With her worries gone, Yan Ning felt at ease. After a few hours of light sleep, she got up early because of her plans to go to the palace.
Fukang'an was away all night due to matters at the military camp. Just as Yan Ning left the mansion, Zhao Xing rushed back to deliver a message.
Zhao Xing's honest and solemn face was stern. "The general said, 'The closest and the farthest are east and west, the deepest and the shallowest are clear streams, the highest and the brightest are the sun and moon, the closest and the most distant are husband and wife.'" A sentence full of affection came out of his mouth like the striking of a bell.
After reciting the words, Zhao Xing scratched his head, which was covered by a hat. He didn't know the meaning of those words, but he had memorized them. He was afraid of forgetting them along the way, so he didn't dare to move his face, for fear that he would forget them if he did.
Under the cold moonlight, Yan Ning burst out laughing at Zhao Xing's expression, but along the way, she felt warmed by the words that Fu Kang'an had delivered at breakneck speed.
Seeing Gao E's vermilion palace walls again, what was once a desolate palace now seemed to Yan Ning to be filled with hidden arrows. These arrows, sharpened from icicles, once pierced, would dissolve into her very bones and blood. That kind of heart-wrenching sorrow would forever haunt her.
The Cining Palace was still filled with groups of palace maids and eunuchs moving about in the corridors and halls. The palace’s splendor and the gentle words of the palace servants could not dispel her fear of this place.
When Yan Ning followed Granny Zhuang into the Empress Dowager's bedchamber, Wu Chun was chatting with the Empress Dowager to pass the time. Wu Chun came from a brothel and had been shrewd and charming since childhood. With her clever and obedient nature, she made the Empress Dowager smile after just a few words. But beneath that smile, Yan Ning saw the hidden court politics.
When Wu Chun saw Yan Ning, a relieved smile appeared on her face. She was just a courtesan, her life spent praying day and night, never even having the right to gaze upon the palace gates. Now, however, she resided in the Empress Dowager's palace, a privilege that had long since erased the bewilderment she felt when she was first brought there.
Just as Yan Ning settled into the round wooden chair next to Wu Chun, a palace maid dressed in a light purple dress brought in a bowl of soup. "Your Majesty, it's time for Concubine An to drink her medicine to prevent miscarriage!"
The Empress Dowager nodded, and Wuchun accepted the bowl of soup "medicine" with a smile.
Exhaustion and tension from the journey, coupled with Aunt Li's demeanor and words from yesterday, caused Yan Ning to reach out and knock over the jade bowl of medicine in Wu Chun's hand.
After the sound of the jade bowl shattering on the ground ended, the bedchamber fell silent.
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