Before Bai Jinxiu could finish speaking, Chun Tao’s voice came from outside the partition: “Young Lady, Nanny Jiang has brought Weizhong with extremely important matters to discuss.”

Bai Qingyan looked up toward the window lattice and faintly saw Weizhong following behind Nanny Jiang.

“Elder Sister, let’s continue our conversation later…” Bai Jinxiu picked up her teacup.

Bai Qingyan nodded: “Go let them in.”

Soon, Nanny Jiang brought Weizhong inside. After they paid respects to Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinxiu, Weizhong bowed and spoke: “Master, after Miss Lu happened upon the Empress’s private meeting with General Fu last time, this servant kept watch on Master’s behalf and carefully investigated the history between General Fu and the Empress! Unexpectedly, I discovered… in earlier years, the Empress and General Fu were betrothed. Though it was only privately arranged by their family elders and no tokens were exchanged, not many people knew about it.”

Betrothed?!

Bai Jinxiu widened her eyes as she looked toward Bai Qingyan. Seeing Bai Qingyan’s complete composure, she secretly steadied her nerves.

“At that time, the current His Majesty was still Crown Prince, and it had been two years since the previous Crown Princess passed away… His Majesty had not remarried. Later, during a palace banquet, the fifteen-year-old current Empress happened to play a piece that the previous Crown Princess had been most skilled at. The Late Emperor intended to arrange the marriage. The Empress’s maternal family received early word of this, so the Empress went to the Fu family to find General Fu, hoping he would marry her before the imperial marriage edict was issued. But General Fu felt that the Fu family’s status was too low to match the Empress, and dared not compete with the Crown Prince for a woman, so he didn’t request to marry the Empress.”

Bai Qingyan hadn’t expected General Fu and the Empress to have such a romantic history. But this meant… did General Fu feel guilt or true affection toward the Empress?

It seemed that later… since the Empress had already become Empress, both the Fu family and the Empress’s maternal family would have suppressed this matter, keeping it secret.

But how had Weizhong discovered past affairs that both families wanted buried?

“How did you investigate this? Do you have witnesses?”

“Replying to Master, this servant had people disguise themselves as merchants… going to those human traffickers in the capital, spending silver and claiming to search for a younger sister who had been forced into sale years ago. We examined records of servant and slave transactions from the Empress’s maternal family. We happened to see that in the year the Empress married His Majesty and became Crown Princess, the Fu family purchased many servants and attendants, while the Empress’s maternal family sold many maids. This servant investigated further and found old servants from both the Fu family and the Empress’s maternal family. After questioning both sides… we learned everything.”

Though Weizhong described it simply, this matter wasn’t easy to accomplish, showing that Weizhong was indeed capable.

Bai Jinxiu already knew the Empress’s pregnancy timing was wrong. Recalling that Lu Ning’e had witnessed the Empress and Fu Ruoxi meeting privately, she calculated… and suddenly broke out in cold sweat.

Had the Empress and Fu Ruoxi had an affair?

Fu Ruoxi had been brought back to the capital under arrest this time.

So many things had happened in the capital recently that she hadn’t had time to tell Elder Sister everything, much less ask how Fu Ruoxi’s situation came about. Could it be that Fu Ruoxi rebelled for the Empress’s sake?

“Where are these people?” Bai Qingyan asked again.

“After this servant questioned them, I didn’t disturb them, but their whereabouts are completely under this servant’s control. If the Young Lady wishes to see them… within half an hour, this servant will certainly bring them before the Young Lady!”

“Good, you’ve handled this matter well! Thank you for your hard work!” After speaking to Weizhong, Bai Qingyan looked toward Nanny Jiang: “Nanny Jiang, please take Weizhong to rest. If needed, I’ll send Chun Tao to summon him.”

Nanny Jiang nodded, paid respects, and withdrew with Weizhong.

Chun Tao escorted Nanny Jiang out of Qinghui Courtyard. Before she could turn around, she saw Qing Shu, the chief maid, beside Second Madam Liu Shi, leading maids carrying kettles and water basins in an orderly procession.

Chun Tao smiled and greeted Qing Shu, then quickly walked to the corridor and called into the room: “Young Lady, Second Madam has sent people with hot water for Young Lady’s bath.”

“Have them wait outside. I need to speak a few more words with Second Miss,” Bai Qingyan said in a low voice, then looked at Bai Jinxiu: “Continue. What happened after the Emperor left his seat out of concern for the dragon heir in the Empress’s womb…”

“After the Emperor left, Concubine Qiu threw a tantrum and also left the banquet to return to her quarters. Then someone claiming to be a eunuch from Concubine Qiu’s palace came to summon Aunt Lu, saying Concubine Qiu had a headache and requesting Aunt Lu to come administer acupuncture. I felt uneasy during the banquet and, thinking carefully, felt that the eunuch’s expression was wrong, so I hurriedly went to find Aunt Lu. Who knew that eunuch had exceptional martial arts skills, which led to the incident…”

Bai Jinxiu didn’t want to elaborate on the process, fearing it would only worry Elder Sister unnecessarily, so she simply said: “But fortunately, we’re safe now!”

“Does Grandmother know about this matter?” Bai Qingyan asked.

Bai Jinxiu shook her head: “Aunt Lu understands the gravity of the situation. This matter involves the stable situation that Elder Sister worked so hard to plan, so Aunt Lu didn’t dare tell Grandmother. She only quietly told me! Grandmother thinks the Empress ordered the assassination because Aunt Lu witnessed her meeting with Fu Ruoxi. Considering that the Empress carries the legitimate heir, Grandmother used Prince Xin to threaten the Empress, making her not dare act rashly again.”

“Aunt Lu has no martial arts skills, and though you were pregnant, you once had exceptional abilities. I also specifically instructed Yinshuang to guard you constantly. For a eunuch to injure you, his martial arts must be extremely high…” Bai Qingyan’s voice suddenly stopped as she saw Bai Jinxiu gripping her handkerchief tightly with a dramatically changed expression. “Where is Yinshuang?”

Bai Jinxiu’s eyes reddened: “To protect me, Yinshuang lost an eye. Physician Hong says the head injury makes her constantly drowsy and sleepy. I’ve had her stay with Wang Ge’er. Today, when Elder Sister returned, Yinshuang came along too, holding pine nut candy and sitting in the corridor, saying she wanted to wait for Elder Sister. But before Elder Sister arrived, Yinshuang couldn’t hold on and fell asleep again…”

Speaking of this, Bai Jinxiu couldn’t hold back her tears.

Hearing that Yinshuang held pine nut candy waiting for her, Bai Qingyan’s eyes immediately became moist. She stood up: “I’ll go see Yinshuang.”

“Elder Sister, once Yinshuang falls asleep, no one can wake her.” Bai Jinxiu also stood, her voice choked with emotion: “Elder Sister is travel-worn. After bathing, when Yinshuang wakes up, it won’t be too late to see her.”

Bai Jinxiu couldn’t dissuade Bai Qingyan and followed her to the servants’ quarters, where Yinshuang was staying.

On the large communal bed, Yinshuang slept deeply, one eye covered with an eyepatch. The young girl’s originally round face had grown much thinner, and her hand outside the cotton quilt still tightly clutched the package of pine nut candy meant for Bai Qingyan.

“Cuibi thought Yinshuang loved pine nut candy, so she worked through the night to make an eyepatch embroidered with pine nut candy patterns. Yinshuang was very fond of it,” Bai Jinxiu said with reddened eyes. But no matter how much she liked it… It couldn’t replace Yinshuang’s lost eye.

Bai Qingyan lowered her eyes, gently pried open Yinshuang’s hand, took out the pine nut candy and placed it beside her pillow, tucked in the blanket corners, and lightly touched Yinshuang’s eyepatch with her finger, her eyes already moist and red.

Shen Qingzhu had no relatives left, only an adoptive father, Divine General Shen Kunyang. She treated Yinshuang like her own younger sister.