After Rebirth, I Married my Archenemy - Chapter 33

In the early morning, Qun Qing received a message from Lin Yujia:

“The plan is on hold; reduce contact for now.”

She burned the note, pulled up the blanket, and went back to sleep, feeling a calmness in her heart.

Since she had to cover for Li Xuan’s night shift, she could only sleep a little longer in the morning to rest.

It seemed Lu Huating had made his move. Whatever method he used to suppress Lin Yujia, it worked, and now that the task was no longer in play, she didn’t have to worry about that plan anymore.

Lan Yue also had new information. One day when Qun Qing went out, she unexpectedly saw Lan Yue walking hand-in-hand, laughing and chatting with Xu Sibu, who managed palace records. Startled, she hid behind a tree trunk, waiting until they walked away to come out.

Soon, Lan Yue brought back news: “Xu Sibu showed me her drawer; your palace records indeed aren’t at the Shanggong Bureau. Odd, where could they be?”

“We’ll have to check the Yeting Court again,” Qun Qing replied.

However, the Yeting Court was under strict surveillance, searching for spies from the Southern Chu. To go back, she’d have to risk it.

With Lu Huating gravely ill, it was a rare opportunity. If he wasn’t able to watch closely, she could quietly go find Lady Zhang.

The next day happened to be a day off, so Qun Qing went to the Yeting Court. She noticed that most of the guards outside had been dismissed, with only a few looking exhausted, allowing her to slip in undetected.

Little did she know, as her figure slipped away at the alley’s end, those guards’ expressions shifted, and they straightened up.

A squad approached, led by two men, one being Xiao Jingxing, his brows furrowed.

“Slouching around on duty—is this any way to stand guard? The Court of Judicial Review is here to conduct a search; allow them passage.”

The other man, pale, took the record from a guard, glanced over it, and suddenly stopped Xiao Jingxing with a smirk. “Give me your fish token; I’ll go instead.”

Madam Zhang’s residence was neatly arranged. Qun Qing looked around, puzzled. “Madam, where’s the person who was living with you?”

Qun Qing vaguely recalled sending a beautiful palace maid who had been bullied here, but now only one bed was laid out, showing no sign of anyone else.

“Oh, that ‘living ancestor’ you sent?” Madam Zhang scoffed. “I won’t say you were hoping I’d die early, but could you not think of such methods? I, Zhang Siniang, have never seen such a dimwitted maid who needs others to feed and serve her.”

As she busily cleaned, she dusted a cabinet with a feather duster, grumbling,

“Last night, Eunuch Pei took her away. Don’t blame me for not stopping him; he said the Court of Judicial Review summoned her. How could I interfere?”

Qun Qing felt a chill. No wonder the maid had acted strangely that day. It was fortunate she hadn’t involved herself further.

She helped Madam Zhang clean the room and shared about Xu Sibu. Midway through, Madam Zhang slammed a wet cloth onto the table in anger.

“That shameless old man, keeping hold of your records!”

“Do you think it was Eunuch Pei who kept my records?” Qun Qing asked.

Madam Zhang replied, “Since you showed him that embroidered piece, he’s wanted to keep you at the Yeting Court. You must have noticed by now. He’s probably waiting for you to be punished and sent back here.”

“And since your records never reached the Shanggong Bureau, you’re still counted as part of the Yeting Court. He even takes a share of the palace’s monthly stipend in your name. He’s done this heartless stuff before,” Madam Zhang scoffed. “Come on, let’s find a way.”

Madam Zhang pulled Qun Qing to Eunuch Pei’s quarters. Seeing no one around, she lifted her skirt.

“He keeps his valuables in the right-hand cabinet. He’s out this morning, so keep watch while I climb through the window to steal it for you!”

Qun Qing was taken aback by this bold plan. Madam Zhang, seeing her expression, urged,

“What are you staring at? Time’s running out; help me open this window wider.”

Letting a nearly fifty-year-old Madam Zhang climb through a window was dangerous, so Qun Qing held her back, whispering,

“Madam—keep watch here; I’ll go in.”

She gathered her skirts, swiftly tied them up at her legs, and with a cat-like agility, slipped silently through the window, leaving Madam Zhang stunned.

“This child…”

Madam Zhang’s expression froze, however, as Eunuch Pei, who should have been out, suddenly strode down the palace path, glancing around suspiciously.

As soon as Qun Qing landed inside, she froze.

Madam Zhang had said no one was inside, yet there was someone—a young woman tied to a chair.

The woman sat curled up, her hair disheveled, her mouth sealed, her face streaked with tears. Their eyes met, and she strained desperately against her bonds, emitting muffled cries for help: “Mmm-mmm!”

Her faint blue lashes fluttered slightly. From her pale face and her muffled pleading, Qun Qing recognized her—the woman who had been beaten in the courtyard that day.

Yunu, a dancer from Si Ye Lou in Pingkangfang and a concubine of a fifth-rank official, she likely carried a troubled past.

Yunu’s tear-filled eyes widened in disbelief, as though she couldn’t fathom that Qun Qing, a fellow woman, would ignore her plight. Instead, Qun Qing calmly pulled down the window shade, turned her chair to face the wall, and stepped back to take in the desk that Pei Jian had placed before her.

Pei Jianzuo had an official title, and his status was higher than that of other eunuchs. His quarters were more lavish than some officials’ homes. His large ebony desk was grandly decorated, with scattered papers and brushes.

As Madam Zhang mentioned, Eunuch Pei kept his valuables in the right-hand cabinet. Below the desk was a large, gilded chest. Qun Qing opened the top drawer, found an old wooden box filled with pastries, and discovered a stack of palace records inside.

The top record was old and yellowed, proving he’d been hiding palace records for a while.

After a quick search through the records, she relaxed slightly. Although the records included illustrations, they were stylized enough that most palace staff looked similar.

She searched through them twice, her palms sweating, but did not find her own record.

Behind her, Yunu’s muffled cries turned from desperate to hopeless, the sound of her struggling chair striking Qun Qing’s heart like a chisel.

Returning the box, she noticed a lower drawer secured by a delicate gold lock. After a moment, she pulled out the silver hairpin from her left bun, which she’d sharpened into a fine point.

The glint of the pin reflected on Yunu’s frightened face, Qun Qing’s eyes dark and intense in the dim light.

“If you make another sound,” she whispered, “I won’t come back to save you.”

In the outer hall, Pei Jianzuo strode back.

When he noticed Madam Zhang, he looked surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I have something to report…” Lady Zhang replied.

Pei Jianzuo’s expression was hard to read, and his gaze was unusually unsettled, with a darker edge than usual. Waving his fly-whisk, he said,

“If it’s not urgent, save it for another day. I’m tied up at the moment.”

“It’s important,” Madam Zhang said, grabbing his sleeve firmly. “Let’s talk over at the pavilion.”

Pei Jianzuo glanced at his sleeve in surprise and scrutinized Madam Zhang. Normally, this “tigress” treated him with disdain, even keeping her distance because of his smell, as if he wouldn’t notice. Her sudden enthusiasm today made him suspicious.

Just then, a noise sounded from the pavilion, and Pei Jianzuo hastily pulled away from Madam Zhang. Yet a gentle voice called from behind him,

“Pei Jianzuo, please wait.”

Pei Jianzuo reluctantly turned around.

The young civil officer had appeared behind him. With his straight shoulders and face like frosted snow, his plain attire seemed almost ethereal.

Lu Huating’s gaze was as refreshing as a breeze, but his smile remained cold.

“I’ve come myself since you’ve stalled so long on bringing the person.”

Pei Jianzuo grew wary, switching the fly-whisk to his other hand and preparing to bow, but Lu Huating blocked him with his ceremonial tablet.

“No formalities—I’m in a rush.”

Madam Zhang inwardly sighed with relief, hoping Lu Huating would take Pei Jianzuo away quickly.

“That’s what I came to report, that the Dali Temple officer is here, so it’s up to you, Pei Jianzuo, what to do.”

Lu Huating gave her a brief, smiling glance. She was a head of the Palace Department, known to all the palace maids. But he hadn’t informed anyone of his visit, so how did she know?

Both of them seemed to have secrets.

“It must be a fault of the lower staff! Reporting this late, please accept my apology, Advisor Lu,” Pei Jianzuo said, barely suppressing his expression as he gestured towards a pavilion.

“Madam Zhang, go fetch new Yangxian Snow Bud tea! Advisor Lu, please, follow me to the pavilion.”

Lu Huating didn’t move, glancing up at the signboard.

“Isn’t this the main hall of the Palace Department? You were just going in, so why take a detour? Let’s discuss things inside.”

Pei Jianzuo suddenly bent over, clutching his stomach in apparent pain. Lu Huating tilted his head,

“What’s wrong?”

“Forgive me, Advisor,” Pei Jianzuo said, wincing. “I’ve had an upset stomach these past days. The smell inside the main hall is, well, unpleasant. I was just in a rush to relieve myself… If you wish to discuss matters in the hall, please, just wait a moment.”

He groaned again, and Madam Zhang pinched her nose as if she could already smell it.

Lu Huating’s gaze drifted around the hall. Through a gap in the window, he saw fine, narrow fingerprints in the dust below.

“Then let’s use the side hall,” Lu Huating said lightly, casting a calm look at Pei Jianzuo’s official hat. “This matter is urgent, so please endure it.”

Pei Jianzuo sighed, clutching his stomach as he called out, “…Madam Zhang, serve the tea!”

Meanwhile, Qun Qing knelt on the ground, exerting all her strength to break the lock.

When she opened the drawer, she found a stack of letters, all opened except the top one.

She tore open the envelope and glanced inside, only to see the crimson seal of palace registration.

Unfolding it, she found her name, ‘Qun Qing,’ and a simple portrait. Her anxiety melted away like ice in warm water as she tucked the registration paper back in her robe and replaced the lock.

With that done, she finally turned her attention to the lady in the room.

The woman, bound for some time and having cried, was flushed, her almond-shaped eyes red as if intoxicated. Her head drooped, tears hung on her long lashes, trembling as if about to fall. She looked like a dewy peach blossom, enough to spark ill intentions in any onlooker.

Though young, around eighteen, her face still held traces of girlish innocence. Qun Qing watched her, gripping a hairpin tightly.

If she were to attempt a rescue, it had to be quick.

She worked on the ropes, leaning close, catching the woman’s scent—an overpowering musk of orchid and sandalwood.

The moment the ropes came loose, the woman’s hand flashed with a glint of steel toward Qun Qing’s neck.

Though the moves seemed familiar, her strength was lacking, and Qun Qing instinctively dodged. The lady switched techniques, but Qun Qing intercepted her arm; with a twist, she disarmed her, and the blade clattered to the floor.

In pain, the lady looked tearful yet surprisingly pleased. Her voice, sweet as an oriole’s, said,

“You…you know Lady Chun…”

Lady Chun? Qun Qing didn’t know anyone by that name, but the woman’s moves indeed resembled An Lin’s close-combat assassination techniques. Could she be a spy too? But her weak skills hardly suited espionage work.

Qun Qing decided to play along.

“Yes, I know Lady Chun. Who is she to you?”

At this, the woman threw her arms around Qun Qing’s neck, embracing her tightly. Her arms, though slender, held surprising strength, as if accustomed to dance. With quick movements, she began tugging at Qun Qing’s robe ties.

The contact left Qun Qing momentarily dazed, whether from the unexpected intimacy or the woman’s face so close.

The woman, clearly more panicked, gasped in her ear, “Please, save me! I’ll die—Pei Jianzuo drugged me with aphrodisiacs…”

So, the orchid-sandalwood scent was from an aphrodisiac! Qun Qing’s alarm spiked. Hadn’t she inhaled some, too?

Now she felt her limbs go weak, fighting the drowsiness as she clung to a support, gripping tightly.

Sensing Qun Qing’s struggle, the lady wrapped her legs around her waist. Qun Qing had never been handled so audaciously. Half from anger and half from fear, she shoved hard, tipping over a chair as they tumbled to the floor with a loud crash.

Footsteps quickly approached, followed by the sound of a door kicked open, Pei Jianzuo’s pleading, and Madam Zhang’s startled screams.

It was over.

As Qun Qing lay on the cold floor, that was her only thought.

A big thank you to Julie for the coffee! ☕💖 As a gift, this chapter is being released earlier than scheduled, and I will also be releasing 3 new advance locked chapters today. Your support means so much—thank you!