Qing Xia called out lowly, struck the horse’s flank hard, and galloped away swiftly, leaving only a trail of yellow dust and smoke.

Qi An watched as Qing Xia’s slender figure gradually disappeared into the darkness of the post road, feeling a sudden surge of grief in his heart. The moon in the sky was growing faint – the long night was almost over.

The road back to the city seemed much more desolate. When Qing Xia had received training in the 21st century, she had specifically learned horsemanship, but even so, she couldn’t compare with these ancient people who lived on horseback year-round. After all the jolting, she felt dizzy and lightheaded, and the wounds from fighting in the dungeon were still continuously bleeding.

With no choice, she had to abandon the horse midway. Fortunately, Qing Xia was skilled at cross-country running – back in the day, running dozens of kilometers was nothing to her. Tonight’s operation had been unexpectedly smooth, and there was still plenty of time. Qing Xia gritted her teeth, hastily bandaged her wounds, and ran toward the capital.

Naturally, she couldn’t enter through the city gate again. Fortunately, the city walls at this time were rough and uneven. For Qing Xia, an expert rock climber, they posed no threat. Under the pale moonlight, Qing Xia pressed against the city wall and climbed up like a gecko.

Concealment and stealth were Qing Xia’s specialties. She cleanly returned to the city and without hesitation, quickly ran toward the inner city.

In less than half the time it takes to brew tea, she had already infiltrated the imperial city. Though she had only been here a few days, for an agent with exceptional memory, any place – as long as she generally looked at the layout – she would absolutely never get lost. Familiar with the route, she crossed the front gate and entered the rear palace. When she avoided the hidden sentries of the Eastern Palace guards and approached Lanting Palace, the eastern part of the city suddenly blazed with light. The clamor and noise could be heard even across half the city. It seemed the prison guards had discovered Qi An’s escape.

Qing Xia calculated the distance from the eastern city to the imperial city, frowned, and didn’t return to the main bedroom of Lanting Palace, but went to the spacious bath house instead.

Avoiding those guarding servants was as easy as turning over her hand. She quickly took a combat shower, treated the wound on her lower abdomen briefly, then wrapped herself in a large bathrobe and quietly returned to the main bedroom.

Everything around was quiet – this was often when people were most exhausted. She easily climbed through the back window and entered the main bedroom through the front door without anyone knowing.

In the bedroom, incense burned in curling wisps with an overpowering fragrance. Chu Li lay on the enormous ivory bed, still maintaining the same position as when Qing Xia had left, not having moved at all. Looking at the hourglass, it hadn’t even been two hours. Qing Xia climbed onto the bed satisfied and lay down beside Chu Li. After such a busy night, lying on this comfortable big bed now, Qing Xia almost cried out in comfort. Not caring that there was still an unconscious demon star beside her, she peacefully pulled over the blanket and closed her eyes with relief.

However, everything tonight was destined not to let her rest peacefully. Soon, a series of chaotic, urgent footsteps rushed from outside the palace. The attendants outside became agitated, speaking in low voices about how His Highness the Crown Prince had ordered that no one enter without his permission. Not knowing what the people outside said, Chu Li’s personal chief eunuch Shi Xuan finally dared to knock on the door, his voice trembling as he called softly: “Your Highness Crown Prince, Your Highness? Military Commander Liu has urgent matters and requests an audience.”

Chu Li continued sleeping soundly without the slightest reaction. Qing Xia frowned slightly. Logically, he should have awakened by now – if he didn’t wake up soon, wouldn’t everything be exposed? She heard Shi Xuan call out softly a few more times. Obviously, the so-called Commander Liu was already impatient and seemed ready to burst through the door if Chu Li didn’t wake up. Qing Xia raised an eyebrow, reached out her hand toward Chu Li’s handsome face, and suddenly pinched hard!

“Mm…” Chu Li suddenly groaned, waking up in pain, his eyes bleary with sleep. Finally, like a lion, he suddenly turned his head, glared angrily at Qing Xia, and said in a low voice: “You pinched me?”

“What a pointless question.” Qing Xia gave him a disdainful look. “Besides you and me, who else could it be?”

“How dare you!” The man who hadn’t fully awakened flew into a rage, shouting sternly.

“There’s someone outside looking for you, almost going crazy with urgency. If I didn’t wake you, I was afraid they’d burst in.” Qing Xia acted as if nothing had happened, completely indifferent. At this moment, Shi Xuan outside seemed to respond to her words by calling out slightly louder: “Your Highness? Your Highness? Commander Liu has important military intelligence to report. Your Highness? Your Highness, are you awake?”

Chu Li immediately put this unpleasantness behind him. Obviously, he knew that Commander Liu coming in the middle of the night couldn’t be a small matter. He quickly jumped out of bed and said to Qing Xia in a low voice: “Dress me.”

Qing Xia looked at his righteous manner with irritation, feeling angry, but this wasn’t the time to be stubborn with him. So she climbed out of bed with a dark expression, grabbed his clothes from beside the bed, and angrily began dressing him.

Chu Li’s originally dark expression immediately brightened. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, childishly pleased with himself, closing his eyes with an arrogant look. Seeing this, Qing Xia became even more annoyed and applied a bit more force with her hands. The collar tie immediately tightened, almost strangling Chu Li to death.

After dressing in clothes and shoes, Chu Li stood up and walked toward the door with apparent majesty. Just as he was about to go out, he suddenly stopped, as if remembering something, and suddenly turned around, shouting angrily: “How did I fall asleep? I don’t remember anything!”

How quickly he remembered. Qing Xia, in a white cotton nightgown, lazily leaned against the bed post, picked up the white jade pillow from the bedside with one hand, and said lightly to Chu Li: “You forced yourself on me, so I knocked you unconscious. It’s that simple.”

Chu Li was dumbstruck, completely unable to imagine that Qing Xia would be so honest. Just as he was about to explode, the attendants’ voices outside trembled again: “Your Highness, are you awake? Commander Liu…”

“Shut up!” Chu Li suddenly roared, and immediately the sound of uniform kneeling and kowtowing came from outside. The furious man looked at the nonchalant Zhuang Qing Xia and said viciously in a low voice: “Just you wait – I’ll settle this account with you later!” Having said this, he turned and walked out.

“Shouting! Shouting! What’s all the ghostly yelling!” Chu Li roared angrily in frustration. A group of people muttered a few words and left with a thunderous sound. Soon, lights came on in all the households throughout the outer city. Qing Xia leaned by the window, covering the wound on her lower abdomen, looking at the eastern sky that was already slightly pale, her heart filled with desolate whiteness.

This was all she could do. She hoped Qi An could escape safely – as for the rest, she could no longer manage it.

Tonight was destined to be a night when most people couldn’t sleep peacefully, but Qing Xia climbed into bed and soon fell into deep sleep.

When she woke up, the sun was already high. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Xiangju’s big smiling face. Before she could react to what was happening, the eight chief maids of Lanting Palace fell to their knees in unison and said in chorus to Qing Xia: “Congratulations, Your Ladyship! Great fortune to Your Ladyship!”

A continuous stream of voices came from the outer hall. Qing Xia turned her head to see a mass of servants kneeling in the outer hall, all with welcoming smiles, looking as if they had found treasure.

“What are you all doing?” Qing Xia’s head was pounding. She was currently suffering from headaches and back pain and really didn’t know what there was to celebrate. Despite her usual cleverness, she was completely confused.

“Congratulations to Your Ladyship for finally receiving His Highness’s favor and imperial grace. All the servants of Lanting Palace wish Your Ladyship an early pregnancy with dragon seed, to branch out and bear leaves for the imperial family.” Xiangju’s smile was sweet, though the whip mark on her face was somewhat unsightly.

Hearing this, Qing Xia’s head immediately thundered and grew larger. She understood now – Chu Li had left late last night, and she had gotten up so late today. Everything pointed in one direction: Zhuang Qing Xia, who hadn’t received any imperial favor in her year in the palace, had finally been graced by the wise, divine, handsome, and peerless Crown Prince of Southern Chu last night.

Oh yes, this was truly a matter worthy of great celebration.

Throughout the entire day, the threshold of Lanting Palace was almost trampled to pieces. All the consorts and beauties in the rear palace, big and small, front and back, left and right, swarmed to Lanting Palace to pay respects to Zhuang Qing Xia, the new favorite of the Chu palace.

After all, the current emperor had been weak and sickly for a year, hunched on the dragon bed, barely surviving day by day. The entire population of Southern Chu had no good impression of this emperor. Besides producing a decent son, this emperor seemed utterly worthless. In his youth, he was debauched and paid no attention to state affairs. Two wars against Qi were both lost due to his interference, and he even needed his own son to go as a hostage to another country to barely preserve the nation. A year ago, the mighty million-strong army of Chu was actually defeated by the southern barbarians with stone tools under his childish command, allowing the southern barbarian tribes to kill their way to the capital, causing carnage throughout the city. If not for the Crown Prince’s timely return, Chu would have been destroyed long ago.

Therefore, in the Chu palace, the actual person in power was Chu Li. What everyone waited for was simply when that old emperor would finally die.

Thus, Zhuang Qing Xia rose with the tide, leaping to become one of the most powerful women in the Chu palace. Lanting Palace was glorious and unparalleled, its prestige even surpassing Concubine Dan’s Yunxiang Palace.

So throughout the entire day, Lanting Palace was exceptionally lively. Even though Qing Xia disliked it, she still steeled herself to deal with those women who fawned on the powerful and trampled on the weak. As night gradually fell, along with the dark evening, an unexpected guest also arrived at this currently most bustling place in the rear palace.

The legendary drama of women competing for their husband’s favor did not play out that day at Lanting Palace. The women in the rear palace were not fools – not everything was done openly. Imperial favor could never be lasting, and everyone understood the principle of fortune’s wheel turning. Therefore, on the surface, everyone maintained a degree of politeness.