Chapter 302: Working in the Palace

Wu Gate, Duan Gate, Chengtian Gate.

Only after passing through Tai Miao and She Ji Altar and exiting Chengtian Gate could one be considered truly outside the palace city. Without the gaze of the Jie Fan Guards and Yu Lin Army, walking felt much lighter.

Chen Ji led Zao Zao, while Xiao Man held Wu Yun.

Under the night sky, the two walked west along the wide Chang'an Street. Moonlight sprinkled onto the road. The capital was far from as prosperous as Chen Ji had imagined, with no shoulder-to-shoulder crowds or dazzling lights.

"Why is it so deserted?" Chen Ji turned his head to look back at Chang'an Street, which stretched endlessly.

Xiao Man said with a smile, "Young Master, if you want liveliness, you have to go to East City. The eight great alleys and Da Zhalan are busy all night. The people who live here are all officials and noble lords. Who would dare be lively in this place?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "Otherwise, later we can move to East City?"

Xiao Man quickly said, "No, no, it's better to have a bed in West City than a room in East City. Who would give up their residence in West City to move to East City? Actors, old Rong, tattooed arms, ruffians, swindlers, they're all on that side, all the lowest class."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Then where do you think is the best place for us to live?"

Xiao Man raised her head and thought for a bit. "Young Master, if you become a big official later, we can go to Chessboard Street to buy a house. That area is close to Wu Gate and convenient for court. Many heads of departments and lords rent houses there. If you enter the cabinet, then you must live on Fu You Street or Xuanwu Gate Street."

Chen Ji laughed, "Divided so clearly?"

Xiao Man explained, "Isn't it? Our Chen family and the Qi family, Hu family are all on Fu You Street. The Xu family, Yang family, and Zhang family are on Xuanwu Gate Street. The people on Xuanwu Gate Street are all southern officials, very refined. They hold literary gatherings every day. They look down on Fu You Street, saying Fu You Street is dead. Fu You Street also looks down on them, saying they are frivolous."

Chen Ji stroked Zao Zao's back mane. "Xiao Man, I probably can't become a big official. Maybe one day we'll really move to East City."

Xiao Man widened her eyes. "How is that possible? Young Master is so capable, you'll become a big official sooner or later."

Chen Ji shook his head. "Becoming a big official is very difficult... Just now, I was discussing with Master Zhang. We talked about who is the winner and who is the loser in today's court meeting, and it made me confused. For a time, I feel in awe of this capital. I think I'm only suitable to be a small pawn, not the one who holds the chess pieces."

Xiao Man asked curiously, "What winner and loser? Who is the winner?"

Chen Ji explained, "The Hu family, Chen family, Xu family, Qi family, His Majesty, Wu Xiu, they are all winners."

Xiao Man again asked curiously, "Then who is the loser?"

Chen Ji was silent for a long time. "The people of Guanyuan are the biggest losers."

Xiao Man was completely confused and couldn't understand what her young master was thinking.

Chen Ji smiled and changed the subject. "Did Big Brother and Second Sister go back to the Zhang residence?"

Xiao Man suddenly gloated. "As soon as we arrived at the capital, Madam Zhang took them away at the city gate. Madam Zhang cried a river, kept complaining that they shouldn't have secretly run to Guanyuan, and also said they would use family law when they got back. Zhang Zheng and Second Sister were as meek as quails. It looked like they would both get a beating."

Chen Ji glanced at her. "Why don't you call him Big Brother?"

Xiao Man lowered her head and muttered, "He's sloppy every day, where does he look like a big brother? I won't call him Big Brother... Right, Young Master, Second Sister said you entered the palace today to see the stars in the sky. Did you see them?"

Chen Ji softly said, "I saw them."

Xiao Man's eyes lit up. "Is it the White Carp Princess?"

Chen Ji said, "Mm."

Xiao Man hesitated and asked again, "...Is she still well?"

Chen Ji subconsciously tightened his grip on the reins but didn't answer.

They arrived at Fu You Street.

Xiao Man led Chen Ji into an alley and knocked on the side door on the south side of the Chen residence.

She kicked the stone lion in front of the door and muttered, "Young Master clearly has official status, but still isn't allowed to walk through the main gate. Rules, rules, it's all about rules all day long."

The wooden door creaked open, and a servant from the Chen residence politely said, "Third Young Master, you're back. Please follow me."

He led Chen Ji inside. After walking only about ten zhang, they reached a courtyard. The servant respectfully said, "Master instructed that you will live in this courtyard from now on. The courtyard was cleaned a few days ago, and everything is arranged properly."

Chen Ji pushed open the door and entered. The courtyard inside was clean and tidy.

Wu Yun jumped down from Xiao Man's arms onto the ground and stretched languidly.

The servant followed them and said, "Third Young Master, do you want to go and pay respects to Master and Madam? When Master returned, he also instructed me that when you came back, you must go and report to him."

Before he finished speaking, Xiao Man had already turned back and closed the courtyard door. Her voice floated out from inside, "My Young Master wants to rest. You can go back."

The servant looked at the tightly closed door, opened his mouth, and for a long time didn't say anything.

Xiao Man pressed against the door, waiting until she heard footsteps receding into the distance. Then she turned back and looked around the courtyard. "Wow, Young Master, look, the bricks inside the courtyard are all green bricks supplied by the Suzhou official kiln. The inside of the house is the same. Plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum are carved on the bricks."

Xiao Man walked around the courtyard, looking up and down. "The courtyard is so big. Is this bare tree in the courtyard a ginkgo tree? It's grown so big, it must have grown for many years. It will definitely be beautiful in autumn. You'll live in the main house. The east wing room will be for the desk, and the west wing room for storing things... No, no, I remember, this is the courtyard Chen Wenxiao used to live in. Bah, bad luck."

When Xiao Man thought of Chen Wenxiao, she instantly lost interest, and the happy mood of living in a 'big courtyard' for the first time slowly faded.

She turned her head and suddenly discovered that Chen Ji wasn't listening to her speak but was squatting on the ground, plotting something with Wu Yun.

Xiao Man also squatted down and saw Chen Ji breaking a branch and drawing a map on the ground, saying to Wu Yun, "This is Wu Gate. The Yu Lin Army guards it the most. You can flip in directly from the west side of the palace wall. Inside is the Imperial Wine House. Don't go through Huangji Gate. There are many Jie Fan Guards there, and also four corner towers probably guarded by officials of the Xun Dao realm from the Da Hang."

Chen Ji continued to talk while drawing the map of the palace ban. "Walk from Ren Zhi Hall, go around Ci Ning Palace to Kun Ning Palace. At this time, you are only two walls away from the East Six Palaces... Be careful. I didn't see the complete palace ban today, so there may still be unknown dangers hidden. Remember, if you can't do it, withdraw immediately, and we'll look for another opportunity."

Wu Yun nodded.

Xiao Man squatted beside them, looking at Chen Ji, then at Wu Yun, and said in shock, "Heavenly Venerable, you can remember something so complicated?"

Wu Yun glanced at her disdainfully and meowed.

Xiao Man was puzzled. "Young Master, what did Heavenly Venerable say?"

Chen Ji translated, "It asked, can't you remember?"

Xiao Man: "..."

Chen Ji looked at Wu Yun and softly instructed, "She must be very miserable trapped in Jingyang Palace. The Taoist nun in Jingyang Palace is crazy. If someone bullies her, find a way to protect her. Don't let her suffer any grievances."

Wu Yun meowed, turned, leaped onto the roof, and sneaked towards the palace city under the cover of night.

Xiao Man looked at the direction where Wu Yun disappeared and suddenly thought, her young master is really worried about the White Carp Princess.

But if it's the princess... when will she see her young master get married? Doesn't she have to stay in the Chen residence all the time?

It seemed not bad either.

There were many tall buildings in the capital, more than in Lu City.

Magnificent pavilions of two, three, and four stories were scattered high and low, their shadows covering Wu Yun's figure.

It stepped on the gray tiles, stopping and walking along the way. When carriages passed by on Fu You Street, it waited patiently.

An official's noble young lady in a carriage accidentally lifted the curtain and saw Wu Yun squatting on the corner of the eaves.

The noble young lady exclaimed, "Someone is actually using a fox slave as an eave beast, so unique."

When she called her female companion in the carriage to look, she discovered that the corner of the eaves was already empty.

Wu Yun leaped from one corner of the eaves to another, easily crossing the two-zhang-wide Fu You Street, and continued running towards the palace city. Upon reaching the red wall, it lightly leaped onto the gray tiled eaves and carefully surveyed the inside.

In front of the Imperial Wine House door, a little eunuch in a green robe with a round collar was guarding, just sitting on the ground dozing.

Wu Yun followed the path Chen Ji had shown, circling all the way north.

Almost at Ci Ning Palace, it slowly stopped its footsteps and pricked up its ears.

Ci Ning Palace was brightly lit. The two palace doors were guarded by Jie Fan Guards with long knives at their waists, glaring.

At the palace gate, an old woman, supported by a palace maid, wanted to exit Ci Ning Palace but was blocked by the Jie Fan Guards.

The old woman angrily scolded, "How can he treat me like this? I am his birth mother. I raised him and King Jing for more than ten years. How dare he imprison me in this Ci Ning Palace?"

Lin Chaoqing stood at the palace gate with his hands hanging down, not speaking. No matter what the other person said, he just wouldn't let them leave Ci Ning Palace.

The old woman gradually became agitated. "All my Liu family people are dead. What threat are they to him? My Liu family has already admitted defeat. Why does he still want to exterminate even our distant relatives overseas? He might as well destroy the filial piety tablet in front of Ren Shou Palace!"

Wu Yun muttered in its heart, how are the people in this imperial palace all crazy?

It was worried about the White Carp and hurriedly circled Ci Ning Palace, continuing forward.

On the road, a team of Jie Fan Guards passed by carrying palace lanterns. The Jie Fan Guards' gazes scanned everywhere like eagles, scaring Wu Yun into carefully lying flat on the gray tiles, making itself blend into the night.

After the Jie Fan Guards left, it rose and continued to hurry. After only a few steps, another team of Jie Fan Guards unexpectedly passed by, and it had no choice but to lie down again.

The short twenty-zhang road took Wu Yun two incense sticks of time.

Just as it was passing Kun Ning Palace along the palace wall, a beam of strong light suddenly swept over from the corner tower. A fire basin was burning on the corner tower, and someone was using a copper mirror to reflect the fire light, shining it into every dark corner of the palace ban.

The middle-aged person holding the copper mirror had a solemn face and eyes like hooks.

Seeing the fire light about to shine on itself, Wu Yun lightly leaped off the palace wall and hid in the flower bush in the corner of the wall.

The next moment, a gust of strong wind howled by.

Wu Yun hadn't even reacted when the skin on the back of its neck was picked up.

Someone said in a muffled voice, "Niangniang, it's a lost fox slave, black."

Wu Yun was pitifully picked up. Turning its head to look, it saw an elegant woman sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard.

The woman wore a dark incense-colored cross-collar long jacket on her upper body and a woven gold horse-face skirt on her lower body. The collar and sleeve edges were embroidered with patterns of the four seasons' flowers. She only had a simple pearl and jade phoenix hairpin inserted in her hair.

And the person who had picked up the skin on its back neck was an aged female official with a full head of white hair. She wore a set of purple round-collar robes, had a wooden hairpin inserted on top of her head, and had a tooth plaque and a string of copper keys hanging from her waist.

The woman gently said, "Let this palace have a look."

The female official picked up Wu Yun and brought it in front of the woman. "Niangniang, this is a wild fox slave from who knows where, very ugly. Should we kill it?"

The woman said with a smile, "Aunt Yuan Jin, you have a suppressed killing nature. It's just a fox slave. This palace doesn't think it's ugly. Such a black fox slave is also rare to see."

After speaking, she took Wu Yun and placed it on her knee to stroke it. "The fur is quite clean, not like a wild cat. Perhaps it was lost by a cabinet elder or a department head's family. Tomorrow, you can send people to inquire... Forget it, I'm afraid of being suspected by others again."

The female official named Yuan Jin looked at Wu Yun. "It's simpler to just kill it."

Wu Yun stiffened on the woman's knee for a moment, then suddenly used its head to keep nudging the woman's palm, and then drilled into the woman's embrace.

The woman was startled.

She lowered her head to look at Wu Yun rolling around on her knee, finally lying on its back exposing its belly, with black shiny eyes looking at her with a watery gaze.

The woman smiled. "Keep it. It will also add some life to the palace. It won't make a difference with one extra mouth to feed."

Aunt Yuan Jin said with difficulty, "Niangniang..."

The woman slowly smiled. "Alright, alright. Can't this palace even have this small wish?"

Aunt Yuan Jin sighed. "As Niangniang says. You still haven't decided whether you want to see the little prince or not. He has been requesting to see you for several months, and sends more than ten letters of request every month... He misses you very much. You are noble as empress, it's not obstructing to see your own son."

The woman restrained her smile and stroked Wu Yun's fur with her warm palm.

After being silent for a long time, she lightly sighed. "I cannot see him. His Majesty now most taboos the harem interfering in politics. If this palace sees him, it is not good for him. Furthermore, his uncle is causing such a big stir in Guanyuan now. At this sensitive time, if he comes to see this palace, outsiders will be even more suspicious. After a few days, send people out of the palace to tell the little prince that this palace is very well in the palace. Tell him to listen to his maternal grandfather's arrangements. There will always be a time to meet."

After speaking, she scratched Wu Yun's chin and asked with a smile, "You say it's right, isn't it?"

Wu Yun: "..."