Three days later, Tian Yu bumped into a young eunuch while walking in the palace. The young eunuch was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy. Tian Yu pulled him up and said, "It's alright, get up."
The eunuch slipped a note to Tian Yu, who smiled and let him leave without surprise. Back in her room, Tian Yu learned that Qiu Xue had written to her, and that Qiu Xue had safely left the capital. She felt her efforts hadn't been in vain; Qiu Xue had only asked Li Xingyun for medicine to fake her death and escape the palace quickly by using the Empress's death as a pretext. As for what happened next, Qiu Xue said she had her own methods, so Tian Yu didn't ask further. After all, a princess should have some ability. As for how she escaped from the coffin, Tian Yu wasn't curious at all, because there were countless ways. The journey from the palace to Huangling was long, and anything could happen, especially given the bad weather that day.
The Third Princess took Xiao Qi to the temple to observe mourning for the Empress. Everyone was reluctant to see her go, but the princess still left. It was unknown when she would return. Li Xingyun originally wanted to go with her, but the Emperor fell ill again, and he had just become an imperial physician and still needed to work hard.
Because of the Empress's sudden passing, the marriage between the Crown Prince and Tian Yu had to be temporarily put on hold. The Princess also had to observe mourning for the time being and was not considering marriage. However, the Emperor had already given his approval.
The Emperor decreed that the entire nation observe mourning for the Empress, and all entertainment activities be suspended for seven days. The only cause for celebration was that Zhao Moyan had successfully arrived at the border and won his first battle, bringing joy once again to the court and the public.
Ever since she saw the way Consort Li and the Crown Prince looked at each other that day, and with Qiu Xue's last words to her, Tian Yu couldn't let go of the feeling that there was something going on between them. That day, Tian Yu was mixing perfume in her room. This time, she added Chinese medicine to the perfume, making the scent a bit special, but the fragrance lasted longer.
Just as she finished mixing, the Crown Prince entered, snatched the bottle from Tian Yu's hand, and asked, "What is this?"
"I just made this perfume. The prince wouldn't like something from a woman's body. Please give it back to me."
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince tossed the bottle to Tian Yu. Tian Yu missed it and the perfume spilled out. She wiped it with a handkerchief, and the Crown Prince leaned closer to smell it. Tian Yu then deliberately spilled the perfume again, this time on the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince angrily dusted himself off and left.
Tian Yu hadn't taken it seriously at first, but the next day when she went to Consort Li's quarters, she faintly smelled the perfume on Consort Li. She had only intended to try it, but when Consort Li helped her up, Tian Yu was certain it was the perfume she had created. Although it was very faint, almost undetectable unless one was paying close attention, and Consort Li was wearing other scents that masked it, Tian Yu couldn't be mistaken for that distinctive herbal fragrance. She had just finished blending this perfume the day before; besides herself, only the Crown Prince had smelled it yesterday.
After leaving Consort Li's quarters in a daze, Tian Yu walked through the palace absentmindedly, not even noticing the three princes approaching from the opposite direction. It was only when Prince Wu reached out to stop her that Tian Yu looked up and saw that it was the three princes. She quickly bowed and greeted them. The Sixth Prince smiled and said, "What are you thinking about, Mr. Tian? You are so engrossed that you can't even see the three of us."
"I wasn't thinking anything. What brings you princes here?"
"The Emperor has summoned us to the palace. I heard there's news of battle at the front. It seems our Marquis of Zhenbei has won another victory," said the Third Prince.
“Indeed! Ever since the Marquis took command of the troops, the war in the north has immediately turned around. It’s a pity that I couldn’t witness the scene myself,” said the Sixth Prince.
"Everything is fine in the north," said Prince Wu.
Tian Yu smiled and said, "That's good, that's good. What about the Crown Prince?"
"The Crown Prince should already be with the Emperor."
"Then you should go quickly!"
After parting ways with them, Tian Yu hurriedly ate lunch and slipped back into the records room. This time, she directly retrieved the records about the concubines in the harem, which detailed their backgrounds and promotions. After quickly reading through them, Tian Yu was speechless with surprise, completely stunned. She then pulled out the previous record about the Crown Prince and carefully compared it. Just then, someone entered from outside. Judging from the voice, Tian Yu knew that the Emperor and Consort Li were there, along with the Crown Prince and several princes. Tian Yu frantically looked around, realizing there was nowhere to hide. What should she do? Although she could come here, she needed the Emperor's permission to enter and read the records. She would surely be punished for trespassing!
A large group of people entered from outside the door. They saw Tian Yu leaning against the bookshelf, engrossed in reading a book. Tian Yu pretended to have just heard the noise and suddenly looked up, asking everyone with a puzzled expression, "What's wrong? What happened?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a palace maid from Li Weiwei's palace secretly leaving from behind. Tian Yu immediately knelt down and bowed as if she had just seen the emperor.
"Tian Yu, you entered the secret room without permission, what is your punishment?" the Emperor said.
"Where is this place?" Tian Yu asked instead of answering.
"The Records Room is where my royal family records events large and small and where we store books," the Crown Prince said.
"Since it's a room for recording things and has so many good books, why don't you let people in to look at them?" Tian Yu asked everyone curiously.
"Everyone in the palace knows that no one may enter without the Emperor's permission," the Crown Prince reminded him again.
"How did you get in?" the Emperor asked.
"They came in after opening the door."
"Where did the key come from?"
“No key is needed, a hairpin will do the trick,” Tian Yu readily admitted, not wanting to implicate anyone else.
So you're admitting you were wrong?
“I did nothing wrong! If I did anything wrong, it was because I came in without permission. But this is the Secretariat, and these things are written here for people to see. Besides, His Majesty has collected so many good books. I was just in a hurry and came in without asking His Majesty’s permission.”
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