He asked you to serve him in bed and become his concubine, how did you manage to win his heart and s

Li Ruolan loves beauty, and she happens to be reliable.

When it comes to matters involving their own interests, the other party will never casually let an outsider handle it; instead, they will want someone they consider meticulous.

Unfortunately, Yunxi was the one who tidied Li Ruolan's clothes before and after entering the palace. Even now that Qingqiu is here, she is still Li Ruolan's most capable dressing expert.

Also, Li Ruolan likes to eat pastries sprinkled with soybean powder. To maintain her figure, she doesn't eat too much, but today she sprinkled too much, which inevitably spilled on the clothes she was trying on.

Is this just a coincidence?

No, Yunxi has plenty of time. She can avoid the soybean powder today, but what about tomorrow? And the day after?

She was only calculating the probability; after several days, she finally got to see this day.

Just in time for Li Ruolan's meeting with the Emperor the next day, her anxious mood was on full display, and even Granny Gui couldn't stop her.

Yunxi took the clothes and walked out of Jingyang Palace, not too worried about having to return on time.

Granny Gui herself knew that the fabric of the clothes was different, and even the washing method was slightly different.

This always takes much longer than you imagine.

Although she was pregnant, fortunately her waist was already slender, and since she wasn't showing yet, she looked no different from the other palace maids.

Yunxi habitually kept her head down, never making eye contact with anyone, and had no intention of causing trouble.

Walking under these red walls and yellow tiles, she felt increasingly familiar with the place, even knowing by heart how many steps it took to get from Jingyang Palace to the laundry department.

There's nothing special about it except being a skilled craftsman.

If you lived in a place like this for twenty years, you would be able to tell which palace the floor tiles belonged to, which is not surprising.

Entering the laundry department, Yunxi found the eunuch in charge, handed him a gold leaf, and revealed Li Ruolan's name.

The father-in-law, who had previously been indifferent, immediately beamed with joy and even invited her inside for tea.

"So it's Miss Yunxi from Consort Lan's side. We've been so negligent. Consort Lan's clothes need washing, so our laundry department must definitely give them priority."

"It's not a priority, it's now."

Yunxi spoke calmly, then took out another gold leaf and placed it on the table. "When I return, Consort Lan should see that this dress is clean and spotless, just like new."

Saying this in the most indifferent tone is still creepy no matter how you look at it.

There aren't many capable women in the harem, and among those with powerful backgrounds and influence, Li Ruolan is truly the only one.

Leaving aside the previous dynasty, let's just talk about the harem. Each woman is carrying a future prince. Who would dare to be negligent?

And these clothes, being worn close to the skin, require even more care.

The main problem is that the Emperor doesn't have any children yet, and now that one of his concubines is pregnant, all eyes in the palace are on Consort Lan's belly.

It's really hard to say; the next of the four consorts might be Consort Lan.

The father-in-law dared not delay and immediately found someone to handle the matter, even bringing out the tools he was specializing in cleaning precious silk.

Yunxi sat in the inner room, overseeing everything.

She would not drink tea from outside sources, nor would she eat any food outside of Jingyang Palace.

The vigilance I carried from my past life has carried me to this day; these are habits for survival. Even now, as a mere lowly personal maid, I dare not forget them.

Seeing that she was unyielding, her father-in-law stopped trying to appease her and went out to supervise the work.

For anyone else, this appearance would certainly be unappealing, but Yunxi is different.

She gave enough money; the maids and eunuchs who came to help today were all rewarded after they finished their tasks. Everyone was scrambling to do the work she assigned.

These small, insignificant benefits are the easiest way to win people's hearts, especially in places like the laundry department.

Most of them were palace maids and eunuchs who had been punished for making mistakes and were sent here to do the hardest and most tiring work, while receiving the least amount of money.

Few people would actually treat them as slaves; all they would face were cold stares and exploitation.

That's how Xiaozhu was sent here, but not to the Laundry Department, but to the Laundry Department.

That place is even more hellish than here.

Yunxi never felt sorry for these people; there must be something hateful about those who are pitiful.

In such a place, excessive greed will backfire and lead to this end.

She came here to see how these people fawned over her, and to constantly remind herself to be careful no matter what.

If she takes one wrong step, she could become one of those people.

By then, Granny Gui will have discovered her ambition and will absolutely not give her any chance to turn things around.

From beginning to end, the only person who could protect her was herself.

After seeing these vivid examples, it was already noon before I knew it.

Although the weather is getting colder, the warm afternoon sun still makes people feel comfortable.

She took the clothes and took a long detour, not going directly back to Jingyang Palace, but instead going to the attic.

It took me a while to find the path.

There are now many more Imperial Guards guarding the area, but thanks to Mu Xiaoci's special permission, she no longer needs to wait for the Imperial Guards to change shifts before she can enter.

There was a table in the second-floor study, but since no one had been there for a long time, there were no tools for grinding ink.

However, Yunxi comes with it this time.

She took an inkstick from Jingyang Palace and used the tools there to grind ink.

This takes a lot of effort, and I'm not particularly good at it, but I'm trying my best to handle it.

I deliberately moved the clothes further away so as not to get them wet after they were freshly dressed.

Grinding ink is a delicate task. If the ink doesn't flow well, the characters you write won't be very good either. Uneven ink distribution is a major taboo.

But women don't need any taboos; she is a slave, and doesn't care about these things at all.

In Mu Xiaoci's eyes, she was illiterate, and with a belly devoid of ink, she could not write anything earth-shattering.

This time I didn't write anything, I just drew a simple sketch.

She wished him a successful autumn hunt with everything she could think of, and signed it with only a flower bud that had not yet bloomed.

She spent a long time looking at a plum tree on the way here; it was a tree she had specially chosen.

Yunxi remembered that the autumn hunt would pass through a valley filled with plum trees. The temperature there was even lower, so she was afraid that the first wave of plum blossoms would be full of buds.

Whether or not Mu Xiaoci will remember her depends on this opportunity.

Having finished what she needed to do, Yunxi didn't linger and quickly returned to Jingyang Palace with her clothes in hand.

Granny Gui was waiting at the palace gate. Her expression softened when she saw her return, but she didn't say anything.

The concern is that Yunxi might have an accident outside. When the fetus is unstable, even a small fall could be enough to raise alarm.

Only Li Ruolan didn't care; she was now very concerned about what clothes she would wear to meet the Emperor tomorrow.

Ultimately, it was Granny Gui who was truly worried.

Yunxi's safe return finally put Granny Gui's mind at ease. She took the things from Yunxi's hands and told her to go back and rest.

"From now on, you should get less involved in these kinds of things. Even if Consort Lan doesn't know, don't you?"

Granny Gui spoke sternly, her eyes sharp, as if she wanted to see right through Yunxi's mind.

Ke Yunxi kept her head down, avoiding eye contact, and weakly replied, "This servant understands," before immediately retreating.

The more you say, the more you expose yourself; for now, it's best to keep your distance from Granny Gui as much as possible.

However, Yunxi had always been like this. She was not as flamboyant as Li Ruolan, nor as snobbish as Qingqiu.

After all, she had calculated from the beginning that she would leave the palace when she reached a certain age, and would sever all ties with life in the palace from then on, so she shouldn't have any lingering attachments.

Now, however, he is unwilling to let them see through his heart, and even more so, he cannot let them discover his ambition.

That's good.

She has plenty of patience to wait for things to develop, and she won't give herself away so quickly.

The clothes finally returned, and this time Li Ruolan looked at them again and again, but didn't touch them once more.

She was preoccupied with thinking about when Mu Xiaoci would arrive, and what she should say to persuade him to stay.

Meanwhile, Mu Xiaoci was having lunch at Consort Su's Shaoyang Palace and had also seen the new saddle she had made.

"Aci, I couldn't go with you on the autumn hunt last time, but I promise I won't break my promise this time. How about we go horse racing again, just like we did when we were kids?"

In private, Consort Su would call Mu Xiaoci "Aci," as if they were still children.

But now, for some reason, only she calls her that. Mu Xiaoci never calls her "Ruo Ruo" again, but only "Imperial Consort".

"We'll see then. You nearly fell off the horse once before. If you have another accident this time, your brother won't forgive me."

Mu Xiaoci's tone was much gentler. He was not as reserved as he was in other palaces when facing Consort Su.

We grew up together, so our relationship is closer than with others, and we have a lot to talk about.

But fate is cruel. Now that he holds a high position, he can no longer say whatever he wants as before, and he can no longer go back to the way things were.

Mu Xiaoci knew that what an emperor needed most was to be cautious in his words and actions.

Even in front of one's best childhood sweetheart, one must restrain oneself and not break the rules.

Many things go wrong because of a single sentence, and he didn't want to see too many situations like that. This is just right now.

The Su family is not the same as it used to be.

Consort Su didn't think that much about his considerations.

She believed that she and His Majesty were a perfect match, and if it weren't for so many unexpected events, she would have been Mu Xiaoci's legal wife.

Although she is now a Noble Consort, Mu Xiao Ci still has feelings for her.

Although she hadn't conceived a child for so many years, she wasn't in a hurry. As long as the other person cared about her and always put her first, she would definitely be able to give birth to a child for Mu Xiaoci someday.

Their children.

Of course, she also knew that Mu Xiaoci had been visiting Jingyang Palace quite often these days, and although he only glanced at Consort Lan, she was still jealous.

Finally, he came over, so I figured I should at least let him talk to me for a bit.

"Aci, we're going on an autumn hunt in a few days. Could you promise me that I can spend a day alone with you?"

"Just one day... We haven't been alone together in a long time."