Transmigrated Female Official

As night fell, the bustling Chu family finally returned to peace.

Gongsun Yu stared at Chu Qingluo, his expression serious. "Speak, not a single detail can be missed."

Seeing his serious face, she knew he was asking about the incident of falling into the water during the day. Chu Qinglu poured herself a cup of tea and drank it: "That boatman was strange; he has a scar here." She gestured to her chin and continued: "When he first discovered the boat was leaking, he actually jumped into the lake to escape. But the leak got worse and worse, and that's when I discovered there was a hole in the bow. In the end, we both got soaked."

"Didn't you go in groups of three?"

"Yes, the Eighth Princess came after the Second Brother, so we split into two boats."

Gongsun Yu was puzzled and asked again, "Has the boatman done anything unusual?"

Chu Qingluo's eyes widened in disbelief. "Aren't abandoning the ship and escaping unusual?!" She pouted and added, "After he jumped into the lake, he first dived into the water, saying he was going to check something, but he ran away instead. Only after that did the water level rise higher and higher."

“This is too illogical. Dive into the water? Could he possibly dig a hole with his bare hands in such a short time? That seems unlikely…” Gongsun Yu pondered, then asked, “Did you choose this boat yourselves?”

"...No, the boatman came over on his own initiative."

"Yes, that's it. The ships were tampered with beforehand." Gongsun Yu was almost certain: "This was no accident."

Chu Qingluo gasped: "You mean, someone wants to harm me and Shaoyao?"

“It’s possible… it’s just targeting you.” Gongsun Yu corrected her, then continued, “This is probably related to the Fourth Princess.”

Chu Qingluo was taken aback: "Just because I didn't accept her valuable gift?"

Gongsun Yu stared at her and said slowly, "It's because you chose the Sixth Princess and the Eighth Princess, but not her."

"Damn!" Chu Qinglu was shocked. This guy was incredibly vindictive. "Just for this, he'd take someone's life?"

Gongsun Yu shook his head: "I can't be sure either. Maybe he just wanted to warn you... Whatever it is, you have to be extra careful from now on."

"Ugh, this is really scary." She got goosebumps. If she had known, she would have taken the little 'Tengu' into her possession as well, and there wouldn't have been so much trouble.

Gongsun Yu remembered something else and stood up: "Wait a minute, I'm going to get something."

After a while, he returned with several books. "I've noticed that Yan Xi is really dedicated to learning medicine, but she seems to be focusing on a particular ailment." He spread the books out on the table and pointed them out to Chu Qingluo: "Look at this 'Large bones withered, flesh sunken. Fullness in the chest, cough, chest pain, wheezing, hemoptysis.' And this 'Pulmonary tuberculosis fever, lung damage, lung worms, disease in the lungs.' These are all symptoms of cough and lung heat that she drew."

Chu Qinglu frowned, took a closer look, and realized that this was a study on tuberculosis...

"Who has lung disease? Could it be her sister?" The face of the little girl I saw at the execution ground flashed through my mind... But this has nothing to do with the case of buying official positions.

Gongsun Yu nodded: "That's possible." He looked up at the window; the night was getting deeper. He turned back to Chu Qingluo and said, "We'll investigate this matter slowly. You should focus your main efforts on the palace. Things are different now. You must observe carefully in court and figure out which princess each of the female officials is supporting, understand?"

"Mmm." Chu Qingluo nodded obediently.

Gongsun Yu glanced at her thoughtfully, a faint smile playing on his lips, and silently approached her...

Chu Qinglu thought his kiss would land on her forehead again, so she lowered her head and closed her eyes.

After waiting for a while, I only heard his gentle voice with a hint of a smile: "Get some rest."

...This is truly an embarrassing situation!

……

The next morning at court, Chu Qingluo first presented the list of Imperial Physicians to the Empress. The Empress glanced at the memorial and saw Fang Ying's name on it, but did not react much, only saying, "Approved."

For the next while, Chu Qingluo carefully observed the Fourth Princess; she showed no flaws whatsoever. Either she didn't do it, or she concealed it too well…

Following Gongsun Yu's instructions, she carefully observed the stance of each female official. Essentially, her entire morning's work consisted of reading between the lines.

When they returned to Guangrentang, they found that Shaoyao was completely out of her mind, constantly giggling. Chu Qingluo couldn't help but wave her hand in front of her face: "Are you alright?"

They say a smile can launch a thousand ships, and now Peony's eyes were filled with tender affection and charm. "Qingluo, I dreamt of the Seventh Prince last night... He was so handsome and dashing." She then stared intently at Chu Qingluo: "You really have no feelings for him at all? Between you two... there really is nothing between you?"

"Cough cough!"

If your best friend is passionately telling you about her crush on a guy and how she desperately wants to pounce on him, and you tell her, "Sorry, I've already tried," the real problem is... you've forgotten the specifics of the experience!

It's easy to imagine how my best friend must be feeling right now—it's absolutely disgusting and infuriating! Even the five-character curse wouldn't be enough to express how awful it feels…

Chu Qingluo cleared her throat; it was better not to dwell on the past. She forced a smile, feigning nonchalance: "No, not at all."

In a sense, she wasn't exactly deceiving anyone. The one entangled with Ji Qiran was the original host, not her. As for any emotional debts, so much time has passed; Ji Qiran was probably just putting on a show to scare people.

Upon receiving this answer, Peony breathed a sigh of relief. "Then do you think he might like someone like me?" Then, remembering something, her expression shifted from hopeful to troubled, and she pouted, "But, he seems to be getting very close to Lady Yao Man..."

Chu Qinglu nodded. Indeed, she had heard Chu Yilin mention before that Yao Man was constantly hovering around Ji Qiran. Now, the two of them had even gone boating on the lake together. Who knows, their relationship might be similar to the ambiguous one between Ji Qili and Ji Jie. Thinking of this, a nameless anger suddenly rose within her… How frivolous!

"Qingluo, please help me." Peony looked at her with pleading eyes.

Chu Qingluo was taken aback, and calmed herself down. "Me?...How can I help?"

"Could you... arrange for me to do something that gives me a chance to enter and leave the Changxuan Palace?" Peony asked tentatively.

She understood the saying, "Those who are near the water get the moon first." "Alright, then from now on you will be in charge of procuring flowers and plants for the various palaces."

"Okay! Thank you, Qingluo!" Peony happily put her hand on Chu Qingluo's hand.

Feeling the coldness from the back of her hand, Chu Qingluo smiled. Peony must be extremely nervous; her little hands were sweating profusely.

Ultimately, it's best for Ji Qiran and himself to go their separate ways.

However, this time Li Yan would have to trouble herself again to teach Shaoyao from scratch. Although Li Yan dared not disobey, her expression was clearly not good, and she finally left with Shaoyao with a stern face.