Yuwen Ran disagreed: "Senior, this is all empty courtesy. I don't care. Let the Imperial Censor say what he wants. You are worthy of my courtesy."

Yuwen Ran pulled Bai Youjin into the small doorway and, after confirming that no one was around, he continued, "Senior, I'd like to make an exception and appoint you as a female official. This will make it easier for you to move around the palace. What do you think?"

Yuwen Ran wanted to give Bai Youjin an identity so that she could walk around in the palace and make an exception for her by appointing her as a female official and treating her as a guest of honor. Unexpectedly, Bai Youjin did not appreciate his "good intention" at all and directly refused, "If you dare to appoint me as a female official, I will leave the palace immediately and return to my own forest."

Yu Wenran frowned in confusion. "But if you were to become a female official, the benefits would outweigh the disadvantages. And as Ah Yue's master, you could help Ah Yue by becoming a female official. Why would you refuse?"

Bai Youjin refused to budge: "I told you and my disciple back in the woods that I'm going into seclusion to avoid all the gossip and live a peaceful life. If you insist on appointing me as a female official, I'll pack my clothes and return to the woods right now."

Yuwen Ran couldn't persuade Bai Youjin, so he had to give up.

The little episode of enthroning a female official just passed like that. Because he had been scolded by Bai Youjin, Yu Wenran avoided Bai Youjin for several days. He just asked Gu Yanyue to accompany Bai Youjin more often and not let her feel lonely.

"Aran, I've observed over the past few days that a palace maid with a double-skinned face has appeared in the Weiyang Palace." Gu Yanyue took a sip of tea. She had a good memory since she was young, and she would never forget a palace maid in the Weiyang Palace after seeing her once. The day before yesterday evening, when she was serving the dishes, she caught a glimpse of a palace maid with a double-skinned face in the Weiyang Palace.

Normally, new maids would be brought to her for identification in the Weiyang Palace, but this time, no one did. She felt suspicious and checked with the aunt in charge. She said that there had been no new maids serving in the Weiyang Palace in the past few days. Afraid that Gu Yanyue would not believe her, she took out the maids' list and showed it to her.

When Gu Yanyue saw that the names on the list matched the ones she remembered, she became even more puzzled.

Yuwen Ran consoled her, "She might be a maid transferred from another palace, and my aunt hasn't had time to register her yet."

Gu Yanyue lowered her eyes, her slender eyelashes trembling: "I hope so."

Yuwen Ran was exhausted after a long day, and since he had to get up early to attend court tomorrow, he decided to go to bed. Gu Yanyue had recently fallen in love with embroidery, and she was almost done with the peony she was embroidering today, so she decided to light a lamp in the outer room to finish her embroidery before going to bed.

"Your Majesty, this is the snack prepared for you by the kitchen." A palace maid placed a plate of snacks on the table and bowed to Gu Yanyue.

Gu Yanyue didn't even raise her head, but just waved her hand, "Okay, you go down first, I will clean up the dishes myself later."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The palace maid said she was going to leave, but in fact she was slowly walking towards Gu Yanyue. Suddenly, the palace maid pulled out a dagger from her waist and rushed towards Gu Yanyue.

Gu Yanyue caught a glimpse of a silver light from the corner of his eye, and quickly pulled out a dagger from the side. With a crisp "dang" sound, the dagger was knocked to the ground by Gu Yanyue. At the same time, Gu Yanyue kicked the palace maid to the threshold.

Gu Yanyue strode forward and grabbed the maid's wrist. With a clever backhand move, she twisted it behind her back and said word by word, "Who sent you?"

The noise Gu Yanyue made was so loud that it woke up Yuwen Ran in the inner room. When Yuwen Ran came out with his outer robe half covered, he happened to see Gu Yanyue capturing the palace maid.

Yu Wenran looked at the palace maid in Gu Yanyue's hand at the door, his eyes filled with murderous intent, and he shouted: "Someone come——"

Zheng Hai had also heard the noise from outside, but since Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue usually didn't allow anyone in to serve them at night, he thought they had just accidentally broken something and planned to wait until Yuwen Ran got up tomorrow before asking the maids to clean up. Only when he heard Yuwen Ran calling him in did he realize something was wrong.

When Zheng Hai brought his men in, Yuwen Ran had already moved the palace maid from Gu Yanyue's hands and stepped hard on her stomach.

"Your Majesty - I am late in rescuing you! Please punish me, Your Majesty!" Zheng Hai knelt down first, and the royal guards following behind him also knelt down.

Yu Wenran looked at the woman at his feet with cold eyes, "Then why are you still kneeling there? Why don't you hurry up and take her away and find out who ordered this."

The Imperial Guards were always very efficient in dealing with assassins and killers; practice makes perfect. Just as they were about to get up and take the maid away, Gu Yanyue suddenly spoke up, "No need. Take her to the woodshed. I will personally interrogate her tomorrow. Also, don't let any word of what happened tonight leak out. If I find out later, I will punish you by military court."

The leader of the Imperial Guards was unsure of a decision for a moment, but because Yuwen Ran was still present, he turned his gaze to Yuwen Ran and waited for his order.

Yuwen Ran coughed a few times and said, "Well, just do as the Queen says."

After receiving Yuwen Ran's order, the imperial guards took the palace maid to the woodshed next to the small kitchen in Weiyang Palace and locked her up, and sent two people to guard her outside.

Yuwen Ran no longer paid attention to those things and carried his "frightened" queen back to the inner room. Gu Yanyue had been thinking about things from the beginning and didn't pay much attention to what was happening outside. When she reacted, Yuwen Ran had already carried her back to the inner room and put her on the bed.

Gu Yanyue's reaction was half-hearted, and only now did she have time to ask Yu Wenran: "Did you just carry me back in front of a group of people?"

Yu Wenran pressed Gu Yanyue under him and nodded.

"Ah!" Gu Yanyue screamed softly, wishing she could dig a hole on the spot and crawl into it.

It was so embarrassing, so embarrassing. Yu Wenran had carried her away in front of so many people. This was like something straight out of an old-fashioned domineering CEO novel. Gu Yanyue felt embarrassed just thinking about it, and she wished she could dig a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment out of it with her toes.

How is she going to face people tomorrow? Who knows, this news might spread all over Weiyang Palace right away, and within three days, it will spread throughout the entire palace. Her image is going to collapse just like that!?

Yu Wenran propped himself up and looked at her. Seeing that Gu Yanyue was really immersed in her own little world and completely forgot about the husband who was pressing on her, he couldn't help but reach out and pinch Gu Yanyue's nose.

Gu Yanyue's breathing was blocked by external force, so she could only open her mouth and breathe in big gulps of fresh air to avoid suffocating to death in Yu Wenran's hands.

Yu Wenran saw that Gu Yanyue had come to her senses, and then let go of her hand.