Chapter 113 Deep Palace Walls

Chapter 113: The Depths of the Palace

At the sight of the respectfully bowing girl, Xue Quan smiled and walked away.

Qiu Heng remained still, watching Xue Quan's retreating figure.

Scenes flashed through her mind: Xue Han visiting the Earl of Yongqing's estate, asking her to extend her hands on the pretext of rooting out spies. Their chance encounter on the street, where Xue Han said she could seek his help if needed. Time and again, his help, and his claim that he had compassion for the poor and vulnerable...

All those puzzling, defensive anomalies finally had an answer.

Fang Zhou came over and asked softly, "Miss, did that person give you trouble?"

Qiu Heng began walking forward. Seeing the concern in Fang Zhou's eyes, she was forthright. "Don't worry, it wasn't exactly trouble. He just told me that Official Xue's proclamation of admiration for me before His Majesty yesterday had another reason behind it, and advised me not to misinterpret it."

"Misinterpret it?" Fang Zhou's willow-leaf eyebrows shot up in anger. "But Official Xue said it himself! How can he say that about you?"

"Official Xue said it out of guilt. Eunuch Xue was afraid I'd misunderstand..." Qiu Heng repeated the old story she'd heard from Xue Quan.

Truthfully, she had no memory of it.

Her mother said that when she was found, the kidnapper's body was nearby. She had been greatly frightened, and being so young at the time, she lost all memory of the events before her abduction.

Naturally, she didn't remember any red bean cakes or any little beggar boy.

Thinking about this, Qiu Heng felt a pang of resentment.

If she had known from the start that his approach was motivated by guilt, she would have been more cautious and guarded her heart better.

"So, Miss was abducted because of Official Xue?" Fang Zhou asked, her face a mask of shock.

Although the lord and lady treated the miss as their own flesh and blood—a stroke of luck that she met such good people—the fate of most pretty little girls who fall into the hands of kidnappers is all too easy to imagine.

"You can't put it that way," Qiu Heng said calmly, thinking of the young man's restrained, profound gaze when he looked at her. "It was just a small twist of fate."

That little beggar boy back then did nothing wrong; he was merely envious that her father bought her pastries. That little girl back then did nothing wrong either; it was her compassionate nature, her pity for the poor and weak, that made her run toward him.

Pity for the poor and weak—Qiu Heng mulled over the words, suddenly feeling that the excuse Xue Han had used was quite apt.

In the eyes of the world, the Sixth Miss of the Earl of Yongqing's estate had an unlucky fate, falling into the hands of kidnappers. But after growing up and returning, she felt grateful for the ten years she lived with her father and mother.

If not for those ten years of parental love, those ten years spent in the later period of the Great Xia dynasty, if she had been raised like a caged canary all along, she would have only known how to cry when that grandfather of hers skinned her and sold her bones.

"Even if Official Xue had other reasons, it wasn't Eunuch Xue's place to speak to you like that, Miss," Fang Zhou said, feeling indignant on Qiu Heng's behalf.

Qiu Heng continued walking slowly. "Eunuch Xue is Official Xue's adoptive father. It's only natural he worries for him."

"He just thinks his son is too good for you, that's all," Fang Zhou fumed inwardly, grabbing Qiu Heng's hand. "Miss, you shouldn't like Official Xue anymore either."

Qiu Heng smiled gently. "I know. I won't like him anymore from now on."

"Really?"

"Really."

They walked in silence the rest of the way until they reached Beauty Qiu's residence. Fang Zhou stayed outside while Qiu Heng followed Zheng Yu inside.

Zheng Yu didn't look well.

"Eunuch Zheng, you look rather haggard. Did you not sleep well last night?"

Zheng Yu wore a bitter smile. "It seems Sixth Sister slept quite soundly."

After such a major incident yesterday, she showed little reaction. This girl truly had nerves of steel.

"Sixth Sister, I'm afraid Beauty's days ahead will be hard going," Zheng Yu lowered his voice and said quickly.

After speaking, he himself was surprised. Why he felt compelled to say these things to Sixth Miss Qiu...

Was he hoping a young girl could do something?

He must be mad. What Sixth Miss Qiu did yesterday was already more than enough, enough to make those of them serving Beauty Qiu weep with gratitude.

After all, once it was confirmed that Beauty Qiu had an illicit affair, the fate awaiting them, her attendants, was unthinkable.

Passing through layers of curtains, Qiu Heng saw Beauty Qiu.

She looked far more haggard than Zheng Yu, her face frighteningly pale.

"Sister," Qiu Heng called out.

Beauty Qiu, her expression wooden, shifted her gaze to the graceful young girl standing there.

"Eunuch Zheng, please leave us for now. I'd like to speak with my sister."

Since Beauty Qiu remained silent, Qiu Heng took the initiative to dismiss the attendants in the room. She walked over and sat down beside Beauty Qiu.

Beauty Qiu looked at her, her voice so light the wind could scatter it. "Sixth Sister, you've come."

"Of course I came." Qiu Heng took something from her bosom and held it up before Beauty Qiu.

Seeing the wooden doll in Qiu Heng's hand, Beauty Qiu's face grew even paler.

"This wooden doll... did you give it to Captain Lin?"

Beauty Qiu trembled all over. Meeting the cool gaze of the young girl before her, she shook her head. "No."

Qiu Heng raised a delicate eyebrow slightly.

So it wasn't from Beauty Qiu after all.

Seeing Qiu Heng's surprise, Beauty Qiu gave a self-mocking laugh. "Since Sixth Sister has already glimpsed my shameful secret, I no longer care about losing face. In all these years since entering the palace, I have indeed never let go of Lin Chengfeng... We were in love, and I always believed we would marry and grow old together. Who could have known His Majesty would suddenly expand the harem, and I happened to be of the right age? My grandfather forced me to enter the palace. I resisted desperately, but there was no changing it..."

Qiu Heng listened quietly as Beauty Qiu spoke of that agonizing past.

"When we met again at the hunting grounds, he was a promising young imperial guard with a bright future, and I was a consort long confined to the deep palace, devoid of freedom. No matter how much I couldn't let go in my heart, I could never give him a wooden doll carved in my own likeness... I couldn't harm him because of love..." By the end, Beauty Qiu was in tears, her hands clutching her handkerchief tightly.

Qiu Heng pressed her lips together, offering no futile comfort.

What could she say?

That after all these years, Lin Chengfeng still held her in his heart, so her true feelings weren't misplaced?

That since she had entered the palace, she should let go of improper thoughts and let the past be the past?

Anything she said would be cruel.

"Sixth Sister looks down on me, don't you?" Beauty Qiu asked, laughing through her tears.

It was a laugh utterly devoid of joy.

"No."

Beauty Qiu had always been in love with Lin Chengfeng, but that damned wooden doll was not sent by her. This woman trapped in the deep palace was not a wooden doll; she was a flesh-and-blood person who could hurt and ache.

To blame her would be too harsh.

"I do not look down on you, sister," Qiu Heng said, gazing at the woman who looked ready to shatter.

She was only in her early twenties, yet she resembled a flower past its bloom.

Qiu Heng said, enunciating every word: "What I look down on is our grandfather."

Beauty Qiu trembled all over, embracing Qiu Heng as she wept, her sobs stifled.

When Beauty Qiu had finished crying, Qiu Heng whispered, "Since the wooden doll wasn’t sent by you, sister, I need to see Lin Chengfeng again. Do you have any message you’d like me to pass on to him?"

Beauty Qiu remained silent for a long time before finally shaking her head. "No, I have nothing to say to him."

She had long lost the right to say anything to him; she shouldn’t even have looked up at him that day.

"I understand." Qiu Heng put away the wooden doll and walked out of the palace gate.