Survival
Ah Qiu was a servant in the Music Bureau, and naturally had no palace maids to serve her. Therefore, although she had been in the palace for some time, she could not distinguish the ranks of the palace maids.
My first impression was that this woman was composed and calm. Although she was avoiding people, she was not flustered. She must be a person of high status and well-trained.
Upon closer inspection, one could vaguely see that she was carrying something in her hand, which from a distance looked very much like the food box that A Qiu herself had once brought to Chu Yuanyi.
The palace maid walked to the entrance of Qiwu Garden, first cautiously looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then slipped out from the shadows of the trees and carefully pushed open the gate of Qiwu Garden.
She didn't push the door open completely, but only made it just big enough for one person to pass through. Then, with quick eyes and hands, she put the wooden food box inside, closed the door quickly, and slipped away.
Her series of movements were highly trained, swift, and agile. However, the palace gate was old and rotten, and even with just a gentle push and slam, it made a sharp "creak" sound. Although the sound was extremely faint, it could not escape the keen ears of a martial arts master.
Sure enough, as soon as she took a step back, the door was slammed open.
Standing in the doorway was Chu Yuanyi, his white hair flowing, his single eye gleaming with a sharp light. He said coldly, "Su Jinlan, aren't you tired of pretending to be kind all these years?"
The palace maid named Su Jinlan immediately took a few steps back and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "I am only doing what Your Highness has instructed. Whether it is sincere or not, you will not come to me to collect it."
A Qiu immediately wondered which concubine in the harem would go to such lengths to take care of Chu Yuanyi.
Emperor Xie Lang was not interested in women. Among the concubines in the inner palace, the only one whom A Qiu recognized was Consort Chen, also known as "Golden Goblet Moonfall".
Chu Yuan sneered repeatedly, saying, "You really are a born lackey! No matter what you've done, you always claim it's none of your business and that it was all the master's doing!"
She stepped forward and said sternly, "I am tormented by this cold poison, and my appearance has become old and ugly. Isn't that what you did? Now you come here pretending to be a good person and showing mercy. Your hypocrisy is just like your master's!"
A Qiu was shocked. She had never understood why, among the Four Stars of Tianji, only Chu Yuanyi not only aged prematurely but also went mad. Logically, with her cultivation having reached the Innate Realm, even if she couldn't match Zhongli's skill in preserving her youth, she shouldn't be so old and unkempt.
Only now did she realize that she had been poisoned. And the person who poisoned her was none other than the palace maid named Su Jinlan standing before her.
Judging from his symptoms, the poison was definitely not administered all at once. If it had been administered in a single dose, he would either have lost all his martial arts skills or died. He is not the person who moves like the wind now and whose martial arts skills are completely unaffected, but whose mind is in disarray and whose appearance has aged prematurely.
This poison slowly eroded Chu Yuanyi's meridians and internal organs over a long period of time, which is why he ended up in his current state.
A Qiu's eyes welled up with tears, and his hands trembled slightly. He was about to leap out and capture the palace maid.
Although she no longer remembered her past with Chu Yuanyi, she naturally empathized with the suffering Chu Yuanyi had endured over the years, just as he had treated her with such warmth.
A Qiu has been able to roughly outline Chu Yuanyi's experiences after entering the palace.
She must be similar to Rong Yuexian and An Daoling, except that the two of them humbled themselves to become eunuchs, while she became a palace maid. Later, due to a certain opportunity, she was promoted to the head palace attendant of Qiwu Palace, which is the first palace maid.
However, she must not have gotten along well with Empress Shangguan at the time, as can be seen from her hostility towards Shangguan Yuqi.
It's unclear whether the poisoning by Su Jinlan occurred during that period. However, after the establishment of the new dynasty, both Rong Yu and An Daoling maintained their positions in the palace.
As for Chu Yuanyi, perhaps due to her mental instability, ugly appearance, and blindness in one eye, she could no longer serve as a palace maid or official to the noble ladies. Therefore, she could only hide in the abandoned palace where she had once served, barely surviving. And this was only because Consort Chen secretly took care of her.
If Xie Lang found out, he would definitely kick them out. The Four Stars of Tianji were loyal to the previous Sima imperial family, and had absolutely no connection to him. The inner palace was now his home, and there was no reason for him to keep the former emperor's mad, loyal servants in his own home.
When A Qiu thought of this, he realized that Chu Yuanyi, a master of his generation, had ended up in such a state, all thanks to Su Jinlan. How could he not be angry?
Before she could leap out, Gu Yi grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
Gu Yi looked cautious and gestured for her to listen to the conversation before leaving.
A Qiu suddenly realized: Su Jinlan obviously doesn't know martial arts. With Chu Yuanyi's skills, if he wanted to kill a palace maid for revenge, he would have done so over the years, but she didn't.
Su Jinlan came to bring her food, and it seemed this wasn't the first time. Despite being reprimanded by Chu Yuanyi, she remained composed and continued to deliver the food.
There must be other reasons behind this.
A hint of pain flashed across Su Jinlan's eyes as she clearly said, "My mistress is no longer the same as she was back then. She only has good intentions towards you and no malice. Aunt, don't take advantage of your madness to insult others."
She lowered her head, then raised it after a moment and said, "As for back then, we each served our own masters and were willing to accept our losses. Since you chose to participate in the palace struggle, I could not stand by and watch you harm my master without taking action."
Chu Yuanyi let out a strange laugh, his voice extremely shrill: "So what if you intervened? Did you save your master? She still hanged herself and died in a fire. As the saying goes, 'Those who do evil will not live!'"
A Qiu felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this, while Gu Yi, without hesitation, pulled her to his side and let her lean against him.
Ah Qiu finally understood why the other members of the Four Mansions of Heavenly Secrets had not intervened despite seeing Chu Yuanyi in such a predicament.
According to Su Jinlan, Chu Yuanyi had violated the common rules of the martial arts world.
Whether a martial arts master enters the palace or the court, if they hold an official position, they should act accordingly; if they hold a palace post, they should act accordingly. However, they must not get involved in political factions or palace intrigues. If they violate this rule and personally get involved, they will bear the consequences themselves, and their fellow disciples will not seek justice or revenge for them.
Whether it was Rong Yuexian, who held the high-ranking position of Grand Palace Supervisor in two dynasties, or An Daoling, who was in charge of the internal affairs of the Music Bureau, they were both cautious and kept to themselves, doing their best to fulfill their duties, but they did not take sides or participate in the palace struggles.
As a result, they all survived the bloody turmoil of the power transition period without incident, thus preserving their lives.
However, Chu Yuanyi clearly lacked such wisdom and rationality, and instead became involved in the emperor's family affairs.
For a moment, A-Qiu didn't know what to say.
If Chu Yuanyi was to blame, she had always been close to him and had been taught the Wind and Thunder Slash martial arts by her when he was young, so she couldn't bear to make such a judgment in her heart.
But if she were to seek justice for Chu Yuanyi, she really couldn't bring herself to do it.
As Su Jinlan said, each served their own master, and they were willing to accept defeat; this grudge was not a personal feud.
Chu Yuanyi's insults towards her former mistress finally enraged Su Jinlan. Her brows furrowed, and her voice became hoarse: "I respect you as the former head aunt of Qiwu Palace and do not wish to argue with you. It was one thing for you to make things difficult for my young lady in the past, but now you are slandering her and defaming her. My young lady... is truly innocent!"
Chu Yuanyi sneered repeatedly and said sternly, "What a fine young lady! You keep calling her 'young lady,' and she has never changed her way of addressing her even after all these years of marriage into the palace. You and your mistress have always only known yourselves as members of the Shangguan family, and have never put the Sima family in the slightest! Isn't this kind of disrespect for the emperor and lack of loyalty to one's husband and ruler enough?"
Only now did A Qiu realize that Su Jinlan's former mistress was also the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, just like Shangguan Yuqi. Moreover, this eldest daughter had married into the palace, and Su Jinlan must have been her dowry maid.
So, the identity of this young lady became obvious to A Qiu.
Su Jinlan, after all, was a maidservant from a prestigious family with a long history of integrity. She realized her mistake after only exchanging one sentence with Chu Yuanyi. The other party was half-mad, and even before he went mad, he was quite stubborn. Such a loud argument would only attract others and serve no other purpose.
Moreover, the deceased are gone. No matter how much you argue, you can't bring them back from the afterlife.
Su Jinlan calmed down and said, "What's past is past. Take care, Aunt. I'm off now." Without looking back, she immediately turned and left.
Chu Yuan crossed his arms and watched her walk away in the moonlight, only letting out a cold snort, without making things difficult for her.
She turned to return to Qiwu Palace, but Aqiu nimbly rushed out and called out, "Auntie!"
Chu Yuanyi, however, did not show the usual surprise. Instead, he paused slightly, as if to cover up his surprise, and continued walking towards the door while asking, "Why are you here?"
Listening closely, there seemed to be a hint of reproach and panic in his tone.
Seeing her expression, A Qiu guessed that she didn't want to be caught by her bringing Su Jinlan things to her, so she immediately pretended that she hadn't seen anything and followed her into the house, saying, "Can't I come to see my aunt?"
When Chu Yuan passed by the food box inside the door, she was too embarrassed to pick it up and take it with her, so she just pretended not to see it and continued forward. Ah Qiu was so clever that she immediately bent down, picked up the food box and followed behind her, saying, "So Auntie just went out to run some things and came back. Luckily I came late, otherwise I would not have met Auntie. It is true that it is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early."
Chu Yuan relaxed upon hearing her speak and mumbled, "It was a gift from someone."
A-Qiu didn't even ask who sent it to her. She just carried it while sniffing the air and said, "The things in this box smell so good, like steamed fish sashimi or roasted mutton. Auntie, do you like this?"
This wasn't because she was intentionally flattering Chu Yuanyi; it was simply because the delicious aroma wafted out with the steam, rushing straight into her nose, and she couldn't ignore it even if she wanted to.
Chu Yuanyi also smelled it and stopped in her tracks, her expression quite strange. She looked at the food box for a moment before saying, "Open that box and see if it contains the two things you mentioned."
As instructed, A-Qiu placed the food box with the handle on the ground and opened the exquisite round lid on top.
Under the moonlight, two earthenware plates are visible. One plate holds a fresh fish, topped with green onions and white garlic, and the clear broth is almost empty. Upon closer inspection, one can see that the fish meat has been finely sliced along the grain and is ready to eat with just chopsticks.
The other dish contained layers upon layers of thinly sliced mutton, each slice rich in fat and succulent, with an irresistible aroma.
Ordinary people would be tempted to eat these two dishes at first sight. But Chu Yuanyi was stunned. She stared at them for a long time without saying a word. Her chopsticks were placed beside her, but she did not take a single bite.
Seeing her expression, A Qiu tentatively asked, "Does Aunt suspect that the food is poisoned?" She had only mentioned it casually, and didn't really think Su Jinlan would poison it. If she wanted to kill Chu Yuanyi, she could have done so more than ten years ago when she used a cold poison to damage her mind. Besides, this wasn't the first time Su Jinlan had sent food over.
Chu Yuanyi asked blankly, "A Qiu, have you been outside all these years?"
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