Song Ying hid around the corner of a dark alley, clutching the brocade pouch tightly in her hand.
She understood her sister-in-law’s good intentions and knew how deeply her parents loved her.
But she, Song Ying, wasn’t some useless coward who would drag her entire family to their deaths just to save her own skin!
Li Jingrong had disappeared. If Song Ying really turned around and fled, once the Song family was convicted of “illegally releasing a maiden selected by imperial decree,” there was no way her elder brother and sister-in-law could shoulder the consequences alone.
It would be a devastating calamity, one that could result in the extermination of nine generations of their family!
Her sister-in-law’s carriage was much faster than she could travel on foot. If she returned to the residence and discovered that Li Jingrong was gone, their last resort would be to find a maid to take her place.
But the Sizheng officials from the palace all had exceptionally sharp eyes, and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau was even stricter in its selection process.
How could just any maid possibly deceive them?
If they really tried that, they would only add another crime to their sentence and hasten their deaths!
The horrifying scenes from the original novel resurfaced in her mind.
That selected maiden who had served as a foil to the heroine had her delicate neck brutally torn apart in the imperial hall, and Emperor Yongzhao had actually drunk her blood right there…
Just thinking about having to face such a terrifying scene in the future made Song Ying’s blood run cold. She couldn’t even summon the strength to take another step.
She suddenly drew in a sharp breath. The cold wind, carrying the bleakness of autumn, rushed into her nostrils and jolted her back to her senses.
That’s right. Rather than letting her entire family spend their days and nights in constant fear because of her, only to end up having their entire household executed, wouldn’t it be better to…
Wouldn’t it be better for her to shoulder everything herself?!
She knew the original novel’s plot inside out. That should practically make this an open-book examination. Perhaps… she could still fight her way toward a chance of survival!
With that thought, the fear and uncertainty in Song Ying’s eyes faded, and she hurried toward the Song residence.
The Song residence’s front hall.
The Sizheng official had long since lost his patience.
“Master Song, this official’s patience has its limits! If Miss Song doesn’t appear soon, don’t blame me for showing no mercy and reporting this matter directly to the authorities!”
“Please calm down, Your Excellency! Please!” Master Song’s back hunched even further. “My daughter… my daughter will be here shortly. She’s… she’s merely throwing a little tantrum, as young ladies sometimes do. I beg Your Excellency to forgive her.”
“Hmph! A little tantrum?” The Sizheng official sneered. “Once she enters the palace, she won’t have the luxury of deciding how she behaves!”
From the direction of the inner hall came the faint sound of Madam Song’s intermittent sobs.
Meanwhile, beside the moon gate, Xie Huaniang’s delicate brows were tightly furrowed. There had still been no word from the people she had sent to carry out her arrangements, and the Sizheng official was on the verge of losing his temper…
Just then, a clear female voice rang out across the hall.
“This humble daughter of the Song family pays her respects to Your Excellency!”
Everyone froze and turned toward the voice—
Song Ying stepped briskly across the threshold. After rushing all the way back, the dark strands of hair around her temples were slightly disheveled, but they did nothing to diminish her exquisite beauty.
“Yin Yin!” Master Song cried out involuntarily.
Xie Huaniang looked as though she had been struck by lightning. Her eyes widened, and she stumbled out of the inner hall.
She grabbed Song Ying’s arm, so frantic that her voice rose into an unfamiliar pitch.
“Yin Yin, you… you…”
But Song Ying gently freed herself from her sister-in-law’s grasp and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
She walked to the center of the hall and performed a formal curtsy toward the Sizheng official seated in the place of honor.
“This humble maiden, Song Ying, pays her respects to Your Excellency. I was reluctant to part with my mother just now, and our farewell took longer than expected. It was entirely my fault that Your Excellency had to wait so long. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness.”
A reluctant farewell?
How could such a flimsy lie possibly fool the Sizheng official?
He narrowed his eyes and carefully examined her.
Her features were delicate, her figure slender and graceful, and her composed bearing did indeed resemble that of a maiden chosen by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
She certainly didn’t look like an impostor.
He gave a heavy snort.
“Since you were bidding your mother farewell, are you quite finished now? It’s already getting late. We should depart.”
“Yin Yin!” Master Song’s voice choked with emotion as he hurried a step forward. “Your Excellency, please, I beg you. Could you… could you allow this commoner to exchange just a few more words with my daughter?”
“Master Song!” The Sizheng official’s brows drew together as he interrupted sharply. “We are carrying out an imperial command! How can you possibly keep delaying us?”
With things having reached this point, Master Song could only lower his head in defeat.
“Palace regulations are strict, and selected maidens are forbidden from bringing any personal belongings into the palace. This brocade pouch… I’ll have to trouble Sister-in-law to keep it safe for me.”
Song Ying took out the brocade pouch her sister-in-law had forcibly stuffed into her hands and returned it with both hands.
Seeing how sensible and considerate she was, the Sizheng official’s expression softened somewhat, and he waved a hand.
Two guards immediately entered in response, taking their positions on either side of Song Ying.
Only when the rumbling of the departing carriage had faded into the distance did Xie Huaniang open the brocade pouch with trembling hands.
There was now a slip of paper inside.
She unfolded it.
Only four characters were written on it—
Don’t worry. I’ll definitely return.
*
The journey from Liaozhou to Jingzhou, where the capital was located, was the longest of all.
In the beginning, the imperial consort selection had been a convenient shortcut for high-ranking officials and powerful families to send their female relatives into the emperor’s bed and secure imperial favor.
But at some point, rumors began circulating within the palace.
It was said that the young women sent inside had not only failed to receive the emperor’s favor, but their fates had become completely unknown. Not a single word about them had ever emerged.
During a court session, an Imperial Censor who wasn’t afraid of death had boldly raised the question.
Who would have thought that the very next day, Emperor Yongzhao would walk into the imperial court carrying a severed head?
Blood dripped along the jade steps all the way to the imperial throne, terrifying the assembled civil and military officials out of their wits.
From that day onward, no one dared mention sending their daughters into the palace again.
And so, the imperial consort selection turned its attention toward ordinary commoners.
Naturally, the utterly impoverished were not considered. Instead, families like the Songs—local gentry and landowners with modest property but little political influence, who could nevertheless afford to educate their daughters—became the preferred targets for this dangerous undertaking.
Of course, all twelve selected maidens couldn’t possibly come exclusively from gentry families.
Each year, the general convention was roughly three parts daughters of officials to seven parts daughters of the gentry, with candidates carefully selected from both groups.
But in a remote place like Liaozhou, almost every maiden sent to the palace year after year was the daughter of a local gentry family.
Song Ying was one of them.
Ever since falling into the Sizheng official’s hands, Song Ying’s days had become increasingly difficult.
Not only could she barely eat or sleep properly, but she also had to endure the exhausting journey by carriage while constantly dealing with the Sizheng official’s attempts to verify her identity.
It wasn’t anything particularly unusual.
The Sizheng official simply remained suspicious of who she really was.
Before leaving the Song residence, he had deliberately collected samples of her handwritten work and questioned her while comparing the characters stroke by stroke.
Only then had his suspicions been reluctantly put to rest.
The thought still frightened Song Ying.
If she had arrived even a step too late and her sister-in-law had really found a maid to impersonate her, how could that maid possibly have passed the handwriting examination?
She would probably have lost her head already.
Fortunately, the Sizheng official’s questioning didn’t last long.
Once the newly selected maidens arrived, he became occupied with examining their backgrounds and verifying their identities.
Before entering the capital, the selected maidens were kept under extremely strict supervision. They were forbidden from meeting one another privately, putting an end to Song Ying’s hopes of gathering information.
She could only remain cooped up in her room, wandering around aimlessly.
In the past, just as in her previous world, she had enjoyed reading novels.
But now, there were no books for her to read.
Apart from sleeping, Song Ying could only amuse herself by scribbling and doodling on paper.
On one occasion, the Sizheng official happened to catch her doing so.
He merely instructed her indifferently to throw all the papers away before entering the capital.
The journey from Liaozhou to Jingzhou took just over a month.
Most of what happened along the way was unremarkable, but one thing truly baffled Song Ying: she was required to bathe three times every single day.
…Did Emperor Yongzhao have an obsession with cleanliness?
It wasn’t until she entered the imperial palace that Song Ying finally caught a glimpse of the other selected maidens from a distance.
The twelve of them were divided into two lines of six as they made their way through the palace corridors.
There was something deeply unsettling about this vast imperial palace.
Despite the enormous palace grounds, there were pitifully few palace servants.
An eerie silence hung over everything, so complete that one could almost hear one’s own heartbeat.
There wasn’t even a single bird chirping.
The towering palace walls seemed to press down on them, filling their hearts with unease.
The palace attendant leading the way wore an expressionless face. From beginning to end, he offered not a single word of advice about palace regulations.
He simply walked ahead, his footsteps as light as a cat’s.
Song Ying kept her eyes lowered throughout the journey.
The people in this palace… why did they all seem like mutes?
Or had someone… cut out their tongues, leaving the entire imperial palace so deathly silent?
Her throat suddenly felt tight.
At last, they arrived at Chuxiu Pavilion, where they would be staying temporarily.
Only then did Song Ying raise her eyes slightly to examine her surroundings.
The selected maidens were treated quite well after entering the palace.
Each was given her own spacious room, complete with intricately carved window frames and bluestone flooring.
The rooms were even somewhat larger than Song Ying’s bedroom back home.
But the other maidens had little interest in their accommodations.
The moment the palace attendant left, several of them could no longer restrain themselves. They gathered in small groups of two or three in the courtyard, exchanging uneasy glances.
Nominally, these selected maidens were future imperial consorts, placing them a rank above ordinary palace maids.
They weren’t required to perform any labor.
All they had to do was wait quietly for Emperor Yongzhao to summon them.
A summons from Emperor Yongzhao…
How was that any different from receiving a death summons from the King of Hell?
Song Ying didn’t want to think too much about such things.
The more she thought about them, the more frightened she became. And the more frightened she became, the harder it was to stop thinking.
She might as well get some more sleep.
Of the twelve selected maidens, she had spent the longest time traveling by carriage.
After days of constant jolting and bouncing, her waist and back ached terribly, and her head felt unbearably heavy.
All she wanted was to throw herself onto a bed and enjoy a proper, uninterrupted sleep.
She was just about to return to her room when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure!
Li Jingrong!
Afraid that her eyes were playing tricks on her, Song Ying stared at the woman again and again without blinking.
It really was her!
How could she be here?
Could it be that no matter how the earlier plot unfolded, Li Jingrong was destined to enter the palace by assuming the identity of a selected maiden?
Meanwhile, Li Jingrong seemed to have noticed Song Ying’s presence long ago.
From across the crowd, she gave Song Ying a distant smile before closing her door.
That night, Song Ying was sleeping so soundly that she was completely oblivious to her surroundings.
Then someone patted her shoulder.
Once she opened her eyes, it would be difficult to fall asleep again.
With that thought running through her mind, Song Ying rolled over, ignored the disturbance, and continued sleeping.
Her reaction amused the visitor.
A moment later, several more gentle pats followed, noticeably softer than before.
“Miss Song.”
“Miss Song, wake up.”
That voice…
Song Ying jolted, more than half her sleepiness disappearing at once.
She reluctantly opened her bleary eyes.
“Who is it?”
“Naturally, the person you said you’d never meet again.”
Li Jingrong?
Song Ying’s heart skipped a beat.
She propped herself up, her mind still somewhat foggy from sleep, and was just about to ask what Li Jingrong wanted in the middle of the night.
But before she could speak, the other woman calmly uttered a sentence that instantly sent goosebumps crawling all over her skin.
“I’ve come to visit you tonight specifically to remind you of something, Miss Song—hurry up and write your farewell letter. Don’t waste any more time.”
Song Ying: …Huh? Coming all this way in the middle of the night just to remind someone to write their farewell letter?