The sound of a body being dragged across the ground faded into the distance.
They must have left.
Silence returned to the surroundings. Qin Jiujiu emerged from behind the large tree, her shadow stretching long.
Qin Jiujiu looked in the direction the footsteps had gone, but they had already disappeared.
She couldn't see anything.
She had lingered too long in this place. It must have been a eunuch and a palace maid seeking pleasure here, only to be brutally murdered by the ruthless Su Ming.
Su Ming was likely dealing with the bodies by now.
Qin Jiujiu ran in the opposite direction, hurrying back to her own courtyard.
The room appeared empty, shrouded in darkness.
She held out her hand, looking at the bell on her wrist.
She hadn't yet entered the courtyard.
Just as she was about to shake the bell, a person suddenly appeared behind her.
Her hand was grasped from behind.
Startled, the person stepped forward.
“Miss Jiujiu.”
Su Yin appeared behind her.
“Sister Su Yin?” Qin Jiujiu’s breath was unsteady from fear.
Su Yin nodded. Her fair face looked somewhat terrifying in the moonlight, her expression unclear in the dim light.
“The Empress Dowager wishes to see you.”
“Ah?” She was summoned at this late hour?
Su Yin offered no explanation, merely saying, “Follow me.” and then walked ahead.
Qin Jiujiu touched the bell on her wrist, finding some solace in its presence.
“Yes.” She followed closely behind.
“Go in.”
Qin Jiujiu was new to the temple and naturally didn't know that the courtyard before her belonged to the Emperor, not the Noble Consort.
She stood at the entrance and looked inside. The lights were bright.
There was no one at the entrance, likely because it was too late and they had all retired.
Qin Jiujiu broke out in a sweat. A cold wind now snaked in through the gaps, sending a chill through her.
“Go in,” Su Yin reminded her again, a hint of impatience in her tone.
Qin Jiujiu braced herself and walked to the doorway.
She gently pushed the door, which was unlocked and opened easily.
A creak tore through the night.
Qin Jiujiu entered the room and turned to look into the courtyard. Su Yin was half-hidden in the darkness, seemingly staring intently at her.
Compared to her, the brightly lit room offered more peace of mind.
She quickly shut the door, blocking the line of sight.
The figure in the courtyard quickly left.
“Noble Consort?” she ventured, her voice tentative.
She didn't know if it was her imagination, but the room was incredibly quiet, so quiet it felt like no one was inside but her.
Qin Jiujiu continued walking further in. A shadow flashed past the window.
Creak. She turned back. Standing at the doorway was a palace maid she had never seen before.
As the maid moved her fingers, Qin Jiujiu’s vision blurred.
Seeing her faint, the woman quickly stepped forward to support Qin Jiujiu, but she did so with the strength of a grown man, without any apparent effort.
She carried Qin Jiujiu, walking swiftly towards the inner chambers.
A painting hung on the wall, depicting the back of a woman.
The signature read—Yun Yaoyao.
She gently turned the painting. The wall in front of her quickly parted, revealing a stone door.
Qin Jiujiu, with a sliver of consciousness remaining, vaguely saw her surroundings.
Jingle. Just as the woman was supporting her into the stone door, her hand drooped. The bell was bumped and let out a clear sound.
*
“What just flashed by?”
Two guards patrolled near the Emperor’s residence and suddenly saw a dark shadow flash past. But before they could react, the shadow had already vanished.
“Did you see wrong?”
“Really?” There was nothing in the darkness, so the man could only dismiss his doubts, assuming he had indeed mistaken it.
At the same time, Xie Jing had arrived at the Emperor’s chambers.
Clearly, everyone inside had been deliberately sent away.
Xie Jing’s dark face looked out of place in the candlelight. Darkness could conceal the gloom on his face, but it could not hide it in this brightly lit hall.
His gaze shifted, landing on the painting on the wall.
The back of the woman suddenly caught his eye.
Xie Jing’s eyes gradually turned scarlet. At this moment, he felt an inexplicable, intense urge—to destroy…
He approached, staring at the person in the painting.
Yun Yaoyao.
The three words struck him like thunder. Certain scenes flashed in his mind. The back of this person, so familiar yet so strange.
The scene flashed by.
“Ah Jing, be good. This is made by Mother with her own hands. Take it to your father to taste, and ask him not to be angry with Mother, okay?”
The woman in the painting had only a blurred face.
But it inexplicably made his heart ache, and tears fell without him realizing it.
He moved the painting, and indeed, there was a hidden door.
The stone door slowly opened. Xie Jing hid the emotions in his eyes.
Those scenes had repeatedly plagued him since he arrived at the imperial city, as if trying to engulf him. His childhood memories seemed on the verge of reappearing, but each time they stopped abruptly.
He still could not recall that memory.
It was clearly a memory of immense importance to him!
Xie Jing rubbed his temples. They were throbbing severely. A gentle massage seemed to offer some relief.
Xie Jing continued inside, passing through a stone door.
Jingle. Clear bell sounds filled his ears, more than could be produced by a single bell.
The sound seemed to be coming from not far away.
Qin Jiujiu quickly regained consciousness. When she woke, she found herself in a secret chamber.
But this secret chamber was peculiar—it resembled someone’s sleeping quarters.
It was similar to the sleeping chambers she had seen in the imperial palace.
But she clearly remembered that the person who suddenly appeared had led her into a secret chamber, and this was still within the Emperor’s sleeping quarters.
She also remembered the conversation between Su Ming and Noble Consort Ru.
If there were secret chambers in the imperial palace, there would naturally be some in this temple. As for the person in this secret chamber, it could only be Yun Yaoyao.
She woke up on a chaise lounge. Her gaze shifted. Everywhere else in the hall appeared normal, except for the bed.
A figure lay on the bed, but it was clearly not an ordinary bed—it was an ice bed.
Qin Jiujiu got off the chaise lounge and approached the ice bed.
As she neared the ice bed, she could distinctly feel the temperature drop.
Qin Jiujiu glanced from a distance. The person on the ice bed was wearing a striking red gown.
She had seen this gown before, and it left a deep impression.
In Wang Shuyao’s dream, she had seen it several times and could never forget it.
This blood-red gown was the favorite of the former dynasty’s little princess, Yun Yaoyao.
Liu Jin was the first woman she had seen who loved to wear red, but she was vastly different from Yun Yaoyao. Yun Yaoyao’s beauty was utterly enchanting, capable of stealing one’s breath away at a single glance.
That woman seemed to be born with a seductive aura.