A month had already passed since the new emperor’s enthronement. The late emperor now rested in peace in the imperial mausoleum, and the turmoil in the capital had been buried along with him.

After a rainfall, summer passed and autumn’s coolness enveloped the capital.

Chu Garden seemed to have changed overnight, like a beauty shedding her fresh summer attire and donning brilliant autumn garments.

The pavilions and towers were surrounded by golden yellow and deep red leaves.

“So beautiful.” Qi Leyun picked up a fallen leaf from her skirt, held it before her eyes to look at it, then pointed to another area. “It’s even more beautiful over by Floating Cloud Pavilion.”

As she spoke, she lifted her skirt and led the way briskly.

“Everyone follow me.”

She also instructed the maidservants beside her.

“Move all the tea and refreshments over there.”

The girls, however, didn’t follow joyfully. One girl even pouted: “Qi Leyun, this isn’t your home.”

Qi Leyun heard this and snorted: “I’m staying here temporarily, so at this very moment, I am the host.”

The Qi family was still living in Chu Garden. Rebuilding the Qi family’s house would take time. Although they learned that Chu Zhao had been made empress, after some discussion, the Qi family still shamelessly continued living in Chu Garden—such a rare opportunity to grow closer to the empress certainly couldn’t be missed.

It was said that in the middle of the night when no one was around, Lady Qi told Lord Qi that their house being burned might have been Heaven’s will, allowing them to form a connection with the empress.

Lord Qi rebuked his wife for her foolish words, saying this should be called “fortune and misfortune depend on each other.”

In any case, the husband and wife swept away their sadness over losing their manor and happily stayed at the Chu residence, refusing to leave. When relatives and friends reminded Lord Qi that this might not be appropriate, Lord Qi instead rebuked those who reminded him: “This is Her Majesty the Empress’s magnanimity and benevolence. Besides my family, many other people have also received shelter in Chu Garden.”

Qi Leyun didn’t think there was anything wrong with this either.

“What kind of person is Chu Zhao?” she said.

Before she finished speaking, she saw the girls’ expressions were strange. What kind of person Chu Zhao was—everyone knew very clearly, right? She had hit people, cursed at people, was arrogant and domineering—

Qi Leyun snorted again: “Chu Zhao is exactly this kind of person—righteous, hating evil like an enemy, punishing the strong and helping the weak.”

The girls couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

“Alright, Qi Leyun.” One girl said with mock reproach. “Stop saying ‘Chu Zhao’ with every breath. She’s the empress now.”

Although they hadn’t seen her for only a short time, Chu Zhao was no longer their companion, but the most noble empress.

“Chu Tang—” a girl asked in a small voice, pointing to another area. “Still no sign of anyone?”

Since the turmoil, the Chu family’s main gate had been tightly closed. During the late emperor’s funeral and the enthronement ceremony, arrangements were made outside the Chu family gate according to protocol, but the main gate had never opened. Many who came to visit were turned away at the door.

Because of the late emperor’s passing and the crown prince’s death, the Chu couple had fallen ill from excessive grief. They couldn’t sit with guests sharing tears and sorrow, nor could they accept everyone’s congratulations.

……

……

A ladder was propped against the wall. Qi Leyun climbed up. Although the girls were somewhat uneasy, they were ultimately young and couldn’t hide their curiosity, watching Qi Leyun nervously yet excitedly.

“Chu Tang, Chu Tang.” Qi Leyun called out several times.

Before long, light footsteps could indeed be heard from the other side, and Chu Tang’s voice came: “Qi Leyun, why are you climbing the wall again?”

She came out! The girls below were excited, and someone softly called out to Chu Tang.

Qi Leyun leaned on top of the wall and said to the girl on the other side: “Everyone is worried about you and came to see you.”

Chu Tang smiled: “What ‘worried about me’—you came to gather information, didn’t you?”

Though separated by a wall and unable to see each other, this familiar tone, these coquettish words—the familiar Chu Tang had appeared before everyone again. The girls called Chu Tang’s name even louder.

Some girls also wanted to find ladders to climb up.

“No need to climb ladders, and no need to ask me,” Chu Tang said from the other side. “Everyone will meet very soon.”

What did this mean? Qi Leyun asked curiously from atop the wall: “Meet what?”

Chu Tang looked up with a smile: “Her Majesty the Empress is hosting a banquet, summoning the noble ladies, and they may bring their children.”

A banquet!

Summoned!

Qi Leyun raised her hand and excitedly shouted “Wonderful!”, nearly falling off the ladder, causing another round of laughter and commotion among the girls.

……

……

The imperial city was hosting a banquet again, indicating that the imperial court had returned to normal.

Before the imperial city, there was a constant flow of carriages and horses. Imperial Guards, eunuchs, and officials stood everywhere, guiding and maintaining order. Despite this, it was still inevitably noisy.

Qi Leyun walked through the crowd, unable to help looking around. She had heard the imperial palace had suffered even worse than their home, but looking at it now, there was no sign of it at all—

“Don’t look around.” Lady Qi kept her daughter in the corner of her eye and immediately rebuked her in a low voice.

Qi Leyun quickly withdrew her gaze, but her eyes still rolled around, looking at who was here, who was there, what they wore, what they carried.

Lady Qi could only reach out to pull her, gritting her teeth and saying in a low voice: “This is the imperial city. If you don’t behave properly again, I’ll send you back.”

In the past, these words could frighten someone, but not now. Qi Leyun even became spirited: “Her Majesty the Empress specifically wants to see us.”

The girls nearby who heard Qi Leyun speak immediately laughed softly too, exchanging meaningful glances with each other.

The queue became a bit livelier in an instant.

The matrons all felt somewhat helpless. Although there was no such edict, it was this group of girls who first learned about the empress’s banquet and brought the news home. Thinking again that the empress was Chu Zhao, they all guessed what this meant.

Normally, when noble ladies entered the palace, they brought at most their daughters-in-law. Girls of fourteen or fifteen like these were not brought. This time it wouldn’t do—they had to bring them.

Look at these children—they really had no sense of propriety.

“What’s there to fear?” Qi Leyun muttered. “Back then, she had even less propriety than we did. She won’t blame us.”

These words were truly damnable. Lady Qi couldn’t care about propriety anymore and raised her hand to hit her: “Say one more sentence and see if I dare send you back! I’m your mother, and no one can blame me. Besides—how improper you all were to her back then, how unfriendly—have you all forgotten?”

Affairs between girls—the elders didn’t mind, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know. It was just that most didn’t need to intervene.

“How did you treat her before? She had just arrived then, unfamiliar with people and places, and didn’t dare do anything. Now it’s different.”

“Today she’s having you reminisce about old times—which old times she’s reminiscing about, who can say for sure?”

After her mother’s storm of words, Qi Leyun was dazed. Yes, she had almost forgotten—what kind of temperament did Chu Zhao have? When Liang Qin cursed her father a few times, she both beat and scolded her, and in the end, the entire Liang family was convicted and exiled to the border region—

Before the Chu Garden literary gathering, their attitude toward Chu Zhao had been even worse than Liang Qin’s!

Could she really be settling old scores with them today?

In an instant, the girls all hunched their shoulders and looked carefully ahead—at this point they had reached the inner palace. All the noble ladies stopped, having to wait for the empress to ascend her throne before they could enter the hall.

However, there was one exception.

A girl passed through the crowd and walked forward, step by step ascending the stairs. Her clothing and dress were quite ordinary, but the girls recognized her at a glance.

Chu Tang.

“Chu Tang actually came too.” Someone hadn’t reacted yet and muttered aloud.

These words were immediately cursed as nonsense in the hearts of those around her.

Although since Chu Zhao was made empress, the Chu clan had disappeared from the capital as if their doors and windows were tightly closed, once they opened the door and stepped out, they were imperial relatives.

For this banquet, the Chu clan would naturally come too. Although the Chu couple still didn’t appear, only a girl came.

This girl was Chu Zhao’s cousin—a proper and legitimate imperial relative!

Chu Tang walked up the stairs with her head lowered. She could feel countless dense gazes from behind—envious, awed—

She, Chu Tang, had always followed behind others, casting envious, awed, and ingratiating gazes. She had indeed dreamed of being treated this way by others, but she never expected this day would come so quickly.

Moreover, it was even more stunning than any scene she could have dreamed of.

Chu Tang raised her head and looked toward the great hall ahead, where she could faintly see a woman sitting upright within.

……

……

Chu Zhao could see the light in Chu Tang’s eyes, but she was somewhat distracted. In that lifetime when she became empress, the first time Chu Tang saw her, there had also been light in her eyes.

However, that light was looking at the palace hall, not at her.

When looking at her, Chu Tang made no effort to hide her coldness.

But now it was different.

“How should I perform the courtesy?” Chu Tang asked in a low voice, tentatively bending her knee in a bow. “I greet Your Majesty the Empress.”

A’Le laughed from the side: “Miss Ah Tang, you’re a young lady of the capital—don’t you know either?”

Chu Tang sighed: “Not every young lady in the capital has the qualifications to enter the imperial palace. This is my first time coming here.”

As she spoke, she looked around, her expression amazed.

“This is the imperial palace hall.”

Though she said this, besides excitement, even with so many palace maids and eunuchs standing with hands hanging at their sides in the hall, Chu Tang didn’t feel nervous. Perhaps it was because that girl sat in the center, wearing empress ceremonial robes, holding a cup of tea in her hands, as relaxed and at ease as if she were at home.

Chu Zhao smiled: “These things aren’t urgent. You can learn them at a glance. Sit first.”

Chu Tang responded affirmatively and sat below Chu Zhao.

“Is everything well at home?” Chu Zhao asked.

Since entering the palace that night, she had never gone out again. The Chu family’s side was watched by people Xiao Man had left behind. Any instructions she had were also conveyed through Xiao Man, such as locking up Chu Lan and forbidding anyone to see him.

Chu Zhao asked again: “Uncle didn’t get angry, did he?”

Chu Tang nodded and shook her head: “Everything is well at home. Father didn’t make a fuss and hasn’t said anything.”

She specifically added this point to indicate she knew nothing.

In fact, when she saw her father’s terrified appearance and thought back to what she experienced that night—the young emperor was hiding in their home and was brought out by Chu Zhao in a fighting escape—what did this mean?

It meant the young emperor had nearly encountered danger in their home.

And this danger must have been related to Chu Lan.

Otherwise, when Chu Zhao was rewarded by the late emperor for her meritorious protection, how could Chu Lan not rush out to claim credit? Instead, he was so frightened he fainted, mumbling that he was finished, his whole family was finished too.

Chu Tang immediately locked up Chu Lan and Lady Jiang, drove away all the people around them, and personally watched over them herself, ensuring not half a word of information would leak from the Chu residence.

Lady Jiang also guessed something and grabbed Chu Tang’s hand crying: “Will she silence us?”

Chu Tang had actually thought of this too, but shook her head: “No.”

Silencing them at this time would do Chu Zhao no good at all. If she really wanted to silence them, those guarding the door that night could have cleaned them all up together, which would have added even greater merit to Chu Zhao—the entire family sacrificed to protect the young emperor.

Silencing them now would only invite speculation.

Chu Zhao wasn’t that stupid.

Chu Zhao also wasn’t that heartless.

The girl before her looked at her and nodded: “Good. I’m at ease with you handling things.”

Chu Tang said: “I dare not say I did very well. After all, Ah Zhao, the things you do are all major matters.” She placed her hand on her heart. “I’ll do my utmost, only asking not to cause you trouble.”

Chu Zhao glanced around: “A’Le, take them outside first.”

A’Le responded affirmatively, raised her hand to signal, and the palace maids and eunuchs in the hall immediately withdrew.

“That night, Uncle intended to kill the young emperor,” Chu Zhao said to Chu Tang.

Chu Tang’s face instantly turned white. She stood up from her chair. Her guess had been confirmed. What Chu Zhao said next, she seemed to hear clearly yet also seemed not to hear clearly, her ears buzzing—

Finished, finished. Even if Chu Zhao had become empress, the emperor wouldn’t let them go.

“However, you don’t need to be too afraid,” Chu Zhao’s voice came again. “Uncle is Uncle, you are you—not the same.”

Not the same? Parents and children are one body; children pay for their fathers’ debts. Chu Tang looked at her with confused eyes.

“Uncle was deceived by the heir of Prince Zhongshan and wanted to work for Prince Zhongshan,” Chu Zhao said. “Then you won’t be deceived by Prince Zhongshan and will only work for His Majesty—that’s all.”

She smiled slightly.

“Just like my father and me. You see, the late emperor and His Majesty still harbor no grievances toward us.”

That’s right. Chu Tang’s soul returned to her body as she sat back down heavily: “Ah Zhao, naturally I’m the same as you and Uncle.”

Chu Zhao nodded and pushed the tea before her toward her: “Try it—tea from the palace.”

Chu Tang wasn’t polite either. She picked it up and drained it in one gulp: “Indeed better than at home.”

Chu Zhao laughed despite herself: “Sister Ah Tang, your courage is far greater than I imagined.”

She had just heard what her father had done, yet could immediately drink tea with peace of mind.

“That’s because you’re here, younger sister Ah Zhao,” Chu Tang said sincerely.

Chu Zhao looked at her: “What if I weren’t here?”

If she weren’t here? What did that mean? Chu Tang was stunned.