Chapter 14: She Did Nothing Wrong

Only after Song Ren finished the pastries did the Empress Dowager turn her gaze back to Jiang Jin.

Her calm yet powerful eyes lingered on Jiang Jin’s face for quite some time before she finally waved her hand. “You may leave. This old one needs to rest.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Auntie Meng approached Jiang Jin. “Third Miss Jiang, allow me to escort you.”

Jiang Jin nodded and obediently followed Auntie Meng out.

It wasn’t until she reunited with Furong and left Cining Palace that Jiang Jin dared to release the breath she had been holding.

Earlier, the Empress Dowager’s eyes had been filled with an indescribable meaning she couldn’t comprehend.

Jiang Jin didn’t dare dwell on it. She took Furong’s hand and lowered her gaze.

Furong didn’t know what Jiang Jin had experienced inside the hall, but she could tell Jiang Jin’s mood seemed rather low. Concerned, she looked at Jiang Jin, intending to ask something, but as she lifted her gaze, she suddenly noticed a bird perched on a tree branch.

The bird was entirely snow-white, its feathers smooth and glossy—clearly well cared for.

Furong quickly realized they were in the palace, not the Jiang residence. Even if she had countless questions, she couldn’t voice them.

Although Jiang Jin didn’t notice Furong’s change in mood, when she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the light, she also caught sight of the bird.

In that instant, Jiang Jin recalled what she had heard in her previous life.

There was a consort in the palace whose ancestors had been animal trainers. It was said this consort had inherited her ancestors’ traits and could communicate with most animals.

This consort particularly favored birds and kept several species in the palace, but she often allowed them to roam freely, never confining them…

At this thought, Jiang Jin’s eyes widened in realization.

What did it matter whether they were free or not? This bird had been following them all along—it wasn’t because it found them interesting, but more likely… it was spying on them!

The Empress Dowager’s sudden summons had not only surprised the Jiang household but also many in the palace.

After all, she wasn’t well-known among the noble daughters of the capital; many probably hadn’t even heard of her.

Yet it was precisely such an inconspicuous person who had received a summons from the Empress Dowager… Whether the summons was for good or ill, others would undoubtedly be curious!

Especially since she had just been personally escorted out of Cining Palace by Auntie Meng, the Empress Dowager’s trusted attendant.

Moreover, as she left, she had been given a tin of tea that the Empress Dowager had just received.

Jiang Jin suddenly felt that the path ahead… might not be easy to tread!

Sure enough, as they reached a corner, the palace maid leading the way suddenly stopped.

“In broad daylight, why must you cry and make a scene here!” the maid scolded angrily, gesturing for someone to drive away the softly weeping figure.

Jiang Jin stood still. Though she heard the sobbing, she kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, pretending not to notice.

Unexpectedly, the next moment, the young palace maid who had been crouching in the corner nimbly dodged the two people trying to seize her and rushed directly in front of Jiang Jin.

With a thud, she knelt down.

Seeing this, Jiang Jin frowned.

She glanced toward the palace maid from Cining Palace, who gave her a reassuring look.

Relieved, Jiang Jin unconsciously let out a sigh.

The palace maid stepped forward, blocking the kneeling figure’s line of sight.

She glared fiercely at the person on the ground. “Speak! Who sent you here?”

“Auntie Huairou.” The little palace maid seemed frightened by Auntie Huairou’s voice. She shrank her neck and replied tremblingly, “I am wronged, I am just a lowly palace maid from the Shangshi Bureau. I was just wronged by our Sishan, and I was so aggrieved and scared that I hid here to cry.”

Auntie Huairou snorted coldly, “Do you think I am blind?”

“Someone, take her back to the Shangshi Bureau and hand her over to Liu Shangshi for proper instruction. She doesn’t look like a newly entered young girl, yet she has been taught to be so ignorant of the rules!”

After she finished speaking, the little palace maid actually bypassed her and called out to Jiang Jin behind her, “Noble lady, please save me! I am wronged!”

“I cannot be sent back, Liu Shangshi will not spare me!”

Jiang Jin looked at those panicked and somewhat desperate eyes, her fingers tightly digging into her palm.

This look… she was all too familiar with it!

In the past, she had shown countless such looks herself.

Back then, isolated and helpless in the Yong’an Marquis Mansion, she was framed, wronged, and punished… At that time, she was just like this little palace maid, kneeling helplessly before the Marquis and the Marchioness.

They did not believe her, only blaming her relentlessly.

Later, she went to beg her brother-in-law, Song Linyuan.

But even though he had just returned from outside the mansion and knew nothing about the situation, he did not hesitate for a moment. He merely forcefully pried her hands away and coldly said, “Let Mother handle it as she sees fit!”

That time, she was locked up for a full half month.

If it weren’t for a banquet later that required the presence of the “Shizi Furen,” she would have remained locked in that pitch-black room…

Thinking of the past, Jiang Jin’s hand clenched even tighter.

The skin and flesh of her palm were scraped raw by her fingernails.

But it was this pain that slowly dispelled her anger, and she regained her composure.

She silently watched as the little palace maid was taken away, not uttering a word.

Yet the anger and resentment in the palace maid’s eyes as she was led away were vividly imprinted in Jiang Jin’s eyes and heart.

Auntie Huairou turned around at the right moment and asked, “Were you frightened just now, Miss Jiang the Third?”

Jiang Jin forced a smile and shook her head.

Auntie Huairou nodded, walking as she spoke, “There are too many people in the palace, and everyone has their own selfish motives. No matter how many rules are set to restrain them, there will always be some who slip through the net!”

“You must know, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager values rules above all. That palace maid saw me, recognized my identity, yet still stubbornly persisted.”

“What do you think she was after?”

Auntie Huairou stopped there, not needing Jiang Jin’s answer.

She smiled again and said, “The carriage is waiting at the Meridian Gate. I have already arranged everything, so you may go directly.”

Jiang Jin nodded, “Thank you for your guidance, Auntie.”

…

After Jiang Jin boarded the carriage, the suppressed tension and fear from earlier surged back.

Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her body trembled slightly.

Although she knew Auntie Huairou’s words were correct—the little palace maid’s intentions were impure from the start, and if she had responded, she would have been implicated herself!

For the sake of her own safety, her actions were not wrong.

But that look was too deeply etched in her mind. By abandoning that little palace maid, was she, to some extent—also abandoning her past self, trapped in dire straits?

Jiang Jin dared not think further. She closed her eyes in agony, trying to banish that gaze from her mind, but the more she did so, the clearer and more profound it became!

“Miss, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Furong leaned in, noticing the tears at the corner of Jiang Jin’s eyes, and picked up a handkerchief to wipe them away.

But as she touched Jiang Jin’s face, she clearly felt the trembling of her body.

Furong panicked instantly, “Miss, please don’t scare me!”