Yan Xu was on duty today. He reached the imperial study shortly after receiving the summons. As soon as he was led inside by Eunuch Lian, he saw Emperor Jingren furiously hurl the outcome of the Embroidered Guard’s earlier investigation into his face.

“A dozen imperial bodyguards couldn’t stop a palace maid without the strength to truss a chicken. If the woman were a skilled martial artist, that would be one thing. But the Embroidered Guard have determined twice that she doesn’t have a trace of martial skills, so it would seem our bodyguards cannot even stop an ordinary maid. Is this how you do your job, commander of the Imperial Guard?”

Emperor Jingren was enraged. This whole thing had been peculiar all along, and now that he thought about it, it was hard to resist being afraid. A palace maid had found her way so easily into the imperial presence—were his bodyguards all made of paper? If the whole Imperial Guard was like those dozen men, couldn’t you say that the imperial palace, thought to be so well-guarded, was actually like a public street in the capital, where anyone could wander through at will?

Emperor Jingren couldn’t just leave it at that, but no matter how he investigated that palace maid and those dozen guards, he couldn’t find a single trace of anything. He might have put it down to pure coincidence, but wouldn’t such a coincidence lose him the realm if it happened again?

Yan Xu went down on both knees. Looking at the information contained in the report, he couldn’t help smiling bitterly. He plastered his head to the ground and responded, “Your Majesty, it really was…just a coincidence.”

Here’s what seemed to have happened: when Su Huailing had run toward the emperor, the first guard was just about to stop her, but her foot slipped, and she fell down, rolling past the first guard’s feet. The second guard ran over to stop Su Huailing, but as he ran, he inadvertently kicked Su Huailing, who had rolled over to him. The kick was perfect: not only did it not hurt Su Huailing, it came to her aid; she rolled past all the guards and a handful of eunuchs to arrive at Emperor Jingren’s feet.

Actually, Su Huailing had also been slightly injured by all this rolling around, but she had persevered, forcing herself to get up, then struggling to kneel before Emperor Jingren. But because she was having trouble moving, to everyone else it seemed that she was going to throw herself at him. The guards behind her couldn’t reach her in time, so one guard skilled in the use of concealed weapons had thrown the rock that had been in his hand at her back. Su Huailing had meant to kneel, but when she was struck by the rock, she pitched forward in spite of herself.

In the heat of the moment, that guard had used his internal force. When the rock hit Su Huailing, it threw her against Emperor Jingren. And it was the force of the rock that had knocked Emperor Jingren to the ground.

By even greater confidence, Emperor Jingren had just happened to be standing by the steps, so when he fell, he just happened to hit his head on a hard edge, and the part of his head he hit just happened to be the most fragile. So, with all these people protecting him, he had still been seriously injured.

Su Huailing, by contrast, had fallen, but her fall hadn’t been very bad. She had been kicked, but she had rolled away from the kick, so hardly any of the force remained. The rock ought to have ripped apart her internal organs, but she collided with Emperor Jingren, and his fall dispersed most of the stone’s internal force, leaving a crack in the paving stones; it was clear how much internal force had been channeled into that rock. But none of that internal force reached Su Huailing. Part of it had been expelled onto Emperor Jingren, and most of the rest had been absorbed by the ground.

Finally, Emperor Jingren’s head had been badly wounded, and he had fallen unconscious. Su Huailing, meanwhile, had only a few scrapes from rolling around; she had sustained no other injuries.

Emperor Jingren was beside himself.

He simply couldn’t believe in a preposterous outcome like this!

But Yan Xu knelt before him and swore on his own head that it was the truth.

“I think that this Su Huailing…was perhaps gifted with preternaturally good fortune at birth. Because of his connection to the investigation, that eunuch she wanted to help has been detained instead of being beaten to death…” Yan Xu struggled to explain to Emperor Jingren.

“You mean,” said Emperor Jingren, “that Su Huailing encountered obstruction yet succeeded in her goal because her fortune is very good, while we were injured in the safest possible place…because our fortune is very bad?”

“I would not dare to say such a thing!” Yan Xu cried out, slamming his head against the ground. “But my subordinates and I investigated for several days and nights without rest, and no matter what, this was the only outcome we could find. Your Majesty, once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!”

When Eunuch Lian heard these words, his face spasmed. He looked at Yan Xu kneeling on the floor and almost indiscernibly pulled down the skin at the corners of his mouth. Then Eunuch Lian glanced at Emperor Jingren out of the corner of his eye; seeing that he had absolutely no reaction to these words, he bowed his head, reassured.

Emperor Jingren didn’t speak, only looked coldly at the kneeling Yan Xu. Since entering, Yan Xu had kept his head down. Emperor Jingren had yet to see Yan Xu’s face. Nor had he seen his expression.

Sometimes you had to observe a person’s expression to know whether he was telling the truth.

“Rise,” Emperor Jingren said in a milder tone, as if he had accepted the explanation.

Yan Xu rose. His tensed muscles visibly relaxed.

“It’s one thing for a person to have a moment of good fortune, and another for them to live a charmed life,” Emperor Jingren said. “Which sort do you think Su Huailing is? Lift your head, look into our eyes when you speak.”

“I believe she is…the latter.” Yan Xu’s head was raised, and he spoke with some hesitation. From his expression, it was clear that he was thoroughly convinced of Su Huailing’s incredible good fortune. The look in his eyes was certain, with unshakeable conviction in what he was saying.

“Oh?” Emperor Jingren raised his eyebrows. “How can you be so certain?”

“Well…” After a pause for thought, Yan Xu said, “While investigating Su Huailing’s background, the Embroidered Guard discovered many things unknown to anyone else. We learned that while this woman frequently finds herself in danger, she is always able to avert disaster. Sometimes it is the result of the circumstances, and sometimes it is as incredible as in this instance. An ordinary person who had experienced what she has would have been dead a thousand times over, yet she remains unscathed. It can only be put down to good fortune.”

Seeing the confidence that filled his upright face, Emperor Jingren couldn’t help considering the possibility.

If the truth was what Yan Xu said, then for the moment he couldn’t harm Su Huailing. If a person with such good fortune truly did exist, there were many ways that an emperor might use her.

Emperor Jingren was a pure emperor. He had few ambitions of his own and was devoted heart and soul to the good of the nation. A selfish emperor might have appeared more lenient, but this lenience would do the nation and the people no good. An emperor with no selfish desires, however, with nothing on his mind but the realm, was good for the people, but would seem too unfeeling to those in the harem.

He would turn away coldly from the bewitching charms of all the consorts; no woman, however great her beauty, however magnificent her talents, would be able to receive special favor from him. This was precisely the case with Emperor Jingren’s harem; leaving aside the empress, none of the other consorts merited his close attention.

Some emperors might have been curious, and on hearing of Su Huailing’s peculiar nature, would perhaps have used cruel measures to test her luck, to see whether Su Huailing was truly so miraculous; others, meanwhile, would have summoned her into their presence and, upon finding that she truly had no unlawful intentions, would have pardoned her.

But Emperor Jingren wasn’t like that. His first thought was of how to test her, and his second was of how to use her.

“Since the incident truly had nothing to do with this palace maid and was only a series of coincidences, there is no further need to detain her in the imperial prison,” said Emperor Jingren. “But she still disobeyed palace regulations. Therefore, send her…and that eunuch on whose behalf she wished to beg for clemency to the cold palace together, and reduce all their allowances by half.”

The cold palace was the most dreadful place in the whole palace.

In the palace, even the Laundry Department, which was worked to the bone, might obtain some benefits. In the cold palace, however, not only was there no leaving, the constant danger of losing your life loomed.

There resided consorts, concubines, and palace staff who had made mistakes. Their allowances were subject to embezzlement by each office and every department. The people in the cold palace might go months without eating a hot meal, and years without any new clothes to wear. Most dreadful of all, people often went missing there; it might be a maid or a eunuch, or it might be a consort or concubine who had lost her position. Those who disappeared might be found as corpses down dry wells, while some might never again see the light of day.

The cold palace was the easiest place to see how good Su Huailing’s luck was.

“Send two people to watch Su Huailing and report on everything that happens to her, whether great or small. But they must not interfere. If she dies, never mind. They only need to watch.” This was the cold-blooded order that Emperor Jingren gave Yan Xu.