Tangli Fried Snow

The Empress Dowager called the Empress aside and whispered a few words to her.

"Yu Yan, even a cornered dog will jump over a wall, and a rabbit will bite when cornered. Have you forgotten how your daughter died?"

The Empress's phoenix eyes flashed with a chilling light. She lowered her head and considered for a moment, but still remained silent.

"Yu Yan, let her fend for herself here," the Empress Dowager said as a final remark.

The Empress took a deep breath, curtsied to the Empress Dowager, and reluctantly left with her entourage. With a single glance, she sent someone to the Imperial Hospital to deliver a message that no one was allowed to treat the people in the Cold Palace.

The Empress Dowager did not enter the room. Her willingness to save Huang Wanqing's life was a subconscious reaction. Everyone knew how much she hated Consort De, and by extension, she also hated Consort Huang.

However, the Empress Dowager was shrewd and experienced. She felt that she couldn't easily take Huang Wanqing's life, otherwise it would surely cause a catastrophe.

As night deepened and the dew grew heavy, Ruyi accompanied the Empress Dowager back first, only instructing Xue Li and a few palace maids to take care of Huang Wanqing for a while.

Sherry carefully examined the beauty's condition. In modern times, her injuries would be so severe that she would need to be hospitalized, intubated, and placed in intensive care. But right now, only a few palace maids were anxiously watching her.

Suiying wept silently, staying quietly by her master's side.

Xue Li couldn't do anything about Huang Wanqing's injuries. She couldn't help much, so she led a few palace maids to tidy up the room for the two of them, roughly tidying up the quilts and clothes. She also instructed a few people to start a fire, cook, and boil water in preparation for any eventuality.

It was getting late, and seeing that there was nothing more they could do, she said to Suiying, "Auntie, it's getting late, so we'll take our leave."

Suiying snapped out of her reverie, glanced at Xueli, and said kindly, "Good sister, you've all worked hard today, go back and rest."

Shirley, accompanied by several palace maids, curtsied to the two of them and then took her leave.

There were only four people in the group. The place was remote and there was no moonlight. It was pitch black except for a palace lantern illuminating the way ahead. They hurried back.

Suddenly, a group of palace servants came from the front. It was quite a large group. The two groups met. It turned out that Consort Xian's youngest daughter was not feeling well and they were busy summoning the imperial physician.

Sherry quickly led a few people to avoid them, and only after they left did she hurriedly continue on her way. After walking for a while, she encountered another group of people, this time even larger. Someone shouted, "His Majesty is dying! Quickly summon the imperial physician!"

Sherry was shocked. It turned out that the emperor was critically ill. She looked up and saw that the people in front of her were in complete chaos.

A large group of palace maids, eunuchs, and guards were frantically going in and out, carrying torches and palace lanterns. Some were probably going out to deliver messages, while others were going out to fetch the imperial physician. There was chaos ahead, so Shirley had no choice but to stand aside with a few palace maids and pray that they would leave quickly. She thought it best to get away from here and return to Gyeongbokgung Palace with her people.

But fate had other plans. Just then, the eunuch Guan, who was by the emperor's side, saw them and was pacing anxiously, which showed how critical the situation was.

"Which palace are you from?" Eunuch Guan asked Xue Li and the other palace maids. He was the chief eunuch serving the emperor, and by rights, he was the head eunuch. If he ordered them to do something, how could they refuse?

Although Shirley was extremely unwilling, she respectfully replied, "Replying to Your Excellency, we are palace maids from Gyeongbokgung Palace."

The eunuch pointed to the two palace maids beside her and said, "It just so happens that you are from the Empress Dowager's palace. Go and invite the Empress Dowager quickly."

He then pointed at Sherry and a palace maid and said, "You two hurry up and go invite the Empress."

Sherry knew things were going badly, but she didn't dare disobey him, so she could only lower her head and say, "Yes." The group then hurriedly left.

She and a young palace maid rushed to the Empress's palace to deliver a message. The Empress had just returned to her own palace and had only changed half of her clothes when she heard that a young eunuch had come to tell her that His Majesty was critically ill. Her face paled instantly, and she didn't even bother to remove the hairpin she had half-disassembled. She led her people to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to take charge of the situation.

That lecherous Yin Tong was definitely going to follow the Empress to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, but he had a sharp eye and immediately noticed that Xue Li had walked right into his trap.

This is my territory, I'm in charge! Why not seize this great opportunity and take her down?

He whispered a few instructions to the eunuchs before following Empress Jin away. Before leaving, he smiled at Shirley, which gave her goosebumps.

As soon as the Empress left with her entourage, Xue Li and her maidservant tried to escape quickly, but they were stopped by someone. A little eunuch came over with a grin and said, "Sisters, you've worked hard, but the Empress's palace is short-handed. The Third Prince is still young, and now everyone in the palace has gone with the Empress and needs someone to take care of him. We'd appreciate it if you two could lend a hand."

Shirley smiled at him and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, we are palace maids from the Empress Dowager's palace. We are just here to deliver a message. After delivering the message, we still have to carry out the Empress Dowager's orders."

She couldn't disobey the eunuch's orders. How dare a lowly eunuch like you order around the head maid of the Empress Dowager's palace?

Just as she was about to leave with her entourage, the little eunuch suddenly stopped smiling and blocked their path, saying, "Sister, please help me. The Third Prince isn't sleeping well. Could you please fetch some Jade God Pills for him as a quick fix?" As he spoke, he pulled a money pouch from his robes and stuffed it into the hand of the little palace maid beside Xue Li. The little maid tried to refuse, but was forcibly taken away by another little eunuch to get the pills.

This is clearly a forced sale, they're up to no good, so Sherry turned around and tried to slip away.

To everyone's surprise, the little eunuch, despite his small stature, was surprisingly strong. He quickly covered Xue Li's mouth with his handkerchief. The handkerchief in his hand seemed to smell of medicine, and Xue Li felt dizzy as he grabbed her waist, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and disappeared into the darkness.

The Empress's palace was very large. He ran around for a while before arriving at a secluded spot. The medicine wasn't very potent, and a gust of cold wind woke Shirley up. She found herself lying on the ground, being groped and taken advantage of by the little eunuch.

All that could be heard was his constant stream of vulgarities: "You can't escape Boss Yin's clutches. Sooner or later you'll be his man. Why don't you let me have a taste first?" As he spoke, he reached his groin towards Xue Li's chest.

A surge of old and new grudges welled up in Shirley's heart. Anyway, the palace was in chaos, and this place was secluded, so she wasn't afraid of being discovered.

With a thought, a small, gleaming knife appeared in her hand.

A good knife in the hands of a woman with guts.

Having learned from her first murder, she swiftly stabbed him through the heart. He let out several piercing whimpers in disbelief, collapsed to the ground, and died shortly afterward.

Sherry was still in shock. She stood in the cold wind for a while until the blood on her body cooled down. Once she came to her senses, the first thing she did was put his body into her spatial storage. She took out a flashlight and shone it on the ground. She carefully covered up some bright red bloodstains with soil. She then carefully checked the traces at the scene to make sure there were no oversights before finding a place to dispose of the body.

She traveled a long way to a remote, abandoned palace and threw his body into a well. The place was sparsely populated and it was estimated that it would take several years or even decades to find him.