Kunning Palace

Ping An originally wanted to test whether Qing Ya's method was still feasible after more than ten years. If it was feasible, she would take the opportunity to go to the main hall to find a suitable place to hide people without being discovered. However, when she arrived at the gate of the Kunning Palace main hall, she hesitated.

For some reason, she felt a strange familiarity with Kunning Palace, as if she had been there before. Not only that, but she also had an uncomfortable feeling of being watched, as if someone was observing her from the shadows.

But she had clearly never been here before, so she shouldn't feel familiar with it. As for the feeling of being spied on…

Ping An's eyes sharpened, and he cautiously ran to the window and pushed it open a crack, only to see an empty main hall with only the lonely memorial tablet of the late Empress Fu Yunjin and a few eternal lamps inside.

Fu Yunjin.

Ping An didn't find the name familiar. After all, no matter how disliked Fu Yunjin was by the emperor, she was still the former empress and the birth mother of the crown prince. Who would dare to call her by her full name in the palace?

Ping An made sure there was no one hiding in the main hall before climbing in through the window.

The moment she stepped inside, a strange gust of wind blew from who-knows-where, knocking the incense burner in front of Fu Yunjin's spirit tablet to the ground. The incense ash inside was scattered all over the ground, and the incense sticks that hadn't burned out yet, lit by someone, also fell to the ground, struggling and flickering for a while before falling silent.

Ping An quickly ran over, picked up the incense burner, and tried his best to put all the incense ash back in. Then, with the help of the eternal lamp nearby, he relit the three incense sticks and carefully placed them back into the incense burner.

*****

Ping An doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, but Qing Ya does, which is why she said those things to Qing Ya, just to give each other a plausible excuse.

She didn't believe that Fu Yunjin, a fool who had all the advantages in life but still lost miserably, who didn't know how to use the power of the previous dynasty to suppress the imperial concubine, or how to find someone to share the imperial concubine's favor, could be of any help to her.

So after Ping An put the incense back into the incense burner, she didn't even glance at the memorial tablet before looking for a hiding place. Naturally, she didn't see the portrait of Fu Yunjin hanging behind the memorial tablet, and therefore didn't notice any resemblance between her and Fu Yunjin.

After finding several suitable hiding places in the main hall, Ping An planned to leave because she felt that something was wrong with Kunning Palace. However, she had only taken a few steps when she saw a piece of paper lying quietly on the ground where there had been nothing before.

Even though she didn't believe in ghosts and gods, she couldn't help but feel scared when she saw this somewhat eerie situation, and goosebumps rose on her body.

She carefully avoided the paper and went outside the hall, intending to leave. However, an inappropriate curiosity arose in her heart. After struggling for a moment, she picked up a twig and went back into the hall. Standing at a distance, she stretched out her hand and carefully peeled off the paper.

The above is a very straightforward piece of writing, almost like a children's song.

Why could Ping An immediately tell that it was a children's song and not a doggerel?

The moment she saw the contents of the paper, a melody came to mind—a melody she had never heard before but was very familiar with, as if it were engraved in her very bones.

It's as if someone sang to her countless times with a voice full of love, from night to day, and from day to night.

Then Ping An was surprised to find that she was crying. She was crying while looking at a piece of paper that she didn't know where it came from!

This is terrifying!

This Kunning Palace is too eerie!

Ping An was so frightened that she turned around and fled from Kunning Palace, as if something terrifying was chasing her.

After she left, the night wind blew again, and a woman's sobbing voice came from Kunning Palace, as if someone's soul was unwilling to leave, and after waiting for many years, finally saw the person it had been longing for, and let out a sob that was both happy and sad.

*****

After escaping from Kunning Palace back to the Cold Palace, Ping An hid under the covers, trembling. She was wrapped up like a ball, as if she was afraid of something, and refused to come out no matter how Qingya called her until she fell asleep.

In her dream, she saw a woman whose face she couldn't see but who was dressed very elegantly slowly walking towards her, stretching out her arms as if to pull her into her embrace.

Logically, Ping An should have been scared, since her face was barely visible and she didn't know what was going on. But for some reason, she wasn't scared; instead, she felt a deep sense of security.

This strange feeling made her uncomfortable, so she hurriedly took a few steps back and asked warily, "Who are you?! You're the one who was watching me in Kunning Palace, aren't you? Are you a demon or a ghost who died unjustly in this palace? There's a cause for every grievance, so go find the person who killed you. What are you doing here with me?"

The woman did not answer; she simply stood a short distance away watching Ping An, her entire being radiating an overwhelming and profound sorrow.

Ping An felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped, a feeling of indescribable discomfort, but reason quickly suppressed it.

She scrutinized the woman from head to toe for a while before continuing, "Are you a concubine who died in this palace? I've seen a similar dress on a deposed concubine in the Cold Palace, but it's far less magnificent than the one you're wearing. Were you murdered by the Imperial Concubine, and you wanted me to get close to the Crown Prince so you could use him to bring down the Imperial Concubine and avenge him?"

The woman still didn't answer, she just stood there staring blankly at Ping An.

Ping An was getting a little impatient.

"Are you mute? You haven't said anything. If you don't say anything soon, I'm leaving. This is really strange."

As soon as Ping An finished speaking, a song came from the woman's side. The lyrics were exactly the ones Ping An had seen before. Then, Ping An's body went limp uncontrollably. The woman quickly stepped forward and hugged Ping An, whom she cherished like a treasure, singing a melodious song while gently patting Ping An's back.

Ping An felt both comfortable and uncomfortable. He felt that the current situation was both warm and scary. He wanted to escape, but he couldn't muster any strength. He could only grimace and be forced to nestle in the woman's arms.

As she listened, her mind began to fog up, and her consciousness gradually faded. Just before she completely lost consciousness, she clearly saw a tear fall down the woman's face, and then she heard a gentle voice.

"Peace, my peace."

*****

When Ping An woke up, she was a little confused. She felt like she had forgotten something but couldn't remember it. She could only hum the nursery rhyme that had inexplicably appeared in her mind. As she hummed, her wrist was grabbed by Qing Ya, who was in agitated.

Qingya gripped Ping'an's wrist tightly, as if she wanted to crush her bones, her eyes filled with disbelief: "Ping'an, where did you hear this children's song?!"

"I don't know," Ping An said honestly. "This nursery rhyme just popped into my head after I woke up. Mom, is there something wrong with this nursery rhyme?"

Qingya did not answer, but whispered tremblingly, "You've been to Kunning Palace, haven't you? You've seen... seen Her Majesty, haven't you?"

As she said this, Qingya stared intently at Ping An's face, trying to find any trace of Fu Yunjin's presence.

Ping An, however, was only surprised.

"Mother, how do you know I've been to Kunning Palace? And how do you know I've seen the late Empress's memorial tablet?"

"Because this nursery rhyme was written by the Empress to... to the child in her womb, but the Empress thought it was too childish, so she never sang it in front of others. Only I and... I and the Empress's child have heard it."

—Only you and I have heard this.

Upon hearing this, Ping An couldn't help but shudder, and goosebumps rose all over her body. But the next moment, all that remained in her heart was the joy of finding a treasure.

Fu Yunjin wrote it for the Crown Prince? That's perfect. When she gets to the Crown Prince's side, she can pretend to hum it unconsciously and make up some stories about Fu Yunjin appearing in his dreams. Even if the Crown Prince isn't a truly filial son, he'll probably care about her a bit more!

Qingya, who had been watching Ping An closely, noticed the change in Ping An's expression. The disbelief in her eyes turned into grief and disappointment, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on Ping An's hand.

"Ping An, this nursery rhyme was given to her child by the Queen Mother. What do you intend to use it for?!"

"Mother! It hurts!" Ping An forcefully broke free from Qing Ya's grip. Instead of answering Qing Ya's question, she looked at her wrist, which was red and swollen from Qing Ya's grip, and said with dissatisfaction, "Mother, I am your daughter. This is my hand, not a chair leg. Can't you be a little gentler?"

"Answer me! What do you want to do with this nursery rhyme?!"

Seeing that he couldn't fool anyone, Ping An could only pout and say half-truthfully, "Mother, I didn't intend to do anything bad with this nursery rhyme. I just wanted to take it to the Crown Prince. Maybe he'd be so happy after hearing it that he'd get us out of the Cold Palace?"

"I won't allow it!"

"Why?"

“Because…” Because it was written to you by the Empress, not to Cui Shenzhi.

Qingya looked away guiltily: "Because this was written by Her Majesty for her child, it is full of her love and care for her child, and I will not allow you to tarnish Her Majesty's sentiments."

“Mother, I don’t like hearing you say that. What do you mean by ‘defilement’? This is clearly a win-win good deed.” Ping’an said with a smile, “The Crown Prince is the late Empress’s only son, so this children’s song was written for him by the late Empress. By giving him this children’s song, I not only let him feel the late Empress’s love for him, but also help the late Empress complete what she couldn’t complete. Isn’t this doing a good deed?”

"As for rescuing us, it's the Crown Prince repaying a debt of gratitude. We conveyed the late Empress's love to him, and he saw our plight and rescued us from our suffering. Isn't that also doing a good deed?"

But Cui Shenzhi is not Fu Yunjin's son! And that children's song was not written for Cui Shenzhi!

“In short, I won’t allow it,” Qingya stared straight at Ping’an: “If you still consider me your mother, you have to listen to me.”

“Yes, you are my mother, of course I will listen to you,” Ping An said with her eyes lowered, her words devoid of any sincerity.