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Sister Consort De was still laughing, one hand on her stomach, the other slapping the table. Luckily the table was large and sturdy, or else it would have suffered, and the feast on it would have been ruined.

She couldn’t help but feel puzzled, staring blankly at Consort De. Was Sister all better now?

Or had she imagined Sister’s sadness just moments ago?

The way Sister was laughing so heartily, she seemed completely untroubled!

The Emperor, holding Lian Hua, looked silently at the still laughing Consort De and couldn’t be bothered to intervene.

He said while pulling Lian Hua aside, "Don’t mind her, let her laugh. Are you hungry? If you are, let’s eat before the dishes get cold."

He was speechless about Xu Rongying. Did he really look so funny protecting his Little Concubine?

Well, let her laugh if she wants, as long as she keeps her thoughts off his Little Concubine.

"Huh?" Lian Hua grew more confused about the situation. Did His Majesty mean to eat without waiting for Sister?

Weren’t they here as guests? It seemed rather presumptuous to take over the host’s role, didn’t it?

The Emperor didn’t elaborate further, but pulled her to the other side of the table to sit down. For the purposes of their act, Consort De had originally set only two sets of cutlery, so he asked someone to add another set.

By now, Consort De had laughed enough. She rubbed her aching stomach and stared into space. This bout of laughter had dispelled days of pent-up frustration.

In her heart, she was immensely grateful to the Emperor.

Although she was appointed to enter the palace by the Former Empress Dowager, intended to use the Xu Family’s influence to balance power in the former court’s harem, the Emperor had respected her, giving her options rather than forcing her to enter the palace, and later agreed to her requests.

In name, she was his consort, but both knew it was merely a mutual use of each other, without any real personal involvement. The Emperor never considered her in a romantic light.

The Emperor took a risk to vindicate her, risking ridicule from everyone.

Many knew Shen Ming was her former fiancé, and people speculated that she still harbored feelings for her ex-fiancé. She didn’t care; it was true, and if her reputation suffered, it hardly mattered since they could do nothing to her.

In the eyes of the world, not only did the Emperor not hold a grudge, but he also helped vindicate her deceased fiancé. This was highly intriguing and laughable to many.

For this reason alone, she was deeply grateful and had to commend the Emperor for his audacity.

Now, all she could do to repay him was to protect her sister and rid the palace of its messy intrigues...

"Sister, are you hungry?"

A voice roused her. She looked up and saw her sister.

An involuntary smile appeared on her face. Her sister truly was a warm little coat, making her feel so warm inside just by looking at her.

The Emperor was already feeding Lian Hua, and he went to pick up some dishes far from her that she liked. In that short moment, his Little Concubine looked his way again.

What was so great about Xu Rongying? This woman was mentally strong, having survived the bloodshed of battlefields, not so easily defeated. His Little Concubine was being overly sensitive.

He turned Lian Hua’s face toward himself and said with displeasure, "Focus on your meal."

As he spoke, he fed her a bite of food and took a handkerchief to dab at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh..." Lian Hua busily accepted the food the Emperor fed her, too busy to think about Sister Consort De again.

Consort De watched this scene with both envy and amusement. The Emperor really was being petty, showing off like this, as if others had never experienced it themselves.

In those days, her Brother Ming had once shown off his abilities, got injured, and claimed he couldn’t lift his arm to eat, asking her to feed him.

She fed him for several meals, only to discover later that Brother Ming had tricked her; he could lift his arm quite well, contrary to what he had claimed. He even lied that his brothers had been helping him with toilet visits.

She sneered and stood outside the privy, asking him how he managed this time without his brothers around.

Just now, she had seen him take off the bandage that was on his arm. His arm was perfectly fine, and after finishing in the privy, he’d put it back on. Did he think she was blind?

Suddenly embarrassed, Brother Ming blushed and repeatedly said that she should not look, as men and women shouldn’t touch, asking her how she could follow him when he was, after all, using the privy.

It was amusing—why didn’t he mention men and women not touching when she fed him?

She smiled softly, pulled out a whip, and told him she was worried his hand might be inconvenient, and he could fall into the privy pit on his own, so she came over.

Seeing the whip, Brother Ming started to run, shouting for the female hero to spare his life while tearing the bandage from his arm to run faster.

Eventually, she caught up with him and found out through questioning that one of his brothers had taught him this trick to gain a woman’s sympathy and affection by pretending to be pitiful—he tried it, and it indeed worked very well.

As he said this, Brother Ming even had a hint of smugness, proudly looking at her.

So, she took the whip and gave him and his brother who had just returned a thorough lesson.

It seemed like it happened just yesterday, yet time had passed, and the world had changed; those people were no longer there.

A gentle smile played at her lips. Who said Brother Ming was gone? He was alive and well, forever in her heart.

She looked up to see her sister and the Emperor being rather clingy, but it was nice—genuine mutual love, each seeing only the other in their eyes. How lovely.

The only downside was that the Emperor had too many concubines; otherwise, it would have been even better.

It seemed she needed to work hard. Now that she had become Consort De with the power to assist in managing the harem, she should weed out those who had erred, preferably removing some to avoid troubling her sister.

Thinking this, she decided to start tomorrow.

Having settled her plan, Consort De’s mood improved considerably. She then stood up, casually chose a seat next to Lian Hua, not minding the proprieties of rank and order.

This was her Huaying Hall, and she was the host here; she would sit wherever she liked. Moreover, all the nails had been cleaned up—there was nothing to fear unless the Emperor was going to fuss about even this.

Lian Hua was enjoying her meal and, noticing that Consort De had come to sit next to her, turned her head and smilingly looked at Consort De, eagerly picking up chopsticks that she had not used yet to offer some food to her sister.

Following the principle of reciprocation, Consort De also smiled and picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks for Lian Hua, urging her to eat more.

Only the Emperor looked displeased.

Consort Xu Rongying, with her disregard for protocol, should have sat on the other side of him according to proper etiquette, allowing him to keep her away from his little concubine.

Despite the ample space, she had to sit next to his little concubine and even had her tableware moved next to her. It was outrageous.

This ungrateful wretch—he had been feeding her for a long time without any appreciation, not even offering him a single piece of food, and then turned to offer food to Xu Rongying.

Such a mischievously ungrateful creature; she’d be dealt with when they got back.

His Majesty felt bitter, yet he had completely forgotten that just a while ago, to divert Lian Hua’s attention, he had kept feeding her, leaving no room for her to offer him any food.

Feeling uneasy, Lian Hua connected well with her sister and sensed something was off—the Emperor seemed to have stopped offering her food.