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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

nLi Mu frowned and handed the basket to the eunuch, saying, “If I don’t get to go inside, please take this inside for me. It’s a gift from my mistress after all.”

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n“Umm…I’ll notify my lady.”

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nThe eunuch turned around and left.

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nLi Mu then waited at the gate.

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nHe was able to sense that things in the place felt tense.

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nThe eunuch came out and took the basket after a while, leaving Li Mu outside.

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nXiuren Palace was surrounded by guards two days later.

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nNo one inside was able to escape. Every eunuch and court lady inside were taken away.

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nThey were locked up by the secret police and interrogated separately.

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n“I want to see his majesty!”

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n“Your majesty, won’t you have mercy on me at least?”

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n“You’re heartless! I wasn’t the only one who did harm to the royal family.”

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nConcubine Wan shouted at the top of her lungs in Xiuren Palace.

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nA look of pity could be seen in the emperor’s eyes from afar.

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nYet that look turned steely and cold before long.

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n“Relay my orders. Concubine Wan and her cohorts have been doing harm to the royal family. All of them shall be executed.”

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nThe emperor closed his eyes as he made the pronouncement.

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n“Your Majesty, Concubine Wan…”

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n“Say no more. Make sure her body is in one piece. Everyone else, bisect them at the waist,” the emperor said coldly.

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nHe was afraid that he would regret sparing her so much that he didn’t even dare to condemn her into a “cold” palace.

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nHe was afraid that he would become soft one day.

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nThere was no way he could make things up with Concubine Zhang and all the other children that Concubine Wan had had a hand in killing unless he sentenced her to death.

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nThe intendant of the Ceremony Directorate left.

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nThe emperor then ordered the seal-director eunuch to look into all concubines who had participated in harming others and the infighting.

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nBoth Concubine Wan and that red-robed eunuch confessed.

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nThe investigation was a smooth one.

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nThe results were frightening.

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nHe learned just how extreme the lengths the consorts had been willing to go in order to gain his favor.

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n“I hereby order all consorts in the harem to observe the execution of Concubine Wan and her cohorts. This shall be my warning to you all.”

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nThe emperor then threw his brush on the ground of the Imperial Study Room.

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nHe was furious.

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nHe had never imagined just how disgusting the women sleeping right beside him could be.

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nHe killed several consorts regardless of ranks, along with the eunuchs and court ladies who served them. Blood was spilled in the royal palace like it had never been before.

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nThe people in the harem were all very frightened.

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nNo one dared to bring up anything about the infighting.

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nAll items and medicines capable of causing miscarriages were put under strict surveillance.

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nA good number of eunuchs and court ladies were lost during the ordeal.

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nIt was especially so with the head eunuchs in red robes from the various palaces. Over a dozen of them were lost in the ordeal.

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nMore than five consorts were gone as well.

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nThe Imperial Household Department decided right away to recruit more eunuchs.

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nLi Mu was promoted yet again at that moment.

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nHis robes remained emerald.

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nHowever, a sliver stripe was embroidered on his robes.

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nHe was considered to be of quite a high status among those wearing emerald robes.

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nAll the other eunuchs had gotten themselves promoted through hard work and sucking up to the rich and the powerful.

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nLi Mu, on the other hand, got promoted by practically doing nothing instead.

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nYet, he was never after any of that.

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nA eunuch from the Imperial Household Department came to Shouning Palace one day.

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nIt was one wearing an emerald robe with a stripe on it.

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n“Eunuch Li, does Shouning Palace require menial labor eunuchs? I’ll leave one for you if there’s such a need. It is rather unbecoming for you to work all on your own in the place. You’re someone wearing emerald robes after all.”

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nThat was just a roundabout way of saying that he was bringing shame to all the others wearing emerald robes.

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nMakes sense, I guess.

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nSomeone wearing emerald robes yet still doing menial work would bring down the prestige of all eunuchs wearing emerald robes indeed.

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nHe took a look at the one who was currying his favor.

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nHe answered, “All right, get me one then.”

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nThere was finally someone new working in Shouning Palace after so many years.

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n“Right, just wait for a bit, Eunuch Li.”

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nThe eunuch from the Imperial Household Department waited for a bit, standing up and saying something in an awkward manner, seeing that Li Mu was keeping his hands to himself.

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nThat eunuch frowned after leaving the palace.

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n“He’s already wearing emerald robes, and yet he still knows nothing about the rules, huh?”

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nThat eunuch didn’t believe that one wearing emerald robes like Li Mu wouldn’t have a bit of money on him.

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nAll eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department learned several days later that the emerald-robed eunuch from Shouning Palace was a stingy person.

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nA grey-robed eunuch was assigned to Shouning Palace two months later.

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n“Pick any room you like. Your task is to clean the two compounds every day. You need to do nothing else.”

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nHe repeated what the old court lady had told him when he first got there all those years ago.

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n“Yes, sir.”

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nThe new eunuch was named An Mu.

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nConcubine Jing called him Xiao’anzi.

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nHe was the same age as Li Mu had been when he first came to the palace.

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nThe new eunuch seemed rather dull.

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nHowever, he was nonetheless hardworking.

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nLi Mu was able to tell that the new guy came from a poor family, judging from that point alone.

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nConcubine Wan was dead.

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nThings had gotten considerably quieter in the royal palace.

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nMany consorts began to get pregnant, and, nine months later, the consorts gave birth one after another.

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nConcubine Wan had said quite a lot of things before she was executed.

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nShe had taken a lot of other consorts with her.

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nIt was only then that Noble Lady Zhen had learned that it was really Xiaotao who had poisoned the princess.

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nShe was thoroughly frightened.

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nAs a result, she no longer resented Li Mu and came to trust him instead.

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n…

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nIn the lord’s residence…

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nThe prince fumbled with the identification jade before deciding to put it in his undergarment.

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nHe had come to have a rough idea about the status of noble clans isolated from the world after looking into them for over a year.

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nHe had decided to head out.

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n“Huang Wei, come with me.”

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nThe girl named Huang Wei was none other than the girl who Li Mu had rescued from the dungeon all those years ago.

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nShe had become a warrior at the late stages of the Acquired Realm at the moment.

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nShe could be in charge of some smaller branches of the noble clans out there.

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n“Yes, sir.”

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nBoth of them changed into the clothes of common people and sneaked outside the city.

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n…

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nBack in the Imperial Study Room…

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nThe emperor’s gratitude to that mysterious man deepened as the number of his offspring grew.

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n“Great Friend Yu, where do you think that mysterious man could be?”

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nHe had searched all over the royal palace in secret throughout the years.

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nHe had even assigned people to spy on the door leading to the underground palace.

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nHe had yet to find anything.

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nThree years passed…

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nRuirui was in her early teens by then.

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nHer love for musical instruments grew along with her age.

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nShe would come to play tunes with Concubine Jing when she had the time.

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nLi Mu got some tunes from his past life into Shouning Palace.

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nHe would play something whenever he got homesick, just so to make himself feel a little bit better.

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nSomeone followed behind Ruirui one day.

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nIt was a little boy who was not even three years old yet, who always had snot hanging from his nose and looked rather dumb.

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nThe two of them headed into Shouning Palace.

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nRuirui played gomoku with Concubine Jing as she always did, while talking about music.

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nThe boy who had followed her just stood at her side and watched.

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nConcubine Jing would wipe the snot from the boy’s face with her handkerchief every now and then.

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nHer handkerchief became all slimy in less than half an hour.

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n“Xiaolizi, get me another handkerchief and wash this, please.”

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nThat boy came to Shouning Palace often.

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nInitially, he’d just followed Ruirui around, but he gradually took to coming alone to Shouning Palace, running into Concubine Jing’s arms all the time.

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nThe boy looked rather slow and dumb.

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nConcubine Jing was worried about him.

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nShe wiped his snot, gave him toys, and even fed him.

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nIt took a while for Li Mu to learn that the boy’s mother was a consort as well.

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nThe mother had been, like Concubine Jing, condemned to a “cold” palace.

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nIn the royal palace, a child’s status was dependent on their mother.

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nThe little prince was often shunned and bullied in the royal palace.

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nHis diet consisted naturally of the worst food found in the royal palace.

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nWhen Ruirui saw him, she would give him something good to eat.

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nBecause of that, the little prince became something like an underling to her, and she simply couldn’t chase him away.

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nLi Mu later learned that the child was the fourth child of the emperor.

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nIt was a position that was easily overlooked by his father.

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nHe took to staying in Shouning Palace after Concubine Jing showed him affection.

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nAny toy that Li Mu happened to get when he was checking in had basically been given to the little prince.

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nTo his surprise, he actually found that the boy, who was not even three years old, played gomoku with Ruirui.

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n“Is he a genius or is he just smart?”

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nThe boy kept surprising Li Mu with his surreal antics for the next couple of days.

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nThe baguenaudier puzzle that he’d gotten from checking in had been easily solved by the boy.

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nThe boy learned how to do it so simply by watching Ruirui do it once.

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nHe’d even managed to solve a Klotski puzzle in a matter of minutes.

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n“This is chess. Let’s try it out, shall we?”

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nLi Mu got the boy a chessboard and briefed the boy on the rules.

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nThe reason why he picked chess was because the rules were simple.

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nYet, the changes were practically limitless.

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nIt was a perfect way for testing a person’s intelligence.

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