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

Back at Jiangxue Pavilion, when questioned by her mother, Rongyin simply said that the Emperor had suddenly arrived at Jiangxue Pavilion that day, causing her to miss the auspicious time and forcing her to cancel the imperial concubine selection. She also claimed that she was tired from the selection and had a headache. Lady Fucha then had Sulian (Mingyu) help her back to her room and had someone bring her a food box, telling her to rest well and not to come out for dinner.

Upon entering the room, Mingyu immediately dismissed the maids and closed the door tightly. The two ate a quick dinner, and Rongyin called out in her mind, "Yuanyi." A "beep" sounded in their minds again, and Yuanyi's voice sounded: "Ms. Rong, Ms. Ming, I believe you have had an unforgettable day, but congratulations on successfully passing the first hurdle. Because the current situation differs from the Bureau of Transfer's estimates, I will initiate a meeting and invite you two, along with Ms. Wei's spirit, to the meeting room to summarize and review the information obtained from all parties today and adjust our next course of action. Does everyone agree?"

Rongyin and Mingyu understood that this "meeting room" was also a divine power bestowed by the Circulation Office, which allowed the living soul to temporarily enter a small, independent space to meet and discuss matters with Yuan Yi, just like the military council of the previous dynasty discussed state affairs.

The two thought to themselves, "Agreed." Suddenly, a bright light appeared before their eyes. When the light dissipated, Rongyin and Mingyu found themselves separated from Fucha Langhua and Sulian's bodies, and in a familiar palace courtyard.

"Oh, isn't this Changchun Palace! Your Highness, look, those are the flowers you planted yourself!" Mingyu exclaimed excitedly as she revisited the place, all her fatigue gone.

"Your Majesty! Mingyu!" Yingluo waved and ran towards them from not far away.

The three met and were excited when a woman descended from mid-air. The woman had short hair, wore a pair of peephole glasses, and dressed in strange clothes. Her face was clearly that of the director of the transfer office, but unlike her smiling face, she had a frosty expression and a serious demeanor.

The three of them said in unison, "Director!"

The woman said, "I'm not the director, I'm Yuan Yi... Oh, I forgot to tell you, we're all wearing the same uniform."

Mingyu: "What? You guys are wearing painted skins too? And you're all the same?"

Rongyin reminded her, "Mingyu, you mustn't be rude!"

Yuan Yi, however, was not offended and explained, "We link our spiritual bodies to a unified carrier. The so-called 'painted skin' is your own interpretation." She casually conjured up a tall figure in a black and white robe, a skeleton in a cloak... "You see, these are the uniform attire of ghost messengers when summoning living souls. The attire changes according to the background of the small world we are entering. As for me and the director, who are responsible for the affairs of the small world, our appearance during negotiations is as you see it, with both male and female forms. Since you are all women, for the convenience of our work, I also appear before you in a female form."

Yuan Yi then said, "Alright, I believe that the world of Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace has raised more questions for you than I have. Let's hurry up and exchange the information we've gathered."

The four entered the hall. Everything in Changchun Palace was still as the three remembered; even the utensil Yingluo had made, with ice underneath and frozen fruit, was still in the hall.

Yuan Yi explained, "To help you relax, the meeting room will be transformed into the most beautiful place in your memories."

After their deaths, Rongyin, Yingluo, and Mingyu were no longer mistress and servant, so they no longer followed the rules of hierarchy. The four of them sat down at the round table where they were eating.

Yuan Yi first asked, "Would you like something to eat or something to drink? I can get some."

Yingluo asked doubtfully, "Can we still eat now that we're all ghosts?"

Yuan Yi explained, "You could drink tea in the office before, right? These foods and drinks are different from human foods and drinks. Their essence is a kind of energy body that reduces entropy. They are given different forms and flavors according to the memories and preferences of different people in their previous lives. Oh, I forgot you are ancient people. Let me put it another way. They are like food created by immortal power. Eating them helps stabilize the soul. This world is even stranger than I expected. The three of you are new to this world, and you have seen many people and things that are beyond your original understanding. It is inevitable that your souls will be unstable."

Yingluo suddenly realized and said, "Then let Her Majesty and Mingyu eat something first. They must have suffered a lot today."

So in the conference room, Rongyin sipped her iced watermelon juice, Mingyu munched on a large piece of sachima, and Wei Yingluo savored braised pork, a scene of leisurely enjoyment.

Yuan Yi: "First of all, please allow me to explain to you the issue of the Heavenly Dao in this small world."

"This small world is a derivative world of another small world, the world of Zhen Huan, but a crack has appeared at the junction of these two small worlds. You can understand it as the Heavenly Dao of this small world being a branch that grows from a tree branch, but this new branch has now broken off and separated from the branch."

Yuan Yi snapped his fingers, and two light screens appeared in front of the four of them.

"The Legend of Zhen Huan tells the story of love, hate, and revenge in the harem of Emperor Yongzheng. Of course, this story differs from the main world's Emperor Shizong and his consorts in many ways, which I won't go into detail about. In The Legend of Zhen Huan, the emperor deposed the empress's adopted son, the Third Prince, for having an affair with one of his consorts and for defending Aqina, thus banishing her from the Forbidden City to commoner status; and because the empress plotted to harm both the late Empress Chun Yuan and the late Empress Chun Yuan, he imprisoned the empress, declaring that she could not be released unless she died. These two VCRs depict these two events."

Yuan Yi conjured another light screen: "But in this world, this part is different. This video is about what happened in the Hall of Mental Cultivation before the Jiangxuexuan talent show today."

Images appeared simultaneously on the three screens.

Although the three did not know what this Wei Xi A was, judging from the image, it must be just like the legendary "Karma Mirror," which can reflect a person's past good and bad deeds.

At this moment, three images appeared simultaneously on the screen...

Yingluo said, "Stop! We don't have three heads and six arms! We only have two eyes!"

Yuan Yi: "You are different from me, I forgot this. It was my oversight, I apologize." Then he snapped his fingers again, changing the three screens to play in sequence.

The three of them ate and drank while watching.

In the first screen, the Third Prince pleads for Aqina in the ancestral temple, mentioning the Empress Dowager and Prince Yi, which enrages Emperor Yongzheng. He strips the Third Prince of his yellow sash and adopts him as Aqina's son. In the second screen, the Empress faces Yongzheng's questioning, recounting her grief over the death of her eldest son, her love turning to resentment, each word a tear of blood, heartbreaking to hear. Emperor Yongzheng walks out of the palace, seemingly filled with hatred and sorrow, suppressing his rage, coldly declaring, "She and I will never see each other again, in life or death." This moment causes the three to forget to eat and drink, lost in deep thought.

After the second screen went out, the third screen displayed Emperor Yongzheng rebuking the Third Prince for forming cliques and ordering him to be dragged away. He also reprimanded the Empress for participating in cliques and "disrupting the inner palace and inciting trouble in the court," confining her to Jingren Palace. The Empress admitted her mistake and begged for forgiveness. After Yongzheng uttered the words "We will never see each other again in life or death," the Empress cried out, "You cannot abandon me! I was so foolish because I loved you!"

The three people's emotions rose and fell with the content of the three light screens, as if they had just enjoyed a Manchu Han Imperial Feast and then eaten a cold, leftover bun. After a long while, Yingluo finally said, "Yuanyi, did this really grow from the same branch?"

Mingyu added, "It's not just that the causes and consequences are different; the feelings they evoke are completely different! In the world of Zhen Huan, the late emperor's reprimand of the Third Prince was believable, and his relationship with Empress Xiaojingxian seemed genuine. The deep, tragic love story there was heartbreaking. This world, however, is confusing. If Empress Xiaojingxian in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace truly cared for the late emperor, she should act like our Empress. Why would she form a faction and compete with him? Besides, these two don't seem to have the genuine love and hate of the characters in Zhen Huan's world. They seem more like... more like..."

"That's right! It's as if the late emperor demoted her aunt specifically to make that pretentious Princess Qingying lose the election!" Mingyu said, suddenly realizing what she had seen and heard today.

Rongyin disagreed, saying, "Mingyu, Princess Qingying's various outrageous behaviors are probably because this world is inherently strange. It's one thing for you to speak recklessly in anger during the day, but you can't talk badly about others behind their backs."

Yuan Yi said, “Ms. Ming’s words are spot on. In my opinion, the world rift and the erosion of the Heavenly Dao are inextricably linked to this Princess Qingying. I previously said that the Heavenly Dao of this small world itself also has some problems. My guess is that the Heavenly Dao of this small world had already shifted before it was eroded, and this Ulanara Qingying is very likely the chosen one of this small world.”

Yingluo: "You mean she's the protagonist of this world?"

Yuan Yi chuckled: "Ms. Wei, 'Child of Destiny' isn't exactly a compliment. Although the small world uses poetry and drama as its medium, once it becomes an independent world, it no longer has the distinction between protagonists and supporting characters like in poetry and drama. Each small world has billions of living beings, and all beings are equal. There's no concept of one being the master and the other the servant. Since the world doesn't revolve around any particular character, destiny flows freely within the small world, and individual destinies naturally rise and fall. There's only one special case: when the Heavenly Dao is biased, allowing someone to firmly hold onto destiny, this biased target is what's known as the 'Child of Destiny.'"

The Tao Te Ching states: "Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs." The Way of Heaven should be impartial and unbiased. If the Way of Heaven deviates, causing fortune to reside constantly by one person, it may cause instability in the small world. Because the small world is small, the entropy generated by this deviation is also small. If the Way of Heaven deviates only slightly, the small world will only be slightly unstable and can still be maintained. However, because the small world is small, its ability to self-repair is poor. If it is too biased towards one person, the fortune in one direction will stagnate, and the fortune in all other directions will be depleted, leading to an imbalance in the small world. Just as water overflows when full and the moon wanes when full, the Way of Heaven, in its greed for more and more fortune, may go too far.

Yingluo understood: "I get it. It's like putting too much filling in dumplings, or too much salt in pickled melons and eggplants—either the filling leaks out, or it's too salty. So you mean to say that the natural order of this world has become too biased towards Qingying?"

Yuan Yi: "Currently, I am only speculating based on the existing clues and cannot fully confirm it yet. However, an excessive deviation from the natural order and the chosen one of destiny will indeed attract the covetousness of some indescribable things. Please allow me to use Ms. Wei's analogy of dumplings. The leaking meat filling will also emit a fragrance, attracting greedy mice."

An extremely severe deviation could trigger another, even more serious possibility: the chosen one might transform into something indescribable, corrupting the very fabric of destiny.

Yingluo said anxiously, "You mean this Qingying might be that evil spirit? Wouldn't that put Your Highness and Mingyu in great danger!"

Yuan Yi: "These are all just speculations at the moment. I will send you the characteristics of the chosen ones summarized by the Circulation Office later. You can use these characteristics to your advantage. If Qingying does indeed fit the description, we will then develop a targeted plan for the next step. You are not from this small world, so you are less affected by the chosen ones than others. As long as you keep the small world moving as normally as possible, establish a connection between the Heavenly Dao and the Great Dao, and slowly bring the Heavenly Dao back on track so that fortune can flow again, the chosen ones will lose their sustenance. Even if you have to come into contact with them, their threat to you will be reduced. If things really get to the worst, don't worry too much. I will give each of you an extra talisman later. This talisman contains a small amount of my power. If you encounter a truly desperate situation, this talisman will protect you."