Chapter 2: The Imperial Palace is full of weirdos

  "She's indeed a strange girl." Putting down the things in her hand, Feng Changqing's mouth corners rose into a good-looking arc as she took a sip of hot tea.

  Ning Fu saw Feng Changqing's good mood and continued, "What about the Emperor and Empress?"

  "With such a narrow vision and petty mind, what else can I say to her?" The tone was extremely impatient, clearly not wanting to continue the topic. With a wave of his hand, "I don't want to see her for a month."

  Understood Feng Changqing's thoughts, and also pondered that red snow beauty, although never been summoned before, but was actually so concerned by the emperor, truly not to be underestimated.

  "Yes, I will withdraw."

  Waiting for Ning Fu to leave, Feng Changqing finally relaxed his tightly furrowed brow, if only he had let her live a bit closer to him from the start.

  However, Zilin was worried about one thing, which was how to get close to the Empress Dowager.

  Fortunately, there was no queen's position. According to the rules here, they only need to pay their respects to Xiao Ran every three days, and the rest of the time they can stay in their own palace or serve the emperor.

  Of course, she knew that Feng Changqing would not dote on her.

  "Miss, hold a thermos, be careful not to freeze your hands." Lüzhú handed a thermos to Qílín, then squatted down beside her and said softly, "Jǐnyú and the others have indeed become more obedient, but they don't take very good care of you either, Miss."

  Qilin patted the dust off her skirt and looked at Bing'er and Xiner, who were sweeping the floor. She said nonchalantly, "In the past, didn't the young ladies-in-waiting also not attend to me personally? Now that the place has expanded a bit, you are still my personal palace maid, which is enough."

  Green bamboo opened its mouth, but couldn't say what it was thinking in its heart, and had no choice but to lower its head.

  Unexpectedly, Qi Lin grasped her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. She was slightly stunned, somewhat excited, just about to speak when Qi Lin pressed down on her shoulder, looking at Qi Lin smiling and shaking his head, she felt some surprise.

  "Ji Yu Auntie." Seeing Ji Yu walking over with a smile on her face, Qi Lin called out to her.

  Jing Yu paused for a moment, composed her smile, and walked over to curtsy, saying "Young Master, what are your orders?"

  "No orders, actually. The weather is nice today, go to the house and help me get that white jade hairpin for me to wear. I'm going out for a walk." As she spoke, Qilin was playing with her silk handkerchief, but carefully observing Jin Yu's expression. Sure enough, she saw that Jin Yu looked a bit flustered, and smiled slightly "What's wrong?"

  Jing Yu tightly grasped the sleeve, awkwardly twitched the corner of her mouth, and stuttered "Young Master, do you have a white jade hairpin? I...I don't know?"

  "How dare you?!" Green Bamboo suddenly stood up, in a high-pitched voice, looking down at Jinyu and said "That was bestowed by the Emperor himself, are you questioning the Emperor?"

  As soon as she heard it was a gift from the Emperor, Jin Yu's face turned white in an instant. How could she not recognize that hairpin? It's just that the hairpin wasn't in the house, but on her body. Because Qilin usually doesn't dress herself up, so she thought she wouldn't care about these things. Who would have known??? That it was actually a gift from the Emperor.

  "What's wrong? Don't you hurry up and go get it for the young master?"

  She felt even more guilty after being spoken to by Qing Zhu, and she actually lowered her head, with sweat all over her palms.

  Qilin knew that it was just an ordinary white jade hairpin, not the one sent by Feng Changqing. It seemed that someone close to her had some misunderstanding and took some of them away a few days ago.

  "Never mind, I must have remembered it wrong." Putting down the soup bowl, she got up and went to play with a nearby potted plant. Seeing Jin Yu slightly relieved, she suddenly spoke in an extremely loud voice, "However, all of you listen carefully to what Ben Gong has to say."

  Everyone quickly knelt down, and those with guilty consciences naturally couldn't escape Qilin's eyes.

  "This humble abode of mine may be small, but it has given birth to mice. I grew up in a poor household from a young age and didn't learn much else, but I did learn how to deal with mice." Her gaze swept over the kneeling figures as she continued, "Do you know what I did when I found out there were mice in the warehouse?"

  Everyone was quiet on the surface, but their hearts were uneasy.

  "This palace will burn that place to ashes." After a slight pause, she continued, "The mice that escaped, this palace caught them, tied them up and let them starve to death."

  At this point, Jill's stomach felt a pang of discomfort. She was most afraid of mice. Normally, she would scream and not dare to go back when she saw one, but she covered it up very well.

  Using Wu Zetian's technique of taming a horse, first coax it, if it doesn't listen, then hit it, and if it still doesn't listen, kill it.

  Unfortunately, she doesn't kill people.

  But she can be intimidating.

  "You say, will this palace be satisfied with what I've done?" Smiling as she looked at the crowd, except for Qing Zhu, everyone else seemed to be getting restless, so she continued "However, this palace isn't one to not give rats a chance, if the rats behave themselves and don't cause trouble, this palace can still let them off."

  "The young master is kind and generous." Those who heard this sentence quickly knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude.

  Jing Yu glanced at Qi Lin quietly, coincidentally meeting Qi Lin's gaze. This time she didn't lower her head, and instead felt a hint of respect in her heart.

  "I'm tired, you all go down." She casually found an excuse and walked into the inner house with the support of Green Bamboo.

  "Master, this move is really formidable." I knew before that Qilin's thoughts were meticulous and her words were astonishing. After entering the palace, almost everyone saw it, but she was more and more admired.

  "Alright, you go rest too, I want to read for a while."

  Lu Zhú didn't say much either, and after bowing, he went down.

  The green bamboo was trampled down, and the people outside walked in, slowly kneeling down.

  "The slave greets the young master."

  She glanced at Jinyu and casually said "relax" before returning her attention to the book.

  Jianlin didn't ask anything, and Jinyu couldn't bear it anymore. She took out a hairpin from her sleeve and buried her head even lower.

  "Didn't I tell you not to?"

  "Little master." Jingyu knew she was ashamed in her heart, so she knocked a few heads and continued, "Reporting to the little master, some days ago, my sister contracted pneumonia and couldn't recover from it for a long time. I heard that there is an ancient prescription among the people, but it's hard to find, so I had no choice but to... Little master, please punish me."

  Her eyes narrowed, and she had thought that Jin Yu was still resentful about the few words she had said to her a while back, but she hadn't expected there to be more to it than that. However, she didn't plan on completely believing it.

  In the imperial palace, don't trust anyone.

  These were Elmwood's last words in his letter.

  Looking at Jin Yu, Qilin closed the book and said softly, "If that step can save a life, then I have accumulated virtue. In that case, you have helped me do a good deed."

  Jingyu slightly raised her head, only to see Qilin calmly looking at her with a smile on his face. She buried her head in the ground again.

  "It's about time you got up."

  She was taken aback for a moment, thinking that kneeling down wasn't an option either, so she got up and said "Thank you, young master."

  "Go ahead, I'm going to rest for a while." Not wanting to continue talking, she casually found an excuse. However, Jin Yu held the hairpin and shook her head slightly, smiling faintly as she said, "That cheap thing, I'll give it to you. Also, go to the warehouse and take some silver coins with you, consider it a small token of appreciation from me, this unfavored mistress, to all of you."

  She lay down and closed her eyes as if sleeping before Jingyu could even react.

  She felt Jingyu kneel down and leave, then slowly opened her eyes. The surroundings were quiet, and she could only hear the sound of her own breathing. She lifted her legs freely and swung them back and forth, then rolled around continuously on the big bed.

  The body that had been tense all day finally got a good stretch, it feels so comfortable.

  "Cough cough."

  Qilin was stunned, her legs still swinging in mid-air, and she turned around stiffly.

  "It seems that I have come at the wrong time." Despite suppressing his urge to laugh, he couldn't help but curve up the corners of his mouth as he gazed at Qilin's petrified figure, leaning against a nearby pillar.

  Finally, after being petrified for over a dozen seconds, Qilin rolled off the bed with a beautiful posture. The crowd waiting outside the door was shocked, but since Feng Changqing had said not to enter, they could only give up.

  Squat down and stretch out your hand to poke Qilin's back, saying "How long are you going to lie there?"

  Upon hearing this, Zilin suddenly scrambled to her knees, still on the ground, and frantically scratched her hair, saying "Your concubine did not know that Your Majesty had arrived, and failed to go out of the palace gate to welcome the imperial carriage. I beg for Your Majesty's pardon."

  After a few seconds, she still didn't get Feng Changqing's response. Qi Lin was somewhat curious, but when she raised her eyes, she heard Feng Changqing's loud laughter.

  "Haha, oh man... *guffaws*!" Feng Changqing laughed exaggeratedly, even holding his stomach.

  Qilin was very curious about Feng Changqing's smile, could it be a prelude to killing her?

  "Beloved concubine, are you inviting me?" As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Qilin's neckline, where the collar was open, revealing a tantalizing glimpse that made him want to look further.

  Qilin was taken aback at first, then shifted her gaze to her neckline. When she realized what had happened, she quickly wrapped her arms around her chest, blushing bright red, and turned around to hastily put on her clothes.

  Feng Changqing's laughter had stopped, but she knew that Feng Changqing must have held back her smile, got dressed and turned around. To her surprise, Feng Changqing was sitting at the desk, sipping tea with an air of nonchalance.

  "How did Your Majesty have the interest to come to my humble abode?" Knowing that Feng Changqing was not angry, she herself was furious, walking over and sitting down saying "Without even letting people know beforehand."

  "I've come to my own harem, do I need to report to anyone else?" Not minding Qi Lin's informality at all, she sipped her tea on her own "The tea here is the same as the one in Zui Hua Lou, it seems you have a good relationship with that Yu Mu."

  Huh? Does he know about Yumu? Well, yes, he's had Yumu tea before, so it's natural that he'd remember.

  "What brings you here this time?" She naturally wouldn't think that Feng Changqing was there for her, nor would she think he was just passing by. As she raised her eyes, she happened to see a red mark on the collar of Feng Changqing's clothes, which seemed to be left by some woman.

  Lowering his head in shame, he averted his gaze, and chuckled: "The emperor's life is indeed... rich."

  Drinking tea calmly and waiting for Feng Changqing's words.

  Ran Feng Changqing was quietly drinking tea, he seemed to be more and more enjoying this feeling of freedom, and it could only be done here at Qi Lin's place.

  "This is the blueprint of Chang Le Palace, I've marked out a route for you where you can move freely without being disturbed by others." He took out the prepared blueprint from his bosom and continued, "Although I'm giving this to you, you must remember that these paths are full of mechanisms, if you're not careful, you'll end up buried within them."

  Mechanism? Qilin paused, is there a mechanism inside? It's true, she had found an explanation for the strangest thing she felt from the moment she entered until now. By the ninth floor, it seemed that very few people saw the Imperial Guards, only Feng Changqing was followed by Qin Xiao and a handful of others, all of whom appeared to be high-level experts.

  It turned out to be an organ.

  Damn it, isn't this just like having a head that's always hanging on your shoulders, swaying precariously? And she doesn't even know where the mechanism is, let alone look at the drawings to see if there are any marks or anything, but there's nothing.

  "Something so important, do you think I would tell you?" Seeing Qi Lin's thoughts, Feng Changqing spoke up and said "However, don't worry, as long as you follow these roads, you will be absolutely safe."

  Huh? Why do I have a feeling of being played with?

  "I have an idea."

  "Please go on."

  "It's really fun teasing you."

  "Go die."

  "Hahaha??? You're the first woman who dares to tell me to go die."

  What kind of people are inside the palace?

  This Feng Changqing is absolutely an oddball.

  "Master, are you still thinking about today's events? Green Bamboo is also helpless, it was the Emperor himself..."

  "It's nothing, I'm not angry." But that blueprint, it seems like we'll have to start making preparations from tomorrow. "Green Bamboo, keep an eye on Jinyu for the next few days, she..."

  "She's still a loyal servant, she won't do anything to you."

  Uh? Qilin suddenly closed her outer garment, grabbed the pillow on the bed and threw it backwards.

  However, he was still caught well by that person.

  "How did you end up here?" Isn't this place supposed to be heavily guarded?

  The man smiled slightly at Qilin and said, "I have some knowledge of mechanisms."

  Cheater!

  This is one thing that can rival Feng Changqing.