Chapter 8 — Wu Yang Flower – Jade Snow Palace

A long time later. It seemed he had made up his mind about something. He took out something from his chest and gave it to me. It was a white jade hairpin, with a gentle body. The tip of the brooch is engraved with a smiling apricot blossom. It was my favorite brooch in my past life. It's a relic my mother left me. When he died in his past life, he must have buried himself in the white snow with me.

“What is this?” I asked, even though I knew it.

“Your stuff.” he said, "I've kept it for ten years now, but luckily it's not damaged."

There was a very slight glimmer of expectation in his eyes. He seemed to hope that I would be moved. Because of this brooch, the way I look at him will change. I look at the brooch. My heart is cold as ice.

“The king has a heart.”

“But I don't need it anymore.”

“The dead cannot come back to life.”

“Things are still there, people are no longer the same.”

“This brooch, just like its owner.”

“Should have been buried underground a long time ago.”

My words are cruel to the extreme. Completely crushed his last bit of illusion. His hand holding the brooch suddenly tightened. The blue veins on the back of the hand stand out clearly. The valuable white jade brooch in his hand made a faint cracking sound, as if it couldn't stand the pressure. He had bloodshot eyes and stared at me. As if wanting to swallow me alive. I just smiled slightly at him. Then turn around. Don't look at him again. Continue feeding the fish. Behind him came the sound of staggering footsteps leaving. With a low, suppressed roar, like a caged beast. The smile at the corner of my lips deepened. Tieu Quyet. The chess game has begun. Do you think you are a chess player? In this chessboard. You, me, Liu Nhu Yen, the emperor, the entire Great Zhou dynasty. They are all just my pawns. As for me, Tham Thanh Nguyet. It's the one who truly leads the army. I threw down the last handful of food. Look at the carp fighting in the water. Just like that group of people in the capital, competing for power and gain. Pitiful again. I turned my head and looked at the exquisite porcelain tea set on the table. At the bottom of a cup. I used my fingernails to gently engrave a symbol that only my people could understand. These past few days, we've been using that cup to drink tea. Then let a new palace maid named Tieu Dao take it out to wash. Tieu Dao is still young and her liver is also small. Most importantly, her senior brother is working on a shipping route in our Jiangnan. Generous salary, good benefits. She is the only person in Lam Nguyet Hien who is truly grateful to me. My first move has been placed on the chessboard. Now we just have to wait for our chess pieces outside the palace to return the news. Tieu Quyet, just wait there. Very soon, you will understand what it means to lead a fire to burn yourself to death. What is digging your own grave? Tieu Dao was very scared. Her hands trembled non-stop. The tea tray in my hand shook like a late autumn leaf blown by the wind. On the tray is a porcelain tea cup. That was the cup that Treasurer Tham had just used. There is a small scratch on the bottom of the cup, very faint, very difficult to see. At first glance, it just looks like a chip caused by an accidental collision. But Tieu Dao knows clearly. That's not a collision. That's a signal. It was a signal that the Treasurer had made an appointment with an outsider. Her elder brother once warned her carefully. If one day the palace sees that sign. Not asked. Do not appear unusual. Just find a way to bring the object with the signal out. Give it to an old man to sell gourd candy outside Than Vu Mon. The rest will have nothing to do with her. Tieu Dao bowed her head, picked up the tea tray and walked out of Lam Nguyet Hien. The two guards guarding the door stood as tall as stone statues. Sharp eyes scanned her from head to toe. Seeing that it was just a palace maid bringing tea to Lam Nguyet Hien and leaving, they immediately withdrew their gaze. Tieu Dao's heart was beating so fast that it seemed like it was about to jump out of her throat. She did not dare to walk quickly, for fear of making others suspicious. But I don't dare to go slowly, for fear of ruining the big event. She walked through the long corridors of the royal palace. Sneak past the patrolling army. Finally reached the place where trash was processed in the palace. She pretended her hand slipped. The tea tray fell to the ground with a loud "bang" sound. The tea cup broke into many small pieces. The manager's mother scolded her a few times. Then asked her to clean it up. Tieu Dao knelt down to clean up. Quick as lightning, she hid the scratched piece of the bottom of the cup in her sleeve. The remaining pieces are gathered, carefully wrapped and thrown away. When she finished, her back was drenched in cold sweat. Sunset falls. The day came that the palace maids were allowed to take turns going out to the palace to go shopping.