Qiu Xinran’s days in the palace were going quite well. Emperor Xuande had conferred upon her the title of Bureau Official, but hadn’t given her any serious duties. Especially after arriving at Wanhe Palace, apart from organizing classical texts for Bai Jingming at the Bureau of Astronomy, she spent her entire days making herself familiar at the various consorts’ palaces. She was young with a sweet tongue, had no conflict of interest with the people in the palace, and could divine and calculate—she was getting along swimmingly. Stay a few more years and she might truly cultivate herself into the next generation of court sorcerer by the Emperor’s side.

Qiu Xinran now had some reputation in the palace. Many nobles privately offered her large sums to read their fortunes, but she declined, afraid of being accused of currying favor with court officials. Only when Emperor Xuande was present would she occasionally read fortunes for people. As for the little eunuchs and palace maids from various palaces who came to her for fortune readings, she never refused and charged cheaply—just taking some snacks and small change. It was said that when Emperor Xuande heard of this, not only did he not blame her, he felt she still had a childlike nature and was simple and endearing.

Of course, if Heir Xia heard these words, he would surely scoff.

That day she was hiding in the garden slacking off as usual when Shu’er from the flower room came to her dejectedly, holding a pot with a dead plant. “Bureau Official Qiu, read my fortune and see when my luck will turn around.”

“What happened to you?” Qiu Xinran sat up from the stone and set aside the book in her hands.

Shu’er sat down cross-legged across from her and sighed. “The potted plant in Heir Xia’s room died. When Master finds out, he’ll definitely blame me for not taking good care of it.”

In Wanhe Palace, the flowers and plants in each noble’s room had dedicated caretakers. Shu’er was responsible for changing the water and trimming the leaves of the flowers and potted plants in Xia Xiuyan’s room every day. Now that a perfectly good potted plant had died, the supervisor would naturally think he hadn’t been diligent.

“I don’t think it’s anything serious.” Qiu Xinran took the potted plant from him. It was a pot of lucky bamboo, its leaves now all yellowed and drooping listlessly. She reached out and brushed the leaves, suddenly having an idea. “Did he pour medicine into it?”

Shu’er was stunned. “Hard to say…” Xia Xiuyan wasn’t in good health. Every time Shu’er went to water the flowers, the room reeked of medicine. If Heir Xia couldn’t finish his medicine each time and casually poured it into the potted plant, it was hard to say.

Qiu Xinran pinched a bit of the soil and sniffed it in front of her nose. There was indeed a medicinal smell, but she felt something wasn’t quite right… She frowned. “What illness does Heir Xia actually have?”

Shu’er shook his head. “I only heard it came from his mother’s womb. What exactly the illness is, I don’t know.”

Qiu Xinran brushed the dirt off her hands and gave him advice. “Don’t tell your master about this potted plant yet. Go back and trim the dead leaves, then tomorrow send the plant back and say that with some watering it might survive. Ask him if he wants to replace it with a new pot.”

Shu’er said with a mournful face, “What use is that? It’s clearly completely dead. If you leave it there and it doesn’t come back to life in a few days, won’t Master still discover it?”

Qiu Xinran had a look of “heavenly secrets cannot be revealed” and smiled at him with pursed lips. “Either way, if you take it back like this you’ll be punished. You might as well listen to me—maybe you can escape this disaster.”

Shu’er was dubious, but a couple days later he came to find her looking incredulous. “Bureau Official Qiu, this time I finally believe you’re some kind of immortal reincarnated!”

Qiu Xinran was also somewhat curious. “What happened?”

“This morning I delivered the potted plant and told Heir Xia what you said, and he indeed kept the plant. I was anxious and fearful for two days, but when I went today, the potted plant was gone. The servant attending the Heir told me that this morning the Heir accidentally broke the flower pot, and when the servants cleaned up, they threw away the soil along with the dead lucky bamboo.”

Shu’er was overjoyed as he spoke. Now that the Heir himself had accidentally broken the potted plant, naturally Master couldn’t blame him. He had luckily muddled through and escaped disaster. After hearing this, Qiu Xinran was somewhat thoughtful. Shu’er didn’t notice her expression and thanked her on his own. Qiu Xinran showed a smile. “It’s nothing—it’s also your own good luck. But remember, don’t tell anyone else about this matter. If it reaches your master’s or Heir Xia’s ears, it won’t just be a simple punishment.”

Shu’er hurriedly nodded, naturally not daring to tell others about this matter.

After Shu’er left, Qiu Xinran began pondering this matter. The Nine Schools were divided into nine major categories: Sword, Medicine, Divination, Mystery, Calculation, Wenyuan, Music, Metallurgy, and Mechanism. Although she came from the Calculation school, she had also studied some pharmacology. In the medicine dregs that Xia Xiuyan had poured into the potted plant, although she couldn’t smell exactly what medicines were inside, she did recognize one ingredient called “Frost Fall.” One spring when she was attending to her master’s injuries on the mountain, her senior brother had brought it back from great distances in the north. This medicine was poisonous, but its toxicity was mild. It was usually added to medicine to achieve the effect of fighting poison with poison. If Heir Xia wasn’t poisoned, why would this be in there?

The next day when she had Shu’er return the potted plant and deliberately said those things, he must have understood, otherwise he wouldn’t have kept the plant and then deliberately knocked it over. So he knew someone was poisoning his medicine?

Qiu Xinran couldn’t figure it out and only felt this Heir Xia was truly strange.

Over the following days she saw Xia Xiuyan from afar a few more times. She saw his expression was normal and there were no signs of poisoning on him. The potted plants in his room afterward were also perfectly fine with no more incidents. However, Shu’er later came to complain to her, saying that these past two days he’d been paranoid, constantly feeling like someone was watching him from the shadows.

Qiu Xinran suspected that time she had caused him trouble and felt some regret. She could only remind him to be extra careful these next few days and to try to go with others when serving at various palaces. Shu’er didn’t detect the worry in her words and agreed happily.

Two days later, envoys arrived at Wanhe Palace, and Emperor Xuande held a banquet at the traveling palace. Qiu Xinran’s eyelids twitched severely that day. Her intuition told her something was going to happen, and she was distracted all day. By evening, the Hundred Flowers Garden where the banquet was held was brilliantly lit, but Xia Xiuyan was nowhere to be seen. Qiu Xinran couldn’t help but inquire and learned that the Heir had claimed illness and was absent.

Her intuition told her something was suspicious about this, so she secretly slipped away and ran to the flower room to find someone. Halfway there, she happened to encounter the eunuch Xiao Xi who shared a room with Shu’er. After she explained, he also made a bitter face. “He left this morning to change the water for the flowers in various palaces. I haven’t seen him come back all day. There was so much to do today that his master is looking for him too.”

Qiu Xinran’s heart sank. She hurriedly ran toward Xia Xiuyan’s residence. Along the way she was full of regret, not daring to think how she would cope if something really had happened to that little eunuch.

Xia Xiuyan resided in Jinhe Palace. He seemed to greatly prefer quiet, so he was arranged in such a remote location with only a handful of palace servants and guards.

When Qiu Xinran arrived, she found his bedchamber was extraordinarily quiet today. If not for the candlelight still visible on the second floor, one would truly think the master had already gone to sleep. Moreover, along the way, she hadn’t seen a single guard in the palace. Normally she would definitely have been suspicious, but in her haste today she hadn’t noticed.

Just as she reached downstairs, she heard the sound of a vase shattering on the second floor, immediately followed by a loud crash like someone falling to the ground. Qiu Xinran’s heart tightened. She hurriedly ran upstairs. Just as she reached the door, she heard Xia Xiuyan’s cold voice from inside the room, apparently speaking to someone. “Chase after him. I can handle things here.” As soon as his words fell, there was the sound of breaking window, and a figure leaped out along the eaves.

Jinhe Palace was in a remote location near the hunting grounds with a large expanse of rolling mountains behind it. In the blink of an eye, the figure had disappeared into the night. She steadied herself. In truth, having run all the way here, her mind had almost stopped working. Before her last bit of courage drained away, she raised her hand and knocked on the door. “Heir Xia, have you retired for the night?”

The room fell silent for a moment before someone responded. “What is it?”

“His Majesty summons you to the Hundred Flowers Garden for the banquet.”

“I’m unwell today. Report to His Majesty that I’ve already retired.”

Qiu Xinran took a deep breath. “His Majesty’s summons may be urgent.” As she spoke, she pushed hard on the door. The door hadn’t been barred from inside and she actually managed to push it open. As soon as she entered, she saw a little eunuch in palace clothes lying face down on the floor with shattered vase pieces scattered around him.

Xia Xiuyan clearly hadn’t expected her to actually dare push the door open directly. His expression darkened, a flash of killing intent crossing his face. “What are you doing here?”

Qiu Xinran looked at the scene before her and said in disbelief, “You killed him?”

“Was he following your instructions?” Xia Xiuyan frowned. Seeing her take half a step back, thinking she wanted to flee, he stepped forward and grabbed her throat. “Who exactly are you?”

The strength in his hand was tremendous. In moments Qiu Xinran was already gasping for air, only able to look at him with a terrified expression as she struggled desperately. Xia Xiuyan observed the expression on her face and suddenly smiled. “What, before you came in, didn’t you think I would kill you?” Cold intent flowed in his gaze. Qiu Xinran was certain that in this moment he truly did want to kill her.

At this moment, the person lying on the ground behind him gradually came to. He seemed not yet to know what had happened. Pressing his head with one hand, he shook it hard and finally stood up. Before he had even turned around, Qiu Xinran despairingly recognized that this absolutely was not Shu’er, the little eunuch from the flower room. The other party’s build was far larger than an ordinary eunuch’s.

The other party seemed still somewhat dazed by everything before him. Qiu Xinran, however, was already unable to make a sound due to suffocation. She could only struggle to raise her hand and point behind Xia Xiuyan, not knowing whether she was crying for help or giving warning. Xia Xiuyan hesitated for a moment before realizing something was wrong. Just as he slightly turned his head back, he was knocked unconscious by a chop to the neck and fell to the ground.

A large amount of air suddenly rushed into Qiu Xinran’s nasal cavity, but her strength hadn’t yet recovered. She bent down, clutching her neck and coughing violently. Due to the suffocation, physiological tears flooded her eye sockets. Supporting herself with one hand on the ground, in the corner of her vision she could only see the other party slowly walking toward her. Before she had time to lift her head, there was a sharp pain in her neck, and she too fell into boundless darkness.