After watching them depart, Wan Shi said, “If Noble Consort Shu is free, why not come sit in this palace’s quarters? The Imperial Kitchen just sent over some newly picked tea leaves.”

Lin Shi looked at her with complex emotions, then nodded briefly, “Alright.”

They made their way to Shangyang Palace, where Zhaixing ordered palace servants to bring a small stove and placed a purple clay teapot filled with mountain spring water on it to boil. When the water reached a rolling boil, she poured in tea powder. After three boils, she lifted the pot and poured the scalding tea into blue jade tea cups, handing them to both women.

As Wan Shi received hers, she gave Zhaixing a meaningful look. The latter nodded knowingly and said to the palace servants standing on both sides, “Chuyun and I can serve here. You may all withdraw.”

Zhaixing and Chuyun were highly trusted by Wan Shi, practically holding the authority of half-masters in Shangyang Palace. The other palace servants naturally dared not disobey her words. After they all withdrew, Chuyun stepped forward to close the palace doors.

Wan Shi sipped the tea soup that emanated a subtle, elegant fragrance, looking at the silent Lin Shi with a half-smile, “Still wondering why this palace saved you?”

Lin Shi’s eyes narrowed slightly as she said, “Indeed, I’ve been thinking about it constantly, but I can’t understand your reason for saving me. We’ve always been enemies, after all.”

“Enemies…” Wan Shi repeated these two words, shaking her head with a smile, “Wrong. You’ve always regarded me as an enemy, but I’ve never seen you that way. At most, we’ve had some disputes.”

“Disputes?” Lin Shi said coldly, “So in Imperial Noble Consort’s eyes, the loss of a life is so insignificant?” Wan Shi’s causing her to lose her child had always been the greatest pain in her heart. If not for Wan Shi strongly protecting her before Li Yuan this time and saving Yunyi’s life, she would never have been so calm.

Wan Shi looked at her for a moment, then sighed softly, “You indeed still remember that incident.”

Lin Shi shook her head, saying painfully, “The separation of flesh and blood is a piercing pain. How could I forget?”

Wan Shi set down her tea cup and said slowly, “If I told you I never harmed your child, would you believe me?”

In the past, Lin Shi would have certainly scoffed at Wan Shi’s words, but now… she wasn’t certain. If Wan Shi truly wanted to harm her, she could have simply stood by and watched in Ganlu Palace earlier. Why would she need to strongly protect her before Li Yuan?

Under Lin Shi’s puzzled gaze, Wan Shi said, “Let me tell you something.” After a pause, she said quietly, “I was father’s eldest daughter. Below me were several younger brothers and sisters. The daughter born to Fourth Mother was only a month younger than me. We two had the closest relationship – we learned embroidery together, memorized poetry together, studied music and chess together. We were nearly inseparable and extremely close. But when we were thirteen, the year father was preparing to arrange our betrothals, Second Sister drowned trying to retrieve a kite that had fallen into a pond. The maid following her couldn’t swim either. By the time someone was found to rescue my sister from the water, she had already stopped breathing. Over this incident, I cried for three full days, not taking a drop of water, and lost a great deal of weight. Mother would cry every time she came to see me, fearing something would happen to me too.”

“I was also there when Second Sister was pulled from the water. Even now, I clearly remember that day’s scene – gentle wind and bright sunshine, clear skies and fresh air. Yet it was on such a day that I forever lost my dearest sister.”

After a long silence, Wan Shi withdrew her thoughts from the memories and said to Lin Shi, “Do you remember when you first entered the household, you once gave me a kite?”

Lin Shi was startled and thought carefully before saying, “I seem to recall giving you one. What about it?”

Wan Shi didn’t answer her but said to Chuyun, “Go fetch it.”

“Yes.” Chuyun turned and entered the inner hall. When she emerged, she held a swallow kite that had faded and yellowed with age. Seeing this kite, Lin Shi’s originally vague memories suddenly became crystal clear. She stood up abruptly, staring fixedly at the yellowed, aged kite. This… wasn’t this the very kite she had given to Wan Shi years ago? After more than ten years, Wan Shi had actually… kept it all this time?

“Strange, isn’t it?” Wan Shi took the kite and gently stroked its tail feathers. “When Second Sister died, she was trying to retrieve just such a kite – one she had made herself. When others made swallow kites, they would only put one split in the wings and tail, but she liked to make two. When I scolded her for it, she said this made hers unique – people would know it was her kite at a glance and wouldn’t take the wrong one.”

Lin Shi’s body trembled. She did the same thing – whenever she made swallow kites, she would always add an extra split, thinking it looked more attractive.

Wan Shi continued stroking the kite, murmuring, “When I first saw this kite you gave me, I almost thought Second Sister had returned.”

Lin Shi vaguely remembered that when Wan Shi first saw the kite she had sent, her expression had indeed been strange – as if smiling yet crying. When they went to fly kites, this swallow kite had accidentally broken its string. Wan Shi had been unusually anxious, personally leading people to search for it. When they found it, she had held the kite tightly in her arms as if it were some precious treasure.

“Though you weren’t my Second Sister, I somehow always felt you were her. From that time on, I regarded you like a real sister, and you were also very good to me, until… that incident happened.”

Lin Shi naturally knew what incident she meant. All these years, she had firmly believed that Wan Shi had poisoned the food she sent, causing her child’s death. But now, hearing this… it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Wan Shi’s eyes met hers unflinchingly as she said, “Though I’ve said this countless times, today I must say it once more – years ago, I put nothing in that bowl of lotus seed soup I sent. Your miscarriage had nothing to do with me!”

Lin Shi looked at the kite, then at Wan Shi’s earnest expression, her heart in complete turmoil. If… it truly wasn’t Wan Shi, then who had harmed her?

Just as Lin Shi was puzzling over this, Wan Shi continued, “Though I never harmed you, I did indeed cause the death of a child still in the womb.”

Lin Shi’s cheek twitched violently as she stared at Wan Shi, asking in a trembling voice, “Could it be… Noble Consort Xian’s child?”

Wan Shi nodded, “Correct. I used methods to cause her miscarriage. As for why I did this, have you… guessed?”

“Noble Consort Xian… Cui Shi…” Lin Shi repeated these words in a murmur, her body shaking more and more violently. Jichun and Liuxia, fearing something might happen to her, quickly supported her on either side.

After a long while, Lin Shi’s trembling subsided somewhat. She raised her face, pale as a corpse, and said hoarsely, “She harmed my child?”

“Correct. What caused your miscarriage wasn’t that bowl of lotus seed soup, but the pregnancy-stabilizing medicine you took daily. Cui Shi bribed the person in charge of medicinal materials in the household. Every time you went to get medicine, he would secretly add some spurge to it. Since this drug is uncommon, the person responsible for brewing the medicine couldn’t recognize it at all and thought everything was prepared according to the prescription.”