Ming Huashang heard the door outside open and then close. She sighed, untied her overly heavy cloak from around her neck, folded it, and went to bed.

When the sky fell, there were taller people out there to hold it up. How could the nation’s major affairs have anything to do with her, a civilian girl? She was better off going to sleep.

Jiang Ling was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly yanked out of his dream. He found two slender and straight black figures in front of the bed, and instinctively wrapped the quilt around himself tightly: “It’s late at night, what are you guys doing here?”

Ming Huazhang cupped his hands towards Jiang Ling and said, “It is our offense to have bothered you late at night, but we have an important matter, and I want to ask Shizi Jiang for help.”

“We have an urgent matter and need to see Taiping Gongzhu; we trouble Shizi Jiang to pass on this message for us.”

Ming Huazhang and Xie Jichuan had no relation with Taiping Gongzhu’s manor, so they were no better than ordinary guests here. But Jiang Ling was different; his father was Taiping Gongzhu’s confidant, even if Jiang Ling himself was ignorant, he was familiar with quite a few faces in Taiping Gongzhu’s manor. Sending a message to the Gongzhu in the middle of the night was impossible for ordinary officials, no matter how powerful they were, but Jiang Ling certainly could.

Jiang Ling looked at the sky outside, scratched his head, and asked, “Now?”

“Precisely.” Ming Huazhang cupped his hands again, “Thank you for going through the trouble.”

Taiping Gongzhu was leaning against the wooden bench, pressing her temples as she felt her headache worsen. Yao Huang walked in softly. Seeing that Taiping Gongzhu was in a bad mood, she asked, “Your Highness, it’s already Zishi1, how come you are still awake?”

Taiping Gongzhu sighed, “One person dying after another in the villa, I don’t even know who the ghost will target tonight, how can I sleep?”

Yao Huang picked up the candle wick, gently moved it in front of Taiping Gongzhu, and said, “Your Highness, you are the daughter of the Son of Heaven. Your good fortune is profound, and you are blessed by the heavens. What ghost dares to approach you?”

Taiping Gongzhu exhaled. She thought the same way when the first person died. It wasn’t until Wei Zi’s eyes were gouged out and died tragically in the villa that Taiping Gongzhu became afraid.

The death of a stranger was not the same as the death of a familiar person whom she met every day. The impact was incomparable.

Taiping Gongshu said, “If it’s really a ghost then there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just ask an eminent monk to perform some rituals. What I’m afraid of is what’s behind the ghost.”

After Wei Zi’s accident, although the little maid Lian Xin was the third to die, Taiping Gongzhu could inexplicably feel that the murderous intent was aimed at her.

This was based on the intuition she had honed throughout her turbulent palace life, and in the past ten years, this intuition had saved her life countless times. Now, her intuition told her that she was being targeted again.

Yao Huang didn’t dare to say too much and silently held the lamp for Taiping Gongzhu. Taiping Gongzhu complained a few sentences, then quickly suppressed her emotions, and asked, “Where is the Fuma?”

After hearing the answer Taiping Gongzhu nodded indifferently. Except for the maidservants who were close to her, few outsiders knew that Taiping Gongzhu and her Fuma slept in separate rooms.

This was a rare tacit understanding between her and Wu Youji. Both of them were in their prime, young and beautiful, and they were also fond of each other’s beauty. They had four children together since they got married. Taiping Gongzhu liked poetry and music, and Ding Wang was also quite talented in music. The two of them knew how to play and loved to play. Due to their compatibility, they hardly fought all these years.

However, like Taiping Gongzhu who no longer felt the shyness and joy from the beginning of their marriage, although Ding Wang never refused the acts between husband and wife, he rarely slept with Taiping Gongzhu. Also, deep in his heart, he probably never trusted her.

Taiping Gongzhu’s first Fuma was her childhood sweetheart cousin, whom she loved. Their marriage remains a much-told story in Chang’an to this day. However, Xue Shao was the son of Chengyang Gongzhu, a member of the Li family, so her mother felt that she had married the wrong person and insisted that she remarry a Wu family member.

Of course, Taiping Gongzhu resisted, but even when she knelt at her mother’s feet with her newborn child in her arms, her mother still sentenced Xue Shao to death.

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After that, Taiping Gongzhu understood two principles. First, an arm can never out-twist a thigh, so never do something that will end in humiliation; second, love is just an act, instead, power is the best lover.

Taiping Gongzhu stopped making trouble. According to her mother’s decree, she picked someone that she liked among the Wu family’s nephews, and that person was Wu Youji.

Because Xue Shao was favored by her, he starved to death in prison; Wu Youji became the second lucky one to win her favor, so he had to kill his first wife to make room for the Gongzhu.

Yes, Wu Youji had a wife. No one knew whether he liked that woman or not, because that didn’t matter at all. Even if he didn’t do the deed, his parents and brothers would’ve helped him.

The two of them got married amid a celebration with song and dance, and the congratulations of thousands of people. Afterward, Wu Youji was appointed Ding Wang and became the Fuma of Taiping Gongzhu that everyone envied.

Taiping Gongzhu couldn’t remember Wu Youji’s expression on their wedding night. In a blink of an eye, as a second-marriage couple, they had come a long way, even their first daughter was married.

Taiping Gongzhu couldn’t tell whether she asked about Ding Wang’s whereabouts more out of fear or consideration. Wei Zi was dead, and someone wanted to kill her. When Taiping Gongzhu realized this, the first person that came to her mind was Ding Wang.