Ye Qichi left Xiao Jinsen’s side.
Just as she was about to return to the chambers where Xiao Jinxing resided, she saw many people standing at the entrance.
Before she could approach, a familiar palace maid came over and respectfully said, "Princess, the Empress Dowager is inside discussing matters with Prince Xiao, please avoid the area for now."
So the old hag Wen Jingtang had come.
No wonder there was such a commotion.
Over the years, Wen Jingtang had stayed out of the palace affairs, seemingly devoted to Buddhism, caring only for Xiao Jinxing, and not paying much attention to anyone else.
In the entire Imperial Palace, only Xiao Jinxing knew just how great Wen Jingtang’s ambitions were.
Of course, she did too.
According to the timeline of Bai Mowan’s death, Bai Mowan did not know the true nature of Wen Jingtang.
Ye Qichi turned around and left.
Alone again, wandering aimlessly within the Imperial Palace.
The Imperial Palace was truly vast.
So vast that she didn’t even know where she had wandered off to.
Then she saw it, a desolate, cold palace.
Could it be... the cold palace of Xiao Jinxing’s mother?!
Back then, Xiao Jinxing’s mother was bestowed death by the white silk right here.
Ye Qichi, driven by curiosity, went in to take a look.
Although there were descriptions in books, she had never actually seen a real cold palace before, and the images in documentaries were all blurry, so she couldn’t help but be curious about what it was really like inside a cold palace.
The desolate courtyard was overgrown with weeds; dust was everywhere, apparently, it had been a long time since anyone had lived here.
The courtyard in the cold palace was naturally much smaller compared to the other chambers.
After walking around, Ye Qichi found it somewhat dull.
Yet thinking of Xiao Jinxing’s mother living in such a place, she still felt somewhat pitiful.
After aimlessly wandering about, she was leaving the cold palace when she suddenly saw Bai Mowan.
Hadn’t Bai Mowan left?!
In theory, she should have left.
Why then, had she seemingly come back out of the blue?
And it appeared that she was coming from Xiao Jinxing’s chambers.
Perhaps it was Wen Jingtang who had asked Bai Mowan to return.
Wen Jingtang definitely wanted Xiao Jinxing and Bai Mowan to be together; now that the Emperor had decreed that only she could hold the position of Princess, Wen Jingtang was sure to step in and properly console Bai Mowan.
Having understood this, Ye Qichi was no longer surprised.
She approached Bai Mowan.
Bai Mowan also walked towards her.
Bai Mowan, looking behind her at the cold palace, asked, "What were you doing there?"
"I lost my way and unwittingly found myself here," Ye Qichi replied.
She truly got lost, then out of curiosity, went inside to have a look.
Finding nothing interesting, she lost her enthusiasm.
"Is that so?" Bai Mowan’s tone carried a hint of sarcasm, "I thought you had gone there specifically to pay respects to Xiao Jinxing’s mother."
To go and pay respects to someone who, to her, was completely irrelevant.
She did feel sympathy for Xiao Jinxing’s mother.
But not to the point of feeling the need to pay respects.
"No, I was just strolling around," Ye Qichi explained, not wanting to say more to Bai Mowan and asked, "Has the Empress Dowager left?"
"She has," Bai Mowan replied.
Just moments ago, Bai Mowan had planned to leave the Imperial Palace, but she was stopped by the Empress Dowager’s people and told to come back.
Then, inside Xiao Jinxing’s chambers, the Empress Dowager made her a promise.
She assured her that Xiao Jinxing would not fail her.
Nothing was stated explicitly.
But many words were clear; the Empress Dowager made it clear.
She mentioned that Ye Qichi was just the Princess after all.
Once there was no Prince Xiao, there would be no Princess.
Naturally, Bai Mowan understood the Empress Dowager’s intentions.
But she just couldn’t accept it.
The thought that the Emperor had personally decreed Xiao Jinxing and Ye Qichi could not separate made her heart unease ten thousand times over.
In this life, she simply wanted to be with Xiao Jinxing.
She had considered many factors that could obstruct her, but had never thought that it would be Ye Qichi.
Her heart was filled with myriad emotions.
Ye Qichi saw all this, but she didn’t want to explain anything.
After all, whatever she explained, Bai Mowan would not listen.
She might even think that she was being hypocritical.
With a detached tone, she said, "Then I will go back now."
Saying so, she walked past Bai Mowan.
With an indifferent attitude.
"Ye Qichi," Bai Mowan called out to her.
The tone was not very friendly.
Ye Qichi turned her head.
"All this time, I feel like I’ve underestimated you," Bai Mowan spoke directly, finally letting out the suppressed emotions in her heart.
Ye Qichi just quietly watched her.
"Back at the hunting festival, when we fell down the steep cliff into the cave, you told me that you would divorce Prince Xiao. I was actually a bit touched by that. I thought you were a very wise person, and I was grateful for your life-saving grace then. Even I thought, even if you and Prince Xiao got divorced, I would, compensate you," Bai Mowan said, looking at Ye Qichi, her voice carrying a trace of chill.