(Narrator's pov)
Staring at the portrait only made the memories more vivid and painful, so Jia Le went over to his bed. It was getting late, so he decided that it was time for bed.
(BaiLing's pov)
When I woke up, it was around three in the morning. I got out of bed and went to wash my face. I then went over to my closet to get my clothes. I put on a simple dress before going over to the kitchen to see if breakfast was ready.
I headed to the dining room after checking on the breakfast. My father and brother were already there, and they were all dressed and ready for work.
Me: "Dad, ge, morning."
Dad and brother: "Morning."
I sat down at the table with them, and we waited for the food to come.
As we were eating breakfast, butler Su came in.
Butler Su: "My lord, someone from the ninth prince's mansion is here."
Dad: "Let him in."
Butler Su went to go get the guy, and when he came back, a young man was following in behind him.
The young man bowed and greeted my family and me before saying.
"My lord, my master has a letter that he wishes to give to the lady."
Me: "For me?"
I didn't expect a letter to come to me from him.
The young man nodded and handed me the letter. It took me a little while to realize that this young man was Ling Chen, the ninth prince's close aid. If something important needed to be done, you could always find Ling Chen out doing it for the ninth prince.
Ling Chen: "My master asked that, if you can, please give him an answer as soon as possible."
I opened the letter to see what was inside.
Letter: "Lady Ming, my mother wishes to meet you. If it is possible, would you mind accompanying me into the palace tomorrow to greet my mother? If it is possible, I shall pick you up at ten. Ming Yeu Hwa."
I looked up from the letter, and my brother asked me what was in the letter's content.
Me: "The ninth prince asked me to go with him into the palace tomorrow to greet his mother."
I then looked over to Ling Chen and told him.
"Tell your master that I will accompany him tomorrow. Also, give this letter back to him."
At first, he seemed hesitant, but he then took the letter and left.
Brother: "Why does he want you to accompany him to see his mother?"
Me: "He says his mother wants to meet me."
My brother sat there in silence for a bit, then he suddenly said.
"Isn't his mother, royal consort Lin? The one who refuses the see the emperor?"
My father nodded his head and said.
"Because the emperor hid his identity from consort Lin, she got mad and refused to see him. She won't let him into her palace no matter what he does. Aside from the empress, she is the next person who has the most power."
(There is usually only one Royal Consort within the palace, and she holds the second most influence after the empress.)
Brother: "What about the empress dowager?"
Dad: "There's no need to talk about her. Within the harem, she has the most say, though she doesn't like to get involved with the fighting. She mostly stays in her palace."
The empress dowager was a royal consort once. She never rose to the position of empress, but she wasn't greedy for it either. She did her best to raise her son in the cruel palace. The empress dowager was a very kind-hearted person. Her teachings stuck with the emperor well, the sixth prince back then. When the emperor was chosen to be the crown prince back then, some were surprised while others weren't. The empress dowager was known to be beautiful and kind, making her very favored by the late emperor.
Brother: "I heard that she was also from a general's family. I wonder how she is."
Me: "I'm sure she won't be much different from us. We're all of a general family anyways."
My brother nodded his head, and we continued breakfast. Once they finished their food, my father and brother left for work, and I headed back to my room to get changed for work.
After changing into my uniform, I headed out to the horse stable through a secret passage in my room. When I got out to the stables, I went over to Bai Yao. The moment he saw me, he started making a ton of noises, waking up all the horses in the process.
Me: "Bai Yao! Shhhhh. Stop making so much noise. If anyone heard, they would think that I'm abusing you."
Bai Yao: "neighhh."
Although he refused to stop causing a ruckus, he did become quieter.
I took him out of his area and stalled him up. Once I was done, I hopped on and headed out for work.
Instead of going to work from the front of the mansion, I head out through a secret path from the back of the house.
Over the years, the Ming mansion continued to change, as we were rewarded with bigger land. However, the land is always surrounded by the woods, making it easier to build different paths, and there were tons of hidden mechanisms in the house.
After riding for 20 minutes, I arrived at the barracks. Although it was close to where the imperial soldiers trained, not just anyone could enter this area. There was a special pass that all the soldiers needed to enter, and even I had one. Once the guards checked my pass, I headed inside and put Bai Yao away.
I went into my tent/office, only to see a huge stack of paperwork piled on my desk. I hung my sword up on the wall and took my mask off before sitting down to deal with the work that needed to be taken care of.
30 minutes into working, someone came up to my tent and said.
"General, may I come in?"
Just from listening to the voice, I knew who it was.
Me: "Come in."
The tent's flap was pulled back, and in came Zhi Xuan.
(Zhi Xuan is the vice commander of the Ghost Army. His father was once part of the imperial army but has now moved over to be the minister of war. Despite his father's disapproval to join the army, he did anyway. Zhi Xuan came to BaiLing six years ago and begged her to take him in. Seeing how determined he was, she allowed him to join, but he had to keep everything a secret. He trained hard alongside the other soldiers, and within 4 years, he rose to the position of vice commander. BaiLing is the commander of the Ghost Army. However, she hates being called commander, so everyone calls her general.)
Once he came in, he greeted me.
Me: "What's up?"
Zhi Xuan: "Nothing, I just came to see how you were doing? I heard about what happened with the fifth prince. Are you alright?"
Me: "Has the news already spread that fast?"
Zhi Xuan nodded his head.
Me: "(sigh)... Yeah, I'm fine. It was troublesome to take care of everything, but in the end, it went the way it was supposed to go."
Zhi Xuan: "That's good to hear."
Zhi Xuan stood there in silence, just staring at my desk.
Me: "What are you staring at?"
He snapped back to reality and asked.
"Did you really finish all of that paperwork within 30 minutes?"
As I nodded my head, he shook his head. It had been six years since he had come to me, yet he still wasn't used to how fast I could get things done.
He scratched the back of his head and said.
"I don't get how you can get through those files so fast. If it were me, I would have taken at least two hours."
Me: "No wonder there are so many files left for me to do."
Zhi Xuan's face started to turn pink from embarrassment. I laughed at the sight of him acting like a kid.
Me: "Don't worry about it. It's not your job to do this anyway. I'm glad that you could help me out when I was away, though."
His cheeks became even pinker, starting to turn red.
Zhi Xuan: "I'm glad that you think that way, but it is part of my job to help you with paperwork."
I smiled at his thoughtfulness. Zhi Xuan was a year older than me, but he acted as though he was younger at times.
Me: "By the way, I won't be here again tomorrow. If you need anything, let Bai Yang know, and I should be back by tomorrow or the day after."
Zhi Xuan: "Alright. Well then, I'll leave you to work, and I'm going to go check on the soldiers."
I nodded my head, and he left. I went back to work afterward since only a couple of files were left to go through.
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