Lin Anran’s earlier actions had indeed carried a hint of testing.
If Guo Yichen had pushed her away last night—or, like on the first night she transmigrated, treated her with disgust, forced himself on her and then left with a few mocking words—it would have meant that he already despised her to the extreme. In that case, in order to secure her place in the harem, she would have had to find ways to please him and survive more comfortably in this palace.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he had been unexpectedly gentle.
Lin Anran naturally did not believe this meant Guo Yichen liked her. She felt that last night was also his way of sending her a message.
It meant that her month of obedient, proper behavior had been satisfactory to him and had somewhat changed his impression of her.
With that, she had basically figured out his attitude.
As long as she fulfilled her duties as Empress properly, managed the harem well, raised Luo Li properly, did not compete for favor, did not harm imperial heirs, and did not oppose the Empress Dowager, then Guo Yichen would be willing to maintain a respectful, mutually polite marriage with her.
It seemed her judgment was correct: Guo Yichen was an emperor rational to the extreme.
The previous emperor had arranged the marriage, and although he used the Lin family alliance to stabilize his position as crown prince and suppress his rivals, he was still an ambitious ruler who did not wish to be constrained by the Lin family.
Moreover, powerful in-laws were always a political taboo. The original owner had relied on the Lin family’s backing to openly oppose the emperor, quarrel with the Empress Dowager, show contempt for the concubines, and even harm imperial offspring—she had already crossed the emperor’s bottom line.
If she were to continue acting like the original owner, what awaited her would not only be deposition as Empress, but disaster for the entire Lin family.
Even Luo Li, who was currently the most favored child, would likely be implicated, with a tragic future.
An emperor was inherently merciless. Lin Anran did not delude herself into thinking Guo Yichen would spare them out of marital or parental affection.
As she was thinking, Chunhua waited until the attendants had withdrawn before carefully reminding her, worried, “Your Majesty… it seems you kicked the Emperor off the bed again last night.”
She truly feared that if this continued, the Emperor might never return to Fengyi Palace again.
The Empress had only just managed to ease relations with him—if she lost his favor again because of this, survival in the harem would become even more difficult.
Lin Anran felt a throbbing pain at her temples and habitually rubbed her forehead, rolling her eyes in frustration.
She didn’t want to kick him either!
But she was asleep—her leg had its own ideas. It wanted to kick, and she had no control over it.
In the main hall, Consort Xian said sarcastically, “Congratulations to Your Majesty the Empress. It seems you have regained imperial favor.”
Only two days earlier, Consort Xian had been released from confinement. She had assumed the Emperor would immediately turn to her, but instead he only sent gifts through the internal palace office and nothing more.
That had already left her furious.
However, she took comfort in the fact that the Emperor had been busy dealing with a severe drought in the northern regions and had not entered the harem these past days, which slightly eased her frustration.
She had assumed that given the urgency of the drought, the Emperor would not have time to visit Fengyi Palace on the fifteenth either.
Yet last night, not only did he go to Fengyi Palace, but her spies reported that he had also spent the night with the Empress—and that the activity continued deep into the night before stopping.
How could Consort Xian not be enraged?
The Emperor had never shown her such enthusiasm before. This only heightened her sense of crisis.
Where exactly had things gone wrong, causing the Empress’s temperament to change so drastically in this life—and even seducing the Emperor into favoring her again?
Consort Xian struck first against the Empress. Consort Gui and Consort De remained on the sidelines, watching quietly, waiting for the two to fight so they could reap the benefits as the fishermen.