Li Nai was henpecked; when his wife lost her temper, he never dared to express his own opinions, barely managing to say, "Princess, what should we do now?"

Princess Gao Yang raised her eyebrows and said, "What else can we do? Naturally, troops must be met with generals and water with earth. We can’t just let her harm our daughter, can we? Besides, she rescued that Xiao Family slut, it was clearly a provocation to me. If I don’t show her some colors, she will think I am afraid of her, the Empress Dowager!"

"Show Empress Dowager... colors...?" Li Nai stammered, "This... doesn’t seem right."

"What’s not right about it? She thinks that just because she became the Empress Dowager, no one dares to mess with her, it’s truly laughable. The one on the Dragon Chair did not crawl out from her stomach. As long as we find a way, we can definitely make His Majesty distance himself from her. Ideally, we should shut her up. Only then can our Ling’er live well inside the Palace, and we too can have good days. Otherwise, we might as well wait to be tormented to death by her."

Li Nai also understood that Gao Yang’s words made sense, but to have them act against the Empress Dowager, he truly did not dare!

"How about letting Ling’er go and apologize to the Empress Dowager, and then tell her to be more restrained in the future, not to be so ostentatious anymore?"

Gao Yang’s eyes sharpened, and she shouted, "Our Ling’er did nothing wrong, why should she apologize to her? Do you mean for my Ling’er to live her life in fear under her hand? If so, how can Ling’er compete for the back seat? How to enter the Middle Palace? Wouldn’t all my years of efforts be in vain?"

Li Nai, knowing he couldn’t argue with her, said, "Why don’t we go consult Father about it? This matter is of great significance, one mistake, and it could lead to the destruction of the whole clan. We should be more cautious."

Gao Yang sneered coldly, saying, "Your old man is the most timid and cowardly person, only knowing to compromise for self-preservation. If he knew about this, he would definitely make Ling’er go apologize to Wanyan Min, and we would all have to live under Wanyan Min’s gaze in the future."

Li Nai said, "No matter what, Father has experienced more than we have, listening to his opinion would do no harm."

...

Prime Minister Li, having heard the whole story, said sternly, "I have known the Empress Dowager for many years, and I know she is not someone who easily bears grudges against others. It must be De Fei, thinking highly of her nobility and her current favor, has become somewhat reckless. If I am not wrong, she is most likely dissatisfied with just being a concubine and has challenged the dignity of the Empress. So, we just need De Fei to go to the Empress Dowager and the Empress to serve tea and admit her mistake, and be more restrained in her future actions; I reckon nothing will happen. This is actually not a big deal, you must not make a fuss over nothing, develop other thoughts, and invite the calamity of family destruction."

Princess Gao Yang, upon hearing this, dismissively said, "Eunuch, you’re too cautious. The back seat rightfully belongs to the virtuous. Our Ling’er is young and beautiful, talented in singing and dancing, noble in birth and deeply favored by His Majesty. In what way is she not better than the unattractive, talentless, and virtue-less Empress Wanyan? If Empress Wanyan really was a descendant of the Royal Family of Qing Luo Kingdom, it would be forgivable, but she is merely the daughter of a merchant, and born of a concubine at that. Why should she occupy the position of Empress? Why should Ling’er perform the concubine’s rituals for her? Ling’er’s resentment and desire to replace her are completely understandable."

Hearing his daughter-in-law’s words, Prime Minister Li was so angry his face turned pale. He had long known that the princess married into the family was not a kind person. Previously, her jealousy and mistreatment of his son’s concubine daughters and such, considering her princess identity, he simply turned a blind eye. Who knew this malicious woman, insatiable as a snake swallowing an elephant, not content with exerting authority and wealth at home, now wanted to extend her hand to the Imperial Harem and audaciously strive for her daughter to seize the back seat. Wasn’t this digging her own grave, inviting her own destruction, and bringing along the Li Family as well to be buried with her!