She and Flower Butterfly found the largest inn in the imperial city and checked in. When they had nothing to do, they would go to the teahouse to have tea and find out what major events had happened in the imperial city recently. After all, she was also afraid that something unexpected had happened in the imperial city again. If she entered the palace alone, she might just jump into a den of wolves.
Thankfully, people were only talking about the queen; there was nothing else.
By now, Ji Feiyu had already let Flower Butterfly disguise her as an ordinary - looking person. Otherwise, if she was spotted by the enemy's informants in the imperial city, she might be arrested before even entering the palace.
Flower Butterfly continued to gather information in the teahouse, while Ji Feiyu took the letter she had written in the inn earlier and went to a side gate of the palace.
Why the side gate? Because she and Flower Butterfly had previously tried to enter the palace directly with the imperial commissioner's token but found it didn't work. The guards said that imperial commissioners were external officials, and they could only enter the palace if summoned by the emperor. If they were officials in the capital, they should show their identity badges.
The identity badges of capital officials clearly stated personal information and positions. It was impossible for them to obtain such badges, so they gave up this way of entering the palace and looked for another method.
This was a critical period. If she wanted to enter the palace, she had to start with the people closest to Yong Yaxuan. As far as Ji Feiyu knew, the most reliable person who could freely enter and exit the palace was the head eunuch of the internal affairs, Eunuch Li, who had served Yong Yaxuan for many years.
So Ji Feiyu waited outside the side gate. When a group of palace maids who had gone out to replenish palace supplies returned, she stepped forward and stopped the eunuch in charge who was walking at the end. This was a place where the guards couldn't see.
"Excuse me, sir. Please wait a moment."
Ji Feiyu's sudden appearance might have startled the eunuch. He glared at her fiercely and said in a shrill and disdainful voice, "What are you doing here? Don't you know this is a forbidden area of the palace? Idlers are not allowed to approach!"
Ji Feiyu stepped forward with a beaming smile and stuffed ten taels of silver into his hand. The eunuch's eyes widened immediately. He coughed twice, then took the silver from her hand and hid it in his sleeve. Blinking his eyes as if nothing had happened, he said, "Just say what you want. I still have to go back into the palace to report!"
Ji Feiyu took out the envelope and handed it to him, whispering, "This is for your head eunuch of internal affairs, Eunuch Li. Please tell him that there's someone waiting for him outside. Ask him to come out immediately after reading this letter. I don't care how you find him, but I can tell you that if you get this done, I'll give you another one hundred taels as a reward."
The eunuch looked at Ji Feiyu in disbelief and held up a finger, saying, "One hundred taels? Are you serious?"
Ji Feiyu took out a one - hundred - tael silver note from her sleeve, waved it, and smiled at him. "I won't deceive you. But you must be quick. I'll be waiting outside now."
Hearing this, the eunuch stared at the silver note and licked his lips. He immediately put on a smiling face and said, "Okay, I'll go and do it right away."
Ji Feiyu nodded, took a step back, and stood near the palace gate waiting. The eunuch immediately stepped through the palace gate and quickened his pace.
Ji Feiyu knew that to bribe eunuchs, silver was enough. Since they had been deprived of certain desires, their desires for money and power would be even greater.
...
Not long after, Eunuch Li rushed out with the letter and a bag in his hand. When he saw Ji Feiyu, he was slightly stunned. Ji Feiyu just gave him a faint smile and said, "Eunuch Li, long time no see."
Hearing this voice, Eunuch Li was sure it was the queen. But there was still the young eunuch who had informed him beside him, so he didn't acknowledge her. Instead, he simply replied, "Yes, long time no see." Then he walked straight to the corner where Ji Feiyu was standing. This corner was exactly out of the guards' sight.
Ji Feiyu just smiled without saying a word. She waved to the eunuch who had delivered the message and said, "This is your one hundred taels. Take it and go in. I have some private matters to discuss with Eunuch Li."
The eunuch took the money and immediately beamed with joy. Bowing and scraping, he took the money and went inside.
Seeing that there was no one around, Eunuch Li was about to kneel down at once. His voice trembled as he said, "This old servant... pays respects to the queen."
But Ji Feiyu quickly reached out to support him. With a faint smile, she said, "I didn't expect you to still recognize me and believe that I'm still alive and dare to come out to see me."
Eunuch Li hurriedly stood up straight and said, "This old servant will never mistake the way the queen signs her name. It's just that the servants have missed the queen so much during these long days when the queen didn't return!"
Ji Feiyu couldn't help but mock herself and said, "Why should you worry about someone who has been sent to the cold palace?"
Eunuch Li shook his head. "Your Majesty will always be our queen. We've been waiting for the queen to come back every day, but unexpectedly... such a piece of news spread..." His voice became softer and softer.
Ji Feiyu laughed. "Alright, do you have a way to let me enter the palace now?"
Eunuch Li nodded and took out a set of eunuch clothes and a token. "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Your Majesty..."
She had worn eunuch clothes before, but it had been a while. She couldn't help but smile, then found a place to change into the clothes and followed him into the palace.
Walking back and forth in the long palace alleys made Ji Feiyu seem to return to the past. Looking at these familiar sceneries, she couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Eunuch Li led Ji Feiyu all the way to the imperial study. Because at this time every day, Yong Yaxuan would be discussing state affairs with his ministers here.
Since she was following Eunuch Li, almost no one dared to stop them along the way. When they reached the imperial study, Eunuch Li said, "Your Majesty's discussion is not over yet. Your Majesty, why don't you go back to Qiwu Palace first?"
Ji Feiyu said, "No need. I'll just wait here at the door."
The reason why Ji Feiyu didn't ask Eunuch Li to inform Yong Yaxuan and let Yong Yaxuan welcome her in directly was, firstly, that she was afraid that he was too busy with government affairs to pay attention to her; secondly, that she was afraid of making too much noise and alerting the enemy; thirdly, that she wanted to see what his life was like when she was not around.
Inside the imperial study, Yong Yaxuan was sitting upright on the purple - dragon sandalwood wide chair. In front of him was an ancient wooden desk. Besides scrolls and memorials, there was also a gilded dragon - carved hollow incense burner on the table. There was a piece of agarwood burning in the burner at the moment.
The minister opposite him was talking eloquently, but he seemed impatient. He said indifferently, "That's enough. I don't want to hear any more."
Although his voice wasn't very loud, it made Ji Feiyu outside the door feel a bit startled. This must be his attitude when discussing state affairs, with the majesty of an emperor, completely different from when he met her. Ji Feiyu hadn't seen him for only about a month, but when she suddenly heard his voice at this moment, she realized that he could be so close to her, yet so far away.
At this time, an anxious voice came from inside. "Your Majesty! This matter is really extraordinary. If we don't send troops to punish the Northern Cold, how can we quell the anger of the whole country?"
Immediately afterwards, an old man's voice came. "General Pei, what you said is not right. Those who know you think you're concerned about the country, but those who don't might think you just want to make meritorious deeds for yourself."
It seemed that the situation was very tense.