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nAfter Zhuang Laoyan had accompanied the emperor for a meal and sent him off, she reclined on a chaise lounge and had a palace maid massage her legs.

nZhuang Laoyan yawned. Then she took her time saying, “Yunxi, let the Luyi who’s kneeling outside come in.”

nLuyi had kneeled for approximately four hours. So she somewhat shook as she walked. But the moment she caught sight of the reclining Zhuang Laoyan, her legs shook even more. She knelt with a bang in front of her. “Begging Your Highness for forgiveness.”

n“When this palace was still at Taoyu Pavilion, this palace had another personal first-ranked palace maid named Luyi. Do you know where she is right now?” Zhuang Laoyan slowly opened her eyes. Looked at the pretty Luyi. “You were sent to us when this palace moved to Xihe Palace. Therefore, this palace personally conferred you this name. Who would have imagined that after you took this name, you would have unclean thoughts just like your predecessor.”

n“Your Highness, this slave doesn’t dare!” Luyi paled. She naturally knew there used to be another palace maid named Luyi by her master’s side. Later on, that palace maid was sent to Shangyi Bureau for some reason. Through the grapevine, that previous Luyi went through much suffering these days. Now that her master had said these words, was it pointing to the fact that she was even worse than the last Luyi?

n“What don’t you dare?” Tingzhu snorted coldly. “When His Majesty and Her Highness were having a conversation, who were you showing off your good looks to?! And you even specially carried that pine bonsai tree?!”

nTingzhu went forward. Grabbed some of the soil in the pot. She had only dug lightly, and already found the old tea leaves that had been buried underneath the soil. “I actually didn’t know. Just pouring a little bit of water and one could smell the tea leaves. You truly have good methods.”

n“What do you mean, Miss Tingzhu? I don’t understand.” Luyi looked at her with a face full of grievances, as if she had no idea what Tingzhu meant.

n“You helped Zhaorong Xu’s people craft those ropes of grass in the pond. Do you understand? You helped place the female corpse in the lotus pond. Do you understand? And you secretly harmed Master, intentionally leaving behind a hairpin from a palace maid of Jingyang Palace. So do you understand now?” Yunxi pulled out a hairpin from her sleeve. A few days ago, the empress had rewarded her servants with this same hairpin.

nSeeing Luyi’s expression become so unsightly, Yunxi smiled as she played with it. “Perhaps you’ve been wondering these past few days where the hairpin you left at the pond went. You should know now, right?”

nLuyi bit her lips, staring at Yunxi hatefully. “If Yunxi Gugu wants to place all the blame regarding these things onto this slave, then there’s nothing this slave can say. After all, Yunxi Gugu is someone capable that has followed many different masters.”

n“I’ve only followed two masters, and I am very loyal to my current one. It’s better than someone like you, who follows a master on the surface, but has a different master in your heart.” Yunxi placed the hairpin onto a tray. An insincere smile spread across her lips. “Don’t talk back. If it wasn’t for the fact that we purposely buried the old tea leaves under the soil of the pine bonsai tree, one would fear you wouldn’t have jumped out so urgently.”

nLuyi’s face went completely white. She truly never imagined that the secret she discovered had actually been planted by Xianrong Zhao. Recently, Xianrong Zhao suffered an injury. Even if the emperor came to visit often, he wouldn’t be able to do much of anything together. Even if someone wanted to borrow this aspect to climb up the dragon bed, no one would blame Xianrong Zhao.

nXianrong Zhao had never treated any of servants harshly. She was completely different from what the previous rumors had described her as. However, she didn’t seem like someone who schemed a lot. So why did she appear so clear about what’s happening? Could it be… Luyi’s expression changed immensely, and she suddenly looked at Zhuang Laoyan who was lying in a languid manner upon a chaise lounge.

nDon’t support theft; read this at sleepchaser’s wordpress.

nCould it be that Xianrong Zhao, who had always appeared like someone who didn’t scheme, was actually disguising as a pig to eat a tiger? A master who seemed harmless and simple, yet had many complicated schemes?

nSensing Luyi’s expression, Zhuang Laoyan opened her eyes and looked her in the face. She did not look away at all, expressionless. But it brought chills all over Luyi ‘s body for some reason.

n“Send this hairpin to Her Majesty the empress,” said Zhuang Laoyan, looking down. “I’m sure the empress will definitely make a decision. As for Luyi… Keep her under watch for now.”

nBut Luyi was very unwilling regarding this turn of events. There obviously had been many things that were kept secret, so how could Xianrong Zhao have found out? She stared at Zhuang Laoyan, eyes wide. “Your Highness, this slave doesn’t understand. Why do you think this has something to do with this slave?”

nA fake smile on her lips, Zhuang Laoyan returned her gaze. Slowly, she stood, turning around. She made for the window and gazed at the beautiful scenery outside. “You’ll understand very soon.” Then she turned around again. Looked at the shock plastered on Luyi’s face. “There’s still the person behind you. Since she has schemed against me so many times, I ought to return something to her.”

nWatching as the shock on Luyi’s features transformed into alarm, Zhuang Laoyan cocked a brow. Smiled as beautiful as a flower in bloom.

nWithin Jingyang Palace, the empress opened a gold-plated jewelry box with fretwork and decorated with chrysoberyls in front of Tingzhu. Inside wasn’t anything precious. Rather, there was only a hairpin. Despite this, the hairpin caused the empress’ expression to change. “Where did your master find this hairpin?”

n“Reporting to Your Majesty the empress, this hairpin was picked up from the side of the lotus pond on the day Master was attacked. At that time, this slave picked up this hairpin while flustered and forgot about it. Today, this slave suddenly remembered and mentioned it to Her Highness. Another personal attendant gave an explanation, and it was only then that Master knew this: Your Majesty the empress specially gave the palace maids in Jingyang Palace this same hairpin. As such, Her Highness instructed this slave to return the hairpin to Jingyang Palace.”

nThe empress shut the jewelry box. A smile graced her lips. “Your master is considerate.” Following that, she had someone give Tingzhu a pouch of money. Then Tingzhu left.

n“Your Majesty, what’s Xianrong Zhao’s intention?” asked Heyu, frowning. “This is a hairpin that only belongs to the servants of Jingyang Palace. How could it have gotten to Xihe Palace? And it just had to be…” And it just had to be found on the night Xianrong Zhao had been attacked.

n“Xianrong Zhao is informing this palace that there is a spy in Jingyang Palace. Furthermore, she’s telling this palace that she trusts me extremely. That her attack definitely had nothing to do with me.” The empress placed the jewelry box aside, expression dark. “This palace really wants to know just who wanted to kill two birds with one stone.”

n“But why did Xianrong Zhao only send this thing over now?” Heyu glanced at the jewelry box, suspicion in her gaze. “She could actually endure it for so long and not directly go to the emperor.”

n“She wanted to know if someone had truly wanted to frame her with the hairpin or if someone had just accidentally dropped it.” The empress snickered. “Now, this palace owes her a favor. This palace has truly underestimated her in the past.”

nHeyu called into mind that the emperor frequently stopped by Xihe Palace in recent. And she said with hesitation, “Your Majesty, recently, the emperor visits Xianrong Zhao often. Then does that mean he has started to treat Noble Lady Qian coldly?”

n“Although Noble Lady Qian has a stunning appearance, she has an arrogant personality. The emperor isn’t a typical man. So how could wrack his brains to make her happy?” The empress sneered. “What kind of woman does the imperial harem lack? What’s that arrogance of hers worth? It’s merely a joke. As for the one in Xihe Palace, try your best to respect her and stay away from her. This palace really wants to know how the one in Anqing Palace can keep her composure.”

nAt the sound of these words, Heyu did not speak anymore. She only watched as the empress opened the jewelry box once more, forcibly digging out the pearl from the hairpin.

nPhew. Now the empress owes our girl ZL a favor…

nFor those of you still interested in advanced chapters, please read this post for more information. There are only no advanced chapters left this month, so if you pledge for a tier that gives 2 chapters now, you’re basically my suga daddi. If you’d like advanced chapters, please pledge on January 1, 2021 Pacific Standard Time. If you pledge earlier, Patreon might charge you twice!

nAlso, if you pledge between January 1st and January 2nd PST time, you will get a bonus chapter. It’s a very narrow period, I know!

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nThirteenth chapter of The Times Spent in Pretense is out! You can read it here.

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