Palace maid Shuoning

(Up)

Yihua Palace

Consort Rong rushed out of the palace in a great hurry. Feng Chun and Jiang Shuoning immediately ran to her and knelt down.

Fengchun said urgently, "Your Majesty, please calm down. If you go to see the Emperor now, won't that play right into their hands?"

Jiang Shuo Ning knelt on the ground and tried to persuade him:

"Your Majesty, the Emperor will make his own decision. Sister Suihe is currently imprisoned in the Imperial Prison. She has served Your Majesty for fifteen years, so she naturally wouldn't make baseless accusations. Xiao Shunzi only spoke under severe torture; how much of what he said can be true?"

Consort Rong clenched her fingers, her phoenix eyes glaring sharply at Jiang Shuoning:

"Get out of my way. Do you expect me to sit here and wait? Waiting for the Emperor to think that I really sent someone to Changmen Palace to secretly meet with Xiao Shunzi, or to plant a spy among Consort Liu?"

Her mind raced, and her eyes flashed with ruthlessness:

"It must be that vile Consort Liu who's trying to harm me. She's resentful of my favor with the emperor and has been waiting for this day. Does she think that by bringing me down, she can rise to power? Dream on."

Suddenly, a young eunuch shrieked, "The Emperor has arrived!"

The Emperor, draped in a cloak, strode into Yihua Palace with his hands behind his back, followed by Feng Xi and Bao Zhong. Jiang Shuo and Ning He turned around, shifting their knees, and said in unison, "Greetings, Your Majesty! May Your Majesty enjoy boundless blessings and peace."

The Emperor's deep eyes swept over the agitated Consort Rong, then over Jiang Shuoning kneeling on the ground, and he said in a calm and unhurried voice, "What are you doing? Are you afraid I won't come?"

Consort Rong's eyes instantly reddened, and she stepped forward, slightly curtsying: "Your Majesty, this concubine greets you."

The Emperor extended his right hand. Consort Rong's heart softened, and she placed her hand in his. The Emperor readily grasped it, and gestured for her to rise.

"Your hands are still so cold. I promised you I would come, so of course I will." He took Consort Rong's hand and led her into the palace.

Feng Xi walked up to Jiang Shuoning and said in a low voice with a smile, "Congratulations, Miss Shuoning." After saying that, he followed her into the hall.

Bao Zhong stepped forward, bent down to help Jiang Shuoning up, and inadvertently noticed the scar on her left palm. His eyes darkened, and as he walked past her, he paused for a moment, his voice low: "Your good days have come."

Jiang Shuoning looked up at his back and frowned.

Hall

The Emperor sat on a soft couch. Consort Rong knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face, her eyes filled with grievance.

"Your Majesty, Suihe has served me for fifteen years, and I have always considered her my confidante. I truly had no idea she would do such a thing behind my back. I beg Your Majesty to see the truth."

The emperor looked at her but did not reply.

Consort Rong came from a family of military generals. Her grandfather was a meritorious official who fought alongside the late emperor in battle, a founding hero. Her father had also quelled many rebellions and achieved numerous great feats over the years.

Thinking this over, the Emperor closed his eyes briefly and slowly said, "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have come today."

He reached out and helped Consort Rong up. Consort Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The Emperor withdrew his hand, picked up the teacup, gently skimmed off the foam with the lid, and spoke in a calm tone:

"Suihe has served you for fifteen years and knows you inside and out. But as time goes by, she inevitably starts making decisions for her master. Keeping someone like that around will only cause trouble sooner or later. What do you think?"

Consort Rong's heart skipped a beat. She realized that the Emperor did not intend to keep Suihe. Pleading for Suihe at this time would inevitably arouse the Emperor's suspicion.

She calmed herself and said in a gentle voice, "Your Majesty is right. I will obey Your Majesty's will."

The Emperor took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and pointed to Jiang Shuoning, who was kneeling on the ground:

"I think this girl is quite reliable. Let her be the head maid of Yihua Palace, managing your subordinates. It will be much less troublesome than having your Suihe."

Jiang Shuoning shuddered and hurriedly kowtowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty." As soon as she finished speaking, a gaze fell on the back of her neck, feeling chilly.

Consort Rong quickly averted her gaze and looked at the Emperor, her voice so gentle it could melt water: "This girl has been with me for four years, and she's quite clever. It's her good fortune that Your Majesty has promoted her."

The Emperor nodded slightly, looked at Jiang Shuoning, and instructed, "Serve your empress well. Don't be like Suihe."

Jiang Shuoning kowtowed: "Yes, Your Majesty. This servant has remembered."

The Emperor waved his hand wearily: "Alright, all of you may leave."

Everyone responded in unison, "Yes," and bowed as they withdrew.

(under)

In the dead of night, the sound of a clapper echoed along the palace road at the third watch of the night.

Inside Changmen Palace, Zhou Zhengyin leaned against the cold wall, looking at his ten bloodied and mangled fingers, his mind replaying the events of the day.

The theft was a lie. The secret rendezvous was a lie. It was all a lie. Their real target was Consort Rong, and they wanted to use this incident to incite infighting between Consort Rong and Consort Liu.

Bao Zhong subtly and overtly tried to get him to talk, while Feng Xi sat aside and coldly interrogated him. Jiang Shuo Ning and Sui He happened to appear at the Shenxing Division.

He's a good-for-nothing, yet they made him identify him.

He saw Bao Zhong's nervous expression at the time, and he also saw something flash across Jiang Shuoning's eyes. Now that he thinks about it, the medicine and food she sent him were all calculated.

It wasn't true.

Tears slid down his cheeks and landed on his chin, feeling cool. He felt as if a stone was lodged in his chest, making it hard to breathe.

At that moment, the door creaked open, and a figure slowly walked in. The clear fragrance of Du Ruoxiang approached, and the remaining candle was instantly lit.

Jiang Shuoning, wearing a purple cloak and a hood, placed the food box on the table. She slowly looked at Zhou Zhengyin on the bed, her gaze falling on his fingers, which she couldn't bear to look at, and his fingers were slightly curled.

"Come here!" Her voice was icy.

Zhou Zhengyin seemed not to hear her, and just stared blankly at her.

Jiang Shuoning looked away, pulled her cloak back, and sat down. She looked down at the cut on her palm, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke:

"I'm not a good person. You can hate me or resent me, that's your right. But in this palace, trouble won't just come looking for you if you don't cause it. Everyone says the innocent will clear themselves, that's just a lie. If you don't fight back, they'll only trample you to death."

"I entered the palace at the age of six. I washed chamber pots, emptied swill, and did all sorts of dirty and tiring work. But the hardest part wasn't any of that. It was that even when you were obedient and well-behaved enough, they still disliked you and would still beat and scold you. It's not that I didn't beg for mercy or explain myself. But what did I get in return? They beat me even harder."

She paused, then lowered her voice.

"Later I understood. When you're insignificant, your voice carries little weight; you even need others to give you the right to live. So you have to climb up, even if it means resorting to any means necessary. But there are no innocent people in this palace, and no one worthy of pity."

"On the winter solstice, before I met you, my ten fingers were also tortured. Thin, long needles were pierced into the crevices of my fingernails. Did it hurt? Yes, it did. But you couldn't cry out in pain; you had to kneel and express your gratitude. That was the rule. You couldn't complain or feel wronged, because you didn't have that right."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengyin felt as if his heart had been gripped tightly, heavy and suffocating. He slowly got off the bed, walked to her, and his body acted before his mind, his knees buckled, and he knelt down.

Du Ruoxiang wrapped him up. His eyes were red, and he trembled as he raised his bloodied and mangled hands, wanting to touch her fingers and ask if she was still in pain.

But his hand, suspended in mid-air, stopped.

She was so clean. He felt so dirty.

He recalled how she bowed and fawned before Feng Xi, and how she knelt at Consort Rong's feet to express her gratitude. How had she risen to where she was today, step by step?

He suddenly stopped being angry. Actually, he had never been angry. He was just afraid. Afraid that she would abandon him after she had used him.

Jiang Shuoning looked at his hand hanging in mid-air, and a slight crack appeared in her heart. She opened the food box and took out a white cloth and medicinal powder.

She lifted his right hand and felt him tremble, trying to pull back. She didn't let go, but gently held his wrist, applied the medicine powder to his injured fingers one by one with a cotton swab.

Zhou Zhengyin tightened his jaw and secretly glanced at her.

This was the first time I'd been this close to her. She smelled wonderful, her skin was fair, and the cinnabar mole between her eyebrows was beautiful. From her eyes to the bridge of her nose to her lips, she looked like she'd been painted on.

His heart was pounding, and suddenly he felt that his fingers didn't hurt as much anymore.

He wondered if she would keep coming back as long as she wanted to use him, bringing him medicine and food, and even applying the medicine herself.

If it were that easy, he would be willing to be used by her.

Jiang Shuoning watched his trembling fingers and slowed her movements. She suddenly remembered that in the Censorate, he opened his mouth and said something, but no one heard it. But she understood.

Thankfully, it wasn't you who got hurt.

She lowered her eyes, her movements becoming even gentler. A flicker of something in her eyes was quickly suppressed.

The candlelight flickered, casting two shadows on the wall. One sat applying medicine, the other knelt looking up. In the moldy, damp room, the fragrance of *Du Ruoxiang* covered everything. And something indescribable was slowly dissolving.

Bao Zhong stood at the doorway, watching the two figures reflected in the window paper, his hands gradually clenching.