"..."

"Other people’s suffering is suffering all the same."

"..."

"Besides, this time, though she set things in motion, she is actually innocent. Yet in the end, she is the one bearing all the consequences. How could I be harsh with her on top of that? If I did, it would truly make things impossible between us."

Tushere muttered, "This maid only cares about you, not about anyone else."

Shang Ruyi shook her head with a smile and said, "I know you feel sorry for me and have only me in your heart. But you must understand, the world doesn’t revolve around just you, and it certainly doesn’t revolve around just me."

"..."

"Other people’s joys and sorrows, their hardships and bitterness, are just as real."

"..."

"Those far beyond reach I truly cannot help; but those right before my eyes, if I can show consideration, I naturally will."

At this point, her gaze cooled a few degrees as she said, "All the more so because this time Yu Mingyue devised this scheme against us very likely thinking that the two of us are the kind of narrow-minded, extreme women who only know how to pull each other’s hair. If we really acted like that, we would not only be playing into her hands, but also lowering ourselves."

"..."

"You too must break this bad habit, do you understand?"

Tushere pouted. "Oh."

After speaking, she noticed that Shang Ruyi was a bit hungry. It was still early for the main meal, and Yu Wenye had not yet returned; Shang Ruyi would definitely refuse to eat alone. So Tushere went to fetch some pastries and set them before Shang Ruyi, then said softly, "Actually, this maid wasn’t trying to pick on Lady Chu in particular."

Shang Ruyi looked up at her. "Hm?"

Tushere said, "It’s just that, once she became the concubine, she was bound to wedge herself between the Princess and King Qin. In this maid’s heart there is always, always the feeling that—"

As she spoke, she lowered her voice and muttered, "It would have been so much better if she had married someone else. That would do no harm to the Princess, and it would be good for her as well."

Shang Ruyi smiled, picked up a piece of hundred-flower cake and took a bite. Though it used pickled petals, mixed with lard and nuts fried into a filling, with fragrance spilling over, compared to the few pieces of sweet-and-tart, tempting hawthorn cakes that had been sent from Jinyu Garden that day, it still fell a little short. So she put it back on the plate, took a sip of tea, and then said, "You know, on the night of the victory banquet, that Yu Mingyue said many things to me. Looking back now, most of it was nonsense, but there was one sentence I remember very clearly."

Tushere asked, "What was it?"

Shang Ruyi said, "She said that there are many things a woman can do; she need not necessarily marry."

Tushere’s gaze flickered. "Then—"

Shang Ruyi smiled and said, "You’ve seen how Lady Chu usually keeps herself shut away inside Jinyu Garden, never stepping out. Unless Prince Qin goes over, she never once takes the initiative to seek him out. Does that look, to you, like someone who is truly ’married’?"

Hearing this, Tushere actually hesitated.

Ever since Chu Ruoyan had been canonized as Prince Qin’s Concubine, she had always treated her as an enemy. Of course, the other party was not polite to her either, so their words to each other were always icy, and they rarely interacted. But when all was said and done, Yu Wenye’s heart lay solely with Shang Ruyi, and that Lady Chu truly had never stirred up any trouble to vie for Yu Wenye’s favor.

She was excessively quiet.

Shang Ruyi said, "In truth, she is fulfilling her duty as a daughter and as an elder sister." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

At the words "as a daughter, as an elder sister," Tushere’s eyes suddenly flickered; she immediately understood something and said, "She—she is using her presence here to shield Empress Dowager Jiang and the deposed emperor in Yanchun Palace?"

Shang Ruyi nodded.

She let out a soft sigh and said, "Empress Dowager Jiang has always tried to draw me in and treat me well. Apart from the fact that she is by nature kind-hearted, it is also because she hoped her daughter would not, after suffering the fall of a nation and destruction of her home, still have to accompany her and the deposed emperor, shut away in Yanchun Palace. Ancient Buddha and pale lamp hasten one’s aging and consume one’s life."

"..."

"And Lady Chu, willingly lowering herself to be a concubine yet keeping strictly to Jinyu Garden, is likewise for the sake of protecting her own mother and younger brother."

"..."

"I just said that a woman has other things she can do and need not necessarily marry. Lady Chu’s abilities are limited, yet she, too, is doing what lies within her power—only she uses ’marriage’ as the means."

"..."

"They are all sacrificing themselves for one another."

At this, a nameless sourness welled up even more strongly in Shang Ruyi’s heart. It was not only for Chu Ruoyan’s sake. After hearing Yu Mingyue’s words, she had come to realize that she herself, along with all the other women of today—even those born to eminent families, who enjoyed all the splendor and wealth—still lived in an environment that seemed peaceful on the surface yet was, in truth, unfair. And such unfairness was something that, relying on people like them as they were now, would be very hard to break.