Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Fortunately, Rong Chen was capable. He rose through the ranks quickly, and his monthly stipend increased too.

But in the end, I never got him back.

Because he gained a “sworn brother”-a time-traveling woman disguised as a man named Liu Ruyan.

Liu Ruyan knew all sorts of training methods, along with countless skills for making weapons and devising tactics.

She and Rong Chen hit it off the moment they met. Through battle after battle, the two became close friends.

I lived at the border for three years. I waited for him for three years.

At last, he took command of the army.

The emperor fell gravely ill, and Rong Chen led his troops back to the capital, reclaiming his position as Crown Prince.

But he no longer saw me.

His eyes and his heart held only Liu Ruyan.

And I was still just a maid!

Who would believe that?

At most, my monthly stipend had gone up a little.

And I even had to serve Liu Ruyan after she became Empress.

That wretched woman stole both my love and my place as Empress, so I framed her every single day.

In the end, Rong Chen was deeply disappointed in me and ordered me to die.
When I woke from the dream, I was drenched in sweat.

Everything in the dream had felt too real.

The poverty, the taste of those wild vegetables, and the sound of my own heart shattering when Rong Chen looked at Liu Ruyan with eyes full of love-it had all been too real.

Who could possibly imagine the agony of painstakingly raising a fine cabbage, only to have it snatched up by someone else’s pig, without even getting a single leaf back?

For the next few days, I wandered around in a daze.

Until one of the palace servants said Rong Chen had been reprimanded by the emperor again.

My heart stirred.

Could everything in the dream have been real?

In the dream, before Rong Chen was deposed, the emperor had scolded him first.

Nothing ever happened without warning signs.

I sank into thought.

The next day, I took the rewards, gold, silver, and jewelry I had saved over the years and bought a house in the north of the city.

It wasn’t large, just a two-courtyard residence.

But buying it couldn’t be a loss.

If the Crown Prince wasn’t deposed in the future, then I would have my own house.

If he was deposed, that would prove my dream was real. In that case, I certainly wasn’t going to follow him and suffer hardship.

I would enjoy my good life on my own.

Luckily, as his personal maid, my monthly stipend was quite high, and I had received many rewards over the years.
For the next while, my main task was making money.

There were plenty of ways to make money in the Eastern Palace.

As the Crown Prince’s personal maid, I held the keys to the storeroom.

Whenever the Crown Prince asked me to fetch something, I would casually grab a few pieces of gold and stuff them into my pocket.

There was more gold than anything else in the storeroom, so it looked the least valuable.

But outside, gold was very valuable indeed.

In just one short month, I already owned a house in the north of the city, as well as an estate in the countryside.

The estate had several hundred mu of farmland, all rented out to farmers. I could collect rent every year, so food would no longer be a problem.

There were also orchards and fishponds on the estate.

Owning these things made me far happier than spending every day wondering whether Rong Chen loved me or not.

I had truly been too stupid before.

As the Crown Prince’s personal maid, I had somehow managed to be dirt poor.

A fool like me losing to Liu Ruyan in the dream was only what I deserved.

Before long, an imperial edict came down: the Crown Prince was deposed, and all servants of the Eastern Palace were to disperse and return home on their own.

Everyone leaving would be searched, and they were only allowed to take their own clothes.