Chapter 2

"Consort Ling, why bother interfering?"

Shao Sizhi stepped down from the main hall with a sullen face, his face still covered with a few unwashed mud stains. His eyes swept over Qi Nian'an with a sinister look that could seep water.

"Your Majesty, Consort An is still a child."

Li Xiaoran remained expressionless as her slender fingers traced along the back of Qi Nian'an's neck, lightly tapping it.

This means you have to apologize to the other person yourself.

But I did it to get the emperor's attention. I learned it online: how to make an interviewer notice you among a crowd by splashing water from your glass in front of you. A lot of people liked that.

If you don't have a water cup, mud will do, right?

Qi Nian'an looked closely at Shao Sizhi, whose heart and eyes were filled with thoughts of herself, and nodded in satisfaction.

The effect is good.

The two distinct factions stood separately in the hall, casting long, frightening shadows in the setting sun.

Finally, Li Xiaoran sighed and stepped forward, saying, "Your Majesty, I am aware of what the Ouyang family has done, but you must not rush into this. Consort An was sent to the palace after all, and she is still young. No matter how you deal with her, it will eventually give rise to gossip. I cannot stand by and watch you make things difficult."

"It's nothing but a handful of mud; how could the pure lotus bow down to filth?"

The person on the other end remained silent for a long while before letting out a cold laugh.

"Very well, then we shall do as the Dowager Consort says. I hope the Dowager Consort will trim the withered tree rather than let it bend."

A bright yellow robe swept past, and dark black hair brushed against Qi Nian'an's cheek, leaving behind a cold and resolute silhouette.

*

"What on earth are you thinking, you little idiot?!"

The people on either side of Zhengyang Palace had all been dismissed, leaving only Li Xiaoran's roaring anger and Qi Nian'an sprawled out in the corner, completely unseemly.

"Do you know that Shao Sizhi is a germaphobe? Even splashing water on him is better than throwing mud at him."

"Just tell me whether he remembers me or not."

Qi Nian'an was quite proud. She shook off the fallen leaves from her head and stretched lazily.

Today is Consort Ling's birthday. Shao Sizhi left the banquet in a hurry, but he will definitely come back tonight to show that he has no grudge against Consort Ling. It just so happens that she left an impression on the male lead during the day. If she meets him again, she can deepen the impression and won't have to worry about not winning his heart.

If all else fails, reloading the save file is also a fallback option.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoran slowly covered her face.

Qi Nian'an has been in the entertainment industry for over a decade and is known as "Big Shapeshifter" or "Automatic Troublemaker".

First, there was the scandal of a famous director putting laxatives in people's drinks and firecrackers in their drinks. Then, there was the incident of a director jokingly kissing a woman on the cheek during a live stream, and the production team replacing Li Xiaoran with someone they had connections because they were so poor they only had acting opportunities left.

She was very confident that Qi Nian'an would mess up the strategy.

"He was arrogant, cold and unapproachable, malicious and would set traps for people to fall into. He loved those hypocritical and scheming acts, and he had a petty and chauvinistic attitude with no tolerance for others. In the past, I would have hated dealing with this kind of person the most."

A lazy voice came from the tree; before anyone knew it, Qi Nian'an had climbed up to the treetop again.

"Now..."

"How are things now?"

A voice, neither warm nor cold, paused precisely at the end of her sentence, waiting for her to say the next word.

Qi Nian'an, still holding Ye Zi's hand, bluntly said, "Now? He's all alone. This harem isn't for him, it's practically for the Cloud King..."

"The King of Yun was also convinced of the auspiciousness of this land, where the empress and concubines lived in harmony and order."

Li Xiaoran gritted her teeth, almost wanting to kick the tree so she could see it clearly before she spoke.

Qi Nian'an was startled and accidentally rolled over and fell. A feeling of weightlessness washed over her, but she landed in an extremely soft embrace.

The man's slightly narrowed eyes were staring directly at her, her heart pounding with shock, and she could even feel his warm breath.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

She let go as if she'd been electrocuted, and flipped herself up like a raccoon.

That damn mouth of mine! I've been caught so many times for talking behind people's backs, and I still don't know how to change it. Now I'm showing it off to the person in question.

Shouldn't Shao Sizhi be busy right now? What is he doing here?!

Qi Nian'an was puzzled, but she followed him quietly into the bedroom.

Shao Sizhi slowly sat down in the main seat, with Li Xiaoran following closely behind him. The two avoided each other's gaze, but both showed disdain on their faces.

"I just heard an interesting fact from a palace servant."

Shao Sizhi took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Consort An, you've been in the palace for quite some time now. Do you know how the first spy concubine to be exposed in the harem was dealt with?"

She didn't know; it wasn't mentioned in the script.

Qi Nian'an's heart was in her throat. The words "exposed" were written all over the hall, and everyone was eager to tear her to pieces.

"Your Majesty is referring to the late Empress. The Qi clan followed the rebels all the way north to attack the city. Later, the Empress herself leaked the military map, and His Majesty—gave her poisoned wine."

Seeing that things were not going well, Nan Zhi quietly suggested while serving tea that she hand the tray to her and signal her to come forward and serve tea.

"All the evidence in the palace has been destroyed, and the remaining people involved have been sent back to Prince Yun. You must not panic."

Qi Nian'an immediately understood, took the tray, flashed the standard smile of a super idol, and stepped forward to perform.

"Your Majesty, I have never seen Prince Yun before."

She pushed the teacup forward and said sincerely.

...

"I do not wish to plant trees without a master in the palace, and I despise those who betray their master for personal gain."

Shao Sizhi remained silent, took a sip of tea, and then splashed it all over Qi Nian'an's face.

Qi Nian'an wiped her face in utter disbelief and looked at him. His contemptuous gaze followed the water droplets all the way to her collar. She angrily rolled up her sleeves and was about to walk forward.

Li Xiaoran quickly stood up and supported her: "You threw mud at people before, didn't you? Let's reload the game, let's reload the game."

You have successfully used the save/load feature.

The three remained locked in a stalemate in the bedchamber once again.

"I just heard an interesting fact from a palace servant."

Shao Sizhi took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Consort An, you've been in the palace for quite some time now. Do you know how the first spy concubine to be exposed in the harem was dealt with?"

Qi Nian'an rushed to the tray in Nan Zhi's hands, took it from her, slammed the teacup down, gritted her teeth and spat out the words "poisoned wine," and then began to massage his shoulders and legs.

Shao Sizhi waved her away, gave her a strange look, then suppressed his unease and took a sip of tea.

"Give me a reason to keep you here, or, out of respect for Consort Ling, I will give you some dignity."

Qi Nian'an sneered.

"I entered the palace at the age of fourteen and had no chance to come into contact with outsiders. You also publicly declared me as a favored concubine, so who would dare to win me over?"

Shao Sizhi sneered, stood up, looked down at her face, and pressed her further, saying, "Then why is there a secret passage in your palace leading to the Ouyang residence?"

"That was dug up by people sent by the King of Cloud."

Qi Nian'an replied firmly and forcefully.

Li Xiaoran covered her face with a touch of tragic heroism.

"I do not wish to plant trees without a master in the palace, and I despise those who betray their master for personal gain."

Shao Sizhi smiled calmly, reached out and pulled her close, brushed her cheek, and tucked her stray hairs behind her head before slowly sliding his knuckles down to her throat.

"I will give you a dignified life."

He gazed intently at the concubine in his arms, his fingers tightening little by little.

Qi Nian'an's restless heart immediately ignited, and she raised her foot and kicked Shao Sizhi squarely in the groin. She then executed a swift back throw, and even in Shao Sizhi's excruciating pain, she did not forget the shame of the teacup, picking it up and splashing it.

A rare crack appeared on Shao Sizhi's face as he bit his lip in pain, pointing at her for a long time without being able to speak.

Seeing this, Qi Nian'an ignored him and suddenly rushed towards Li Xiaoran, shaking her hands violently and asking, "What should I say?"

Li Xiaoran was utterly speechless: "He didn't mention Prince Yun, so why did you have to keep talking about it?!"

"You just remember saying that a palace servant had previously reported that this secret passage was secretly dug by the Ouyang family when they were building the palace. Although you had a grudge against Consort Yi, you didn't want to make things more difficult for her in the palace. His Majesty was already suspicious of you, and you weren't willing to use someone else's future for your own so-called peace of mind, so you kept it a secret and ordered it to be filled in, thinking that nothing would happen anyway. I never expected that today..."

"Then you should apologize, the more sincere the better, preferably with tears of gratitude."

"Show me your acting skills, and leave the rest to me."

Qi Nian'an nodded firmly upon hearing this.

You have successfully used the save/load feature.

"oh?"

Shao Sizhi stood up, looked down at her face, and pressed her further, "Then why is there a secret passage in your palace leading to the Ouyang residence?"

Qi Nian'an was stunned.

...

Li Xiaoran's gaze was so intense it seemed to bore a hole through her.

Qi Nian'an remained silent and motionless.

She spends much more time memorizing lyrics than others, and she has to stay up all night to memorize lines again and again, not to mention having to improvise on the spot when she has to memorize a long passage.

She forgets everything when she gets nervous!

Qi Nian'an, with a tragic air of a martyr going to his death, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, knelt down, and began searching for the correct answer with great emotion.

"Your Majesty! The thing is... uh... it's that... secret passage was dug by the Ouyang family back then... back when they were building the imperial kitchen!"

Li Xiaoran couldn't help but laugh out loud, then slowly covered her forehead.

Nan Zhi looked at her in surprise and stepped forward to say something.

Only Qi Nian'an racked her brains but couldn't come up with the correct answer.

"Yes, the Ouyang family secretly dug the tunnel to smuggle pastries back then in order to repair the imperial kitchen. Although I don't get along with Consort Yi, the pastries in her palace are indeed quite good... No, I didn't want to make things difficult for her when it came to pastries! Your Majesty already suspected that I was a glutton, and I didn't want to use someone else's osmanthus cake to put my mind at ease, so I... ordered people to turn the secret passage into a small kitchen, so I could heat up some dishes anyway... I didn't expect that it would be exposed today."

"Your Majesty, spare my life!"

After saying that, she kowtowed heavily on the ground with a loud thud.

For the first time in his imperial career, Shao Sizhi was struck by incoherent ramblings. He rubbed his temples heavily, unable to utter a word for a long time.

Consort Ling sighed, smiled at Shao Sizhi, and said calmly, "This secret passage was originally built by a servant in the Ouyang family who was in charge of repairing the palace."

“I heard about this from Nian’an a few months ago. Although this child used to be a bit domineering, he has always been clear-headed when it comes to important matters.”

"This matter is of great importance and could endanger the court. Your Majesty is currently troubled by the Fu Kangyu incident, so she dares not bother me and has to come to me to beg for advice. I have some seniority and can only have someone suppress it. It is not too late for Your Majesty to deal with it when you have more free time later."

Shao Sizhi pointed at Qi Nian'an and burst out laughing in anger. Seemingly feeling that he had lost face, he finally slammed down his teacup, looked up at her with extremely stern eyes, and said, "This is the last time."

"Consort An, this is the last time I will ever believe in you."