The Second World in Ancient Times

Things have been getting increasingly turbulent in the palace lately, like a calm lake with turbulent undercurrents beneath its surface. I know this is all because I've been too conspicuous in the palace lately. Those jealous and disgruntled glances, like poisonous arrows in the dark, are constantly aimed at me.

One day, I was tidying up the Imperial Concubine's study. As I was concentrating on sorting through the ancient books, Cui'er arrived. As soon as she entered, she said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, Siqing, you're so proud of yourself. You're even letting the Imperial Concubine take care of her study all by yourself, and you're not afraid of messing it up."

I ignored her and continued working. But she kept on pestering me: "Hmph, don't think you can stay so complacent forever. If you walk by the river too often, you'll get your feet wet."

I stopped what I was doing and looked at her: "Cui'er, I have always been doing my job honestly and have never provoked you. If you don't have anything to do, please don't bother me here."

"Hmph, we'll see." Cui'er threw down these words and turned away. I knew in my heart that she was jealous of me and would definitely not let it go.

A few days later, trouble struck. I was in charge of preparing the silk fabrics for the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet. These fabrics had been carefully selected from various regions, and each one was extremely precious. But when I went to inspect them, I found that several of the fabrics were stained and some were even torn.

I was extremely anxious. What should I do? At this time, Xiaolan, the palace maid who worked with me, said, "Sister Siqing, this is strange. When I came to check yesterday, it was fine."

I frowned and said, "Someone must have done something to harm me on purpose."

As he was speaking, the supervising nanny arrived. Seeing the condition of the cloth, her face darkened. "Si Qing, what's going on? How could you mess up such an important piece of cloth?"

I quickly explained, "Mammy, it's not me. I don't know what happened. I was fine yesterday."

The nanny snorted, "You'd better check this out for me. If you delay the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, can you afford it?"

Xiaolan and I began investigating. Wanqing also came over to help. She looked at the fabric and said, "Siqing, have you offended anyone recently? This is obviously someone's deliberate act."

I thought for a moment and said, "I can't think of anyone else except Cui Er. But is she really that brave?"

Wanqing shook her head. "It's hard to say. Maybe there's someone behind her. We need to start with these stains and scratches to see if we can find any clues."

Xiaolan suddenly said, "Sister, look at this stain, it looks like traces of tea, and this scratch looks like it was made with a sharp hairpin."

I took a closer look and saw it was indeed true: "Then we can start by investigating who has been drinking tea nearby recently and who has a sharp hairpin."

Just as we were busy with the cloth issue, the power struggle in the palace gradually loomed over us like a dark cloud.

One day, on my way to the Imperial Garden, I saw a few young eunuchs running by in a panic, holding some strange objects in their hands, like letters or something. I felt something was wrong, so I pulled the maid next to me and asked, "Do you know what's wrong with them?"

The maid whispered, "Sister, things have been a bit turbulent in the palace lately. It seems several ladies are vying for favor, and the forces behind them are also fighting each other. We must be careful and not get involved."

I was startled. No wonder I'd been feeling so strange lately. Back at my place, I told Wanqing and other friends what I'd seen.

Wanqing said worriedly, "Si Qing, this kind of power struggle is the most dangerous. We must try to avoid it and not be used as pawns."

But this is not something we can avoid just by wanting to. A few days later, when I was delivering snacks to the Empress, I saw a few unfamiliar palace maids outside the palace. They were dressed in gorgeous clothes, but their eyes were sharp, and they were always observing the surrounding situation.

After I sent the snacks in, I deliberately approached them on my way out, hoping to hear what they were saying. All I heard was a maid saying, "This time, we must succeed. We can't let our plan fail."

Another maid said, "Don't worry, everything has been arranged. None of those who get in the way will be able to escape."

I was startled. Who was this troublesome person they were talking about? Could it be related to me? I had to tell the Empress about this immediately.

I hurried to the Empress's palace and met Wanqing on the way. Wanqing saw that I looked nervous and asked, "Siqing, what's wrong with you? What happened?"

I told her what I saw, and Wanqing also realized the danger: "Then we have to hurry and not let those people succeed."

We arrived at the Empress's palace, and I recounted what I had seen in detail. The Empress frowned, "You've done a great job. It seems the palace is about to become unstable again. I will strengthen precautions, and you should also be careful and avoid wandering around."

After leaving the Empress's office, I breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, I became even more vigilant. Wanqing said, "Siqing, we're like we're in the eye of a storm right now. We have to be mindful of our safety at all times."

I nodded: "Well, let's go back and tell other friends so that everyone can be careful."

When we got back to our place, we told everyone about the situation. Everyone was very nervous and we started to discuss countermeasures.

"Next time we go out, we must first observe whether there are any suspicious people around." said a palace maid.

"Yes, and when doing things, you have to be more careful and don't let others take advantage of you." Wanqing added.

Since then, every time I go out, I will observe for a while at the door to see if there are any unfamiliar faces. When doing things, I will also check a few more times to make sure there are no problems.

Once, while cleaning the palace, I found a strange little object in a corner. It looked like someone had placed it there on purpose. I picked it up and saw it was a delicate little sachet, something I had never seen before. I felt something was wrong, so I showed it to Wanqing.

Wanqing took a look and said, "This sachet doesn't look simple. Let's not move it. It might be a trap."

We handed the sachet to Mammy, who examined it and said, "There's a drug in this sachet. Where did you find it?"

I told her what happened, and the nanny's face was serious: "You should be careful recently. It seems that someone wants to harm you."

Since then, Wanqing and I have a deeper understanding of each other. No matter what we do, we will remind each other.

Once, when Wanqing was serving tea to a concubine, I saw a young eunuch sneaking around nearby. I walked over and deliberately said loudly, "Wanqing, come over here after you finish serving the tea. We have something else to do."

Wanqing understood and quickly brought over the tea. She whispered to me, "What's wrong?"

I told her about the little eunuch, and Wanqing said gratefully, "Thanks to you, Siqing, otherwise I might be in danger."

But those who wanted to harm me didn't stop their efforts. Rumors about me began to spread in the palace. Some said I had gained my masters' favor through improper means, while others said I was secretly passing information for a certain faction.

These rumors spread quickly, and within a few days, the way people in the palace looked at me changed. I was very angry and felt wronged.

One day, I heard two palace maids talking about me. One of them said, "Have you heard? That Si Qing is really bad. We can't get too close to her."

Another maid said, "Yes, I have long felt that something was wrong with her, but I didn't expect her to be such a person."

I walked over and looked at them: "Don't believe the rumors easily. You can go and find out what kind of person I am. I have never done anything to let you down."

The two palace maids were a little embarrassed and left in a hurry.

Wanqing comforted me: "Siqing, don't pay too much attention to these rumors. As long as we know that we are innocent, it's fine. We have to find a way to find out who is behind this."

I nodded. "Yes, we can't let these rumors continue to spread. We can start with those who have conflicts with us and see if we can find any clues."

We began to pay attention to the actions of Cui'er and some other people who were jealous of me, and found that Cui'er had been very close to those strange palace maids recently.

I said to Wanqing, "Do you think Cui'er is spreading rumors behind my back?"

Wanqing thought for a moment and said, "It's very likely. We need to find an opportunity to test her."

One day, I pretended to be distressed in front of Cui Er and said to Xiao Lan, "These rumors are really annoying lately. I don't know who is so mean and deliberately wants to hurt me."

Cui Er heard this and raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a smug smile. I knew it was her fault. It seemed that this rumor was related to her.

Wanqing and I discussed it and decided to find an opportunity to catch Cui'er so that she could no longer do evil.

A few days later, we discovered Cui'er secretly talking to a strange eunuch in a corner. We quietly approached and heard Cui'er say, "Those rumors have spread. Si Qing must have had a hard time recently."

The strange eunuch said, "Well done, the master will reward you."

Wanqing and I looked at each other and finally found the evidence.

Just as we were about to expose Tweety, new signs of danger appeared. I found some strange footprints near my residence. These footprints looked very new and were heading towards my room.

I called Wanqing over. She looked at the footprints and said, "Siqing, someone has been here. We have to be careful. Maybe they left something in our room."

We cautiously entered the room and began to search. Under my bed, we found a note that read: "Do not investigate further, or you will suffer the consequences."

I held the note, my heart filled with anger: "These people are too arrogant. We can't be threatened like this."

Wanqing said, "We have to strengthen our defenses and not let them succeed so easily. We can set up some simple traps around the room, like putting something that makes a noise at the door so we can spot someone coming."

We started to act, setting up traps near the door and windows. At the same time, we also prepared some self-defense tools, such as knives and chili powder.

I said to Wanqing, "We also need to tell our other friends so that everyone can be on guard and not let these people hurt us."

Wanqing nodded: "Yes, we must unite to deal with these dangers."

One day, while cleaning the palace, I found a mysterious letter in a corner. It was unsigned, and it simply said, "Be careful of those around you. The power struggle is about to escalate, and danger is imminent."

I showed the letter to Wanqing, who frowned and said, "Who wrote this? It looks like a warning to us, but could it be a trap?"

We decided not to tell anyone else about the letter until we could investigate its origins. We began to monitor the palace for any unusual activity, hoping to find any clues.

After a few days of observation, we found that the atmosphere in the palace was becoming increasingly tense, and those strange palace maids and eunuchs appeared more frequently. We knew that danger could come at any time.

I said to Wanqing, "We must be prepared. No matter what happens, we must protect ourselves and our friends."

Wanqing clenched her fists: "Yes, we can't be defeated by these dangers. We have to survive in this palace."

We gathered our friends together and told them everything we knew. Everyone said they would unite and face the unknown danger together.