The night was long, and an owl swept through the air.

Half of Prince Chen's jade square face dripped in the moonlight, and the other half sank in the shadows. The extreme contrast between light and shade rendered his indifferent and clear smile that was weird and inexplicable.

"I really don't know whether to call you Mr. Lu or Your Highness at this moment. I don't know why Prince Solo of Udan sneaked into the Palace of Da Yi."

"This matter has nothing to do with you," Lu Qiange's eyes were cold and frosty. Overlooking Prince Chen's unpleasant state of his eyebrows, he said simply and straightforwardly,

"If you remember Wenren Junzheng's life-saving grace, don't expose me in front of others. When the matter is finished, I will immediately stay away from your palace."

Prince Chen laughed in a low voice,

"I'm afraid that if you want to leave then, my fourth younger sister will not be willing. Don't you find that Jiyan has already cared about you?"

Lu Qiange suddenly looked sullen with purple eyes rounded, and he reprimanded,

"Don't talk nonsense. Who can stand your baby sister? Besides, I have lost my heart to someone!"

Prince Chen pursed his lips, smiling and looking at the night sky.

"Who knows what will happen in the future? You should go back to the Kunning Palace soon, and be careful. You will often meet me in the palace later. It seems that this 'Fifteenth Covenant' is meaningless."

Lu Qiange nodded in agreement and bowed slightly,

"Since we see each other often, I won't say 'see you' with you anymore. Bye."

Turning around, he hurriedly walked away with a steel blade.

"Why don't you tell him the news that Gu Yunxi is in the Palace?"

On the other side of the red wall, a female voice with a little gray tone arrived as expected, drawing Prince Chen's gleaming gaze. He narrowed his eyes and turned to the residual wall,

"Why bother? It's not yet time for him to confront the Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot. I wonder the things he has to keep secret from me..."

"Dear son, what's wrong?"

Opposite the red wall, Prince Chen's voice stopped abruptly, which aroused the woman's alertness. She only asked in a deep voice and stopped speaking,

"Mother, please be assured. It is just a bird that breaks in by mistake. I can deal with it."

On the other side of the wall, Prince Chen nodded and raised his eyes, curling his lips and smiling coldly like a blade. His long figure blocked the moonlight and cast a distorted and terrifying image on the ground.

His whole body was filled with the hellish breath of death like a bloodthirsty ghost reopening the gate of purgatory and returning to the world as a disaster.

A palace maid with a lantern was standing more than ten meters away, with her eyelashes raised high. She stared at Prince Chen with a look of horror and puzzlement.

Prince Chen stepped forward lightly like swallows. Instantly, his hideous face reached the palace maid's face, and a pair of eagle falcon eyes shone brightly, with a bloodthirsty scarlet light.

With a clang, the palace lantern fell to the ground, and the faintly swaying candlelight finally did not withstand the ravages of the night wind. A cold whirling whimper hit it, and it was submerged in the darkness and silence.

At the same time, the stunned maid opened her mouth in panic. When she was about to shout, she felt that her neck was tied.

The maid's eyes widened in fear, and the blood clotting eyes were about to fall out. She desperately and painfully experienced the feeling of being stuck in the throat by someone reaching out his hands. Her feet gradually lifted off the ground, and her body as light as a piece of paper was lifted into the air by Prince Chen's strong arms.

Her breathing was getting harder and harder. She kicked her feet uncontrollably, pinching the thin fingers on the neck with her hands and trying to pull them away. The nails caught in the flesh were of no avail, and she couldn't escape.

Prince Chen's hands were still very strong, and he firmly squeezed her neck with fingers tightening.

In a moment, the girl's body no longer twitched. Her cold palms drooped weakly, and she died.

Prince Chen paradoxically smiled and throw the body to the ground with cold eyes,

"As you have seen it, I have to kill you."

Tidying his clothes, Prince Chen took out a jade pendant from the front pocket, leaned over, and stuffed it into the palm of the maid's hand. His smile seemed to be quenched by ice, which was abnormally cold.

"I got it from Lord Bai's waist in the morning. I don't expect it to come in handy so early..."

…

The imperial harem was so noisy in the morning.

Hailan, the maid of Concubine Shu in the Chonghua Hall, did not return all night. A eunuch came out to look for her but found her body in the dry well outside the Palace. From the nakedness of the deceased's clothes, she should be strangled to death when resisting in humiliation.

In addition, the leader of Honour Guards who was in charge of investigating the accident also found a jade pendant in the palm of the deceased's right hand.

After interrogation, an insider confessed that this jade pendant was an ornament on the waist of Baiquan, the Chief Eunuch of the Yongning Palace.

The commander of the Honour Guards immediately led people to the Imperial Noble Concubine's palace to arrest him and take him to the court for punishment.

Baiquan was a young and romantic person, and he and Ming Lan were tarred with the same brush. He often had fornication with lower maids in the palace.

Suddenly involved in the lawsuit, Baiquan cried in front of Wan Yuyao, saying that the jade pendant had long been lost. He begged the Imperial Noble Concubine to help him.

Wan Yuyao was also a person who would protect her subordinates. She suppressed the consul of the Honour Guards with the power of the imperial concubine and forced him to set up a court in the courtyard of Yongning Palace to interrogate Baiquan together with her.

Baiquan was not on duty last night, and he was not in the palace. During the interrogation, Baiquan spoke evasively, and Wan Yuyao became impatient with him and pressed him for answers. Baiquan finally confessed to the public the matter of staying in the brothel after work last night. In order to prove his innocence, he also confessed the names of the landlady and the prostitute.

Wan Yuyao was so angry that she slapped her chest on the armchair, cursing her own chief eunuch.

The Honour Guards rushed to send someone out of the Palace for verification. After twists and turns, Baiquan could be considered to be exonerated, but he became notorious in the palaces.

Following this, Baiquan's purchase of mansions in various places in the capital and the purchase of hundreds of acres of fields in the suburbs were also unveiled one by one. As a fifth-ranked eunuch, he had already constituted a crime of arrogance.

The Emperor was furious because of Baiquan’s case and punished Baiquan with flogging. His income outside the palace was confiscated, and he was expelled from the Palace and could never come back. For this matter, the Imperial Noble Concubine was severely reprimanded and was asked to keep an eye on her servants.

The Imperial Noble Concubine irritated the Emperor with no reason and was aggrieved and anxious, but she didn't know who framed her this time. With hatred, she smashed lots of things and the whole Yongning Palace was almost scorched to ease her anger.

The sky was dark, and the night was thick.

Gu Yunxi directed her subordinates to prepare the dinner in the small kitchen, hearing the chefs talking about the Yongning Palace. It was said that Baiquan failed to tolerate the punishment and died halfway through it.

Gu Yunxi didn't care much about this, and most of her thoughts were still on Gu Yunyao.

It was not surprising to think that people of the imperial harem could win favor and lose favor in a blink of an eye.

Gu Yunxi was stunned by the gurgling heat on the back of her neck. She turned her head curiously and saw the handsome Prince Chen who was staring at her with a harmless smile.

Gu Yunxi frowned, touched the back of her neck with hands uncomfortably, and said lightly,

"Your Highness, Are you here again? Something wrong?"

Prince Chen grabbed and dragged her outside. Gu Yunxi refused to follow him and broke free a few times,

"Your Highness, please go to other places. I am busy now!"

Prince Chen was enraptured, and his eyes were shining brightly. He said excitedly,

"Follow me. I will let you come back soon!"

He took Gu Yunxi quickly out of the Chuxiu Palace, turned left, and ran for more than a hundred meters along the straight palace road. Then they turned around the red wall.

Gu Yunxi stopped in retreat and saw the handsome and steady figure under the flaming red and fragrant maple tree.

Her gaze was frozen for a while. She stared at him blankly. When she saw him looking over here, her face was picturesque and she smiled gracefully.

The autumn maple trees were against his azure robe which was embroidered with pythons. The gold and silver thread embroidery was lifelike, shining and dazzling. The bright colors outlined his slender and handsome figure clearly and especially beautifully.

"Master…"

Gu Yunxi called him lightly, and her trembling voice shattered in the rustling wind.

It was only four or five days of separation. But when they met, they both felt as if they hadn’t seen each other for half a year. Their eyes met and the hearts were surging.

Prince Chen squinted his eyes and smiled silently, pulling up the stupid Gu Yunxi to the front of Leng Qingtang.

Leng Qingtang faintly condensed his exquisite eyes, and his heart shuddered suddenly with slight pain in the eyes.

He lowered his head and handed a bag of candy to Prince Chen. When Prince Chen reached out his hands, Leng Qingtang saw that there were several scars on the fingers of his left hand. According to the color, these were green wounds.

Leng Qingtang frowned for a moment and was about to think about something. A "Master" sounded in his ears, flickering like gurgling water and reaching his heart.

Before thinking about it, Leng Qingtang smiled warmly at Gu Yunxi and pointed to the distant flower garden to Prince Chen with a gentle voice,

"Here. Go over there and have some sweets."

Prince Chen looked at him stupidly, then turned, and ran to the flowerbed.

Gu Yunxi watched him all the way and saw Prince Chen arrive at his destination safely, standing in the withered flowers. He opened the paper bag and grabbed candies. Gu Yunxi turned her head and looked a little worried,

"Prince Chen is getting older day by day. Master, you shouldn't be like that."

Leng Qingtang glanced at the flower garden and smiled indifferently, grabbing Gu Yunxi's two small smooth hands and holding them into his palms. His eyes were soft,

"Anyway, he is a fool, and he doesn't understand this. Only he can take you out. That day, I went out of the palace urgently for an errand and had no time to greet you. Don't blame me. I just come back and Bingbi Liu told me that you had contacted me. What happened?"

Gu Yunxi shook her head relievedly,

"It doesn't matter much. Master, you must be tired and should have a good rest after coming back to the Palace..."

In terms of the second half of the sentence, she worked hard for a long time and was always ashamed to say it, so she had to lower her head slightly.

Leng Qingtang smiled, and he turned his hands into his sleeve pockets and took out a big red satin-faced square box to Gu Yunxi,

"It's a gift for you. Until now, I have never given you a decent gift. I really didn't do it well. My girl, open it and have a look. Do you like it?"

Suddenly, her face was reddened by the color on the box. Gu Yunxi's eyes lit up and she took it happily. After gently opening the lid of the box, she saw that there was a mellow and delicate jade bracelet inside.

Leng Qingtang approached, holding the girl's delicate shoulders with his hands in his arms. He said gently,

"I saw it in a shop outside. It looks good in texture and color, and I think it will look good on your wrist."

Gu Yunxi pressed the corner of her mouth,

"Master, I am now working in the palace, and I can’t wear these according to the rules..."

Leng Qingtang said: "First put it away. Someday you will wear it. My girl, I won't let you serve others forever. If you want, you can follow me back to my house now."

Gu Yunxi pulled out of his arms suddenly, pouting,

"How is it possible? Concubine Xu treats me well."

Even if she didn't have the task of capturing the picture assigned by His Highness, Gu Yunxi couldn't leave Concubine Xu for a moment, let alone the task.

She helped the servants several times so that Gu Yunxi respected her from the bottom of her heart and served her willingly.

Leng Qingtang suddenly felt depressed and looked a little helpless with a long sigh. He held her hands again with eyes lighting,

"Well, I'll do whatever you want, but it is not peaceful in the Palace recently. You have to be careful. If you are in doubt, come to the Imperial Ceremony Office to look for me."

"Fine."

Gu Yunxi thought of something at this moment and immediately became energetic,

"Master, do you know that Yunyao is not an orphan. Her parents are Duke Min and Duchess Min..."

"I learned about this as soon as I returned to the Palace."

Under the twilight, Leng Qingtang's face suddenly became unclear, as if he had been wearing a solemn mask. His gaze clouded like mist, becoming deep and untouchable,

"Yunyao grows up, and she has her own choice in everything. Others can't and shouldn't influence her thoughts."

Gu Yunxi's eyelashes trembled in confusion, and she shook her head lightly like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water. Seeing that Master's expression became inexplicably dull like a lead, she did not dare to say anything.

In the evening breeze, a five-fingered maple leaf swaggered from the two opposing and silent figures.

Noticing it, Leng Qingtang looked far away and sighed with emotion,

"The leaves have fallen, and winter is coming soon..."