May no one in this world grow old without turning gray (Part 5)
After spending some time at Wan Zhen'er's place, it was already night when we left Chuxiu Palace.
Zhiwei casually dismissed the group of maids who had accompanied her to deliver the tonics, leaving only Shaoyang to follow behind, but still keeping a distance, walking alone in front.
Careless, so careless! Zhiwei frowned, her mind filled with Wan Zhen'er's astonished look before she left. Wan Zhen'er had been too forceful, and Zhiwei had gotten carried away, blurting out everything she should and shouldn't have said.
Fortunately, she only said one thing: Wan Zhen'er probably wouldn't dare to report it to higher authorities, which reassured Zhiwei. Plotting for the throne was beyond her capabilities; all she wanted was revenge.
She wasn't stupid. Zhu Liji had secretly been involved in everything from her past hand injury to her current crawling. Otherwise, how could there be so many fools like the head of the Imperial Laundry? The previous head had instructed him to take care of certain people, but he forgot all about it as soon as he took office and instead started plotting against her. Unless he was truly stupid, Zhiwei could only think of one possibility: someone even higher in rank than Jiang Qin wanted to make Zhiwei suffer.
Who could it be? The palace servants who resisted the reforms earlier? They had no power; they disdained Zhu Hua and Wang Miaoxiao. Only one person held supreme power, wanting Zhiwei to despair, yet also wanting Zhiwei to grovel and beg for mercy.
They're all despicable people! All she wanted was to live a quiet, peaceful life, but people always used their power to hold her hostage and prevent her from having any peace. What did she do wrong? What could she possibly have done wrong?!
Mingyu is dead, Shaozhao and Sunwei are gone too, and now she's almost dead!
Wang Miaoxiao, you scoundrel, you deserve to die.
Zhu Liji was incompetent and deserved to die!
Thinking of this, Zhiwei pressed her teeth against her lips, even grinding her tongue until it bled.
However, no matter how much she hated him, she was just a lowly palace maid. This was a crucial time for her to make her plans. Although she had some ideas, gaining the emperor's trust was the first step. Zhiwei thought that this matter could not be rushed and that there was still a long way to go in her planning.
The first priority is to make this situation even more chaotic.
Zhiwei rubbed his hands together, his eyes filled with deep emotion.
——
A few days later, Wan Zhen'er officially took over the Phoenix Seal, and her first major task was to organize the imperial concubine selection.
She made a lot of noise but accomplished little, leaving all the trivial matters to the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Rites, while she herself sat on her high seat, listlessly flipping through the registers and portraits, her vermilion brush hesitant to put pen to paper. Zhu Liji was busy with affairs of the previous dynasty and had even less interest in this group of newcomers, rarely summoning them for audiences, and even then, only with lukewarm indifference.
The structure of the inner palace became even more stagnant than when Cheng Yuzhi was in charge.
Wan Zhen'er herself seemed to have become a different person. She no longer competed for attention or tried to curry favor. She rarely even left the Chuxiu Palace and was listless all day long, as if she had just lost her vitality and had not yet recovered.
Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief at this. Wan Zhen'er stayed at home, which, while not the chaotic situation she had hoped for, at least reduced the potential for trouble.
That day, as usual, Zhiwei left the palace to assist with purchasing. She left her attendants behind and changed her clothes to enter the largest restaurant in the capital—Fuyunlou.
"Floating clouds know my heart, and grant me a journey through the nine provinces." Upon arriving at the private room, before anyone else had arrived, Zhiwei stared at the poem under a plaque in the room and remarked that it was indeed a fine poem.
“If you like, I can have Shadow write another passage for you. This Floating Cloud Pavilion is still the property of my Li family, otherwise, we wouldn’t dare to invite young ladies to meet here so often.” Li Tai came out from the secret passage, and to avoid being seen, he put away his precious sword and pretended to be a scholar.
Zhiwei withdrew her gaze and sat down: "Speak, you've sent people to find me time and time again. Do you have a death wish? Do you want to use me to tell His Majesty?"
Li Tai was indeed a troublesome and stubborn person. Whenever Zhiwei left the palace, he would always find a chance to meet her. At first, he would talk about the things from last time, but when he saw that Zhiwei was about to leave, he would change the subject and start inviting Zhiwei to drink and admire flowers. Together with the masked guard called "Shadow", he would take Zhiwei to do all kinds of fun things.
Life in the palace was boring, so why not join in the fun? As long as the plot to rebel wasn't mentioned, Zhiwei was happy to be Li Tai's companion, listening to him, in his drunken state, talk about the past of old friends.
The people around her were people she could never see even in her dreams. Zhiwei lowered her eyes, her cup shimmering.
Today, as usual, I left the palace. For some reason, Pinghai said he would meet me at the palace gate. It couldn't be that Pinghai was being kind on his own; it must have been Zhu Liji who instructed him. But why would Zhu Liji instruct Pinghai? Did he see something, or...?
In short, there wasn't much time left. Zhiwei raised her eyelashes and stared intently into Li Tai's eyes.
"As long as it doesn't involve my safety, I can find out a bit about what you're talking about." He downed the wine in his glass in one gulp and got straight to the point.
She figured it out. Since revenge was imminent, why fear the risks? Having more allies and help was always a good thing. Besides, their goals overlapped somewhat. It was just a risk of helping to deliver a message. If it could lead to Wang Miaoxiao's death, Zhiwei would be better off.
"Are you serious?" Li Tai was surprised that Zhiwei was so agreeable today.
"If you don't have the guts, you can pretend you never heard of it."
“How could I be cowardly? Even if you peel me open, I’d still have a huge gall bladder!” Li Tai quickly replied.
Zhiwei glanced at him indifferently, and Li Tai blushed instantly.
“It’s good that you have the courage,” Zhiwei said. “But I can help you, but you also have to help me in some ways.”
Li Tai cupped his hands in greeting: "Please speak freely."
Zhiwei took out a scroll from her sleeve and tossed it to Li Tai: "Find these things for me."
Li Tai unfolded the scroll, which contained mostly herbs and spices, most of which were not particularly precious.
"Didn't His Majesty grant you free access to the storeroom?" The implication was that the storeroom had everything you needed, so why should he have to search for it?
“Lord Li seems to know my situation well,” Zhiwei gave Li Tai a sharp look. “The warehouse belongs to the public, but I make incense privately. Occasionally, there are some losses, so it’s better to prepare my own.”
That's true. Li Tai had heard Zhu Mingyu say that most incense making involves losing 91% of the product. He didn't expect Zhiwei to be such an upright person. Despite her status, she was so honest that she had no selfish motives whatsoever.
Li Tai secretly admired him, carefully put away the scroll, and agreed.
It was getting late, and Zhiwei got up to leave. Li Tai called out to her, and with a wave of his hand, a shadow fell down.
It was that bodyguard called "Shadow," who was quite agile and could hide silently on the rooftop.
Zhiwei raised an eyebrow: "What is the meaning of letting others eavesdrop?"
“It’s no stranger.” Li Tai glanced at the head-down “Shadow”. “This is my personal bodyguard. You are a weak woman. Since you are willing to risk your life to cooperate with me, I should naturally show my appreciation.”
“Shadow is a good guard, so I’ll have him follow you. It will be easier for us to contact each other in the future.”
The two men were both strong and quiet, so they wouldn't get in the way. Zhiwei raised her chin and said, "In that case, thank you very much."
By the time they returned to the palace, it was already dark.
At the palace gate, carriages and horses rumbled and people thronged.
Zhiwei instructed Shaoyang to take inventory of the items when she suddenly heard a commotion ahead, accompanied by the frightened neighing of horses. She looked over and saw that a slow horse pulling a haul of miscellaneous items had been startled by something, broke free of its reins, and galloped towards several young palace maids who were walking with their heads down.
The palace maids screamed and scattered, but the horse seemed to have gone mad, heading straight for a terrified maid.
Zhiwei's heart tightened, and she instinctively wanted to step forward and pull on the reins, but she was not good at riding and her right hand was not strong enough, so the horse did not stop but became even more agitated.
Just as tragedy was about to unfold, a figure in plain clothes darted out from the side, moving so fast that only a blur remained. This figure didn't shy away from the attack; facing the charging horse, a flash of cold light appeared in their hand, and a short dagger pierced the horse's neck with precision and ruthlessness!
With a muffled "thud," blood spurted out. The mad horse let out a long, mournful neigh, collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still.
Once the commotion subsided, everyone could see clearly that the person who had made the move was a woman dressed as a palace maid, with a slender figure, who was steadily supporting the young palace maid who had collapsed to the ground.
The woman dressed as a palace maid raised her hand and wiped away a drop of blood that had splattered on her cheek, revealing a delicate yet somewhat wild face, especially her pair of phoenix eyes, which were strikingly bright.
Zhiwei jumped off the carriage and met the man's raised eyes.
Zhiwei's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.
The woman had already looked away, patted the frightened palace maid on the back, and said in a gentle and clear voice, "It's alright now, just be careful when you walk next time."
After saying that, he ignored the stares of others, turned around and blended into the crowd as if nothing had happened.
As Zhiwei watched the departing figure, she hadn't noticed before, but now it increasingly resembled Cheng Yuzhi's walking posture.
The two are just not very similar in personality.
"Master, were you frightened?" Shao Yang came over, rubbing his chest and asking with lingering fear.
An anxious voice rang in her ears. Zhiwei snapped out of her daze and shook her head: "I'm fine."
"Go and find out which palace she belongs to, and reward her with twenty taels of silver to commend her courage and determination," Zhiwei added.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Pinghai, who had been waiting at the palace gate, arrived, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Upon hearing that Zhiwei was going to reward someone, Pinghai quickly leaned closer and whispered, "Oh dear, my girl, you mustn't!"
“That one… is no ordinary palace maid; she’s Liu Cainu, a newly selected lady-in-waiting. Although she hasn’t yet served the emperor or received a title, she’s already a mistress in name! If you were to bestow this reward upon her, wouldn’t that be…”
Isn't that a misplacement of master and servant roles?
Zhiwei's eyes flickered slightly, and she immediately understood Pinghai's suggestion. She readily agreed, saying, "Thank you for your understanding, Lord Ping. I was not thoughtful enough." She nodded slightly to Pinghai.
Pinghai breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she understood, and then busied himself with dealing with the dead horse and the frightened palace servants.
Zhiwei stood still, her gaze once again fixed on the direction where the woman in white had disappeared, and the corners of her lips curved into an almost imperceptible smile.
Seeing Zhiwei's expression out of the corner of her eye, Shao Yang asked in a low voice, "Master, what's so special about that person?"
"Special?" Zhiwei chuckled and adjusted her sleeves. "Not particularly special, but quite interesting."
"Interesting?" Shao Yang seemed to understand but not quite.
“Yes,” Zhiwei nodded, her tone enigmatic, “What’s interesting is that I’m not the only one who finds her interesting.”
Zhiwei didn't say anything more. She just turned around and instructed Shaoyang, "If you see him in the future, be respectful and don't offend him."
"Yes!" Shao Yang replied.
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