20: Night talk
The night was deep, shadows faint and hazy.
Tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, Qiao Shilian heard Zhou Shu’s voice from the other bed.
“Shilian, are you asleep?”
“Hm?”
Qiao Shilian had thought Zhou Shu was already resting, given her injuries were quite severe. Though Qiao Shilian’s own wounds looked frightening, they were mostly superficial. After simple application of medicine, they weren’t serious.
She asked with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”
But for a long moment, there was only the gentle sound of wind outside the window and the rustling of falling leaves.
After a while, Zhou Shu’s voice sounded somewhat low and hoarse. “I have something I want to tell you.”
Qiao Shilian asked, “Is it about the Crown Prince?”
“Yes.”
In the darkness, the struggle on Zhou Shu’s face was hidden by the pitch-black night. She twisted the corner of her quilt, seeming anxious. “When I first befriended you, it was indeed because of the Crown Prince… You treated me with such genuine sincerity, but my intentions were impure. I…”
Before she could finish, Qiao Shilian interjected, “I knew.”
“Shilian, you…” Zhou Shu was so shocked she tried to sit up in bed but winced and fell back from the pain of her wound.
Qiao Shilian quickly got up to light a lamp and check Zhou Shu’s injury. Fortunately, the wound was fine. Looking at Zhou Shu’s flustered face, she sat by the bed and sighed silently.
Of course, the reason she knew was because in her past life, the few interactions she had with Zhou Shu all occurred around Qin Shuo. In her past life, Zhou Shu had been intent on getting close to Qin Shuo but, after failing in the dance presentation and later being targeted by Fang Yaoyao (using Qiao Shilian’s hand), she never gained any footing.
Qiao Shilian gazed at her. “Ah Shu, I want to ask you, do you like the Crown Prince?”
Zhou Shu shook her head. “I don’t have any special feelings for the Crown Prince, let alone like him. But I want to enter the palace. I want to become the future Empress of Da Sheng.”
Her tone gradually grew firmer, like her usual spirited self. “Shilian, when I was little, I also wanted to don armor and hold weapons like my father. But I am a woman. Even when the children of the Zhou family go to the battlefield, it’s my two elder brothers who go to the front lines. Never my turn.”
“There are no men in the capital who catch my eye. I don’t want to marry them and live an ordinary, uneventful life. That’s not what I want. So, there’s only that one path to take.” Zhou Shu slowly sat up, her gaze growing increasingly resolute.
Only then did Qiao Shilian understand Zhou Shu’s ambition: that position alongside the supreme imperial power—the very gilded cage she herself had been trying to escape since her rebirth.
She murmured softly, “In my eyes, the imperial palace… is a huge cage.”
Zhou Shu threw off the covers and grasped Qiao Shilian’s hand. “Shilian, what I want to be is the Empress, the one who controls the cage.”
Qiao Shilian looked up at her. “I can help you.”
Zhou Shu stared at her in disbelief, her vermilion lips parting soundlessly. It was a long time before she finally asked in a trembling voice, “You… you really don’t resent me? You and the Crown Prince…”
“If you truly had feelings for the Crown Prince, as your friend, I would never push you into a pit of fire. I’ve known the Crown Prince since childhood; I know exactly what he’s like. He is more heartless and ungrateful than anyone, caring only for himself and the interests of imperial power.” A bitter smile touched the corner of Qiao Shilian’s mouth. This was the truth she had traded her life for in her past life, a truth that once filled her with enduring hatred.
Qiao Shilian quietly suppressed the turbulent emotions in her heart and spoke earnestly to Zhou Shu. “Ah Shu, if I must marry, I only want to find someone who treats me sincerely, trusts me, and won’t abandon me at the first sign of trouble. Such a person might exist, or might not, but it will never be the Crown Prince.”
Although Zhou Shu didn’t know what had happened between her and the Crown Prince, the intense disgust that flashed in Qiao Shilian’s eyes when she mentioned Qin Shuo was unmistakable. She gently patted the back of Qiao Shilian’s hand, trying to comfort her. “I understand.”
“So, if Ah Shu wants it, I sincerely wish to help you.”
On the contrary, Qiao Shilian felt a sense of relief. Her greatest fear had been that Zhou Shu would develop deep feelings for the Crown Prince and end up suffering the same fate as she did.
Previously, she had thought Zhou Shu was merely a hawk from the desert briefly lingering in the capital’s prosperity, ready to spread its wings and return once the glamour faded. It seemed that Zhou Shu, like herself, was also trapped in the cage of this mortal world, unable to choose her own place to perch.
Since we can’t escape the cage, become its master. That was Zhou Shu.
In any case, she was now determined to help Zhou Shu. Although the final selection of the Crown Princess was ultimately decided by the emperor, given the emperor’s fondness for the Crown Prince, he might not disregard the Crown Prince’s opinions entirely. Moreover, as the legitimate daughter of Marquis Zhou, Zhou Shu’s family background wasn’t lacking. What Zhou Shu lacked was the opportunity to get close to the Crown Prince.
And Qiao Shilian wanted to help Zhou Shu for another, more important reason.
In her past life, she had heard the news of Zhou Shu’s death when Zhou Shu was twenty. Although she didn’t know the details, there were still three years left. Perhaps, with her conscious efforts to change things, the tragedy could be avoided.
Early the next morning, it was lively outside the bedroom door.
“Miss, the Master wishes for you to join him for breakfast.”
“Miss, the Eldest Young Master says the Madam would like to take a walk with you around the lodge.”
“Miss, His Highness the Crown Prince has sent food again. This maid has already declined for you.”
…
“Shilian, you’ve got it good, using me as an excuse to avoid everyone and enjoy some peace and quiet.” Zhou Shu teased Qiao Shilian from her bed. In just half an hour, Qiao Shilian had used taking care of Zhou Shu’s injuries as a reason to decline all requests.
Zhou Shu’s wounds were being attended to by the imperial physician accompanying the emperor’s entourage—this was something the Eldest Brother Zhou had requested from the Emperor—so there was no need for Qiao Shilian to worry. But Zhou Shu knew that the recent rumors in the hunting grounds had made Qiao Shilian resistant towards her family. She was happy to act as Qiao Shilian’s shield.
Thinking over the events, she couldn’t help but feel for Qiao Shilian. It turned out that the exquisitely beautiful flower, thriving under lavish care, if splashed with mud even once, would be ruthlessly broken off and discarded by its caretaker.
Qiao Shilian was leaning by the window, gazing at the brightening sky through the railings. It wasn’t that she was deliberately putting on airs; she genuinely didn’t want to face them. Whether they felt guilty or regretful, she didn’t want to invite trouble.
“Miss…”
Qiuying’s voice came from outside the room again. Qiao Shilian frowned. “Didn’t I say I’m not seeing anyone today?”
Qiuying said, “It’s someone from Commander Lu. They say they’ve made some progress on yesterday’s matter and would like to speak with you in person.”
Zhou Shu also chimed in from the side, “Perhaps they’ve found out who’s behind it? Shilian, you might as well go and see.”
After some thought, Qiao Shilian went out with Qiuying, following the guard waiting outside the room.
She needs to know who was trying to kill her. Open attacks were easy to dodge, but hidden arrows were hard to guard against. Even if she could guard against Fang Yaoyao, the real hidden danger wasn’t her.
Before long, passing through the lodge corridors, a gentle golden breeze carried the deep fragrance of flowers from the ornate terrace, mingling with the faint scent of burning incense.
Ahead, the figures of several palace attendants appeared. As they drew nearer, a tree branch blocking the view revealed a figure in bright yellow robes sitting in the pavilion, stirring the agarwood in the incense burner.
The Crown Prince? Qiao Shilian stopped in her tracks, suddenly feeling that something was amiss. A sense of danger washed over her.
The “Imperial Guard” who had led the way bowed forward. “Your Highness, Miss Qiao has been brought.”
**