She had been careful, careful, and careful again, bringing out every bit of an actress’s professionalism, hiding it well — yet she still hadn’t been able to outmatch Hua Chun’s sharp perceptiveness.

Qing Niao’s face looked nothing like the modern-day Qin Niao’s, which was exactly why Hua Chun had never recognized her before. But today’s exam paper had revealed far too much. Combined with her name and the familiar feeling she gave off, it was only natural that Hua Chun would have guessed it.

As mentioned earlier, this girl, Qin Niao, was Hua Chun’s college roommate’s close friend — the kind of “sworn sisterhood” bond China is known for — and it was she who had recommended the drama about the young chancellor to her in the first place. So now, Hua Chun’s heart was on the verge of collapsing, terrified that Qin Niao would suddenly announce that this whole thing was actually a hired actress, that it was all just a performance.

If that happened, she might just do a Thomas flair right off the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation on the spot!

Qin Niao’s thoughts were in a tangle. She drank several mouthfuls of water to steady her nerves before finally choosing her words carefully: “Actually… I’m not too sure how I ended up here either…”

Hua Chun suddenly slapped her thigh. “Right, I should have thought of that too! There’s something strange about this drama — if I time-traveled, then you watching it afterward should mean you traveled here too!”

Qin Niao froze for a moment, then nodded blankly. “Yeah, I was watching it, and then somehow I ended up here.”

“Did you not know who I was?” Hua Chun stared at her. “You didn’t recognize me at first?”

Hua Jinghua looked nothing like the modern Hua Chun either, so it was completely reasonable that when the two of them had first crossed paths as Qing Niao, neither had been able to tell who the other was.

Qin Niao, who had originally been quite nervous, was swept along and steadied at once by Hua Chun’s easy chatter. She nodded. “That’s right. It’s only now that I dare to be certain — you’re Hua Chun.”

“When I first came over, I had nowhere to turn, and I ended up drifting into a brothel. I never expected to run into you and get brought back here. You felt so familiar to me, so I quietly started helping you out.” As she spoke, Qin Niao touched her own belly. “That pregnancy — I used a special medicine that made my pulse appear as if I were expecting, when really I wasn’t pregnant at all. It was just to help cover for your identity.”

Realization dawned on Hua Chun, and she slapped her thigh again. “I knew it! The first time I saw you, I felt so familiar too. Even now that you’ve grown so much prettier, we really are meant to be soulmates!”

Qin Niao laughed awkwardly. “Soulmates?”

“Don’t worry about the details, that’s basically what I mean.” Hua Chun waved a hand and, quite moved, pulled Qin Niao’s hand into her own. “Having a friend by my side for so long, and only just now realizing it — what a shame!”

It had been so long since she’d come to ancient times, and even longer since she’d seen Qin Niao, so Hua Chun now felt a rush of joy like a long-lost reunion. She immediately pulled Qin Niao onto the bed with her, and just like old times, the two of them lay together under the blanket, chatting.

“So where exactly did you get that video from? Why did it have a time tunnel in it?” After rambling on about a whole string of things, Hua Chun finally got around to asking the crucial question.

Qin Niao closed her eyes. “I found it online too. I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

“Then you must have finished watching it, right? What was the ending like?” Hua Chun asked eagerly.

“I finished it, but the ending in that show is different from how things are now.” Qin Niao smiled faintly. “The story I just made up on the spot — that was the young chancellor’s real ending.”

The young chancellor had fallen in love with the emperor. Though she was female, she couldn’t openly stay by his side. When the emperor discovered her true identity, he hadn’t blamed her — he had gone on favoring her, secretly accepting the truth. Then one day, the truth came out for everyone to see, and the emperor personally sent the chancellor to the execution ground, watching with his own eyes as she was beheaded. Two months later, the emperor himself died, the realm fell into chaos, and the people suffered greatly. Later, heroes rose up in rebellion, and the story of the emperor and his chancellor was left behind forever in the history books.

Hua Chun felt a pang of sorrow, blinking. “So in other words, I really did change Hua Jinghua’s fate?”

“That’s right.” Qin Niao nodded. “The original Hua Jinghua was too rigid, too stubborn — she believed she’d dragged the whole Hua family down with her and that she should die alongside them. Even when the emperor wanted to save her, she refused.”

Hua Chun laughed. “If it had been me, I definitely wouldn’t have been that foolish. Keeping one more person alive is always a good thing — at least there’d be someone left to visit the grave. Besides, I basically helped her get through a huge calamity. Now no one can use her being a woman as an excuse to have her killed.”

“Mm.” Qin Niao held her, quite moved, her voice thick with emotion. “That’s truly wonderful.”

“Were you really that into the story, that you’re crying over it?” Hua Chun said, half laughing, half exasperated, wrapping her arms around her. “It’s just a drama.”

“Right… just a drama.” Qin Niao murmured. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Ever since they were children, Qin Niao would cry even over Hua Chun scraping her knee climbing a wall. Hua Chun was long used to how easily she teared up, but she still had to comfort her a little, in case she cried herself into too much of a state and passed out again — she’d never had a strong constitution as a child, and Hua Chun had no idea whether that had improved in this new body.

“Now that we’ve found each other, we can fight side by side from now on.” Hua Chun let out a long breath. “Finally, I’m not fighting alone.”

“Mm.” Qin Niao smiled gently. “From now on, I’ll still be your palace maid. I’ll follow you and protect you, but you shouldn’t act too close with me either — we should keep the proper distance between mistress and servant.”

Hua Chun felt a bit awkward. “Back when we used to drape bedsheets over ourselves and play pretend, you were always the concubine and I was always the maid.”

“That was only because you forced it on me.” Qin Niao said quietly. “I prefer being the maid.”

“Fine.” Hua Chun nodded, in excellent spirits. “Let’s just think of it as a group trip. We’ll have a good time, and whenever things get too hard to keep going, we’ll figure out a way back together.”

Having said that, she yawned. “Let’s nap for a bit. The weather’s turning cool, and I’m really sleepy.”

Qin Niao nodded, watching her close her eyes, then opened her mouth and, without a sound, mouthed the words:

“There’s really no way to ever go back…”

Hua Chun didn’t see it. Filled with excitement, she was already planning to wake up and go have some fun.

—

The emperor and the Marquis of Gongyu sat in the Zichen Hall, the atmosphere heavy.

He Chang’an kept his eyes lowered, no longer wearing his usual gentle smile. Instead, he ran through a list of matters to be handled in a strictly businesslike manner, then waited for the emperor to respond.

“Chang’an.” Yuwen Jie spoke in a low voice. “I don’t want there to be a rift between us.”

“Your Majesty worries too much.” He Chang’an shook his head. “There’s no rift to speak of.”

“Then why are you so gloomy?”

He Chang’an looked up at him. “This subject is merely concerned. Is someone with her temperament truly suited to staying in the harem?”

“That was her own choice.” Yuwen Jie pressed his lips together. “You need to respect that.”

Was it truly her own choice, or had she simply been swept up in the moment? He Chang’an had no wish to argue with the emperor, but even after days of trying to calm himself, there remained a hollow ache in his chest.

“Never mind.” he said. “This subject will simply attend to his own duties.”

The emperor was displeased, and unsure of what else to say, the hall fell into silence once more.

Hua Jinghua and He Chang’an were the emperor’s right and left hands. Having already lost his left hand hurt enough — now his right hand, too, hung by a thread, and it truly pained him.

Once He Chang’an had left the palace, Yuwen Jie went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation with a dark expression, in a mood foul enough to want to lash out.

But the moment he stepped through the door, a small figure came flying at him, throwing her arms around his neck and, standing on tiptoe, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Mwah!”

The emperor was stunned, staring down at her blankly.

Hua Chun laughed, her whole face blooming like spring, and pulled him toward the door. “Don’t stay cooped up in here. It’s such a lovely day today, let’s go out for a walk!”

“What happened?” The emperor raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so cheerful?”

“Nothing happened.” Hua Chun said with a beaming smile. “I just thought the weather was nice.”

When she laughed like that, she lost all trace of Hua Jinghua’s icy beauty — her cheeks crinkled up, dimples showing, looking utterly silly, yet somehow making anyone watching want to laugh along with her.

“What’s so nice about the weather?” Grumbling under his breath, the emperor still turned and followed her outside anyway, bypassing the front hall and heading straight for the back courtyard.

“Bright sun, gentle breeze, what’s not to like?” Taking a deep breath, Hua Chun held his arm with one hand and gestured around with the other. “Look, all the flowers are in bloom!”

Unable to help himself, the emperor barely managed to keep his stony expression intact, though the weight pressing on his chest seemed to lighten a little.

Hua Chun could be a bit scatterbrained at times, but somehow that quirky charm of hers managed to sweep away all his gloom, inexplicably leaving him feeling light and at ease.

“What is this thing?” Spotting the basketball hoop in the back courtyard, the emperor frowned. “What are you up to now?”

“Don’t worry, this is a kind of game.” Hua Chun turned around, and Qing Niao brought over the leather basketball she had made.

“Watch this.”

Tucking the hem of her palace robe into her sash, Hua Chun bounced the ball a few times — the bounce was decent — and, with a three-step layup, tossed it straight into the hoop.

“Swish—” A clean shot, straight through the net.

The emperor pressed his lips together and glanced back at the palace attendants behind him. Eunuch Qin immediately led a group of eunuchs and maids to turn and face the wall in silent contemplation.

“How was that?” Hua Chun looked at the emperor smugly. “Pretty impressive, right?”

“Mm.” The emperor nodded. “Just not very elegant.”

“This is actually more of a man’s sport.” She pouted. “Women playing it, it’s never going to look elegant no matter what.”

As she spoke, she looked over at Qin Niao. “Come on, let’s go one-on-one.”

Qin Niao pressed her lips together, glanced at the emperor, rolled up her sleeves, and stepped in to play defense.

And so the emperor watched, wide-eyed, as Hua Chun dodged left and right, dribbling the ball with easy flair past her defender, sending it straight through the hoop.

“Would you like to try?” Hua Chun said eagerly, holding the ball out to the emperor. “You just need to get it through that hoop there.”

“Looks a bit difficult.”

Yuwen Jie reached out and took the ball, stepped closer, took aim, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the basketball arcing gracefully through the air — a clean shot, straight through the net.

Hua Chun’s comforting line — “it’s fine, everyone starts out as a beginner” — got stuffed right back down her throat by the emperor’s effortless, no-jump three-pointer.