Volume 1, Chapter 20: The Thief

After a grueling night of labor, Li Lan was finally permitted to enter the storeroom for a look. However, she was followed by five or six barbarians who watched her every move, never leaving her side. Despite her best efforts to shake them off, she was unable to isolate herself, and in the end, she had to hurriedly pick out a few pieces of jewelry and leave. The barbarian was clearly still guarding against her. Feeling deeply resentful, she secretly committed the location of the storeroom to memory.

On her way back, she ran into an ill-tempered Baoqin. Baoqin was surrounded by a crowd of women, who were chattering incessantly. "Tell me, Baoqin, aren't you the Queen? How could the Great King punish you like this?"

"Perhaps the Great King has had a change of heart? That Central Plains woman is just as beautiful as you, though she is bold and flamboyant while you are delicate and charming. Maybe the Great King prefers the charming type."

"Even if that Central Plains woman is beautiful, she is still just a person from the Central Plains. Our Great King will only marry a woman of the grasslands. But Baoqin, you have been with the Great King for so long, why hasn't the wedding taken place yet?"

At this, the curiosity of those around them was instantly piqued. Baoqin’s eyes darted about as she spun a lie with ease. "What do you know? The Great King says he is punishing me, but that is only for the eyes of outsiders like you. In private, he dotes on me excessively and cannot bear to lay a finger on me. As for the wedding, the Great King has long been making preparations. Such a grand wedding naturally takes time to plan. You just wait to drink to the joy of Keda and me."

She held her head high in arrogance, and the surrounding crowd, half-doubting, remained silent. Seeing their skepticism, Baoqin gritted her teeth in frustration. "Look at this—this is a piece from the betrothal gifts the Great King gave me," she said, shaking the beaded bracelet on her wrist before letting out a languid yawn. "Keda was so relentless last night that I’m completely exhausted. In the end, no matter how much I begged him not to finish inside, he insisted. Who knows, I might already be carrying his little cub in my belly."

The women surrounding her were instantly drawn to her stomach, vying to touch it to catch a bit of her good fortune. Li Lan recalled that the barbarian had returned very late last night; it turned out he had been with Baoqin. It was truly disgusting. She gagged and walked away, knowing that listening to any more would only make her feel sicker.

Baoqin’s gaze followed her. She had deliberately raised her voice for that final sentence, and seeing the "little slut" leave in a fit of rage made her feel immensely satisfied.

When Li Lan returned to the large tent, the servants had already prepared a meal. Even though the dishes were exquisite, she found them nauseating. Everything on this grassland made her want to retch. By the time the food had gone completely cold, she had not touched a single bite.

When the servants came to clear the trays, their eyes lit up; the leftovers were enough to feed them for several meals. Li Lan watched them clear the table, her beautiful brows furrowing. She had never examined this table closely before, but now, upon careful inspection, she realized that the grain on its surface was extremely peculiar. The grassland people were generally bold and unconcerned with minor details, yet this table was crafted with such exquisite precision that even the master artisans of the Imperial Palace might not be able to replicate it.

The more she looked, the stranger it seemed. The barbarian had confiscated all the knives and scissors in the tent, so Li Lan had to pull out her hairpin to quietly pry at the tablecloth in the center of the table.

*Click.*

The sound of a mechanism triggering echoed without warning. Li Lan’s eyes lit up—the Imperial Seal was hidden here! But immediately after, three silver needles shot out from beneath the cloth, leaving three tiny holes. Li Lan was startled and scrambled back; fortunately, her hairpin was blunt, and she hadn’t fully cut through the cloth, or the needles would have pierced her eyes. This only confirmed her suspicion: the barbarian had set up these traps to guard the spot because the Imperial Seal was definitely hidden there.

She took a deep breath, gripped her hairpin, and prepared to finish cutting the cloth. Suddenly, Baoqin’s voice sounded from the doorway. "Sister Lan, please tell the guards that I have a treasure I wish to present to you in person."

Li Lan’s taut nerves were snapped, and her face filled with impatience. Yet, because the woman was the Queen, she could not ignore her. She suspected that one of these two sisters had been the one to set the fire earlier, but she wasn't sure which one, so she could not afford to burn bridges with Baoqin. Covering the table with random items, she invited her in.

Baoqin walked in with a leisurely gait, casting a subtle glance at the table before smiling and taking Li Lan’s hand. "Sister Lan, the Great King truly dotes on you. This council tent was once a highly classified place where no one was allowed to enter or leave, yet the Great King has allowed you to stay here. It shows just how much he trusts you."

Li Lan despised such duplicity, but she had to play along. "The one the Great King loves most is you, my Queen," she replied. Baoqin laughed aloud, clearly pleased by the title.

"The Great King went to my family to propose not long ago, bringing dozens of chests of betrothal gifts. I looked through them all, and while I liked them, there was one thing I found strange. It doesn't look like something from our grasslands, but rather from your Central Plains. You are well-traveled, Sister, could you take a look for me?" As she spoke, she produced a brocade box.

Li Lan looked up and froze. Inside the box lay a piece of jade, carved entirely with dragon motifs. Was this not the Imperial Seal of the Great Yong Dynasty?

"Something... something seal... I don't recognize these characters. Sister Lan, look, is this something from your Central Plains?" Baoqin handed the heavy object to her. Li Lan took it with both hands, her mind buzzing. The seal she had been searching for so desperately had just been handed to her for no reason?

Baoqin continued, "The Great King brings me anything good he finds; my home is already overflowing. This thing is large and takes up space, and I truly don't know what use it has. Since you are from the Central Plains, I’ll just give it to you."

Li Lan felt dizzy from this sudden stroke of good fortune. She couldn't believe such a pie had fallen from the sky, yet here it was, right before her. At the same time, Gesa arrived with the joyous news that the Crown Prince, who had been unconscious for so long, had finally awakened.

Li Lan stood there, clutching the seal in disbelief. Two momentous pieces of good news had fallen upon her at once; she wept with excitement. The seal was in her hands, and the Crown Prince had awakened; the imperial guards who would rescue them were stationed right there on the grasslands. They were finally saved.

That night, Keda still had not returned. Li Lan bypassed the crowd and quietly headed toward Gesa’s medical tent. She had to find the Crown Prince; as a prince, he would certainly be able to verify the authenticity of the seal. However, before she could reach him, she was apprehended by several tall barbarian soldiers, and the seal hidden in her robes clattered to the ground.

"Report to the Great King at once—the thief has been caught!"

Li Lan was bewildered, desperately trying to explain that she was no thief, but no one listened. As the burly barbarians grabbed her, she bent down in a struggle to retrieve the seal, only to be struck across the face without mercy. Salty tears streaked her swollen cheek, stinging with pain. Baozhu emerged from the bushes, picked up the seal, and crossed her arms, sneering down at her. "The mechanism was triggered, and the stolen property was found on your person. What else do you have to say for yourself, you thief!"