All gazes fell on Liu Zihe. Jiang Changbai narrowed her eyes, as if having guessed what they wanted to do; she feigned an expression of astonishment. "Oh? Where do these words of Liu-daren's come from?" Liu Zihe remained kneeling, his head lowered. Yet when he spoke, it was powerful and resonating. "Everyone knows that each member of the imperial family has a jade pendant from birth that can prove their identity; the jade's quality is particular, and others have no way of obtaining it. Though this minister comes from humble beginnings, I've had friendly relations with many princes, and so had the luck to see the jade pendants before, and therefore know whether they are genuine. And the Shizi happens to have such a jade pendant, which this minister determined to be genuine." Jiang Changbai scoffed coldly. "Is it real just because you said so? When did imperial blood become yours to determine! Take them all away!" The imperial guard was startled ...

Jiang Changbai hadn't imagined that this sigil was so powerful; her heart suddenly sank, but her face didn't show it, and she asked, "Then if it were your shifu, how much would it take to fill a piece of clothing with Hun Locking Sigils?" Qin Anhe pondered it for a bit, and then, biting her lip, said, "Shifu is a lot more powerful than I am, but she's far from that. To fill a piece of clothing with Hun Locking Sigils, it would take a month's time regardless, and that's for the past few years. Now she's grown old, and her might isn't what it was before, so it would probably have to be a bit slower." Jiang Changbai nodded, not speaking. The enigma in her mind was deep-rooted, but the closer she grew to it, the more she went to touch it, the larger that enigma grew. Right now, it was just the start of spring, and the anxious birds had already flown back. They hovered about the branches of the trees that had yet to put out new leaves, and b...

At the very same time, the atmosphere in Prince Yu's manor was quite oppressive. The head maid, Han Yu, who'd always followed at Yang Zhuofei's side, summoned up her courage to console her. "Wangfei-dianxia, why don't you first eat a little something?" Yang Zhuofei opened her eyes with great difficulty to glance at her, and waved a hand. "This princess don't have an appetite—have those that were sent out come back yet? What's the current situation at Honghailou?" Han Yu shook her head. "Only a few came back—they said that Honghailou's already closed now, and they couldn't see what was happening inside. But they heard some patrons coming out who said that first, the idol crumbled, and then it was burnt by fire, and the bit left over was shattered by Honghailou's staff, and it's already been taken away." "Alright, alright," Yang Zhuofei said, laughing coldly. "How truly courageous—this princess had assum...

Translator's note: You may have noticed the English title of this novel has been changed on this blog—after some deliberation, I decided the initial title I had been using wasn't as fitting as I had originally thought. It's still listed as "Seeking Immortality in Vain" on the Novel Updates page due to the complex process of editing a novel's title on the site, but from hereon out it'll be listed and tagged as "Begging the Heavens in Vain" on this blog. -  There were still many people before the statue, or perhaps what now ought to be called an idol. Come to speak of it, this idol's craftsmanship was quite fine; its hair was graceful, and its eyes were bright; it was truly vivid and lifelike. It was just that, though the artisan had, after the fact, made all efforts to hide it, using the countless decorations to conceal it, if one were to come close, one could see the faint signs of crumbling at the furthest extent of the sleeves. The artisan ...

Scholars weren't singularly focused on money as merchants were; what they sought was merit and fame, truly not caring about earning money. They sat in a circle, discussing this year's metropolitan civil service exams. "I asked about, and the number of women who passed the preliminary exams is nearly as many as those who succeeded in the provincial exams and are participating in the metropolitan civil service exams. Come on, isn't our fortune so poor that it was this year?" "Ah, who says it isn't? Four years ago I nearly passed the autumn exams; if not for the fact that the proctor that year and I had opposing political views, I wouldn't have had to wait until this year." "I really don't know what the Emperor is thinking, insisting on violating ancestral laws. With so many positions, the competition is naturally tenfold." "Ah, you're all great talents, you'll definitely pass the exams." As she sipped tea leisurely, ...

Jiang Changbai merely took it as Song Juguang being in jest, and didn't reply, lowering her head to flip through the memorials on the desk. Song Juguang, seeing Jiang Changbai hadn't replied, raised her brows and walked behind her, her fingers inexplicably landing on the spot between her shoulders and neck. Jiang Changbai, seeing Song Juguang had come over, didn't bat an eyelid, pulling out the other memorial, spreading it across the desktop. By the time she sensed a chill at her neck, what was spread on desk was once more the list of names that the Ministry of Appointments had sent. Song Juguang, seeing her motions, didn't say anything, rather saying, "Does Bixia have a headache over this? Out of this many people, there isn't a single one who's useful?" Jiang Changbai nodded somewhat stiffly. "Not a one of them has any major skills, but their relations aren't insignificant. Even if one of them were placed to be used, after a while, I'd s...

Someone passing on couldn't be counted to be any shocking news—just take the body away for burial, and no one would pay any more attention. It was the case even if she'd had an even rougher life story and had died on the day before the new year. Even Liang Jiwen didn't shed too many tears at Nanny Pei Yu's passing. The only thing that reflected the sentiment between the two of them, master and servant, was merely that Liang Jiwen had implored Jiang Changbai to erect a small tombstone for her in the outskirts of the city. But after that, the frequency of Liang Jiwen's seeking out Jiang Changbai grew distinctly higher. Before, though they'd both lived the Imperial Palace, the distance between them was that of a million li, and they almost never saw each other. Even if they did encounter each other, they'd merely stop and exchange greetings. But in the past few days, during the day when Jiang Changbai was working, Liang Jiwen always came to the imperial study. ...