Qiao Jing got off the carriage and looked up at the somewhat old and broken signboard, on which there were no extra decorations, only two simple words "Cold Palace", without even a hint of disguise.

  The women in the harem, when they entered the palace, were all filled with expectation and passion as they walked into these red walls. However, the harem was always able to teach them many things, perhaps things that they would never learn throughout their lives, uniquely within this harem.

  Qiao Jingyu did not have anyone come to "clear the scene" beforehand, so what she saw at this moment was the most real and ordinary Cold Palace. She walked through the gate guarded by the guards, stepped inside, and the splashed dust dirtied her treasure-patterned cloud-head brocade shoes, as if she didn't notice at all.

  Even with all the mental preparation beforehand, seeing it now still brings a sense of indescribable desolation and bleakness, yet without any hint of disgust. A glance around at the dilapidated buildings and tools, as well as some murmuring "lunatics", brought a flicker of expression.

  Qing Hui hastily raised her voice and said, "Where is Manager Mu?"

  Before long, a slightly hunchbacked and somewhat chubby mother emerged from the room next door, "Who's here?"

  Didn't dare to look at Shu Gui Fei's attire and the slaves crowding behind her, hastily put on a smiling face, and quickly ran over, "Old slave has seen you"

  "This is Shu Guifei," said Qing Xuan at the right moment.

  She smiled even more upon hearing this and knelt on the ground, "This old slave greets Consort Shu."

  "Get up," said Qiao Jingyu, who didn't want to entangle with her anymore. "Where's Shu Fei?"

  Even though the Shu Fei had been demoted to a commoner, they still referred to her as Shu Fei, either out of habit, nostalgia or affection, and only they themselves knew why.

  "Shu Fei" patted her forehead, "Look at my memory, Shu Fei was placed in the back, and I need to go get her to the front for Empress Shu."

  A single word "to play" is enough to illustrate Shu Fei's status here.

  Indeed, since she has already entered the Cold Palace, where did this virtuous imperial concubine come from?

  "No need, I'll go myself, just show me the way," Qiao Jingyu said with a frown.

  So she hesitated for a moment, "Niang niang, this..."

  "Dare," Qing Gui shouted sternly, "when it comes to the actions of Consort Shu, how can a mere slave like you intervene?"

  As soon as the words fell, the two eunuchs behind immediately stepped forward and pressed down on her, forcing her to kneel. She was startled and hastily said, "I dare not, I dare not, this old slave dares not, please forgive me, Noble Consort Shu."

  "Get up, I want to go and see Shu Fei myself. I hope you can make it convenient for me," Qiao Jingyu said, letting Qingxi hand over a purse.

  So she didn't dare to accept it, after several rounds of pushing and declining, she finally accepted it, but never dared to be as careless as before, nor did she care about the weight of her purse. "Old slave thanks you, Concubine Shu."

  She got up from the ground, respectfully pointed the way for her, and didn't dare to take the lead herself. After all, she had clearly heard what Consort Shu had just said about "personally".

  Qingyi supported Shu Guifei as they walked forward, her face unable to conceal its disdain. "Your Ladyship, how can people like this still be rewarded with silver? In my opinion, they should be sent directly to the Department of Punishments."

  Even at first sight, the attitude on her face made it clear that she didn't take them seriously, greedy and ruthless, one look was enough to know she wasn't a good person, and even working in this cold palace was a favor to her.

  Qiao Jing snorted, "Forget it, she's just an irrelevant servant, not worth your trouble," and then softened her tone, glancing around at the scattered abandoned concubines, "But after today, you won't see her again, whereas they still will."

  In this cold palace, the abandoned concubines are mostly not the women of the current emperor, but the remnants left over from past dynasties. Whether they truly committed a fault is unknown, but once they entered this cold palace, there was no day to leave again, whether dead or alive, and no one would really care.

  Every day, being with those who have already gone mad, it's hard not to go mad too. Perhaps going mad is the only way to live more comfortably, without knowing what anxiety is, living in one's own world is also a kind of liberation when alive.

  "The princess said this is a punishment for them," Qingxu asked somewhat puzzled.

  Qiao Jingyu shook her head, "What other punishment is there? Being sent to the Cold Palace is already the greatest punishment for them. What's left is to let nature take its course, no one wants to bother with it anymore."

  It's not punishment, but rather indifference. It depends on the character of the mother-in-law whether she is good or bad, and what kind of personality she has. Those who are not in the cold palace are completely indifferent to this matter, it has nothing to do with them.

  "You see, there's still something good about these people," said Qiao Jingyu, casually pointing to a few of them.

  Qing Hui glanced in the direction and indeed, most people's clothes were dirty and stained, making it impossible to see their original style or color. However, it was clear that the fabric was not expensive, nor was it rare. As for other things, let alone jewelry, even their hair didn't have any ornaments, mostly just scattered randomly.

  Logically speaking, even if she had entered the Cold Palace, it wouldn't have come to this point. After all, there was no such thing as confiscation in the palace; at most, they would just return the portion that didn't belong to them to the temple and reduce their expenses. All the concubines, more or less, had some savings, and under any circumstances, they wouldn't be reduced to this state of poverty.

  Qingyi had never been to this cold palace before, and was unfamiliar with the way of survival here. When she saw Shufei, she almost didn't recognize her.

  In just a few days, the Empress had aged by at least ten years, her face was dirty and disheveled, the clothes she wore were old and tattered, her once sleek hair was now scattered and unkempt, even with some dry grass clippings stuck to it, her eyes were dull and lifeless, and her entire being was in a state of utter despair that could not be described in words.

  Shu Gui Fei, however, was much calmer than her and ignored her advice, taking two steps forward and saying softly, "Princess Shu, I've come to see you."

  As she spoke, the small eunuch behind her brought forward the food box in his hand and took out two exquisite pastries. "These are your favorite golden cake rolls and sugar-steamed cream puffs, I've brought them for you."

  After a long time, the person standing there finally had some reaction, and slowly shifted their gaze to the food box. They carefully glanced at the few women, seemed to struggle for a moment, took a few steps forward, snatched the food box away, retreated a few steps, squatted on the ground, and without using chopsticks, directly used their hands to grab the food and stuff it into their mouth.

  Qiao Jing gave a signal with her eyes, "You all retreat first."

  "Qiang Qiang" Qing Hui somewhat disagreed and dissuaded her.

  "Get down," Qiao Jingyu slightly raised her voice, but it didn't bring any reaction from the person who was squatting on the ground eating.

  Qingyi couldn't help but know that dissuasion was futile, so she could only bring people to retreat a little, but stood far away, staring tightly at the movement here, afraid that something would happen.

  Qiao Jingyu waited until they retreated before speaking up, "Princess Shu, you don't have to pretend anymore."

  She didn't react at all, let out a cold laugh and said, "What's the point of pretending when there's no one else around? This isn't the first day I've known you, I know exactly what kind of person you are."

  Still no reaction, Qiao Jingyu didn't mind either. "How I treat you is how I think I can be free of guilt, but it turns out that after all these years, I'm not even as valuable as raising a dog."

  "That year, my child was gone, and your child didn't survive either. I thought we shared a common experience and a common enemy, so I accepted your overtures. All these years, I've treated you with the same kindness, never shortchanging you in the slightest. But how have you repaid me?"

  "This palace knows you hate this palace, but it's your own fault that you can't live. If you hadn't treated this palace like this, this palace wouldn't have been ruthless and wanted to destroy your entire family. But the result is also good, at least this palace didn't let the Shen family women become prostitutes and men become slaves. You should thank this palace instead."

  The figure crouching on the ground paused for a moment, then finally reacted. After a long while, Shen Ruyun suddenly turned around, her messy hair covering half of her eyes, and the remaining black pupils seemed to be staring menacingly. She stood up and took two steps forward, reducing the distance between them to just a few feet.

  "Qiao Jingyu, you dare to say such things, aren't you afraid of heavenly retribution? You've brought about the downfall of our imperial household and the destruction of the Shen family, causing hundreds of lives to be lost. All because of you, they've gone to meet King Yan in the underworld. Have you never had a nightmare that woke you up in the middle of the night?"

  Qiao Jing's lips curled up slightly with sarcasm, "Do you think I would be punished by heaven? You think I chose Shen because I wanted to, you think I have that much power, you think this is what I wanted?"

  Three consecutive "I thought" made Shen Ruyun take a step back, she wasn't stupid, on the contrary, she was quite clever, that's why she could be so arrogant in the harem for so many years, and how could someone who mixed to this position be an idiot.

  But she has now fallen to the point of being in a cold palace, which still shows that she is not clever, otherwise, how would she bury her remaining life in the cold palace?

  She had always known that the Emperor felt a twinge of guilt towards her, after all, it was his first child, and he had shown great joy at the time. However, fate did not go as planned, the child died young, she was heartbroken, but eventually became the Empress Shu, and she found some comfort in thinking that the child's life had been sacrificed for a greater purpose.

  It seems that this is just an attempt by the emperor to test her, and her performance has not passed. Therefore, she has no favor, no children, nothing at all. Whether Zhang Yang is good or bad, he doesn't care, and basically doesn't take it seriously. But she thought it was indulgence, a compensation.

  So today, she ended up like this, falling so badly, hurting so much.

  "You are not wronged, but this palace is indeed wronged."

  Palace Concubine (Yi Shu)

  Gong Shu