As she tugged at her husband's sleeve, Mu Wan Yun noticed something unusual about the fabric.
She muttered softly, "Isn't this silk? Only the Emperor is allowed to wear it. Even discarded pieces must be destroyed."
As a child, Mu Wan Yun had seen this kind of silk once when she followed Sister Xiao Fang to look for work in the embroidery workshops of Yangzhou City.
Once Mu Wan Yun confirmed it was silk, she said nervously, "Husband, why are you wearing His Majesty's clothes?
This is a crime punishable by beheading and the execution of nine generations of your family! Quickly, take it off."
As she spoke, Mu Wan Yun reached for the Jade Ribbon on Lu Jingxing's robe to untie it, but Lu Jingxing grabbed her hand. "Guards!"
At his call, Prince Jian and the imperial court's Chief Eunuch, Mr. Zhang Qiuchi, entered the hall from outside.
Mu Wan Yun was extremely anxious, her hands trembling. "Lu Jingxing, have you lost your mind? We don't even have time to escape, and you're calling people in..."
However, when Mu Wan Yun saw that one of the people who entered was Qiu Chi, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, it's just Qiu Chi. Why are you in the palace too?"
Qiu Chi was one of her husband's attendants who usually followed him around to conduct business.
Mu Wan Yun looked curiously at Qiu Chi's attire and asked, "Qiu Chi, why are you wearing the uniform of a palace eunuch?
Husband, did you and Qiu Chi disguise yourselves and sneak into the palace to rescue me?
Let's escape quickly! If that violent, cruel, and bloodthirsty new Emperor arrives, we'll be dead for sure."
Lu Jingxing looked down into Mu Wan Yun's eyes and sneered, "Violent and cruel? Bloodthirsty?"
Mu Wan Yun said, "Yes! Of the more than five hundred members of the Mu Family, all three hundred men were beheaded. The women were all reduced to government courtesans and sinful slaves. The luckier ones were sent to the Music Bureau to serve as maids. The new Emperor is not someone we can afford to offend."
Standing to the side, Prince Jian was curious about how Mu Wan Yun addressed Lu Jingxing. "Husband? Second Miss Mu, do you not know that the man before you is the newly ascended His Majesty?"
Hearing Prince Jian's words, Mu Wan Yun said, "Prince, are you joking?"
Prince Jian gently waved his fan and smiled. "I only have one head. Do I look like the type to make jokes?"
Mu Wan Yun stared in disbelief at the man before her, so familiar yet so strange.
He had come to the village five years ago, claiming he was in Yangzhou City to do business. He said that because all his Silver was tied up in his ventures, he could only afford to live in Yinxing Village, not far from the city.
Back then, the village girls would often go to see Lu Jingxing.
Mu Wan Yun was only twelve at the time and had no romantic notions. She just thought this 'big brother' was the most handsome man she had ever seen.
Later, after they were married, Mu Wan Yun felt that Lu Jingxing was like a block of ice that could never be warmed.
But she never could have imagined that the block of ice she had married was the current Emperor!
Seeing Mu Wan Yun's stunned expression, Lu Jingxing felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Mu Wan Yun felt as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar. Her husband was the Emperor, yet just a short while ago, she had written a letter of divorce and cast him aside...
The way Lu Jingxing was looking at her right now made it seem like he wanted her dead.
Unaware of how a daughter of the Mu Family had come to know His Majesty, Prince Jian broke the silence in the hall, asking Lu Jingxing:
"Your Majesty, the rest of the Mu Family has been dealt with. Only Mu Wan Yun remains. What are your orders for her?"
Lu Jingxing looked at Mu Wan Yun and said, "Mrs. Mu, you tell me. How should I deal with you?"
A chill ran through Mu Wan Yun, and her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Since ascending the throne, the new Emperor had moved with lightning speed to annihilate everyone connected to the Mu Family. All three hundred-odd male members of the family had been executed.
She wasn't just a Mu Family member; she had also "divorced" Lu Jingxing, causing him to lose face completely.
'Lu Jingxing probably won't let me live.'
Shivering, Mu Wan Yun caressed her lower abdomen and said, "Husband, you can't kill me. I'm carrying your child."
Lu Jingxing's expression was calm. "Mu Wan Yun, are you aware that the crime of deceiving the Emperor is punishable by beheading?"
Mu Wan Yun said, "I'm not saying I have one now, but I will eventually."
Lu Jingxing looked at Mu Wan Yun with disgust. "You covet power and riches, and you want to bear my heir? Dream on!
Qiu Chi, take her to the Palace Bureau and make her the lowest of the palace maids."
Hearing that she would be allowed to live, Mu Wan Yun breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have to die.
'It's fine to be a palace maid. If I left the palace, I'd be penniless and barely literate. It would be impossible to get by in Chang'an.'
'I might as well just stay in the palace as a maid!'
After Mu Wan Yun was led away by Qiu Chi, Prince Jian looked at Lu Jingxing with great curiosity.
He asked, "Is she really that wife of yours from the countryside? I thought you said she was an illiterate orphan. How did she become the Second Miss Mu?"
Lu Jingxing had never had anyone investigate Mu Wan Yun.
He had only married Mu Wan Yun back then to anger his father, the former Emperor.
Mu Wan Yun was an orphan who grew up in the village. Since the villagers didn't know she was the young lady of the Duke Mu's Mansion, Lu Jingxing never bothered to investigate her background in detail.
Lu Jingxing never would have imagined that the pitiful, destitute orphan girl from the countryside—who had been reduced to picking wild fruits to survive and was almost ruined by local thugs—would turn out to be the Second Miss of the Duke Mansion!
Prince Jian sized up Lu Jingxing. "There's a saying: 'A single night as husband and wife earns a hundred days of kindness.' And you two were married for two years. Are you really going to let her suffer in the palace?"
Prince Jian continued, "Besides, didn't Mu Wan Yun expose the Mu Family's crimes on her wedding day? The wrongs committed by the Mu Family have nothing to do with her, right?"
Lu Jingxing shot Prince Jian a cold glance. "What? Do you feel sorry for her? Would you like to join her as a palace maid?"
How could Prince Jian dare to say the words 'feel sorry'? "No, no," he stammered.
Zhang Qiuchi returned to report. "Your Majesty, Miss Mu has been sent to the imperial harem."
The imperial harem was the most chaotic and lowest-status area of the palace, typically where palace maids who had made mistakes were sent. The labor there was arduous, with endless tasks to perform.
If one was assigned to launder clothes, it was bearable. But if assigned to tasks like washing chamber pots, one would be surrounded by a foul stench all day long.
This was truly the work of the lowliest palace maids in the palace.
Lu Jingxing frowned. "Didn't I tell you to send her to the Palace Bureau? Is the imperial harem the Palace Bureau?"
Seeing Lu Jingxing's anger, Zhang Qiuchi said hurriedly, "This slave knows his mistake. I will take Miss Mu back to the Palace Bureau immediately."
After Zhang Qiuchi and Prince Jian left the hall, the eunuch lamented:
"His Majesty's thoughts have become harder and harder to fathom since he ascended the throne. Just now, His Majesty said he wanted Miss Mu to be the lowliest palace maid. So why is he angry that she was sent to the imperial harem?"
Prince Jian smiled. "Back in that village in Yangzhou, did Mu Wan Yun really divorce His Majesty?"
Zhang Qiuchi nodded. "Yes. The Master was away from home for only half a month. He even brought back his wife's—that is, Miss Mu's—favorite jewelry and rouge powder. But who would have known that what he found upon his return was a letter of divorce?"
Prince Jian chuckled. "No wonder His Majesty is so angry."
However, Prince Jian felt that Lu Jingxing's feelings for Mu Wan Yun weren't entirely filled with hatred.
'Otherwise, why would Lu Jingxing get so jealous just because I showed a little concern for Mu Wan Yun?'
...
Although Mu Wan Yun had grown up in hardship, she had at least had an old nanny to look after her. At worst, she only had to do chores like cooking and laundry after the nanny fell gravely ill.
When had she ever faced a scene like this—washing chamber pots!
Facing the reeking chamber pots before her, Mu Wan Yun pinched her nose, almost unable to breathe.