A'Jiu abruptly stopped wiping the table, looking at the departing figure in white outside the door: "Clarify."
Xue Zhen, in the back garden, halted his steps and tilted his head slightly:
"This book has two parts. After Consort Chang died, Miss Ning wrote a second part, its whereabouts are unknown. The only thing your book doesn't mention is the events after the entire Meng family was executed. If Hua Chang Emperor knew the Meng family had survivors, the consequences would be unimaginable. Ninth Miss, think carefully."
A'Jiu asked no more questions.
She understood. If she were to learn and use the stratagems from the book, she would inevitably be discovered and implicate the orphaned descendants of the Meng family.
However, this matter was manageable. Books are inanimate, but people are alive. Couldn't A'Jiu apply them flexibly? Must she be so foolish as to follow them step-by-step?
Thinking of how she was now living with that maid Ning who had escaped the imperial palace, it must have been incredibly difficult for such a maid to flee the palace with Consort Chang's book.
Compared to being able to survive, living was naturally more important than being a concubine.
A'Jiu put away her guilt and moved about the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
She abruptly turned and quickly hid this book away separately, hoping the orphaned descendants of the Meng family could live out their lives safely.
Jiu'er had promised Xue Zhen to give him ginseng. After breakfast, A'Jiu busied herself in the back garden.
While waiting for the ginseng to sprout and mature, A'Jiu decided to take out all the books from the bookshelf and spread them out to air dry.
Although the weather was dry and mold was impossible, A'Jiu had noticed yesterday, after wiping them with water, that some pages would curl up naturally after air-drying.
Books filled half the courtyard.
Huh? What is this book without a title? A'Jiu hadn't paid attention during the last cleaning.
She picked it up and looked. It was a thin, bound booklet, not even as thick as a baked flatbread.
Curiously, A'Jiu opened it. The handwriting wasn't very good, nor did it seem to be written by someone of great learning.
Fortunately, the characters were legible.
A'Jiu glanced at it and was astonished.
Could this be a sequel to the Secret History of Consort Chang? But this book, from beginning to end, never mentioned Consort Chang's title.
Yet, the story it told was remarkably similar.
It roughly described a concubine, after her entire family was executed, and "I," the author of this book.
It stated that she fled the imperial palace with the young prince and the eldest son of Meng Lie. Having nowhere to turn, she entrusted the child to her parents before entering the palace. Then, in order to survive and support this young prince, she willingly became a maid for the Gao family.
Because of her good looks and extensive knowledge of etiquette, she was favored by the elder Master Gao and taken as a concubine. From then on, she relied on the wealth of the Gao residence to secretly support her parents and raise two infants.
Until sixteen years later, there was a sudden upheaval in the court, followed by a great drought. The people in the city were starving, and gold and silver became the cheapest things, while water was the most expensive.
The ending stated that on the occasion of the eldest son of the main branch of the Gao family's wedding, something happened (the event that A'Jiu knew about). At that time, Prince Chu Jiang had already marched south to attack Menghua City.
Prefect Gao, being a civil official, feared making a choice between the two princes and to avoid trouble, fled overnight with his family and all valuable possessions, abandoning his post.
She was left alone in the Gao residence. She intended to leave the Gao family and return to her maiden home to find the two children, wondering if her family, who had encountered the drought, had fled, and if the children could still be found.
Finally, "Your Majesty, if I cannot find them, Ning will die to atone."
A'Jiu closed the thin, bound booklet, and sadness welled up within her.
Even the warm winter sun felt inadequate; instead, the cold wind was biting.
She hoped Maid Ning could find those two children. Perhaps these were the orphaned descendants of the Meng family that Xue Zhen had mentioned.
It seemed that Consort Chang had not truly killed her own children back then, but merely did so to create a diversion.
No ruler would leave behind an orphaned descendant of a family they had annihilated. If raised as a prince, they could one day become a hidden poison bomb ready to explode in the emperor's heart.
"Is this the way of emperors?" A'Jiu mused, murmuring to herself.
Even with the great drought and hardship, A'Jiu still felt the way of emperors was more terrifying.
A'Jiu placed the booklet in a box and buried it in the most inconspicuous corner of the back garden, letting this history sleep forever. She also hoped that the two descendants of the Meng family could live the lives of ordinary people, never again involved in court struggles.
A'Jiu still remembered the last sentence written at the end of the Secret History of Consort Chang.
A'Jiu collected herself and turned to dig for the ginseng. She brushed off the soil, tucked it into her怀, and naturally kept the seeds as well.
"Are you... Madam Tuoba?" A person stood at the arched gate, no taller than A'Jiu.
They were dressed in armor, with a long saber at their waist. Their hair was loosely tied on their head, secured by a bronze hairpin. Their eyes shone brightly, and a hint of old scars could be seen on their dirty face, lending them an air of heroism.
"Who are you?" A'Jiu asked. The moment the words left her lips, she suddenly remembered something: "Are you Hua Ling'er?"
The person froze, seemingly surprised that the General's wife remembered her maiden name.
"Quick, come in." A'Jiu hurriedly pulled the person into the room and generously poured water from her waterskin into her wooden basin, then grabbed the other's hand and pressed it into the water.
Hua Ling, overwhelmed with gratitude, abruptly withdrew her hand.