When her thoughts returned, Chu Qitong's eyes were slightly moist. She raised her hand to rub her eyes, and then her trembling fingers gently stroked the white cat that had died in Nanny Tian's arms.

Due to having been dead for the entire night, the cat's body had already stiffened. Chu Qitong asked, "How did the maid bring this cat to Meiyuan?"

As Chu Qitong's words fell, Tian Matron's eyes turned slightly red. She said, "When the late empress was still alive, she loved this plum garden very much. However, it was too cold in the winter, and with the empress's frail health, she couldn't come often to appreciate the plum blossoms. So she would send me, an old servant, to come and pick some plum branches frequently. Seeing those branches, she could imagine what the plum garden looked like."

"This cat has always been fed by Lao Nu. When Lao Nu comes to pick plum branches for the empress, sometimes he also brings it along. It never runs around and simply jumps onto the stone stool, waiting for Lao Nu. Lao Nu feels that this cat is extremely intelligent. It probably loves this plum garden just as much as the late empress did."

"I also know that it's inauspicious to hold onto lifeless objects in the palace. But it has been with me for over ten years. Now that it has died, and the snow is falling heavily, I dared to boldly come to the Plum Garden, intending to bury it by the pavilion. It was originally the Empress's pet cat, and it could have been properly laid to rest. But due to my incompetence, I can only secretly bury it like this. Unexpectedly, I have encountered the Noble Consort and the other ladies."

After finishing speaking, Tian Yama looked carefully at the unconscious Xiuhe, and a hint of fear flickered in her expression as she glanced at Ning Zhuang.

After listening to the words of Housekeeper Tian, tears uncontrollably fell from Chu Qitong's eyes. This cat had accompanied her throughout her entire childhood, and now that it was dead, it didn't even have a decent place to be buried.

Chu Qitong took the white cat from Tian Yaya's hands. She took the lead and walked to the side of the pavilion, squatting down and picking up a tree branch to scrape away the snow on the ground. She said, "Yaya, this cat is the Empress's pet. Since Liu Hua has seen it today, we can't ignore it. Let's bury the cat together."

Nanny Tian watched as Chu Qitong personally started removing snow. A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes, and she repeated three times, "You mustn't." Then she took the branch from Chu Qitong's hand and continued digging up the piled snow in her place.

Because of the cold weather, after the snow has been cleared, the ground has already frozen solid. Tian Mamadou broke three branches in her hands, but still failed to dig a deep enough hole to bury the cat.

Ning Zhuangyan furrowed her eyebrows slightly, handing the umbrella in her hand to Chu Qitong. Then, she turned and left Meiyuan. After a while, she returned, now with an additional long sword in her hand. She briskly walked over to Chu Qitong's side, twirling the sword in her hand, creating a silvery sword flower. With force, she plunged the sword into the hard soil and roughly stirred it a few times, quickly digging a hole big enough to bury a cat.

After finishing everything, Ning Zhuangyan said to Chu Qitong, "Hua Hua, you bury the cat first, I'll go return the sword." After saying that, Ning Zhuangyan turned around and walked towards the outside of the Meiyuan.

Although Chu Qitong was puzzled about where Ning Zhuangyan went with the sword, she also knew that the most crucial thing at the moment was to bury the cat of the Empress Dowager first, otherwise it would be troublesome when Xiuh e woke up.

Chu Qiton carefully placed the white cat into the hole dug by Ning Zhuangyan with her sword, and then reached out her fair fingers to begin burying the soil. However, Tian Mamasu preemptively stopped her action and said, "Princess, let this old servant do it. Your hands are delicate. If they come into contact with this snow today, they will likely be frostbitten tomorrow."