After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The woman was stunned, never expecting Lu Zhiyuan to do something like this. Seeing eunuchs and palace maids rushing towards her with buckets or wooden basins of water, the woman panicked and tried to escape, but Lu Zhiyuan grabbed her.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and get out of here! You'll die if you get caught."

"We've caught them!" Lu Zhiyuan smiled.

Her face was flushed red in the firelight, like a ripe apple. Her eyes were bright, with firelight flickering in her pupils, which was quite eerie. The woman was confused at first, then opened her eyes wide and looked at Liu Ying, who had appeared behind them at some point, and suddenly realized: "You are not from Jinxiu Palace. You are Lu Zhiyuan, the young lady of the Marquis's mansion who just moved into Ronghua Palace."

Lu Zhiyuan nodded: "Not too stupid, just a little late in guessing."

A deep despair filled the woman's eyes. Seeing more and more palace servants coming to put out the fire, and knowing she couldn't escape, she decided to end it all. Lacking any tools to kill herself, she bit her tongue hard. Whether she died or not, she didn't know, but the pain was unbearable; tears streamed down her face!

Liu Ying pursed her lips and looked at her: "You bit your tongue and committed suicide? This is different from what's said in the storybooks."

"Don't read those storybooks if you have nothing better to do. Biting your tongue to commit suicide won't necessarily kill you, but it will definitely hurt." He stood on tiptoe, pried open the woman's mouth to check her injury. She had bitten hard, but hadn't severed her tongue. "When biting your tongue, try to bite at the root of the tongue, and it's best to bite it off completely, causing blood to rush into the throat and leading to suffocation and death."

The woman's face turned pale, half from pain and half from fright.

Lu Zhiyuan reached into her sleeve and pulled out a paper packet for her: "This is a hemostatic powder that also has a quick pain-relieving effect. Sprinkle more if you don't want to starve."

The woman pushed the medicine bag over, enduring the pain, and said, "Since we're all going to die anyway, I won't waste Miss's medicine. Today's events were all done by A'Luo alone. A'Luo is willing to atone with his death. I beg you, Miss, not to implicate Jinxiu Palace or hold the master accountable."

A cold laugh came from the darkness.

“Hold Jinxiu Palace accountable? You’re not a member of Jinxiu Palace. Your mistakes are your master’s responsibility. What does it have to do with Jinxiu Palace?”

Following the sound, a woman in her thirties was being escorted by several palace maids. She wore a magnificent dark red palace dress embroidered with gold and silver threads, her hair adorned with intricately crafted gold hairpins, and an extravagant gold necklace inlaid with rubies and emeralds. As she gracefully approached, she shone with a dazzling light.

Raising their hands to shield their eyes from the blinding light, the eunuchs and palace maids all knelt down.

Consort Jin, so she is the one who lives in the Brocade Palace.

When I first met the old woman, I thought she was a somewhat powerful figure hiding behind the scenes. But she couldn't wait to come out as soon as Ronghua Palace caught fire, and with such a grand display. It truly proves the old saying, "A niece imitates her aunt"—she's just as impatient as Fang Zhi.

Out of the corner of her eye, Consort Jin lazily raised her hand, and the eunuchs and maids continued to extinguish the fire. Consort Jin walked up to Lu Zhiyuan, looked her up and down several times, and then said, "You are the daughter of Marquis Pingnan, Lu Huai?"

"This humble woman, Lu Zhiyuan, greets Consort Jin. May Your Highness be well!"

"She's quite well-mannered, but unfortunately, she's not popular." Consort Jin turned to look at Ronghua Palace. "She's neither popular with anyone nor with this palace. The moment you moved into Ronghua Palace, it caught fire. I don't know if Ronghua Palace brought you bad luck or if you brought disaster upon it."

Lu Zhiyuan curled her lips into a smile.

No wonder Consort Jin is disliked by the Emperor. In her twenty years in the palace, she has been favored only a handful of times. With her tongue so tight, it must have been a real hardship for the Emperor.

“Yuan’er is neither gold nor silver, so it’s impossible for her to be liked by everyone.” Lu Zhiyuan counted on her fingers: “Yuan’er only needs His Majesty to like her, the Empress to like her, Princess Ping Le to like her, Mother to like her, Grandfather to like her, Uncles to like her, and the people Yuan’er cares about to like her. It’s Yuan’er’s good fortune that someone like Consort Jin doesn’t like her.”

Consort Jin gave a soft snort, her smile forced and insincere.

Lu Zhiyuan continued to pierce her heart.

“The calamity that brought disaster to Ronghua Palace was not this accidental fire, but that foolish arsonist with ulterior motives.” Lu Zhiyuan walked up to A Luo: “Although you are wearing the palace attire of Beiliang, the embroidery pattern on your clothes is not from Beiliang. My mother has similar embroidery patterns in her room, which she collected on the border before she was married. Therefore, you are from Nan Chu. The master you are referring to is not the Consort Jin standing in front of us, but Xiao Yebai, the hostage from Nan Chu.”

A Luo looked at the patterns on her clothes, surprised that Lu Zhiyuan could recognize them. These patterns had been modified; at first glance, they were no different from those worn by the palace maids. Lu Zhiyuan was only eight years old, yet she had only seen similar patterns in her mother's room and was able to deduce that she was from Southern Chu.

Miss Lu is so clever; no wonder she was able to catch her. If only she could be as clever as Miss Lu, she could protect the young master and keep him from being bullied.

He secretly glanced at Consort Jin.

If she were truly clever, even Consort Jin wouldn't tolerate her. Then she wouldn't be able to stay by her young master's side. A'Luo was very sad, clenching her hands, feeling utterly useless.

Having confirmed A Luo's identity, Lu Zhiyuan walked up to Consort Jin with her hands behind her back.

"Does Your Majesty know why His Majesty entrusted you with raising the hostage prince of Southern Chu? His mother, Princess Shaoyang, was born to His Majesty's younger brother, King Yu. King Yu fought on the battlefield in his early years, married at the age of twenty-seven, and had Princess Shaoyang at the age of twenty-nine. He passed away at the age of thirty-two due to a recurrence of an old injury, leaving his wife and Princess Shaoyang to depend on each other for survival."

"The Southern Chu invaded, and the two countries fought for seven long years, causing immense suffering to the people. To end the war, the Southern Chu proposed a marriage alliance, sending their princess to marry the Northern Liang. At that time, there were no suitable princesses for marriage in the Northern Liang palace, and among the royal family, only Princess Shaoyang was unmarried and of the right age. Knowing His Majesty's dilemma, the frail Princess Shaoyang stepped forward and requested permission for the marriage alliance. That year, Princess Shaoyang had just turned fifteen, exactly like your daughter, Princess Jiarou."

Upon hearing this, Consort Jin clenched her fists.

"Southern Chu's proposal of a marriage alliance with Northern Liang was out of necessity. At that time, the King of Southern Chu was already over forty years old and detested weak, tearful women. Princess Shaoyang was not tolerated by the Southern Chu royal court and suffered countless humiliations in Southern Chu. The Southern Chu royal family was unwilling to acknowledge Xiao Yebai's status as a prince of Southern Chu and allowed him to take his mother's surname, Xiao. His Majesty believed that Your Highness understood Princess Shaoyang's suffering, so he entrusted him to your care, hoping that you would treat her well. Has Consort Jin done so?"

"Whether I treated him well or not is none of your business," Consort Jin said, flicking her sleeve. "The matter of the hostage from Southern Chu is none of your concern, a mere maid. Instead of worrying about that hostage, you should worry about yourself and think about how to explain things to His Majesty and the Empress."

She leaned down, a smirk playing on her lips, her words laced with ruthlessness: "Whether you die first or he dies first, it's all the same to me!"