Ye Qingxue asked, "What if I don't want to be friends with Her Majesty the Empress? How does Her Majesty plan to deal with me?"

Wanxin gritted her teeth: "Her Majesty didn't say. Under heaven, who wouldn't want Her Majesty's praise and serve her wholeheartedly? Doesn't Miss Ye want that?"

Ye Qingxue ignored her and only called out, "Qiushen!"

Qiu Shen said, "This servant will go and call someone right now to tell them that Miss Wanxin and the guards have committed adultery in the palace in broad daylight!"

Wanxin was so angry she was practically spitting fire. She gritted her teeth and said, "If you, young lady, are unwilling to serve Her Majesty the Empress, then you will only die!"

Ye Qingxue understood: the Empress wanted to win her over, and if she failed, she would kill her.

After this flower-viewing banquet ends today, she will either become one of the Empress's servants, or she will be carried out as a corpse.

"Thank you for telling me, Miss Wanxin!" Ye Qingxue's smile didn't reach her eyes. After saying that, she withdrew her foot: "From now on, you two are safe."

It was long after Ye Qingxue left with Qiu Shen that the guards and Wanxin finally untied the straw ropes and whips binding them.

The guard asked, "So, Miss Ye really won't spread our affair around?"

He looked very worried.

Wanxin pursed her lips, her eyes filled with a sinister glint: "I believe that only the dead can truly keep a secret!"

She began to straighten her clothes, then suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" in a panic.

Then he started searching through his clothes, hair, shoes and socks, and even the ground and the guards.

Seeing her like this, the guard's heart leaped into his throat, and he asked, "What's wrong?"

Wanxin replied, "The letter I just received is missing."

The guard said, "Keep looking. Maybe it's in the place where we were just now..."

The two retraced their steps and finally found the letter in the bushes. The letter was very light and, because of the wind, it did not stay where Ye Qingxue had previously hidden.

So neither of them expected that Ye Qingxue had already read the entire contents.

Wanxin, on the other hand, wore a relieved expression, as if it were a false alarm.

She carefully put the letter away and said, "I have to go back to serve Her Majesty the Empress. The flower viewing banquet is about to begin."

The guard nodded: "Yes, go ahead."

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "What about Miss Ye...?"

Wanxin's eyes were extremely cold: "I'll think of a way."

Ye Qingxue and Qiu Shen, hidden in the shadows, overheard their actions and conversation.

Ye Qingxue immediately realized that the letter was indeed addressed to the current Empress, and the scheme described in the letter was devised by the Empress herself…

She's already the Empress, isn't what she's already received enough? She actually wants more...

Ye Qingxue clenched her fists tightly again, her eyes filled with icy coldness.

Qiu Shen didn't see the letter and assumed Ye Qingxue was worried about the Empress's attempts to win her over. She asked, "Does Miss have any solutions?"

Ye Qingxue fell into deep thought. If she did not agree to the Empress's attempt to win her over, Qiu Shen would not be able to leave the palace alive after her death.

Moreover, the contents of that letter told her she couldn't die in the palace.

That leaves only one option: accept the Empress's offer of allegiance.

However, surrendering to the Empress does not simply mean agreeing with and obeying whatever she says, nor does it mean simply doing as she is told to serve tea and water.

That's too low-level.

Even if she could do it, the Empress wouldn't believe it.

Besides, with the Empress's status being so noble, what noble lady wouldn't listen to her, obey her, and serve her tea and water?

In other words, you need a pledge of allegiance.

What is the pledge of loyalty to the Empress? It's either to accomplish something important for her or to help her kill someone.

In short, without seeing blood, the Empress would not easily believe her.

Qiu Shen lowered her voice and frowned, saying, "On one hand, the Empress is trying to win you over, and on the other hand, Wan Xin wants to kill you to silence you!"

Entering the palace today is truly fraught with danger. Qiu Shen couldn't help but worry about Ye Qingxue. Her young lady only has two days left, and yet so many troubles have come knocking on her door!

How cruel fate is!

Ye Qingxue also fell silent. In such a short time, she could not find an opportunity to deal with these two matters, so she said, "We can only take it one step at a time and act according to the circumstances."

Qiu Shen pursed her lips and nodded slightly.

"Isn't that the Seventh Prince's little embroidered ball?" Ye Qingxue looked up and saw the colorful bird.

As autumn deepened, they looked up and saw that it was indeed the Seventh Prince's bird. Little Embroidered Ball had really flown to the Cold Palace; they hadn't gone in the wrong direction.

The two held their breath and carefully caught the small embroidered ball that was resting on the tree trunk, then went to find the Seventh Prince.