“Now, the Huá Fei thinks they are in the dark while we are in the light. But what if we reverse the situation and turn the people she sent to us into our own?”

Shěn Méizhuāng’s eyes immediately lit up when she heard this. “Huán’er, I think what you’re saying makes sense, but how do we do it? How can we turn her people into ours?”

At this moment, Ān Língróng, who had been silently listening from the side, spoke up:

“Palace maids and eunuchs all have families. They may not care about themselves, but they still have to think about their families.”

Zhēn Huán smiled at Ān Língróng. “Exactly, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Then the three sisters exchanged a look and a smile, silently agreeing.

On the day Yú Shì mentioned for the rendezvous to collect the medicine, Shěn Méizhuāng and Ān Língróng had finished their dinner and arrived at Suì Yù Xuān.

Zhēn Huán had Jǐn Xī bring a few capable eunuchs and instructed them to imitate Yú Yīng’ér’s manner to meet the person outside the palace.

Xiǎo Yǔnzi, meanwhile, crouched by the wall, prepared to identify the visitor in case Jǐn Xī and the others failed.

“Cuckoo, cuckoo…” Sure enough, at the first hour, the familiar calls of the cuckoo bird came from beyond the wall.

Jǐn Xī glanced back at Zhēn Huán and imitated Yú Shì’s tone. “Cuckoo, cuckoo…”

The eunuchs, too, prepared to seize the person as soon as they heard the signal.

Zhēn Huán remained calm, watching everything unfold, but in her heart, she wondered who the visitor would be, and whether it would be Xiǎo Yìnzi again.

Shěn Méizhuāng, however, gripped her handkerchief tightly with anxiety.

Ān Língróng, seeing this situation for the first time, couldn’t help but feel nervous. She grabbed Shěn Méizhuāng’s arm in an attempt to steady herself.

Shěn Méizhuāng turned around and patted Ān Língróng’s hand, signaling for her not to be afraid.

At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out from a hole in the wall. Jǐn Xī quickly retrieved the medicine, and the eunuchs immediately grabbed the person’s hand.

“We got him, Xiǎo Yǔnzi, we got him! Quick, go out!” Jǐn Xī shouted, ordering the palace servants to go out and capture the person.

Soon, the palace servants brought the person who had delivered the medicine inside.

“Let me go, please, let me go!”

Zhēn Huán looked closely. The person was slightly plump, nothing like the small, thin Xiǎo Yìnzi, but the voice… it sounded so familiar, as though she had just heard it a few days ago…

As Zhēn Huán was pondering this, Xiǎo Yǔnzi lifted the person’s head—

“Kāng Lùhǎi?”

Before Zhēn Huán could speak, Shěn Méizhuāng exclaimed in surprise.

This was the last thing Zhēn Huán had expected.

“Lord Kāng, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Kāng Lùhǎi, knowing Zhēn Huán had a good temper, raised his head, smiling ingratiatingly at her.

“Little Mistress, I… I…”

“Lord Kāng, you and I have been master and servant. I don’t want to make things difficult for you. You’re a clever person, so just tell me honestly, there’s no need to suffer later,” Zhēn Huán said calmly.

Shěn Méizhuāng, who couldn’t stand someone betraying their master, intentionally spoke out loud in front of Kāng Lùhǎi. “Is the rod ready?”

Xiǎo Yǔnzi responded that it was ready.

Upon hearing this, Kāng Lùhǎi’s fawning expression became even more pronounced. “Little Mistress, I… I was forced into this…”

“Who made you do this to harm Sister Guàn?” Ān Língróng released her grip on Shěn Méizhuāng’s arm and stepped forward to ask.

“Report to the Little Mistress, it was Lí Pín.”

“That day when I stopped the Little Mistress, saying I wanted to serve again, Lí Pín discovered it. After returning to the palace, she tortured and humiliated me…”

Kāng Lùhǎi said this as he rolled up his sleeve. His arm was covered with the marks left by whips. Wiping away the tears from the corner of his eye, he continued.

“Lí Pín is jealous of your favor. That day, after returning from Huá Fei’s palace, she told me to deliver medicine to Suì Yù Xuān. She said someone would be waiting there, and even the cuckoo bird’s signal was taught to me by Lí Pín.”

“She said if I did well, she would make me the head eunuch of Qǐ Xiáng Palace. If not, I’d wish for death… Little Mistress…”

“I… I had no choice but to do this. Please, Little Mistress, for the sake of our past relationship, spare me this time!”

Kāng Lùhǎi kept kowtowing on the ground, crying bitterly.

Zhēn Huán, seeing his miserable state, understood that he must have been thoroughly tortured by Lí Pín.

Kāng Lùhǎi used to have high ambitions, wanting to climb the ranks and rely on Lí Pín, but now he was reduced to depending on her to even survive.

Zhēn Huán looked at Kāng Lùhǎi and said, “You’re quite open, you confessed everything.”

Kāng Lùhǎi knelt and bowed repeatedly.

“I never intended to protect Lí Pín. If I weren’t still working for her, I wouldn’t even dare to harm the Little Mistress!”

“If you had a chance to escape from Lí Pín, what would you do?”

Kāng Lùhǎi was quick to understand. When he heard Zhēn Huán’s words, he immediately perked up.

“If the Little Mistress is willing to give me a chance, I would follow her, no matter the hardships. I wouldn’t hesitate to go through fire or water!”

Zhēn Huán took a step forward and helped him up. “So, this is what Lord Kāng himself says.”

Kāng Lùhǎi nodded repeatedly. “Yes, it’s what I said!”

Zhēn Huán then analyzed the situation for him. “Now you must realize that in this entire harem, besides me, no one else will dare to use a person like you who betrays their master…”

Kāng Lùhǎi nodded repeatedly. “I understand. After this experience, I’ve figured everything out.”

“In the palace, nothing is as good as following a kind and merciful master. Even if life is hard, it’s better than being treated like an animal.”

“That’s good that you think so.” Though Shěn Méizhuāng didn’t like Kāng Lùhǎi, she knew Zhēn Huán still had something for him to do, so she didn’t scold him further.

Not long after Zhēn Huán helped him up, Kāng Lùhǎi knelt again.

“Little Mistress, if you have any orders, just tell me. From now on, my life belongs to you. I’ll never betray you again.”

Zhēn Huán looked at Shěn Méizhuāng and Ān Língróng, and both nodded to her.

“I want you to act as an informant in Lí Pín’s palace. Of course, I don’t need you to harm her. I just need you to tell me about her and Huá Fei’s movements. Will you do that?”

Kāng Lùhǎi, who had been in the palace for many years, knew exactly how to handle this. Right now, his situation in Lí Pín’s palace was dire—he was neither dead nor alive. He might as well take this chance.

“I’m willing, but I don’t know how to pass the message to the Little Mistress?”

“You just need to put a note in this hole, just like you usually deliver medicine. I’ll send someone to pick it up.”

Kāng Lùhǎi nodded.

Zhēn Huán also reminded him, “Once you’re back with Lí Pín, act like nothing happened. Don’t leak a single word.”