The Empress's No.1 Lackey

The spring sunset hung at the corner of the palace roof, casting its glow on Xiao Ran's indifferent face.

"Cold Palace..."

Xiao Ran was not surprised about his "aunt" being sent to the Cold Palace; back then during the Xuan Sect Coup, the Xiao family was convicted of rebellion and executed.

In comparison, it was already a good outcome for his aunt, the "Imperial Concubine," to have her life spared; no further expectation for maintaining a privileged life was possible. Having this expectation in mind was one thing; witnessing in person the desolation and neglect of the Cold Palace, as if abandoned by the entire Imperial Palace, was another.

Xiao Ran took a deep breath, instead of breaking the iron chains on the door, he leaped over the Cold Palace wall into the courtyard.

The Cold Palace courtyard remained as desolate and depleted as ever; the only difference since Zhao Douan's last visit was the green shoots sprouting from the ground and the budding leaves and flower buds on the trees in the courtyard.

Xiao Ran made no sound, stepping on the dusty, uneven, dilapidated stone-paved ground with his boots, heading towards the most prominent main building.

Turning the corner of the building, she suddenly stopped, her gaze falling on the silhouette of a woman under the eaves.

The distraught and foolish Noble Princess Consort Xiao wore a plain palace maid's dress, sitting alone on the steps under the eaves.

She clasped her legs together, holding a peach blossom between them, staring dazedly at the peach blossom, picking its petals with her somewhat dirty hands.

With each petal she picked, she muttered words:

"Come back."

"Don't come back."

"Come back."

"Don't come back."

...

She was extremely focused, unaware even as Xiao Ran, a living person, approached.

The steps beside her were littered with peach petals and broken, barren peach blossom branches she had snapped and picked clean.

Xiao Ran stared blankly at the woman's haggard and foolish face, the messy hair, and the oversized, ill-fitting dress, attempting to compare the woman before him to the once noble and adored Imperial Concubine in his memory, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not overlap the two images.

"Aunt...?" Xiao Ran's eyes first misted over, then filled with tears, nearly choking as he called out this long-forgotten name.

At this moment, Noble Princess Consort Xiao finally picked the last petal: "Come back."

Then, this foolish woman laughed, turned her head to the unexpected visitor Xiao Ran, and happily said: "He will come back, he will come back again..."

Xiao Ran approached, slowly squatted down, placing the sword scabbard on the ground.

She softly called: "Aunt, don't you recognize me?"

Noble Princess Consort Xiao gleefully said: "He will come back again..."

Xiao Ran was taken aback and tentatively asked: "Who is he?"

"Jian Wen... my child..." Noble Princess Consort Xiao, like a robot triggered by keywords, spoke in a dream-like manner: "I dreamt of him, he came back..."

Then her expression fell again: "But he left, the dream woke up..."

Xiao Ran felt his heart sink, stretched out a hand to wipe away his tears, turning Noble Princess Consort Xiao's shoulders towards him, and with reddened eyes said: "Aunt, who made you like this? Was it Xu Zhenguan? Or who?"

Immersed in her own world, Noble Princess Consort Xiao did not answer her but instead struggled like a child, failing and suddenly showing fear: "Let go of me... don't hit me... don't hit me..."

During the struggle, her large palace maid dress collar was pulled off, revealing a dirty body with faint dark red marks.

Xiao Ran's expression changed, forcefully pulling down her clothes halfway, seeing the once jade-like body now skinny and coarse, covered with streaks of red marks on the woman's back.

With Xiao Ran's sharp eyes, a glance was enough to deduce that it was left by someone using a thin bamboo stick or similar wooden rod to beat.

Her face quickly turned cold, eyes almost spewing fire: "Aunt, who hit you? Tell me, tell me."

Noble Princess Consort Xiao only struggled; suddenly, a "bang bang" sound came from outside the Cold Palace, someone approaching the main gate.

"She's coming... she's coming..." Noble Princess Consort Xiao, seemingly in shock, showed a fearful expression and trembled violently.

Attempting to run yet seemingly afraid.

Xiao Ran's sharp gaze swept towards the tightly locked gate, hearing the sound of unlocking.

Then as the door opened, an elderly palace maid with a sullen face, wide eye spacing, and narrow eyes carrying a food box, entered.

Looking at her clothes, it was evident she was from the "Imperial Food Bureau," a low-level servant responsible for delivering meals to the Noble Princess Consort Xiao.

The palace maid was visibly stunned seeing Xiao Ran before her, eyes widened, stepping back a few paces, about to shout: "Thief..."

The next second, a sword pointed at her throat.

The Qingshan female hero wearing a straw hat, eyes cold: "If you dare to shout, I will dare to kill and discard your body."

Cold sweat poured down the palace maid's face, trembling legs, hearing the daring "assassin" suddenly ask: "Who allowed you to beat Noble Princess Consort Xiao?"

The palace maid was startled, instinctively passing the blame: "It wasn't me who hit her; it was the higher-up female official instructed... a few days ago, the Empress came by, then ordered punishment for the Cold Palace official... so..."

Fearful for her life, unsure of the assassin's origins, she revealed everything like spilling beans from a bamboo tube.

The person she referred to as higher-up was actually just a low-ranking female official in the vast servant system of the Imperial Palace, unable to even meet Mo Chou.

The last time Zhao Douan and Xu Zhenguan came here, seeing the poor clothing and accommodation of the Noble Princess Consort Xiao, the Empress casually ordered her attendants to improve slightly, then paid no further attention.

This word from the Empress, conveyed through layers of palace servants, became punishment when it reached below.