Gathering information

Upon returning to the Cold Palace, before Guo Shu could even ask a question, he saw the gloomy expression on Ping An's face.

He asked with some confusion, "What's wrong? He Duan didn't say anything about anything related to the Crown Prince? He's not usually such a tight-lipped person."

"No, he did say it, but I can't believe it and I don't know how to believe it."

"Why?"

"When he heard me say that I had offended you, he wanted to help you get rid of me and take the opportunity to curry favor with the Imperial Concubine. Yet you tell me that such a person is a well-known good person in the palace. How much of what he says is true? How much of it is believable?"

Guo Shu felt something was amiss. Although he had spent most of his time in the Cold Palace and rarely left, he had seen He Duan a few times and spoken to him. He remembered that He Duan was not such a scheming person.

"Are you mistaken? I remember He Duan wasn't that kind of person."

“Father-in-law,” Ping An raised an eyebrow, “People can change. Besides, you’re not a mind reader, how would you know what he’s thinking? What if the way he acts in front of you is just to lower your guard so he can achieve his goals?”

"...So what should we do next?"

"I need to see the Crown Prince up close, without him noticing my presence, preferably when he is alone, so that I can make an accurate judgment."

"I can't do that." Guo Shu rolled his eyes. "Who but the Crown Prince's personal attendant could make such a request? If I had the ability to secretly make you take over the Crown Prince's position as his personal attendant, would I need to rely on the Consort? Would I need you to go to the Crown Prince's side and be my future guarantee?"

Too.

Ping An sighed and asked, "Even if we don't go alone, there must be places where we can observe the Crown Prince's words and actions up close, right?"

"There are plenty of them."

Guo Shu started counting on his fingers.

"The morning court session is held once every five days, so you can definitely see the Crown Prince on the route he takes to and from court every five days. However, the Crown Prince usually comes and goes in a hurry, so you probably won't be able to observe anything."

"Next are the library and the archery pavilion. Although the Crown Prince has begun to participate in court affairs and no longer needs to go to the Imperial Study to read or to the archery pavilion to practice riding and archery every day, he will occasionally visit the library or go to the archery pavilion to ride horses. The problem is that it is uncertain. I can leave you there every day, but whether you can wait for the Crown Prince depends on how much favor God has on you."

"Next is the Imperial Garden. Apart from the fixed day each month when they leave the palace to go to the slums, the Crown Prince and the Princess usually either discuss poetry, songs, music, chess, calligraphy and painting in Chengqian Palace, or admire flowers in the Imperial Garden. This should be a good choice."

“Not really,” Ping An rejected the idea. “The Imperial Garden is a public place, and the Crown Prince’s words and actions are being watched closely. We might not be able to observe his true nature there. Are there any other places?”

"Yes, there are, but..."

"But what?"

"I can't help you get in."

Ping An thought for a moment and said, "Does Your Excellency mean the Crown Prince?"

“No, it’s Kunning Palace,” Guo Shu explained. “The late Empress died from postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to the Crown Prince, so the Crown Prince would go to Kunning Palace to pay his respects every year on the Empress’s birthday and death anniversaries.”

"When were the late Empress's birthday and death anniversaries?"

"The late Empress's death anniversary was also His Highness the Crown Prince's birthday, which was only two months ago. The next one is still a long way off, and his birthday anniversary is not close either, it will be in half a year."

Hearing this answer, Ping An breathed a sigh of relief.

Half a year is a long time; that should be enough for her to find a way into Kunning Palace.

From that day on, with Guo Shu's help, Ping An began to frequently visit the Cold Palace, using the pretext of doing things for Guo Shu to inquire about information in various parts of the palace, including Cui Shenzhi's character and conduct, the late empress's past, and the situation in Kunning Palace.

She had heard many stories about Cui Shenzhi, and they all revolved around the eight words "brilliant and serene" and "concerned for the world," as if Cui Shenzhi were a perfect saint.

Ping An found it amusing after reaching this conclusion.

Are these palace servants idiots? A bunch of people who can only bow their heads and call themselves servants in front of Choi Shin-ji, actually worship Choi Shin-ji, who steps on their heads and issues orders, as a saint? They deserve to never get ahead in life.

Besides, if he truly cared about the world, why didn't this good crown prince take pity on those deposed concubines in the cold palace? They were all starving and emaciated, and they were beaten every now and then. Many of them even lost their lives. Why didn't this good crown prince appear at this time?

As for the late empress, Ping An didn't find out much. After all, the late empress had been dead for more than ten years, and the palace maids in the palace had changed several times. In addition, the palace maids who were closest to the late empress had all passed away, so not many people still remembered the late empress.

In short, they all kept repeating the same thing.

The late Empress was a good woman, a very, very good woman, a woman so good that she was almost perfect.

That's all.

What's the difference between this and Qingya's constant empty praise of the late Empress?

Ping An was speechless.

Putting aside the fact that if the late empress was truly a near-perfect woman, how could the emperor not love her? After all, everyone has flaws. Perhaps the emperor felt inferior to the overly perfect empress and therefore couldn't fall in love with her?

But a near-perfect woman would be so foolish as to know that childbirth is like passing through the gates of hell, yet make no preparations whatsoever. As a result, the child she risked her life to give birth became a pawn in the hands of the imperial concubine, who coaxed him into treating his enemy and his enemy's daughter as close as family.

Peace is not to be trusted.

There's not much to say about Kunning Palace.

Those who served in Kunning Palace either left the palace due to age or passed away, so not only is there no way to sneak into Kunning Palace, but few people even know the layout of the rooms inside.

It seems we need to find a solution from Qingya. After all, Qingya has lived in Kunning Palace before, so she should know some secret ways to sneak into Kunning Palace unnoticed.

Ping An thought to himself.

*****

Ping An rubbed her face, put on the innocent and naive look that Qing Ya liked the most, which Qing Ya thought was silly, and then went to Qing Ya's side, took Qing Ya's hand and called her "Mother" in a sweet voice.

Qingya knew that Ping An was faking it, and she also knew that Ping An's appearance must be because he had other intentions towards her. However, seeing that Ping An and Fu Yunjin already had a three-point resemblance, and with the addition of their expressions, they became five points similar, she still couldn't help but soften her heart.

"Speak up, what do you want to ask me, or what do you want me to do?"

“Mother, what are you saying? I am your daughter, how could I come to you only when I have something to say? I just thought that it has been a long time since we had a proper conversation, so I came to chat with you.”

Qingya glanced at Ping An sideways: "Fine, I won't agree to anything you say later."

"Really?" Ping An's smile remained unchanged: "I want to go to Kunning Palace to offer incense to your most revered late Empress, but you're unwilling to tell me how to sneak into Kunning Palace?"

"What did you say?!"

Qingya stared at Ping An in shock, unable to recover for a long time.

This was the first time Ping An had taken the initiative to express his desire to get closer to Fu Yunjin.

In the past, Qingya had mentioned Fu Yunjin to Ping'an, but no matter what she said, Ping'an's face only showed disdain and impatience. After being punished by her a few times, she became more indifferent and never brought up such a thought.

"How could you... Ping An, why..."

Seeing Qingya's incoherent speech, Ping An pouted in disdain.

It wasn't that they disliked Qingya, but rather that they disliked the late Empress.

She and Qingya relied on each other for survival in the Cold Palace. She was the one who pleased Guo Shuqingya so that they could live peacefully in the Cold Palace. She and Qingya were the biological mother and daughter, but in the end, in Qingya's heart, she was always second to the late Empress.

Therefore, she hated the late empress, even though the late empress had long since passed away.

"I just heard that the late Empress's birthday is coming soon, and that reminded me of all those times you used to praise the late Empress to me until my ears were calloused."

"If she is really as good as you say, then she must have gone to heaven to become a goddess after she died; if she is really as good as you say, then she should be able to grant any request; if she is really as good as you say, then she should be able to grant any request I make."

For example, wealth and honor, the heart of a crown prince, and supreme power.

Although Ping An did not say what she wanted, one could guess from the elegant expression on her face that it was not what she hoped for. But so what?

Ping An is Fu Yunjin's biological daughter, Fu Yunjin's only daughter, and the daughter Fu Yunjin would risk her life to protect. How could she possibly stop Ping An from paying respects to Fu Yunjin?

She can't.

only…

“Ping An, I can tell you how to sneak into Kunning Palace, but knowing that alone won't help you. You can't leave the Cold Palace, and you don't even know how to get to Kunning Palace. Even if you did know…”

Ping An smiled and said casually, "Speaking of which, there's something I forgot to tell you. With Eunuch Guo's help, I've been out of the Cold Palace many times. I know the way to every place in the palace that palace servants can go by heart, including Kunning Palace."

"What! You've already gone out?! Did you run into the Imperial Concubine?!"

Yes, that day…

Did she notice you? Did she do anything to you? Did she say anything to you?

Qingya interrupted Ping An with a look of horror, and without asking any questions, she started to pull off her clothes. Only after confirming that there were no signs of injury on her body did she breathe a sigh of relief and slump into a chair next to her, panting heavily, as if she had been frightened.

Ping An narrowed his eyes, a bad feeling creeping into his mind because of Qing Ya's extremely unusual behavior.

"Mother, tell me the truth, do you have a grudge against the Imperial Concubine? Or did you beg Eunuch Guo to let you enter the Cold Palace, even at the cost of violating palace rules and committing such a serious crime as defiling the harem, trying to gain favor through your son so that someone could take you out of the palace? Was it because you offended the Imperial Concubine?"

After a moment of silence, Qingya nodded.

"No wonder... I was wondering why you, a perfectly good palace maid, could have left the palace when you reached a certain age, but instead you insisted on coming to the Cold Palace and wasting your life. So that's the reason. But don't worry, I'm not like you at all. The Consort can't see anything."

"Besides, to the Imperial Concubine I am nothing more than an ant that she can crush at will. She wouldn't care what I look like, so don't worry about those things. Just tell me how to sneak into Kunning Palace."

Qingya composed herself and then carefully told Ping An the route she had taken when she sneaked out of Kunning Palace with him years ago.

Unable to contain himself, Ping An followed Qing Ya's instructions and went to wait in the grove near Kun Ning Palace the next day. He waited until it was dark before taking advantage of the shift change of the palace guards to sneak into the dog hole.