Yun Xiangye gripped Gu Yan's wrist tightly and said, "The crime of deceiving the emperor? But isn't the emperor your uncle? I'm just a little palace maid. Your uncle will definitely not bother with you."

Gu Yan frowned and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty naturally wouldn't care about the life and death of a little palace maid in the East Palace, but the crown prince is still the king. After my sister faked her death, what if the prince found out that she took the fake death drug..."

Yun Xiangye said, "Then choose a day that His Highness won't notice. Isn't April 6th the day of the Crown Prince's wedding? If a palace maid dies before the wedding, the East Palace will just consider it bad luck and won't investigate further. After all, the wedding is more important."

Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan with pleading eyes and said, "We can have my sister take the fake death drug a few days before the sixth day of April. Naturally, it won't reveal anything. Besides, His Highness will have a Crown Princess by then, so why would he care whether my sister's death is real or fake?"

Gu Yan looked at Yun Xiangye's anxious and worried expression and nodded slightly, saying, "Well, I'll think of a way to ask my mother for a fake death drug."

Gu Yan reached out and wiped Yun Xiangye's tears: "Stop crying and eat."

Yun Xiangye shook her head and said, "I don't have much of an appetite. You can go and eat by yourself."

Gu Yan did not force Yun Xiangye to eat, but ate alone. He also asked the maid to go to the kitchen to warm up the hot porridge so that if Yun Xiangye was hungry in the middle of the night, she would have hot porridge to eat.

Gu Yan asked Yun Xiangye, "How did you get into the East Palace today?"

Yun Xiangye said, "It was your extremely handsome cousin who helped me enter the Eastern Palace."

"Handsome?" Gu Yan asked, "Handsomer than me?"

Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan and said, "That cousin is very handsome. I think we saw him on the day we first returned to Chang'an. I just don't know which family he belongs to."

Gu Yan said: "That should be my cousin Xie Shian from my uncle's family."

Yun Xiangye asked in confusion, "Your uncle? Shouldn't all your uncles have the surname Zhao? Is he your cousin?"

Gu Yan said, "He's my uncle. Didn't I just tell you that my grandmother also took the drug to fake her death? Not long after she gave birth to the current emperor, she faked her death and left the late emperor. She then married my second grandfather outside the palace and gave birth to my uncle and my aunt. You've met my aunt; she was the one who persuaded you to get married."

Yun Xiangye was shocked when she heard Gu Yan talk about the royal family's secrets. She asked, "How dare your grandmother leave the late emperor and marry another man?"

Gu Yan said, "When the late emperor betrayed her, my grandmother could not tolerate any injustice. Seeing the late emperor betray her again and again, she faked her own death and left the late emperor."

Yun Xiangye's eyes were filled with admiration and envy. "Your grandmother is truly a role model for women. Even when the emperor betrayed her, she was able to leave him and marry someone else. I wish every woman in the world could be so open-minded..."

Seeing Yun Xiangye's yearning, Gu Yan frowned slightly and said, "I'm not telling you this to make you imitate your grandmother."

Yun Xiangye said, "If you hadn't let me down, why would I have followed my grandmother's example? If you had let me down, I certainly wouldn't want to let myself down.

After all, both my parents died young, and I don’t know how long I can live. Anger is harmful to the body, so why should I keep putting myself in a difficult position and damaging my body?

By then, Nuonuo will also be motherless at the same young age as me."

Gu Yan lowered his eyes to look at Yun Xiangye: "Since you know this truth, just eat a little."

Yun Xiangye bit her lower lip and said, "Whenever I think of my sister's bloody mess, I can't eat anything. I don't know if my sister has had dinner in the palace..."

Gu Yan said, "Tomorrow I will ask mother for some medicine for my sister's injuries and bring it to the East Palace."

Yun Xiangye said, "Mother has already given me the medicine for my wounds, and I've given it to my sister."

Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan. Actually, this matter was related to Gu Yan.

If Gu Yan hadn't annoyed her, she wouldn't have let her sister put something in Gu Yan's tea.

Yun Xiangye took a deep breath. Her sister needed Gu Yan's help to fake her death. Before her sister could leave the palace smoothly, she would just have to be patient with Gu Yan for the time being.

--

In the East Palace.

Ye Wanhe was in so much pain that she couldn't sleep at night. The wounds on her body hurt so much that she felt severe pain whenever she moved.

A woman wearing the same attire of a palace maid entered the room. Seeing Ye Wanhe in tears, Quenu said, "Aunt, how could His Highness be so cruel? After all, you've been with him for almost ten years."

Quenu continued indignantly, "The Crown Princess's brother committed atrocities, seizing and robbing the people's land. As a result, the people whose land was seized had to sell their children during the New Year. His Highness simply let him off lightly, only sending Prince Ning to give him a warning and return the land to the people without any punishment. And yet, you just put a little too much salt in your tea, and yet His Highness punishes you like this."

Ye Wanhe covered Quenu's mouth and said, "Have you forgotten what I taught you? The most taboo thing for a maid in the Eastern Palace is to talk about political affairs."

Ye Wanhe asked calmly again, "Who is guarding His Highness's bedroom tonight?"

The slave girl said, "Originally I was guarding the inner hall, but Your Highness was dissatisfied with my service, so I withdrew. There are a few young eunuchs serving outside."

Ye Wanhe said to Quenu, "Help me up."

"Aunt, you're not going to serve His Highness even though you're injured like this, are you?"

Ye Wanhe whispered, "Thunder and rain are all grace from the Lord. As a servant, how can I not take care of my master just because I am being punished?"

Quenu looked at Ye Wanhe distressedly and said, "Aunt."

Ye Wanhe patted Quenu's hand and asked Quenu to help her to the prince's bedroom.

Ye Wanhe was injured and could not sit, so she could only lean against a pillar beside her.

In the middle of the night, she heard a soft call from inside the house, so she took some warm tea and went into the inner hall.

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