Shen Ying was not easily fooled either. “For a matter like this, what is there that cannot be spoken of? Is it worth you playing dead until now? Don’t tell me you have other things hidden from me! Out with the truth!”
Jin Dou swallowed nervously, letting out a dry chuckle at Shen Ying. “After all… after all, Host, you are currently playing the part of the tyrant’s White Moonlight. Wasn’t I just afraid that you would be unhappy acting as someone else’s stand-in?”
“It’s my own face—what is there for me to be unhappy about? Though using my face… let me think, doing this makes me feel as if the tyrant’s deceased wife were actually me. It really feels a bit odd.”
Jin Dou quietly slunk back into a prone position, offering no further response.
On the other side, Eunuch Liu looked at Shen Ying lost in thought, feeling as if facing a formidable enemy. He was terrified that she might suddenly make a move against the little Crown Prince. Several times he wanted to carry the little prince back from Shen Ying’s arms, extending his hands only to pull them back.
Fortunately, right up until they entered the Eastern Palace, that Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen was not seen doing anything. If something were to genuinely happen to the little Crown Prince, his head would have to be removed along with it.
The moment Eunuch Liu carried the little Crown Prince down, the child woke up. Having gone out to play today, the little boy was extremely happy in his heart.
Having been asleep on Shen Ying’s lap earlier, a red crease mark had even been pressed onto his cheek.
He rubbed his eyes and found himself held in Eunuch Liu’s arms. Like a fish freshly scooped out of the water, he flopped back and forth. Unable to hold him, Eunuch Liu had no choice but to set him down.
The little Crown Prince enthusiastically reached out to grab Shen Ying’s hand, but Eunuch Liu hurriedly caught the child’s hand and pulled him over.
“The hour is no longer early; Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen had better hurry back. Xuerong, lead Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen back to Mingxiu Hall. Your Highness the Crown Prince, let us wash up and sleep. Tomorrow you still have to go to Grand Tutor Chang’s place for lessons—we cannot delay it just because of playing.”
Eunuch Liu advised with painstaking earnestness, coming short only of kneeling on the ground to stop the little Crown Prince from approaching Shen Ying.
Xuerong hurriedly acknowledged the order, walking over to Shen Ying’s side to remind her, “My Lady, we ought to head back as well.”
The one who had suffered a considerable fright today was not just Eunuch Liu; Xuerong had also received a no small shock. Staying inside the palace, Xuerong was by no means a dense person; judging from County Commander Duanmin’s reaction, the things Eunuch Liu could think of, she naturally thought of as well.
This Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen not only shared the same given name as Empress Chunzhao, but even her appearance was remarkably similar.
Under extreme shock, Xuerong instantly fell silent, to the point that Eunuch Liu once ignored Xuerong’s presence altogether. Reassessing the situation now, he only wanted Xuerong to quickly lead the person away; this Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen could absolutely not be allowed to stay any longer.
If she were an ordinary maidservant and His Highness the Crown Prince treated her with special regard, so be it; but she happened not to be, causing Eunuch Liu to feel no matter how he looked at it that Shen Ying held ulterior motives.
Xuerong, however, did not harbour the same suspicions as Eunuch Liu. After all, she was the one serving by Shen Ying’s side. While this Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen’s behavior was indeed somewhat odd at times, it was merely odd; she felt no trace of malice from her.
On the contrary, Xuerong felt Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen was quite a good person.
Seeing that Shen Ying was about to leave, the little Crown Prince instantly refused to cooperate.
“Mother, don’t go! Stay with Yun’er for a bit, okay?” The little Crown Prince broke free from Eunuch Liu’s hand, running over to wrap his arms around Shen Ying’s leg, entirely unwilling to let go.
“My little Highness, the hour is late. Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen needs to go back to rest, and you need to rest as well.”
“I don’t want to! I want Mother!”
Eunuch Liu looked at Shen Ying, mainly looking at her face.
Presumably, it was because the little Highness saw that she looked too much like Empress Chunzhao that he was unwilling to let her leave. What kind of mess was this?
Had he not known that Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen resembled Empress Chunzhao, so be it; but now that he knew, how could Eunuch Liu sit idly by and ignore it?
Before Eunuch Liu could speak, Shen Ying had already agreed to stay. “Alright, I will stay with you a little longer. You can’t throw any more tantrums.”
Watching them enter the hall, Eunuch Liu hurriedly followed inside.
Besides staying to play with the little Crown Prince for a while, Shen Ying also took a bath in passing, inwardly lamenting: If only her quarters over there could be installed with something like this, then she wouldn’t have to be thick-skinned enough to come over to the Eastern Palace to bathe.
Just to take a bath, she even had to pretend to be someone’s mother. Out of guilt, Shen Ying decided to make it up to the little Crown Prince by telling him a bedtime story.
The little Crown Prince unfastened the longevity lock Shen Ying had chosen for him, giving strict instructions for the servants to store it away properly and under no circumstances let it be damaged or lost, as he would wear it again tomorrow.
Coming out after washing up, before his hair was even dried, he ran over to find Shen Ying.
“Mother, Mother! What bedtime story are you going to tell?”
The palace maid chasing behind dried the little Crown Prince’s hair before letting him lie down on the bed.
Shen Ying sat by the bedside and cleared her throat. “Today, I am going to tell you… tell you the story of Cinderella.”
“Cinderella? I have heard this one before! In the end, Cinderella married the prince.”
“How could you have heard it?” Shen Ying was genuinely astonished this time.
Shen Ying’s first instinct was to look for Jin Dou—it couldn’t be that when the author wrote the book, fairy tales were included as well?
No matter how dense she was, Shen Ying had noticed many things that were not quite right.
“Jin Dou, before me, was there really no other transmigrator?”
Receiving no response from Jin Dou, Shen Ying had no choice but to look at the little Crown Prince and ask probeingly, “How could you have heard this story? Could it be that someone told it to you?”
The little Crown Prince looked at Shen Ying with round, bright eyes. “It was Mother who told it to me!”
“Impossible!” Shen Ying immediately denied it.
How could she not remember ever telling the little Crown Prince any stories? They had only known each other for a few days; it was utterly impossible that she had told him stories before.
Today was the very first time, a whim on her part.
“It’s true! It really was Mother who told me!” The little Crown Prince instantly grew anxious. “Mother told me so many stories—there was a tiny girl with wings who was only as big as a thumb, and a little girl who sold matches.”
The little Crown Prince tried hard to recall, and the words he spoke caused Shen Ying’s heartbeat to accelerate.
“Then when did I tell you these stories?”
“In my dreams!”
“Huh? In… in dreams?”
The little Crown Prince nodded with utmost gravity. “I had a nightmare, dreaming that bad people came to catch me. It was Mother who appeared and beat the bad people away, and Mother even told me stories—it was those very stories.”
Shen Ying was completely stunned. Right now she only wished she could grow another brain.
Originally, she had thought there was another transmigrator, but now it appeared that was not the case.
The little Crown Prince’s answer had thoroughly baffled Shen Ying.
“Mother, I recognized you at first glance! You look identical to the Mother in my dreams! Am I amazing or what?”
“Amazing, truly amazing!” Shen Ying patted the little Crown Prince’s small cheek.
She thought to herself that a child’s cheeks were truly tender.
Promptly coming to her senses, she realized that at a time like this, she probably shouldn’t be thinking about such things.
“Since Mother has already told you stories before, let us not tell any today then.”
The stories she knew had all been heard by the little Crown Prince, so telling them again would be useless.
Lying down beside the little Crown Prince, the child was very obedient, holding her hand and closing his eyes on his own. Although he had slept in the carriage earlier, he quickly fell asleep at this moment as well.
Seeing that he was asleep, Shen Ying gently drew her hand back and stepped out of the Eastern Palace.
Seeing that she had left, the heart that had been hanging in suspense for Eunuch Liu instantly settled down. After instructing several people to strictly watch over the little Crown Prince, he hurriedly went to find his master.
Upon leaving the Eastern Palace, Shen Ying confronted Jin Dou. “Jin Dou, don’t tell me you guys even arranged the Crown Prince’s dreams as well?”
“Think whatever you like, Host. Don’t you feel the current situation is extremely advantageous to you?”
“I don’t feel that way at all. I don’t even know what use there is in you orchestrating all this. With this kind of ability, you’d do better to send me back earlier.”
Jin Dou let out a yawn and lay flat down.
Shen Ying gasped softly; seeing Jin Dou like this made her feel anger rising within her.
By now, the sky was already dark. When Shen Ying returned to Mingxiu Hall, it was quiet and still, so she hurriedly returned to her room.
The room was somewhat warm and stuffy. Shen Ying opened the window, waved her round fan a couple of times, and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep.
Xuerong went over to help her lower the bed curtains before retreating outside.
Eunuch Liu from the Eastern Palace hurriedly found his master. Seeing Dafu guarding outside the hall, before he could even catch his breath properly, he hurriedly pulled him to the side and said, “M-Master, that… Seventh-Rank… Maidservant Shen, she she she, she and Empress Chunzhao…”
Dafu said in surprise, “You know already?”
Eunuch Liu was also extremely surprised. How did it sound as though his master didn’t find it strange at all?
Calming down now, his breathing evened out. “Master, you knew all along?”
“Nonsense! Did you think I was like you? Regarding palace affairs, how could they not be thoroughly investigated?”
Earlier, when the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace, the secret guards responsible for monitoring came back to report. What they did today and whom they met had all been reported to His Majesty in meticulous detail.
Naturally, they also knew that His Highness the Crown Prince went to watch a polo match today and met County Commander Duanmin and the Heir Apparent of Prince Qi.
As for what was said, it was not clear—after all, guards were standing by the door, and the secret guards could not lean in to listen.
Dafu waved the whisk in his hand around to drive away those annoying mosquitoes before saying to Eunuch Liu, “You heard about it from County Commander Duanmin, didn’t you?”
A matter like this could be deduced with just a moment’s thought.
Eunuch Liu nodded. When he heard it, he was extremely shocked in his heart, never expecting his master had actually known long ago.
Since his master knew, it naturally meant His Majesty knew as well.
“Master, since His Majesty knew, how did he still dare to keep that Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen in the palace and even allow her to approach His Highness the Crown Prince? This nearly scared me to death.”
Dafu gave him a side-eye. “How His Majesty does things—does he still need you to teach him? In short, just take good care of His Highness the Crown Prince. You don’t need to concern yourself with anything else; His Majesty knows what he’s doing.”
Eunuch Liu nodded; in that case, there was no need for him to do anything further either.
Before leaving, he still asked, “In the future, if His Highness the Crown Prince wants to find Seventh-Rank Maidservant Shen, should I hold him back a bit?”
Dafu glanced sideways at him. “Better hold him back a bit—avoid seeing her whenever possible.”
What they worried about most was still that Shen Ying might harm the little Crown Prince.