Empress Wang, friendless and under threat, the Fair Flatterer Wu would be far more useful in the palace itself. Empress Wang had already resigned herself to not being her husband's favourite – Gaozong spent increasingly longer periods at the palace of Xiao Liangdi, where the woman continued to beat down his defences with tales of her son's great intelligence, his superb academic record and how ideal he would be as a better crown prince than the current incumbent. Every night that she kept Gaozong occupied would be another night he was kept away from Pure Concubine Xiao Liangdi, and, should Wu
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