Chapter 3 Our World

  "I have some superficial knowledge of officialdom."

  This is what bookworms say, and it's always unreliable.

  Qilin didn't go to see A Piao, half-reclining on the bed looking at the drawings given by Feng Changqing, suddenly thought of something, and abruptly lifted her head, just meeting A Piao's clear black pupils, Qilin furrowed her brow.

  "Where did you come from?" Here in the nine-story palace, layer upon layer of soldiers are guarding, with mechanisms layered on top. "And how did you get here?"

  Did he sneak in from the beginning? But she didn't notice at all. Okay, she wasn't that capable, but there were so many masters around.

  While pondering, her forehead was hit by a sudden slap. Qilin touched her forehead and stared at A Piao, wishing to tear him into several pieces.

  "You think it's easy to get into the Phoenix Palace, where even flies can't fly in? How did I manage to get in?" Qi Lin was quiet when she fell into deep thought, staring at others like she was now. She had already figured out "I have my own way, you should think about how to approach the Empress Dowager instead."

  As they spoke, his gaze fell on the blueprint in Qilin's hand, and the route drawn on it was almost identical to the one he had prepared for Qilin. He didn't expect Feng Changqing to go this far.

  Put down the blueprint and let out a small sigh, still don't quite understand ancient people.

  "So what are you going to do then?" Looking at Qilin's calm face, it seemed that she had thought of something.

  "Getting close to the Empress Dowager is a later matter, the key is how to make her willing to come out." Can't tie her up and bring her out, that's the Empress Dowager, someone Feng Changqing seems to respect greatly, unless she wants to die. "The palace almost changes people every three years, as for those who understand the Empress Dowager, I'm afraid only the Emperor, Prince Zi Yu, and that little prince know."

  Unfortunately, none of these three people were able to give her any leads.

  "What do you want to know about the Empress Dowager?"

  "At least know her thoughts." She hid in that palace, was it the pain of losing a child or the infighting among her children, she couldn't bear to look directly.

  Looking at Qilin's expression, Feng Changqing must have said something.

  "She's just feeling guilty."

  Qilin's eyes widened in surprise, and at this moment, Ah Piao was looking at her. His deep eyes seemed like the black hole of the universe, and a sense of melancholy and desolation spread out, even the flickering candlelight in the house seemed unable to melt the chill in his eyes.

  So, ancient people were really weird.

  She really doesn't understand and doesn't want to make an effort to understand either.

  Ah Piao walked up to Qi Lin, climbed onto her bed without any courtesy, scaring Qi Lin so much that she almost rolled off the bed. Luckily, he quickly grabbed hold of her and pulled a pillow over between them, sitting cross-legged.

  Despite this, Qilin still looked at her with a guarded expression, clearly distrustful.

  He just smiled and said in a slow tone, "Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a woman who had two clever sons whom she loved dearly. However, the brothers began to plot against each other over something they both wanted, but they respected their mother so much that they hid their true feelings from her."

  "Actually, the mother had known about their struggle for a long time and couldn't bear it. One day, the two brothers finally decided to settle the matter once and for all after making preparations for a long time. When the mother found out, she couldn't bear the thought of her beloved sons killing each other."

  "So she decided to sacrifice one of them."

  "But who should be sacrificed? She was in great distress, struggling, and finally, she handed a bowl of poisoned wine to her eldest son."

  "A moment in heaven, a moment in hell. The elder son was tormented to death by the younger son, no, it should be worse than death."

  "From that day on, Mother fell into deep self-blame, so she locked herself up."

  Saying that, Ah Piao gave Qi Lin a smile and continued to say "Personally sending a child into hell, this feeling is unbearable."

  Qī Lín quietly watched ā Piāo. The mother in this story was the Empress Dowager, and the two children were Fèng Cháng Qīng and another imperial prince, Bái Qiān Yàn.

  The story that came out of Feng Changqing's mouth, she saw the unwillingness in Feng Changqing's eyes, as well as her jealousy towards Bai Qianyun and a son's longing for his mother.

  But from Ah Piao's mouth, she saw a mother's deep self-blame towards her children and the two children's reverence for their mother. Of course, she also saw Bai Qianyi's suffering.

  So it was like this?????

  "Do you know what to do?" Ah Piao still smiled at Qi Lin, thinking that she could see a hint of sympathy in Qi Lin's eyes, but except for calmness, it was still calmness.

  Maybe it was because of the candlelight, but Qilin's eyes seemed to be sparkling with a hint of moisture.

  This may be a tragedy for the mother, but what about the abandoned child?

  "You said, does that child hate his mother?" Perhaps that mother just wanted to know such an answer.

  It's hateful, after all, it's her own beloved mother.

  "Who knows?" Ah Piao raised the corner of his mouth, stretched out his long hand, hooked up Qi Lin's chin, forcing her to look at him, and said "If it were you, wouldn't you feel resentful?"

  Would she? She didn't know, or maybe she did, but didn't want to comment. Looking into Ah Piao's deep eyes, she suddenly felt that this might be the kind of gaze Bai Qian would have, cold and desolate.

  "Well, I'll tell you a story too." She said bluntly, without knowing why she was saying this to a man.

  A Fei was somewhat taken aback by Zilin's reaction, releasing her and listening quietly.

  The story goes like this. In the past, there was a woman who married a man for love and had a daughter with him. However, love doesn't last forever, so when their daughter wasn't even a month old yet, the man ran away, leaving the woman with only their infant daughter and a substantial amount of gambling debt.

  The house was gone, and the woman had to borrow money everywhere. Relatives kept their distance, but she finally managed to scrape together some cash.

  Although life was very hard, the woman still loved her daughter, so she was still happy.

  The daughter is also growing up, and in her impression, there is no existence of a father. She knows that the man only brings endless sorrow, so she vows to bring happiness to her mother. Of course, she also believes that her mother will be by her side for life, protecting her.

  Always believing like this.

  Until another man appeared, that man was very rich, seeing the smile on his mother's face, she knew it was useless to stop her, so she followed her mother into that man's house.

  That man had two sons, smart and handsome, but to the girl he was neither cold nor hot, occasionally teasing her, should be... driving her away, for his mother's happiness, she endured everything.

  So what? Even if those two brothers burst into her bathroom and took indecent photos of her, she endured it all. She even tolerated being seduced by her own brother.

  As long as it is for mother's happiness.

  However, the mother and that man also had a child, a lovely and handsome little boy. From then on, the mother rarely cared about her, and gradually didn't ask about her anymore. The mother's all heart and soul were all on that newly born child.

  It doesn't matter as long as mother is happy, she always thought so.

  But as the little boy grew up day by day, he became increasingly hostile towards the girl, so she chose to leave home and live outside.

  On her mother's birthday, she brought gifts back home and outside the door, heard her mother tell a little boy to grow up as an excellent man and then inherit the family business, so that he could become a real man.

  She finally saw clearly that this family no longer had a place for her.

  So she decided to leave this home, she has been working hard and finding all sorts of excuses not to go back home, the days are tough but fulfilling.

  She grew up, abandoned her beloved profession and turned to a popular industry. Five years was enough for her to become a phoenix among people.

  But on the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, something unexpected happened.

  She disappeared from that world.

  It's gone???

  The story had only gone this far when Jillian was already drowsy, just like a child.

  Cover her with a quilt, gently stroking her face, is she also an abandoned child? However, in her eyes, there is no hatred.

  But he was curious, whether the world in Qilin's mouth and this place were the same?

  "Where is your world?" A sleeping person would unconsciously say many things, this was something he never believed in, at least not him.

  "What's wrong with my world???"

  A Fei was stunned for a moment, but Qi Lin opened her eyes at this time and smiled slightly at him.

  "It's where you can't reach."

  In the end, Qilin's voice had completely disappeared, and she fell into a deep sleep.

  When the horizon is shrouded in a white haze, the morning dew is very heavy, and thick fog envelops everything, making it impossible to see clearly even ten steps away.

  The people of Ranzhen Quanxuan have already started to be busy going up and down.

  This is also the busiest day in history.

  "Hurry, hurry, over there." Green Bamboo kept directing the other palace maids. Since Feng Changqing had come, these young palace maids and eunuchs also gained some spirit. Although they were usually well-behaved due to Qi Lin's strict management, they didn't dare speak out. Now it was a different story.

  Qilin ordered the palace staff early this morning to collect dew and said it was for the emperor to make tea.

  "Ah." A little palace maid didn't notice, and just bumped into Green Bamboo. Green Bamboo patted her shoulder and said, "Be careful, this is for the Emperor, if something goes wrong, can you take responsibility?"

  "I know my fault." The little palace maid lowered her head to await punishment, her hair had already been dampened by the mist, and her bangs were stuck to her forehead, even her long eyelashes had a few dew drops on them, looking very pitiful.

  Just as Lü Zhū was about to speak, she was interrupted by Qí Lín.

  "It's an unintentional mistake, no need to make a fuss." Wiping the dew from his forehead, he handed the bottle to Green Bamboo and smiled, saying "Causing the palace staff to be busy so early in the morning is really troubling you all."

  "It's a blessing for a servant like me to be able to serve the young master." The little palace maid bowed and said.

  "Go ahead and do it." Qilin still smiled.

  After the little palace maid left, Jin Yu walked forward and said softly, "Young Master, that palace maid is probably one of Liang Mei Ren's people."

  Liáng Měirén? Qí Lín thought carefully, after these days of understanding, she finally figured out the system of the imperial harem in this dynasty. After the empress, there was the imperial noble consort, and then the noble consort. However, it seemed that there were no imperial noble consorts or noble consorts here.

  The top one is the queen's position, and there are currently four people in the queen's position: Xiao Fei Du Ruo Huan, Zhuang Fei Bai Lu, Hui Fei Jun Zi, and Xian Fei Liu Xiao Xiang. Originally, Xian Fei was the former Lan Fei, but unfortunately, she is not as good as before.

  Then there are the three consorts: Consort Yi, who is said to be a descendant of the imperial family and has a beautiful face and plays the zither well. Consort Mu, who is the third princess of the country of Malachite and the older sister of Mu Qingfeng, is known for her stunning beauty, captivating dance, and enchanting singing voice, but because she was born out of wedlock, she can only be a consort. The third consort's name is Shi Xue, who is the daughter of the number one divine doctor in the country of Fenghuang, but has an exceptionally bold personality.

  Shu Yi Pin, Fei, were all small countries sent to marry princesses, also talented people. There are ten people in the harem.

  Second rank: Gui Ji, mostly daughters of officials with positions in the imperial court. Total fifteen people.

  From the second rank: Zhaoyi, Zhaoyuan, Zhaorong and Zhaohua, most of them were formally selected from among the common people or were prophesied by the Grand Priest to be talented women who would bring benefits to the state, totaling twenty people.

  The rest added up to more than thirty people, and Liang Mei Ren seemed to be one of the palace maids favored by Feng Chang Qing before she left the palace.

  No wonder she's so blatant, but just right, just went out hunting and there's prey, might as well take advantage of it.