Chapter 5

Once girls find they share a common enemy, their stance quickly becomes crystal clear.

Li Shuyao’s heart was filled with excitement; her misty eyes blinked rapidly as if they were brimming with the stars of the night sky. She clenched her fists and said crisply, "Exactly! I have been thinking the same thing all along!"

Guoluoluo Qingyao paused as she fiddled with her silver fork, her eyes widening in surprise. "Really?"

"Do you truly believe me, sister? You don’t think I’m being petty?"

Li Shuyao immediately raised three fingers to swear to the heavens, her expression incredibly sincere. "Really, truly! I swear, I really do think that!"

As soon as the words left her lips, she realized they might contradict the persona of the original "Li Shuyao." She quickly scrambled to add, "A long time ago, before you even entered the palace, I already felt something was off about her. For example, that time Nanny Wu called me to..."

Li Shuyao cited several examples in a row until her throat grew dry. Forced to stop, she picked up the teacup on the table and gulped down the contents; she was clearly parched.

Seeing this, Guoluoluo Qingyao, sitting opposite her, immediately reached for the teapot and refilled the cup the moment it touched the table.

As soon as it was full, Li Shuyao picked it up and kept drinking. She went through four large cups this way. Guoluoluo Qingyao, fully immersed in her mission of pouring tea, saw that Li Shuyao had stopped after the fifth cup. Enthusiastically, she pushed the cup toward her, urging, "Drink, drink more. Look, your lips are already pale."

Li Shuyao held the teacup, torn between drinking and not drinking. She frowned, looking troubled, as if she couldn't fathom how the conversation had veered entirely toward tea.

After a moment, she asked Qingyao dryly, "Aren't we... aren't we supposed to be talking about Lianchu?"

"Oh, right." Guoluoluo Qingyao finally snapped out of it. Seeing that Li Shuyao no longer wanted to drink, she returned the teapot to its place with a hint of reluctance.

Li Shuyao sighed in relief and quickly set the teacup back on the table. She smoothed her tense expression, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "You might not know..."

Before she could even begin, the sound of Lingluo’s footsteps echoed from outside. Lingluo entered carrying a massive tray laden with five plates of steaming, fragrant, and delicate pastries.

Because the tray was so large, she couldn't see the floor well, and her figure swayed slightly, making the task look quite difficult. Guoluoluo Qingyao stood up to help steady the tray, and upon seeing this, Li Shuyao quickly scrambled off the daybed to assist.

There was a sandalwood round table in the open space near the bed, and the three of them worked together to place the tray upon it.

Lingluo let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her brow, a faint blush appearing on her elegant face. She turned directly to Li Shuyao and smiled. "These pastries were developed by the Imperial Kitchen and then modified according to the recipes the mistress recalled you used to like. I don’t know if they will be to your taste."

Lingluo was someone specially assigned by the Emperor to serve Guoluoluo Qingyao after she gained his favor. Before this, Li Shuyao had never spoken to her.

Seeing her walk in earlier, Li Shuyao’s first instinct had been to help. But after doing so, she slowly realized that just yesterday, the original "Li Shuyao" had had a heated, aggressive argument with Guoluoluo Qingyao right in front of this woman. Not only had she said many harsh things, but she had also declared that from now on, she and Guoluoluo Qingyao would be "worlds apart, never to meet again!"

...The original owner’s vicious words still echoed in her ears, yet only six hours had passed.

Li Shuyao felt a mix of embarrassment and anxiety, too ashamed to meet Lingluo’s gaze, so she simply lowered her head and picked at her fingers.

She never expected Lingluo to be so generous and forgiving—not holding a grudge for what she said yesterday, not showing resistance to her visiting Qingyao, and even taking the initiative to show kindness by preparing so many delicious pastries for her.

Li Shuyao looked up, disbelieving.

Across from her, Lingluo was still smiling, waiting for her answer.

A sudden surge of courage flooded Li Shuyao’s heart. She looked straight into Lingluo’s eyes and nodded with grave seriousness. "They are delicious; they are to my taste! And... it is I who should thank Sister Lingluo for your thoughtfulness." She glanced at Guoluoluo Qingyao and added, "And thank you, too."

Guoluoluo Qingyao’s beautiful brows arched, though she said with a touch of mock resentment, "So I was just an afterthought..."

Li Shuyao: "..."

She cast a playful, annoyed glance at Guoluoluo Qingyao and turned back to Lingluo. "Sister Lingluo, don't busy yourself. Sit down and eat with us."

Lingluo shook her head with a smile. "I’ve been in the Imperial Kitchen for too long, and I’m covered in the smell of cooking oil—it’s quite uncomfortable. Plus, I broke a sweat coming back. I should go freshen up, and I will come back to serve you later." With that, she placed her hands at her waist and curtsied to Guoluoluo Qingyao.

Only after receiving Guoluoluo Qingyao’s nod did she turn and leave the room, closing the door thoughtfully behind her.

Li Shuyao couldn't help but sigh, "Sister Lingluo is such a good person."

She didn't even hold it against her.

Guoluoluo Qingyao glanced at her. "How do you know she is a 'sister'?"

She sat down at the table as she spoke, reaching for a piece of pastry.

Li Shuyao sat down beside her, arguing confidently, "In the palace, everything is based on seniority, right? You are the Emperor’s new favorite, and he dotes on you so much. Why would the Imperial Household Department send someone who just entered the palace and knows nothing to serve you?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Guoluoluo Qingyao stuffed a piece of pastry into her mouth.

The milky aroma instantly flooded her palate; the temperature was perfect, neither too sweet nor too greasy. Li Shuyao let out a soft "mmm" and chewed the entire piece slowly.

Seeing her eat with such gusto, Guoluoluo Qingyao ate two pieces herself.

After finishing, she remembered she had to accompany the Emperor at the Imperial Study that evening. She reluctantly set down her third piece, walked to the daybed, and took a few sips of the tea that had grown slightly cold, washing away the sweetness and leaving only a faint, lingering fragrance on her lips.

Li Shuyao didn't know Guoluoluo Qingyao had plans for the evening. Seeing her stop eating, she also set down her pastry and returned to the daybed.

Guoluoluo Qingyao looked back at her. "Are you full?"

Li Shuyao was silent for a moment, then said, "Well... just about."

That meant she wasn't full.

Guoluoluo Qingyao understood perfectly. She pointed at the pastries on the table. "Then keep eating. Why are you standing on ceremony with me?"

Li Shuyao shook her head. "Forget it, talking to you is more important."

Pastries are precious, but a best friend is worth more. Besides, she wasn't a greedy little pig. Since she had finally made it here, how could she only have eyes for food?

She was naturally much happier chatting with Qingyao.

The two moved the remaining pastries and teacups from the small side table to the round table, pushed the side table back into the cabinet, and then sat closely together, whispering secrets for another ten minutes.

With Guoluoluo Qingyao, Li Shuyao felt she was slowly recovering the feeling of late-night chats with her college roommate, and she no longer found transmigrating into a book so unbearable.

Let’s just treat it as a rare experience.

...

After an unknown amount of time, Li Shuyao suddenly remembered the purpose of her visit.

She sat up straight with a start. "Right, Qingyao, I just remembered something."

"What is it?" Guoluoluo Qingyao asked curiously.

Li Shuyao said, "You must be careful of the people around you!"

Guoluoluo Qingyao: "..."

The expression on her face grew complicated. Wasn't she the one who should be warning Li Shuyao?

She parted her lips, unable to help herself. "That is exactly what I wanted to say to you."

"Huh?" Li Shuyao looked confused.

She was still debating whether to reveal the surname of that official’s daughter.

She heard Guoluoluo Qingyao say with a hint of bitterness, "It’s Lianchu. Didn't we just spend a long time talking about how she cannot be trusted?"

"So, after you go back today, don't talk to her anymore. If she gives you anything, don't eat it. If she asks you to go anywhere, don't be a fool and follow her without thinking. It’s best to decline whenever you can. If you can't, call Yueshu and the others to go with you."

"Also, when you are on duty, if she tells you something, don't believe it entirely. It’s better to spend more time asking Yueshu. Yueshu has an honest and steady personality, and she does things by the book—she doesn't have such twisted motives. You'll see once you spend more time with her."

Once the topic of the Uya clan came up, Guoluoluo Qingyao transformed into a worried mother, her lips moving incessantly through a long string of advice.

Li Shuyao felt dizzy, as if she were back in her freshman year, trapped in a two-hour orientation meeting led by an advisor.

She couldn't even find an opening to interrupt!

Li Shuyao’s eyes went blank, losing their luster as she absentmindedly picked at the patterns on the cushion.

As she picked, she silently counted how many words Qingyao had spoken.

By the time Guoluoluo Qingyao finally stopped, Li Shuyao’s expression was dull and wooden, looking every bit like someone who had lost all worldly desires.

She really wanted to spoil the plot for Qingyao—in eight months at the latest, Uya Lianchu would be promoted from a palace maid to a Changzai and move into the Inner Palace to be Qingyao’s colleague!

So, the person who should be staying away from the Uya clan was actually Qingyao herself!

After being nagged by Guoluoluo "Tripitaka" Qingyao for about a quarter of an hour, the sky outside gradually darkened.

Lingluo, who had gone to freshen up, returned and brought an oral decree from the Imperial Study in the Qianqing Palace, summoning Guoluoluo Qingyao to accompany the Emperor.

Li Shuyao had no choice but to stand up and say goodbye. They stood at the entrance of the servant quarters, waving farewell, both with faces of exquisite beauty and identical expressions of worry.

Li Shuyao worried that Qingyao wouldn't be able to defend herself against the hidden poisons and dangers lurking in the servant quarters.

Meanwhile, Guoluoluo Qingyao worried that with Li Shuyao’s naive nature, she would be back under Uya Lianchu’s thumb before long.

At the thought of this, Guoluoluo Qingyao’s heart felt as if it had been scorched by fire, filled with endless anxiety and bitterness.

It was this feeling that led her, on her way to the Imperial Study, to suddenly and strangely conceive of a bold and risky plan!