The Changchun Palace team travels back in time to Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

At this moment, Yuan Yi's voice rang in the minds of the three women: "Ladies, I need your help now."

The three asked, "What's wrong?"

Yuan Yidao said, "When I was monitoring the Forbidden City, I discovered some strange things within the Imperial Household Department. Therefore, I need you to investigate."

Yingluo said, "Since I arrived, I've felt something strange about everything. Is there something so serious in the Imperial Household Department that warrants a special investigation?"

Six years ago, she entered this body and witnessed various chaotic phenomena in the Imperial Household Department: for example, palace maids and eunuchs would often suddenly and unexpectedly gossip about palace affairs while working, without anyone asking or questioning them, and no one would stop them; also, the Imperial Household Department could always know on the same day whether a certain concubine was favored or out of favor, and would adjust her allowance accordingly. It was said that the head of the Imperial Household Department even had a notebook that could automatically update the concubines' favor or out of favor...

Yingluo was quite surprised at first, but after seeing countless strange things in this world over the past few years, she had gotten used to it.

Yuan Yidao said, “The Imperial Household Department is different. I found some gaps in the Imperial Household Department, which interfered with the accuracy of the monitoring. Many times, there are ghosting, flickering, and snow-like spots. To put it simply, from my perspective, sometimes there are two people in the Imperial Household Department, and sometimes the image suddenly disappears. I cannot accurately grasp the situation of the Imperial Household Department with the monitoring. I suspect that the Imperial Household Department has probably been collapsing rapidly in the past few years and is about to fall into chaos.”

The three asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

Yuan Yidao said, “In small worlds, there are often some entities that form the foundation of the world and interact with the characters. To give an example that you can understand, the world you lived in in your previous life and the palaces, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Military Affairs Office, and other places in this world that are related to you.”

Some Heavenly Dao arrangements for these existences are not perfect, and these imperfections appear as voids in the smaller worlds. Smaller worlds where the Heavenly Dao itself is eroded are more prone to developing voids. If there are too many voids, these places will fall into chaos, and as the fundamental structure of these worlds falls into chaos, the entire world will collapse at an accelerated pace.

Therefore, you need to go to the Imperial Household Department to assess its current state of collapse. You only need to share your vision with me and make the trip. You have talismans I've placed on you; if there's any danger within the Imperial Household Department, these talismans will be sufficient to protect you.”

Yingluo and Mingyu exchanged a glance and said, "Understood. Her Majesty the Empress has no reason to go to the Imperial Household Department. Leave this matter to Mingyu and me. We'll find an excuse to go there tomorrow."

Rongyin said worriedly, "Since the Imperial Household Department is acting strangely, you must be careful and protect yourselves."

The next day, the two went to the Imperial Household Department. Yuan Yi turned on the shared view and intently watched the scene in front of them in the conference room.

As soon as Yingluo and Mingyu entered the Imperial Household Department, they saw two eunuchs sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard while talking loudly: "Have you heard? Consort Xian was sent to Shou Kang Palace by the Emperor, and just the other day she was released, but she was reassigned to the most remote Yanxi Palace!"

"It seems the Emperor doesn't like her very much!"

Yingluo was unsurprised, but Mingyu was shocked and immediately shouted, "Insolence! Her Majesty the Empress has long ordered that this matter not be spread, so shut up!"

The two palace maids seemed not to hear and continued to talk loudly.

Mingyu was furious: "Who's in charge! Drag these two unruly boys away!"

No one responded.

Yingluo seemed to remember something and whispered, "Wait a minute."

She tiptoed toward the guardhouse at the entrance of the Imperial Household Department and asked, "Is anyone here?"

No one responded.

Yingluo gently pushed the door open.

The duty room was empty. On the table sat a cup of steaming tea and a few melon seeds, with shells scattered on the floor.

Mingyu, following behind Yingluo, also witnessed this scene.

Mingyu exclaimed in surprise, "Strange, how come there's no one on duty here in broad daylight?"

Yingluo said, "It doesn't look like no one's here; it looks like someone has just left." With that, she closed the door.

At this moment, the two eunuchs in the courtyard exchanged a few words, then fell silent, bowing their heads and diligently sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground.

Suddenly, a song drifted from the duty room. The singing was pleasant and carefree, as if someone were casually humming it.

The two were startled again. Yingluo thought for a moment, then gently knocked on the door three times and asked, "Is anyone home?"

The door suddenly opened, and a young eunuch appeared behind it. Upon seeing the visitors, he said, "It's Miss Yingluo and Miss Mingyu from Changchun Palace! May I ask what brings you two here?"

Yingluo replied, "Oh, we've come to retrieve some things on Her Majesty the Empress's orders. Is Steward Qin here?"

The young eunuch smiled and said, "Yes, it is."

Yingluo asked, "Were you in this room the whole time?"

The young eunuch said, "Look at what you're saying! It's my turn to be on duty at this hour, so naturally I've been inside the room the whole time."

Yingluo then asked, "Did you hear anyone speaking?"

The young eunuch hesitated for a moment before replying, "No, I didn't hear anyone speaking."

Yingluo casually agreed, then pulled the bewildered Mingyu away, thinking to herself, "Yuanyi, did you see what just happened?"

Yuan Yi replied, "I see. This is a spatial misalignment caused by the void. This may be a loophole in the rules set by Heaven, which causes the sweeping eunuch and the guard eunuch to not appear at the same time. Therefore, the guard eunuch cannot hear what the sweeping eunuch is saying."

Yingluo recalled what had just happened, pondered for a moment, and said, "No, it's not that the eunuchs sweeping the floor and those on duty didn't appear at the same time, but rather that the eunuchs 'discussing right and wrong' and the eunuchs on duty 'with supervisory responsibilities' didn't appear at the same time. If that's the case, I do have a plan."

Qin Li, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department, was wearing gloves and flipping through a book when someone came to report that Yingluo from Changchun Palace had arrived.

Qin Li immediately put the book into the drawer, took off his gloves, and went out to greet Yingluo personally, saying with a fawning smile, "Oh, Miss Yingluo, you've arrived. You see, if you need anything, you could just send a few servants to let me know. There's no need for you to come all this way."

Yingluo said, "Now that the palace has been moved not long ago, Her Majesty the Empress has devoted herself to Buddhism. The palace is temporarily short of offerings, so Her Majesty the Empress asked me to fetch a pair of incense sticks, candles, fresh flowers, and fruits. This matter involves Her Majesty's sincerity in worshipping Buddha, so I came here in person."

Qin Li said, "Alright, I'll give the order right away. Make sure to prepare something special for Changchun Palace. Please have a seat and some tea; everything will be ready in a little while." He then instructed his attendants, "Did you hear what the young lady said? Hurry up and get things ready!"

Yingluo said "Excuse me" and sat down.

At this moment, another person came in carrying a tray and said to Qin Li, "Chief Steward Qin, these are the things you ordered to be given to Yanxi Palace. Please take a look."

Yingluo sipped her tea and glanced up. As a former embroiderer, she could immediately tell that the purse on the tray had coarse stitches, an outdated style, and was made of inferior fabric.

Qin Li said impatiently, "Alright, alright, take it down, this one will do."

Yingluo thought to herself, "The concubines haven't even started serving the emperor yet, and they're already fawning over the powerful and belittling the weak? Isn't that a bit too hasty?" But since it wasn't her business, she ignored it for the time being. After the man left, she said to Mingyu in her mind, "Mingyu, let's begin."

Mingyu had already set her sights on the two eunuchs in front of her. Upon receiving the news, she immediately went up to them and started chatting: "Have you heard? Consort Xian has left Shou Kang Palace for Yanxi Palace!"

The two eunuchs, who had been looking blank, suddenly had strange expressions on their faces, and then began to loudly ask and answer each other: "Have you heard? Consort Xian was sent to Shou Kang Palace by the Emperor, and just the other day she was released, but she was then assigned to the most remote Yanxi Palace!"

"It seems the Emperor doesn't like her very much!"

Even the words were exactly the same as those of the two sweeping eunuchs from before.

These eunuchs are like Western clocks, with a bird popping out and chirping at the appointed time. Except they don't just appear at the appointed time; instead, they start discussing palace gossip as if some mechanism has been triggered. Mingyu thought to herself.

On Yingluo's side, Qin Li, who was fawning over her with a smile, indeed vanished into thin air.

Yingluo immediately stood up and rushed to Qin Li's desk, opening each drawer in hopes of finding some clues.

She remembered a legend she heard shortly after her soul entered Lianxin's body: the head of the Imperial Household Department had a book passed down through generations that could record the favor and disfavor of the concubines. The Imperial Household Department decided whether or not to give the concubines good things based on this book.

This whole thing sounds strange. If the Imperial Household Department was turned into this by unreasonable rules, then there must be clues in this most unreasonable document.

She opened the top drawer and found a book with the words "Spring Grace Book" written on it.

This should be it.

Upon opening the book, Yingluo was somewhat disappointed. The book only recorded the concubines' nightly visits to the emperor, and marked the concubines who had visited the emperor more often.

In the palace, it's normal to fawn over the powerful and be overly attentive to the weak, especially favored concubines. During the period when she fell out of favor, the Imperial Household Department gradually neglected her, only improving her treatment after she regained favor. If this notebook only records these things, while it's against regulations and too obvious, it's not as unreasonable as the rumors suggest.

She flipped through it again and suddenly discovered several sheets of paper tucked inside.

These are two letters written to Qin Li by Liang Duorui, Qin Li's former boss and mentor.

In his first letter, Liang Duorui praised Qin Li for his filial piety and said that the gifts Qin Li gave him were all very nice. At the end of the letter, he admonished Qin Li to remember his teachings.

The second letter, however, was strange. Liang Duorui became increasingly rambling in the letter, repeatedly mentioning a nightmare he had: in the dream, he stood on a vast, white expanse of land, before which lay a huge, bottomless fissure. The fissure seemed to be calling to him, making him involuntarily want to jump into it…

As Yuan Yi took a screenshot of the letter, he said, "This rift must be the rift between the two worlds. It seems that the original inhabitants of the small world are not completely ignorant."

At this moment, Mingyu sent a message: "Yingluo, have you finished investigating? Those two eunuchs are almost done with their lines!"

Yingluo immediately put the letter back in the book as it was, tidied it up again, and checked it several times with Yuanyi to make sure it was completely restored to its original state and that no one would find out that the contents had been turned over. Only then did she sit back down and pick up her teacup.

A moment later, Qin Li reappeared out of thin air.

As if he had never disappeared, he still gave Yingluo a fawning smile, praising her and saying he hoped she would put in a good word for him with the Empress.

Before long, the incense, candles, and flowers that Yingluo had requested arrived. She thanked them and turned to leave.

Suddenly, Qin Li's voice came from behind: "Miss Yingluo, go through my drawers."

Yingluo turned around in surprise and saw Qin Lizheng crouching behind the table, examining something. He looked up, the fawning smile on his face gone, and his sharp eyes stared at Yingluo.