13. In this field, I am invincible.

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The warm breeze of late spring and early summer seemed to have blown into the Eternal Alley overnight, borne along with the young and beautiful palace candidates.

In the afternoon sunlight, before the rockery covered in moss at Fragrant Plucking Garden, peonies from the Eastern Capital tangled together in luxuriant profusion with magnificent牡丹. At the slightest stir of wind, the yellow roses beside them rippled like waves, while even the lilacs wound their way across the ground in a sprawling carpet.

Yet amid all that tender green, delicate yellow, pale violet, and soft pink liveliness, the two women behind the rockery had no mind to admire the scenery.

“Pan Yulian!”

Pan Wenjun, usually the very model of refined dignity and reserved aristocratic grace, had finally lost her composure.

At lunch that day, Pan Yulian and He Yushan had once again gotten into an argument over some trifling matter, refusing to yield an inch. The entire roomful of palace candidates had been treated to a thoroughly entertaining spectacle.

Now Pan Wenjun glared at the “source of all trouble” before her, her voice so low it seemed forced through clenched teeth.

“What did I tell you before you entered the palace?”

“This is the imperial palace! It is not a place where you can run wild!”

“You were already ignorant, foolish, dull-witted, and shallow by nature. And now that your looks have grown even more frivolous and unbecoming, how many times must I tell you to know your own limitations? Now that you have entered the palace, you must speak less and observe more. Whenever possible, retreat; whenever possible, yield. Do not get into quarrels with the others.”

“But you promised everything before coming here. Then the moment you entered the palace, you made such a scene with the girl sharing your room that you nearly came to blows! And afterward, instead of repenting, you went and disgraced yourself in front of everyone!”

“Pan Yulian, how many more times must I say this?”

“Do you have no brains at all?!”

No, wait. Before entering the palace, I had to endure scolding at home and grovel to survive. Now that I’ve entered the palace, I still have to endure scolding and grovel. Then what was the point of entering the palace at all?

Pan Yulian was about to admit fault out of habit when she thought it over and suddenly decided she had had enough.

For the first time in her life, she raised her head before Pan Wenjun. Her face full of indignation, she argued, “Second Sister, you can’t wrong me like this. This time, it was clearly He Yushan’s fault!”

“I know this is the imperial palace, but does He Yushan not know that too?”

“She came looking for trouble the moment she arrived, clearly intending to put me in my place. Was she humiliating me? No! She was refusing to show our household—and you, Second Sister—any respect!”

“Second Sister, I’m telling you, you cannot indulge this sort of person. Otherwise, you’ll only encourage her arrogant habit of looking down on everyone!”

It was the first time in more than a decade that Pan Wenjun had been openly defied. She could not make out a single word of Pan Yulian’s rambling speech.

All she knew was that the little dog which had always tucked its tail between its legs, crouching at her feet and bowing meekly for scraps of approval, had suddenly turned on her. Not merely turned on her—it had even bared its teeth and begun barking.

Pan Wenjun lifted her hand instinctively.

Whoosh—

The wind-laced slap struck empty air. Pan Wenjun stumbled, nearly falling to the ground herself.

Pan Yulian, who had nimbly retreated two steps, tilted her head and giggled at Pan Wenjun’s disheveled appearance.

How could she possibly fail to guard against such a satisfying scene—the doomed, brainless supporting character getting slapped for provoking the female lead?

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The atmosphere had already reached this point, so Pan Yulian did not even need to think before delivering the next line.

“Oh dear, Second Sister, be careful! What if you had hurt yourself falling?”

Pan Wenjun, her blood surging in a flash, shouted, “Pan Yulian!”

“Yes, Second Sister? I’m listening. What would you like me to do?”

Looking at Pan Yulian’s brazen smile, Pan Wenjun felt a moment of dizziness from sheer anger. Then she drew a deep breath and gradually calmed herself.

She stood perfectly steady, her gaze cold and concentrated as she stared at Pan Yulian, who looked every inch like a petty victor drunk on triumph.

“Hee hee hee.”

“Pfft—hahahaha!”

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Wait a moment. Had she perhaps gotten too deeply into character?

How had she taken to playing a swaggering villain with such effortless ease?

This was the female lead. Show some respect.

After reflecting on herself for two sentences, Pan Yulian finally managed to restrain her laughter.

She lightly dabbed away the tears laughter had brought to her eyes. Then, with a graceful little curtsy before Pan Wenjun, she remained exactly as she was—cheeks flushed pink, eyes curved with amusement.

“Yulian has been discourteous.”

“Second Sister, please do not take offense.”

Before Pan Wenjun could tell her to rise, Pan Yulian straightened of her own accord. Her eyes shifting provocatively, she looked at Pan Wenjun and said, “Come to think of it, Second Sister, you were partly at fault this time as well.”

As she spoke, Pan Yulian put on an affected expression and covered her full, soft chest—no, that was not quite right, her heart—with one hand. In a coy, petulant voice, she said, “Second Sister, we are sisters of the same household.”

“By rights, we ought to stand together and support one another.”

“Who exactly is this He Yushan, anyway?”

“Yes, her father is the Right Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. But our father is a Director in the Ministry of Works. Both are capital officials of the fifth rank—what difference is there between them?”

“She is a legitimate daughter, certainly, but so are you, Second Sister. Why should you fear her?”

Having invoked the immensely exalted rules governing legitimate and secondary birth, Pan Yulian grew more and more righteous.

“As for family ties, is He Yushan related to our household in any way?”

“Since she is neither kin to us nor anything more than another candidate awaiting selection, why should you, Second Sister, ruin the harmony between us sisters for some outsider who has nothing whatsoever to do with our family?”

After saying all this in a single breath, Pan Yulian took a small step forward.

Her gaze blazing, she looked directly at Pan Wenjun.

“To tell you the truth, Second Sister, the wealth and splendor of the imperial palace are truly enough to dazzle a person’s eyes and drive one almost mad.”

“I came here for the selection with no other wish in my heart. I sincerely pray that Heaven will show me mercy and allow me to be chosen and remain in the palace.”

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“If someone deliberately seeks trouble, orders me about, and bullies me, thinking that I will therefore lose heart and become frightened…”

Pan Yulian shook her head and put on an exaggerated sigh. Looking pitifully at Pan Wenjun, she continued, “As Second Sister said, I am foolish and clumsy, with no talents and nothing of value to offer.”

“All I possess is this wretched life of mine.”

“At worst, we can simply go down together.”

“…”

At that moment, Pan Wenjun stared straight at her with such a strange expression that it was as though she had never seen Pan Yulian before.

After a long while, Pan Wenjun suddenly shook her head and laughed.

When she spoke again, her smile was half amused and half rueful.

“Yulian, all these years in the household, you truly have been ‘wronged.’”

Pan Yulian responded by coyly flicking the pink embroidered handkerchief in her hand.

With an expression that was half pleased and half petulant, she glanced at Pan Wenjun and once again complained in a soft, delicate voice, “Oh, Second Sister, really. Why say such formal things between sisters?”

Though thoroughly sickened by the performance, Pan Wenjun did not argue with her. She merely smiled and nodded.

“All right, all right, all right. Second Sister was in the wrong. We won’t speak of it anymore.”

Then Pan Wenjun raised her head and glanced at the sky. In a gentle voice, she said to Pan Yulian, “We have been out admiring the scenery for some time. Let us go back first.”

“Oh, Yulian.”

Pan Wenjun continued with great thoughtfulness and care, “We can settle the other matters later. Once you return, have a good rest, or you may be distracted and lack energy when the palace matrons teach you the rules this afternoon.”

Tsk, tsk, tsk. At that moment, who besides Pan Wenjun could have expected to look at Pan Yulian in an entirely new light?

That performance had been enough to make one’s scalp prickle and inspire utter awe. Such talent clearly ran in the family.

No wonder they were daughters of the Pan household.

While marveling inwardly, Pan Yulian happily retracted her supernatural performance and withdrew from the competition in affected theatrics.

She stopped using her “nauseation technique” on the female lead and simply nodded repeatedly.

“Yes, Second Sister. Yulian will do exactly as you say.”

Thereafter, the two Pan sisters left Fragrant Plucking Garden together in perfect unspoken accord, as though no quarrel had ever taken place between them. They chatted and laughed with affectionate warmth, behaving like the closest of sisters.

Only when they reached the fork in the road did the pair—who had seemed as inseparable as honey mixed with oil—finally part ways after an affectionate farewell. One headed west toward Mirror-Moon Pavilion, while the other went east toward Brocade-Radiance Lodge.

…