That was the first time Shen Qing had ever seen a youth so handsome, with an air so cold he seemed to keep others a thousand miles away.
Of course, after getting to know him better, Shen Qing discovered that Yu Jiuqing's coldness was only on the surface. In reality, he was adorably pure at heart, a young man who was so earnest about everything he did that it was almost obsessive.
At least, that was the impression Yu Jiuqing gave her back then.
Looking at him, Shen Qing could never imagine that he was the same man from the mission file—the one who could manipulate situations at will, who acted with cold, ruthless decisiveness.
Later, as they came to know each other, fell in love, married, and had a child, Yu Jiuqing matured at an astonishing rate. Yet in her eyes, he remained the same beautifully aloof youth she had first met.
However, as a Space-Time Inspector, she technically wasn't supposed to form deep attachments with anyone from any world. She had painstakingly hidden it from her superiors for several years, but was finally discovered in the third year of her marriage to Yu Jiuqing.
But she had long anticipated this outcome and knew the consequences.
The Space-Time Administration Bureau was, at the end of the day, just an organization, and a rather humanitarian one at that. If an employee violated a regulation as she had, they weren't just cast out or forced to make a clean break with the world they had become entangled with. Instead, the employee would have to return for an assessment to see if they could remain in that world without affecting its progress.
As long as she passed the assessment, she could come back.
Shen Qing didn't know the specific details of the assessment, but she was confident in her abilities and sure she would have no problem passing. The one thing she hadn't accounted for, however, was its duration.
Every time Shen Qing thought about that assessment, she had to take a deep, restrained breath to suppress the urge to go back and tear the Space-Time Administration Bureau apart.
The assessment took a full three years. It required her to live in different worlds for a period of time. In each world, the Space-Time Administration Bureau would send agents disguised as locals to form bonds with her, forcing her to make all sorts of difficult choices. The goal was to see if, under various circumstances, she could consistently uphold the Bureau's bottom line—to not disrupt the normal trajectory of that world.
After all, there had been past incidents where personnel from the Space-Time Administration Bureau, driven by selfish motives, had used their access to information to try and interfere with a world's development.
The assessment being long, tedious, and grueling was one thing. But what Shen Qing found most infuriating was that after she went through countless hardships to pass and finally returned to this world, she discovered that ten years had passed!
'She knew that time flowed differently in different worlds, but ten years! Ten whole years! Why didn't it just skip ahead a hundred years and get it over with!'
If only three years had passed, she might have had the courage to go straight to Yu Jiuqing and face his potentially towering rage.
But ten years was too long. So long that after she returned, she could barely find any traces of the past. So long that when she heard Yu Jiuqing had taken a concubine, she couldn't muster a single shred of resentment—only a bitter refusal to accept it.
'What if the rumors were false?'
'What if there was some hidden reason behind it all?'
In any case, she had to see the truth for herself, to see the Yu Jiuqing of today with her own eyes, before she could decide what to do next.
'Besides, the child she missed so dearly was there…'
Therefore, Shen Qing concealed the alias she had previously used in this world—Shen Qing—and applied for a position as a Maid in the Prime Minister's Mansion using her real name.
Shen Qing was lost in thought when a small, fair hand suddenly appeared, waving in front of her face. At the same time, Zhu Yuan's voice reached her ears, "...Qing? Shen Qing? What are you thinking about? You're completely lost in thought.
Steward Su sent someone over just now. We're supposed to familiarize ourselves with the environment tonight, and tomorrow they'll start having people show us the daily affairs of the mansion. It'll be time to go to the kitchens for dinner soon. Hurry and get changed, let's go together!"
The Prime Minister's Mansion had a dining hall in the kitchens where the servants generally ate.
And when Zhu Yuan mentioned changing clothes, she meant changing into the standard Maid's clothes of the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Shen Qing cleared her cluttered thoughts and said, "It's nothing. I was just thinking about some things from home…"
"Hmph. Don't tell me you were thinking about a man?"
A sneer suddenly came from the side. It was Mu Shuangshuang, who had emerged at some point. She looked at Shen Qing with unconcealed hostility and contempt. "After all, you're different from us. You're a married woman with a child. It's only normal to feel out of place after suddenly leaving your man at home to come to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
But really, the man you married must be a real loser. Can't even support his own wife and has to let her show her face in public to work. What's the use of being pretty? Marrying a man like that, your life is ruined. TSK TSK TSK…"
"Mu Shuangshuang!"
Seeing her go too far, Chen Ying couldn't help but snap at her.
But Mu Shuangshuang had no intention of backing down. Seeing Chen Ying defend Shen Qing, she sneered again contemptuously. "Chen Ying, I see you really love playing this little 'deep sisterly bond' game. Since we're from the same village, I'll give you some advice: don't be so quick to trust people you've just met. With that simple mind of yours, you're no match for her."
Chen Ying's expression turned even uglier, but it was clear that when it came to being vicious, she was no match for Mu Shuangshuang.
Shen Qing looked at Mu Shuangshuang and suddenly let out a light laugh. A cool glint appeared in her moist, almond-shaped eyes as she said, "That's right, I was thinking about my man. Is there a problem with that?"
Seeing Shen Qing admit it so readily, Mu Shuangshuang was momentarily surprised. She quickly curled her lip, as if about to say something else.
But Shen Qing didn't give her the chance to speak. Her gaze suddenly sharpened, though the slight curve of her lips remained. She said coolly, "At least I'm thinking about my *own* man. That's better than you thinking about someone else's man all day long."
As soon as Shen Qing said this, Mu Shuangshuang's expression changed instantly, her face turning so dark it looked like it could drip ink.
'What does this woman mean by that! Could she have seen through my reasons for entering the Prime Minister's Mansion?!'
For years, rumors had circulated among the common folk that Prime Minister Yu, who had always been uninterested in women, had undergone a sudden change in disposition. Not only did he stop refusing the beauties gifted to him by the Holy Emperor, but when attending banquets, if someone tried to curry favor by offering him women, he would no longer reject them outright, instead accepting a few based on their looks.
There were thousands upon thousands of people in the world who wanted to curry favor with Prime Minister Yu. But previously, he had seemed completely devoid of desire. For so many years, the only rumor about him was that he doted on his wife to no end, leaving many who wished to ingratiate themselves with him at a loss for how to do so.
After this rumor spread, many people grew secretly excited. For a time, countless peerless beauties were sent to the Prime Minister's Mansion, yet Prime Minister Yu did not accept them all indiscriminately.
Later, the rumor evolved: Prime Minister Yu had incredibly high standards. Unless a woman was devastatingly beautiful, she wouldn't even catch his eye.
She had been the prettiest girl in her village since she was little. Constantly fawned over by the men around her, she had always been proud and arrogant. After hearing the rumors about Prime Minister Yu, she ignored her family's objections and insisted on following that pauper Chen Ying to apply for a Maid position at the Prime Minister's Mansion.
However, she, who had always been supremely confident in her own looks, felt as if she had been struck over the head after seeing Shen Qing. A wild jealousy and resentment grew inside her, so intense it felt like it would burst from her body.
Now, under the gaze of the woman before her, a gaze that seemed to see through everything, Mu Shuangshuang's face flushed with anger and embarrassment. She shouted sharply, "Shen Qing, I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense!"