Chui Sang-gung received a secret order delivered by a flying pigeon: kill the corpse-collecting palace maid.

  Zong Chuke is a man who doesn't leave any handles, he didn't move on Jing Yuanyuan before because Zong Huo had just been beheaded and the palace immediately killed another palace maid, it was too eye-catching.

  It's been a month since the whole thing happened, and now quietly getting rid of Jing Wanyan will make the whole thing seem like it never happened.

  Choi Sang-gung's eyes narrowed after receiving the order.

  She couldn't help but think of a few days ago when she summoned Jing Wanyu and told her about the rumors that His Majesty might re-examine the case of the Jing family.

  Jing Wan'er said she would become a corpse.

  It seems that she has a very clear understanding of her own destiny.

  Cui Shanggong called his subordinates: "Go and bring Jing Wanyu and Qiao'er to me."

  That day, Qiao Er was also sent away, and she died naturally. She also had to die with Jing Wan Er together.

  Qiao'er had been working all day and was already asleep on the kang, when she was dragged out of bed by one of Liang Shanggong's maids. She still had sleepy eyes and had no idea what was happening.

  The maid then lifted up Jing Yuane's bed curtain and saw that there was no one inside.

  In the middle of the night, all the palace maids were startled awake, their faces filled with fear and incomprehension about what had happened. The head maid standing beside Empress Liang scanned each of the maids lined up before her, her eyes cold and unfeeling like a judge's.

  Still no sign of Jing Wanyi.

  "Where is Jing Wan'er?"

  The palace maidens' faces showed nothing but confusion and ignorance.

  Dà gōng nǚ immediately rushed over and told Cui Shang Gong what had happened.

  Cui Shanggong's eyes were deep and icy as she asked, "When was the last time you saw Jing Wanyu, at what hour?"

  Finally, one of the palace maids said it was after noon.

  It's been almost three hours since noon now.

  Chui Shanggong's icy gaze turned ruthless, and the palace maidens were frightened to tears, explaining that Jing Wanyan usually didn't work with them.

  Jing Wan'er was just in charge of collecting corpses.

  In the empty and spacious courtyard of the miscellaneous room, only Jing Yuanner had a lot of time to wait alone.

  And she was the most hated person among the palace maids.

  Jing Wan'er spent five years turning herself into a person that everyone detested, she was an outcast. Even on ordinary days, except for Cui Shang Gong, everyone in the miscellaneous work room would automatically avoid her.

  Until today, at this moment tonight, who would know where Jing Yuanyuan went?

  Daiyu threw the package at the feet of Imperial Concubine Cui: "This was found under that servant girl's bed."

  A pen that has been broken and several sheets of paper drifting in the wind.

  Qiao'er saw this, and her face turned pale.

  Chui Shanggong nodded for Qiao'er to come over, his eyes scanning the pale face with a venomous gaze: "You've known about these things all along?"

  Qiao'er collapsed on the ground as if she had lost her soul and couldn't get up again.

  After Liang Shanggong's icy gaze, he gave the order: "The palace is heavily guarded. Even if she disappears from noon onwards, she will absolutely not be able to leave... within these palace walls."

  A palace maid wants to leave this palace where she relies on for a living, it's as difficult as ascending to heaven.

  The palace maids in the miscellaneous room all turned cold, and now they finally faced a runaway slave, Jing Yuanyu. Jing Yuanyu was already nailed to the pillar - a capital offense.

  Chui Shanggong looked at them one by one: "Before dawn breaks, find Jing Yuane."

  Even if the miscellaneous servant girl is in the most remote corner of the palace, with no one asking about her, but when everyone goes to find a fugitive palace maid together, and even must disturb the Thousand Cow Guards, this palace maid has already become a turtle in a jar, with absolutely no possibility of survival.

  ——

  The night color of Taiye Pool is far more beautiful than the bright moon outside the palace.

  Zhong Zong sent a eunuch to guide Pei Tan on the way, and even stopped a special pleasure boat by the Taiye Pool.

  The eunuch bowed and smiled: "If Lord Pei is tired of playing, he can go inside the painting boat to rest. There are refreshments and a bed prepared inside. If there's anything else you need, please just give orders to me."

  This grand Ming Palace, the flourishing land of Chang'an, Pei Tan only needs to stand at the bow of the painted barge, gazing at the willows on the riverbank, and he knows that this scene is indeed worth it.

  He asked Zhongzong for permission to stay in the palace to admire Taiye Pool, a decision that would be important for him for at least the rest of his life.

  Pei Tan stretched out his hand and untied the rope of the painting boat. The painting boat immediately drifted away with the current.

  Eunuch Dao didn't answer: "Lord Pei?"

  Pei Tan stood at the bow of the boat, gradually moving away, "I, Pei, want to take a look around, you can do as you please, sir."

  Before they knew it, the painted barge had drifted far away.

  This liquid pool river wind thousands of miles, is not only the scenery in front of your eyes, but if you drift with the water, before dawn, whether you can drift to the end of the Taiye Pool, Pei Tan doesn't know either.

  He was just intoxicated in this wind, and for a moment he was enchanted.

  Jing Wan'er parted the water grass in front of her, and her face was already smeared with a thick layer of mud from the bottom of the pool.

  In this night, she was both trying to hide her tracks and avoid being discovered, as well as searching for a way out of the palace.

  She received a flying letter today, just like before, only half an hour earlier than Cui Shanggong's one.

  Although no one knows that Jing Wanyi cut off human skin for now, there is no wall in the world that does not leak wind. Even if it has not been exposed yet, it does not mean she can continue to live safely.

  From the letter Ziyue passed on to her today, she knew that Pei Tan had made some moves. Pei Tan's actions could only be based on the Shangshu Mansion, and the Shangshu Mansion... The only thing Jing Wanyan could think of was that Zonghe had escaped.

  Jing Wan'er knew this day would come, once Zong Huo left Chang'an, she would be silenced.

  She barely had time to escape from the servant's quarters, let alone make any fine arrangements.

  Jing Wan'er couldn't help but gasp for air, she knew that she was now in the deepest part of the palace, and what came to her mind wasn't escaping towards the palace gate, but rather fleeing in the opposite direction, deeper into the palace.

  This can indeed confuse and delay Cui Shanggong and the guards in the palace for a while.

  But what will she do after a while?

  The heavily guarded palace, wanting to catch a palace maid was as easy as catching a fly. She didn't even have the chance to escape.

  But even so, Jing Wan'er still had to escape, for a person's instinct to survive would never be easily abandoned.

  Until Jing Yuanyu brushed aside the weeds in front of her eyes and saw that sparkling river, she fell into a daze on the quiet pool water for a while before suddenly realizing the name of this river in front of her, Tai Ye Chi.

  This is the most famous Taiye Pool in the Da Ming Palace.

  Jing Wan'er involuntarily walked out of the bushes and headed towards the edge of the pond.

  The lake stretched for miles, and not every inch of land was guarded by the Thousand Oxen Guard. For example, the lakeside where Jing Wanyu now stood was a place where one could gaze out at the scenery without seeing any guards in sight, except for the gentle night sky.

  This gave Jing Wan'er a sense of security.

  Although she knew this feeling was only temporary.

  She couldn't even remember, five years in the palace, time flies like water, she had never felt such peace again.

  Even if she is really caught back by Cui Shanggong now, at least what she wants to do has been done, right?

  Zong Hui's escape is now a foregone conclusion, which means that the father and son's death sentence has also become a foregone conclusion.

  Jing Yuanyu was still satisfied with this result.

  There are many things in this world that cannot be changed by one person's power, such as Jing being exiled. However, before she dies, she wants to drag the Zong family father and son to death with her, so it won't be in vain for her to have lived as a daughter of the Jing family.

  Just as Jing Wanyu was taking a deep breath, a painted barge floated quietly and slowly over the Taiye Pond.

  The painted boat drifts with the wind, as if the person steering it is also moving forward in a carefree manner, without minding where the destination is.

  Jing Wan'er was taken aback when she saw the painting boat.

  The beauty of this moonlit night, and yet there is still a man with sleeves as wide as the sea, standing at the bow of the painted barge.

  The man's two sleeves were blown up by the wind, but they made him look even more like a celestial being banished to the mortal world, beautiful to the point of being somewhat illusory.

  Jing Wan'er stared at the man on the bow of the boat, and when the pleasure boat was close enough, she finally saw that he was just an ordinary mortal man, not a god as she had thought before.

  Just then, Jing Wan'er seemed to have come back to her senses, and the next moment, she jumped into the turbulent river water.

  Pai Dang's painting boat gradually approached the shore, and he furrowed his brow. Just a moment ago, he had vaguely seen a figure on the shore, but in the next second, the figure had disappeared.

  Pei Tan did not notice that a dark shadow was approaching his painting boat from the water.

  Jing Wan'er's muddy face was also washed clean by the pool water as she jumped into it. Her movements in the water were like those of a nimble and agile fish.

  She saw the figure at the bow of the boat getting closer and closer to her.

  Pai Dian's face was also fully revealed under the moonlight.

  Jing Wan'er slipped into the bottom of the painting boat under the cover of the moonlight and shadows after her last jump.

  She also climbed up with both hands and grasped the bottom of the painting boat.

  This painting boat was built with unparalleled luxury, and it was naturally reserved for the prince and his concubines to enjoy. Jing Yuanyuan quickly grasped the structure of the painting boat after a moment's thought, and she chose to go to the stern of the ship, where the inner cabin was located, where she could board the ship and hide inside.

  Just as Jing Wanyu had planned, she slowly approached the direction of the ship's stern, making sure that there were no prying eyes around before slowly emerging from the water.

  She smiled slightly, for the first time believing that heaven would never cut off a person's path.

  Jing Wan'er slowly boarded the ship from the stern, and throughout the process, she was convinced that she hadn't made a single sound.

  But what she didn't know was that at the same moment she swam towards the stern of the ship, the figure standing on the bow also disappeared.

  Jing Wan'er successfully climbed onto the painting boat and slowly opened the cabin door, confirming that it was pitch black and empty inside.

  She immediately walked in and quietly closed the door.

  She let out a soft breath in the darkness, and her heart, which had been suspended all night, seemed to have finally found safe haven.

  Jing Wan'er gently wiped her wet hair, and she heard the sound of water droplets on the ground.

  Then she felt a chill in her neck, a cold feeling colder than the pool water. Just as she subconsciously stretched out her hand to touch it, she suddenly realized where the chill came from.

  She went from being completely relaxed to totally stiffening up just now.

  A dagger was quietly placed on her neck, a cold and low breath lingered around Jing Wanyan's soft ear: "Who are you?"