Yongning Palace—

Two black shadows hurried into the side palace hall and knelt on the ground upon meeting Wan Li, the Shenle Marquis.

"Your Highness, our failure is punishable by death—"

Seeing their bruised noses and swollen faces, Wan Li immediately understood and screamed,

"You're well-trained. Why can't you even handle a little girl?"

Knocking his head on the floor, one man covered half of his face imprinted with a purple shoe print and explained,

"We've bagged the target, yet an Honour Guard showed up out of nowhere. He was really good!"

"Pathetic cowards—"

Cursing, Wan Li smashed his palm on the table, which immediately broke into pieces.

Wan Li held a grudge because he lost face before Gu Yunxi.

It so happened that his Eldest Sister Wan Yuyao had been loathing Gu Yunxi because of Leng Qingtang. Thus she had ordered several eunuchs who were skilled with Kungfu to ambush Gu Yunxi in the night of the autumn festival, and Wan Li was supposed to take over afterwards.

Once it was done, Wan Li would have the guards ravage her at Nanyuan. Only thus could he be pleased.

A missing maid didn’t matter in the Palace. Drowning in the lotus pond, or any other excuses would suffice. Concubine Xu might disagree, but it would not last without evidence. As for Leng Qingtang, Wan Yuyao was confident to deal with him.

What happened now was unexpected. The person who dared to interfere with his business must have lived long enough.

Wan Li turned back angrily and thought for a while. Suddenly, he raised his head and asked,

"Did you see what that person looked like?"

One eunuch answered,

"It was too dark to discern. If we can look up which night patrol was on duty at Yunzhong Rise tonight, I can have a secret check and find him."

...

After returning to Chuxiu Palace to pick up the fleece, Gu Yunxi went back to Baohe Palace. Concubine Xu was really anxious.

After hearing that Gu Yunxi had been ambushed, along with the Fourth Princess's testimony, Concubine Xu believed what they said.

Concubine Xu had some ideas about who had abducted Yunxi, so she didn't say anything.

Troubled by Prince Chen, Concubine Xu had to ask Gu Yunxi to take him to Chuxiu Palace. Huanan Jiyan thought it would be fun, so she tagged along.

Three of them, plus two female slaves of the palace, stormed to Chuxiu Palace, where Lanxin was on the night shift.

Gu Yunxi personally made two bowls of marinated noodles and sent Lanxin for some deserts. Then the three of them ate and chatted at the table in the side room.

Gu Yunxi knew the background of Huanan Jiyan. She was the daughter between the Emperor and the Empress, the royal princess of the nation.

When the crown prince passed away that year, Empress Qian had fallen terribly ill and almost joined her son on the way to the other end.

Huanan Jiyan knew her mother believed in Buddhism. So she led hundreds of maids and eunuchs to practice Buddhism in Yonglu Temple and prayed for her mother and brother.

Only one year before Gu Yunxi's face changing, Huanan Jiyan returned to the Palace.

Huanan Jiyan and Prince Chen stepped into the side room hand in hand, curiously checking around. Uncomfortable and embarrassed, Gu Yunxi poured them tea.

"The servants' room is shabby. I hope Your Highness will not mind."

In the meantime, she offered the tea with both hands. A maid of the princess hurriedly reached to stop her.

"Hey! Yaoer, don't be rude!"

Huanan Jiyan stared at the maid and took the cup. Then, she blew the hot tea and drank it.

Another maid hesitated,

"Her Majesty has asked Your Highness not to eat anything outside of Kunning Palace."

Huanan Jiyan sat casually on the chair and spread her hands.

"What are you afraid of? This is Concubine Xu's palace. Besides, my brother has been here more than once, right?"

Huanan Xin was busy stuffing pastries in his mouth and had crumbs all over his face. Still, he nodded after his sister asked him.

"Yes, yes. I often eat and drink at Concubine Xu's palace. The young miss is the best cook and has never made mistakes."

During the conversation, Lanxin entered the room and brought freshly cooked glutinous rice balls for everyone. Then she retreated, leaving them alone.

Huanan Jiyan tasted the marinated noodles and happily praised,

"It's more delicious than any dish at the family banquet!"

She followed the example of Prince Chen and rolled up her sleeves to devour the noodles noisily from the bowl.

Her two maids persisted in reminding her of good behaviors and lady etiquette. Provoked, Huanan Jiyan threw them out of the room to face the wall.

Gu Yunxi was secretly amused, unexpecting such a precious princess from the Emperor and the Empress. Whoever became her husband would probably suffer.

Prince Chen put down the bowl after eating and asked puzzledly,

"Do I recall it wrong? Sister, aren't your two maids named 'Lianer' and 'Xiuer'? When did you change their names?"

Huanan Jiyan swallowed the last drop of the marinade and wiped her mouth with a wicked smile.

"Yes, I did! 'Lianer' and 'Xiuer' are the maiden names of Maiden Yang and Concubine Ye. But now I hate Wan Yuyao and Gu Yunjin more, so I used their maiden names instead."

Gu Yunxi lost her calm and burst into laughter.

This stubborn princess was really interesting.

After listening to this, Prince Chen also held his belly in laughter and gave a thumbs-up.

"Brave sister! Smart sister!"

"Of course! If whoever dares to be disrespectful to you in the future, just tell me. I'm back, and I won't let others bully you again."

Huanan Jiyan raised her eyebrows proudly and stuffed Prince Chen with a piece of chrysanthemum cream.

Gu Yunxi watched from the other side of the table, touched by the scene.

Although Huanan Jiyan was born by the Empress, she was close to Prince Chen. It seemed that she had not been affected by the hatred of her mother's generation to mock him or oppress him.

For that reason, Gu Yunxi greatly respected the Fourth Princess.

...

Another dusk arrived with the overwhelming sunset, shrouding the sky above the square city like a magnificent dense net.

Emperor Jingxiao fell asleep when he returned to Qinming Hall yesterday due to excessive drinks. Today, as expected by Xu Yuanjiao, he chose Gu Yunjin from Weiyan Chamber to share his bed.

When the news reached Chuxiu Palace, Concubine Xu was drawing the plum blossom. Without emotion, she said,

"Fine, she has the Imperial Noble Concubine and the Western Depot on her back. Sun Shengsheng's now a useless pawn."

Gu Yunxi was pouring white fungus soup for her. Her eyes gleamed with a smile when she heard her words.

"It's not necessarily true. They definitely want Jieyu Jin to fight for His Majesty's favor. I have another plan to help Jieyu Sun turn the table."

...

The night was beautiful.

On the canopy bed, Gu Yunjin lay in the bright gold brocade quilt perfumed by ambergris, smiling bashfully.

For any gain, one must pay the price first.

That was a common saying she often heard from her godfather Ming Lan.

She had put in all sorts of hard work before to earn a glance from the Emperor. Her time practicing magic tricks without appetite and sleep was not in vain.

The bead curtain moved, and then footsteps came. Finally, a deep voice sounded,

"Yunjin..."

Suddenly, chaos stirred outside Tailuan Palace as shadows of people danced. Endless shouts were mixed with the alarming sound of gongs.

A eunuch yelled, "Your Majesty, Zhanxing Tower is on fire and it's spreading with the wind. Your Majesty and Her Grace should leave for Tianshuiyan for safety."

"Zhanxing Tower?"

Emperor Jingxiao's complexion changed drastically. His face turned ashy and twitched with every word of the eunuch. Flinging open the curtain, he dashed outside.

Behind him, Gu Yunjin got up hurriedly and sat on the dragon bed, covering her chest with the quilt. Tearing, she cried miserably,

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty...!"

...

Zhanxing Tower, the Palace—

When the Emperor arrived with the honor guards, he found the 13-story pagoda-shaped building surrounded by raging flames and thick black smoke.

The ferocious and distorted fire expanded arbitrarily, brightening most of the night sky. Countless crows circled around the top of the firing tower, whirling and wailing in despair.

Many imperial bodyguards, eunuchs, and maids were busy carrying buckets and shovels. They went back and forth, trying to put out the fire with water and quicklime.

Zhanxing Tower was specially built for High Priest Yu Xuanji under Emperor Jingxiao's order. The Emperor selected the geomantic location to store his collection of Taoist scriptures, spiritual flags, as well as the machinery and magical instruments used for astrology.

The Emperor was a sincere Taoist. Therefore he abandoned Gu Yunjin and rushed to the scene of the fire in a hurry when he heard the fire at Zhanxing Tower.

The imperial carriage stopped at the safe ground so that Emperor Jingxiao could watch the fire from a distance. Suddenly, he noticed a high-pitched voice at the noisy site.

He knew there were many maids fighting the fire, so he paid no attention to it at first.

But soon, Emperor Jingxiao saw a lady in white rushing out of the flaming first floor.

She was holding a stack of scriptures in her arms. When she ran out in panic, she stumbled over the threshold and fell onto the ground.

"Your Grace—"

A maid ran up to help her, but she pushed her away while screaming,

"Scriptures, get the scriptures! Those are the only copies left. His Majesty's most favorite. Go quickly—"

Scared, the little maid repeated yes and left the woman to pick up the scriptures.

Emperor Jingxiao was deeply touched. He hurriedly got off the imperial carriage and walked over regardless of the guards' objection.

The woman in white had already climbed up on her own and could barely stand. When she spotted the Emperor approaching, she almost fell again due to soft limbs.

Emperor Jingxiao spread his arms to embrace her. Studying her smoky face, he whispered softly,

"Shengsheng, why did you come here? How dangerous!"

Sun Shengsheng's dirty face was blushing. She lowered her head and replied,

"Your Majesty, Zhanxing Tower is not far from my Hanxiang Residence. How can I turn a blind eye to the fire?"

"Also, Your Majesty believes in Taoism. The collection here is your treasure. I only regret that I could not savage more for my lack of strength."

The Emperor was moved. He stroked the beauty's forehead and groaned affectionately,

"Silly thing, you are my treasure."

The news that the fire was under control was soon reported to the Emperor for his peace of mind.

Emperor Jingxiao took a long breath, looked at the woman in his arms, and said softly,

"You say that your palace is nearby? Would you like to take me to your place for a cup of tea?"

Sun Shengsheng's eyes glowed with joy but her reply remained docile.

"How can I say no?"