Anke lay in bed, experiencing insomnia for the first time in a row. Normally, even the biggest problems wouldn't keep her awake. After all, in Anke's own words, not being proactive about eating and sleeping meant something was wrong with her brain.

An Ke tossed and turned, thinking about it, having already counted the 100 sheep in her mind. Still unable to sleep, she simply pulled out the storybook she had brought from the palace.

This was a rare opportunity for that bookstore to publish a copy, and Xingxing was the first to snag one. The plot was so captivating that Anke couldn't bear to finish it all at once; otherwise, she'd run out of her intellectual nourishment.

I read it little by little while I was in the palace, but I just couldn't sleep tonight, so I had no choice but to take this book out and stay up until dawn.

For some reason, as she read the book, Ertai's face kept popping into her mind. Anke patted her cheeks and let out a long breath. She told herself, "I've seen all sorts of big scenes before, but I've never been this stunned. Anke, calm down. You're not a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl anymore. Adding your modern age, Anke is practically fifty."

Unable to sleep, Anke had no other choice. She grabbed her coat from the rack and went outside. She walked around the backyard path. As she walked, she began to feel a little warm.

Anke also felt sleepy, so she went straight back to her room, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep in no time.

Unexpectedly, after Anke returned to her room, a boy jumped down from the tree in the middle of the backyard. Ertai hadn't expected that he wasn't the only one unable to sleep tonight. He himself was quite excited that night and had been thinking of leaning against the tree and enjoying the moon until dawn. But then he saw the princess come out of her room, and he remained motionless in the tree, watching her back.

After seeing the princess return to her room, Ertai also yawned. He quietly said goodnight to Anke's room before slowly returning to his own.

I slept soundly through the night without any dreams, until dawn.

Of course, Little Swallow was an exception, since her sleeping position wasn't comfortable at all. Because of an injury on her bottom, she could only lie face down on the bed. She kept changing positions all night. She finally managed to get some sleep, but then it was dawn.

Anke rushed to Qing'er's room early in the morning, first helping Qing'er get dressed, and then helping Qing'er to the front hall.

At this moment, the large round table in the front hall was also full of people. The master sat calmly at the head of the table, Uncle Fu Liu was beside him with his eyes gently closed, and Fu Lun was looking around, not knowing who he was waiting for.

When the master saw Anke and Qing'er arrive, he waved to them. Anke didn't stand on ceremony and helped Qing'er sit down next to the master.

"Qing'er, after you finish breakfast, let Physician Hu take a look at you again," the master said softly, his eyes filled with heartache.

"Yes, sir. Qing'er's little injury has caused everyone a lot of trouble, I really feel bad about it," Qing'er said apologetically.

"Alright, alright, we didn't say anything, but you're already making excuses for us." An Ke directly interrupted the sentimental atmosphere. She scooped a bowl of plain porridge from the porridge in front of her and placed it in front of Qing'er. "I specifically asked Xingxing to tell the kitchen to make this this morning, and I added quite a few medicinal herbs. Xingxing was watching over it too, so try it."

"Oh, there are medicinal herbs in it?" The old man stared at the bowl of white porridge in front of him with great curiosity. He had thought the waiter had made a mistake, since they hadn't ordered white porridge.

"Yes, luckily I had Xingxing bring some extra medicinal herbs when we left. I still have one thousand-year-old ginseng and one snow lotus. If I had known there would be such an unexpected situation, I should have brought more." Anke said regretfully. At the time, in order to travel light, she had left behind some extra medicinal herbs. If she had brought them all, she could have nourished Qing'er every day, and Qing'er's complexion would have been better.

"Alright, if you take it all with you, then we'll have to watch over your medicine box the whole way." Qing'er teased. "Just think how precious the medicinal herbs inside are. If Physician Hu knew, he probably wouldn't even carry his medicine box anymore, and would turn around and carry yours instead. I'd be very grateful if the people here could cook me a bowl of plain porridge."

Anke smiled helplessly at Qing'er, and the topic was dropped. Benjamin, on the other hand, seemed somewhat dazed, perhaps because yesterday's events had been too much for him.

In contrast, Yongqi, though sporting some dark circles under his eyes, still couldn't hide his good spirits. Ziwei, on the other hand, looked somewhat haggard and wasn't as attentive as she had been in the past few days.

After finishing breakfast, they prepared to set off. Ziwei looked at Xiaoyanzi with a worried expression. Xiaoyanzi was going to sit in the carriage at the back, so who would take care of her? Should she go and plead with the master on her behalf? Ziwei hesitated, afraid that the master would have a bad impression of her because of this.

An Ke still remembered the task Qing'er had entrusted to her yesterday. After exchanging a few words with the master, he took pity on her and allowed Xiao Yanzi to remain in her original carriage.

Ziwei was overjoyed and quickly helped Xiaoyanzi into the carriage. She even picked out a few pieces of fabric from the clothes she had brought and placed them softly under Xiaoyanzi's bottom. The journey had been tiring, and she wanted to prevent the wound on Xiaoyanzi's bottom from reopening.

The master gave Ziwei a meaningful look, but ultimately said nothing more. Anke took care of Qing'er the whole time, not only serving her tea and water but also telling her stories.

"I've never heard you mention these things before," Qing'er said excitedly. "When I asked you before, you always gave me evasive answers. Why did you decide to tell me today?"

"Of course, it's to distract you." An Ke looked at Qing'er with a helpless expression. "If it weren't to distract you, why would I bother to make you laugh with my embarrassing moments?"

The master listened from the side and laughed heartily. He had no idea that his own brother, the emperor, had done so many foolish things.

"Uncle, please keep your laughter down." An Ke exaggeratedly covered his ears with his hand. "I've already told the people in this carriage about this. If anyone leaks it, it will be the responsibility of one of you. Then, hmph." An Ke's eyes narrowed dangerously as he surveyed the people in the carriage.

The master immediately understood, "I didn't hear anything. I was just looking out the window." The master was the first to speak, but An Ke didn't really need to worry about it; he wasn't going to go to his younger brother and tell him about his embarrassing moments. What difference would that make from betraying his own niece?

"Mmm," An Ke nodded in agreement, then glanced at the others. "Hmm?" Aren't you going to say anything yet?

Qing'er said to An Ke with a smile, "Alright, alright, we won't tell anyone. Prince Rui won't listen to us anyway. The prince only has eyes for the princess and you, how could he care about anyone else? Don't worry about it."

This was followed by another burst of laughter.

Along the way, we saw small bridges and flowing water, and experienced the local customs and culture as we arrived at another small town.

After some searching, we finally found an inn that satisfied the master. This inn was quite large, and finally, each person could have their own room.

"Alright, you young ones, go and rest now. Fu Heng, Fu Lun, and E Min, come to my study." The old man first spoke kindly to An Ke and the others. Then, like a Sichuan opera face-changing act, he turned serious and addressed them.

Ziwei had been observing Qing'er the whole way. Qing'er guessed that Ziwei must have something to say to her today, so she first persuaded Anke to stay in her room for a while.

An Ke calculated the time and realized that Ziwei was about to reveal their big secret. Without hesitation, she agreed after Qing'er spoke.

Qing'er had just arrived at her room, and Shuangxi had just made the bed. Then there was a knock on the door.

Shuangxi thought it was Anke coming to see Qing'er, and happily went to open the door. After all, everyone knew that Anke and Qing'er were inseparable. How could Shuangxi not be at ease?

To Shuangxi's surprise, the first thing she saw when she opened the door was Ziwei's face. Shuangxi couldn't help but roll her eyes at her, "May I ask what brings Miss Ziwei here?" Considering that the injuries on her own princess were caused by her master, Shuangxi was already being merciful by not driving her away.

"Is Qing'er here?" Ziwei asked cautiously. She had just seen Qing'er go back to her room by herself, and she was only asking this question now to give herself a way out.

Qing'er was still thinking about completing the task the Empress Dowager had assigned her, so naturally she wouldn't refuse to let her in. Seeing Shuangxi standing at the door confronting her, and thinking of Anke's protection of her yesterday, a warm feeling washed over Qing'er. She was no longer the orphan she used to be; she had the Empress Dowager and An'an behind her, and she was no longer alone.

Qing'er cleared her throat and coughed lightly. "Ahem, who is Shuangxi?" This question was just right to save face for Ziwei. It wasn't that Qing'er cared about her that much, but she just didn't want Shuangxi to have a harsh reputation.

Having spent a lot of time with Qing'er, Shuangxi naturally understood Qing'er's thoughts. Besides, Shuangxi had heard clearly what the Empress Dowager had said to Qing'er that day. Naturally, she wouldn't stop Ziwei, but she didn't want her to have an easy time before she entered the room. She gave a light snort, "Miss, Ziwei has arrived. This servant will go downstairs to fetch you a basin of water."

"Good!" This was exactly what Qing'er wanted to hear. If Shuangxi were here, Ziwei probably wouldn't have been able to speak up. Since they wanted to find out their secret, they had to make sure Ziwei spilled everything this time.

Before leaving, Shuangxi pretended to bump into Ziwei's shoulder, then gently closed the door for Qing'er. She sat quietly on the stone steps outside the door.

Fetch water? No way!

How could I go without worry? If she were to harm my princess, I could rush in immediately.

Qing'er forced a smile onto her pale face. To test them, she couldn't help but feign politeness before Ziwei did. "Shuangxi didn't mean it. She was just worried about me. Don't take it to heart."

Ziwei looked at the frail Qing'er before her, hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke her mind. "My little swallow also wants to apologize to you. She has a somewhat carefree personality, but she has never had any bad intentions."

Qing'er said nothing, only smiled faintly. Should she ask for forgiveness? Then where did that place An Ke? Yesterday, An Ke had just stood up for her, and today she was saying she forgave Xiao Yanzi? Wasn't that a slap in An'an's face?

I thought Ziwei was somewhat innocent, but now it seems I misjudged her. A dark glint flashed in Qing'er's eyes, so quick it was unpredictable. The smile on her face was no longer very genuine.

Seeing that Qing'er didn't respond, Ziwei wasn't embarrassed and quietly tried to find a new topic. "Actually, I have a lot of feelings for you. I like you and admire you. But I'm also afraid that I might do something to upset you. If I do, I hope you can forgive me." Ziwei frowned slightly, her face filled with worry.

Knowing the fish was about to take the bait, Qing'er immediately put on her superb acting skills and began to cooperate. "How could there be?" she feigned nervousness, glancing around. "Ziwei, you're so good, so talented, how could you be willing to follow the master? Three palaces, six courtyards, seventy-two concubines. Each one is scheming against the other, how could you possibly handle it all?" Qing'er pretended to be troubled by Ziwei's affairs.

"What do you think I am to the master?" Ziwei's eyes were full of disbelief, and this time she really wasn't faking it. She hadn't expected that in Qing'er's eyes, she would be someone who tried to climb the social ladder.

Qing'er chuckled softly and leaned back against the cushions. "We've all noticed how considerate and attentive you've been to the master throughout this journey. I'm not criticizing you, I'm advising you. Being a concubine doesn't necessarily bring the glamorous life that seems on the surface. It's not your happiness. Take the other concubines in the palace, for example. Like you said in the pavilion last time, there are many young concubines waiting for the master's favor in the deep palace. Why would someone as young as you want to enter into that kind of life?"

Ziwei was completely flustered at this point, but she still remembered why she had come here. She hurriedly stood up and repeatedly denied it. "No, no, no, in my eyes, Master is like my father."

Under Ziwei's earnest gaze, Qing'er finally uttered the words Ziwei had anticipated: "But he's not your father."

Ziwei pretended to be straightforward and said, "Yes, he is my biological father. He is the father I cannot acknowledge."

Qing'er was truly bewildered. She had assumed, as the Empress Dowager had suspected, that Ziwei was simply an opportunist, someone who sought to climb the social ladder. She thought she had entered the palace by relying on the Fu family and Consort Ling, gradually attracting the Emperor's attention, but she hadn't expected to uncover such a huge secret. "What? What did you say?"

Ziwei feigned shock and ran to the side, covering her mouth with both hands. "Oh no, why did I say everything?"