Meizhuang gently stroked the window frame, her smile as faint as smoke: "Quiet is good. Lively places easily breed trouble." She was no longer the girl who craved the emperor's favor and recognition. In her past life, she was envied for her favor, framed because of her pregnancy, and ultimately died in childbirth. In this life, she didn't want "favor." On her first night in the palace, she burned a calming incense and placed the *Rules for Women* and the *Book of Rites* on her desk. Caiyue asked, puzzled, "Miss, why are you reading these?" "Precisely because I'm in the palace, I need to read them even more." Meizhuang turned the pages, her gaze calm. "There are no laws in the palace, only the word 'rules' can serve as a shield and a weapon. If one can uphold them better than anyone else..."
