Suzhen’s hands trembled violently from both exhaustion and emotion. She set down the iron spade and reached out to cup the dirt from the clothing, wanting to clean it off.

Suddenly she screamed and fell backward. Xiao Zhou was alarmed and quickly caught her, looking down to see half a decayed face in the soil. She had been by Suzhen’s side for quite some time, from her initial terror at facing corpses to later being able to perform autopsies with her eyes closed, but these were the remains of her most beloved person.

…

When Suzhen slowly awoke, darkness had already fallen, and she was met with Xiao Zhou’s concerned gaze.

“I begged Si Lanfeng not to tell Li Zhaoting, so you could rest quietly. He agreed,” Xiao Zhou said quietly.

Suzhen nodded, “Apart from serving his master, Si Lanfeng isn’t a bad person.”

She struggled to get up, “Your master’s remains still haven’t been properly handled…”

Xiao Zhou quickly held her down, eyes reddening, “I’ve already cremated the master for you. Emotional agitation harms the body and could hurt the young master. Don’t look anymore.”

Suzhen was shocked, dazed for a moment. She still couldn’t see him one more time… Following Xiao Zhou’s gaze, she saw a large porcelain jar under the lamplight. She slowly got out of bed, opened the jar, and took out a small bottle she had prepared beforehand… then carefully placed the small bottle back into the sachet at her waist.

At this moment, there was commotion outside the door. Xiao Zhou went to open it, and in came Wuqing.

“How should I cooperate with you from outside?” He entered and asked directly, visibly tense and anxious.

He had been attending court, watching developments, knowing the strategy had succeeded. After Li Zhaoting dismissed court, he came immediately, but Xiao Zhou said Suzhen hadn’t returned, so he went back to Six Doors first, then came again in the evening to check. Since he was Suzhen’s blood brother, Li Zhaoting didn’t prevent his frequent visits to the inner palace.

But Suzhen pointed to the porcelain jar on the table, “Brother, help me take this out of the palace and give it to Lian Xin for safekeeping. I’ll retrieve it later.”

After Wuqing paused and understood, his expression changed, “You’re quite capable, managing to get even this from Li Zhaoting. I only care about your affairs. Don’t even think about Lian Yu’s ashes!”

Suzhen said nothing but knelt before him. Wuqing’s heart ached with anger as he gritted his teeth, “I agree.”

Xiao Zhou sneered, fixing her gaze on him. He stared back, and for a moment the room was silent. After a while, seeing Suzhen still staring blankly at the porcelain jar, his heart softened. He pulled her to sit down, “Enough. Since it took such effort to leave the palace, we must quickly formulate follow-up plans.”

“This is much more dangerous than the previous palace situation,” Xiao Zhou also couldn’t afford to maintain her cold standoff with him, worry evident between her brows.

Suzhen remained silent. All three exchanged glances, their expressions grave.

When the emperor traveled far, no matter how discreetly, he would definitely bring thousands of guards. Though Wuqing’s Six Doors had three thousand constables, if they clashed directly, the aftermath would be difficult to handle and would bring disaster to these people. But if they brought everyone along, since Suzhen was going to the Sang Zhan tribe where Lian Jie and others were hiding, such a large group moving would leave traces everywhere and would almost immediately be caught by pursuing troops, exposing Murong’s army location.

Therefore, Wuqing could only bring Leng Xue, Tie Shou, and a few trusted Six Doors subordinates to help Suzhen escape.

The initial plan was for Wuqing to lure Li Zhaoting away under the pretext of discussing business, while Suzhen disguised herself as a constable and left with Xiao Zhou, pretending the emperor had suddenly assigned Six Doors a mission.

After Wuqing finished “discussing matters” with Li Zhaoting, he would also have to immediately find a way to escape.

But the problem was that Wuqing and Li Zhaoting’s discussion could at most buy two or three hours, and that was assuming things went smoothly. When Li Zhaoting returned to find her missing, he would immediately send troops in pursuit. How far could Suzhen’s group actually travel?

“Once we flee, we must succeed—we cannot fail. Otherwise, if we’re dragged back, I’ll never be able to leave the palace again.” Suzhen slowly stood up, “Brother, our only advantage now is that you and I have both been to that place, and I still remember some of the terrain and landscape. I’ll have Li Zhaoting agree to let you come along—that’s point one. Point two, tomorrow you must bring a map, as I need to plan our escape route. Point three, you must find a way to get close to Si Lanfeng and suggest he deploy troops horizontally rather than vertically. Otherwise, once we’re discovered, when they close the net, we won’t get far before being caught by the guards ahead.”

“Good,” Wuqing nodded, “I understand.”

But Xiao Zhou was still worried about the earlier problem, “Huaisu, with so many guards, I fear we’ll be caught before we even find Seventh Master and the others.”

Suzhen looked at the porcelain jar on the table, “I suddenly have an idea.”

“What idea?” Wuqing and Xiao Zhou exchanged glances, both knowing her “cunning schemes” often produced something under urgent circumstances.

Suzhen said slowly, “Return by the original route, back to the capital.”

Both were shocked. After a long while, Xiao Zhou said in a trembling voice, “You want to place yourself in mortal danger to survive?”

“Exactly. When the pursuing troops chase in the opposite direction from the capital but return empty-handed to the capital, we’ll leave the city then.”

Wuqing immediately asked, “But we’d also need a hiding place in the capital. Six Doors has too many people—you’re thinking…”

As he asked, he saw Suzhen’s eyes gleam with cunning, and suddenly his heart brightened, “The Huo family estate!”

He showed his first smile of the evening.

Before leaving, Suzhen had him prepare some silver. Before they left the palace, she would quietly tell Chen Jiao that once they were gone, she should divide the silver into three parts—Chen Jiao would take one part, and give the rest to Steward Guo and little Lu, having Steward Guo take the two of them out of the palace to temporarily hide at the Prime Minister’s residence.

This way, when Li Zhaoting returned to the palace, he couldn’t take his anger out on the people in her palace.

Xiao Zhou also breathed a small sigh of relief. At least this was a complete plan. Once Wuqing left, she said gently, “You’ve been too tired these days. Rest early—you need to conserve your energy for the upcoming dangers.”

But Suzhen said, “We still have one matter to resolve.”

…

Ji’er was imprisoned in a small room in the side palace. When Xiao Zhou entered, Steward Guo and the others followed.

Ji’er was much calmer now than before. After being transferred here, she was treated to good food and drink, unlike the emperor’s earlier severity.

Seeing them enter, little Lu even untied the rope from her hands. She couldn’t help but smile, “It seems the Empress explained things clearly to His Majesty. If you think you can torment me by keeping me here, it won’t be that easy. Just wait and see!”

Without a word, Steward Guo stepped forward and slapped her. She stared at Steward Guo in shock, shouting angrily, “What are you doing!”

Steward Guo smiled coldly, “Explained clearly? You’re delusional. Not to mention His Majesty’s thoughts aren’t on this matter at all now, even if he were willing to investigate and the Empress were willing to explain for you, do you think it could be explained clearly?”

“What are you saying?” Ji’er’s eyes began to show panic.

Chen Jiao was a quick-tongued girl who smiled and answered, “Sister Ji’er, don’t you understand? The Empress never sent anyone to find you, much less taught you any strategies. The person who came to you that day was a trusted maid from Steward Guo’s Treasures Bureau!”

“You also implicated your Empress.”

Ji’er was stunned, trembling all over, “You…”

“Also, you never went to Noble Consort Miao’s palace, but no one will know. That day the guard was afraid we’d discover him and only dared follow from afar—he never saw faces clearly. One of them was indeed me, but the other was actually Sister Chen Jiao. But since you presented the strategy, Sister Chen Jiao became ‘you.'” Little Lu also became “arrogant,” feeling more satisfaction than he had in years of servitude.

“Why bother explaining to her?” Xiao Zhou spoke slowly, “Miss Ji’er, have you eaten and drunk your fill today? If so, I’ll send you on your way now.”

“You… you want to kill me?” Ji’er’s face had long gone white as paper. Hearing this, she gripped the table corner tightly, looking at her in horror. Fear crawled over her like cold snake tongues as her eyes reddened, “You can’t kill me randomly, you can’t…”

As she spoke, she suddenly pushed Chen Jiao down and fled toward the door.

Xiao Zhou leaped gracefully, landing in front of her, and whispered in her ear, “My mistress says you harmed her once, twice—she could endure it. But when you harmed her a third time, implicating her friends and nearly harming the life in her womb, she cannot spare you.”

She drew the sword from her waist.

Suzhen stood with her hands behind her back in the courtyard. Hearing footsteps, she slowly spoke, “Is it done?”

“It’s done,” Xiao Zhou replied from behind.

Suzhen nodded, then said, “Steward Guo, please get two boxes to pack things up. Ah Jiao, little Lu, take the items to the Empress and Noble Consort Wei’s palace doors under cover of night.”

“Yes, this servant will handle it immediately.”

Steward Guo bowed respectfully, and Chen Jiao and little Lu immediately agreed. All three wore expressions of spirited determination. They were all servants who had never had control over their lives. Even Steward Guo, despite her considerable position, felt for the first time while following this person that they had the resolve to seek a way out of adversity in the uncertain future.

Watching them leave happily, Suzhen’s eyes faintly showed a trace of weariness.

The next morning at dawn, Aluo got up. She had been sleepless all night, filled with sadness, anger, and resentment. But what comforted her was that a maid she’d sent to inquire reported that His Majesty had slept alone in the imperial palace last night, neither going to the Noble Consort’s quarters nor to any other consort’s palace.

As Mei’er combed her hair, she calculated whether to wait for Li Zhaoting to come or go find him herself.

She thought that after his outburst yesterday, he probably regretted it somewhat. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have avoided Feng Suzhen to sleep alone in the imperial palace, nor gone to other consorts’ bedchambers.

He would come find her eventually.

But even if he came, would he feel that he always accommodated her? Perhaps this time she should go to him first, give him a surprise.

While hesitating and feeling troubled, a maid came in to report, “My lady, we discovered a brocade box outside the palace.”

Aluo looked over in surprise to see the person holding an exquisitely crafted, valuable sandalwood box.

Remembering Li Zhaoting’s previous gift of jade bracelets, her heart suddenly brightened as she smiled, “Bring it here.”

The maid quickly presented it. When Aluo opened it and looked, she immediately screamed, the box falling from her hands as its contents spilled out. Seeing this, Mei’er and the other maids were also shocked and cried out.

After a cup of tea’s time, Aluo stood up angrily, “Pack those things up. When His Majesty finishes court, notify me immediately. I’m going to formally accuse Feng Suzhen!”

Li Zhaoting had also been sleepless all night. The previous evening he had secretly met with several deputy generals from the Wei army, then ordered Si Lanfeng to prepare for leaving the palace.

But he had changed his mind—for safety reasons, the destination would no longer be the original place.

He was wondering how to tell Suzhen when he entered the courtyard to find her standing there in pink palace dress. Hearing footsteps, she turned and asked softly, “Does your face still hurt?”