Upon entering the palace, a single thread connects us.
Li Xingyi paused for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and said calmly, "Yes. Adou, you've been dealing with government affairs late tonight, you must be tired. Get some rest."
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Qi Dou's tired face, and he said as if teasing Li Xingyi, "Xingyi, do you know that you're inviting me here?"
"..."
Li Xingyi looked at him calmly and said, "Is that so?"
Seeing this, Qi Dou smiled helplessly and said, "Well, no, go to sleep."
Then he lay down and hugged Li Xingyi, saying, "Xingyi, you must be tired today. Just sleep like this."
Li Xingyi knew exactly what Qi Dou was referring to, but he simply hummed in agreement, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.
Inside the Prince Pingshou's residence, "Are you sure no one saw Minister of Personnel Hu Cun come to the Prince Pingshou's residence?"
Prince Qi Hui of Pingshou was sitting in his study in the palace, asking a question, while a person dressed in black robes was kneeling below him.
The man in black robes replied, "Yes, Your Highness, Lord Hu was personally brought to the Prince's residence by me, and then personally escorted back to the residence. I guarantee that no one knows anything about it."
Qi Hui nodded and said, "Well, that's good. My plan cannot tolerate any changes or failures."
Meanwhile, Hu Cun was in his own residence, walking slowly while holding his back, complaining, "Ouch! My back! That person was really something, he just carried me away, and even after bringing me back, he was still carrying me."
He went inside complaining.
The next day in Fengyi Palace, Li Xingyi said to Qianwu while reading, "Qianwu, take some people to collect some dew for me. I want to use it to make tea."
Asahi understood after hearing this.
The Empress seems a bit wary of me, so I'd better take this opportunity to tell His Majesty.
She said, "Yes, this servant will take her leave."
After Qianwu and the palace maids left, only Li Xingyi and Qingyi remained in the room. Li Xingyi asked calmly, "How's the investigation going?"
Qingyi was making plans in her mind.
...I can't tell the truth, I can only tell what I've been told.
After Li Xingyi sent Qingyi to investigate Qi Dou yesterday, Qingyi quietly came to Shuanghan Sect. Upon seeing her, everyone rushed over and asked, "Junior Sister Qingyi, does the Alliance Leader have any new instructions?"
Qingyi sat down with some worry and said, "My mistress asked me to investigate the new emperor's background."
Everyone was stunned after hearing this. A man leaned against a tree and asked, "Master, has something come to mind?"
Qingyi shook her head and replied, "No, it's because His Majesty filled the Phoenix Palace with forsythia to express his feelings to the lady, which aroused the lady's suspicion."
Upon hearing this, the man clenched his fist and said, "This is indeed suspicious. If that person continues like this, the master will eventually remember."
Qingyi sighed, "I've remembered a little bit..."
Everyone exclaimed in shock, "What?! What did Master remember?!"
The leading man immediately walked over, grabbed Qingyi's shoulders, and asked anxiously, "Master, how did you remember something?! What exactly happened?! Isn't this what that person wanted?! Why did they have to do this again?!"
Qingyi slapped his hand away and said, "Don't get excited. It's just a scene, a scene of that person crying in front of Master. It suddenly appeared in Master's mind. I've just covered it up for now."
The man asked, puzzled, "How could you suddenly appear?"
Qingyi shrugged and said, "How should I know? Anyway, everything's fine for now."
The man said, "No, if our master stays there any longer, we won't be able to fool him anymore!"
Qingyi sighed and said, "Liyou, this is the master's plan. If you stop it now, it will only make the master more suspicious."
Li You clenched her fists and said, "Then what do we do?! Just let Master remember it?! Has he forgotten what he said himself?!"
Upon hearing this, Qingyi immediately said, "Don't worry, I came here to ask you how I should report that person's information to the master."
Li You thought for a moment and said, "Just tell him his information. Don't say anything else that you know you shouldn't say."
Qingyi glanced at him and said, "I'm not stupid, of course I won't say anything else, I'm just asking you to choose your words."
After hearing this, Li You said, "Then how about this..."
At this moment, Qingyi said to Li Xingyi, "Your Highness, the master is His Majesty's man, and there are rumors in the capital about your beauty. His Majesty was naturally a little moved after seeing you in person, but this man is unfathomable, so you must be extremely careful."
Li Xingyi said calmly, "I know, but I feel like he's a fog, I can't see him clearly."
And that strange sense of familiarity was something I couldn't ignore.
Thinking of this, she lowered her eyes.
Qingyi lowered her head and said, "The thoughts of emperors are inherently difficult to fathom."
Li Xingyi said calmly, "...Never mind, my father is his man, whether I like him or not is none of my business, I'm just afraid he has ulterior motives."
Three months later, in the fourth month of the first year of Taigan, on the day Shi Yan entered the palace, Shi Yan was sitting upright in her room, and the maids were helping her dress up in an orderly manner. Looking at herself in the mirror, Shi Yan's eyes were full of sadness.
She didn't want to enter the palace; she only wanted to find someone she loved and live a life of monogamy. But whether she entered the palace or not, few people in this world would choose to be monogamous for life. Moreover, her aunt was the Empress Dowager, and she couldn't go against her wishes.
I really envy Madam Li and Madam Ji... When will I be able to meet someone who only has eyes for me, just like they do?
She was filled with bitterness.
Soon, the maids were dressed up. She wore a light blue dress with blue embellishments, and a blue jade bracelet on her wrist. She had an excellent temperament, stunning beauty, and a gentle demeanor. Her whole person gave people a feeling of a gentle breeze. Gentle and dignified were the words people used to describe Shi Yan.
Looking at her daughter, who had grown into a graceful young woman, Shi Yan's mother was overjoyed and said gently, "After you enter the palace, you must listen to the Empress Dowager, understand, Yan'er?"
Shi Yan said softly, "Yes, Mother."
Shi Yan's mother said, "You can only bring one maid with you when you enter the palace this time. Have you decided which one you want to bring?"
Without a second thought, Shi Yan said gently, "I'm going to take Furong with me."
After hearing this, Shi's mother nodded and said, "Yes, that's good. Furong has been with you since she was a child and is very loyal. She is indeed the best choice."
Shi Yan said sadly, "Yes, Mother, I must go now. I cannot keep my aunt and the Empress waiting."
Shi's mother said, "Then I will take you to the carriage. From now on, I will not be by your side."
Shi Yan forced back her tears and managed a smile, saying, "Yan'er knows, thank you for your trouble, Mother."
After bidding farewell to her parents, Shi Yan prepared to board the carriage. As she stepped into the carriage, tears finally fell.
Shi Yan's parents watched the carriage depart into the distance, their hearts filled with hope.
Yan'er, the Shi family is counting on you...
When they arrived at Xuanwu Gate, the coachman got off and told the gatekeeper, then drove the carriage into the palace through a side gate.
Seeing this, Furong asked in confusion, "Miss, why do we have to go through the side door? Can't we go through the main door?"
Shi Yan was already somewhat troubled, but after hearing Fu Rong's question, she remembered that she still had Fu Rong and wasn't alone.
She smiled gently and said, "I told you to read more books so you would know some rules, but you didn't listen. Now you don't understand."
Furong immediately grabbed her arm and said, "Miss! The book may not necessarily say these things. Good Miss, please explain it to Furong, otherwise your Furong will be so confused that she will die."
Shi Yan flicked Fu Rong's head with her finger and said, "Don't talk nonsense."
Furong exclaimed "Ouch!" and covered her head, saying, "Then, Miss, please tell me."
Shi Yan explained, "Because no matter what, I'll only be a concubine when I enter the palace, not a wife. Only the Empress can enter through the main gate. That's how it was when Her Majesty the Empress got married. Why didn't you notice?"
Furong said helplessly, "Alright, this servant thought that with the Empress Dowager present, Miss would use the main gate."
Shi Yan smiled gently and said, "Alright, the palace is not like home. You need to restrain yourself, and don't do whatever you want just because you have the status of your aunt, the Empress Dowager. Otherwise, they will find a way to use it against you."
Furong was shocked and then disappointed, "Ah? Well, I thought that with the Empress Dowager backing us up, no one would dare to bully us. This is so troublesome."
Shi Yan smiled after hearing this, and then the coachman's voice came, "Miss, the carriage can only go this far. You will have to walk the rest of the way yourself."
Shi Yan said, "Okay."
Afterwards, Shi Yan was helped out of the carriage by Fu Rong. The driver said, "Go straight from here, and someone will come to meet you inside the long corridor."
Shi Yan nodded and said, "Thank you, Uncle."
Upon hearing this, the coachman hurriedly said, "Oh dear! You're too kind to this old servant."
Shi Yan smiled and said, "It's alright," and then left.
When she stepped into the palace gates, she was no longer free. Once inside the palace, it was like entering a deep sea, and from then on, she was cut off from the mortal world by the high walls.
Not long after they walked, they heard a voice say, "Oh, I know, I know. I'm not so bad that I can't even handle such a small matter."
Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw two people. One of them looked like a teenager and had a somewhat cynical attitude, with a blade of grass in his mouth. The other person also looked like a teenager, but he seemed more composed.
It seems that the voice just now came from the cynical one. The other said, "If I didn't keep an eye on you, you might have gone out and not come back for who knows how long. Don't tell me you're helping this old lady find her cat or taking that little girl home again..."
The boy disagreed, saying, "Hey, that's not right. I'm just helping people, I can't just ignore them! Besides, these are just small things that I should help with."
Another person finally couldn't hold back and said, "Helping people is one thing, but why do you also do their housework after helping them? And then you even have a meal with them? And every time you come back in the middle of the night, they treat you like an assassin!"
"Uh... haha, I was just... having trouble looking at them, haha... um?"
The young man seemed to have spotted Shi Yan and immediately approached her as if trying to escape, asking, "Miss, what are you doing here? Did you get lost? It's normal to get lost in this palace; it's so big, it would be strange not to get lost."
Just as Shi Yan was about to answer, another person walked over and said, "It doesn't look like it, and there's no one here today..."
He seemed to have thought of something and stopped talking, then pulled the man to bow to Shi Yan and said, "This humble subject greets Miss Shi Yan."
Shi Yan nodded slightly and said, "Mm."
He added, "My name is Ji Xi, and I currently serve in the Imperial Guard."
Then, flipping his finger, he pointed to the person next to him and said, "His name is Li Yanzhang, and like me, he serves in the Imperial Guard."
Shi Yan looked at Li Yanzhang with a puzzled expression and asked, "Li?"
Li Yanzhang seemed unsure of what was wrong and said, "Yes! My surname is Li, so what?"
Ji Xi finally understood and explained, "He is the eldest son of the Minister of Rites and the current Empress's elder brother."
Li Yanzhang then understood why Shi Yan had been puzzled earlier. It was because his surname was Li, and the Empress's surname was also Li, so she would naturally suspect that there was some connection between them.
He scratched his head sheepishly and said, "Uh... haha, I didn't recognize it just now, sorry."
He then asked, "But what's wrong with Miss Shi Yan? Ji Xi, you've been acting a bit strange since just now."
After hearing this, Ji Xi explained in a low voice, "Today is the day that the Empress Dowager's niece, Miss Shi Yan, entered the palace. Have you forgotten?"
Li Yanzhang then realized why Ji Xi had been so respectful earlier; it turned out that she was the Empress Dowager's niece.
Actually, he wasn't unaware of today's date; he just didn't care. As long as the Empress Dowager's niece didn't harm his sister, that was all that mattered.
Although they were speaking in hushed tones, Shi Yan still heard them. She didn't say anything, but simply asked, "I heard you seem to have something to do earlier. What is it?"
Ji Xi replied, "It's just that when we go out of the palace to prepare some medicinal herbs, our Imperial Guards are always prone to getting injured."
The Imperial Guards protect the palace and the emperor, but since it is the new emperor's first reign, there are always many assassins. The Imperial Guards often have to fight them, so they are easily injured. The emperor has granted them special permission to receive treatment at the Imperial Hospital. If there are no medicines available, they have to go outside the palace to buy them. Li Yanzhang always volunteers to be the one to buy the medicines, but there are always misunderstandings, so Ji Xi has to keep an eye on things.
Shi Yan understood after hearing this and said, "Then you should go quickly."
After Ji Xi bowed, he pulled Li Yanzhang away.
Li Yanzhang actually thought Shi Yan was a pretty good person. She looked gentle and refined, with bright eyes and white teeth, and her manners and speech gave people a very good feeling. But he just didn't know if she would still be like this after staying in the harem for a long time.
Thinking this, Li Yanzhang turned around and glanced back, only to see Shi Yan walking step by step into the palace. He couldn't help but feel a little regretful and couldn't help but sigh.
Seeing this, Ji Xi asked jokingly, "What? You've taken a fancy to her? What a pity, she's the emperor's concubine."
Li Yanzhang said somewhat angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about? I was just thinking that she's like this now, but if she stays in the harem for a long time, will she become like those jealous women? I just feel a little sorry for her."
Ji Xi paused for a moment and said, "I didn't expect you to think like that, but how would we know such things? Even if she becomes like that, what can you do? Instead of worrying about her, think about how your empress sister can live a peaceful life in the deep palace."
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