The elapse of time is always equal to everyone. It doesn’t take a side and serves as the solution to all the problems. Shui Yinzhu had to get back to this golden cage no matter how reluctant. It would be only impossible for her to break out again.

The imperial physician was worthy of his title. Shui Yinzhu’s wounds gradually recovered. There wasn’t a tiny sign of a scar on her face or her neck as if she never got hurt. But she still kept that broken heart as her own secret, along with the after-effects of the Heat Poison.

Shui Yinzhu didn’t care about the title of empress. She never wanted it at all. The bright-yellow phoenix robe and the empress crown remained new. The girl still wore her white dress and that simple pearl hairpin. What’s worse was that there wasn’t even any pattern on her white dress, making it look like a mourning dress.

Yun Su never restricted her freedom, at least it seemed so. But he had always been sending guards to watch her. She might not realize it, but she was somehow under house arrest. Shui Yinzhu was not stupid. She knew what was going on. But there was no way for a weak girl like her to run out.

There shouldn’t be that many hostesses in this grandiose palace since Yun Su never married any woman except Shui Yinzhu. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t any woman living here. Yun Su’s father, the former King Yun, had a lot of concubines. Shui Yinzhu was now a daughter with a lot of in-laws.

Just like with many other things, Shui Yinzhu never wanted to be the only daughter-in-law. But her mothers-in-law never agreed on that. Shortly after Shui Yinzhu moved to the Empress Palace, the elder consorts came to visit her. She declined all their visiting requests and showed no respect to them.

It was part of the tradition for daughters to visit their mothers-in-law. At least she was not supposed to ignore them. But as they visited her for days, they not only didn’t meet with their daughter-in-law but also had to sit there with no one serving them any tea. If they didn’t find their way into the palace, they wouldn’t even have a place to sit.

Even those well-tempered elder consorts had started to curse in front of the Empress Palace. Some blamed her for not acting in accordance with filial piety, others called her a vixen, and some even wished that she could be sacrificed... Whatever they cursed, whatever insults they threw at her, Shui Yinzhu didn’t care. She ate and slept as usual. Yun Su was enough for her to tolerate every day. There’s no need to worry about buzzing flies.

Even though Shui Yinzhu might ignore all these, it would be difficult for the young emperor Yun Su to bear with grace. These were all the concubines of his father, which made them his mothers-in-law too. Still, he treated them like dirt as he sent guards to drive them away, ordering them not to disturb Empress Xi in the future.

Well, as their husband had become the emperor’s father instead of the king, none of these elder consorts had any support. Many of these winners of harem fight knew nothing of worldly affairs, clung to the title of elder consort, and still came to bother Shui Yinzhu.

They had well underestimated how tyrannicalYun Su could be. In order to give them proper warning, he sentenced some of the lead women to death. To make things worse, he ordered his men to hang their dead bodies at the gate of the harem after killing these elder consorts. If there weren’t enough dead bodies, the remaining elder consorts would probably each have a dead body hung in front of their bedroom.

For an entire week, the elder consorts didn’t dare to take a step out of their room. But for every action, there is a reaction. Everything happened for a reason, and Yun Su couldn’t prevent all the problems from occurring. Someone got to know a secret that Yun Su believed to be completely confidential. But the only way one can hide something is by not doing it.

As no one dared to bother her, Empress Xi got to enjoy her life. The good thing was, Yun Su loved Shui Yinzhu. He was afraid of losing his girl. Thus he had never forced her to do anything except be held in his arms every night. Everything seemed so harmonious, even if it was just a false image, even if she still didn’t talk to Yun Su.

Shui Yinzhu visited the Xiyan Palace every day. But she always got into the palace herself and didn’t allow anyone to follow. After all these years, the palace was still clean as it used to be, as if the owner had never left. Clearly, someone cleaned this palace from time to time. It wouldn’t be hard to know who gave the order. But Shui Yinzhu would never be grateful?

She stood there beside the phoenix tree as if she was still that Princess Xi, as if Kong Yue was still with her. She would stay there all day until dinner time. Sometimes, she would visit the old bedroom and study, recalling the happiest time in her life. As time went by, she realized that the past was in the past. Now she had learned to hold a proper attitude towards the past. Thanks to Xuan Zhi, her broken heart had been healed when they were together.

But this palace was like a storage place of Princess Xi’s precious memory. She was not willing to move back here since she didn’t want Yun Su to ruin her sanctuary. As Shui Yinzhu recalled the old time with Kong Yue in this little palace, she missed Xuan Zhi even more. Love went so deep in her heart that even though she felt sorry for Xuan Zhi, the only thing she could do was to pray for his safety.

Autumn came with the soughing breeze. There were still green leaves on the phoenix tree while some turned yellow or even drifted in the air and fell to the ground.

A leaf fell onto the hand of Shui Yinzhu. The girl in a white dress wore a simple pearl hairpin and wandered like a goddess. Withered leaves were just about the size of her palm. As she picked them up, she was like a beauty in a picture with wonderful composition. However, no one expected that someone would come to disturb this harmonious scene.

A normal-looking palace maid approached the beauty down under the phoenix tree. Shui Yinzhu already noticed her. But she chose to ignore her since she didn’t feel like a murderer. As she came close, Shui Yinzhu spoke lazily with a voice so naturally soft that attracted all the listeners,

“Who are you? Is there anything you would like to report to your princess?” Even though she had the new silly title of the empress and everyone would call her “Your Majesty”, Shui Yinzhu still addressed herself as a princess. Princess Shui was the only title she wanted to keep.

“Your Highness.”

The clever palace maid chose not to use “Your Majesty”. She successfully earned her interest.

“Tell me, what do you have to report?”

“Your Highness, I am Madam Li’s palace maid. She would like to extend her invitation to you for some chitchat.”

“Well, not interested.” Shui Yinzhu turned around to leave.

“Your Highness, the madam said that you would definitely be interested in this scandal. It’s about...”

Shui Yinzhu had a keen observation. She knew that the palace maid was here for urgent business, and she was interested. But her wariness made her interrupt the palace maid and walk up to whisper to her, “Be careful. There are confidential guards nearby.”

The palace maid immediately understood it and lowered her voice. She took a step closer to Shui Yinzhu and whispered back, “Understood. Your Highness, it’s about the real identity of His Majesty.”

“Why would your master tell me about it?” Nothing came for free. Shui Yinzhu didn’t believe that this Madam Li would take the risk to tell her this scandal for nothing.

The palace maid leaned forward and whispered, “Madam Jing, Madam Li’s younger sister, was forced to suicide by His Majesty. Her dead body is still hung up on the walls of the harem. You may send your servants to check that, Your Highness. Madam Li hates the emperor just as much as you do. And she’s only trying to tell you the truth.”

As the palace maid spoke, Shui Yinzhu looked into her eyes. The girl with much experience in humanity chose to trust the maid as she nodded after thinking about it.

“Where is your master now?”

“Inside the bedroom of the Xiyan Palace. She knows that you visit this place alone every day. We came here yesterday just in case someone may notice us.”

“Okay.”

They had barely made any sound during their conversation. Shui Yinzhu followed the palace maid to her old bedroom. The palace maid hurriedly opened the door for her to show respect.

A woman in a court dress sat beside the table in the bedroom of the Xiyan Palace. She looked elegant, clearly a decent madam in the harem. However, she still seemed young, at least not much older than Shui Yinzhu. Even though she looked good, her appearance was still about average in the harem of the emperor’s satyric father.

As Shui Yinzhu arrived, Madam Li was about to tell her the story. But Shui Yinzhu hurried up and shut her mouth with her index finger.

“Madam Li, whisper to me only for there might be ears around us,” Shui Yinzhu spoke in such a low voice that Madam Li could barely hear her in front of her.

Madam Li had always been a careful woman in this complicated palace, given that not-so-good look of hers. She had been extra cautious for this meeting. But was Shui Yinzhu getting paranoid? She still chose to cooperate and whispered back, “I see. But why, Your Highness?”

“Madam Li, I know you live in the harem, and it’s in your nature to be careful.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Yun Su will eventually know this conversation.”

“How?”

“Madam Li, the harem mind game is all but for women. Yun Su owns the entire world. Why do you think he would let me be alone in the Xiyan Palace?”

“Your Highness?”

“Haven’t you heard of the confidential guards?”

“The confidential guards! Your Highness, if it weren’t for you, I might get killed the moment I leave this palace.”

“It’s good that you know. Now cooperate with me.” As Shui Yinzhu finished her whisper, she spoke in her normal voice, “What do you need me for, Madam Li?”

Madam Li was not stupid. She knew her role in this circumstance. She speaks at an ordinary volume, “Your Majesty, I married to the emperor’s father. But now that he is no longer in power, I would like to work for you to ask for your protection.” This was the conversation for the confidential guards. Then she whispered to Shui Yinzhu, “Your Highness, let’s be frank with each other. My younger sister Jing and I were the last to come to the emperor’s father’s harem. We’ve been helping each other these years, but the emperor just killed my sister like that. I really can’t accept it.”

“Time is limited. Get to the point,” Shui Yinzhu whispered. Then she raised her voice, “I’ve never intended to have any pawns.”

“Yun Su, the emperor, is not King Yun’s son. His parents were but a servant girl and a guard,” Madam Li whispered.