A moment later, a young man in the uniform of the Imperial Guard stepped into the hall.
He was in his early twenties, with sharp brows, bright eyes, and a high-bridged nose. He was exceptionally handsome—a truly beautiful man.
But at this moment, his face was pale and his eyes darted about, clearly anxious and afraid of something.
"This servant, Li Changfeng, greets Your Ladyship," he said, dropping to one knee. His voice was tight with tension.
Lady Qin walked over to him. Extending a finger painted with red lacquer, she gently lifted his chin. "Changfeng, the matter I tasked you with. How goes it?"
Li Changfeng trembled. "Your Ladyship, that Jade Pendant is Beauty Wang’s most cherished possession. It’s a priceless treasure she uses for her beauty regimen, and she keeps it on her person at all times. This servant... I truly haven’t had an opportunity."
"No opportunity?" Lady Qin smiled, a smile as beautiful as a flower but utterly devoid of warmth. "If you can’t find an opportunity, then perhaps you no longer wish for your sister’s illness to be cured?"
Li Changfeng’s face turned deathly pale, and for a moment, he was speechless.
His sister had contracted a strange illness and required the Imperial Secret Medicine just to stay alive.
But the Imperial Secret Medicine was exceedingly precious. How could a mere Guard like him possibly obtain it?
It was Lady Qin who had "generously" given him the medicine. Her condition was that he must do her bidding—carrying out her dirty work and even enduring her occasional humiliations.
"This servant... I will think of another way... I will find an opportunity," he said through gritted teeth.
Lady Qin released her grip. She turned and returned to the Imperial Consort’s Couch, leaning back languidly. "I will give you three more days. If that Jade Pendant is not in my hands in three days, your sister’s supply of medicine will be cut off."
What woman doesn’t desire eternal youth? Over the years, Lady Qin had amassed a collection of such treasures, not hesitating to seize them by trickery or force.
The Jade Pendant that Beauty Wang wore was one of the treasures she coveted. It would be immensely helpful in preserving her looks, but unfortunately, Beauty Wang refused to sell it at any price.
’I had no choice but to resort to this underhanded scheme. It’s a good chance to teach that little bitch a lesson, too.’
"Your Ladyship, can you grant me a few more days? Beauty Wang is surrounded by a sea of Guards, and even her Maids are skilled in Martial Arts. I’m afraid I won’t find an opportunity in such a short time." Li Changfeng fell to his knees with a thud, his face a mask of desperation.
"That’s your problem. I only require results," Lady Qin said, nonchalantly fiddling with her fingernails.
Li Changfeng slumped to the floor, his eyes filled with despair, completely at a loss.
Just then, all the candles in the hall began to flicker in unison.
It wasn’t caused by a draft; the windows were shut tight, and the air in the hall was still.
Instead, the flames themselves were trembling, as if some unseen Power was disrupting them, causing them to shudder.
Immediately after, all the candles simultaneously dimmed by a third, plunging the hall into a gloom that grew deeper by the second.
"What’s happening?" Lady Qin frowned, rising to investigate and preparing to shout for the Palace Attendants.
Li Changfeng, too, looked up in alarm, his gaze fixed on the entrance.
Then, at the same time, they saw the hall doors swing open silently, as if controlled by an invisible force.
A white-haired, deeply wrinkled old man was standing just outside the doorway.
He wore a simple green robe, his hands clasped behind his stooped back. He looked like any other old man on the verge of death, as though he might collapse at any moment, never to rise again.
But his eyes were utterly different. They were murky as stagnant water, yet deep within them burned a cold fire, like lava at the bottom of an ancient Cold Pool. A single glance was enough to freeze the marrow in one’s bones, and the ambient temperature dropped rapidly.
Lady Qin’s pupils contracted sharply. She recognized his face. ’Isn’t that the dissolute elder Crown Prince from Wenhua Hall, Xia Wuyang?’
"You... How did you get in?" she demanded, her voice sharp but unable to conceal its trembling. "Jinxuan Palace is heavily guarded! You... you’re nothing but a dying old fossil! How could you have possibly entered? Did the Palace Attendants outside not stop you?"
She was no fool. She knew something was terribly wrong.
Xia Wuyang didn’t answer. He simply walked slowly into the hall, the doors swinging shut behind him of their own accord. The Palace Attendants outside remained oblivious, busying themselves with their tasks as if completely unaware of the strange events unfolding inside.
With every step he took, his very presence seemed to change.
His stooped spine gradually straightened. The wrinkles on his face smoothed away at a visible pace, and his white hair turned to black. In the short distance of a few steps, he transformed from a dying old man into a grim-faced man in his thirties, with no trace of his previous senility.
Both Lady Qin and Li Changfeng were stunned, scarcely able to believe their eyes.
They never could have imagined that the elder Crown Prince, dismissed by all as a good-for-nothing, could possess such terrifying power and abilities.
"Who... Who are you? You’re not Xia Wuyang! You’re not that old relic!" Lady Qin stumbled backward, crashing into her vanity and sending bottles and jars scattering across the floor. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
"Who am I?" Xia Wuyang finally spoke, his voice deep and strangely magnetic. "You great nobles are so forgetful. Over seventy years ago, by the lotus pond of the Eastern Palace... didn’t you hold me in your arms and feed me sweet cakes? Have you already forgotten me?"
Lady Qin was shaken to her core. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she had no choice but to believe.
Over seventy years ago, she had brought homemade sweet cakes to see Xia Wuyang. The boy, only a few years old, had called her "Nanny Qin" in a sweet voice and pulled her by the hand to the lotus pond to look at the koi. She remembered now.
But that was all in the past. After Xia Wuyang was deposed, she, his Chief Wet Nurse, had been one of the first to pick a new side.
To prove her loyalty, she hadn’t hesitated to slander the Crown Prince. She even kicked him while he was down, profiting from his downfall.
Xia Wuyang walked right up to her and looked down, the light in his eyes like the edge of a knife. "You remember now, don’t you? Then do you also remember Nanny Sun, who attended my Empress Mother Luo Jin? The wet nurse who raised my mother from birth and treated her like her own daughter?"
Lady Qin’s face turned white as a sheet. Nanny Sun... of course, she remembered her.
She had been Empress Luo’s wet nurse, a kind and gentle old woman who had treated the Empress like her own daughter and had been wonderful to Xia Wuyang as a child. But then...
"You know perfectly well how Nanny Sun died," Xia Wuyang’s voice grew icy. "You played your part in it, didn’t you?"
"No, it wasn’t me! The Empress was the true culprit! It had nothing to do with me!" Lady Qin shrieked, stumbling backward.
Xia Wuyang laughed, a cold sound that made the temperature in the hall plummet. "Nothing to do with you? Before Murong Wan was deposed, she confessed that you were involved."
"Ah... the Empress... You were the one who...?" Lady Qin was horrified, staring at Xia Wuyang in utter disbelief.
Xia Wuyang nodded without the slightest hesitation. "If it weren’t for her, my mother never would have suffered such a tragic fate. So, I made her suffer an existence worse than death, enduring every kind of torment."
"I... I..." Lady Qin was rendered speechless, able only to stare at Xia Wuyang in terror as despair bloomed in her heart.
She knew that this would not end well for her.

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