An Ning was also caught off guard by this situation.
"I already know pretty much about the relationship between you two. Today at Chunxi Palace, you gave him silver, didn't you?"
An Ning looked at Bai Lan and said in a deep voice, "The more critical the moment, the less we should panic. She's gambling that her guess is right."
Bai Lan looked at An Ning, her face turning ashen in an instant.
"Yes, he and I are siblings!"
An Ning was stunned. They were siblings, she had always assumed they were lovers...
Bai Cheng's eyes reddened, and he mustered his courage to look up at An Ning, his voice trembling as he said:
“Eunuch Ning, Bai Lan... is my eldest sister. There are three children in our family. Besides me, there is also a younger brother. He has been very smart since he was a child. His private tutor praised him as a potential top scholar.”
Hearing this, An Ning could clearly feel Bai Cheng's undisguised pride and self-satisfaction. Even his eyes radiated a hopeful light of boundless longing for the future. However, when he uttered the next sentence, the light in his eyes vanished instantly, becoming extremely dim.
“But in our family, we can’t even afford a bowl of rice porridge all year round. Where would we find the spare money to send him to school? The tuition for a private school is several tens of taels a year. Even if we beg for our whole lives, we still can’t get that much money. My elder sister couldn’t bear to see her younger brother, who had talent but had nowhere to use it, end up like us, living like dust and being trampled on by others.”
"So, my eldest sister went to the palace and became a maid who was at the beck and call of others. But the money for private school was far more than a maid's monthly allowance could earn. Since my eldest sister had already gone to the palace, I decided to go too, so that the two of us could look after each other."
"But things are not as easy as I thought. The palace is like a huge black net, full of traps and holes. We are more like ants on the ground, and we might be trampled to death by high-ranking officials one day."
In addition, I'm not very bright and inflexible, so I've always been a low-ranking eunuch. All in all, the money I've earned so far hasn't been enough, so we..."
Bai Lan grabbed Bai Cheng's arm, signaling him to stop talking.
"Eunuch Ning." Bai Lan looked at An Ning and called him Eunuch Ning for the first time.
“I know I was the one who upset you in the first place, so you can take it all out on me.”
As she spoke, Bai Lan suddenly knelt down and kowtowed heavily to An Ning: "In the past, this servant was blind and did not recognize your greatness, and offended Eunuch Ning. If Eunuch Ning can let us off this time, my brother and I will be at your beck and call. Eunuch Ning can treat us as your dogs and order us around as you please."
An Ning looked at Bai Lan in shock. In her memory, Bai Lan had never been so humble and lowly. She even dared to criticize some low-ranking concubines. Now, she was kneeling in front of her and begging for mercy!
"Get up first." Anning helped her up.
For some reason, looking at the two siblings, I suddenly thought of Sister Yun and Mu Ange. Sister Yun was also someone who would disregard everything for Mu Ange.
"Both of you, get up and sit down. I apologize for what happened today." An Ning looked at them and sincerely apologized. If she had known things would turn out this way, she would never have chosen to expose them.
Bai Lan and Bai Cheng exchanged a glance, full of doubt, but both remained standing, not daring to sit down.
Anning walked over to them, took their hands and said, "It was my narrow-mindedness. Today at Chunxi Palace, I saw Bailan give you a package and I thought you two were in that kind of relationship. I also thought about how Bailan and I always got along, so I thought I would teach her a lesson. I never expected that you two entered the palace for your brother's tuition."
As she spoke, An Ning stuffed most of the rewards she had received that day into their hands: "Here, this is the reward I received today. You can use it to pay your little brother's tuition."
Bai Lan and Bai Cheng froze on the spot, looking at An Ning, their eyes growing redder and redder, but they couldn't say a word.
Looking at the heavy bag of silver in her hand, Bai Lan felt as if a taut string had snapped, and she burst into tears instantly.
"Thank you, thank you, Eunuch Ning. Bai Lan will serve you like a slave from now on to repay your kindness."
Bai Lan cried and spoke, then knelt down on the ground with a thud, unwilling to get up for a long time. Her thin body remained kneeling on the ground, her whole body trembling from crying.
She didn't shed tears when she saw Bai Cheng attempt suicide, nor when she exposed their relationship, but when An Ning gave her a large bag of money, she cried uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.
Bai Cheng was already crying his eyes out, clinging to An Ning's leg and calling out to his benefactor over and over again.
"Alright, get up now. If you keep going like this, people will think I did something to you if they hear us."
Bai Cheng helped Bai Lan to her feet, wiping away her tears: "Eunuch Ning, you are a very good person, God will surely bless you." Bai Cheng couldn't speak, so he could only offer her this blessing.
Bai Lan looked at Bai Cheng with pity in her eyes: "Isn't it your turn to keep watch tonight? Hurry up, or you'll get scolded again."
Bai Cheng nodded hurriedly: "Okay, I'll go right away. Eunuch Ning, I'll take my leave."
An Ning nodded.
At the entrance of the cottage, Anning and Bailan leaned against the doorframe, chatting idly.
"You seem to have a kind heart, so why do you have such a sharp and mean face?" An Ning looked at Bai Lan's face, which was exceptionally beautiful in the dim candlelight, and finally asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time.
Bai Lan looked up at the sky and sighed silently, "When I first entered the palace, I was just like Bai Cheng, a complete fool."
As she spoke, she stretched out her arm and pointed to the horrifying scars on it, saying casually, "Thanks to my first good friend when I entered the palace, she later went to Consort De's palace and has never given me a kind look since. It was at that time that I suddenly realized that she looked down on me from the beginning, and only approached me because she thought I was stupid and easy to use. I was so sincere, hahaha, isn't that funny?"
As she spoke, Bai Lan looked at An Ning and chuckled. As she laughed, her eyes welled up with tears.
"I don't know how many scars I have on my body now, so many that I don't even remember who hit me or who framed me. Later, I became like this. I am mean-spirited, opportunistic, sycophantic, and shameless. I have become the kind of person that everyone hates. In this sycophantic palace, I have become one of the countless beasts that devour people's hearts."
Bai Lan gave a wry smile and continued, "Fortunately, I have more and more money in my pocket, and my younger brother has been studying at a private school for three years."
Anning looked at her, and the white orchid, which had seemed to be shrouded in dust, suddenly shone a faint light as if the clouds had parted and the sun had appeared. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the candlelight at the door, which illuminated her face, making it bright and radiant!
It turns out we were all struggling to move forward in the mud!
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