Help! The cunning and treacherous minister and I were reborn together!

The Empress Dowager's brother-in-law, Wang Dun, died at the hands of Xiao Zong. Unable to deal with the foreign officials, she is now taking her revenge on his wife.

Outside the palace, it was freezing cold. Yuan Zhi had been forced to kneel for half an hour as punishment. The Empress Dowager neither summoned her nor ordered her to get up.

At first, she thought Xiao Zong would find a way to rescue her, so she could still endure it. Later, when she was shivering from the cold, and her legs felt like a million ants were crawling on them, so numb and itchy that she couldn't kneel down, he still didn't come.

Even now, her lips are bluish-black, and she stands there like an ice sculpture, all the warmth in her heart gone.

She suffered because of him, yet he abandoned her without a care. How heartless and cruel!

The surrounding scenery gradually blurred, and she exhaled a breath of cold air, thinking that she would probably freeze to death here today.

Suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps behind her, and a man ran up to her and grabbed her frozen arm.

"Madam Xiao, how are you?"

King Kang?

She said in a trembling voice, "It's alright, but I just can't move."

Li Ji ordered a palace maid to take her to a side hall and instructed the imperial physician to treat her well.

Hearing the commotion, the Empress Dowager sent out her head maid to investigate. Li Ji bumped into her and pulled her back inside.

Although he was not the Empress Dowager's biological son, he was extremely favored, and coupled with his fearless nature, few people in the palace dared to provoke him.

Li Ji uttered a bunch of nonsense, which angered the Empress Dowager so much that she kicked him out. This was exactly what Prince Kang wanted, so he dusted himself off and went to the side hall to visit Yuan Zhi.

"Is Madam feeling any better?"

Yuan Zhi, wrapped in her quilt, sipped the medicine fed to her by a palace maid, and looked toward the palace gate upon hearing the sound.

"I feel much better. Thank you, Prince Kang, for saving me."

"No need to thank me. It was Xiao Zong who begged me to save you. As payment, I received a hundred acres of fertile land from him. This deal was very profitable!"

Yuan Zhi frowned. "I thought... he wouldn't care about me anymore."

Li Ji shook his head. "You little rascals, you just love to cause trouble. If you like something, you like it; if you don't like something, you don't like it. Why do you always do things that are hypocritical?"

Xiao Zong was the same; he was such a cowardly man, asking for help but not letting him tell Boss Yuan.

Hmph, he insists on saying it anyway!

For the first time, Yuan Zhi didn't argue back when being reprimanded by his elders. He simply lowered his head and replied, "Your Highness is right."

Seeing how well-behaved she was, Li Ji didn't know how to respond. He stayed with her by the fire for a while, and when he saw that she had recovered, he led his men toward Fengnian Palace.

Unexpectedly, after walking a short distance, Consort Dun and Consort Zheng's maids attacked from both sides and intercepted them.

"Madam Xiao, Her Highness the Imperial Concubine requests your presence."

"Consort Zheng invites you to Huanhua Pavilion for a chat."

On the day of Buddha's enlightenment, a group of women turned it into a day for collecting debts. Even Yuan Zhi, whose fate was full of misfortunes, was amused and annoyed by this ridiculous scene.

Li Ji was able to appease the Empress Dowager, but he didn't want to get too involved with the concubines. He said he was helping Yuan Zhi get reinforcements, and then he ran away in a flash.

Yuan Zhi asked, "Both ladies want to see me, but I'm all alone. Whom should I go with?"

The maid of Consort Dun said, "In the inner palace, below the Empress, the Consort is the most respected. Of course, Madam should follow me."

Consort Zheng's maid, Xing'er, said, "The Imperial Consort was reprimanded by His Majesty because of the Prince of Wu's matter, and the power to manage the six palaces was handed over to Consort Liang. Now she has only the title but no real power, so what's with the airs?"

The two argued back and forth, their words swirling and seemingly inseparable.

Yuan Zhi leaned against the wall, looking at the sky, hoping the two would chatter on for a while longer so that when the time came, she could shake them off and go to the Fengnian Palace for the banquet.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the maids of Consort Wei and Consort Yuan came over and said that their mistress wanted to see Lady Xiao.

Yuan Zhi guessed that these two were probably reinforcements invited by the prince.

She casually suggested, "Why don't you cut me in half and each of you take a piece, so you can report back to your respective masters?"

After apologizing with smiles and discussing the matter, the group followed their respective masters to the Imperial Concubine's palace.

An enemy from a past life, her husband's childhood sweetheart, a sinner who once spoke rudely to her, and a sister with no blood relation to her.

Yuan Zhi glanced at the four people's faces, but he really couldn't kneel down.

"I was serving the Empress Dowager at Huayan Palace just now, and I injured my leg. I'm afraid I won't be able to pay my respects to the ladies!"

The three knew she was making excuses, but none of them called her out on it. Only Zheng Xiangxiang persisted, asking her if she wouldn't bow to His Majesty when they met later.

Yuan Zhi retorted, "There's still half an hour before the banquet starts. Perhaps my leg will be healed by then! If Your Majesty insists that I pay my respects, that's fine. But if kneeling before you worsens my leg injury and prevents me from bowing to His Majesty, can you bear that responsibility?"

Zheng Xiangxiang had wondered countless times what was so special about the fifth daughter of the Yuan family that made Brother Xiao so concerned.

Upon seeing her today, she immediately felt ashamed of her own appearance. Such beauty surpassed even the ordinary beauties in the imperial harem; no man could resist her.

The more inferior she felt, the more resentful and unwilling she became. Why did Yuan Zhi erase everything from her past and win all of Xiao Gege's love the moment she appeared?!

Do not!

Brother Xiao can only be hers, and she will keep him by her side for the rest of her life!

Zheng Xiangxiang smashed her teacup, "How dare you talk back to me!"

Yuan Zhi said, "What I said comes from the bottom of my heart."

Consort Dun sat at the head of the table, leisurely sipping her tea. She was quite pleased that someone was helping her teach Rui'er's nemesis a lesson!

Jiang Rou offered a lukewarm piece of advice, then stood there in a daze, while Wei Xueyao, burdened with a heavy responsibility, pondered how to help Yuan Zhi escape danger.

"Sister Zheng is less than three months pregnant and the pregnancy is unstable, so it's best not to get angry."

Zheng Xiangxiang was furious, glaring at him and gritting her teeth, she said, "Are you cursing my child, sister?"

"How dare I! My sister truly cares for her elder sister, how could you turn around and frame me?"

"Hmph, all pretense! Save that act for His Majesty!" Zheng Xiangxiang looked towards the head of the table. "I remember that Consort Gui was going to embroider a 'Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains' painting for His Majesty. Is it finished yet?"

Consort Dun picked up on her words and said, "How can it be so fast? That painting is six feet wide and ten feet long. I'll be so grateful if it can be finished by next year's birthday celebration!"

Zheng Xiangxiang smiled veiledly, "Madam Xiao's legs are weak, but her hands should be fine. Why don't you embroider a few stitches on the picture? In case you can't kneel before His Majesty, with this, we can plead for you."

Yuan Zhi's eyes were cold as she replied, "I appreciate Your Highness's kindness. However, I am not skilled in needlework and dare not ruin Your Highness's masterpiece, so I will refrain from making a fool of myself."

Consort Zheng, that fool, was being used by Consort Dun without even realizing it, and even helped her dig a pit for herself. She was so stupid that it was outrageous!

No matter what, she can't fall into this trap!

Zheng Xiangxiang sneered: "What a pampered young lady!"

Consort Dun put down her teacup. "It's just that Madam Xiao has such beautiful hands, her fingers are like slender scallions, making her look very dexterous. Consort Zheng meant well, but in my opinion, why not change the embroidery to needlework? That way, Madam Xiao will have done her best. What do you think?"

Yuan Zhi smiled bitterly; so this was what was waiting for her!

If she can't even thread a needle, anyone can see that she's doing it on purpose. Consort Dun can punish her without even asking His Majesty!

"I take orders."