"What was that? What was that? Is it gone?"
Xiao Ronghua didn't dare open her eyes, waving her hands about wildly.
Her maid quickly grabbed her hands. "My lady, don't be afraid. She's already gone."
After a long while, Xiao Ronghua finally lowered her hands and came to her senses, breathing a sigh of relief. "It wasn't a ghost, it was a person. How could someone in the palace use such cruel punishment to make a person look like that?"
Curiosity drove her to follow the bloody footprints forward, but they suddenly vanished into thin air at a corner.
Was the person taken away?
Xiao Ronghua's face turned deathly pale in an instant. "I'm finished... I'm done for..."
She hadn't been vigilant enough. When she first saw that "female ghost", she should have run away immediately.
Curiosity killed the cat, curiosity killed the cat!
Her maid was still confused. "My lady, what's wrong? What do you mean you're finished?"
"Slap!"
Extreme fear made Xiao Ronghua furious. She slapped the maid across the face. "You fool! When I wanted to come here earlier, why didn't you stop me? What should we do now?"
But the maid couldn't understand what she was saying and could only kneel on the ground, begging for mercy.
Xiao Ronghua pulled her up. "Stop kneeling. Quickly, think of a solution for me. Someone who dares to use such cruel punishment in the palace must be of no low rank. This is the direction to Yanqing Palace, and in Yanqing Palace lives... lives..."
Thinking of that person, Xiao Ronghua broke out in a cold sweat.
The maid, however, hadn't thought that far ahead and was still worried about her mistress. "What should we do then? My lady, will you be silenced?"
"My lady, why don't we go tell Consort Yu and ask her to save you?"
"No!" Xiao Ronghua shook her head. "Consort Yu... she can't protect me."
Not only could she not protect her, but she might even send her to her death.
"Let's go find the Imperial Noble Consort!"
As if she had found a lifeline, she quickly turned and walked back. "Only the Imperial Noble Consort can save me."
Jiang Xinyue had just sent off the concubines who had come to pay their respects and was watching Wet Nurse Lu use her homemade skin toner on the Sixth Prince. "Don't underestimate this mugwort water. I have seven daughters at home, and in the summer, forget about ice, even our thatched roof couldn't shield us from the sun overhead. It was thanks to this that none of my seven girls ever got heat rash."
Heat rash was what people in later times called prickly heat.
Jiang Xinyue, of course, knew that mugwort was a good thing. She smiled and said, "You're more experienced in taking care of children. I feel very at ease leaving the Sixth Prince in your and Nanny Xiang's care."
Wet Nurse Lu immediately felt a sense of responsibility. Patting her "magnificent" chest, she said, "My lady, you can rest assured. I will protect the Sixth Prince with my life."
She had been living in the palace for half a month now. Nanny Xiang, Xi Que, and the others had been very kind to her, teaching her the rules of the palace, giving her new clothes, and even giving her monthly wages to send to Mrs. Li's house for her daughters.
The Imperial Noble Consort was truly a wonderful person.
The Sixth Prince was almost two months old and could already recognize people. Apart from Nanny Xiang, Wet Nurse Lu, and Jiang Xinyue, he wouldn't let Xi Que and the others hold him anymore.
Wet Nurse Lu said that some children were intelligent and could recognize their mothers at two months old, so they would become wary of strangers.
Xi Que and Shuang Jiang were quite upset about this. The Sixth Prince was so cute that everyone who saw him wanted to hold him. Suddenly he became wary of strangers, but they weren't strangers!
However, when the Emperor came over these past few days, the Sixth Prince wouldn't let him hold him either, which made them feel a bit better.
As soon as the Emperor picked him up, the Sixth Prince would immediately pout in distress, his eyebrows and eyes turning red, and tears would start falling.
The Emperor was almost heartbroken and could only come more often, hoping that the Sixth Prince would soon recognize that he was his loving father.
Because he came frequently, the Emperor's relationship with the Fourth Prince had also become closer.
Jiang Xinyue could clearly feel that the Fourth Prince's personality was becoming more outgoing and confident.
Wet Nurse Lu applied the mugwort water on the Sixth Prince's body and only put on his light, thin shirt after it had dried.
"My lady, Xiao Ronghua from Zhong Cui Palace is requesting an audience."
Didn't she just leave? Why is she back again?
"Let her wait in the flower hall."
Jiang Chuan stepped forward and whispered a few words in Jiang Xinyue's ear, then stepped back and said, "Xiao Ronghua looks deathly pale and seems completely out of sorts. It looks like she's encountered some trouble and has come to us for help."
Xi Que snorted coldly, "Usually, she's always following Consort Yu around and speaking ill of our lady. Now that she's in trouble, instead of going to Consort Yu, she comes to our lady for help. I really don't know who gave her such a big face!"
Everyone agreed with Xi Que's words, but no one else dared to say it so bluntly.
After all, she was the Imperial Noble Consort's favorite and closest maid, so she could speak and act without much concern.
Jiang Xinyue adjusted her hair and clothes, and without making Xiao Ronghua wait too long, she quickly walked out from inside.
"Imperial Noble Consort, please save me!"
As soon as she stepped out, Xiao Ronghua rushed over and hugged her legs. "It was my fault for being loose-lipped. I shouldn't have opposed the Imperial Noble Consort at every turn. Please save me, I don't want to die!"
Jiang Chuan and Xiao Xuanzi didn't need Jiang Xinyue to speak; they had already pulled Xiao Ronghua away at the first moment.
Jiang Xinyue patted her skirt. "If you have something to say, say it. Don't cry and wail. I have no friendship with you, so I can't feel sympathetic."
Not only did they have no friendship, but their relationship was also quite hostile.
Xiao Ronghua didn't know why, but when she saw Jiang Xinyue, the fear of imminent death slowly dissipated, and she finally calmed down enough to speak properly. "My lady..."
At the Internal Affairs Department—
The palace maids and eunuchs had been particularly busy recently. Shuang Jiang from Hexi Palace was on her way to help the Imperial Noble Consort pick flowers for vases when she was startled by a snake darting out from the bushes and fell. Now the entire Internal Affairs Department was mobilized to remove snakes from the palace!
"You few, check over there. You others, come this way. Look carefully. It wouldn't be good if these snakes frightened the Emperor or any of the ladies."
Jiang Chuan went directly to the bushes where Xiao Ronghua said the "female ghost" had emerged from, trying to find some clues.
"My lady!" Xiao Ronghua's maid, Mei Er, looked at the ground in shock. "The bloody footprints... they're gone."
Even without her pointing it out, Xiao Ronghua could see it too. The floor was clean, without a trace of blood.
Someone had cleaned up the scene after they left.
This made Xiao Ronghua, who was already badly shaken, even more frightened.
Jiang Chuan parted the bushes with his hand, feeling the ground. Because it was summer and the weather was hot, the surrounding soil was very dry, but the soil under Jiang Chuan's hand was slightly damp.
He carefully turned over his fingers. Soil mixed with blood was sticking to his fingers.
He was shocked. Everything Xiao Ronghua said was true.
Xi Que exchanged a glance with him, following his gaze to his fingers. When she saw the red marks on them clearly, she immediately returned to Hexi Palace.
