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As he left, he lowered his head to gently kiss her forehead, saying, "Rong Zhaozhao, wait for me to come back and fetch you."

Gu Changjin returned to the Sishi Garden through a secret passage.

Night had fallen.

A few cold stars hung in the sky, and the air was filled with a chilly dampness. In the distance, a grove of maple trees, drenched by a day and night of autumn rain, were crimson like the hellish flames blooming in the underworld.

The courtyard was quiet.

Several palace attendants holding lanterns waited in the darkness. At the center stood a woman dressed in an imperial robe adorned with phoenixes perched on a parasol tree. With bright, charming eyes and an imposing demeanor, she was none other than Empress Qi.

"Where is she?" Empress Qi asked as she pushed past the attendants, her voice carrying a tension she was unaware of. "And the child? The Rong family's child, where is she?"

Gu Changjin had met Empress Qi before.

That day in the main hall of the Kunning Palace, it was she who had stepped down from Emperor Jia Yu's side, taking his hand and addressing him as—

"My child."

Gu Changjin gazed into Empress Qi's eyes, now shimmering like spring tides embracing the moon, and suddenly understood.

Why did Xiao Fu insist on feeding that girl "Third Watch"?

She was paying off her mother's debt. His Rong Zhaozhao had been entangled in this conspiracy from birth.

Xiao Fu had used her life to exact her final revenge on Empress Qi and Emperor Jia Yu.

Seeing his silence, all the color drained from Empress Qi's face, and her hand clutching the jade Buddha beads trembled uncontrollably.

"Xiao Yan, where is Rong Shu?"

Gu Changjin's gaze lowered slightly, landing on the familiar jade Buddha beads in Empress Qi's hand.

This was the small jade pendant that the girl wore around her neck. Once, when she had drunkenly thrown herself at him, it had fallen out of her clothing.

"Mother, where did you get this jade pendant?"

"This bead was originally one of the Buddhist beads in my bracelet," Empress Qi clenched the bead tightly. "Many years ago, I lost it."

Lost.

Gu Changjin chuckled softly.

The former prince imperial, Xiao Yu, was the second prince.

What else could Gu Changjin fail to understand? The strife in the harem and the court had claimed the life of an innocent girl – his Zhaozhao.

"What wine did Mother send over?"

The fallen wine cup was made of white jade, intricately carved with the imperial seal at its base. The person who had fed her the wine intentionally left it behind to let him know that someone from the palace was responsible for her demise.

Empress Qi declared, "That wine was laced with a potion called Drunken Dream, Indifferent Death. After consuming it, she'll only sleep for a few days."

She gritted her teeth and said, "Xiao Yan, she is your cousin. Only with her death can your affair be completely concealed. Do you know what would happen to her if the world were to find out about your marriage?"

Gu Changjin looked at Empress Qi calmly.

"Are all those who delivered the wine dead?"

"Yes, the two palace maids and two eunuchs who came here with Nurse Zhu all perished on their way back to the palace," Empress Qi said. "After Nurse Zhu returned to the Kunning Palace, she left behind only the words 'I have fulfilled my mission,' before consuming poison and ending her own life."

Nurse Zhu should not have returned to the palace at that time, and the smile on her face when she spoke those words was eerily strange.

Empress Qi then knew that something terrible must have occurred in the Sishi Garden.

"The wine was switched," Gu Changjin said calmly. "It was replaced with 'Third Watch.' Mother, you're familiar with the effects of 'Third Watch'—you know the consequences of consuming it."

Gu Changjin paused for a moment, his dark eyes fixed intently on Empress Qi's suddenly ashen face. He enunciated each word carefully, "She said she was in so much pain."

Empress Qi saw stars before her eyes.

"Nanny Gui, help her!" someone cried out.

Empress Qi lifted her gaze to meet Gu Changjin's. "Where is she? Where did you hide her?"

"Mother should return to the palace now, preferably falling ill. That will force Xiao Fu to reveal herself. She'll likely be eager to see your agony," Gu Changjin said.

He walked past Empress Qi toward the entrance, but after a few steps, he stopped abruptly. "In her heart, she only has her mother. Even in death, she was thinking of Madam Cheng'an, the Countess of Peaceful Happiness. Mother, don't disturb her. From the moment you abandoned her, she ceased to be your daughter."

With those words, Gu Changjin made no further pause and left the Sishi Garden directly.

When Shiiun saw him, the man's complexion had turned even paler. This was a man who could maintain his composure even with grave injuries, yet at this moment, he could no longer conceal the pain in his expression.

"Shiiun, from the moment she was born, she was a discarded pawn."

"She was so good, so very good..."

"How could they treat her like this?"

Shiiun lowered his gaze.

His master didn't need an answer from him; all his master needed was... to voice it out.

Shiiun wished for him to speak up.

By speaking it aloud, perhaps his heart wouldn't ache so much.

Unfortunately, after those three sentences, his master fell silent once more.

The next day, Gu Changjin returned to being the man Shiiun was familiar with, though his gaze had become even colder and his eyes darker. Upon closer inspection, there was a hint of crimson lurking beneath.

Five days later, Shiiun located Mother Zhang, Yingyue, and Ying Que on their way to Su Prefecture.

Half a month after that, Shen Zhi, who had been hiding in the capital, emerged.

A month later, Heng Ping, secretly rescued by Lin Qingyue, returned to the Eastern Palace with injuries all over his body.

Gu Changjin imprisoned Mother Zhang and Shen Zhi in a secret chamber within the Eastern Palace, subjecting them to harsh interrogations without allowing them to die easily.

In the winter of Jiayou's twenty-third year, Emperor Jiayou passed away.

Come the following spring, Gu Changjin ascended to the throne, changing the era name to Yuanzhao.

On the seventh day of his ascension, Empress Qi, who had been bedridden for half a year, personally accompanied Gu Changjin as they escorted Emperor Jiayou's coffin to the imperial mausoleum.

It was there that Gu Changjin finally encountered Xiao Fu.

At that time, Xiao Fu was nothing but skin and bones, her legs as thin as bamboo sticks, unable to support her body. She could only sit in a wooden wheelchair.

She fixated on Empress Qi with a laughter that bordered on maniacal, barely able to catch her breath.

In Xiao Fu's dark eyes burned a mix of hatred and grim satisfaction!

"Qi Zhen, how does it feel to have taken the life of your own flesh and blood?!"