The Xie family estate glowed with lamplight in the autumn night.
After bathing, Xie Yanfang sat indoors with his hair loose, wearing casual home clothes, looking at the documents before him. Behind him, silent maids gently dried his hair.
The room was filled with the fragrance of green tangerines.
The documents before him hadn’t been turned in a long time. As the lamplight flickered, Steward Cai hurried in.
“Young Master,” he said, “the Empress has left the capital.”
Xie Yanfang raised his head to glance at the sky outside. “Just as expected of her temperament—saying she’d go and leaving immediately.”
Steward Cai’s expression was complex. “I truly cannot understand this Miss Chu.”
She had kept her abilities hidden, risen suddenly like a dark horse, seized the position of Empress, ascended the throne alongside His Majesty and attended court with him. At such a young age, she played the role of Empress convincingly, even skillfully. Yet at the most critical moment, she suddenly abandoned everything in the capital to go see her father.
“What is she really thinking?”
Xie Yanfang said, “What she does is what she thinks. Miss Zhao has a pure and true heart.”
She neither concealed her depths nor was she naive. She simply did what she wanted to do, and what she did, she would certainly accomplish.
Just like him.
Xie Yanfang reached out to turn a page of the book, his gaze on the text as he continued speaking.
“Moreover, she didn’t leave in a moment of hot-headedness. She made preparations.”
She had held a banquet, letting the female relatives of the great aristocratic families see her, and had deliberately walked to the great hall to sit alongside the Emperor, making an even deeper impression on everyone.
What’s more—
Xie Yanfang smiled faintly.
“With me in the capital, she can go wherever she wishes.”
Steward Cai also smiled, adjusting the lamp on the desk to make it brighter. “Yes, with the Third Young Master as her support, what does she have to worry about?”
He paused at this point.
“Since Miss Chu isn’t in the palace, let’s have Seventh Madam go look after His Majesty.”
Xie Yanfang shook his head. “That won’t do.” Then he added, “It’s inappropriate.”
“How is it inappropriate?” Steward Cai was displeased. “She’s not in the palace now. A Yu is still young and has no more family in the palace. As his aunt, it’s perfectly reasonable for Seventh Madam to look after him.”
Xie Yanfang smiled and nodded. “To us it seems perfectly reasonable, but not to others.”
“What? Will Miss Chu say it’s not acceptable?” Steward Cai bristled, his voice cold. “When she was in the palace, we said nothing, raised no issues. Apart from you, no one from the family went to visit His Majesty. Going this far is already showing her enough respect. Now she’s left the palace of her own accord. She’s not in the palace—as His Majesty’s only family, can we not even look after him?”
Xie Yanfang looked at the angry old servant, knowing this wasn’t just Steward Cai’s anger but the accumulated frustration of the entire Dongyang Xie clan.
Since the incident, the clan elders had already tried to come to the capital three times—once when the Crown Prince, Crown Princess, and Late Emperor died, once when Xiao Yu ascended the throne, and once more a month after Xiao Yu’s enthronement—
All three times, he had stopped them.
Though the clan elders had complied, they were certainly dissatisfied.
“What did Grandfather write to you about this time?” He smiled. “Tell the old gentleman to speak to me directly. I’m not the type of unfilial descendant who doesn’t listen to his elders.”
Steward Cai snorted. “You listen to your elders? Every time, you make the elders listen to you. Who would dare speak to you anymore?”
Xie Yanfang laughed heartily. Before Steward Cai could speak again, he said first, “Grand Tutor Deng won’t agree to it.”
Steward Cai froze, then bristled again. “What right does he have to disagree!”
“By virtue of being the Grand Tutor, by virtue of being regent,” Xie Yanfang said leisurely. “The Grand Tutor flew into a rage over the Empress leaving precisely because her departure from the palace will cause him trouble.”
“That trouble is that we Xie clan will take the opportunity to dominate the inner palace.”
“We are A Yu’s maternal family, his only close relatives. But the Xiao Imperial Dynasty doesn’t have only us Xie as imperial relatives. Believe me or not, the moment we send someone in—no, at this very moment, Grand Tutor Deng is already selecting people.”
“Even if he can’t stop us from sending someone in, he certainly won’t let us have our way.”
Steward Cai slowly sat back down.
“If we send Seventh Aunt and Deng Yi also sends someone in, and others take the opportunity to fan the flames—what will the rear palace look like?”
“With so many people competing in the rear palace, it would be most disadvantageous for A Yu. He’s still small, just a child. We cannot afford even the slightest mishap.”
The anger in Steward Cai’s eyes dissipated, his expression becoming somewhat uneasy.
“What we need to do now is not compete with anyone for A Yu,” Xie Yanfang said softly. “But rather let A Yu grow up safely, come of age and assume personal rule. That will be enough.”
Steward Cai let out a long sigh and bowed to Xie Yanfang. “Young Master, this old servant was impulsive.”
Xie Yanfang smiled. “It’s because they’re family that we become impulsive. No blame, no blame.”
Steward Cai raised his head and snorted again. “See? Even when the Old Master writes to me, it’s useless. Don’t I still end up persuaded by you, Young Master, and listening to your words?”
Xie Yanfang laughed heartily. “Then what are you waiting for? Steward Cai, quickly go write a reply to Grandfather.”
Steward Cai smiled helplessly as he stood and walked out. At the door, he stopped and turned back to look at the young master seated inside.
“What are you looking at?” Du Qi, leaning against the wall with his long sword and eyes half-closed, said. “Old Cai, no matter how much you look, you won’t see as clearly as the Young Master.”
Steward Cai scoffed. “Not only do I not see as clearly as the Young Master, I don’t see as clearly as that Miss Chu either. With the Young Master here, she truly has nothing to worry about.”
That Miss Chu truly had good fortune to have the Young Master’s protection.