The punishment of the female imperial court

Yu Qiansi gave a perfunctory "hmm," but her mind was on other things.

The timing of Qiu Yi's appearances was too coincidental.

It's like they're deliberately waiting for you, handing you clues.

“Every year when the first snow falls, I invite a few friends to sit around the fire and watch the snow. I just rented a villa in the capital, and the scenery is quite nice. The plum trees are all century-old.” Shang Fu was completely unaware of Yu Qian Si’s absent-mindedness and said to himself, “If I were lucky enough to invite Lord Yu to enjoy the snow scenery with me, that would be wonderful.”

Yu Qiansi made another "hmm" sound, and using the light from Shang Fu's hand, stepped over a slightly protruding pebble.

Why does Qiuyi suddenly seem familiar today?
"If Lord Yu is willing to do me the honor, I will naturally be willing to give that little girl Yu Anning face as well. In any case, Lord Yu's forgiveness is all thanks to that little girl."

She recalled the slight frown on Boyi's brow when he stared at Qiuyi's back last time.

It seems necessary to ask Boyi after leaving the palace, but I wonder if he still remembers this matter after so long.

"Oh, and of course, we can't forget Brother Boyi." Shang Fu said this with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

wrong.

Yu Qiansi frowned. She hadn't found this person familiar last time; she had only noticed the indigo marks on his shoes and wanted to go up and confirm it.

"If Lord Yu finds it too lonely, you can also invite your senior brother. Last night's situation seemed to indicate that there was some misunderstanding between you. If we could take this opportunity to clear things up, that would be a wonderful thing!"

Yu Qiansi stopped abruptly, the icy air filling her lungs and stinging her chest. She raised her hand to her heart, her knuckles pressing against her ribs, clearly feeling the trembling of her heart pounding wildly beneath her palm. The vibrations traveled through her veins to her ears, creating a buzzing sound in her head.

Countless fragments of memory suddenly surged in his mind, turning into bamboo tokens, which were then linked together by a red thread.

The red thread tightened, cutting the previously blurred outline into clear, blood-like marks. She seemed to see countless fine threads intertwining in the darkness, eventually converging into a chilling human face.

"We're almost at Jinxiu Gate. There's a lake nearby, and the road is difficult to navigate." Shang Fu said, turning around, only to find Yu Qiansi standing still. In the glow of the lantern, her skirt seemed to be soaked in ink, swaying gently in the night breeze.

Shang Fu felt a cold wind blow, and a chill ran down his back.

"Master Jade?"

Yu Qiansi took half a step back, disappearing into the darkness and falling completely into the shadows, as if she had fallen into a deep lake.

“I suddenly remembered that I have important business with Her Majesty the Empress.” Her voice was as light as a snowflake. “Minister Shao, please leave the palace first.”

Before Shang Fu could respond, she turned and ran back the way she came.

Shang Fu paused for a moment, then tried to catch up with her: "Hey, why don't you call Granny Cui, or bring a lamp! It's pitch black here—"

"Ouch—!" Shang Fu exclaimed, slipping on a pebble and falling to the ground, his forehead hitting a stone. "Help! Help!"

The lone lamp, like a pearl with a broken string, fluttered a few times before going out in a hidden place.

He rubbed his forehead, scrambled to his feet in the dark, feeling a warm liquid flowing continuously. Granny Cui and her entourage had already reached the edge of the brocade gate; the thin ice on the lake reflected Shang Fu's cries for help in fragmented ways. Only when a particularly piercing cry of "Help! Someone!" pierced the night did everyone turn around in shock.

"Young Master Shang!" Granny Cui hurried back, lifting her skirt. When the palace lantern illuminated the disheveled figure in the flower bushes, she gasped—Shang Fu was half-submerged in the withered chrysanthemums, his sideburns disheveled by thorns. Blood trickled down his brow bone, painting a shocking red mark on his pale face.

"Where is Lord Yu?"

Shang Fu winced in pain, his bloodied fingers trembling as he pointed back the way he had come. "She said she remembered something and wanted to go find the Empress. I asked her to bring a lamp, but she tripped and fell." Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly hissed in pain; he had twisted his ankle when he was helped up. The two young palace maids recoiled in fright, and he tumbled back into the flowerbed, crushing several frozen hibiscus blossoms.

Granny Cui, being a seasoned veteran, took off the ivory token from her waist and handed it to the maid behind her: "Go to the Imperial Hospital and fetch the imperial physician on duty." Turning to the other two eunuchs, she said: "Help the master to the pavilion in front to rest for a while."

She looked down into the secluded path, her brows furrowed: "The rest of you, come with me to find Lord Yu."

As the silence drum began to sound, Shang Fu, without a second thought, pulled a handkerchief from his robes, pressed it to his forehead, and called out to Granny Cui, "No, no, no! The palace gates are about to close, and going back and forth will waste time. I didn't report tonight, so I can't stay overnight. Granny Cui, please be kind and call me a sedan chair. I'm leaving the palace right away. It's just a minor injury; I can fix it when I get home."

Looking at Shang Fu's face covered in blood, Granny Cui hesitated for a moment: "There are sedan chairs in the inner palace, but... they are mostly for women."

"Oh dear, at a time like this, who cares about women and men? It's so late at night and no one will be using this sedan chair. Please, Granny Cui, have mercy and give me one. Find some palace maids to carry me home. Tomorrow I will go to the palace's internal affairs department to explain the situation and get a new sedan chair. If Granny Cui is worried that Her Majesty the Empress will be angry, I will take full responsibility."

Granny Cui sighed: "This is a small matter, and I can make the decision."

Shang Fu breathed a sigh of relief and bowed repeatedly, pleading, "Then thank you very much, Granny Cui. Go find the sedan chair quickly. If we're late, I'll have to go back to my aunt's and listen to her nagging all night!"

Several palace maids were trembling with suppressed laughter. One of the younger ones couldn't help but chuckle, then hurriedly covered her mouth with her sleeve. Shang Fu wasn't annoyed; instead, he winked at them, which aggravated his wound and caused him to grimace again.

*
Dusk spread across the sky like ink. Bo Yi stood beside the stone lion outside the palace gate, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the cold stone seat. In the distance came the shouts of the gatekeeper's general, followed by the muffled sound of the drum.

"Thump, thump," each sound felt like a blow to his heart.

There was no movement inside the palace, and Yu Anning did not come.

The drums were struck three hundred times, and the palace gates were closed.

As the tenth drumbeat sounded, a crimson sedan chair swayed and wobbled out from the cracks in the palace gate. The peony scrolls embroidered on the sedan chair curtains gleamed with an eerie dark red in the twilight. The four eunuchs carrying the sedan chair walked unsteadily, and the sedan chair poles creaked under their weight.

How could a sedan chair belonging to the inner palace be carried out of the palace?
Bo Yi rushed forward in three strides and abruptly lifted the sedan curtain.

In an instant, a foul stench, a mixture of blood and earthy smells, mingled with a cloying, sweet scent of cosmetics, made his throat tighten.

"Ouch!" A familiar exclamation came from inside the sedan chair. Shang Fu's pale face was particularly striking in the dim light of the sedan chair, and blood was seeping from the wound on his forehead again, soaking through most of the handkerchief he had been pressing against.

Bo Yi was also surprised to see Shang Fu emerge from the palace in this state. "Why is the Junior Minister in a sedan chair in the inner palace?"

Shang Fu clung to the carved window frame, his voice weak as if he had been pulled from the water: "I was trying to hand Lord Yu a lantern when I tripped and fell—" (End of Chapter)