Ming Shu looked at Si Yifeng who quietly listened to her proposal without changing his face. As calm as he would like to appear to her proposal, his subconscious body language, which Ming Shu learned to read as Empress, betrayed his true feelings. She could see how happy and excited he was by what she said.
And Ming Shu was right. Si Yifeng was so happy that if he could he would spin the girl in front of him in commemoration.
With her by his side, the two families behind her would enter his faction.
Who would have thought that one of the hardest affiliations to acquire in the noble faction would come so easy to him. What's more, it was due to a carelessness of his most ambitious brother. Thinking on how his brother and his treacherous mother would be furious about the , his mood only improve.
Ming Shu eyes the future Crown Prince in front of her who still didn't give her the answer. He seemed lost imagining all the prospects of their partnership with a silly grin forming in his face at each passing second.
Deciding to interrupt his reverie, she coughed slightly bringing back his attention to her.
"As I was saying I would like to cooperate with you. The first part is to minimize the Emperor's opinion of Zhao Song. We partially achieve that in the party. Causing the two incidents, the matter of Song Prince trying to take the Four Families to his faction will be brought to his Majesty and he will probably be displeased with his son's actions. Having raped the Eldest Miss of the Wang Household will also not sit well with him. Plus, we found a very convenient dog to bark to the prince in the Duke. As a part of the Royal Family, I'm sure he won't let it passed 'what Prince Song did to his son'"
Si Yifeng smile and nodded to his new ally. Yes, with both things happen, the Emperor would surely diminish the high opinion he has on his brother. But that was not enough.
As if reading his thoughts, Ming Shu continued.
"As I said this is only the first part. What I think it should be our next step is warning the Heads Of each family what their ears are doing behind their back. Taking from Grandma Wang's reaction she had no clue about the alliance of her house to the Song Prince. But when I say Head, I don't mean the Active Head, but the one who truly calls the shots. Like the Wang Family, two more of the Four Families are under an Elder's command"
"And how do you suggest we do that? We can't simply send them a letter can we? It would be too conspicuous. Plus, they have no reason to believe in us"
"Well, we cant, but what about a doted Princess who happened to hear her father's worries about the families alliances?"
Si Yifeng smile only grew. Yes, having his sister send the letter won't cause distrust to neither the Emperor or the Families, who both believe she had were innocent and uninvolved with politics. Plus, even if some of the Families' Head willingly followed his Brotger, he was sure they were smart enough to back up after finding the Emperor on their tail.
It's a pity he has to involve her in the dispute for the throne, but it was bound to happen soon or later.
"What you think?"
Si Yifeng looked at the girl in front of him and was really impressed by what she could come up with so she could deal with her foes. Where he only thought until his Father knows about the event and punishes his Brother, she already come up with the further steps.
"It's a good plan, but will only decrease slightly his popularity. Prince Song is known to be virtuous and talented. He is adored by the masses an looked up by the nobles. Even if everything goes according to plan, it's still a long way to the goal you want"
"True. The good new for us is that he has no military achievement, so his influence there is close to none. If he had it would be troublesome, since soldiers tend to be really stubborn. Abou the talent, is very easy to do right? We just have to find more talented people. Enough for the talent of the prince, which is considered quite rare, becomes at maximum unusual. It would be best if they had a commoner background since it would be impact more the public opinion... we can deal with virtue after, since it's the easiest to do but also the easiest for him to come clean with"
"It sounds all good and all, but how doh pretend to find this talented people? They don't grow like cabbage. At least not that I'm aware"
Ming Shu only chicles at Yifeng's sarcasm.
"That where you come in. With this establishment, I'm sure your girls hear a lot. They probably know one or more wasted talent, don't they? So ask them. I'll look for in another way. We can meet a week from now to see what we could find"
"Sounds good to me"
"Great, I'll be taking my leave then. Brother probably would be happy knowing I'm 'entertaining' his friend after all... see you next week Gege"
Making a courtesy, Ming Shu left the room leaving an amused Prince looking at her retreading back.