After Qun Qing began living alone in a hall, the only person who still frequently stayed with her was Ruo Chan.

Qun Qing simply had her bring the daily needlework that needed doing, and they worked together.

Qun Qing’s needle flew through her stitches. The tear in the skirt tightened, curved chrysanthemum petals appeared, then the lifelike outline of a gold-thread chrysanthemum emerged. Her brow was covered in sweat. When she looked up, Ruo Chan held a porcelain bowl over. “Sister, have a sip of water.”

Qun Qing drank from her hand, then suddenly noticed Ruo Chan had arranged her bedding without a single wrinkle, and the floor was spotlessly clean.

“You and I are both palace servants. You’re not my maid—you needn’t take such care of me,” Qun Qing said.

Ruo Chan lowered her head. “I’m not like Sister A’Jiang who knows how to please people. Sister, you teach me embroidery—just let me do something to repay you.”

Qun Qing looked at Ruo Chan’s anxious face and could only acquiesce.

Actually, helping Ruo Chan sew also served her own selfish interests. She’d practiced embroidery since childhood and feared her skills would become rusty—she was just looking for opportunities to practice.

Qun Qing rubbed the thin calluses on her fingertips. She realized she’d never asked about Ruo Chan’s past. “I see you’re skilled at embroidery. Which monastery were you at before? Why would female Daoist priests need to learn embroidery?”

“Not just me—as long as they’re female Daoists from the palace, they should all know embroidery.” Ruo Chan smiled faintly. “Sister, my family was poor. As a child I was selected to enter the palace’s Baima Monastery for a bowl of rice to eat.”

“Back then, the荒 Emperor selected many young female Daoists—I heard several thousand. We could only stay our entire lives in that tiny monastery. To avoid going mad, Master taught us to embroider Eight Trigrams flags to pass the time. Later, when offering prayers in Consort Chen De’s palace, Lady Zheng happened to be moving palaces, so Sister Lan Yue ‘borrowed’ me to be a palace maid.”

Qun Qing’s heart trembled.

She remembered writing policy essays as a youth. The Grand Tutor had criticized how the Chu kingdom’s荒 Emperor had been obsessed with immortal arts, extensively building monasteries, exhausting the people’s resources. At the time she hadn’t fully understood, but now she was seeing it with her own eyes.

Thinking of this, she lowered her head and unreservedly instructed Ruo Chan on needlework technique. “Thread through here and tie a knot, hiding the knot inside so it won’t irritate the person wearing it.”

Ruo Chan was dexterous and understood quickly. She casually remarked, “Sister, this side hall not only has good sunlight, but there are also many birds under the eaves, constantly chirping.”

Qun Qing’s heart tightened. She looked out the window and indeed glimpsed a lark’s departing shadow. If she wasn’t mistaken, several wax balls should be left beneath the window.

Recently Lin Yujia had been frequently sending messages urging her to meet.

Qun Qing embroidered faster than Ruo Chan. After finishing, she set it down to wait for her.

Ruo Chan turned her head to see Qun Qing twisting several silk threads together with a silver thread, stringing sandalwood beads one by one.

“These are Chancellor Lu’s sandalwood beads,” Ruo Chan said. “You found all the beads?”

“Still missing one. I’ll look for it later.” Qun Qing finished stringing what she had, confirming this time the silk thread was exceptionally strong. “I just want to finish this matter quickly.”

“Sister, wait a moment.” Ruo Chan took several colored threads from the needlework basket and deftly wove them in her hands. Soon she’d formed a colorful ball the same size as the sandalwood beads. “This is a knotted cord ball we wear at our monastery. If you really can’t find it, you can use this to fill in.”

Qun Qing tried stringing the knotted cord among them—it was indeed harmonious and attractive. “That’s a method. Teach me.”

“Why learn?” Ruo Chan laughed. “Just string it on directly. If he asks, you can lie and say you worked by lamplight through the night without rest to make it.”

Qun Qing was almost tempted.

However, legend had it this string of sandalwood beads had been blessed by Master Zengjia. The sandalwood beads lay quietly on her skirt—each bead like an eyeball, gazing at them with profound intensity.

Ever since becoming a secret agent, on rainy days when Qun Qing passed clay-headed bodhisattvas, she would find cloth to cover them and bow twice, terribly afraid of damaging her fortune.

She stared at it for a moment, then removed that colorful ball and set it aside. Her lashes trembled. She said to Ruo Chan, “This is a blessed ritual implement. It’s best not to deceive. Teach me—I must make it with my own hands to show my apology for breaking the ritual implement.”

—

The weather was fine. After growing tired from reading, Zheng Zhiyi had a sudden whim to swing on a swing. But Qingxuan Pavilion had no swing. Qun Qing thought this was no difficulty and had all the palace servants come out to help. Two split wood, two tied ropes, and they set up a swing frame in the South Garden.

Once the swing was tied, the wooden plank swayed back and forth. Zheng Zhiyi happily touched it, then suddenly said, “Miss Qing, you swing first!”

Before the words finished, there was a chorus of agreement. A’Jiang and the others laughingly pressed Qun Qing down, insisting she be the first to sit.

Qun Qing’s ears reddened. She could only smooth her skirt and sit on the swing, both hands gripping the ropes. Zheng Zhiyi pushed from behind. Wind passed through Qun Qing’s hair and skirt hem. On the azure sky, clouds were stacked—suddenly near, then far again.

A’Jiang urgently said, “Lady, use a little less strength—don’t knock Sister Qing’s clever brain senseless.”

Hearing their laughter and commotion, Qun Qing felt as if she’d returned to her boudoir days. She didn’t know why, but she laughed along with them.

After swinging twice, she lightly jumped down and let Zheng Zhiyi play under the palace maids’ attendance.

Qun Qing looked around. Extraordinarily, Lan Yue hadn’t followed Zheng Zhiyi closely. She only stood at the hall entrance, watching from afar, her expression somewhat forlorn. Seeing Qun Qing, Lan Yue quickly turned and returned to the sleeping quarters.

“What’s wrong with you?” Qun Qing followed inside. Lan Yue held a cloth, messily wiping Zheng Zhiyi’s vanity table, forcing a smile. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Qun Qing leaned against the vanity table, quietly watching her movements. “Did you quarrel with Lady Zheng, or did the Crown Prince scold you?”

Better not to have mentioned it. Lan Yue threw down the cloth and sat on the floor, her eyes reddening. “I feel I probably can’t be a good Clothing Attendant.”

“Why do you say that?” Qun Qing asked.

“A’Jiang is loud, but now she’s also steady. A’Meng can handle matters. Even Ruo Chan has embroidery skills… Only me—I’m still spinning in place.” Lan Yue looked at the air before her. “Lady Zheng has grown up now and doesn’t read storybooks anymore. Me, this Clothing Attendant, I can’t support her like you do. Even attending lamps, I’m clumsy and get scolded by His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Before finishing, accumulated anxiety poured out. Lan Yue covered her face with her sleeve and sobbed.

“Who says you’re useless?” Qun Qing most feared people crying. She sat beside her and grabbed her sleeve. “You’re very useful.”

It seemed Li Xuan had deliberately made things difficult and replaced Lan Yue to avoid his illness episodes, but Lan Yue didn’t know the circumstances.

“What use am I?” Lan Yue sobbed. “All day I do nothing but crack melon seeds and chat idly with people everywhere…”

“Who says idle chat is useless?” Qun Qing emphasized her tone. She thought for a moment and said, “That day when the Crown Prince drove me from the palace, you were able to wake up a Female Official in the middle of the night to find my palace registry. Welcoming the Buddha bone, Prince Yan going to serve among barbarians, the Crown Prince’s dispute with the envoy—you were the first to know all these things. Others don’t have this ability.”

Lan Yue’s sobbing stopped. A pair of tearful eyes stared blankly at her. That seemed right! If Qun Qing hadn’t said it, she never would have known idle chat had such great use.

Then she thought—without her, who could curry favor with Clerk Xu to find palace registries for Qun Qing? Who could help Qun Qing exchange two large chests of valuables for a luminous pearl to take out of the palace?

Thinking of this, she broke into a smile through her tears and suddenly wanted to swing outside. “Then from now on, I’ll continue to chat idly?”

“In this palace, information is worth a thousand gold. The work you do is work worth a thousand gold.” When Qun Qing looked at people, her dark eyes were very sincere. “From now on, when you hear any news, tell me first. See if it benefits Qingxuan Pavilion.”

“Naturally.” Lan Yue herself felt embarrassed and quickly wiped away tears and snot with her sleeve.

“Recently there is something I want to inquire about.” Qun Qing said to Lan Yue. “I want to know when Chancellor Lu of Prince Yan’s mansion has been attending morning court these past days. However, this matter is difficult—if you can’t find out, forget it.”

“What’s difficult about that?” Under Qun Qing’s astonished gaze, Lan Yue said righteously, “Those young eunuchs at the Hall of Supreme Harmony—I’m quite familiar with them. I’ll just have them help me watch.”

Qun Qing never imagined she even had friends at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

“They call me Sister Yue, you know—Yue as in ‘moon of flower-like beauty.'” Lan Yue’s cheeks flushed red. With a twist of her body, she proudly ran out to swing.

—

After several days visiting her maternal family, Princess Yan Xiao Yunru’s carriage returned hastily to Prince Yan’s mansion on a morning thick with fog.

When Lu Huating was summoned to come, the main hall behind the screen was filled with coughing sounds. Xiao Yunru drank a bowl of medicine under her Clothing Attendant’s service, then quickly vomited it into a spittoon.

“How did the Princess’s illness worsen?” Lu Huating asked Xiao Yunru’s Clothing Attendant Cuiyu.

“It’s still that stepmother at home and those children of hers, mocking and sneering everywhere, giving the Princess attitude, even though the Princess said it was borrowing and would be repaid later…” Cuiyu said indignantly. “The stepmother said the Princess is in the imperial palace but hasn’t brought any benefits to the Xiao family. Now she wants to take money from home for emergencies—she won’t give even one coin.”

After Xiao Yunru was elevated to Princess Yan, her stepmother Lady Xue was also enfeoffed as a First-Rank Lady. But Xiao Yunru’s relationship with her family was cold. If not for returning to raise funds this time, she rarely went home.

Lu Huating guessed at once that borrowing money hadn’t gone smoothly.

Now Xiao Yunru dismissed everyone around her, only calling the Chancellor inside.

Xiao Yunru sat in a round chair, face pale as a weary bird. “The ceremony date is approaching. Throughout Prince Yan’s mansion, we simply cannot raise this much money. There’s only the garrison troops’ military wages left.”

Lu Huating lowered his eyes. “Military funds cannot be touched. Otherwise people’s hearts won’t be unified—chaos will result.”

“Perhaps that’s what His Majesty wants? Prince Yan’s mansion has no money—His Majesty knows this clearly. Either we find ways to raise funds ourselves, or we use military wages—then it gives him the perfect excuse to strip our military authority.” Despair filled Xiao Yunru’s eyes, but her expression remained serious.

“If Prince Yan loses, your debt of gratitude, my debt of gratitude—neither can be repaid. This palace doesn’t mind taking dangerous measures. Does the Chancellor have any ideas?”

Lu Huating took a piece of paper, dipped his brush in ink to write, then flipped the paper to face Xiao Yunru, his eyes extremely dark. “The idea I’m thinking—is it the same one Your Highness is thinking?”

On the paper was the character “Cui.”

Seeing he’d guessed it, Xiao Yunru’s expression relaxed. “When this palace returned, everyone on the road was discussing how a common woman rolled on a nail board to petition, saying her daughter was forced into prostitution by Four Night Tower. These years, the Cui family’s evil deeds overflow. It’s just that backed by hundreds of officials, they’re difficult to move. If Prince Yan’s mansion could eradicate this malignant tumor, could we confiscate the Cui family’s assets into the national treasury to resolve Prince Yan’s mansion’s difficulties?”

Lu Huating lowered his lashes. “From His Majesty’s position, he only looks at leverage. Based on this matter alone, it’s not enough to move the Cui family—at most punishing one or two people.”

“Such egregious injustice isn’t enough?” Xiao Yunru said. “What more is needed?”

“Unless we can find evidence of the Cui family colluding with hundreds of officials in corruption and present it to His Majesty.” Lu Huating raised his eyes. “Throughout history, no ruler doesn’t suspect his ministers. Only seeing this roster, knowing how many people are deceiving His Majesty and harboring disloyal hearts—only then will His Majesty feel uneasy. Only unease will bring anger.”

Xiao Yunru’s expression became slightly grave. “I drank with Xiao Jingxing at home. He mentioned this account book. He said two months ago he went to Four Night Tower precisely for this matter, but went too late. The musician woman who knew the clues had already been forced to jump from the second floor to her death. However, several Cui family people were arrested and are imprisoned in the Court of Judicial Review. But they won’t confess anything.”

Xiao Yunru’s second younger brother Xiao Jingxing currently served as Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Two months ago when Xiao Jingxing investigated this case, Lu Huating had him incidentally expose one of Meng Guanlou’s mistresses.

“Yuming, if you went to question them, could you get clues?” Xiao Yunru leaned forward to look at him, her eyes holding trembling light—serious and tense.

Lu Huating paused, understanding she meant severe interrogation. “If Your Highness trusts this subject, I can try.”

“Good.” Having his promise, Xiao Yunru called her Clothing Attendant to bring a string of copper keys, then removed her own fish tally and handed both to Lu Huating. “I got these prison keys when drinking with Jingxing—I got him drunk and took them from him. Take my fish tally to enter. What Xiao Jingxing couldn’t question, you question. If we can find the account book early, Prince Yan’s mansion will have a chance to win.”

Lu Huating accepted the keys.

He rose to take his leave, only hearing Xiao Yunru behind him say, “Chancellor, I have one request: This palace’s younger brother has studied sage texts since childhood and passed the civil examinations. He’s very naive. He’s an upright minister. This palace doesn’t want him involved in any power struggles or affected by them.”

“This subject understands Your Highness’s meaning.” Lu Huating didn’t turn his head. After a long while he smiled. “This matter—he knows nothing about it. This subject is violating regulations by entering. I’m a treacherous minister who uses any means. If there’s guilt, I’ll bear it all alone.”