In the dead of night, after Li Hua had fallen asleep, Gan Qiongying got up and had Manyue help her to an empty, uninhabited area at the back of the mansion.

"Have you prepared everything I asked you to?" Gan Qiongying tightened her cloak and turned to ask Manyue.

"Don't worry, Princess." Manyue patted the bundle on her body. "Everything is inside, just as you instructed. Incense, candles, and paper money are all provided."

Gan Qiongying nodded, her full moon lips twitched as if she wanted to ask the reason, but in the end she said nothing.

She had absolute loyalty and trust in her master. Even if Gan Qiongying led her to commit murder and arson, and had Manyue hand her a knife and pour oil on the fire, she would not hesitate at all.

Moreover, Gan Qiongying only took her to a secluded place to burn paper money.

On the fifteenth of July, the gates of hell open wide.

On this day, many people burn paper money at crossroads to commemorate their deceased relatives, hoping that they can have a better life in the underworld.

Gan Qiongying had originally considered finding a crossroads, but after thinking about it, she felt it was really unnecessary.

Because she wasn't burning paper money for any deceased relatives; she was burning it for herself.

Or rather, she was burning paper money for "Princess Duanrong".

Ever since leaving the palace that day, Gan Qiongying has been having a series of dreams, each one feeling like she was watching a 3D movie.

Those were all genuine memories of Duanrong, all the love, hate, anger, infatuation, resentment, and regret, all presented before Gan Qiongying.

She was like a thermos, forced to open its mouth and be filled with scalding, fresh love, hate, anger, and infatuation that did not belong to her, leaving her insides scalded with blisters, peeling and rotting.

For several days, Gan Qiongying found it difficult to stop crying, let alone try to improve her mood.

These past few days, she's been like a wronged young lady, constantly sobbing in her husband's arms.

At first, she hesitated, not wanting her husband to laugh at her, since although they were husband and wife, they weren't really that close...

But she eventually gave up. The feeling of being unable to control her emotions was too unbearable. As a modern person who grew up under the red flag, even though Gan Qiongying died young from cancer, the grief she had accumulated throughout her life could not overshadow the corner of her dignified appearance.

These past few days, she's been acting like a whiny whiner, soaking the fabric of the prince consort's clothes with her tears.

The heartache came and went, and she was given bitter medicine several times a day. Eventually, Gan Qiongying felt that the medicine was nothing.

Her life was the most miserable.

Fortunately, she stopped dreaming these past two days, and since it was the fifteenth of July, Gan Qiongying felt she had to burn some paper money for Princess Duanrong.

For no other reason than she always felt that whether she couldn't control her desire to get close to the emperor, whether it was in her dreams or in her heartache, it was all because Duanrong's soul or consciousness was still in her body and hadn't left.

Gan Qiongying squatted there, holding a small stick in her hand. After lighting the brazier, she used the stick to put paper money into it. She also moved Manyue to the gate of the deserted courtyard a few feet away to keep watch over people.

The courtyard was already in ruins and on the verge of collapse. As Gan Qiongying burned paper money, she looked around. It was still faintly recognizable as the small courtyard where Duanrong and the emperor had lived together since she was a child.

After Duanrong became a princess, she was showered with favor and turned the imperial palace into her own princess residence, renovating and rebuilding everywhere, but she never touched this small courtyard.

She should miss it, yet she dares not miss it.

Gan Qiongying had been forced to empathize with her, and her feelings about this place were also very complicated.

After looking around and confirming that there was no open space where the eighteen surveillance guards could land, she lowered her head to look at the brazier, took out two large yellow paper gold ingots from her bundle, and threw them into the brazier.

“Princess, if you were still in this body, I could give it back to you. You just need to put in a little effort to push me out.”

She didn't want to live in someone else's body. Even though she cherished her hard-won life, Duanrong had so much resentment, while she didn't. Why should she take away her chance to live?

Flames licked the gold ingot, and soon the ingot caught fire, casting a crimson glow on Gan Qiongying's face.

Her expression was indescribable; she wanted some "decent" response, yet she was also afraid that the other woman would actually respond to her.

After all, even if she had transmigrated to another world, she really couldn't withstand the shock of "seeing a real ghost".

After a while, Gan Qiongying continued, "If you can't return to the human world, and you're unwilling and worried... Gan Lin."

As Gan Qiongying spoke, a sharp pain shot through her heart.

She felt a chill run down her spine and was quite frightened. This undoubtedly confirmed that even if Duanrong's soul had not dissipated, a portion of her consciousness did remain in her body.

Gan Qiongying swallowed hard, her voice trembling as she said, "I will help you take care of him."

“It was not my will to take over your body,” Gan Qiongying said, “but now that I have taken over, I cannot leave on my own. Life is precious, and I will help you take care of your family.”

Gan Qiongying didn't say those things because she was frightened by Duan Rong's remaining consciousness.

She truly meant it.

She was only thinking about protecting herself and trying to reverse the plot to change the tragic ending.

But after entering the palace, she now understands that her peaceful life was bought with the emperor's daily poisoning, and how could she possibly stand idly by?

The brazier crackled and popped as it burned.

Gan Qiongying unfolded the bundle again and took out a white, square paper folded into shape, decorated with some sesame seeds. Upon closer inspection, it looked a bit like radish cake.

"Have something to eat," Gan Qiongying said in a tense voice. "Gan Lin misses you very, very much."

She suppressed her heartache and said, "Although he doesn't have romantic feelings for you, he is full of longing and affection for his elder sister. You haven't protected him in vain; he is still your lovely child."

Gan Qiongying's eyes welled up with tears as she spoke.

He sniffed, grabbed a handful of radish cake paper and threw it in.

He said to the increasingly blazing brazier, "From now on, as long as I can find a way to survive in the cracks of the plot, I will definitely drag Changshengnu with me to live on."

As soon as Gan Qiongying finished speaking, the brazier went "bang," and the flames shot up high, almost hitting Gan Qiongying's forehead.

She collapsed to the ground, feeling a sudden gust of night wind. Her body was covered in cold sweat, and the wind chilled her to the bone, like someone's silent interrogation.

Gan Qiongying's gaze remained firm amidst the flickering firelight as she said, "I keep my word."

She squatted there, burned all the paper offerings she had brought in the entire bundle, extinguished the fire, and then stood up, supporting herself on her knees.

The night wind swept in again, carrying the smoke and dust from the burnt-out embers, and brushed against her.

Gan Qiongying walked away from there, and Manyue quickly followed her.

With each step Gan Qiongying took, she felt a sense of relief.

Her steps grew lighter and lighter. When she left the courtyard and returned to the main house, she looked up at the twinkling stars and felt as if she had been reborn.

The hazy road ahead was now crystal clear; she no longer needed to dwell on what had happened.

She realized that her relationship with the emperor was now like a seesaw, where they would share both glory and misfortune.

She understood that Duan Rong in the story didn't love Zhong Li Zhengzhen at all, and she wasn't a love-struck person who chased after men and willingly degraded herself.

She had to disrupt the alliance between the Jinchuan hostage and Jingxi to prevent them from uniting.

She wasn't driven mad by a man. She abandoned her reputation, colluded with local officials, accepted bribes, kept soldiers in her household, and even took in so many male lovers, all to cover her tracks.

She was simply fighting for a chance at life for her beloved child, her younger brother who had drunk poison for her as if it were sweet spring water.

This book, this world, unfolds around the love-hate entanglement between the male and female protagonists, but it is only at this moment that Gan Qiongying finally feels a sense of reality about this world.

It's not a superficial description in a few pages, nor can a lifetime be summarized in a line or two.

The parts described in the book are just the tip of the iceberg of this world.

The person she transmigrated into wasn't a vicious female supporting character at all; she was just a pitiful person struggling to survive, risking everything for herself and her family, and going all in.

Unfortunately, the power structure in the imperial court is deeply entrenched, making it far more complex than the simple matter of fighting to the death against three wicked servants with malicious intentions in a small courtyard back then.

She almost gave up everything, even her life, because a princess with limited power could only do so much.

Even if she hadn't accidentally died under the hooves of the horse at the point where Gan Qiongying time-traveled, her final fate in the book was still not to protect the emperor, and she ended up dying a gruesome death.

Gan Qiongying looked at the twinkling Milky Way and sighed. She lamented Duanrong's situation because no one could have done better than her, no matter which woman it was.

But it is also a pity that Duanrong was too stubborn. She was a noblewoman who grew up in the royal family. Even if she dug out her spine and made thorns to cover her back to disguise herself as a ferocious beast, she could not escape her circumstances and environment to see things in a different way.

She was like a sharpened longsword, charging recklessly, until the sword broke and she died, forgetting that a sword can be used not only to stab people, but also to cut vegetables, to perform tricks, and even to be used as a fire poker.

To put it bluntly, Princess Duanrong doesn't understand the concept of "playing it safe and developing stealthily."

Gan Qiongying's greatest strength lies in playing it safe and developing her character.