Chapter 67: It

The scar on her forehead had not yet fully faded, and Consort De came to play the misery card, selling mother‑daughter affection.

"Mother Consort!" Pei Yunxi came out of nowhere, holding an umbrella, she sobbed as she embraced Consort De, who was still getting drenched in the rain.

She looked up and said to Mu Yuanzhi, "Sister Mu Yuanzhi, Mother Consort was just overcome by emotion that day; she certainly didn't mean to hurt you. She's been crying every day in the inner palace, afraid to see you, worried you won't forgive her."

Mu Yuanzhi chuckled, seeing through their lies with a single remark: "Why are you coming to see me again today? Do you want me to intervene and plead for Pei Shangling?"

Consort De's pupils flickered, she hummed, shook her head, and tears streamed down: "Little Zhi…"

"Ah, Little Zhi sister, how can you speak of Mother Consort like that?" Pei Shangning couldn't bear such words, and he also clung tightly to Consort De.

The three of them stood outside the gates of Weiyang Palace, crying together as if they had suffered some great injustice there; passing palace maids and guards stole glances at them out of the corner of their eyes.

Mu Yuanzhi looked at them coldly: "Go back already; kneeling at the Imperial Ancestral Temple is already a light punishment. If I speak up, I'll definitely get Brother Ling punished with a few strokes of the board."

Consort De nearly lost her balance; she felt the old ache in her lower back from the board punishment start to throb again. She lifted her gaze to Mu Yuanzhi, her tears drying, her face calm—she seemed like a completely different person from just moments before.

She realized that she and this daughter had no more affinity.

Consort De loosened her grip, and the swaddling cloth in her hands fell to the ground, instantly soaked by the rain.

Mu Yuanzhi bent down and picked up the swaddling cloth.

In an instant, Consort De's eyes brightened, and then she saw Mu Yuanzhi tell Xiao Yunzi to throw it away: "I'm discarding this trash that Consort De doesn't want."

"All right." Consort De's gaze returned to calm.

"Mother Consort!" Pei Shangning tugged at Consort De, he raised his head wanting to say something to Mu Yuanzhi, but the palace doors slammed shut without mercy.

Consort De watched the gates of Weiyang Palace shrink until they became a slit; her heart felt as if it, too, were blocked by that severed door.

"Mother Consort, let's go back; we'll come again after Sister Mu Yuanzhi's anger fades." Pei Yunxi advised, "Mother Consort, don't worry too much—I just went to see Brother Ling and secretly gave him something to eat."

You still need to dote on your brother—after all, you're flesh and blood, hurt the bone and you hurt the tendon. Consort De patted Pei Yunxi's hand, which she held, and sighed worriedly: "He's been kneeling for half a day already, and I don't know how much longer he'll have to kneel."

"Mother Consort, don't worry; once Father Emperor wakes up, I'll go plead with him." Pei Shangning also comforted Consort De.

"Good, good, you're both fine children of Mother Consort." Consort De said with a smile, then glanced back at Weiyang Palace behind her.

Pei Yunxi felt glad in her heart—now Mother Consort would surely stop thinking about Mu Yuanzhi, right?

Although Mother Consort had knocked Mu Yuanzhi senseless for her sake, she knew she held an irreplaceable place in Mother Consort's heart—but Mu Yuanzhi was badly hurt, and Mother Consort would occasionally lose herself.

Today, surely all of this should be over, right?

"Little Nian, take your sister back to the palace." Consort De told Pei Shangning.

"And you?"

"Mother Consort still has a place to go." Consort De gazed toward the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Pei Shangning naturally understood, he nodded: "My son and Little Xi will go ahead first."

Pei Yunxi thoughtfully prepared another umbrella for Consort De and handed it to her.

Consort De nodded, held up the umbrella Pei Yunxi had given her, and after parting with them, she had taken only a few steps when she saw Xiao Yunzi pushing a garbage cart out.

Not far from the exit of Weiyang Palace lay Coal Mountain, the usual dumping ground; Xiao Yunzi emptied the entire garbage cart in one go, clapped his hands, and went back without even glancing at Consort De in the distance.

The empty palace path, the drizzle gradually ceased, and the air grew much fresher.

Consort De just stood there in front of Coal Mountain, dazed, until she realized she didn't even know when she had ended up in the garbage heap there—a heap that had been rotting for days with no one to clean it up.

But she seemed oblivious, squatting down and frantically rummaging through it.

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Yunzi snapped to attention and saw Consort De cradling the filthy swaddling cloth.

He didn't understand, nor did he want to, and turned his head back toward Weiyang Palace.

The Grand Empress Dowager had been poisoned; the Third Prince and Worthy Consort were still under house arrest, while the Fourth Prince had knelt in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for three days and three nights, and when they were released he had already fainted.

Meanwhile, under the Qilin's careful care, the Grand Empress Dowager gradually improved, able to utter faint syllables, though she still couldn't get out of bed to walk, she could at least sit up.

The Qilin resided in Pingnan Wangfu; Mu Yuanzhi felt somewhat reassured, for whenever he entered the palace he would come find her to play for a few hours before leaving, telling her interesting things from Jingcheng and how her training was going.

"Senior Sister, I heard from Gu Rongjin that the upcoming Assembly of Virtuous Talents, which the Emperor himself has ordered to be held, is an annual event to recruit talents widely—those scholars and poets find the poetry‑wine contests absolutely lively."

Seeing his excited expression, Mu Yuanzhi knew he wanted to go; she used to go every year herself, because she wanted to stick close to Xiao Yichen, but even if she no longer cared about clinging to him this year, she still had to attend, for it is an unwritten palace rule that princes and princesses must go.

The court values literature, and the Emperor hopes his children can set an example for all under heaven.

"Yeah, I also don't know where it will be held this year." Mu Yuanzhi said.

"Gu Rongjin said that detestable Xiao Yichen volunteered to host it at his own home!"

Under the influence of Gu Rongjin and Mu Yuanzhi, the Qilin has successfully come to dislike Xiao Yichen as well.

Anyone who treats Senior Sister badly, he hates!

At the Premier's residence? Mu Yuanzhi instinctively didn't want to go.

Otherwise, she could just feign illness and skip it.

But upon reflection, the Qilin would definitely go; even if Gu Rongjin accompanied him, once they reached Xiao Yichen's turf she still wouldn't feel at ease.

Forget it, let's just go.

Three days later, the Assembly of Virtuous Talents was solemnly convened at the Premier's residence, and streams of scholars and poets who had come by reputation flowed in without cease.

"This ink work couldn't possibly be a genuine piece by King Xuan of the Great Zhou, could it?!" someone exclaimed.

"Indeed! Premier Xiao lives up to his name—even the welcoming ink piece is such a fine treasure!"

"Look at the caption below: 'Gifted by Mu Yuanzhi'—it's the present that Princess Mu Yuanzhi gave to Premier Xiao!"

"It's no surprise— that princess who chases Premier Xiao always makes a city‑wide sensation, everyone knows about it."

They had no idea that the subject of their discussion was standing not far behind them, listening intently.

Mu Yuanzhi couldn't quite recall when she had given that ink piece to Xiao Yichen, for she had given away so many—such precious items, each worth a city, and many were priceless yet unsaleable; she had painstakingly obtained them all and handed every one over to Xiao Yichen to win his favor.

He would just utter a single thanks, nothing else—and that was enough to make her happy for a long time.