“What are you doing? Why are you skulking around?”
The Empress Dowager found the eunuch’s behavior highly suspicious.
At the sound of her reprimand, the thin eunuch looked up. When he realized it was the Empress Dowager, he fell to his knees in fright.
Duoduo supported the Empress Dowager as they walked up to him.
“Which palace are you from? What are you doing here?” the Empress Dowager asked, her expression dark.
The eunuch was so terrified that he prostrated himself on the ground, trembling all over.
“In reply to Your Majesty, this servant was sent here to clean the courtyard.”
Worried that the Empress Dowager would not believe him, he hurriedly added, “You can ask the eunuchs guarding the entrance. They were the ones who let me in!”
The Empress Dowager glanced at her personal palace matron. The matron bent at the waist and withdrew.
Before long, the eunuch guarding the entrance came in with her.
He knelt and paid his respects to the Empress Dowager.
“Take a look at him. Was he sent here to clean?” the matron ordered.
The gatekeeper turned his head and glanced at the thin eunuch kneeling on the ground.
“In reply to Your Majesty, he was indeed assigned to clean the courtyard.”
The Empress Dowager waved her hand, about to dismiss him.
Suddenly, Duoduo asked, “Which palace do you serve in?”
The thin eunuch, who had kept his head lowered all this time, quickly raised it and glanced at Duoduo.
A strange glint flashed through Duoduo’s eyes.
“How dare you! Princess Changle asked you a question. Why aren’t you answering?” the matron scolded.
The eunuch hurriedly lowered his head again. “In reply to Your Highness, this servant belongs to the Directorate of Palace Affairs. I do not serve any particular master.”
Duoduo remembered that, before she had entered the palace, her father had told her that the palace had recently undergone a major purge, and all the eunuchs had been reassigned.
“You’ve always been with the Directorate of Palace Affairs?” Duoduo asked, sounding merely curious.
The eunuch hesitated and did not answer immediately.
“How dare you!” The matron was just about to scold him again.
The eunuch hastily lowered his head and replied, “In reply to Your Highness, I used to be in the Cold Palace.”
The Cold Palace?
Duoduo remembered her father saying that his informant had been transferred to the Cold Palace.
And this eunuch before her had actually come out of the Cold Palace.
Although he had only been transferred to the lowest-ranking department, the Directorate of Palace Affairs, there was clearly more to him than met the eye.
Seeing Duoduo deep in thought, the Empress Dowager waved her hand.
The personal matron straightened her back. “What are you waiting for? Get out of here! You’re only obstructing Your Majesties’ view!”
After saluting the Empress Dowager and Duoduo, the two eunuchs hurriedly withdrew.
Duoduo tugged at the Empress Dowager’s sleeve.
“Great-Grandmother, could you send someone to keep an eye on that thin eunuch?”
The Empress Dowager looked down at Duoduo in confusion.
“Why? Do you suspect that he’s up to no good?”
“Or do you think there’s something wrong with him?”
Duoduo had asked the eunuch several questions in succession just now. The Empress Dowager could not help wondering whether Duoduo had noticed something.
Duoduo shook her head.
“I just think that since the Directorate of Palace Affairs sent him to clean the courtyard…”
“Then they’ll probably send him here often from now on.”
“I want to give him some silver and see if he’ll help replace these withered plants.”
After hearing Duoduo’s explanation, the Empress Dowager smiled kindly.
“Why would you need to spend your own silver? Great-Grandmother will give the order. They can replace them later.”
Duoduo shook the Empress Dowager’s hand coquettishly.
“I just hope he’ll take good care of every plant here. These were all Grandmother’s favorites!”
Having lived in the palace for decades, the Empress Dowager naturally understood that those below often paid lip service to those above while doing as they pleased behind their backs.
Besides, the Emperor was not in the palace at the moment. Naturally, the servants would not take such matters too seriously.
There was nothing unreasonable about Duoduo’s arrangement.
“Fine! Great-Grandmother will do as you say.” The Empress Dowager ordered someone to follow the eunuch.
“Come, let’s go see the flowers the Empress has been raising!”
After recovering her spirits, the Empress Dowager finally felt in the mood for a stroll.
“Mm!” Duoduo glanced back at the place where the thin eunuch had disappeared.
When the eunuch had just prostrated himself in fear, Duoduo had noticed something unusual.
The little finger of his left hand was bent.
There was something familiar about it.
It seemed as though she had seen it somewhere before.
Duoduo thought for a while, and then suddenly remembered.
Her father had once shown her a portrait.
But wasn’t that person already dead?
With the eunuch’s head lowered, Duoduo had been unable to see his face clearly.
She had not dared to be certain.
That was why she had deliberately asked which palace he served in.
Sure enough, startled by the question, the eunuch had raised his head.
Duoduo had seen the small mole between his brows!
Although she had caught only the briefest glimpse, his appearance matched the person in the portrait from Duoduo’s memory perfectly.
There was no mistaking it!
Duoduo was utterly shocked.
That was also why she had not continued questioning him.
She could not afford to alert him.
Besides, she had to find out why someone who was supposed to be dead was still alive.
And why that person had been transferred from the Cold Palace to the Directorate of Palace Affairs.
Was it merely a coincidence?
Or had someone deliberately arranged it all behind the scenes?
Duoduo felt as though a thick fog lay before her, obscuring the truth.
But she firmly believed that as long as she could clear away the fog, the whole truth would eventually come to light!
A trace of excitement stirred in Duoduo’s heart.
From the corner of her eye, the Empress Dowager saw the excitement flash across Duoduo’s face.
Suspicion arose in her heart.
At her age, the ability to read people’s expressions was the foundation of her survival in the palace.
Naturally, she did not miss the changes in Duoduo’s expression.
However, with so many people around them, the Empress Dowager did not ask.
Duoduo and the Empress Dowager entered the rear courtyard. The dark-colored peonies had already withered, leaving behind only a patch of green leaves.
Duoduo carefully examined the flowerbed.
The soil had clearly been freshly turned, its rich, moist color exposed.
It seemed the eunuch had not been lying.
The Empress Dowager felt a little disappointed when she saw that there were no flowers.
But it would have been strange for peonies to still be blooming in autumn!
Seeing Duoduo bend over to inspect the flowerbed carefully, the Empress Dowager patted her gently.
“The Emperor gave the order personally. The people below wouldn’t dare neglect it.”
“Come, the weather is rather hot.”
Duoduo’s original purpose had only been to take the Empress Dowager out for a walk and help her get some fresh air.
When she heard the Empress Dowager call her, she obediently returned to her side.
The great-grandmother and great-granddaughter slowly made their way back.
As soon as they entered the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility, the Empress Dowager smelled the aroma of food.
Her stomach, which had not felt hungry in days, suddenly let out a loud rumble.
The matron following behind them heard it and immediately looked delighted.
“Your Majesty, are you hungry?”
“Shall I ask the Imperial Kitchen to prepare some of your favorite dishes?”
Duoduo tilted her head.
“Since Great-Grandmother is hungry, how can we make her wait?”
“There’s plenty of food prepared today. Why don’t you dine with me, Great-Grandmother?”
The Empress Dowager took Duoduo’s little hand.
At that moment, how could she fail to understand?
Duoduo had deliberately coaxed her into taking a walk to Kunning Palace.
The Empress Dowager deliberately put on a stern expression.
“Changle, what exactly was in that sugar pill of yours?”
“Why does my stomach hurt after I ate it?”
