Two boxes of lotus flower cakes sat before her, and Lan Yue’s pupils dilated.

She looked at the lotus flower cakes, then raised her gaze to examine Qun Qing.

Qun Qing’s clothes and veiled hat were both torn, her skirt covered in dust and bloodstains. Her entire appearance was disheveled, her hands clasped together, showing obedience tinged with apprehension.

“You… didn’t fight someone to snatch these, did you?” Lan Yue licked her lips, suddenly feeling a trace of guilt.

“No,” Qun Qing said calmly. “I bought them by queuing, truly.”

Even if Lan Yue were beaten to death, she couldn’t imagine what Qun Qing had actually experienced.

“Let’s leave it at that then.” Lan Yue didn’t pursue the whereabouts of the third box further. “Listen, now go clean yourself up, then stay in the quarters and don’t come to the main hall.”

She said, “The Crown Prince is here!”

Qun Qing looked around.

Tonight, twice the usual number of candles and floor lamps had been lit, illuminating the hall brilliantly—all because of Li Xuan’s arrival.

Qun Qing had no interest whatsoever in the Crown Prince. Being able to stay alone in her quarters was nothing short of perfect.

She heated water and took a hot bath, a perfect opportunity to relax and rest.

Inside the wooden tub, hot water enveloped her body. Since her rebirth, this was the first time she had truly exerted herself physically, barely escaping danger. Only now that she had relaxed did she feel pain throughout her entire body.

Her body from three years ago hadn’t experienced so much killing and combat. Though healthy, it was still fragile.

Her wrist from wielding the blade was nearly drained of strength, and the scraped wounds on her palms, soaked in hot water, sent branching tendrils of stinging pain through her.

Qun Qing instinctively wanted to take a silk handkerchief to wrap it, but suddenly remembered she had left her handkerchief at the temple, so she could only hold her palm upright.

Lu Huating must truly be her nemesis, otherwise how could she explain that after merely speaking a few words with him, she could be implicated to such an extent?

She hadn’t expected that in the first year of the Shengling era, Prince Yan’s mansion would be so humble that Lu Huating could be chased and attacked in the streets.

Forced to desperate straits, even if just a passing dog appeared, one had no choice but to grasp it as a floating log—this much Qun Qing understood.

The reason she had intervened today was largely because of Juan Su.

She didn’t take advantage of two types of people: children, or fools. Because the hearts they gave were genuine, and she had seen too few genuine hearts.

If Lu Huating had sent that slightly more clever-minded shadow guard, he definitely wouldn’t have risked his life to protect her, a stranger. In this light, Lu Huating still had some conscience toward passersby—he wasn’t as unscrupulous as she remembered.

Some conscience, but not much.

Qun Qing’s thoughts wandered as she submerged herself completely in the hot water to wash her hair. Her black hair floated like seaweed in the water. A moment later, she broke through the surface.

Pain.

Her hand pressed against her cheek. Perhaps the scalding water had triggered the heat in her face. Through the skin, she seemed to feel spring shoots about to burst through the soil.

The bones in her face that Physician Li had manipulated began to ache and itch again. Without medication to alleviate it, the sensation was nearly unbearable.

Fortunately, in the medicine bundle that Fang Xie had sent through Xiao Song today, there was a packet of “Frost Cold Rain Dew” that could reduce inflammation and relieve pain.

When Qun Qing opened the medicine bundle, a sheet of paper fell out.

Before she had even finished tearing off all the paper wrapping, she stuffed the pill into her mouth. Only after the cooling sensation entered her abdomen and eased the pain did she pick up the paper to examine it carefully.

It must be very important news, which was why Fang Xie had chased after her to deliver it.

The paper read: “Master sent word that he encountered a woman among the refugees in Jiangnan who resembles your mother. He is searching back and forth. Elder Sister, take care.”

Qun Qing’s mind buzzed. She picked it up and read “resembles your mother” several times, her heart pounding wildly.

Physician Li was an old friend of her mother’s. He always spoke carefully. When he said “resembles your mother,” it meant that the person he encountered was, in all likelihood, Zhu Ying!

Mother was alive.

The news she had never received in her previous life until death had suddenly appeared before her, giving her for the first time the feeling of breaking through a cage and glimpsing daylight.

She had a living relative. Her family hadn’t scattered.

In the future, she would still have the chance to walk through markets arm-in-arm with her mother, eat meals her mother cooked, sleep beside her mother, share her thoughts, and receive loving caresses. All the irreparable regrets had suddenly become future possibilities.

But Physician Li said she was among the refugees in Jiangnan.

Such a distant place, with no relatives there. Qun Qing had seen what the refugees in the city looked like. Her heart clenched repeatedly—she didn’t dare imagine what state her mother was in now.

If only she could leave the palace, she would have set out for Jiangnan to search immediately.

The water had cooled. Qun Qing forgot to dry herself and simply put on her clothes.

Suddenly the door opened. Ruo Chan looked panicked: “Sister, this is bad—the Crown Prince has summoned you!”

—

Li Xuan arrived at Qingxuan Pavilion after dark.

Dinner had been set on the table—six vegetarian dishes, six meat dishes. The jade hairpin flowers in the vase wafted a subtle fragrance. Zheng Zhiyi also wore a blooming flower in her hair, which lent a touch of charming shyness to her flushed cheeks.

Li Xuan noticed that she had applied makeup today—eyebrows black as silkworms, lips bright red.

Applied rather inappropriately.

Li Xuan, wearing regular robes with a gold-threaded round collar, silently endured three rounds of toasts from the Lesser Good Lady. Then she suddenly pressed close to him and said, “Your Highness, shouldn’t we consummate the marriage?”

Li Xuan couldn’t swallow the wine in his cup. He pushed her away without leaving a trace: “Another day. I’ve been very busy with affairs recently. Wait until after your sixteenth birthday.”

Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhiyi became agitated at once, the hairpins on her head clashing violently: “You said the same thing last year! Is it that you lack vigor, or do you simply not want to touch me?”

Li Xuan gave her a warning glance.

Having been refused, Zheng Zhiyi thought of the flowers she had specifically brought back from outside the palace that hadn’t even received a glance—it was a tremendous humiliation: “Do you want to preserve your chastity for that wretch Yang Fu? Clearly I was the one who married you first. You two have already been entangled behind my back, while I knew nothing!”

Li Xuan’s wine cup struck the table heavily: “Princess Bao’an is still ill. How she fell ill—do I need to remind you? You are a Good Lady. Even throwing tantrums has limits.”

Zheng Zhiyi knocked over the flower vase with one sweep. The crisp sound startled Lan Yue terribly: “Do you still consider me a Good Lady? I was properly married to you. You promised my Father to treat me well, but now you turn your back on me. Clearly you never liked me from the start—you only used me.”

Li Xuan’s face turned pale with anger. After a long while he finally spoke: “When we ate in Father Emperor’s palace, I thought you had changed. Turns out you haven’t.”

Li Xuan’s favor had come as a result of that dinner.

At the palace banquet, Zheng Zhiyi saw Emperor Chenming and Empress Ma, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time. Wrapped in their golden court robes and wearing crowns with gold ornaments, their appearances had somehow changed.

For some reason, Zheng Zhiyi suddenly thought of Qun Qing’s reminder, though it wasn’t entirely because of the reminder.

Emperor Chenming labored over state affairs, his temples touched with frost. He looked much older. When Zheng Zhiyi saw the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, she really did think of her own Father and blurted out: “I miss Father.”

Having said it, tears began falling like broken beads.

Zheng Zhiyi’s Father had originally been a bandit leader who had joined the Li family’s uprising, later dying in battle for the Li family.

In lean times, the Zheng family had shown favor to the Li family, and the Li family felt they owed Zheng Zhiyi, this daughter-in-law from a humble background—both sides knew this clearly. When Zheng Zhiyi cried like this, it made Emperor Chenming and the Empress feel very uncomfortable.

Emperor Chenming ordered lavish rewards for Good Lady Zheng. As for the gifts sent from Luanyi Pavilion, he didn’t even glance at them.

Zheng Zhiyi finally stopped crying, but she also lost her inclination to lodge complaints. Empress Ma held her hand: “I had thought this child would struggle to adapt after entering the palace. Now it seems she’s become much quieter.”

Emperor Chenming said to Zheng Zhiyi: “The Empress was also once a timid woman from her chambers, yet she still became Empress. As long as you don’t show fear when speaking in public, all is well.”

Embarrassment flashed in Empress Ma’s eyes, but she ultimately smiled gently and told Li Xuan not to neglect the Good Lady while caring for Princess Bao’an.

Zheng Zhiyi didn’t understand the subtleties at all. She only knew that Li Xuan hadn’t seen her for several months, and when she said one sentence, Li Xuan regarded her coldly—somehow she had angered him without knowing how.

Now, seeing the atmosphere grown tense, Lan Yue quickly presented a plate. On it, pink and white pastries were shaped like half-opened lotus flowers, very delicate: “Your Highness, the Good Lady kept in mind that Your Highness loves the lotus flower pastries from Lingxin Bakery most. She specially bought them for you. Please have a taste.”

Li Xuan hadn’t wanted to quarrel either, so he picked up his chopsticks. Who knew that as soon as he touched it, the lotus flower pastry in the plate, having apparently suffered severe damage, suddenly split apart from the middle.

Lan Yue was greatly alarmed. Li Xuan gripped his chopsticks and questioned Zheng Zhiyi: “Lingxin Bakery? You left the palace?”

“The Good Lady didn’t leave the palace. She gave her fish tally to a palace maid and had her go out to purchase it on her behalf,” Lan Yue explained.

“You are a mistress of a palace, yet you casually hand your fish tally to a palace maid? What are the palace regulations? Did the Bureau of Protocol never teach you?” Li Xuan’s angry expression deepened.

Zheng Zhiyi’s eyes widened, half in terror, half in humiliated anger, tears immediately flowing: “Li Xuan, you weren’t like this before!”

Li Xuan’s phoenix eyes were pitch black, his expression strange. After a long moment he said softly: “You’d best never mention ‘before’ in my presence again.”

“Your Highness, forgive me.” Lan Yue immediately knelt. “The fish tally was given by this servant. The Good Lady didn’t know… buying pastries, picking flowers—it was all that servant called Qun Qing repeatedly instigating at the Good Lady’s ear. The Good Lady couldn’t resist the instigation and only then conceived these ideas!”

A moment later, Qun Qing knelt beside the table.

Li Xuan’s face had already recovered its calm. He held a glazed cup, his drinking posture dignified and refined, his inner judgment unknown.

“The pastries—this servant went to buy them.” Qun Qing’s hair wasn’t yet dry, water droplets from her temples dripping onto her clothes. “This servant has just come from the Rear Court and isn’t familiar with palace regulations. I didn’t know fish tallies cannot be borrowed. Whatever Sister Lan Yue ordered, this servant did.”

“You!” Lan Yue grew anxious. “Such skill at shifting blame!”

Li Xuan looked down at Qun Qing without speaking. After pausing a moment, he suddenly flicked his sleeve.

A silver flash appeared before Qun Qing’s eyes. Wine from the cup splashed over her head and face. Her nostrils filled with the rich scent of wine. The alcohol dripped down along her eyelashes and cheeks, threads of coolness penetrating her clothes.

Li Xuan had splashed wine all over her face.

Zheng Zhiyi and Lan Yue were stunned: the Crown Prince was gentle with his subordinates and would never perform such malicious acts toward servants unless they disgusted him to the extreme.

Indeed, Li Xuan’s eyes looking at Qun Qing now were filled with revulsion.

This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her: that day, how she had fawned on the high and trampled the low, humiliating Princess Bao’an then turning around to curry favor with Zheng Zhiyi—he had seen it all clearly from outside the window.

“The Good Lady’s palace is unsettled because her close palace maid is of poor character, failing to fulfill her duty to assist the Good Lady.” Li Xuan spoke extremely slowly. “I won’t hold the Good Lady accountable, but this palace maid must be severely punished…”

“What are you saying? I was the one who told her to go…” Zheng Zhiyi couldn’t believe it. Before she finished speaking, Lan Yue covered her mouth: “Good Lady, don’t speak!”

As for Qun Qing, before Li Xuan finished his next sentence, she was like a demon whose true form was revealed by a cup of wine, losing all her usual composure.

She suddenly threw herself at Li Xuan’s robe hem, grabbing his sleeve. “This servant was wrong, this servant—please, Your Highness, don’t expel this servant from the palace. This servant finally managed to leave the Rear Court and arrive at Qingxuan Pavilion. I only wanted to properly serve all the noble masters…”

All the servants in the hall were terrified.

They understood Li Xuan’s temperament well: when the Crown Prince was angry, he most detested palace servants pestering endlessly, yet Qun Qing was still begging for mercy, repeatedly calling for Li Xuan not to expel her.

Li Xuan’s pale fingers clutched at his robe hem. Enduring the discomfort, he pulled it free and glanced at her with disgust: “Then as you wish—expelled from the palace.”

With those words, Zheng Zhiyi froze, Qun Qing fell silent. She was about to beg for mercy again when Lan Yue grabbed both her sleeves and dragged her forcefully out, saying sternly: “Did you hear? You foolish thing, quickly gather your belongings with me and stop obstructing His Highness’s sight.”

Qun Qing’s pleas for mercy continued all the way outside the pavilion before gradually fading away.

Such episodes of reward and punishment occurred frequently and were nothing new. No noble master would remember an ordinary palace maid, especially not the Crown Prince whose heart embraced all things and whose ambitions lay with the realm.

Outside, the night was deep. Lan Yue breathed a sigh of relief: with someone to take the blame, the Good Lady was finally safe.

Qun Qing also breathed a sigh of relief: she could actually have such good fortune one day—wanting something and having it arrive.

She wiped the wine from her face with her fingers, her dark eyes especially calm. Holding her bundle in one hand while being dragged by Lan Yue with the other, as they passed through the flower garden, she quietly tossed the blank wax pill into the grass, and only after seeing the skylark carry the wax pill away did she proceed forward with peace of mind.

An Ling who received the message would probably be shocked by the speed of her palace exit.

Only one thing was regrettable—the Crown Prince hadn’t expelled her earlier. Now the palace gates were already locked. Even if thrown out, she would have to wait until the next morning to truly leave.

“Sister Lan Yue, where are you taking me?” Qun Qing asked.

She could tell this route was approaching Cheng’an Gate. Inside the gate was a cramped stable that was used by eunuchs and palace maids who urgently needed to leave early the next morning to spend a makeshift night.

Clearly, Lan Yue wouldn’t even let her spend this final night in the quarters.

“Sister, I just thought of something…” Qun Qing refused to walk further.

Lan Yue dragged her like a sack: “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I remembered—my palace registry is still being held at the Bureau of Palace Attendants. As long as the expulsion seal isn’t stamped on the registry for one day, I remain a palace person for that day. Treating me this way—be careful I turn things around later…” Qun Qing said urgently.

“Turn things around? Do you think that by dragging things out one night, there could be a reversal?” Lan Yue laughed at her presumption. “I have acquaintances among the palace officials at the Bureau of Palace Attendants. I’ll help you get that seal stamped tonight, so you can abandon that hope! Tomorrow when the palace gates open, get out immediately!”

The Six Bureaus were within the Dewen, Dexin, Chong’an, and Chongjing Halls. Beneath the magnificent flying eaves, plain gauze round lanterns illuminated the tightly closed hall doors. It was late at night—the female officials had long since retired.

Lan Yue hadn’t lied. It seemed she truly did have connections. After exchanging a few words with the palace official on night duty, she actually roused the Keeper of Barriers from her bed despite her sleeping robe and had her open the door.

The Keeper of Barriers was responsible for managing doors and keys. Every key in the palace was recorded in the register under her custody. Unable to resist Lan Yue’s entreaties, the Keeper took the keys and entered the main hall of the Registry Office. After a long while, she emerged empty-handed and whispered a few words to Lan Yue. Lan Yue’s voice was quite audible in the night: “Can’t find it? How is that possible?”

Cold sweat seeped from Qun Qing’s fingertips inside her sleeves.

The Keeper went to find the Registrar. Lan Yue paced back and forth anxiously, completely unaware that behind her, Qun Qing’s heart was even more tormented than hers.

Qun Qing was one step away from leaving the palace—the palace registry held at the Bureau of Palace Attendants. Once the “expulsion” character was stamped on the registry and she exchanged it for credentials, she could safely leave the palace.

Qun Qing waited a long time, so long that her heart sank like the setting sun, until she saw the robed Registrar walking straight toward her.

The Registrar wasn’t holding a palace registry, only carrying a lantern. The lantern’s white light suddenly shone in front of her. Qun Qing turned her face slightly. Registrar Xu looked clearly at Qun Qing’s face and turned to Lan Yue: “Who ordered this palace maid expelled?”

“It was the Crown Prince’s verbal decree. Her character is poor—she made His Highness very angry. Please, Registrar Xu, quickly stamp that expulsion seal. We can’t let such a person remain in the palace,” Lan Yue said.

“I have some impression of you—transferred from the Rear Court?” Registrar Xu looked at Qun Qing. “Your palace registry isn’t with me. The Rear Court hasn’t sent it yet.”

Qun Qing’s heart filled with shock and doubt. Lan Yue said anxiously: “That can’t be right? How much time has passed? Keeper Wang just saw the palace registries of other Rear Court palace maids—why is hers alone missing? Shouldn’t they be together? Could it be that Registrar Xu didn’t search carefully? If you’re tired and unwilling to move, how about I go in and look?”

Registrar Xu looked at her coldly: “Do you think the Six Bureaus are your home where you can enter and exit as you please?”

Lan Yue choked: “I serve the Crown Prince—then I’ll go ask at the Rear Court. If I can’t find it, you’ll still have to make the trip anyway. After all, this is your responsibility.”

Registrar Xu held up her lantern and turned to leave: “Whoever’s responsibility it is, go find them. Palace officials off duty have no reason to work urgent night shifts. Even if the Heavenly King himself came knocking, I wouldn’t open the door. Come back tomorrow when I’m on duty. Following proper procedure, I’ll search again.”

“You!” Lan Yue stamped her foot in anger, but there were quite a few female officials in the palace who were unwilling to accommodate. She took out a gold bead, about to chase after Registrar Xu, but stopped in her tracks.

Faint as mist, voices were calling—Qun Qing heard them too, calling both their names.

Ruo Chan’s voice grew from distant to near. She carried a lantern and ran up breathlessly: “Finally found you! Sister, His Highness has rescinded the order. Hurry back!”

Lan Yue stood rooted in place, eyes wide, staring at Qun Qing: there really was a reversal—could this Qun Qing have divine foresight? When her luck turned good, even Heaven helped her!

Qun Qing’s gaze stuck to the palace gate so close at hand. The cool breeze blew against her soaked clothes—only now did she feel the bleakness. The cold transmitted to her forehead, reason reminding her to withdraw her gaze.

To say she wasn’t disappointed that her wish had fallen through would be a lie. But having come to this, Qun Qing could only accept it.

Impulsive plans were always full of holes.

She asked Ruo Chan: “After returning, what punishment?”

One wrong move—she needed to know what situation awaited her next.

“Con… confinement…” Seeing Qun Qing’s expression darken, assuming she was frightened, Ruo Chan grasped her cold hand. “Just confinement in the side hall. Surely that’s much better than being expelled?”

Just confinement was much lighter than the punishment Qun Qing had anticipated. If she were sent back to the Rear Court, then she would have worked for nothing again and have grievances she couldn’t voice… Qun Qing’s tension dissipated. The three of them returned, each with their own thoughts.

However, in Qun Qing’s impression, the Crown Prince was not someone who reversed his orders. Why would he suddenly show great mercy and spare her?