Yu Taifu became vicious towards these two in his heart.

He originally wanted to issue an imperial edict to insert his own people to marry into the Prince of Zhennan’s household along with Pei Yunzhi. Even if they couldn’t weaken Jing Huan’s power, with a little maneuvering they could stir up trouble in his household.

Who knew that Jing Huan was not a pushover either, bringing out the account books of the Marquis of Changxin’s corruption and bribery from when he went south to Tongzhou a few years ago as a threat. Yu Taifu could only grind his silver teeth to pieces and give up the idea of scheming in secret.

Now that he couldn’t move against the Prince of Zhennan, and Pei Yunzhi had Jing Huan’s support, becoming increasingly unmanageable in the palace. The longer a young man stays, the more resentful he becomes, especially since this child is not his own.

For the past two years, Yu Taifu had been planning to use him as a bargaining chip for marriage alliances and marry him off.

But the Yu family’s power was weak, and the family’s children were mediocre and incompetent, already showing signs of decline. No family was willing to give up their eldest daughter.

Moreover, although Pei Yunzhi was an Imperial Consort, he had always been hot-tempered and powerless, of no help to the noble families’ brilliant future.

Among the Three Dukes and Six Marquises, the powerful families, no one was willing to accept the olive branch thrown by the Taifu.

Yu Taifu had no choice but to set his sights on commoner ladies. Firstly, he could use the Imperial Consort’s status to restrain the commoner lady, preventing her from having second thoughts. Secondly, by marrying Pei Yunzhi into a commoner family, he could keep him under control. Thirdly, he could also use Liu Cangyun’s prestige among the commoner children to create influence for the Yu family.

Killing three birds with one stone, Liu Cangyun, the top scholar from Lingnan, was a must-have for him.

—

The seventh year of Yifeng, Winter Solstice.

Heavy snow had been falling continuously for three days, accumulating thickly on the streets of Jinling City.

The gates of the Forbidden City were wide open, and carriages with seven-colored glass canopies and emerald curtains drove out of the palace gates one after another.

Armed guards rode tall horses to escort the long line of carriages, clearing the way at the front of the procession.

Traditionally on the Winter Solstice, the palace gates would open wide, and the Empress would lead the civil and military officials to Nanhua Temple to worship heaven, praying for favorable weather and a prosperous country in the coming year.

—

When Liu Changning returned to the inner courtyard from her morning run in the bamboo forest, she sensed that the atmosphere in the temple was tense today.

There were many more armed guards in the inner courtyard, and the west side courtyard was completely surrounded by soldiers.

Seeing her observing and examining, the armed guards’ eyes contained deep vigilance.

Liu Changning was surprised inwardly, but didn’t show it on her face. She raised her eyes to look at the bald nuns hurrying back and forth not far away.

She grabbed one at random and asked, “Has something big happened in the temple? Why…”

The young nun, holding incense and candles, saw that it was a recent frequent guest of the abbess, and only then stopped, explaining: “The lady doesn’t know, today is the great ceremony of worshiping heaven. The Empress is leading the civil and military officials to come to the temple to worship heaven and Buddha. They are temporarily staying in the west courtyard, so the temple has been heavily guarded these two days. You…”

The young nun glanced at the armed guards in front, and said in a low voice: “If you have nothing to do in the next two days, just stay in your room. It’s not good to offend important people.”

Liu Changning thanked the kind-faced bald nun warmly, and turned back to her lodgings.

Nanhua Temple was the largest temple in the Jin Feng Dynasty, with an extremely wide area within the temple grounds.

The temple had gray walls and white tiles, with blue brick paving. The winding paths were deep, giving a sense of solemn tranquility.

The temple was divided into inner and outer courtyards. The outer courtyard had majestic Buddhist statues and Sanskrit chanting filling the great cosmos, with constant streams of worshippers. In the past two days, with the Empress leading civil and military officials to worship heaven, there were very few worshippers left.

Now in the entire inner courtyard of the temple, the handful of staying guests could be counted on one’s fingers, with Liu Changning being the only one.