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She spoke with evident satisfaction, "Cai Qin, in this palace, you are the one I value the most. You must not disappoint me."

Kneeling respectfully, Cai Qin paid a deep obeisance, "This servant’s life was saved by Your Highness. I would willingly brave fire and boiling water for Your Highness."

The Noble Consort was pleased, "Mm, rise. We must hasten to address that matter."

Indeed, this servant was one to repay kindness. Having followed her for so many years without a single complaint, even in times of neglect, she remained unflappable, which only increased the Noble Consort’s regard for her.

"Yes." Cai Qin stood up and left the Inner Palace with her head bowed.

Seeing that her objective had been achieved, the Noble Consort said no more and picked up the booklet to continue reading.

After exiting the Inner Palace, Cai Qin called two palace maids to attend her and then she went out.

Reaching a secluded spot, her usually expressionless face slightly curled into a mocking smile.

The matter referred to dealing with Consort Xu De and Beauty Lian.

Canglan Court was guarded as tightly as a drum, with everyone sent there having failed to return, newsless.

If not for her arrangements, His Majesty’s people would have followed their trails and found her by now.

She would have been the first to be questioned, and the Noble Consort would not have been able to avoid implication.

Of course, the Noble Consort would surely point the finger at her, claiming it was her own unauthorized doing. And she, in turn, would take all the blame to repay the Consort’s kindness.

The Consort saw little hope in the matter and recognized the high risk, so she turned and asked her to devise a plan to drive a wedge between Consort De and Beauty Lian first.

Creating discord was relatively low-risk and difficult to trace back to the Noble Consort.

The key difficulty lay in the fact that Beauty Lian, who was easy to coerce into talking, was closely guarded, making all plans unworkable, while the other, Consort De, was extremely difficult to sway.

Beauty Lian was so securely watched by His Majesty that not even when she was out did he fail to have people secretly protecting her; no suspicious person could get close enough to set a trap.

And Consort Xu De, with her resolute heart, was an entity they could not shake. The spies planted in Huaying Hall had been repeatedly removed because they were too obvious, a clear case of losing more than they tried to steal.

That was the difficult situation she faced.

The same tactic used against Talented Lady Jia wouldn’t work; casually sending a few servants to speak half-truths and half-lies to Beauty Lian or Consort Xu De to incite discord would prove futile.

The best approach was to have a high-ranking consort draw closer to Beauty Lian or Consort Xu De and gradually scheme against them.

They, being mere servants, couldn’t even get close to them, so how could they possibly fabricate discord?

The Noble Consort knew well the difficulty of the task yet, at such a critical juncture, she wouldn’t bring herself to stir up the concubines who followed her. Instead, she let her underlings march to their doom, huh, as if their lives were worth nothing?

Perhaps in her mind, what mattered was the chance of success, right? What did it matter if a few servants died?

Indeed, even Nanny Chen met with no good end; how could the Noble Consort possibly care for the others?

In her mouth, she claimed Nanny Chen’s peaceful retirement was a blessed fate, using this as a pretext to permit Nanny Chen to leave the palace.

Once outside the palace, they gouged out Nanny Chen’s eyes and cut off her tongue, leaving her in the care of the Xue Residence. Fed like a dog, hanging on to life by a thread - that was her ’peaceful retirement.’ It was laughable.

But Nanny Chen was no good thing herself; she deserved her fate.

If she hadn’t become aware of that affair, she might have indeed devoted her life wholeheartedly to the Noble Consort, as she had all these years, wouldn’t she?

Cai Qin’s eyes flashed with deep coldness. Hearing the sound of someone approaching, she wiped the expression off her face and emotionlessly looked toward the person coming.

It wasn’t long before Cai Xia hurried over in a state of panic.

Upon sighting Cai Qin, she halted in her tracks, a thought flashing through her mind, and immediately stopped to say, "Cai Qin, something terrible has happened. Go tell Consort that Consort Xu De has gone mad and has seized many people."

As she spoke, she anxiously stamped her foot, grabbing Cai Qin’s sleeve as though unsure of what to do next.

Cai Qin, staring at the anxious face of Cai Xia, asked directly after a moment, "Who has been seized, and why were they taken?"

Cai Xia shook her head, looking utterly bewildered, "This, this I do not know. I came over as soon as I got the news. All I know is that a familiar Punishment Matron has also been captured! Could Consort Xu De be capturing people without cause to crush our Consort’s dignity, to set an example?

Cai Qin, what do you think we should do?

The situation is urgent; otherwise, you’d better go and report to Consort immediately. "

Cai Qin’s face remained expressionless as she took hold of Cai Xia’s hand and briskly pulled away, saying calmly, "I understand."

She then steadily walked back towards the Inner Palace.

Along the way, she thought to herself, Consort Xu De truly had the manner of someone from a military background; she acted swiftly and decisively, with the force of a thunderbolt.

A few days ago, when she came to inquire about assisting in managing the Harem, the Noble Consort avoided her and did not show up, sending someone over just once and then no more.

While the Noble Consort was still waiting for the perfect move, the other didn’t come again, not allowing herself to be led by the Noble Consort.

And today, she struck by capturing people!

If Cai Qin’s predictions were correct, Consort Xu De’s capturing of people wasn’t to show off her power. It was likely that the captured individuals were tied to Huaqing Palace’s informants. If it were not for being on opposing sides, Cai Qin would feel like applauding.

As for the little schemes Cai Xia had in mind, she didn’t pay them any attention.

Seeing Cai Qin enter the Inner Palace, Cai Xia quietly breathed a sigh of relief. With such a serious incident, Consort was bound to be furious, and Cai Xia certainly did not dare to go and tell her.

In fact, she had not told Cai Qin the whole truth. She knew more than she let on. The familiar Punishment Matron who was taken reached out to ask for her help, saying that Consort De had opened a court in Huaying Hall and had captured a bunch of servants who had broken the rules for interrogation.

That Nanny had the sense to send word to Huaqing Palace on her way over, entrusting the task to someone else, and was taken away right after she had given her instructions.

She purposefully hid some details, thinking that if Cai Qin was so clever, then let her guess the rest. Going to report with only this bit of news would surely add fuel to the Consort’s rage.

Indeed, from the Inner Palace came the Consort’s furious voice, "What? She dares to capture people so recklessly!"

That was followed by the sound of a cup being smashed.

Next came Cai Qin’s voice, too low for her to make out clearly.

Then there was the Consort’s command to summon people, "Someone come, dress me. I will meet that barbaric woman immediately!"

Hearing the command, Cai Xia loudly responded from outside and, having summoned people, was the first to enter.

At this time, the Emperor was in the Administration Palace, discussing state matters with ministers, concerning the critical matter of the Autumn Exam. Successive dynasties took the imperial examinations very seriously; they could not be delayed.

During a break to drink tea, Zhang Qing quietly reported the happenings in the Harem to the Emperor.

Upon hearing it, the Emperor understood. Xu Rong Ying was finally going to play her role and start removing thorns from the palace.

If it were anyone else in such a situation, they would surely secure their position first and then slowly act according to the list Cao De provided, silently eroding away at their opponents’ strength to avoid causing too much stir and backlash due to instability.

Noble Consort Xue was of this type, and moreover, a high-caliber strategist.

But the player now was Xu Rong Ying, whose approach was entirely different.

Consort De was well versed in the ways of military strategy, adept in commanding troops through martial prowess, and favored cutting through the mess with decisive action. How could such a person take it slow?