I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

The first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Shaoxing.

Firecrackers went off all night in Lin'an on New Year's Eve, only gradually subsiding at dawn.

The Prince of Puan's residence was very quiet. Zhao Bozong woke up at dawn.

He sat in his study, with the evacuation report of Xiuzhou that Qin Keqing had prepared the night before spread out in front of him.

The handwriting on the report was as neat as ever, with every evacuation route, the cancellation time of every contact point, and the destination of every clan member's relocation clearly written down.

But he noticed a detail.

On the last page of the report, Qin Keqing drew a very small flower with extremely fine brushstrokes.

Next to the flower, he found an even smaller line of text, so small it was almost illegible: "Today is Father's birthday."

Zhao Bocong stared at that line of text for a long time. Then he closed the report and put it into the bronze box on the far right of his desk.

Light footsteps sounded outside the window. It was Xiao Jinluo, carrying a bowl of hot porridge as she came out of the kitchen, carefully stepping over the icy threshold.

"Your Highness! The kitchen has cooked some fresh porridge, and I've brought you a bowl!" She placed the porridge on the desk, then took something out of her sleeve and placed it next to the bowl. "And this, I made a new one yesterday for you."

A grasshopper made of straw.

"I saw some withered grass in the yard, so I just wove it on the spot," Xiao Jinluo said a little embarrassed. "The little horse was given to me by my brother, and the grasshopper was a gift I gave him myself. Sister Qin said you have a leg ailment and should drink more hot porridge. She's right, but she should drink more too."

Zhao Bozong picked up the grasshopper, looked down at it, and saw that the grass was woven very tightly, the legs were sturdy, and the antennae were made of twisted thin grass stems with two small knots tied in them.

"Thank you." Zhao Bozong rarely showed a warm smile. Unconsciously, he had been in this era for a year. "Your sister Qin last night—"

"She was writing in the side courtyard." Xiao Jinluo's voice was a little lower. "I went to see her this morning, and her light was still on. I brought a bowl of porridge and placed it at her door without knocking."

Zhao Bozong didn't reply. Xiao Jinluo glanced at him, smiled, and then left the study with the tray in her arms. As she reached the door, she suddenly peeked back.

"Your Highness, it's New Year's Day today, you should rest too."

"it is good."

Xiao Jinluo nodded in satisfaction, closed the door, and left. As she walked down the corridor, the plush rabbit ears in her arms swayed back and forth.

The morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year passed peacefully.

No one knew that this peace would be broken today.

At Shenshi (3-5 PM), Qin Keqing came out of the small house in the side courtyard, carrying a bowl of porridge that had gone cold, and walked towards the kitchen.

She planned to heat up the porridge before eating it. After finishing the evacuation report last night, she rested her head on the table for a while. When she woke up, it was already dawn. There was a bowl of porridge at the door, covered with a dried lotus leaf.

As she walked through the corridor carrying her bowl of porridge, she saw Liu An rushing in through the back door.

Liu An usually walks very steadily, but at this moment his steps were fragmented and very fast.

"Miss Qin," he stopped in front of her, "news from the palace. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and all the officials went to pay their respects, including Qin Hui, but the Empress Dowager did not attend."

Qin Keqing paused, her hand holding the bowl of porridge still. "What reason?"

"The memorial submitted by Cining Palace stated that she had caught a slight cold and should not go out, but the news from Feng, the palace guard, said that the Empress Dowager did not summon the imperial physician at all last night."

Liu An lowered his voice, "She locked herself in the side room and didn't come out all night, leaving only Zhang Quwei to wait outside the hall."

Qin Keqing's heart sank.

Consort Wei was not someone who would casually feign illness.

She was imprisoned by the Jurchens in Wuguo City for sixteen years, enduring all kinds of hardships, and never once felt "unable to go out due to a slight cold".

On the winter solstice, she could stand in the ancestral temple and say "Serving the country with utmost loyalty is as clear as the sun and the moon," so what is the New Year's Day court congratulations compared to that?

Unless, of course, she doesn't want to go, not that she can't go.

"What was the emperor's reaction?"

"During the court audience, the Emperor asked Shao Chengzhang a few questions, and Shao Chengzhang answered according to his memorial citing illness. But after the court session ended—" Liu An looked around, "The Emperor asked Shao Chengzhang to deliver a bowl of ginseng soup to the Cining Palace. The Empress Dowager accepted the soup but did not allow Shao Chengzhang to enter the palace. She said through the door, 'I am just tired.'"

I'm just tired.

These three words coming from Consort Wei's mouth are not the same as coming from anyone else's mouth.

"Has Zhang Quwei sent any more information?" Qin Keqing asked.

"No, Feng said that Zhang Quwei had been guarding outside the side chamber all day. He came out once in the middle to retrieve a batch of old files from the Inner Palace, and then went back in. Feng didn't dare to ask any more questions, but he said that Zhang Quwei's complexion was not good."

Qin Keqing sat back down on the corridor railing and let Liu An continue.

"There's another matter. After the morning court session today, Qin Hui summoned four people to a private meeting at the Ministry of Personnel. Feng, the clerk, only recognized two of them. He said he had never even seen the other two before."

"What do the other two look like?"

"One was a middle-aged scholar, around forty years old, with a fair complexion and a light beard, wearing a blue robe, not like a Beijing official."

Feng Yaban said that he walked like an official from another state, with slow steps and a habit of avoiding everyone.

The other was a military officer, in his early fifties, with an old scar running diagonally from his forehead to his chin.

Liu An paused and continued, "Commander Feng said he had seen that scar before. After the great victory at Yancheng in the tenth year of Shaoxing, there was a commander named Dong Xian under Yue Fei who had a scar on his face, but he was not sure if he was sure."

Qin Keqing's brows furrowed slightly.

Dong Xian.

She knew the name: a former commander of Yue Fei's army. In the tenth year of Shaoxing, he followed Yue Fei in defeating the Jin army at Yancheng and rose to the rank of Imperial Guard and Jianzhou Inspector.

After Yue Fei was imprisoned in the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Dong Xian was demoted to Ezhou as a military commander. Nominally, this was a "job given according to talent," but in reality, he was monitored by Qin Hui's men at every level.

He was one of the few generals among the former subordinates of Yue Fei's army who still retained a formal military rank.

If Dong Xian really did appear in the Ministry of Personnel—

"Can Officer Feng confirm that it is Dong Xian?"

"No. He didn't see her face directly, only her profile and the scar."

But he asked me to tell Miss Qin about this alone. He said that if it were Dong Xian, this matter would not be as simple as a secret meeting during the morning audience.

Dong Xian was a member of Yue Fei's army. Qin Hui summoned him from Ezhou to Lin'an, either to use him or to kill him.

Qin Keqing remained silent for a moment, then picked up the porridge bowl and continued walking towards the kitchen.

"Have Feng, the magistrate, continue to observe." She took two steps, turned back, and said, "Also, tell him that if Zhang Quwei makes any moves at Cining Palace, notify me immediately."

"Understood." Liu An turned to leave, but Qin Keqing called him back.

"Also, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Go to the kitchen and get a bowl of dumplings. Old Xu made mutton dumplings today."

Liu An paused for a moment, then clasped his hands in a salute, turned and left.

Qin Keqing returned to the small house in the side courtyard, opened the booklet, and wrote down today's date and events on the back of the secret report that Feng Yi had sent this morning.

Halfway through writing, the charcoal pencil hovered over the paper for a moment.

Dong Xian was a former subordinate of Yue Fei's army.

Dong Xian had made great contributions in the ten years of Shaoxing, but was demoted to Ezhou in the eleventh year of Shaoxing. If Qin Hui were to use Dong Xian, his intentions need to be carefully assessed. Whether this person was used by Qin or still had his heart with the Yue family needs further investigation.