The Zhenbei Prince's Mansion was tidied up and made to shine by the ladies of the Fengyue Tower. In particular, Lu Feigong drew circles on the map, preparing to build another secret room for Cen Ang.
"This courtyard is really big, it's three times the size of our Fengyue Tower," Ping'er exclaimed, looking at the courtyard.
"That's right. Luckily, there are a lot of us, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to handle it."
"This time, unlike in the building, everyone's scrambling to do the work, right?" Liu Xu teased as she walked over.
"It's alright, at least it makes us sisters not feel like we're just sitting around doing nothing."
The young lady, with her delicate peach and plum blossoms, looked exceptionally beautiful against the backdrop of the courtyard full of flowers. If it weren't for Doctor Gu and Miao Cuifang, the group from Fengyue Tower would probably have pulled up all the flowers in the courtyard.
"I think these flowers are mutually reinforcing and mutually destructive, and smelling them too much will definitely be bad for your health," Ping'er said, holding a broom as she entered the house to sweep the courtyard.
"What? How come I didn't know you've been reading medical books lately? How did you find out? What did the medical books say? Which flowers smell bad when mixed together?" Huan Lü, who had a Jiangnan charm, spoke in a border town dialect that was completely out of place with her face.
"I didn't see it," Ping'er said matter-of-factly.
"Didn't you see how certain you were?" Huanlu laughed in exasperation.
"Just a guess. I knew they had bad intentions." The young woman raised an eyebrow and gestured.
It wasn't until Doctor Gu came out and took a look around that the group of girls felt relieved.
“We really don’t have enough people. We’ll probably need to hire more staff in the manor later,” Zhihua said to Liuxu.
"However, the palace will probably send some people over, and then... things won't be so peaceful."
"You mean they'll send spies over?" Liu Xu asked.
“Yes, as a prince, according to the system of the Great Yan, Long’er should have thirty-three palace maids and eunuchs added to the palace, and the rest are our own people.”
Upon hearing this, the girls at the brothel frowned, finding the situation difficult.
If even your own place isn't safe, and you live in constant fear, it's incredibly frustrating.
"Right now, it all depends on our mother."
Phoenix Palace
"If Her Majesty the Empress is unwell, she can summon Long'er's close friend to come and take a look. The child is named Xiangxiang. She and Long'er have been playing together since childhood. She is very skilled in medicine. She was the first to compose a prescription for the plague in the border town."
He Yi wanted to get both Li Jian and Xiang Xiang in front of the Empress so that more people would speak on their behalf, making their career paths easier.
The empress nodded, and the phoenix crown hairpin on her head swayed a few times with her nod.
"I have an old health problem. If she's not busy, she can bring her over next time to help me take a look."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Suddenly, a maidservant approached the Empress and whispered a few words to her. The Empress frowned, waved her away, and then Wei Shuyi looked at Cen Ang and spoke.
“Aunt Cen, you know the rules in the palace. The Empress Dowager has already chosen a maid for you at the Prince’s residence…”
"Your Majesty, you may not know this, but our Tingche has a strange illness. When he sees unfamiliar people, he gets red bumps all over his body and also has a fever. His yin and yang are out of balance, and his body's defenses are weak. This is especially true when he sees strange women. I appreciate Your Majesty's concern, but... we can't push Tingche to the brink of death, don't you think?"
The Empress was speechless at this explanation. Indeed, even the Empress Dowager couldn't push someone to the brink of death.
Didn't you see that they were all sitting in carriages when they went to the capital?
"That eunuch..."
Eunuchs in the palace usually do manual labor, so the Empress Dowager never intended to send eunuchs to the Prince's Palace. She thought they could just send more people when they bought people from the brokerage.
The palace maids have already been dealt with, so it would be excessive to add more people to the eunuchs' list.
Nobody is a fool. The Prince of Zhenbei has just arrived in the capital, and no one knows her true strength and cunning.
These thirty-three girls were merely testing the waters.
"Please trouble Your Majesty to send an aunt to help me choose," Cen Ang said, rising and bowing.
There must be someone from the palace in the mansion, otherwise the emperor will not feel at ease, nor will the empress dowager.
Burning the imperial edict at the palace gate today is an act of utter disrespect, and refusing the palace maids prepared by the Empress Dowager is also quite a justification. Everyone should refrain from going too far.
"Alright, as you wish," the Empress nodded.
She summoned someone to take Cen Ang to the courtyard where the eunuchs lived. Xiao Lanhua asked Qing Song to see off the group from Fengyue Tower, and then she went with Cen Ang, fearing that this former palace aunt had been bullied.
"Things are different now, please take care, Aunt." Before the group parted, Xiao Lanhua stood up and said to Cen Ang.
She was telling Cen Ang to be careful and choose his people wisely, as most people in the palace were currently under the Empress Dowager's control.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness," Cen Ang returned the greeting.
The red walls and green willows are as they were at first sight, but the old friends have vanished, and dreams of wealth and glory have faded away.
The cobblestone path, the red walls surrounding it, and the willow branches swaying in the wind made it hard for Cen Ang to distinguish between them.
I've walked this road thousands of times.
She was a little disoriented about her age; it was as if the girl who taught her to laugh when she was a teenager was still there.
"Meow." A cat's meow came from the side and behind.
This sound.
Cen Ang stopped, his eyes stinging. The woman turned around and saw a small, pure white kitten.
Oh, no.
It must be an old cat.
"Snowball?"
"Meow."
"How come you've gotten so old?"
Back then, Snowball was a bit chubby, with bright, piercing eyes and shiny fur.
Now, although he is still just as fat, his body hair and beard are visibly somewhat messy.
She opened her arms, waiting for the kitten to jump into her lap as it had before, but this time it didn't. Snowball meowed at her a few more times, then turned and ran away.
"Snowball?"
Cen Ang immediately chased after her, and her aunt, who had been leading the way, hurriedly followed.
There are many noble people in this palace, and this ancestor is not someone to be trifled with. If things go wrong, the Empress Dowager might have to personally intervene to uphold justice.
I don't know how someone in their forties can run so fast.
The kitten jumped into a courtyard and stopped, sitting in the middle of the courtyard, staring blankly at Cen Ang. The slanting sunlight after the rain shone on it, and its silhouette was reflected on the bluestone slabs.
"Little Snowball, where have you run off to play again? Don't let anyone who knows you catch you."
His voice was somewhat soft; he was an old eunuch dressed in a palace attendant's robe. His full head of white hair could not hide the eagle eyes beneath his brows, and his high nose bridge made him look particularly fierce, yet the words he spoke were somewhat gentle.
"Oh dear, Snowball just went out for a stroll, it's nothing, look, she's back now, you old geezer."
If Huo Xiaolong were here and saw this scene, he would definitely pull the little girl aside and say: "I think this eunuch looks like the kind of villain who plots to usurp the throne and uses the emperor as a puppet. He doesn't look like a good person at all."
The courtyard was rather desolate, with weeds everywhere and holes in the roof that allowed sunlight to stream into the rooms.
The old eunuch was sitting in a rocking chair in the room, drinking tea and talking to the eunuch next to him with his eyes half-closed.
Upon seeing the person inside, Cen Ang suppressed the urge to cry and then called out...
"Godfather, I'm back."
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