Disease rights policy

The girl's eyes were bright and innocent, revealing no trace of evil or concealment. Yao Yuze was speechless for a moment, and almost bit his teeth to pieces in his anger.

He said "okay" three times in a row, then threatened, "You better not give me any leverage over you."

Qiao Ran continued to play dumb, "General, you're speaking in a language I don't understand. Could it be... that you've mistaken me for someone else?"

With a cold snort, Yao Yuze strode away. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake; the safest thing was to keep the most dangerous person under his watchful eye.

He almost brushed past Qiao Ran's shoulder as he left, and Qiao Ran stood there in a daze for a long time, her soles sweating. Only when her ears cleared and she heard the chirping of insects in the Imperial Garden did she slowly sit back down by the flower bed.

A sinister smile inexplicably crept onto his lips, and his hand, hidden in his sleeve, tightened its grip on the edge of the metal token, thinking to himself, "I'll teach you a lesson!"

After Yao Yuze left, he summoned Pu Jing. Pu Jing was bewildered to see him suddenly become furious again. "General, what's troubling you?"

Yao Yuze threw Qiao Xiaoran's portrait over, which Pu Jing caught. He said in a sinister voice, "Investigate again!"

Pu Jing cupped his hands in greeting: "Yes."

Yao Yuze's entire face turned gloomy. For days, he kept recalling the scene of that night. If his memory was not wrong, how could there be two people in the world who looked so alike?

He planned to go to the Qiao residence again. The body in the residence had been cleaned up after the incident, and now the weeds in the residence were half a person tall.

Before leaving the palace, Yao Yuze subconsciously rubbed his lower back, then suddenly realized that his token was gone!

"Pu Jing!"

Yao Yuze returned to the Jinwuwei rest area. Pu Jing, seeing him back, asked, "Why are you back?"

Yao Yuze grabbed Pu Jing's belt and pulled him straight into the house, whispering, "The token is missing."

"What token?" Pu Jing was being lifted up so high he was almost being hoisted, and he quickly broke free, looking completely bewildered.

Yao Yuze repeated, "My token."

"what?"

Pu Jing could hardly believe that someone as cautious as Yao Yuze would carelessly lose his token. Yao Yuze's token was no ordinary token; it allowed him to move freely anywhere within the palace. It was the only one of its kind in the Imperial Guard. While it was important enough for him to move around the palace on a daily basis, it was also crucial because if the token fell outside the palace and was misused by someone with ulterior motives, the consequences would be dire.

Pu Jingdao asked, "General, did you put it somewhere?"

"No."

Yao Yuze always carried it with him. After denying it, he looked around his desk again.

Pu Jing then asked, "Did it fall somewhere?"

Yao Yuze exuded a menacing aura. He thought about where he had been and who he had met that day.

"Qiao Xiaoran".

“Qiao Xiaoran? The daughter of the Prefect of Qianzhou,” Pu Jing said, “I heard she was punished and made to work in the Empress’s palace. General, do you suspect she stole your token? How could that be?”

Pu Jing smiled and waved his hand, saying it was impossible.

"Who would dare come near you? You must have accidentally dropped it somewhere. I'll send people down to look for it right away. We're sure to find it within the palace grounds."

Yao Yuze was still furious. The token wouldn't fall for no reason, but his first thought was that it was Qiao Xiaoran. This woman was just right!

But if she dared to get close to him, his arm would probably break on the spot.

Yao Yuze wavered between believing in himself and doubting others, and finally left the palace with a belly full of anger. He went straight to the Qiao residence. The Qiao residence was in a sorry state. Pushing open the door, he found it overgrown with weeds. Some dark places on the steps were dark red. As he went deeper inside, he could almost smell the blood from that night.

He frowned slightly and continued walking forward, searching through the main hall and study one by one, but still found nothing.

He stayed at the Qiao residence for an hour. As dusk approached, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly thought of the Qiao family's young lady's boudoir. He paused, about to cross the threshold, and turned to head towards the backyard.

Compared to other places, the boudoir was relatively intact. The guards who searched the place did not cause serious damage, since no one suspected a weak woman. The furnishings in the room remained as they were.

The pink gauze curtains were spread out, loosely draped over the side of the bed. The paper-cut window decorations were exquisite. Through the window, one could see a crabapple tree in the courtyard, but it was now withered.

Nothing in the room was particularly special. Yao Yuze looked at everything. When he passed the cabinet where the clothes were displayed, he saw that the cabinet door was wide open and the clothes inside showed signs of being rummaged through. At the very bottom, one corner was slightly raised, revealing a hidden compartment.

Yao Yuze's expression tightened, and he drew his sword to pry open the hidden compartment. Inside, he saw a dress lying in disarray. He took it out and looked at it. The dress was covered in bloodstains, the back was slashed, and the gold thread of the embroidery was broken. It was completely ruined.

These are the clothes that the Qiao family's daughter wore that rainy night. She really didn't die!

After they left, Miss Qiao returned to her boudoir, changed her clothes, and then, under the cover of the rainy night, quietly left through the back door.

What a courage!

Yao Yuze, wearing the tattered dress, hurriedly entered the palace as night fell. The guards at the palace gate made a token attempt to check his token, but Yao Yuze's face darkened. "Don't you recognize me?!"

The guards bowed immediately, "General, please."

He had just returned to the Jinwu Guard post when he instructed someone to "secretly send this dress to a certain place."

"Yes."

"Be careful and don't let anyone know."

"Don't worry, General."

Yao Yuze had just sat down at the table and taken a sip of tea when Pu Jing burst in, "General, your token has been found!"

"Bring it here." After Yao Yuze finished speaking, he waited for a long time, but Pu Jing did not make any move. He raised his head and repeated, "What are you standing there for? Bring it here."

It would be good if it were found; perhaps it really was lost by accident.

Pu Jing's expression changed several times, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he said, "General, please wait a moment, I will go and get it for you."

Yao Yuze frowned slightly, then raised an eyebrow.

A short while later, Pu Jing returned, holding a piece of cloth in his hands. Yao Yuze saw that his token was placed on the cloth, and he immediately had a bad feeling.

Pu Jing carefully presented the token, repeatedly testing it in front of Yao Yuze, "General, here you go."

Yao Yuze reached out, but his fingertips paused just before he touched the token. He hovered in the air and asked Pu Jing, "Where did you find it?"

Pu Jing forced a smile. "It's good that we found it. General, take a look. This is your token. I guarantee it's correct."

Yao Yuze withdrew his hand, his sharp gaze shooting towards Pu Jing. Pu Jing felt a chill run down his spine and immediately stood up straight. "General, please don't be angry with me."

Yao Yuze: "Speak."

“He was pulled out of the latrine in the eunuch's quarters.” After saying this, Pu Jing subconsciously wanted to quietly retreat.

The room fell eerily quiet for a moment; the air seemed to freeze.

Yao Yuze's face was extremely ugly. After a long while, he managed to utter, "Put it down."

Pu Jing: "Yes."

He didn't dare put it on Yao Yuze's table, but put it on the ground and ran away. Later, he heard from the brothers at the door that the general asked for several buckets of water to go in and almost splashed the token bare.

As for how the token ended up in the eunuch's latrine, no one dared to ask Yao Yuze.

The Imperial Guards secretly arrested several people from the eunuchs' quarters, but they all claimed to know nothing when questioned.

Meanwhile, Qiao Ran, the mastermind behind it all, was in an exceptionally good mood all afternoon. She simply couldn't imagine Yao Yuze's expression after finding the token. Being able to annoy someone made Qiao Ran extremely happy.

Although Yao Yuze's token allows him free movement within the palace, it also attracts too much attention when taken out. She might be bound like a dumpling by the Imperial Guards before she even leaves the inner palace. Keeping it in her possession would only cause more trouble, and she's not stupid.

The main purpose was to disgust Yao Yuze, and now that she had achieved her goal, Qiao Ran was humming a little tune while watering the flowers in the evening. Seeing her so happy, Kong Hanyan asked, "What good thing happened?"

"What good could come of this?" Qiao Ran chuckled and bumped shoulders with Kong Hanyan, then put down the kettle and said, "Go inside and sleep."

Tomorrow is the Empress's flower-viewing banquet. So far, Yingzi hasn't assigned them any tasks. If there's nothing to do, they can just sleep in their rooms. Qiao Ran couldn't be happier.

She pushed open the door and went in, took off her outer garment, and was about to lie down on the bed when she saw a dress neatly folded beside the bed. "Huh."

Thinking someone had misplaced it, Qiao Ran picked it up casually. The dress spread out in front of her, and the bloodstains that had been deliberately folded inside instantly magnified in her eyes, the lingering smell of blood still in her nostrils.

Qiao Ran's hand trembled, and her dress fell to the ground. The gold thread caught on Qiao Ran's sleeve, tearing off a large piece.

She stood there for a long time, still shaken, before slowly squatting down to look at the dress. If she remembered correctly, it was the dress that the young lady of the Qiao family wore on the night she was reborn. Later, she changed into another dress in her boudoir and hid it in a secret compartment under the closet to avoid being seen. She never expected that it would appear in front of her again tonight.

It must have been Yao Yuze who did this!

Qiao Ran's mind raced. Yao Yuze's tactics were ruthless. If she weren't an orphan from the Qiao family, she would have been terrified to see bloodstained clothes in her room. If she had cried out even slightly, it would have reached the Empress's ears, and those with ulterior motives would have noticed her. Being too conspicuous was clearly not what Qiao Ran wanted.

However, if she hid the dress without saying a word, it would only increase Yao Yuze's suspicion of her, and Yao Yuze would keep a closer eye on her.

Qiao Ran was furious. Yao Yuze was a real scoundrel. What he had been looking for all along was the map of Daliang that was hidden in the bag of the Qiao family's young lady.

But she's already destroyed the item, so where is she going to get another one to return it?

Qiao Ran racked her brains all night but couldn't come up with an effective solution. She could only try to avoid Yao Yuze for the time being, and then slowly take the opportunity to get close to the Empress and ask for permission to leave the palace. Once she was out, she would make a quick getaway and disappear to the ends of the earth. She didn't believe that Yao Yuze could find her again.

Qiao Ran was distressed because she had no chance to get close to the Empress. The next day, at the flower viewing banquet, Ying Hong came to call her.

"There are many invited ladies and young women, and everyone is too busy to keep up. You two go to the pavilion to prepare tea and snacks for the ladies. Be careful not to make any mistakes."

Qiao Ran agreed. The area in front of Kunning Palace was unusually lively. Qiao Ran glanced at it from afar and saw what a magnificent scene of vibrant colors. It was not only the flowers that were worth appreciating, but also the people.