Within just a few days, Caiwei Palace became bustling with visitors once again.

Consort Shu, after managing the imperial harem and overseeing one session of palace selection, had remained quiet for a long while. Now that she was pushed to the forefront of attention again, with various rumors suggesting she was only one step away from becoming Empress, the number of people coming to Caiwei Palace to test the waters or show loyalty had greatly increased.

Qi Shu grew weary of dealing with them. After maintaining a forced smile for two or three days, she became impatient and announced to the outside that she wished to concentrate on copying scriptures, refusing to receive any more visitors.

Yu Hu entered the hall carrying a red lacquer tea tray, “Your Highness has been tired these past few days. This servant has found some throat-soothing tea to help Your Highness relieve fatigue.”

Qi Shu took a sip of tea and immediately felt a cool sensation in her throat. “Did you add mint?”

Yu Hu nodded, “Your Highness has spoken too much these past two days, and your voice has become hoarse. Besides mint, the Imperial Medical Bureau also added several herbs to the herbal tea.”

After finishing a cup of tea, Qi Shu spoke unhurriedly, “Has Consort Zhao’s wound in Jianjia Palace improved these days?”

Yu Hu replied, “The medicine apprentice from the Imperial Medical Bureau said she still applies medicine daily. It’s sometimes better, sometimes worse. I heard His Majesty visits her every few days.”

Qi Shu smiled mockingly, “Perhaps that’s why the wound won’t heal.”

Yu Hu laughed lightly and asked, “Would Your Highness like to visit her?”

Qi Shu shook her head. Although she knew the Zhao family’s old case was being investigated by the Three Departments, she lazily said, “There’s nothing to see.”

Yu Hu poured more tea into her cup. “This servant earlier heard Wutong from Jianjia Palace joking.” Seeing Qi Shu’s confused expression, she explained, “She’s the palace maid who used to sweep and clean in Caiwei Palace. Wutong spent silver to be transferred to serve Consort Zhao in Jianjia Palace.”

Qi Shu nodded slightly, and Yu Hu continued, “Wutong joked that if one looks carefully, Consort Zhao’s features somewhat resemble Your Highness… though she’s far less beautiful than Your Highness…”

Qi Shu listened as if the words were merely passing wind, paying no attention at all. “Appearances will age eventually. What good is beauty?” A thought suddenly came to her mind, and she asked, “Has the Emperor visited Concubine Rou at Heluo Palace since returning to the palace?”

Yu Hu tilted her head, thinking for a moment, “The Ceremony Bureau said he visited just once. Considering both accompanied the southern tour, it seems Consort Zhao is more formidable…”

Qi Shu smiled noncommittally, but then heard Yu Hu continue, “This servant passed by the Personnel Registry today. Tao Jia, the first-class palace maid serving Concubine Rou, is leaving the palace. Her name has already been removed from the palace registry. But I heard Tao Jia is already nineteen this year, which is the age when one can leave the palace.”

Qi Shu’s right hand, which was holding the teacup, tightened, “What? She’s leaving today? Why such a hurry?”

Yu Hu tilted her head and said, “This servant didn’t inquire in detail. I heard the Personnel Registry has been processing her removal for several days already. Perhaps she wants to leave during spring so she can still be matched for marriage this year and wed early.”

Qi Shu steadied herself and gently put down the teacup, “When you have time, find out what’s happening. Why is that palace maid leaving the palace?”

Though Yu Hu didn’t understand why this mattered, seeing Qi Shu’s expression, she dared not ask further and simply acknowledged the instruction.

The sun in the west was about to set.

Duo Luo looked worriedly at the figure kneeling outside the hall doors. She had been kneeling for almost two hours.

Unable to persuade her to leave, Duo Luo bit her lip and turned back into the bedchamber. Seeing Concubine Rou sitting upright at the sandalwood table, she stammered, “Your Highness, Sister Tao Jia still refuses to leave. She continues to kneel on the stone steps outside the main hall. Your Highness… won’t you see Sister Tao Jia?”

Tao Jia, kneeling outside the hall, felt as if needles were stabbing her knees, which had gone numb with pain. The small gravel on the ground had already worn through her clothes and the skin on her knees, but she held a stubborn breath in her chest and refused to rise.

A shadow moved at the hall entrance. Tao Jia looked up, but the hopeful light in her eyes dimmed again.

Duo Luo quickly walked up to her and said, “Sister Tao Jia.”

Tao Jia pressed her lips together without speaking. Having knelt in the sun for so long, her lips were dry and peeling.

Duo Luo sighed, “Sister Tao Jia, please get up. It’s almost the third quarter of the hour of You. You received your registry today and must leave the palace. If you delay any longer, the Palace Regulation Office will come…”

Tao Jia stirred but repeated, “This servant will not rise until she sees Her Highness.”

Duo Luo’s brows furrowed, “Sister Tao Jia, please rise. Her Highness will not come out to see you. Her Highness… asked me to convey a few words to Sister Tao Jia.”

Only then did Tao Jia raise her eyes and look at her steadily.

Duo Luo had already rehearsed these words several times in her mind, so she now spoke without much hesitation.

“Her Highness says that Sister Tao Jia’s sincerity and loyalty to her are true. The days you spent together in the past and the feelings shared were not false…” Duo Luo sniffed, “But Her Highness says that the fate between her and Sister Tao Jia has indeed come to an end. Sister Tao Jia has always been clever, and after leaving the palace with silver to rely on, you will surely find a good future. Though Her Highness feels reluctant to part… she ultimately wishes the best for Sister Tao Jia.”

Tao Jia closed her eyes, and a tear suddenly rolled out. She tilted her head back slightly, and the tear didn’t fall further.

She knew that anything else she might say now would be useless.

With a bitter throat, Tao Jia’s rigid back slowly bent. She touched her forehead to the ground, facing the direction of Heluo Palace’s bedchamber, and made a long bow, saying in a clear voice, “This servant is grateful for Your Highness’s great kindness. This servant will leave now.”

Gu Yi sat motionless in the bedchamber, waiting for quite some time before turning her head to see Duo Luo enter with a relieved expression, curtseying as she said, “Your Highness, Sister Tao Jia has left.”

Gu Yi merely gave a soft “Mmm.”

Seeing her lower her head again to examine the carved ebony brocade box beside her, Duo Luo asked, “Would Your Highness like to wear the wooden hairpins? Shall this servant help Your Highness?”

Gu Yi laughed briefly and shook her head, “No need. Bring the candlestick over, then go arrange for dinner.”

Following her instructions, Duo Luo placed a jade-green candlestick on the table before leaving to summon someone to bring the evening meal.

In the flickering red-blue candlelight, Gu Yi turned her gaze back to the pair of red jewel plum blossom ebony hairpins in the brocade box. The ebony was smooth and lustrous, and the jewels at the heads of the pins shimmered brilliantly. Looking closely in the lamplight, they appeared as red as blood.

When she first received this pair of red jewel plum blossom ebony hairpins, she couldn’t help but be startled. The book had described only one such hairpin, which Qi Shu had personally modified, yet she had been given a pair of very similar pins.

At that time, Gu Yi took notice and, when no one was around, secretly used a paper knife to carve a mark at the end of each pin. Unless one ran their fingers over it, the marks were invisible to the naked eye.

However, after the New Year’s Grand Court Assembly, when she checked the pair of pins again, she found that the mark on one of them was gone. In its place was a similarly colored and designed ebony pin with a round red bead embedded in its head, almost identical to the other red jewel pin.

At that moment, what she hadn’t previously understood suddenly became clear.

Earlier, she had guessed that Tao Jia was working for Xiao Heng, but Xiao Heng was dead and the old Eastern Palace attendants were gone. She couldn’t understand how Tao Jia had managed to become her attendant or how she had encountered the poison bead. Since seeing the switched red jewel pin, she immediately understood that Tao Jia indeed knew Qi Shu and was willing to serve her.

The last time Tao Jia’s fingers were red and swollen was after the fire at Tanyuan Hall, following Qi Shu’s visit to Heluo Palace to check on her. Thinking about it, Tao Jia must have received the poison bead that Qi Shu was eager to dispose of, replacing it to divert disaster.

Gu Yi therefore made up her mind to leave Tao Jia in the palace, taking Duo Luo on the southern tour instead. She feared Tao Jia might use the Qi family’s connections to secretly contact Bogu and again alter the plot. But before leaving, she had a heart-to-heart talk with Tao Jia, wanting to see if Tao Jia would pull back from the brink. At the time, Gu Yi thought that if Tao Jia switched the pins back while she was away, she would let bygones be bygones.

Unfortunately, Tao Jia didn’t. The ebony pin made with the poison bead still lay quietly in her brocade box.

According to the book, although the poison bead was highly toxic, it required a sufficient dose to kill. With an insufficient dose, a person would only fall unconscious. The wormwood in the poison bead would cause skin to redden and sting if some people touched it.

Gu Yi guessed this might be an allergic reaction.

However, in the book, this poison bead wooden pin was given to Zhao Wan by Qi Shu herself.

Deceived by Qi Shu, Zhao Wan believed that Zhao Jie’s death was related to Xiao Yan, and that Xiao Yan would not truly redress the Zhao family’s grievances. Therefore, she decided to take revenge herself, dissolving the pin head in tea and personally handing it to Xiao Yan. But the dose was insufficient, and Xiao Yan didn’t die.

Moreover, in the book, Xiao Yan, perhaps out of guilt for the jade gift from childhood, still willingly drank the tea offered by Zhao Wan despite noticing something unusual.

Afterward, they confessed their feelings to each other. Zhao Wan naturally had an awakening, realizing his deep affection, and their relationship progressed another step. After the southern tour, Zhao Wan, who had become Consort Wan, was promoted again to Noble Consort Wan.

Gu Yi sighed silently in her heart. At this moment, she didn’t dare rashly give this wooden pin to Zhao Wan.

Firstly, the pin was indeed poisonous; secondly, she had a vague feeling that if Zhao Wan listened to Qi Shu’s instigation and poisoned the current Xiao Yan, Zhao Wan might not have time for a sudden awakening of remorse before meeting an untimely end…

If the female protagonist died, forget about maintaining the main plot—her lifeline would certainly disconnect in a minute, returning her to June 15th!

Gu Yi sighed again, only able to comfort herself with the thought that Zhao Wan was already Consort Zhao, so the female protagonist’s career line was still intact!

*

At the hour of Xu.

The red lanterns outside the Vermilion Bird Gate were hung high, casting a crimson glow below.

Tao Jia, carrying her bundle, slowly walked outside the palace gates. The two vermilion-lacquered doors closed behind her with a heavy sound.

Tao Jia stood bewildered on the spot, the world suddenly vast, not knowing where to go.

Not far away, someone emerged from the shadows, “Tao Jia.”

She looked up to see the silver armor of the newcomer gleaming coldly. She wanted to smile but suddenly began to cry, “Brother Qi Chuang…”

Qi Chuang saw that she had already changed out of her palace clothes, “Where will you go now?”

Tao Jia shook her head, tears falling like strings of beads.

Qi Chuang took out a cloth from his bosom and handed it to her, only asking, “Why did Concubine Rou make you leave?”

Tao Jia took the cloth, wiping her tears without answering, and began walking eastward. Qi Chuang had to follow.

After walking for a short while, Tao Jia finally stopped crying and said chokingly, “It’s my fault. I’ve let down His Highness, and… let down Her Highness…”

Qi Chuang’s steps faltered as he frowned and asked, “Her Highness? Is Her Highness well?”

Hearing this, Tao Jia looked at him sideways. Seeing Qi Chuang’s worried expression, his dark eyebrows slightly furrowed, she suddenly understood and angrily said, “Her Highness? Is Caiwei Palace’s Her Highness the only one in your heart?”

She lifted her hand and threw the cloth back at Qi Chuang, turning to walk away quickly.

Only then did Qi Chuang realize that the “Her Highness” she spoke of must be Concubine Rou.

He immediately went after her, and with his large strides, caught up in two steps. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, “Since you have nowhere to go, why not stay at the Qi mansion first?”

Tao Jia protested, “I won’t go!” but couldn’t break free.

Qi Chuang acted as if he hadn’t heard, holding her arm and heading in the direction of the Qi mansion.

*

At the beginning of the hour of Hai.

Gu Yi finished washing up and lay down on the wooden couch.

“Your Highness, sleep early. If you need anything, this servant will be outside.”

Gu Yi responded with a sound and pulled up the silk covers. Duo Luo saw that she had been listless all evening, knowing she must be feeling unwell, so she left her to rest early, keeping watch outside the hall.

After some time, Gu Yi tossed and turned a few times before falling into a hazy sleep.

A breeze passed by her ear, and she opened her eyes again.

Outside the bed curtains stood a person, tall and upright, watching her.

Like a scene repeating from yesterday, Gu Yi was no longer startled. A white palace lamp remained by the couch, allowing her to see the visitor’s face.

Xiao Yan wore a red robe with a snowy collar, his hair not crowned but loosely tied at the back, as if he had just bathed.

Xiao Yan rarely wore red clothes, but Gu Yi loved seeing him in red the most.

Xiao Yan had just seen Gu Yi lying within the gauze curtains, sleeping soundly, her breathing long and even, her chest rising and falling.

This scene seemed familiar.

He moved closer and saw her eyelashes trembling like fans, as if she were dreaming, but her expression didn’t suggest a pleasant dream.

He therefore reached out and shook the gauze curtain. Gu Yi indeed woke up.

“Your Majesty has arrived,” she said, half rising.

Xiao Yan lifted the gauze curtain, sat down, removed his boots, and lay down.

Gu Yi blinked, smelling the soap and pine-bamboo fragrance on him, “Has Your Majesty come from the Tianlu Pavilion?”

Xiao Yan nodded, “I came to see you.”

Gu Yi lay back down accordingly, flipped the silk covers, and let them fall to cover them both closely.