Rongrong couldn’t help but smile.

Although Liang Muchen seemed timid and shy, she was actually straightforward and forward-looking.

Rongrong initially thought Liang Muchen’s hesitation was due to shyness, but it turned out she was concerned about Prince Qing not cooperating.

“Not necessarily. Today, I saw him sneak glances at you,” Rongrong said.

“Really?” Liang Muchen’s eyes lit up, and her expression brightened. “Did you really see the prince sneaking glances at me?”

“Of course,” Rongrong replied. “Not just me, everyone in the pavilion saw the two of you exchanging glances. Otherwise, why do you think the Empress suddenly became so generous, giving everyone a fan? We all benefited from your presence.”

Liang Muchen was thrilled by Rongrong’s words.

Though she softly muttered, “There was no exchanging of glances,” she kept admiring the embroidered gold fan in her hands, unable to put it down.

It wasn’t just because of the fan’s value and uniqueness, but because it was chosen for her by Prince Qing.

“Muchen, I’m truly happy for you,” Rongrong said.

“Why are you suddenly saying that, Sister?” Liang Muchen asked.

Rongrong lowered her gaze. “When I advised you to try to win Prince Qing’s favor to secure a place in the Prince’s residence, I was very anxious.”

Liang Muchen didn’t speak, clearly still not understanding why Rongrong was feeling sentimental. “Sister, you don’t need to worry. This was my own choice.”

“Let me put it this way: although I advised you to do so, if it were me, I might not have done it. If Prince Qing didn’t like me, why should I bother?”

“Are you feeling sorry for me, Sister?” Liang Muchen seemed to begin to understand.

Rongrong nodded.

Yes, why should Prince Qing be treated like royalty? Liang Muchen, a fine girl, was going through so much trouble to please him.

Seeing this, Liang Muchen actually smiled, putting down the fan and resting her chin in her hands as she reminisced about the previous night.

“Before entering Prince Qing’s residence, I did feel wronged. Following your advice, I tried to figure out how to win his favor, and every time I thought about it, it made me quite upset. But after last night, I found that I wasn’t upset anymore. The more the prince ignored me, the more I wanted to provoke him.”

In fact, she was even pleased when Prince Qing scolded her for being shameless.

Liang Muchen’s heart was racing, and she was hesitant to continue.

She hoped Prince Qing’s actions wouldn’t make Rongrong think she was a shameless woman.

“Sister Rongrong, do you think I’m a bad woman at heart?”

Seeing Liang Muchen’s lowered gaze and amused smile, Rongrong understood her feelings.

“You’re not bad; you’ve just fallen for him.”

Liang Muchen smiled gently and asked in return, “Would you play tricks on the Crown Prince?”

Play tricks?

Who would dare to trick Liu Zhen?

Mentioning Liu Zhen made Rongrong’s earlier confidence vanish.

She sighed, “He’s the one who bullies me. How could I bully him?”

“Are you afraid of the Crown Prince?” Liang Muchen asked.

“Not so much afraid, but he’s full of tricks and schemes. One wrong move and you’re caught in his trap.” Rongrong’s frustration grew as she thought about Liu Zhen.

During her time in the Eastern Palace, every night had been filled with fear that Liu Zhen might change his mind.

The more Rongrong thought about it, the angrier she became, wishing she could give Liu Zhen a good beating.

But then she remembered that he was far away, and her heart sank.

She wondered when Liu Zhen would return.

Just as Liang Muchen was about to express concern for Rongrong’s sudden daze, a child’s voice called out, “Auntie.”

“Yuanbao!” Rongrong turned and saw Yuanbao running towards her.

She quickly stood up and embraced him.

Yuanbao hugged Rongrong tightly and pouted in dissatisfaction. “Auntie, you haven’t come to see me for three days. Didn’t we agree to meet every other day?”

“I thought I’d see you today when I came to the palace, so I didn’t go back to the Eastern Palace yesterday.”

“Auntie’s being lazy,” Yuanbao said without hesitation.

Since returning home, Rongrong had indeed become more laid-back.

Being exposed by Yuanbao made her blush a little, and she reached out to gently pinch Yuanbao’s nose.

“Muchen,” Liang Muchen also stood up and greeted Yuanbao with a smile.

“Muchen Auntie,” Yuanbao recognized Liang Muchen, who had often accompanied him in the palace to help him get used to her presence.

Rongrong reminded him gently, “You can’t call her Muchen Auntie anymore.”

“Then what should I call her?” Yuanbao asked curiously.

“Muchen Auntie is now Prince Qing’s consort, so you should call her Muchen Aunt.”

“No, that won’t do,” Liang Muchen shook her head.

Rongrong then realized her oversight.

Only the Prince’s Consort could be called Yuanbao’s aunt. “You can call her either Consort Muchen or Muchen Auntie.”

“Oh, then I’ll stick with calling her Muchen Auntie,” Yuanbao said, nodding as if he understood.

“Why are you alone? Where are Liu Yu and Liu Lin?”

Yuanbao pointed to another corner of the imperial garden. “They’re playing in the mud over there. I’m grown up now, so I don’t want to play in the mud!”

Rongrong couldn’t help but laugh at Yuanbao’s comment. “What do you want to play then? I’ll keep you company.”

Yuanbao was delighted at the prospect of Rongrong accompanying him and grabbed her hand to lead her outside. “Auntie, I’ll take you to see my little foals. They’ve grown a bit and are very well-behaved now. We can feed them some hay.”

“Okay,” Rongrong agreed, turning to look at Liang Muchen.

Liang Muchen nodded repeatedly, indicating that Rongrong didn’t need to worry about her.

The Xiangsheng Bureau, which housed the horses, was located on the west side of the palace.

It wasn’t inside the palace but required a bit of walking outside the inner court. Rongrong, while planning the route to the Xiangsheng Bureau, suddenly realized that they would pass by the Jing Shi Room on the way.

The Jing Shi Room… Aunt Anlan, is she still there?

Rongrong’s calm demeanor suddenly wavered.

“Auntie, why aren’t you moving?” Yuanbao had taken a few steps forward and looked back, seeing Rongrong still standing in place.

He urged her on.

Rongrong squatted down and said to Yuanbao, “How about we skip the carriage and walk to the Xiangsheng Bureau? Is that okay?”

“Walk?” Yuanbao tilted his head and explained, “Auntie, you haven’t been to the Xiangsheng Bureau. You don’t know it’s a bit far. You’ll get tired walking.”

“You’re right. I’m not familiar with the palace. I usually only visit a few places when I come here. Since you’re guiding me today, how about we explore the palace a bit before heading to the Xiangsheng Bureau? We’ll go as far as we can, okay?” Recently, Rongrong had frequently visited the palace but had only been to the imperial garden and the Chonghua Palace where Princess Zhaoyang lived, with no opportunity to explore other areas, let alone the Jing Shi Room.

“Okay,” Yuanbao agreed immediately, and they bounced out of the imperial garden hand in hand.

Yuanbao was determined to show Rongrong around the palace. He thought he should help her get familiar with the palace routes so she wouldn’t get lost next time he wasn’t around. The palace was much larger than the Eastern Palace.

“Auntie, this is the Qianqiu Pavilion. The one across from it that’s a bit taller is the Chengrui Pavilion, see, right there.”

“Auntie, we’ll cut through from the Jianfu Palace side. This is the shortcut to the Xiangsheng Bureau.”

“Auntie, over there is the Shuxiu Palace, and that area is the Western Six Palaces, where the concubines’ quarters are located.”

Yuanbao, while walking, earnestly introduced the various palaces and pavilions they passed along the way.

Rongrong, having lived in the inner court for such a long time, was very familiar with the palace.

Yuanbao’s voice drifted past her ears, and she couldn’t hear it.

She followed Yuanbao with a blank expression, her mood growing more serious with each step.

Passing through the Western Six Palaces and the Yuhua Pavilion, they were soon approaching the Jing Shi Room.

The Jing Shi Room was not far from the palace walls.

It was a small courtyard connected to the Yuhua Pavilion to the south and the Tingxiang Tower to the north.

It was an inconspicuous little courtyard.

The Jing Shi Room was sparsely populated and didn’t take up much space.

Despite its small size, it was conveniently located near the inner court, making it a rare quiet spot.

At this moment, the door of the courtyard was open, and faintly, one could hear voices coming from inside.

Rongrong knew that at this time, the steward eunuch had already delivered his instructions, and everyone was waiting for lunch.

It was the laziest time of the day.

“Auntie, if we go a bit further, past the palace walls, we’ll reach the Shangsheng Bureau,” Yuanbao said, talking non-stop and getting dry-mouthed.

Seeing Rongrong staring blankly at the inconspicuous courtyard, Yuanbao tugged at her sleeve. “Auntie, I can’t walk anymore.”

“Then let’s rest here for a bit and continue later.”

Yuanbao nodded but still had a worried look on her face. “Auntie, I’m thirsty.”

“How about we go inside and ask someone to get you some tea?”

“Here?” Yuanbao had never noticed this small courtyard before.

He actually wanted to rest at the nearby Yuhua Pavilion, but since Auntie wanted to go to this courtyard, Yuanbao became curious and ran ahead into the courtyard.

Can we see Auntie Anlan? Rongrong felt a bit emotional and followed quickly.

The courtyard was empty.

Rongrong looked around and noticed no significant changes in the courtyard.

The stone slabs were swept clean, and a row of small flower pots was neatly arranged at the base of the courtyard walls.

The steward eunuch Rongde liked flowers and plants.

However, due to strict regulations in the palace, even a high-ranking eunuch like him couldn’t enter the Imperial Garden.

As a result, whenever the Imperial Garden had flowers replaced, he would send young eunuchs to bring the replaced flowers to the courtyard’s corner.

As a high-ranking eunuch, people would naturally accommodate him.

Over time, the corner of the small courtyard was filled with flower pots. To please him, everyone in the Jing Shi Room vied to take care of the plants. Jing Rong was chosen by Rongde because of her skill with plants, and everyone envied her for being able to laze around openly.

The flowers in the pots had long been replaced many times.

Rongrong suddenly felt a bit of moisture at the corner of her eyes.

She had longed to return to the Jing Shi Room from the Eastern Palace, and now she had truly returned.

In just four short years, it felt as if a world had changed.

“Oh, what are you doing here…” A young eunuch came out of the main room and, seeing Rongrong and Yuanbao standing in the courtyard, immediately approached them.

Rongrong didn’t recognize this young eunuch.

He must have joined the Jing Shi Room in the past two years.

Rongrong gave him a slight bow. “This is the royal grandson from the Eastern Palace.

We came here, and he became thirsty. We’d like to get some water.”

“The Eastern Palace?” The young eunuch was momentarily stunned and quickly bowed to Yuanbao.

He didn’t know Yuanbao but could immediately tell that Yuanbao’s demeanor was more distinguished than many concubines in the palace.

He smiled and said, “Your Highness, pardon me. Our place is small, and distinguished people don’t come this way. I’ll take you to the Yuhua Pavilion to rest.”

Yuanbao looked up, snorted, and said, “If we’re drinking here, then we’ll drink here. Since it’s small, I won’t go inside. Just bring out some water for me, and I’ll leave after drinking.”

The young eunuch didn’t expect Yuanbao to say that.

He had to say, “Your Highness, please wait. I’ll get the water right away.”

As he spoke, he stepped through the door and loudly called out, “Grandfather.”

The Grand Eunuch Wang from the Bureau of Rites liked to be called ‘ancestor,’ while Rongde enjoyed being called ‘grandfather’ in the Jing Shi Room.

Rongrong had also addressed him this way in the past.

“Even if Grandfather Rongde is well, what about Auntie Anlan?”

Rongrong suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.

Would Auntie Anlan be coming out with Rongde?