Jun Qi narrowed his eyes, his deep gaze falling on the dagger. “Did you find anything?”
Han Qi knelt on the ground and shook his head.
“Master, this type of dagger is found in every palace within the imperial palace.”
Jun Qi grasped the dagger in his hand, his fingertip lightly tracing the blade. With a soft “shing,” a trickle of blood seeped from his finger.
“It is indeed quite sharp.”
“Master? What are you doing?” Han Qi was greatly startled by his lord’s action.
Madman, truly a madman.
Even if he wanted to test the dagger’s sharpness, he could have just cut something else. Why cut his own hand?
The wide-eyed look Han Qi wore at that moment was exactly the same as when the Celestial Beast discovered Gu Xi holding a nail.
By the time Gu Xi arrived, Han Qi had long since withdrawn.
Jun Qi pushed open the palace door and saw Gu Xi before him, dressed in a palace maid’s attire. Not a single maid followed behind her; she was completely alone.
Jun Qi asked in confusion, “Your Highness, what is this?”
Gu Xi raised her eyes.
Under the bleak, cold wind, her almond-shaped eyes were moist, as if shimmering with unshed tears. Her small cherry lips were pressed together uneasily, and her entire frame appeared frail and unsteady. Her eyelashes trembled, and tears slid down her flushed outer eye corners.
Bathed in the clear, cold moonlight, she looked especially pitiful and moving.
Jun Qi unconsciously rubbed his index finger.
Gu Xi sniffled, her voice choked with sobs. “Young Master Qi, do you know what day it is today?”
Jun Qi shook his head.
Gu Xi’s eyes reddened, and she lowered her head despondently, tears falling into the dirt.
“Today is the Lantern Temple Festival in Chu. When Mother Empress was here, she always accompanied me to see the lanterns among the common people.”
“But now, Mother Empress is gone.”
“Imperial Father is with Consort De and has no time for me either.”
[At this moment, Emperor Chu, toiling away exhaustedly reviewing memorials in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, sneezed heavily.]
“Young Master Qi, I am all alone and don’t know what to do…”
She instinctively turned her head away, as if trying to control her continuously falling tears, but she simply couldn’t hold them back.
Scalding hot tears dripped onto Jun Qi’s palm.
Her voice was broken and sorrowful. “Young Master Qi, could you accompany me to the Lantern Temple Festival?”
Without waiting for Jun Qi’s reply, she extended the hand that had been injured for his sake and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
That bandaged hand was now clearly reflected in Jun Qi’s eyes.
The words Jun Qi was about to say caught in his throat.
In the courtyard, under the bright moonlight.
Gu Xi’s tear-stained eyes were full of hope, fixed unwaveringly on him.
Jun Qi pondered for a moment, finally meeting her gaze. “But Your Highness, the imperial palace is heavily guarded. We cannot get out.”
“If we leave directly, His Majesty will find out.”
“His Majesty would certainly not permit Your Highness to leave the palace.”
Gu Xi lifted her tear-glistening eyes and handed the bundle in her hand to Jun Qi.
Jun Qi took it. “What is this?”
Gu Xi’s voice was very soft. “Young Master Qi, change into the clothes inside. I have a way to get out.”
Jun Qi opened the bundle. Inside was unmistakably a eunuch’s uniform.
Jun Qi: “…”
He was about to speak.
Gu Xi shed a few more tears. Standing in the desolate cold of the night, her figure was slender and frail, and she appeared utterly lonely and helpless.
“I know Young Master Qi is a kind-hearted person. You will surely agree to this, won’t you?”
Her delicate, willow-like figure resembled the heavily laden pear blossoms outside the window, weighed down by wind and rain—beautiful yet fragile, pale and powerless.
“If Young Master Qi has matters to attend to, it’s no trouble. I can go alone. It’s just that I am frail and sickly, and I don’t know if I can safely return to the palace…”
Jun Qi didn’t even know how he had ended up changing into these clothes.
From beginning to end, Gu Xi spoke one sentence after another, and whether emotionally or logically, he never found an opportunity to refuse.
A quarter of an hour later.
Having changed his clothes, he pushed open the palace door and stepped out.
Gu Xi wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, finally revealing a faint smile. “Young Master Qi.”
As she spoke, within the Void Space, Gu Xi used her Spiritual Sense to kick the sleeping Celestial Beast: 【Lead the way.】
The Celestial Beast immediately woke up: 【Oh, oh, oh.】
As if remembering something, the Little Beast’s eyes lit up.
【Let me tell you, the place I found is the best spot to slip out of the palace.】
【You and Jun Qi, just follow me. There won’t be any mistakes.】
【First turn left, go straight to the second palace next to the Cold Palace, then turn right, and then…】
And so, Gu Xi followed the Celestial Beast, and Jun Qi followed Gu Xi, until they arrived before a wall.
Celestial Beast: 【We’re here!】
Gu Xi smiled: 【Are you still half-asleep? This is a wall.】
The Celestial Beast shook its head: 【No, no, no. Look at the lower right.】
Gu Xi looked toward the lower right behind the weeds, where there was clearly a small hole.
As for what kind of hole it was, it went without saying.
Jun Qi followed Gu Xi’s gaze and also saw the dog hole.
“Your Highness, this is…”
Within the Void Space, Gu Xi gritted her teeth in anger. Suppressing the urge to kill the Celestial Beast, she asked word by word: 【This is the place you found over the past few days—the most weakly defended, safest spot to leave the palace?】
The Celestial Beast felt the chilling gaze and swallowed nervously: 【Maybe, perhaps, probably, possibly, yes.】
Gu Xi kicked at it, but the Celestial Beast nimbly dodged.
【I, the dignified Underworld King, and you want me to crawl through a dog hole?】
By the wall, Jun Qi looked at the dog hole, then at Gu Xi. “So this is the place Your Highness found to safely leave the palace?”
The two humans and the beast stared at each other, falling into a long silence…