An Lingrong is reborn to live for herself.

Seeing An Lingrong's solemn expression, Shuangxue dared not be negligent, accepted the two items, and left Shousan's residence.

Watching Shuangxue leave, An Lingrong hurriedly poured herself a cup of cold tea, not caring that it was too cold, and drank it down in one gulp. It took her a while to calm down, but her heart was still pounding wildly.

The beating of my heart is clearly abnormal.

She had experienced similar palpitations before, back in Yanxi Palace. At that time, someone had tampered with her food.

Looking back now, the bitter taste of the bird's nest might not be because it wasn't cooked thoroughly, but rather because someone had probably added medicine to it.

-----

After a while, Shuangxue returned. She seemed to have left in a hurry, and when she entered the room, she was still out of breath. Afraid that An Lingrong would be anxious, she patted her chest to catch her breath and hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Your Highness, this servant has already given the things to Shi Ran."

An Lingrong frowned. "Is there anything you want to say?"

Shuangxue shook her head. "It was quite a coincidence today. It was Shi Ran's turn to be on duty. We ran into him as soon as we left the side gate. I called him over and gave him the things."

Shi Ran was initially surprised to see that the person was a servant, but she didn't ask any questions and simply accepted the items.

Oh, right. When Shi Ran saw the jade pendant, she wanted to say something to the servant, but there were other people on the patrol, and she was also on duty today, so it was inconvenient for her to speak. She just nodded to the servant as a sign of agreement and left.

"I saw that the matter was settled, but I was afraid of attracting too much attention, so I deliberately took several shortcuts to avoid the patrolling guards. That's why I was delayed a bit; otherwise, I would have been back long ago."

Since it was usually just An Lingrong and Shuangxue, and An Lingrong had always treated Shuangxue well, she often indulged Shuangxue when it was just the two of them, treating her like a younger sister. Now, seeing how well she handled things, she liked her even more and poured her a cup of tea to help her calm down.

Shuangxue took the tea, but found it was cold. She thought about how she had gone out to run errands as soon as she returned, leaving An Lingrong alone in the palace without anyone to serve her tea. Seeing that An Lingrong looked unwell, she felt a pang of sadness, and tears welled up in her eyes. "My lady, is something wrong?"

Seeing Shuangxue's worried face, An Lingrong felt a pang of heartache. However, she thought that although Shuangxue had been with her for some time, she was still young and inexperienced. It was best not to let her know that she might have been poisoned again.

So he forced a smile and said, "Don't be afraid, it's nothing. I asked you to go find Shi Ran today because the Nanshan sacrifice is approaching, and I was afraid that someone might not want to make the sacrifice happen, so I specifically asked Shi Ran to help keep an eye on things. Perhaps I'm just being too suspicious."

"But Your Highness looks really unwell. Are you ill? Let's summon the imperial physician to take a look."

"Well, if he doesn't get better by tomorrow, we can summon the imperial physician again. I heard that Imperial Physician Qin is still serving at Shou Dong Temple. It would be convenient to summon him over."

But I think I'm a little anxious because I was tired a few days ago. Go and get some hot tea." An Lingrong spoke for a while, then felt a tightness in her chest, so she asked Shuangxue to go and get some hot tea.

Shuangxue received the order and hurried to the kitchen to start a fire and boil water. When she returned, she found that An Lingrong was already asleep fully clothed. Seeing that her mistress had been working hard for days and knew that she hadn't been sleeping well lately, she noticed that An Lingrong was curled up in bed, not looking relaxed. Worried that the chill of the spring night hadn't dissipated, she took a soft quilt from the cupboard and covered An Lingrong with it.

-----

An Lingrong felt a tightness in her chest and originally intended to rest on the couch for a while, but her thoughts were in turmoil and she unknowingly fell asleep fully clothed.

Before dawn, An Lingrong vaguely heard someone calling her. She thought she was still delirious due to a fever and was about to touch her forehead when her outstretched hand was grasped. The fingertips were slightly cool, which brought An Lingrong back to her senses.

An Lingrong opened her eyes and saw that Shuangxue was already waiting on her side. Looking at Shuangxue, she saw that she was dressed neatly, and it seemed that she had not slept properly that night.

Shuangxue whispered to An Lingrong, "My lady, Guard Shi Ran has come to see you. He says he has captured someone and wants you to take a look at him first."

An Lingrong was taken aback. Sure enough, her worries last night were not unfounded. Could it be that someone really wanted to tamper with the embroidery?

As a guard, Shi Ran was responsible for patrolling the inner palace, but it was inconvenient for him to enter the inner palace of the concubines. Now that he had arrested the person, he simply escorted him to the courtyard and did not approach him again.

An Lingrong had already slept fully clothed, and worried that things might get complicated if she delayed, so she simply combed her stray hairs and rushed out.

Since the last time at Jingren Palace, Shi Ran had not seen An Lingrong again. Now, seeing An Lingrong without makeup and looking somewhat tired, as if she hadn't slept well, Shi Ran felt uneasy for some reason. She only glanced at An Lingrong when she left the palace, and then kept her head down, waiting for orders, not daring to look again.

Shi Ran greeted An Lingrong with proper etiquette upon seeing her stand still. "This humble servant, Shi Ran, greets Your Highness. Last night, while patrolling Shou Kang Palace, I passed by the small kitchen and saw a palace maid acting suspiciously. I detained her for questioning and asked for her name and palace. She said she was Bao Juan, who serves by your side."

Even without Shi Ran saying anything, An Lingrong recognized Bao Juan as soon as she stepped out of the palace gate.

It had been a long time since I'd seen Baojuan, and her complexion was noticeably worse than when she was at Yanxi Palace. Her skin was now sallow, and she was wearing an ill-fitting dark gray coarse cloth shirt. Her gray-brown velvet shoes looked faded, whether they were the original color or stained with mud from working.

Perhaps because it was still dark, the guards were afraid she would make a fuss and disturb the Empress Dowager. They found a rag somewhere and stuffed it tightly into Baojuan's mouth. But even in her current disheveled state, Baojuan's eyes shone like a raven stalking in the dark, sending chills down one's spine.

An Lingrong initially suspected that the bird's nest that had been delivered had been tampered with, and worried that someone was trying to sabotage the embroidery. However, if Baojuan was involved, even though she was her former mistress, it would be difficult to explain.

Although An Lingrong did not know what had happened, she could roughly guess Shi Ran's intentions. Since he had sent Baojuan to her first, there must be a reason for them to meet.

Thinking of this, An Lingrong frowned slightly and said, "The palace maid who serves me closely has long been replaced by Shuangxue. She was transferred from Consort Wan of Suiyu Pavilion when I lived in Yanxi Palace."

Baojuan did indeed serve me, but during the time when Consort Fucha had her accident, Baojuan disappeared without a trace in Yanxi Palace. I searched for her for several days without success, and I reported this to Her Majesty the Empress at the time.

Shi Ran lowered his head and said, "Thank you for telling me so frankly, Your Highness. When we saw Bao Juan near the small kitchen, we found her washing dishes. It is common for servants to work late into the night, but we found that she had some items hidden on her person. So we asked the nanny to come and help search. I wonder if Your Highness recognizes these items?"

As she spoke, Shi Ran unfolded a neatly folded oil paper package, revealing a pinch of dark red powder.

An Lingrong looked at it, and how could she not know what it was? A chill ran down her spine, and she sneered, "Baojuan, you've made me search so hard!"