Holding the script, I want to give up.

Why do I feel so familiar with you?

"But I can't find you in the crowd?"

Unable to sleep, Shangguan Zitong sat by the candlelight until dawn. This irregular schedule disrupted her usual early-to-bed, early-to-rise biological clock.

The next day, Liu Yunwan came to visit Shangguan Zitong. As soon as she entered, she saw her sitting at the table, deep in thought.

You've been acting strange lately!

"Is something on your mind? Can you tell me? I won't tell anyone else."

Looking at Shangguan Zitong's panda eyes, Liu Yunwan squatted down in front of her with a look of heartache.

"Sister Liu, may I leave the palace for a stroll?"

"Don't ask anymore, I want to process this myself."

Shangguan Zitong looked at Liu Yunwan and responded to her words with a faint smile.

"Okay, do you need me to come with you?"

Liu Yunwan was worried about her mental state, fearing that something bad might happen to her.

"No need, I want to go for a walk by myself."

"Give me the token and let me leave the palace. I'll be back soon. You just stay with Mu Rongyi."

"Don't worry about me, I'm really fine. I just wanted to go out for a walk."

Shangguan Zitong stood up and looked outside the hall; she really wanted to go out and see.

"Alright, but I need to have Shadow Ten follow you, is that okay?"

"There's only one condition: you can leave if you agree to it."

Liu Yunwan also got up and followed behind her.

"Alright, call out Shadow Ten."

Shangguan Zitong casually looked at the scenery outside the palace.

"I'll go call them right now. You wait here and don't wander off, okay?"

Liu Yunwan felt that Shangguan Zitong was acting very strangely, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

“I’m not a child. Tell him to bring the token to the palace gate. I’ll wait for him there.”

After Shangguan Zitong finished speaking, she left without waiting for Liu Yunwan's reaction, leaving her alone in the bedroom to ponder.

"Zitong, have you discovered something?"

"Or is it really just a simple way to relax?"

Liu Yunwan looked at the incense burning in the room and murmured softly.

"Shadow Ten, she's at the palace gate. Follow her out of the palace and protect her."

"What she said and what she did, you must report to me in detail when she returns, understand?"

Liu Yunwan spoke to Ying Shi, who was hiding in the shadows, and threw him a palace exit token.

"Yes, I understand."

Ying Shi accepted the token, performed the ceremony, and then flew towards the palace gate.

Shangguan Zitong, dressed in a dark blue stand-up collar robe with cloud-shaped shoulder ornaments, waited for Ying Shi's arrival by the carriage at the palace gate.

"You've arrived. Let's go."

After seeing Ying Shi fly over, she got into the carriage, thinking that he would probably get in the carriage with her without her having to remind him.

"Didn't you say you were going to protect me? Why aren't you getting on the carriage?"

"Or are you going to scale walls and hide in the shadows?"

Shangguan Zitong lifted the side curtain, looked at him blankly, and said with a smile.

"Oh? There's no driver! I don't know the way!"

Ying Shi scratched his head, looking quite embarrassed.

"...emm, it's okay, you can drive around the city as you like."

"Get in the car, I just want to clear my head, there's nowhere I really want to go."

After Shangguan Zitong called him into the carriage, he let the carriage drive through the market. When they passed a beggar's chicken shop, he called Ying Shi to stop.

"Shadow Ten, go deep into the alley and buy two jars of wine. I'll buy roast chicken here and wait for you."

Ying Shi stopped the carriage on the pipe. Shangguan Zitong took out two gold leaves from her purse, handed the purse to Ying Shi, and then got out of the carriage.

"Yes, my subordinate will go right away."

After bowing respectfully, Ying Shi wanted to go buy some wine.

"Wait, I am nobody now, you don't need to bow to me like this, and you don't need to in the future either."

"Let's consider each other friends. Any money left over after buying the alcohol is yours."

"You saved my life, there's no need for such formalities between us. Alright, I've said my piece, you may go now."

After Shangguan Zitong stopped him and said a few words, she walked towards the beggar's chicken shop, where eleven people were contemplating life. Unable to figure it out, he simply gave up and went to the depths of the alley to buy wine.

"Boss, give me two beggar's chickens."

She called out to the shop owner.

"Okay, please wait a moment, sir, I'll go get it for you right away."

The boss ran to the cellar and had the workers take out two beggar's chickens, pack them up, and then he carried them through the back door to the counter and handed the beggar's chickens to Shangguan Zitong.

"Here you go, keep the change."

She placed a gold leaf on the counter, picked up two beggar's chickens, and turned away gracefully.

"Oh, please take care, sir/madam. We welcome you to visit us again next time!"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up as he bit into the gold leaf. After confirming it was real gold, he beamed with joy, indicating that he had met a benefactor.

"Put it in the car!"

"I heard that the food at Baozhaige is super delicious. Let's go there for dinner first."

Shangguan Zitong acted on impulse. She had Ying Shi put the wine and beggar's chicken in the car, and she and Ying Shi walked to Baozhai Pavilion.

......

"Waiter, bring me all eight of your top-ranked dishes!"

"I'd like to see if it's as delicious as the rumors say!"

Shangguan Zitong led Ying Shi to a private room and waved her hand to call the waiter to serve the dishes.

"Okay~ Alright."

"Rest assured, sir, you will be satisfied with the vegetable buns in our shop."

After the waiter finished speaking, he went to the kitchen to order the food.

"Um, can we really eat this much?"

Looking at Shangguan Zitong's small stature, Ying Shi doubted her appetite.

"Don't stand there talking, aren't you tired?"

"Sit down and talk! Look, you're here!"

"If we can't finish it, we can pack it up and take it with us."

Shangguan Zitong leaned against the window watching the pedestrians on the street. After talking to him, she saw him sit down without saying anything and continued to look at the scenery.

"Hey, sir, your food is here!"

The waiter brought a few people up to serve the dishes, and Shangguan Zitong immediately felt a strong appetite upon seeing the colors and presentation of the dishes.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work!"

Shangguan Zitong handed the waiter a gold leaf and whispered to him, "Settle my bill, and the rest is yours!"

"Alright, sir, please rest assured, my service will be impeccable."

The waiter took the gold leaf as if it were a treasure, his face beaming with joy as he excitedly walked downstairs.

"Let's eat together, I definitely can't eat this much by myself."

Seeing that he wasn't eating, Shangguan Zitong urged him to hurry up.

"it is good."

Ying Shi finally picked up his chopsticks, and the two of them ate together.

"...Well..."

Shangguan Zitong choked back tears, the food tasting like wax to her as she lost her sense of taste.

"What's wrong? Is the food not to your liking?"

Ying Shi was about to call out to the waiter when he was interrupted by Shangguan Zitong's gaze.

"No, it's a personal problem."

"No need to find the waiter, do you like your food?"

Shangguan Zitong's probing question: Even if you can't taste it, you still have to hear how it goes.

"Not bad, about the same as the ones in the palace."

"I'll comment on it," Ying Shi remarked.

"Okay, let's keep eating!"

Shangguan Zitong continued eating. Anyway, she was really hungry, and even if there was no taste, she could imagine how delicious it would be.

After they finished eating, they bought some pastries and headed towards the highest mountain outside the city.

"Wow~ There's a palace on this mountain! Shadow Ten, what was this place before?"

Looking at the dilapidated yet dignified palace, Shangguan Zitong imagined its legend in her mind.

"This used to be a royal altar, built specifically for praying for blessings."

"Later I heard that after a princess was sacrificed, Heaven did not have pity on the people, but punished the people of Dongchuan with drought."

"The palace has been abandoned ever since."

"I don't know the truth of what happened back then; it's just hearsay."

Ying Shi told her about the origin of the palace, but fearing that she would get annoyed by the current emperor and empress, she spoke vaguely.

"So that's how it is. Sacrificing living people, they really are insane!"

"Heaven must have had enough."

Shangguan Zitong found a step, casually dusted herself off, and sat down to wait for the sunset.

"..."

Ying Shi didn't know what to say, so he could only remain silent. He had heard that this princess from Nanning liked flowers, and there seemed to be sunflowers nearby. He wanted to go and look for them first before calling for help.

Shangguan Zitong didn't say anything when he left, and enjoyed the leisurely summer day alone.

"Hey, there are sunflowers over there, do you want to go take a look?"

After finding the sunflower field, Shadow Ten went to look for her.

"Come on, come on, show me around!"

Upon hearing that there were flowers, Shangguan Zitong excitedly got up and followed him.

"Wow, sunset and sunflowers, they're a perfect match! This sunset is absolutely stunning!"

Shangguan Zitong marveled at the stunning scenery, but unfortunately, he lacked the literary skills to describe it, so he could only dismiss it with a single "Holy crap!"

"How about we go back a little later? I want to see the stars again."

"With you here, Sister Liu won't blame me anyway."

Shangguan Zitong excitedly said to Ying Shi, "Although the stars are all pretty much the same everywhere, we still need to look for places with both flowers and stars."

"it is good."

Ying Shi smiled helplessly.

......