What Xiao Yunru entrusted to her was nothing more than concern that Chief Stewardess Gu wasn’t handling matters properly. She had Qun Qing take the command token into the Shangshu Bureau storeroom to verify whether the items for receiving the Buddha’s bone relic were properly prepared and whether they matched the expenditures.

This task could easily offend people. Fortunately, Chief Stewardess Gu requested leave for one day at regular intervals, so Qun Qing took advantage of her absence to enter the Shangshu Bureau.

The double rows of high cabinet racks held the garments of noble ladies and close ministers, categorized and stored—some newly made, others brought for mending. The luxurious atmosphere brightened the entire chamber considerably.

Qun Qing moved through the space, carefully inspecting. She felt the stitching on the garments—relatively neat and meticulous, with no corners cut in the materials.

At the subordinate Bureau of Treasures under the Shangshu Bureau, the shelves full of accessories were even more dazzling. Qun Qing still noticed a gold hairpin with toad motifs that were taboo in the Liuli Kingdom. She showed it to the female official guiding her, who had no choice but to record it in the register.

“The wool carpet—may this servant also inspect it?” Qun Qing asked.

Since Qun Qing wanted to inspect everything, the female official glanced displeasedly at the high shelves. “The carpet is placed so high and is so heavy. My arms aren’t good—I can’t muster the strength. If you can move it down, then look at it.”

The disdain in the corner of her eyes quickly turned to shock.

She saw Qun Qing drag over a wooden frame to stand on. With just a slight stretch on tiptoe, she had already gathered the rolled Persian wool carpet in her arms. When she turned and threw it on the ground, the heavy carpet landed with a “thud,” raising dust.

“Elder sister, you’ve also worked hard accompanying me in this inspection.” Qun Qing only breathed lightly, saying gently, “Your arms can’t even muster strength—why not rest first? After this servant finishes inspecting the last part, I’ll put it back myself.”

The female official looked at her arms, so angry she wanted to speak but stopped, and could only withdraw first.

Qun Qing felt much more at ease. This carpet was jujube red with strings of golden diamond patterns. She carefully unrolled it a bit, then rolled it back, her slender fingers touching every part of the carpet. She had intended to check if there were any uncomfortable lumps, but suddenly felt these diamond patterns were damp and sticky.

If the carpet got wet and wasn’t dried in time, it would easily mold and blacken. Qun Qing spread it out more, touching other areas, and discovered that the diamond pattern sections elsewhere were also wet.

The Shangshu Bureau’s people were indeed negligent. Was it placed so high because of a roof leak that got it wet? Qun Qing instinctively sniffed her fingers and smelled a pungent but familiar odor. Her expression froze.

She smelled again—it seemed to indeed be the scent of castor oil.

Qun Qing remembered that she had once helped Lin Yujia buy large quantities of castor oil. A chill crept up her spine. Qun Qing hurriedly unrolled the carpet further and discovered that only the diamond pattern sections were soaked with castor oil, while other parts were not.

She parted the long pile a bit and saw oil-soaked cotton thread hidden inside, connecting diamond pattern to diamond pattern. This kind of cotton thread was like a lamp wick.

Almost simultaneously, Qun Qing recalled the electric sparks that had flashed in the darkness when she and Lan Yue were storing the prayer robes. An ominous suspicion formed in her heart.

Just at this moment, she heard a soft creak from the door. Qun Qing saw a pair of eyes peering at her through the door crack. She pushed the door open to go out, but that person dodged too quickly and had already disappeared without a trace. The female official waiting at the entrance of Chongjing Hall came in. “Finished inspecting? Any problems?”

Thinking that person might be hiding nearby, Qun Qing said calmly, “Just somewhat damp, but it doesn’t affect anything. I can’t put that carpet back by myself—elder sister, please help me.”

The female official came in grumbling to help. Qun Qing said, “May I see the documents issued by the Rites Ministry again?”

She searched through the dense text. The person who had initially proposed using Huanxue gauze for the prayer robes under the pretext of saving expenses was indeed the Rites Ministry Director of Affairs—Lin Yujia.

To verify her suspicion, Qun Qing hurried back to Qingxuan Pavilion and took one of Zheng Zhiyi’s prayer robes from storage. She used candlelight to ignite the sleeve corner. Almost instantly, that prayer robe was consumed by suddenly brilliant flames, shriveling into a small piece of charcoal that dropped to the ground.

She had previously only thought about castor oil’s toxicity, forgetting it was also a type of oil—and as long as it was oil, it could fuel combustion.

When the time came, Emperor Chenming and the others would be treading on this carpet, waiting to receive the Buddha’s bone relic, surrounded by Jinwu Guards. A close-range assassination would be very difficult.

But as long as someone threw a flint stone toward the diamond patterns from the other end, the flames would creep and wind along the carpet’s diamond patterns and cotton threads toward the noble lords. When they touched the prayer robes dragging on the ground…

Could this be the major task Lin Yujia intended to accomplish?

It was truly insane.

Although the Shangshu Bureau had one Directress Liu arrested, there might be other spies hidden within, helping Lin Yujia tamper with the carpet. The person spying on her today was very likely the spy who had done the tampering—a “Kill”?

She herself could secretly contact other “Heavens,” so what was strange about Lin Yujia developing other “Kills”?

Qun Qing only feared this “Kill” would see that she had already betrayed them, so she didn’t expose the carpet’s problem on the spot. But not knowing who this person was made things quite tricky.

Receiving the Buddha’s bone relic was Qun Qing’s chance to leave the palace. If an incident occurred, everyone would be detained for investigation. Fortunately, she had discovered it in advance.

She had to do everything possible to eliminate the danger without alerting the spy.

Just then Lan Yue came in. Seeing the black charcoal drippings on the table and hearing Qun Qing say, “This is the Crown Princess’s prayer robe,” she couldn’t help but scream.

“I accidentally touched the candlelight just now, and it turned out like this,” Qun Qing said.

“What do we do? Each person only has two in total. This…”

“Don’t you think this prayer robe is somewhat dangerous?” Qun Qing said. “It’s not like there won’t be incense fire at the ceremony. If a spark splashes on it, the whole person will burn up.”

“Then what do we do?” Lan Yue was frightened by Qun Qing’s description.

“Go report to Chief Stewardess Gu of the Shangshu Bureau. Say that you inadvertently discovered this prayer robe is dry and flammable, possibly creating a hazard, and request that the Shangshu Bureau urgently manufacture prayer robes from other materials.”

By having Lan Yue report upward according to palace regulations, she would cut off the danger while also extracting herself from it.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go right away…” Lan Yue immediately changed her clothes.

Qun Qing also bathed and changed.

She arranged her hair in a bun, removed her hairpins and jewelry, and tied her wrap cloth in a knot on her skirt—this was in preparation for the annual Xiayuan Festival.

For palace maids, only on this one day could they leave the palace to see their relatives, so naturally everyone rushed forward.

A’Jiang was dressed just as efficiently and told Qun Qing to tie her shoes tighter. “When those thousand-plus people all go out the door at once, it’s a race to see who runs fastest. Don’t lose your shoes or have your hair scattered.”

Qun Qing had just seen Fang Xie and couldn’t help saying, “I’m not that anxious.”

A’Jiang was very experienced. “You’re not anxious, but others are. That’s a wave of people pushing you along—would it be up to you, Sister Qing?”

Qun Qing silently tied her shoes tighter. Ruo Chan and A’Meng saw them and were full of envy. At least they still had relatives waiting outside the palace, unlike themselves who were already rootless people.

When the palace gates opened wide, Qun Qing finally experienced the magnificent and astonishing spectacle of this scene.

As soon as the eunuchs opened the gates, A’Jiang shot out like an arrow. The palace maids in front of and behind Qun Qing also ran outward. Some quickly found their relatives, while others searched through the vast sea of people without finding them. Mournful cries interwove together.

In this excited clamor, Qun Qing instead became calm. She slowly walked outward through the crowd.

From atop the city tower, what could be seen was a field of scattered points of light—lanterns of various shapes being held by people outside the palace.

“Oh, today is Xiayuan Festival, the day palace maids go out to see their relatives.” Zhang Jun had been talking with Lu Huating but stopped when he saw him looking down.

They had been discussing how Prince Yan and Prince Zhao had returned to court, the Emperor was greatly pleased, and intended to grant additional rewards.

Since Prince Yan’s merits now outweighed his faults, the time had come to bring out certain matters for review. Prince Yan’s mansion guard Zhu Su confessed to the Emperor, admitting he had colluded with the guard from Meng Guanlou’s mansion to plot the Eastern Market assault. Prince Yan was an innocent victim.

Meng Guanlou tearfully confessed, saying only that he harbored resentment toward Lu Huating and inadvertently implicated Prince Yan, absolutely having no intention of harming the imperial heir. The Emperor was furious and demoted him to Deputy Magistrate of Songyang County, Eighth Rank Junior Grade, banishing him from Chang’an.

While ordinary young men engaged in high-minded political discourse, Lu Huating was different. Zhang Jun had grown accustomed to his relaxed and casual manner.

The spectacle below the city tower was truly hard to ignore, so the two watched together as the palace maids surged outward like a tide, while relatives holding lanterns outside moved inward to meet them, the two tides converging together.

“Raising lanterns—is it for the palace maids to see?” Lu Huating’s gaze fell on the largest, most distant moon lantern. He thought this person was clever, propping up a long pole with a bright lantern suspended below, hanging the lantern highest so they wouldn’t fear brushing past the palace maid—they could be seen from far away.

“Yes. In recent years, someone thought of this method. More and more people raise lanterns—it’s become quite a spectacle,” Zhang Jun said.

Then Lu Huating saw a figure in blue gauze run over.

The person holding the moon lantern stood at the very edge of the crowd. That palace maid’s figure also ran out of the crowd.

Lu Huating was surprised that he was so familiar with Qun Qing’s form that he could recognize her at a glance.

His face showed no expression as his dark eyes watched the distance between those two people grow shorter and shorter. Then, the person holding the lantern suddenly stepped forward and embraced her.

The lantern shadow swayed back and forth. They held each other tightly and never separated.

That lantern shadow seemed to flicker in Lu Huating’s quicksilver-black eyes.

“What is the Chief Clerk watching?” Zhang Jun couldn’t help asking.

Lu Huating said, “Watching two people embrace.”

“Isn’t that normal? Many palace maids also have lovers outside the palace. They only see each other once a year…” Zhang Jun stopped because Lu Huating had looked away, seeming to have lost interest, or perhaps his thoughts had already sunk into emptiness.

It seemed he had never considered that Qun Qing, like other people, had relatives and friends, and might even have a lover.

She too would throw herself into another’s arms, have such intimate behavior—perhaps even more intimate.

It was just that this other side naturally occurred in places he couldn’t see, and there was no need for him to know about it.

Lu Huating quickly descended from the city tower. What he had witnessed today, he also felt was unremarkable, yet for some reason, a dark surge spread up from the bottom of his heart, like the night enveloping him from all directions.

He had been cold-natured since childhood, with not the slightest interest in other ladies’ coy attitudes when facing their lovers.

But if it were Qun Qing, he felt somewhat curious, because he had never seen it. Yet just thinking that this expression was directed at someone else, he immediately lost interest. The dark surge rose up, like several knives churning in his stomach.