Extra 6: Shadow Fu Yu

The palace at night seemed even more secluded than during the day. The eaves of the palaces stretched out in silent silhouette under the cold moonlight, like a dormant giant beast.

Fu Yu walked silently along the long palace path, her steps light and swift, her steps soundless, like a cat patrolling its territory in the dark. She didn't use a lamp, but she was aware of every corner, every clump of flowers and trees, even the subtle sound of every tile.

She had just returned from a secret base outside the palace. It was a core node of the "Spider Web"—the internal name for the intelligence network forged by the Empress and now managed by her. Today, she personally dealt with a covert agent attempting to infiltrate a core department of the New Deal. The agent's methods were quite sophisticated, almost evading standard screening.

But she still caught that imperceptible flaw. In her hands, no one could completely hide.

Returning to her own duty room in the side hall of Kunning Palace, she found the interior furnishings simple, with only a bed, a table and a cabinet, no different from the residence of an ordinary female official outside the palace. The only difference was that the books on the bookshelf were not poetry or needlework, but maps of various states, local records and even some seemingly messy account books.

She took off her dark outer garment and changed into a nightgown that was easy to move in, her movements skillful and neat. The bronze mirror reflected a beautiful yet overly calm face, with deep eyes that seemed to absorb all light without the slightest ripple.

Few people know that the most trusted maid-in-charge of the queen had another name and another life before entering the palace.

She was born into a family of minor officials in Jiangnan. While not prominent, they were well-off. However, when she was ten, her father was embroiled in a lawsuit, and the family fell into decline. The elders of the clan discussed giving her to an official as a concubine in exchange for her father's life. Lu Qinglan, who was still unmarried at the time and accompanying her father on a southern tour, accidentally heard about this and used her connections to save her father. She then asked her, "Do you prefer to go with the flow, or do you want to control your own destiny?"

She chose the latter. From then on, she became Lu Qinglan's maid, renamed Fuyu. Lu Qinglan taught her to read, to count, to understand people's hearts, and entrusted her with the all-important task of hearing and seeing.

She witnessed firsthand how the Empress rose from a patient consort to a cautious empress, and finally to the powerful regent. She had personally handled countless secrets for the Empress, delivered countless reports, and cleared countless obstacles. Her hands were not without bloodshed. But she never hesitated, never regretted.

Because what the queen gave her was not only shelter and trust, but also a "possibility" - a woman who did not have to rely on her father, brother, or husband, but could stand in this world and even influence the current situation with her own ability and loyalty.

From the depths of the drawer, she pulled a palm-sized, flat wooden box and opened it. There was no jewelry inside, only half a piece of ordinary mutton-fat jade pendant, its fractured edges jagged. This was the only memory her birth mother had left her, the only proof of her past identity.

She rarely thought of the past. That weak, helpless little girl, whose fate was at the mercy of others, seemed a thing of the past. Only on rare occasions like this, late at night, would she take it out and quietly read it for a while. It wasn't about nostalgia, but more like a warning—a warning to herself and to the countless other women still struggling in this world. If they didn't strive to rise, they would only sink.

The sound of the third watch clapper came from outside the window.

Fu Yu closed the wooden box and hid it away again. Her eyes regained their usual calm and focused expression. She walked to her desk and, by candlelight, recorded on a piece of plain paper the day's handling of the hidden clue, the clues involved, and the arrangements for subsequent surveillance, using her characteristically concise notation. This was part of the "Night Patrol Record," which she was required to submit daily to the Empress.

She knew that the Empress might not have slept yet, still in the Chuigong Palace reviewing the seemingly endless pile of memorials. They, master and servant, one in the open, ruling the country, the other cleaning up the filth in the dark, together guarding this sky that had finally cleared the clouds and revealed the sun.

After completing her recording, she blew out the candle and merged into the darkness of the room. She did not fall asleep, but, as she had done countless nights before, she hid in the shadows of the pillars outside the hall, watching over the core area of ​​Kunning Palace and listening to all directions.

The wind rustled through the leaves in the courtyard, the footsteps of patrolling guards could be heard in the distance, the night watchman's distant clappers...all the subtle sounds reached her ears clearly, building a vivid picture of the palace late at night in her mind.

Her existence itself is a silent barrier.

The moonlight shifted, passing over her calm, water-like profile. No one knew what she was thinking at the moment, or perhaps she was thinking nothing at all, simply concentrating on fulfilling the mission she had chosen and believed in.

To protect that person is to protect the destiny she has chosen, and to protect the new era they have jointly created, which allows women to have power and dignity.

Even if, forever in the shadows.