Night fell.

Tao Guizhi had just finished bathing and still felt exhausted all over.

She sat before the mirror, letting two maids dry her hair. Although these two served her, they also monitored her.

Suddenly, a voice came from outside: “Heavenly Maiden, the kitchen is asking whether you’d like to drink white fungus and mung bean soup?”

Hearing this name, Tao Guizhi was immediately stunned.

Her memory suddenly returned to when she was still at the Xie manor. When she went to the kitchen, she saw the cook stewing white fungus and mung bean soup. At the time, she had laughed—these two ingredients together were strange. After asking, she learned it was a recipe from Concubine Jiang’s hometown. She had even specially gone to find Concubine Jiang to request a bowl to taste. From that time on, she too began drinking white fungus and mung bean soup.

After leaving the Xie manor, she hadn’t drunk white fungus and mung bean soup for a very long time.

Why would the kitchen suddenly ask her this question?

Could it be—

Tao Guizhi recalled three days ago, when bestowing the sweet dew, she had seen Concubine Jiang and Xian’er.

At that time, Concubine Jiang hadn’t shown any unusual reaction, and she herself was wearing a veil. She had thought that Concubine Jiang hadn’t recognized her.

It seemed her identity had been exposed.

Had Concubine Jiang come seeking hush money?

Tao Guizhi narrowed her eyes and thought for a while, clearly knowing she shouldn’t go.

But for some reason, she still walked toward the kitchen. Was it because she wanted to drink a bowl of white fungus and mung bean soup, or because she wanted to see an old acquaintance?

Two maids kept following behind her. She said coldly: “The clothes I’m wearing tomorrow, go iron them.”

Those clothes were unique in the world and had to be ironed smooth every day to wear the next day. The two maids didn’t dare be negligent and immediately went to handle this matter.

Only then did Tao Guizhi enter the kitchen. A person dressed as a cook carrying a bowl of soup walked toward her.

Even though the cook hadn’t raised her head, she could recognize that the person before her was Concubine Jiang, who had entered the Xie manor together with her back then.

Concubine Jiang said with her head lowered: “Let me deliver the soup back to the Heavenly Maiden’s tent.”

Tao Guizhi stepped outside, walking to a secluded place where there was no one, then suddenly turned around and said coldly: “What are you doing here? Do you know what kind of place this is? As long as I shout right now, you’ll be separated from your head!”

Concubine Jiang knew this trip carried great risk, but she had to make this journey. Even knowing she might lose her head, she had to come personally.

She raised her head and said: “You’re now the Heavenly Maiden revered by all the people. If those citizens knew that you once abandoned your own child—a person who gives up even her own child, how could she possibly bless the common masses? Do you think those citizens would still revere you?”

Tao Guizhi laughed coldly: “Why don’t you speak directly—what exactly do you want?”

“I don’t want anything.” Concubine Jiang shook her head. “Can you leave this place now? Someone wants to see you.”

Tao Guizhi paused, tentatively asking: “The Empress Dowager?”

“It’s Kang’er.”

When Concubine Jiang said this, Tao Guizhi felt as if struck by lightning.

The reason she had fallen into Xie Shi’an’s hands was because Xie Shi’an had hidden Kang’er. Only if she did her job well would he allow her to see Kang’er once.

She had begged many times, but Xie Shi’an never relented.

She could only first play the role of the Heavenly Maiden well. Once the great undertaking succeeded, she could reunite with Kang’er as mother and child…

“There’s not much time.” Concubine Jiang said in a low voice. “If we wait until tomorrow when both sides go to war, Kang’er might…”

“I’ll go. Where?”

Without any hesitation, Tao Guizhi followed Concubine Jiang through a secluded corner, through a small grove, and walked to the westernmost side of the encampment.

Under a large tree stood a figure wearing black clothing that wasn’t very clear. The figure held a child in her arms.

“So dark… Grandma, I’m scared.”

Xie Shikang clung tightly to Yuan Shi’s neck, his voice somewhat trembling.

Yuan Shi patted his back, softly coaxing: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. There are stars in the sky. If you look up at the stars, you won’t be afraid.”

At this time, two women gradually approached.

Yuan Shi recognized Concubine Tao at a glance.

Tao Guizhi’s eyes gazed at the child, as if afraid the child would run away. Both eyes stared tightly as she asked with a trembling voice: “Kang’er?”

“It’s Kang’er!” Yuan Shi protected the child behind her, saying coldly, “Back then when Kang’er still needed to nurse, you, his mother, abandoned him and left! Now that Kang’er doesn’t need to nurse anymore, he doesn’t need you as a mother either! If Concubine Jiang hadn’t begged me to come, I would never have brought Kang’er to see you! Fine, now you’ve seen him. I should go!”

“No…” Tao Guizhi grabbed Yuan Shi’s arm. “Let me hold him, hold him just once, okay?”

Yuan Shi wouldn’t allow it.

She forcibly stepped forward and grabbed the child’s shoulder, snatching Xie Shikang over. Xie Shikang was so frightened he cried loudly.

“Kang’er, I’m your mother, I’m your mother…” Tao Guizhi also shed tears. “Mother wronged you. Mother knows she was wrong. From now on, we mother and child will never be separated again…”

“Can’t you see the child is crying so hard he can barely breathe? Let go quickly!” Yuan Shi pushed Tao Guizhi away and held Xie Shikang, coaxing him for a long time. When Xie Shikang cried himself tired, he fell asleep.

“After you left back then, Kang’er couldn’t even get a mouthful of milk. It was Chu’er—that is, the current Empress Dowager—who sent over a ewe that had just given birth. Kang’er survived thanks to that ewe.” Yuan Shi said through tears. “In this world, only Chu’er deserves to be Kang’er’s mother. If you want Kang’er to acknowledge you, you must repay Chu’er’s kindness. Otherwise, for the rest of this life, I will never let Kang’er call you mother!”

Having said this, she turned and left.

Tao Guizhi cried heartbrokenly and knelt on the ground.

Concubine Jiang looked at her and said: “You’re now working for Prince Chengguo, which means standing in opposition to the Empress Dowager. You’ll probably never be able to acknowledge Kang’er for the rest of your life.”

“Why, why…” Tao Guizhi pounded her chest. “You all threaten me with the child. What can I do? What can I do…”

She cried with suppressed sobs.

“Without the Empress Dowager, there would be no Kang’er living well.” Concubine Jiang slowly said. “You must repay kindness—repay the Empress Dowager’s kindness. You must also accumulate merit—accumulate merit for Kang’er. Now that you’re the Heavenly Maiden, repaying kindness and accumulating merit is truly too easy.”

Tao Guizhi murmured: “It’s useless, it’s useless…”

The common people followed Prince Chengguo not merely because of her as the Heavenly Maiden, but more so because medicine had been put in that sweet dew.

“This is the antidote.” Concubine Jiang took out a large bundle from behind her, filled entirely with medicinal powder. “If you’ve thought it through, put this into the so-called sweet dew… The lives of all the people under heaven are held in your hands. If you save the common people, only then will you be worthy of being the true Heavenly Maiden, worthy of being Kang’er’s mother. Well, I’ve said all I have to say. I’ll leave first.”

In the night, Tao Guizhi carried the bundle and slowly returned to her own tent.

Just as she sat down along the edge of the bed, a voice rang out from outside: “Master Xie!”