Crickets chirped their long call. Juan Su still waited at the shrine entrance.

He didn’t understand what Lu Huating meant by “stand guard”—should he guard inside or outside? Unable to decide, he kicked pebbles at his feet. The one he kicked shot into the grass pit representing “enter.”

Before Juan Su could push the door, it creaked open first. Standing inside the shrine was a tall man in white robes, his eyelids painted with red rouge in drooping corners, smeared to look exactly like a hanged ghost. Seeing this inauspicious face at night, goosebumps crawled across Juan Su’s back, and he turned to leave.

Who knew that white-robed man would also move, drifting closely behind him.

Juan Su looked back, frightened out of his wits. He took off running, the white-robed man chasing after him. The two nearly sent that young eunuch flying…

Moments later, Shouxi returned to the banquet and whispered in his ear: “Your Highness, the shrine has been searched. Miss Qing truly isn’t there. The person passing messages to Chief Administrator Lu was a household administrator from Princess Danyang’s entourage.”

Li Xuan’s fingers, which had been tapping that old secret memorial, stopped upon hearing this.

He had deliberately let Qun Qing overhear about the memorial because he still harbored doubts about her and wanted to test her. If she truly worked for Lu Huating, she would certainly find a way to tell him this information.

When Qun Qing and Lu Huating left their seats one after another, Li Xuan had almost sneered inwardly, thinking she’d finally shown her true colors. The cold wine entering his stomach stirred up some nausea.

Now, with her innocence proven again, somehow he actually felt relieved.

It wasn’t impossible that Danyang and Meng Guanlou had fallen out and that she was secretly communicating with Lu Huating.

Lu Huating had now returned to his seat. Li Xuan asked Shouxi: “Where’s Qun Qing?”

“Miss Qing isn’t in the side hall—she can’t be found anywhere. Perhaps she really did go to the privy, but this is taking too long.”

Li Xuan said: “Forget it, leave her be. Start the banquet first.”

At the main seat, Empress Ma took her place. The palace maids had just finished arranging her cumbersome skirts when Xiao Yunru, accompanied by female attendants, presented three wooden boxes at the table: “This consort pays respects to Mother Empress. This consort has organized the inner palace affairs from the past half year and returns them to Mother Empress.”

Empress Ma opened the boxes and saw the registers and half the phoenix seal inside. Momentarily troubled, she said: “His Majesty hasn’t spoken yet. What am I to do? Why don’t you keep it for now?”

Empress Ma was over fifty, Emperor Chenming’s second wife and Li Huan’s birth mother, with a timid and weak character. When Li Huan was born, he was said to be so ugly that she had actually fainted from fright at the sight of an infant.

She couldn’t bear the responsibility of managing the rear palace, so the Empress’s phoenix seal was divided in two—rear palace matters were co-administered by Han Wanyi and Consort Lü, while inner palace Six Bureaus affairs were handled by Princess Yan, Xiao Yunru.

“This consort dare not.” Xiao Yunru knelt. “This consort has never dared forget, not for a single day, that she assists Mother Empress out of favor. This half phoenix seal is merely held in trust—Mother Empress is the true mistress of the six palaces.”

The consorts watched, each with their own calculations. This Princess Yan was quite perceptive—sensing Prince Yan would be dealt with, she actually proactively returned the authority to co-administer the rear palace.

Emperor Chenming arrived at precisely this moment.

Instantly, all ministers and consorts rose, their voices like mountains and seas, bowing three times to the Emperor. Emperor Chenming, guided by palace maids to the imperial seat, saw Xiao Yunru kneeling and asked: “What’s this about?”

The Empress said: “Your Majesty arrives at just the right time. Princess Yan says she wants to return the phoenix seal to this subject.”

Inner palace affairs were numerous—just understanding each department would take several days. Empress Ma hadn’t managed the rear palace in so long that seeing all this gave her a headache. How could she possibly handle it?

After hearing this, Emperor Chenming cast a cold glance at Li Huan sitting obediently below. If not for Prince Yan causing trouble, why would it come to this?

He took out the registers and reports from the wooden box and flipped through them. Seeing that Xiao Yunru had recorded everything clearly and thoroughly, his tone softened somewhat: “The servants for each palace have been selected?”

Xiao Yunru said: “Replying to Imperial Father, servants for all noble ladies’ palaces have been completely replenished.”

“What about the officials of the Six Bureaus?”

“We still lack eleven palace officials.” Xiao Yunru paused. “Next month’s first day, the plan was to select these eleven from the second-rank serving maids of each palace. The remaining vacancies would then be filled through selections from the Yeting Court.”

During the palace coup, Chu kingdom’s Crown Prince Zhao had fled south overnight with over a thousand palace servants and vast amounts of gold and valuables, leaving the Li family a broken, paralyzed palace.

It was Xiao Yunru who proposed utilizing convicted female servants left from the previous dynasty in the Yeting Court, selecting palace servants from among them to fill vacancies. This had earned Emperor Chenming’s praise, and she had implemented it systematically. Unfortunately, next month’s plan couldn’t be realized now.

The Empress said: “Your Majesty, perhaps let Prince Yan stay a few more days so the Princess Consort can…”

Emperor Chenming’s gaze instantly turned cold. Empress Ma fell silent, understanding that matters between these princes involved many things, and she had spoken out of turn again.

Emperor Chenming waved for Xiao Yunru to withdraw: “We were preoccupied with the western battlefield and arrived late. Everyone must be hungry—begin the banquet.”

Thanks filled the great hall, followed by the clamor of cups and goblets, and the graceful sounds of strings and bamboo instruments.

Amid the harmonious celebratory atmosphere, Lu Huating thought about the information Qun Qing had revealed to him.

The Crown Prince’s expression showed no abnormality, the secret memorial still pressed on his table. Presumably because Emperor Chenming most detested accusations before banquets—making people listen to cases on empty stomachs—he was waiting until after three rounds of wine to explode. Qun Qing hadn’t deceived him. What she told him was truly information concerning his life.

She had traded this information for his release of Su Run—this transaction where she couldn’t lose somehow made him feel uncomfortable somewhere.

The wine cup being toyed with in his hand had somehow become clenched, the cold, hard rim pressing into his palm.

Between dances and music, Su Run returned to Danyang’s side, but Qun Qing hadn’t come back.

Her capabilities had always been considerable—surely she could shake off even that young eunuch?

Xiao Yunru called Lu Huating’s name several times in a low voice before he came to his senses. This Princess Yan, using the opportunity of toasting, whispered: “The Chief Administrator told me that Princess Danyang’s people would accuse Meng Guanlou shortly. Just now I saw Meng Guanlou had already left by carriage.”

Lu Huating’s expression didn’t change as he clinked her cup: “Someone interfered—the matter didn’t succeed. If he’s gone, he’s gone.”

“Then what do we do? Just now, retreating to advance also failed to soften Imperial Father’s heart.” Xiao Yunru said worriedly, “If there’s anywhere this consort can be of use, please indicate clearly. I only hope the Chief Administrator has a plan and won’t truly let Prince Yan leave Chang’an.”

Lu Huating blocked with his sleeve and drained his cup, but said: “Your Highness might do better to learn from Third Prince’s mentality and eat something properly.”

However many ounces Li Huan usually ate, he ate the same today—Lu Huating’s words sounded like mockery. Without explaining his own plan, Xiao Yunru couldn’t eat at all and, attended by palace maids, forced down only some fruits.

Before one song finished, suddenly a palace-dressed woman left her seat, supported by two palace maids, and walked with difficulty before Emperor Chenming: “Your Majesty, Lady Wanyi feels unwell and wishes to return early.”

This pale-faced palace consort with sweat-dampened temples was Han Wanyi, three months pregnant.

Before she finished speaking, crimson blood was seen seeping through her skirt hem. Emperor Chenming leaned forward. Empress Ma had already cried out in alarm: “Quickly, help her behind the screen first, then summon the physicians!”

“Our mistress has been very careful with her health these days—she hasn’t even gone out visiting. Except a few days ago when Princess Bao’an called and they spoke for a long time—from that day she began feeling unwell.”

Immediately after, Han Wanyi’s weak voice came from behind the screen: “Xiang Mao, don’t speak nonsense.”

Behind that enormous six-panel screen in the great hall stood censers and couches for nobles to rest. Han Wanyi, covered in sweat, leaned against the couch. The trail of blood winding down her skirt was like a red snake, frightening Chen Pin, who attended her, until her face lost all color.

Li Xuan looked at Shouxi, who shook his head. Li Huan and Xiao Yunru exchanged glances and both looked at Lu Huating. Lu Huating’s wine cup hovered at his lips, his face full of bewilderment, indicating he knew nothing of this matter.

This was a sudden incident that no one understood.

Emperor Chenming waved his hand. The strings and bamboo stopped—the hall became eerily quiet.

No one suffered more than Yang Fu: Han Wanyi was the only person in the palace with family ties to her. She could accept her not helping, but she never imagined Han Wanyi would suddenly target her!

Suddenly, she recalled that rainy day—Qun Qing had taken the cat away and told her to take shelter from the rain at Consort De Chen’s palace. If she had truly gone there, she wouldn’t have been able to visit Han Wanyi…

In an instant, she realized: that day, Qun Qing had warned her.

But, but that day, eager to win, she had still walked toward Han Wanyi’s palace… Yang Fu’s heart instantly fell into chaos, regret suddenly arising.

The physician who came to examine Han Wanyi was an elderly female medical official who had always been responsible for Han Wanyi’s health. She bowed to the Emperor and entered behind the screen.

After quite a while, she reported: “Replying to Your Majesty and Your Highness, Lady Wanyi shows signs of miscarriage. This subject has administered needles and medicine. Lady Wanyi must lie still temporarily and cannot be moved.”

Empress Ma fixed her gaze: “Can it be saved?”

“This subject… this subject will do her utmost.” The physician’s tone held no confidence.

Empress Ma sighed repeatedly: “How did this happen?”

“Lady Wanyi has a weak constitution and often vomits, unable to eat. This subject instructed her to eat lightly and open windows for fresh air. This discomfort was approximately caused by some noble person using incense that was too strong and contained snow orchid fragrance, causing the lady dizziness and prolonged sleeplessness, damaging the fetus.”

Xiang Mao said: “That day when Princess Bao’an entered, this servant immediately smelled the strong fragrance on her. But the Princess insisted on closing doors and windows and dismissing everyone. Our mistress is gentle by nature, and her maternal family received kindness from the Princess’s mother consort. Disregarding this servant’s advice, she obeyed Princess Bao’an—it must have been that day.”

“What private matters require closing doors and windows to discuss?” Empress Ma complained.

Chen Pin said: “Regardless of past relationships, Han Wanyi is now His Majesty’s third-rank consort. Order must be observed, superiors and inferiors clearly distinguished. Princess Bao’an puts on such airs that Lady Wanyi must be so humble?”

Princess Bao’an was a princess of the previous dynasty. Because of the Crown Prince and Prince Yan’s favor toward her, she had always been quite controversial. Now the discussions rose again.

Yang Fu naturally visited Han Wanyi seeking her to whisper in the Emperor’s ear, to quickly help her obtain the Crown Princess position and establish herself in the palace. But how could such words be spoken openly?

Dimly, she felt someone wanted to harm her, but she didn’t even know why…

“Bao Zhu.” She said weakly, “Quickly help me respond.”

Bao Zhu also didn’t know what possessed Han Wanyi and hastily argued: “That day, this servant stayed by the Princess’s side. From beginning to end, the Princess treated her with propriety—she couldn’t possibly have threatened Lady Wanyi. Lady Wanyi carries an imperial heir, the most precious person in the palace. If she felt unwell, why didn’t she mention it that day? The Princess’s incense does contain snow orchid fragrance, but most incenses contain snow orchid fragrance. Even the incense currently in this great hall contains snow orchid fragrance—how do you explain that?”

Xiang Mao said: “Then how do you explain that our mistress felt unwell after seeing Princess Bao’an that day?”

This maid was extremely certain—she was coming directly at them. After remaining calm for a while, Bao Zhu suddenly bowed to the Emperor and Empress Ma: “This servant remembers something. That day before the Princess visited Han Wanyi, she collided with a servant from Liangdi Zheng’s palace. A young maid spilled soup on the Princess’s skirt. The Princess was rushing to her appointment and didn’t change clothes. Rather than the utterly ordinary snow orchid fragrance, why not investigate these two servants and see what they actually spilled?”

Hearing this, Yang Fu urgently wanted to stop Bao Zhu, but now barely able to protect herself, how could she manage others? She could only bite her lip in silence.

Zheng Zhiyi had been listening for ages and never expected to hear her own name mentioned. Her eyes widened: “What a base servant—unable to explain clearly, she drags others into the water. What does this have to do with us?”

Bao Zhu said: “Then we must ask why your palace servant couldn’t hold a soup cup steady.”

Openly provoking a noble lady, Zheng Zhiyi ground her teeth in fury: “The soup cup you mention—that was medicinal broth I made for His Highness the Crown Prince, sent every day! Why don’t you ask why Yang Fu couldn’t walk straight and deliberately collided with my soup cup? If there’s a problem with the soup, according to you, does His Highness drink miscarriage medicine every day?”

Empress Ma nearly spit out the mouthful of tea she’d just drunk and laughed despite herself: “This child, this mouth!”

Li Xuan said sternly: “Watch your words.”

Zheng Zhiyi reluctantly closed her mouth.

Emperor Chenming said nothing.

Harming an imperial heir was a grave crime. Though Bao Zhu could argue eloquently, now under the Emperor’s cold gaze, while Han Wanyi’s side seemed to have come prepared, in her panic she had no strategy. She looked around—Meng Guanlou had left the scene. In the entire great hall, there wasn’t a single person who could help her.

Beside Princess Bao’an… the neighboring minister was only Lu Huating.

Bao Zhu bit her lip and glanced at Lu Huating, seeing he wasn’t looking at her. With trembling hands, she took out an object, dropped it on her skirt hem, which then fell onto the carpet along her skirt. Almost inaudibly, she said: “Help me…”

The object was light and thin—a fragment of yellow jade. Lu Huating’s lashes moved slightly. Juan Su, using his body to shield the action, picked up the fragment. Then Lu Huating plucked a cherry stem, cut a strip of cloth, and wrote a few characters on it.

“Chief Administrator, she knows you want to recover this jade and deliberately gives it piece by piece. How long must we be used by her?” Juan Su said quietly. “These rear palace disputes have nothing to do with us.”

“Nothing to do with us?” Lu Huating raised an eyebrow slightly. “Just watch.”

Sure enough, Ying Su bent over and wove through the crowd, whispering in his ear: “Chief Administrator, Prince Yan says the Princess is wronged and requests you clear things up for her.”

Juan Su closed his mouth and could only pinch the cloth strip, roll it into a small ball, and when no one was looking, flick it onto Bao Zhu’s skirt hem.

Bao Zhu knelt behind Princess Bao’an to respond. Using the opportunity to arrange her sleeves, she unfolded the cloth for a glance, her expression much calmer: “The Princess’s clothing is still in the palace. This servant requests Your Majesty and Your Highness permit me to fetch it for the physician to examine—it must be that soup’s fault.”

Lan Yue also knelt: “Your Highness, this cannot be! Going and returning creates many opportunities for tampering. That day, Princess Bao’an’s cat frightened Ruo Chan, causing her to accidentally knock over the soup cup. Princess Bao’an struck Ruo Chan’s face until it swelled. The Princess also made Qun Qing kneel to wipe her skirt—and she’s our Liangdi’s serving maid! Now her servant dares openly implicate the Eastern Palace. Empress, you must uphold justice for our Liangdi!”

She secretly glared at Bao Zhu—wasn’t this just slinging mud? Who couldn’t do that?

For a moment, everyone discussed how Princess Bao’an ran rampant through the rear palace. Empress Ma had never liked Yang Fu and frowned: “No need to fetch it—the more you talk, the more absurd it becomes. Zheng Fu, go to Luanyi Pavilion and fetch some incense for examination to see if it’s the incense’s fault.”

Li Huan looked at Lu Huating. He had only asked him to find a way to extricate Yang Fu, not to point the sword at the Eastern Palace. Now look what happened!

Li Xuan’s lips pressed tightly, his gaze heavy. The Emperor and Empress sat far away at the main seat and couldn’t see these small actions on the western side clearly, but Shouxi could see clearly—behind this Bao Zhu, Lu Huating was clearly manipulating things. Rear palace matters, whether big or small, could affect the Eastern Palace. Fortunately, the Empress was reasonable.

What a Lu Huating—did he think muddying the waters like this could save Prince Yan?

Lu Huating ignored the surrounding gazes.

Bao Zhu continued: “Then this servant humbly requests Your Majesty and Your Highness also examine the incense and food in the hall together, so as not to wrong Princess Bao’an.”

The Empress said: “Naturally.”

“This servant requests Your Highness’s permission to boldly rise and examine.” Bao Zhu stood and walked directly to the consorts’ side, craning her neck to look at Han Wanyi’s unfinished food, suddenly pointing at one dish: “Your Highness, there’s osmanthus cake here. Pregnant women cannot eat it. Lady Wanyi ate half of it—isn’t that the reason?”

Everyone was stunned. The physician was called out by the Empress to examine. Seeing the half-eaten osmanthus cake clearly, she hesitated: “This… indeed, Wanyi is weak—she cannot eat osmanthus.”

“How is the Food Bureau performing its duties?” Emperor Chenming, who had kept his eyes closed and remained silent, spoke his first sentence, making the atmosphere in the hall fill with dark clouds.

The Director of Food Preparation and the Chief of Food Service were quickly brought over. Director Liu cried out in injustice: “This subject knew Lady Wanyi was pregnant. When arranging the banquet, I clearly instructed them to replace all ingredients pregnant women cannot consume. There should be no osmanthus cake at the autumn banquet.”

“No osmanthus cake?” Emperor Chenming said. “Then look—what is that on Han Wanyi’s table?”

The Director and Chief examined the plate in speechless shock, then tasted it.

The Chief knelt and said: “Replying to Your Majesty, that plate contains no osmanthus cake at all—it’s the sweet potato this subject substituted for osmanthus cake. Osmanthus cake uses osmanthus honey; substituting regular honey produces sweet potato. When serving, there should have been no error. Someone later sprinkled osmanthus evenly on the plate, so it looked like osmanthus cake. Presumably Lady Wanyi didn’t notice and ate it by mistake.”

Emperor Chenming’s expression grew grave. Empress Ma’s fan also stopped.

Emperor Chenming said: “You mean someone during the banquet sprinkled osmanthus into it, specifically to harm Han Wanyi?”

The Empress said: “Xiang Mao, do you remember when the osmanthus appeared?”

“This servant didn’t notice. It should have been there shortly after it was served.” Xiang Mao said.

The Empress asked Emperor Chenming: “Where did the osmanthus come from? Question the serving maids?”

Bao Zhu raised her finger: “Why make such a commotion? There’s osmanthus right here in the hall—Liangdi Zheng has some in her hair.”

In an instant, all eyes converged on Zheng Zhiyi’s face. Her eyes widened extremely large and round, her mind going blank from this sudden attention.

She reached back to touch her temples—that moist, soft sensation reminded her that today Qun Qing had inserted golden thread chrysanthemums and osmanthus flowers in her hair. Han Wanyi had even asked her about it.

Now, osmanthus flowers sat conspicuously in her temples.

“Nonsense,” she said somewhat hoarsely. “I’m sitting so far from Lady Wanyi…”

“Liangdi sits very far away and has never left her seat—this servant knows that. But your palace maids can move freely through the banquet.” Bao Zhu said. “May I ask where the serving maid called Qun Qing beside Liangdi is?”

“She went to the privy earlier and hasn’t returned yet.” Lan Yue’s expression also showed some shock.

“She’s a mere palace maid—His Majesty has arrived, yet she still doesn’t return,” Bao Zhu questioned. “Is she afraid to return?”

Zheng Zhiyi’s expression changed. Qun Qing’s character was steady—suddenly leaving and not returning for so long was already abnormal. Now with Bao Zhu questioning it, it increasingly seemed like she had done something and fled in fear of punishment.

The Empress said: “She’s already a serving maid—she should be familiar with palace rules. What does it mean to wander outside? Send people to find her. When she’s found, question her and see if she knows about this matter.”

Four Jinwu Guards received the order and left the hall.