As Lyuyou looked at Tang Xia, Tang Xia also gazed at that palace maid, not planning to take the soup.

The palace maid lowered her head, noticing that Tang Xia did not believe her. Then she hurried to say, “Your Grace, please take it. If I go back with the soup, my master will beat me to death.”

As the palace maid said so, she knelt on the ground plaintively and kowtowed continuously, “My master has been locked up by His Majesty. She is truly sorry. Please take the soup, Your Grace!”

Tang Xia and Lyuyou were both frightened by palace maid’s reaction and looked at each other. Then Lyuyou came to help that palace maid up.

“All right, stop crying. You will definitely be punished without accomplishing your task.” Tang Xia sighed, “Now that she is sorry for what she has done, I don’t blame her anymore. Leave the soup.”

“Thanks, Your Grace! Thank you!” That palace maid was moved to tears of gratitude and gave the hamper to Lyuyou.

Lyuyou took the hamper and put it on the table. However, that palace maid did not leave and looked at Tang Xia and Lyuyou. It seemed that she wanted to see Tang Xia eat soup.

As that palace maid did not move, Lyuyou reminded her harshly. “What are you doing here? Her Grace has taken your soup, why don’t you go back to your palace?”

That palace maid knelt on the ground again and kowtowed continuously. “Your Grace, my master orders me to see you eat soup so that she can believe that you truly forgive her.”

That palace maid said with reverence and awe, Tang Xia became more careful. But the palace maid just followed the order, Tang Xia could not figure out what Concubine Lan wanted to do. Lyuyou looked at Tang Xia, waiting for her decision.

“Go tell Concubine Lan that I’ve eaten the soup.” Tang Xia sharpened her nails but did not taste the soup.

Lyuyou understood what Tang Xia meant and came close to the palace maid. “Her Grace has had some snacks and is not hungry now. You go back and tell your master that Her Grace has tasted it. We won’t expose you.”

Lyuyou helped the palace maid up while the palace maid was reluctant to leave. As Lyuyou mastered some Kungfu, she dragged the palace maid out of the room and said with a smile, “Go back before Her Grace has not changed her mind.”

The palace maid bit her lips, thanked Lyuyou and left.

Lyuyou followed the palace maid with her eyes and went back to the room. Then she found Tang Xia was sitting on the Royal Chair, not knowing what she was thinking about.

“Lyuyou, do you think that Concubine Lan is truly repentant?” Tang Xia looked at Lyuyou with her eyebrows knitted, “She never liked me.”

“I don’t believe her, neither.” Lyuyou went and opened up the hamper. As she smelt the fragrance of the soup, she said subconsciously, “It smells so good.”

Tang Xia looked at the delicate hamper as if she was pondering. “Neither do I. I guess that Concubine Lan is not sorry at all. The soup…” She paused for a while with a serious look. “Throw it away.”

“Ah?” Lyuyou froze for a moment while Tang Xia was snoozing as she had not slept well for several days. Lyuyou looked at the delicious soup, regarding it wasteful to throw it away.

“If she is truly sorry, she should come here by herself rather than send a palace maid. Besides, she wants the palace maid to see me eat the soup.”

Tang Xia did not open her eyes, but it seemed that she knew Lyuyou regarded it wasteful to throw the soup away or she was murmuring to herself, “If I do what she hopes, I will not be the empress.”

According to the routine Tang Xia knew about palace fighting, people would never become friends with those who were regarded as their enemies at first unless their interests were interrelated. As she was completely isolated from Concubine Lan all the time, she would have been framed by Concubine Lan many times if she did what Concubine Lan hoped.

One should not forget to guard against possible harm done by others. Although Concubine Lan was locked up by Chu Tiankuo, she still made trouble. Tang Xia thought she must be more careful.

Lyuyou understood what Tang Xia meant and obeyed, nodding her head. Then she helped tuck Tang Xia in and left with the hamper.

When Lyuyou came back with a different hamper, Tang Xia looked at her confusedly. Lyuyou wore a smile,

“Don’t worry, Your Grace. It is not the soup from Concubine Lan. The servant of His Majesty came just now and told that His Majesty knew you are still angry, so His Majesty had the imperial kitchen make your favorite date cake to show his regret!”

Hearing Lyuyou’s tease, Tang Xia blushed and glared at Lyuyou. “I won’t be angry just because of the date cake? Does he regard me as his empress?” As Tang Xia noticed that Lyuyou still wore a smile, she shouted shyly, “Don’t you laugh!”

“Alright!” Lyuyou wore a calm look, “Your Grace, should I keep the date cake or throw it away?”

Although Lyuyou wore a serious look, her words were quite awkward. Tang Xia turned her head away, “Throw it away! I must let him know that I won’t be fooled easily by him again!”

“Really?” Lyuyou lifted up the hamper. “Throw it away?”

As Lyuyou left without hesitation, Tang Xia got angry, “Lyuyou!”

“Yep! I’m here!” Lyuyou turned around immediately and wore a look showing “I knew you would not throw it away”.

“He should show more sincerity if he is sorry, right? Just the date cake won’t do!” Tang Xia turned her head away, “Just keep it. I can take some if I’m hungry as it is too early to have dinner.”

As Lyuyou laughed quietly, she did not tease Tang Xia anymore and left the hamper on the table.

As Tang Xia and Lyuyou made a tacit understanding, the minute Lyuyou took the date cake out, the room was full of the fragrance of date. Tang Xia went close to the table with a smile and wanted to taste the freshly-prepared date cake.

When Tang Xia picked up a piece of date cake, a hoot came from the outside of the room. Then Tang Xia had a look at Lyuyou, Lyuyou nodded her head and walked out of the room.

After a while, Lyuyou came back and wore a rather serious look with her eyebrows knitted.

So Tang Xia did not want to eat the date cake anymore and asked, “What happened?”

“A cat died.”

“A cat?” Tang Xia felt confused and thought it would not be a big deal as many wildcats haunted in the imperial palace.

Lyuyou nodded, “You should go and check out with me, Your Grace. There is some mystery about its death.”

Tang Xia knew that this matter was not normal according to Lyuyou’s look. So she stood up and went to the place where the cat died in the guidance of Lyuyou.

That place was not far from Tang Xia’s palace. A little palace maid was crying, kneeling on the ground. Another elder palace maid seemed quite angry. And there was a broken jade bracelet on the ground.

The dead cat lay over there. It was a black cat whose blood came from the five sense organs with its mouth wide open. What’s more, its look was quite twisted as if it had suffered much pain.

“Please forgive me, Your Grace.” The little palace maid trembled more and prostrated herself at the sight of Tang Xia.

“What happened?”

The elder palace maid knelt on the ground and explained,

“I found the bracelet given by His Majesty was abraded while I was cleaning the room. So I had the craftsman repair and planned to give it to you today. But she broke it into pieces!”

The elder palace maid wore a quite angry look. Tang Xia knew they did not lie according to their facial expressions.

It seemed that the little palace maid was frightened by the black cat when she turned a corner and broke the jade bracelet by accident. So the elder palace maid rebuked her in anger.

It was just a jade bracelet that Tang Xia did not care much, so she was about to let it go. But Lyuyou stopped her. Tang Xia turned around and saw that Lyuyou was pointing at the black cat.

“Your Grace, have a look at the black cat.”

Tang Xia looked at the cat, “Is it poisoned?”

Lyuyou nodded her head and wanted to say something. Tang Xia had a look at her and said, “Talk truly. What do you find out?” If it was just related to a dead cat and a jade bracelet, Lyuyou would not take Tang Xia here so seriously.

“Your Grace, I fed the cat just now.”

As Tang Xia stared at her, Lyuyou said, “You told me to throw the soup away, I regard it too wasteful so that I fed the cat with it.”

Tang Xia would be too foolish if she could not understand what Lyuyou meant.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Although there are many wildcats in the imperial palace. But there is only one all black cat. I am quite sure!”

Tang Xia lowered her head, pondering. Then she wore a smile, “Good! How dare you, Concubine Lan! How dare you to poison me!”

Tang Xia thought that Concubine Lan just desired to excel over others, she would not be that bold to poison her. However, it turned out that Tang Xia was too naive because Concubine Lan who was as vicious as Lengmei wanted to doom her to death!

Although Tang Xia wore a smile, her anger was so obvious that the little palace maid who knelt on the ground could not stop trembling.

“Let’s go! I’ll hear what Concubine Lan wants to explain to me!” Tang Xia disregarded those two palace maids and walked off in a huff.

Concubine Lan, as the first rank imperial concubine, lived in Xiangtan Court which was in the opposite direction of Tang Xia’s palace. So it took Tang Xia fifteen minutes to get to Concubine Lan’s dwelling.

As Tang Xia just got to the place, she heard the whine from Xiangtan Court—palace maids and eunuchs were crying loudly.

Tang Xia was still short of breath and turned her around, looking at Lyuyou. Then Lyuyou shook her head, not knowing what was going on.

When Tang Xia stepped into Xiangtan Court, she found that maids and eunuchs were trying to avoid her with a terrified look, which irrigated and puzzled Tang Xia.

After Tang Xia stepped into the interior court, palace maids were crying more loudly, which disturbed Tang Xia. And she heard one palace maid’s shout something like ‘Your Grace, if you die, what should we do?’

“Die?” Tang Xia froze for a while, “How could Concubine Lan die?”

Lyuyou standing aside was also puzzled rather than angry.

After Tang Xia and Lyuyou came into the room, they found that Concubine Lan was lying on the bed with a pale look. And blood came from her five sense organs that were as twisted as that black cat, which showed that her death was quite painful.

Tang Xia was so terrified that she closed her eyes. At the sight of Tang Xia, the palace maid who served Concubine Lan for the longest time threw herself towards Tang Xia.

“It is you! The vicious woman! Her Grace may be a little sharp-tongued, but she never harmed others! But you poisoned her to death! You vicious woman!”

The palace maid said in such a sad and thrilling voice that people would regard Tang Xia as the person who poisoned Concubine Lan to death. Lyuyou could not stand it anymore and rebuked the palace maid loudly, “You are talking nonsense! It is your master who poisoned my master!”

“Nonsense?” palace maid’s eyes turned red, “Her Grace was poisoned to death because of your soup! My master has been confined, why did you harm her?”

What? Tang Xia and Lyuyou were both froze. Their soup? When did they give soup to Concubine Lan?