Huo Wei shook off her arm, his face scowling.
"Du Gu Luanyue, use your head. How can I, an outside man, rescue the emperor's woman? Don't you think His Majesty will be suspicious of me?"
Du Gu Luanyue's glistening eyes were tinged with a faint red. She stepped forward, looked up at him earnestly.
"Fine. From now on, let's stop talking about love.
I won't deceive your feelings anymore. I promise, I won't.
If you want power, I can find a way for you. I can even use the power of the Southern Chu to help you gain influence in the court..."
She took a half - step back, thinking that from now on she would act properly, and her relationship with Huo Wei should be purer.
Huo Wei's cold and fierce eyebrows showed more sharpness, and his handsome face became more imposing. "Shut up. I've delivered the message. I'm leaving."
Hearing her words was like a knife stabbing into the softest part of his heart.
He knew she was full of lies. Even when she hugged him from behind just now, it was probably insincere. But when he heard her straighten out their relationship with her own mouth, his chest still felt extremely stuffy.
She just wanted to complete her mission in the Northern Yan and prevent the war between the north and the south.
"Du Gu Luanyue, you'll never be able to use me again in your life."
Du Gu Luanyue couldn't understand his heart for a moment. She reached out to grab his arm, but he shook her off.
When Aunt Meijiang saw the Prince of Yuzhang angrily jump over the wall and leave, she was shocked. Did they quarrel again? She quickly walked into the room. "Your Majesty, what on earth does the prince mean?"
Du Gu Luanyue shook her head.
"Sometimes I can understand Huo Wei, and sometimes I can't. Sometimes he shows signs of being in love, and sometimes he pushes me away. He's so unpredictable.
Now that the plan to return to the south has been ruined by him, and he said His Majesty will send someone to pick me out of the cold palace. I don't know what Murong Min is up to."
Aunt Meijiang pursed her lips.
"I don't believe His Majesty will pick you out of the cold palace. Last time in front of Empress Dowager Hua, His Majesty didn't say a single word for you."
Du Gu Luanyue's voice turned cold. "But that's what Huo Wei said. It's all His Majesty's intention."
Three days later, Eunuch Yingxi, who served beside Murong Min, really came in person with some people to pick Du Gu Luanyue out of the cold palace. He was polite and smiling.
"Empress Dowager has been meditating in Jing'an Palace these days. His Majesty misses you and asks you to go and accompany him earlier."
Du Gu Luanyue remained calm. Her simple palace dress fluttered gently in the wind. A faint smile appeared on her bright and majestic face.
"Thank you, Eunuch Yingxi. Go back and tell His Majesty that I'll go back to Fengluan Palace to freshen up first, and then go to accompany him."
Eunuch Yingxi bowed. "Sure. Then this servant won't disturb you, Empress Dowager."
Du Gu Luanyue had only stayed in Jing'an Palace for half a month, but the phoenix seal had already fallen into the hands of Concubine Xian, Wei Enxian. The emperor always praised her for being steady and suitable to manage the harem.
Aunt Meijiang accompanied her back to Fengluan Palace quietly. This time, the whole harem was in an uproar.
When Yu Zan saw Du Gu Luanyue and Aunt Meijiang come back, her eyes were full of shock. "Your Majesty, you... are out of the cold palace?"
Du Gu Luanyue nodded. "Yes." She stopped and ordered, "Yu Zan, go and call Su Rou here. I have something to ask her."
Yu Zan was worrying about how to become a mistress after the empress fell from grace. She never thought that Du Gu Luanyue would come out of the cold palace after only half a month.
But she wasn't happy either. Since Su Rou came, it seemed that Du Gu Luanyue had started to distance herself from her.
Yu Zan found Su Rou in the music academy. She held Su Rou's hand and said as they walked, "Su Rou, it's really hard for you to serve His Majesty without a proper title."
Su Rou sang well and her words were lively and pleasant. She whispered,
"I don't care about these things. I just hope that after I return to the Southern Chu, Empress Dowager will reward me with some silver so that I can repair the general's ancestral tomb well."
The general's family was all dead, and his concubines had run away. Only she still missed that man.
Yu Zan put away her smile. "If Empress Dowager really thinks highly of you, she won't just send you away with some silver. She will surely give you the status of a mistress.
You know, serving the emperor is not like doing some needlework. A woman's beauty won't last long."
Su Rou blinked her eyes, looking a little confused. "Yu Zan, do you want to be a mistress?"
Yu Zan let go of Su Rou's hand.
"I don't. I just feel it's not worth it for you. You should strive for it. If you become a mistress in the future, take me with you."
Su Rou glanced at her secretly and didn't say anything. She deliberately walked half a step away from Yu Zan.
Yu Zan intended to test Su Rou's intention. She wanted to sow discord between the mistress and the servant, encourage Su Rou to strive for the position of a concubine, and then tell the empress, so as to drive a wedge between Du Gu Luanyue and Su Rou.
She couldn't watch Du Gu Luanyue gradually rely on Su Rou and leave her aside.
When they arrived at Fengluan Palace, Du Gu Luanyue rewarded Su Rou with some fine silk. Then she asked, "Have you served His Majesty these days?"
Su Rou nodded. "Once."
Du Gu Luanyue leaned on the golden phoenix chair. The phoenix - shaped flower between her eyebrows showed a hint of coldness in the deep palace.
"Did you say anything to His Majesty about my coming out of the cold palace? Is it His Majesty's intention, or is there someone else behind it?"
Su Rou rubbed the light purple handkerchief in her hand and tilted her head to think.
"I didn't dare to talk nonsense when serving His Majesty. His Majesty never mentioned you either.
I just heard from the people in the palace these days that the Inspection Department suddenly raided the Flower Pavilion and found that the owner of the Flower Pavilion had some connections with the families behind the concubines in the harem."
She curled her red lips and snorted.
"I knew it. A brothel located in the most prosperous area of the Northern Yan's capital, with the lights of one building illuminating half of the street and the girls inside all quite beautiful, there must be someone in the government behind it.
It seems that I've fallen into the hands of someone in the harem this time."
Aunt Meijiang said seriously, "But Your Majesty has already taken the blame. I don't know who would still bother to raid the Flower Pavilion and investigate the people behind it."
Su Rou took over the conversation. "I heard from the people in the music academy that after the Inspection Department found out the people behind it, they told His Majesty that it must be the owner of the Flower Pavilion who deliberately leaked His Majesty's whereabouts and spread the matter.
His Majesty was very angry and punished that person secretly. But we don't know who was punished. It was very secretive."
Du Gu Luanyue and Aunt Meijiang glanced at each other and didn't continue talking.
According to Murong Min's character, he should be losing face. But after knowing the person behind it, he still wanted to punish that person, just not letting others know.
After a careful grooming, Du Gu Luanyue waited for Murong Min to come for dinner.
She took off her phoenix crown. Her hair was simply fixed with a golden hairpin in the shape of a flying dragon winding around a phoenix. She was wearing a red strapless dress. Her jade - like eyes were full of charm, and her expression was both charming and pitiful.
"Your... "
Du Gu Luanyue was stunned. She didn't expect that Huo Wei was also following Murong Min.
His cold and fair face slowly lifted behind Murong Min. His black eyes were cold and silent.
Huo Wei was actually holding the box that contained the phoenix seal of the empress. She looked at Huo Wei in confusion. Was the phoenix seal back?