When Consort Xu was dragged in by the guards beside Noble Consort Shu, she could barely maintain her composure. But she hadn’t expected that the other party would, without a word, immediately try to silence her. The woman instantly panicked: “Are you mad? You want to kill me here—aren’t you afraid the Emperor will investigate tomorrow…”

“Investigate?” Noble Consort Shu laughed coldly. “Since this consort dares to act today, naturally I have a way to avoid detection. Consort Xu should resign herself to her fate.”

“What are you doing?” Xiao Song watched as the guard took out a small porcelain bottle from his robes and poured out a pill from it. She struggled violently. Originally, the one restraining her was a stout matron who momentarily couldn’t hold her down. She broke free from the restraint and threw herself onto Consort Xu.

Noble Consort Shu scolded: “Why haven’t you pulled her away!”

The guard and matron hurriedly stepped forward to pull them apart, but the master and servant, now terrified together, somehow found the strength from who knows where. Disregarding their disheveled hair and disordered robes, they clung tightly together, unwilling to be separated even in death.

Noble Consort Shu watched the pitiful state of the master and servant crying to heaven for a while, then said coldly: “You’re quite a loyal servant. Since that’s the case, why not grant your wish and let you go to the Yellow Springs first to wait for your master.”

The guard beside her deftly removed his belt, looped it over Xiao Song’s neck from behind, then pulled it tight forcefully. His grip was extremely strong. Xiao Song immediately couldn’t breathe. She had no choice but to release her hold and grab at the belt wrapped around her neck, struggling violently.

Consort Xu had originally been protected beneath Xiao Song. Seeing this, she also hurriedly reached out to help. The matron beside her seized the opportunity to grab her thin wrist and dragged her to the side. This time the two were finally separated, quite far apart.

Qiu Xinran hid behind the Buddha statue. Consort Xu’s cries reached her ears, but they quickly turned into muffled shouts as if something had covered her mouth. Xiao Song soon lost her strength and could only make intermittent calls for help: “Some—someone help… save me…” She no longer had the strength to struggle. For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard in the entire Buddha hall were her feet kicking against the ground and the harsh sound of her fingernails scraping the floor.

The candlelight at the top of the Buddha hall cast her shadow onto the wall behind the Buddha statue. As soon as Qiu Xinran looked up, she could see two overlapping black shadows on the wall. She watched as one bent over and strangled the other’s neck from behind. She watched as the other shadow struggled like a dying fish on a chopping board.

“Help me…” Like a small cat, she pleaded for help again and again, her voice full of tears and despair.

But the only response to her cries for help in this room were one or two sobs of despair from Consort Xu.

Qiu Xinran began trembling uncontrollably. She didn’t even realize she was shaking. Not until the person beside her grabbed her hand did she discover how violently she was trembling. In that instant, she suspected even the gaps between her bones were shaking.

She suddenly remembered what Xia Xiuyan had said to her last year. He said, “Do you think the death of a little eunuch in this palace is such a remarkable thing? Do you know how many people have died silently in this palace?” He was right. Right now someone was dying silently before her eyes, and she was hiding in a corner, watching it all helplessly, powerless to do anything.

The hand holding hers tightened. Qiu Xinran leaned toward him. The young man suddenly reached out and pressed her head against his shoulder, his other hand tightly covering her ears. Everything before her eyes disappeared. Qiu Xinran curled up against him. The flickering candlelight, the shadows on the wall, this square Buddha hall… everything disappeared. Apart from the muffled roaring in her eardrums, she could hear nothing. She clutched tightly at his lapels and only then discovered that his body temperature wasn’t much higher than hers.

In the small Guanyin Hall, at the boundary between light and dark, two separate worlds existed. The Guanyin stood on the lotus seat facing all directions, her thousand hands and thousand eyes watching over all living beings. Under the candlelight, the Guanyin held precious implements, her dharma appearance solemn. Behind the candlelight, the Guanyin lowered her head and closed her eyes, her face bearing compassion.

Who knows how much time passed. All sounds in front of the hall disappeared—the cries for help, the kicking sounds, the harsh sound of fingernails scraping the floor… everything returned to silence. Xia Xiuyan finally slightly loosened the hand covering Qiu Xinran’s ears. The person in his arms didn’t move at all. If not for being able to feel her breathing, one would almost suspect she had died as well.

The guard withdrew his belt, glanced at the corpse on the ground, and used his toe to turn her over. On the other side, the matron released the cloth she had used to cover Consort Xu’s mouth and nose. The woman who moments ago had been beautifully coiffed and radiant now had only emptiness left in her expression, having lost even the strength to cry out.

Suddenly from outside came the sound of someone breaking through the door—someone had burst into Guanyin Hall. Everyone in the room was startled. Even the girl who had been curled up in Xia Xiuyan’s embrace couldn’t help but move her head.

“Mother Consort—what are you doing?” Li Hantai’s shocked and furious voice rang out like thunder.

Consort Xu, who had been collapsed on the ground lifeless, suddenly showed a glimmer of light in her eyes upon seeing the newcomer. She didn’t know where she found the strength, but she suddenly pushed away the matron beside her and crawled on hands and knees to the newcomer, grabbing the hem of his robe and sobbing: “First Prince… First Prince, save me!”

Li Hantai looked at the scene in the hall with disbelief. He quickly closed the door behind him and hurriedly bent down to embrace the woman on the ground who was crying her heart out.

Seeing the state of the two of them, Noble Consort Shu couldn’t help but laugh coldly: “What am I doing? I’d like to ask what you’re doing?”

Li Hantai held Consort Xu and said mournfully: “Shuyi and I have long since had nothing between us. Why must Mother Consort insist on putting her to death?”

“The one putting her to death is you!” Noble Consort Shu suddenly raised her voice, pointing at Li Hantai and shrieking: “Do you really think that with Xiao Jiu’s death, you can rest easy and no one will ever discover your affair with her? How did I teach you? If you don’t eliminate the root today, it will surely brew into a great disaster in the future!”

This was no less than a thunderclap, not only leaving Li Hantai in the hall instantly speechless, but also shocking both Xia Xiuyan and Qiu Xinran behind the Buddha statue into opening their eyes wide with disbelief.

Li Hantai seemed to recall the scene from that day. A pained expression appeared on his face as he pleaded weakly: “Xiao Jiu is already gone. In this palace…”

“In this palace there will be no one else who knows, is that it?” Noble Consort Shu laughed coldly and said decisively: “I’m telling you, only when she’s also dead can we ensure no one else in this palace knows. Otherwise, if one day your Imperial Father finds out, have you thought about what will become of you?”

Li Hantai shrank at her words, his face showing some struggle. Noble Consort Shu straightened up and said calmly: “Moreover, you’re the First Prince. These past two years, the Emperor’s regard for you has been obvious to all. You have your maternal family backing you. What kind of woman won’t you have in the future? Are you really going to ruin your prospects for the sake of a woman?”

“I won’t!” Consort Xu in his arms tightly gripped his sleeve, her tear-stained face evoking pity. “My bond with the First Prince ended three years ago. After I entered the palace, there has been nothing between us. How could I possibly harm you?”

Hearing this, Li Hantai lowered his head and gently touched her face. Three years ago, he had accompanied Lord Liang, the Governor-General of the Two Jiangs, on an inspection tour south of the Yangtze. Caught in heavy rain and falling ill with a cold, Lord Liang, who had urgent matters, continued south, leaving him to convalesce at a Daoist temple. It was then that he met Xu Shuyi, who was accompanying her mother staying temporarily at the temple.

During that time, the two got along very well at the temple and gradually developed feelings for each other. Soon Lord Liang returned to the capital and stopped by the temple to take him back to the capital. When he left, he and Xu Shuyi exchanged tokens and he revealed his identity. The Xu family was also a famous family south of the Yangtze. The two agreed that three years later, Xu Shuyi would enter the capital during the imperial selection.

Three years passed in a flash. He heard that the Xu family was indeed among the candidates this year. Overjoyed, he privately sought out Noble Consort Shu to propose bringing the Xu family’s daughter into his household. But who would have thought that because of a Heart Sutra that Xu Shuyi had submitted, she first caught the Emperor’s eye. From then on, the palace gates stood between them heavily, and the two could never be together.

“Shuyi…” Li Hantai’s voice trembled as he embraced the woman in his arms. A tear slid from the corner of his eye and fell on her face. Consort Xu also tightly embraced him in return, her face already covered in tear tracks.

Noble Consort Shu looked coldly at this pair of star-crossed lovers without urging them. No one in this world understood her son better than she did. Seeing the two in their current state, she only sneered inwardly.

Sure enough, after a while, Li Hantai’s face went pale as he released the woman in his embrace. Consort Xu looked at him with disbelief. Only when he withdrew did she react, frantically prostrating herself on the ground trying to grab him. But this time, Li Hantai bit his teeth through tears and pulled back the hem of his robe, resolutely turning his back.

Seeing this, Noble Consort Shu finally showed a satisfied smile. She gave a slight signal to the person beside her. The old matron immediately stepped forward to pull Consort Xu up from the ground, pinching her face to stuff the pill inside. Consort Xu’s eyes were full of tears. Still unwilling to believe, she reached out toward her former lover, calling repeatedly: “Hantai, Hantai—”

But Li Hantai was like a soulless puppet, leaving only a resolute back. No matter what, he refused to turn and look at her even once, nor did he say another word.

Having taken the poison, Consort Xu knew she had no chance of survival. She finally collapsed backward as if losing all strength. She lay on the ground, her eyes fixed on the man with his back to her not far away, her gaze full of resentment. The woman who had once been refined and gentle now laughed maniacally as if possessed by an evil spirit from the underworld.

“Good, what a fine Li Lang—” She looked at him and cursed in a low voice, enunciating each word: “I, Xu Shuyi, curse you to never have peace from this day forward. Cough, cough… I curse you, mother and son, to one day meet a terrible death!” She stared with her eyes open as blood coughed from the corners of her mouth and splattered on her body. Even as her last words vanished into the air, she still hadn’t closed her eyes.

Li Hantai finally turned his head. Seeing her appearance, he was greatly alarmed and involuntarily stepped back several paces. But Noble Consort Shu laughed coldly and ordered people to carry out the two corpses and dispose of them properly.

“Did you see that?” The woman with exquisite makeup ran a fingernail across her eyebrow and said methodically to her son: “The weak can only utter such useless threats before death. Those who live have brilliant futures ahead.”

Li Hantai stood under the lamp and responded in a low voice.

The young man hiding behind the Buddha statue felt a pain in his hand. Looking down, he discovered the person in his arms was gripping his hand tightly, accidentally digging her fingernails into his palm. The corners of Qiu Xinran’s eyes were red—whether from crying or anger was unclear. She tightly grasped Xia Xiuyan’s hand in return, as if without doing so, she couldn’t stop trembling. The two clung to each other forcefully, as if both trying to seek a little warmth from the other.

In front, Noble Consort Shu was still speaking: “Good, this is my son. As long as you strive, everything in this world is yours. No matter how great the matter, Mother Consort will smooth it over for you.”

“Thank you, Mother Consort.” Li Hantai’s voice was low and hoarse. “Your son wishes to stay alone in this room for a while.”

The smile on Noble Consort Shu’s face froze, but in the end she sighed: “Don’t stay here too long, lest it arouse suspicion.”

When only Li Hantai remained in Guanyin Hall, he walked two steps toward the Buddha statue. Xia Xiuyan turned his head and saw his shadow fall by the edge of the Buddha platform. Just a few more steps and he would see the two hiding behind the statue. His eyes darkened and all his muscles tensed.

But fortunately, when Li Hantai reached the front of the Guanyin statue, he didn’t walk any further back. He knelt down toward the prayer cushion and kowtowed deeply to the Buddha statue, not rising for a long time.

Xia Xiuyan held his breath behind the Buddha statue and waited quietly for another moment before hearing him rise and slowly walk out of Guanyin Hall, step by step.