Chapter 2

Episode 2 Before Ye Qiansi could think any further, she heard someone calling her from a distance. “Qiansi, something has happened! Aunt Chen and Aunt Han are both waiting for you. Hurry and come with me!” Ye Qiansi turned toward the voice and saw Xizhu. Xizhu worked under Aunt Chen, the chief officer of the Department of Justice. The other person mentioned was also, like Ye Qiansi, one of the senior palace maids in the department. With both of them appearing together, something serious must have happened. Without having time to think, Ye Qiansi hurriedly bowed to the man behind her. “Thank you, my lord, for helping me just now. I have something urgent to attend to, so I shall take my leave first.” With that, Ye Qiansi hurried away. Yet the man's handsome figure remained circling endlessly in her mind. Ye Qiansi followed Xizhu all the way to the Laundry Bureau. All the palace maids in the Laundry Bureau had already been evacuated. Only people from the Department of Justice and the two matrons in charge of the Laundry Bureau remained. “Qiansi, come quickly and see what happened.” The moment Aunt Chen saw Ye Qiansi, she hurriedly waved her over. Ye Qiansi stepped forward and immediately saw a corpse lying beside an ancient well. The body had been soaked in water for quite some time, leaving its face completely disfigured. Judging from its condition, the corpse had been there for a while. The clothes it wore were from the previous style of palace uniform. Half a month earlier, the palace had issued new uniforms to all the palace maids. In other words, this woman had been dead for at least half a month. Ye Qiansi frowned and asked the matron in charge of the Laundry Bureau, “Has the Laundry Bureau had any palace maids missing for more than half a month?” The two matrons thought for a moment before shaking their heads together. “I've already sent Xizhu to check the missing-person lists from the other palaces. We should have an answer soon.” Aunt Chen's expression grew even more solemn. If this wasn't a maid from the Laundry Bureau, why had she drowned on the Laundry Bureau's grounds? “What happened?” A deep voice suddenly came from the entrance, breaking the silence. Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a figure dressed in pale moon-white robes standing at the doorway. There was something distinctive about the man's presence. Simply standing there was enough to make everyone feel an invisible pressure. Ye Qiansi turned around as well. To her surprise, the newcomer was the same man she had encountered earlier in the Imperial Garden. “Your servant pays respects to the Left Chancellor.” Aunt Chen was the first to react. She was also the only person present who had met Wei Chan before. Upon hearing her address him as the Left Chancellor, Ye Qiansi hurriedly bowed along with everyone else. Wei Chan's gaze swept over the group before finally settling on Ye Qiansi. His eyes gradually darkened with emotion. After a moment, he quietly said, “You may rise.” He then walked over to Ye Qiansi and, without drawing attention to it, positioned himself in front of her, blocking her view of the gruesome corpse on the ground. Ye Qiansi was slightly stunned. She simply stared blankly at the man standing before her. Wei Chan asked in a deep voice, “Have you searched the body for anything that could identify her?” Wei Chan lowered his eyes toward Ye Qiansi. Ye Qiansi instinctively shook her head. Seeing the absent-minded expression on her face, a trace of amusement appeared in Wei Chan's eyes. He picked up a dead branch and skillfully used it to move aside the corpse's outer clothing. Beneath the uniform, a damaged jade pendant had been sewn into the inner lining. The instant Ye Qiansi saw the pendant, darkness once again swept over her mind. “Hey, I say, Big Strong Yanlang, can't you stop looking so stern all the time?” “Eh? Is this jade pendant for me?” “I never said I didn't like it. Since you've given it to me, it's mine now. Give it back to me!” The cheerful scene suddenly changed. Towering flames swallowed everything—the laughter, the happiness, everything. Then Ye Qiansi heard a voice screaming inside her mind. “Where's the jade pendant?” “Where's my jade pendant?” “No! I have to go back and find my jade pendant! Let me go!” “Why?” Chaos, noise, and cries of anguish surged through Ye Qiansi's mind, churning it as though someone were stirring her brain into a paste. A blurred face appeared in the darkness, hidden behind layers of mist. The moment Ye Qiansi saw that face, a sharp pain suddenly twisted through her heart. She felt as though she were about to die. No. What she was experiencing now was even worse than death. Fine beads of sweat slid down her forehead. She bit her lower lip tightly, her face as pale as paper. Her body went limp and began to collapse. Once again, someone caught her firmly and pulled her into his arms. No one knew how much time had passed before the unbearable pain finally began to fade. Little by little, she regained consciousness. Sweat clung to her eyelashes, making everything before her eyes hazy. Eventually, her vision cleared. And then, miraculously, the face before her overlapped with the blurred face she had seen in her memories. Just as Ye Qiansi was about to ask what was going on, a commotion suddenly erupted at the entrance of the Laundry Bureau. “By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor hereby decrees—” “Ye Qiansi, Chief Officer of the Department of Justice, has conducted herself with distinction and served as a model for the entire palace.” “Therefore, she is hereby specially appointed as a First-Rank Palace Lady, granting her authority equal to that of the Empress and ordering her to assist in managing the affairs of the Six Palaces.” “Thus decreed!” The gleaming imperial decree was handed to Ye Qiansi by the eunuch who had come to deliver it. Everyone was utterly stunned. A mere chief palace maid from the Department of Justice had actually been promoted directly by the Emperor to a Palace Lady of the highest rank. That was First Rank—the highest level of female official—and someone who could assist the Empress in managing the imperial harem. Everyone in the palace knew that the Empress had been increasingly out of favor. Now, the Emperor had directly stripped her of half her authority. Could it be that the Emperor truly intended to depose the Empress? “Chief Ye, why are you still standing there? Hurry and accept the decree and give thanks!” Only after accepting the imperial decree did Ye Qiansi finally come out of her daze. What exactly was happening? For some reason, when she was bewildered, the first person she instinctively looked toward was Wei Chan. Wei Chan's expression, however, had become unusually grave. Beneath his broad sleeves, his hands slowly clenched into fists. Even he had recognized the dead woman's identity. How could Yuan Chengyi possibly not know? After all, the person everyone was looking for had been living right under his nose for the past two years.