C125

Sensing that Li Mu's presence was in the vicinity, she held his breath. He had heard that martial artists were very knowledgeable, if Li Mu knew that he had overheard those words, who knew what they would do.

"Who is it?" Hearing footsteps, Li Mu turned around.

Xiu Er was frightened by his cold gaze, she shrunk her neck and said timidly: "Good day Third Prince, this servant is here to look for my master!"

"Is that so?" Li Mu looked at her doubtfully, then waved his hand: "You may leave!"

"Yes, your servant will take his leave!" Xiu Er felt goosebumps all over her body, and then she quickly escaped. But in Li Mu's eyes, it was a completely different story.

It was only after Li Mu and Imperial Noble Consort Zhao had left for quite a while did Shi Anran take a deep breath and carefully crawl out of the stone cave.

She was undoubtedly working with Li Mu, and now that Li Mu did not attack her, it was because he could use her. But if there came a day when he was no longer of any use to her, would he kill her for the sake of not letting others know? Shi Anran didn't dare to be certain of any of these things.

After returning to the storage palace, Shi Anran took a bath in the hot water and wore a white cheongsam as she stood at the window in a daze. Watching Xiu Er carefully pour the bath water out, she asked in a soft voice, "Xiu Er, how many years have you been in the palace?"

Xiu Er was startled, then she laughed: "This servant has been in the palace for five years, and since I have no relatives outside, I have not left, but even if I am not willing, I will be kicked out by the time I reach twenty-five."

Yes, even the ordinary palace maids have to be changed once every five years. Some of the more special ones would even be released by the emperor for marriage at the age of twenty-five. Xiu Er was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and to her, this was just the beginning of her life. Shi Anran held her hand, gently smiled at her and said: "If I were to tell you that I can give you some money to leave the palace and start a small business outside, if it really doesn't work, find a reliable man to marry to."

Hearing that, Xiu Er's eyes immediately became red: Master, do you want to chase this servant away? Did this servant do something wrong to make master unhappy? "

"Xiu Er, you did well. It's just that this palace is too complicated. How about this, you go and work at the Shi Family Palace, I coincidentally happened to tell you before, Liu Yue's personality is just as lively as yours, I believe you two are able to get along very well. "

"No, this servant will wait on Master!" The girl stubbornly said.

Hearing this, Shi Anran also revealed a little helpless expression. She laughed and sighed: "I had originally wanted you to occasionally pass some information to me at Shi Family, looks like you're not willing to do this …" Xiu Er had already been found out by the Third Prince tonight. Regardless of whether she had heard or not, the Third Prince would never let Xiu Er go to protect this secret.

After hearing that, Xiu Er's eyes lit up as she looked at her, and then nodded her head: "I am willing to work for Master!"

"That's good. Then, pack your things tonight and you can probably leave the palace tomorrow afternoon. Before that, I still have to go inform Senior Servant Chen." Shi Anran said gently.

A night of silence, a night of wind and rain – Shi Anran slowly fell asleep.

In the imperial hall on the second day, the emperor rewarded Xiang Rongcheng with many things, and bestowed him with the status of a main general. Of course, the Third Prince also received some, but compared to Xiang Rongcheng, they could not be compared.

After the assembly, Shi Anran went to find Chen mama, she was in charge of all the matters concerning the palace maids.

"Aunt, why are you looking for this old servant?" Senior Servant Chen said with her usual gentle voice.

Shi Anran bowed and did not care about her status, "Chen mama, Anran indeed has something to say today."

"Speak!"

"Anran has a palace maid named Xiu Er by her side. It's been five or six years since she entered the palace, can this mama let her go?"

Hearing this, Chen mama nodded and replied, "Since it's aunty's people, how can this old servant not say that I'm letting them out of the palace? Furthermore, this old servant Xiu Er knew this palace maid, she was young and obedient when she first entered the palace. When Consort Candidate was newly entering the palace this year, this old servant arranged for her to stay at the storage palace. I didn't expect her to leave the palace now. " With that, she turned around and took out a tablet from the table. "This is the identity token of the palace maid, Li Palace. With this, we can smoothly exit."

Shi Anran took it and held it in her hands, and nodded as she smiled, "Anran thanks Chen mama!"

On the way back, Shi Anran was very preoccupied with many things. She kept feeling very uneasy in her heart, but she couldn't quite tell where this uneasiness came from. She couldn't help but speed up her footsteps.

"Master!" After seeing Shi Anran from afar, Xiu Er walked over with her backpack as she smiled at her.

Shi Anran heaved a sigh of relief, passed the palace tablet into Xiu Er's hands, and warned: "Remember, you have to be careful in everything you do. Once you're in the palace, send someone to deliver a letter to me."

Xiu Er reluctantly agreed, and then she turned around and left. As she watched Xiu Er's figure slowly walk away, Shi Anran felt that the burden in her heart had been gradually lifted, and he returned to the Palace.

Shi Anran was busy for a while, but just as she was about to go to Li Ruolan's Phoenix Nest Palace to do something, she saw Cui Yun anxiously walking in, and with a strange expression, she said: "Aunt, quickly go take a look, Xiu Er was caught, and said that she secretly stole the palace's treasures, and is currently being escorted to Ning Xiao Yuan!"

Ning Xiao Residence was the place that dealt with the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace. Shi Anran couldn't be busy with the messy dress so she ran out, her heartbeat speeding up all the way: "Xiu Er, she won't, why would she steal those things?"

Not long after, Shi Anran arrived at the Calore Courtyard. Before she could even catch her breath, the arrow in the guard's hand left the bowstring and shot right through Xiu Er's heart. Shi Anran's footsteps were so hurried that she almost fell to the ground. Xiang Rongcheng, who was quick on the uptake, quickly supported her, with gentleness in his eyes: "What's wrong, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Xiu Er... "Who was it? Who was it that wanted to kill her?" Seeing Xiu Er's tiny body lying in the pool of blood, with a pair of eyes filled with unwillingness to die looking at him, Shi Anran felt her heart clench.

Xiang Rongcheng said with a stern expression: "This palace maid was found on the way to the Li Palace. She carried a treasure stolen from the Palace in her bag.

"Heh …" "I got it …" Shi Anran gave a bland smile, and when she looked up, her eyes were filled with a hazy mist. She said in her heart: Xiu Er, it's me who harmed you, I thought that as long as you left the palace, it would be the safest option, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this.

"What's wrong? "You don't look too good." Xiang Rongcheng whispered.

Shi Anran closed her eyes and had her back facing him, a drop of cold liquid flowing down her cheek, which she then quickly wiped clean: "This is my personal palace maid, who gave the order to kill her?"