Chapter 224| Chapter 225| Chapter 226
Chapter 224: Revealing the Past
Consort Ji had given birth to a daughter. Although the child was a princess, she was the emperor’s firstborn after all, and the first child always holds a unique place in the harem. Thanks to her eldest daughter, Consort Ji finally secured a stable position for herself.
Time flew, and soon another year had passed.
On this particular day, Consort Ji paced anxiously back and forth across the main hall of the Jinse Pavilion, completely unable to focus on even her beloved daughter. After she had spent a long time fretfully wandering the room, Mei’er finally returned.
Consort Ji immediately rushed to meet her. “How is it? What did my parents say?”
Mei’er lowered her head, her tone sounding distinctly defeated. “My Lady, the family said they don’t have much money left. They told you to think of a solution yourself.”
Consort Ji’s heart skipped a beat, and all the color drained from her face. Stumbling back a few steps, she collapsed limply onto the soft daybed.
The surrounding palace maids gasped in fright and hurried over to support her, crying out, “Your Majesty!”
Consort Ji waved a weary hand, looking utterly spent. “All of you, dismiss yourselves.”
Lu Yunxi cast a quiet glance at Consort Ji before silently retreating with the others.
It went without saying that the Earl’s Mansion was simply unwilling to foot the bill for the upcoming imperial birthday gift.
Before entering the palace, Consort Ji had been quite generous. The household servants had all adored the young lady and eagerly competed to work for her. But after stepping into the harem, her life had grown difficult, transforming her into a complete miser who wished everything could be obtained for free. Later on, she had been forced to rely on bribes just to secure edible meals. Once she became pregnant, her superiors had showered her with special treatment, drastically improving her food and clothing allotments.
However, that premium care had effectively ended the moment she gave birth. Although her standard imperial allowance was still delivered on time, it was nearly impossible to save any substantial silver from it.
Previously, the lavish birthday ceremonies for the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress had all been financed by the Earl’s Mansion. Now, however, the clan was raising objections.
It was really no wonder. Ever since Consort Ji had delivered a daughter, the emperor only visited the pavilion to see the princess and rarely stayed overnight, making it incredibly difficult for her to conceive another child. Meanwhile, the eldest daughter of the Earl’s second household was fast approaching the age of eligibility—just in time for next year’s imperial draft—and she was rumored to be even more breathtaking than Consort Ji.
Even if the Countess wished to keep sending resources to her own daughter, the second household would never allow it. The old dowager of the Earl’s Mansion was still alive and ruling the family, and it was structurally impossible for all the clan’s wealth to be monopolized by the first house.
Consort Ji couldn’t wrap her head around the family dynamics at the moment, but Lu Yunxi figured it wouldn’t take long for her to face reality.
However, Lu Yunxi guessed incorrectly this time. Consort Ji genuinely never considered that her own family would ever dream of sending her cousin into the harem to compete with her. After all, the Countess was her biological mother!
That was until the day the Countess arrived at the palace, requesting a formal audience.
“Mother?!”
Hearing the Countess’s explanation, Consort Ji felt a suffocating tightness in her throat, her fingers gripping her silk skirt tighter and tighter. “I am still alive and breathing in this palace! How long have I even been here? How can you be in such a desperate rush to smuggle my second cousin through the gates…”
Remembering the old dowager who had supposedly adored her so much in her youth, and then looking at her own biological mother… she fought desperately to repress her tears, refusing to let anyone witness her in such a wretched state. Even if the woman standing across from her was her own mother.
The Countess let out a helpless, heavy sigh. “This time, the family has truly wronged you. I fought tooth and nail to block the arrangement, but the old dowager stubbornly insisted that the second house’s daughter must enter the palace to ‘assist’ you.”
At that, the Countess secretly ground her teeth in fury. The second house was clearly sending a girl to hijack the emperor’s favor, not to help her daughter! It was absolutely infuriating that the old dowager, who had never cared about harem politics before, suddenly chose to interfere now.
Consort Ji sat tightly on her high seat, her eyes turning entirely vacant.
The Countess gazed up at her daughter, her heart aching with mounting distress the longer she looked. “Your Highness must make preparations early and bear a son for His Majesty as soon as possible. So long as you provide the empire with a prince, no other daughter from our clan can ever hope to compare to you.”
Consort Ji drew a long, deep breath. “Mother, let me reflect on this.”
Following the Countess’s departure, Lu Yunxi observed Consort Ji wallow in a deep depression for several days before she finally snapped and began to scheme.
The exact second she returned from paying her morning respects to the Empress, she ordered the servants to boil cauldrons of water. She proceeded to take three consecutive baths, completely replacing the floating flower petals with three entirely different floral varieties each time.
Unfortunately, while her ambition was commendable, she failed to realize that potent fragrances cannot be mixed haphazardly. While certain scents harmonize beautifully, other combinations react poorly, creating an utterly bizarre, offensive odor.
This time, her lack of cosmetic knowledge resulted in a complete disaster.
During her time exploring the open world, Lu Yunxi had encountered all manner of foul stenches, so her expression remained perfectly deadpan. The other maids, however, did not possess her fortitude. The moment the pungent aroma radiating from Consort Ji hit their noses—sounding remarkably like a volatile blend of gasoline and burnt industrial plastic—their faces contorted in horror.
Yet for some bizarre reason, Consort Ji’s own nose seemed entirely immune to the stench. She remained blissfully enthusiastic as she sifted through her wardrobe.
“I shall wear this royal blue gown tonight,” Consort Ji declared, preening before the mirror. “It makes my complexion appear far fairer. Pair it with my pink embroidered silk shoes; His Majesty previously mentioned that I look exceptionally beautiful in that combination.” She pointed to several matching accessories in her jewelry chest.
Mei’er froze, speaking with immense hesitation. “Your Majesty… your current fragrance is perhaps a bit too potent. It is rather overpowering. I worry His Majesty might find it a bit too… stimulating.” She carefully measured her words, casting nervous glances at Consort Ji’s face.
Fortunately, Consort Ji didn’t fly into a rage. However, she completely missed the underlying warning, assuming the maid was merely offering a literal compliment on her strength.
Still, remembering her previous string of humiliating failures to secure the emperor’s favor, a wave of anxiety washed over her. She pondered the issue for a moment before a sudden, reckless idea struck her.
“Go retrieve the medicinal ointment I purchased when I sprained my ankle!”
Ju’er immediately obeyed, fetching the caked medicine from the storage box. “Your Majesty, do you intend to deliver this remedy to another pavilion?” she asked respectfully. After all, Consort Ji was completely uninjured, so the ointment clearly wasn’t for her own body.
To her absolute horror, Consort Ji commanded, “Open the jar and apply a thick layer behind my ears, across my wrists, and around my neck.”
Hearing the order, Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju were thoroughly paralyzed with shock.
“Your Majesty, please reconsider! This ointment is strictly meant for severe tissue trauma, and it carries an incredibly bitter, foul odor!” Furthermore, the medicine wasn’t clean or white; it was a thick, dark-green paste that looked nearly pitch black. When the physician had first applied it to Consort Ji’s foot, she had recoiled in absolute disgust!
Lu Yunxi was genuinely bewildered by the sheer absurdity of her thought process.
But Consort Ji remained entirely unyielding. “What do any of you know?! Are you the consorts of this harem, or am I?! The art of seduction requires bold calculations, and I know what I am doing!”
Left with no choice, the servants fell silent. After all, back at the Earl’s Mansion, the young lady had always demanded absolute obedience.
Consort Ji waved them away impatiently, locking herself in her private chambers to fiddle with the jars. No one knew exactly what she did inside, but when she finally emerged, she had scooped out a massive chunk of the foul paste.
The baseline floral stench surrounding her had mutated, turning into a volatile, suffocating odor that was sharper than gasoline and bore a striking resemblance to fermented stinky tofu. The cloud of pollution was so thick that Mei’er and the others could barely breathe even standing three meters away—to say nothing of Lu Yunxi’s heightened senses.
Lu Yunxi held her breath, silently watching the master stride past in her vibrant blue gown.
Whenever a consort embarked on a midnight seduction campaign, they exclusively brought eunuchs to guide their lanterns, terrified that a beautiful personal maid might accidentally steal the monarch’s attention. Consequently, the set of Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum was relegated to the pavilion to rest once more.
However, barely an hour later, Consort Ji was carried back into the Jinse Pavilion by her eunuchs, entirely comatose.
Staring at the unconscious woman sprawled across the daybed, Mei’er panicked. “Xiao Shunzi, Xiao Lizi—what happened?! Why has Her Majesty fainted?!” Was she pregnant again? Or had she managed to fracture her ankle a second time?
To her surprise, the two young eunuchs looked profoundly embarrassed, shuffling their feet.
Right at that moment, the thunderous stomp of orderly boots echoed from the courtyard. A massive cohort of junior eunuchs marched into the hall, carrying several heavy, ornate treasure chests.
Mei’er’s eyes lit up with immediate delight. “Are those imperial rewards for our mistress?”
“Indeed they are!” the delivery eunuchs replied, depositing the crates in the designated corner before pocketing their silver tips and departing.
“Her Majesty has received an absolute bounty of treasures,” Zhu’er cheered, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “His Majesty must have been incredibly satisfied with her service tonight!”
Xiao Shunzi let out a miserable groan, his brow knitting tightly. “Sister Zhu’er, it’s completely the opposite! The exact second the Consort caught sight of His Majesty’s palanquin, she sprinted forward to greet him. But before she could even bridge half the distance, the emperor caught a whiff of her… unique fragrance.”
“His Majesty immediately ordered his guards to halt, commanding the Consort to stay back because the odor radiating from her person was far too… pungent.”
“He explicitly instructed the eunuchs to gift Her Highness an absolute mountain of premium perfumes, begging her to apply them liberally whenever she ventures out in public. He even noted it would be best if she took a thorough bath before ever approaching his presence again.”
Hearing the emperor’s blatant, public disdain—compounded by the sight of two rival Noble Ladies standing nearby, covering their noses and giggling hysterically at her expense—Consort Ji’s face had flushed a brilliant, furious crimson, and she had promptly fainted from pure humiliation.
Lu Yunxi: …
The entire household: …
Following the catastrophic olfactory assault, the emperor completely removed the Jinse Pavilion from his itinerary, refusing to visit her sector again. Consort Ji was so thoroughly consumed by anxiety that she began to notice gray hairs, yet she had absolutely no way to repair the damage.
Fortunately, her salvation arrived a few weeks later during the grand imperial birthday banquet. When Consort Ji stepped forward to offer her formal toast, the emperor chose to grant her face, entirely omitting any mention of the incident. Instead, he smiled warmly and drained his wine cup, officially burying the scandal in the past.
Chapter 225: Fainting
Consort Ji offered her congratulations with a bright smile, wishing the emperor a happy birthday. Watching him drain the wine cup she presented, she quietly breathed a massive sigh of relief.
Since His Majesty had accepted her toast, he had likely moved past her previous olfactory blunder. It was just a pity that the other concubines had spent the last few weeks relentlessly mocking her, causing her to lose an enormous amount of face!
Thinking of those spiteful women, Consort Ji ground her teeth in secret fury. She vowed to make the most of her next opportunity in the imperial bedchamber, forcing everyone who had laughed at her to see exactly what she was capable of.
Unfortunately, she was entirely overthinking things.
Though the emperor did visit her pavilion a few days later, he completely refused to touch her. It was highly likely that the pungent stench from her previous seduction attempt had been so traumatic that it left a permanent psychological shadow on the monarch.
Faced with this cold reality, Consort Ji’s brief spark of complacency instantly dissolved into a fresh wave of panic.
After spending a few agonizing days agonizing over her dwindling favor, she suddenly summoned her inner circle. “Mei’er, Lan’er, Zhu’er—get in here!” Turning toward the door, she sharply instructed Ju’er, “Guard the entrance. Do not allow a single soul to break in.”
Lu Yunxi and the other two maids stood in a quiet, orderly line. Consort Ji sat on her high seat in the main hall, pinning them with an intensely heavy, evaluating stare.
“I am certain you have all noticed that His Majesty is no longer willing to spend the night at the Jinse Pavilion,” Consort Ji began, keeping her eyes locked onto their expressions. “If this neglect continues, it won’t be long before we are forced to survive on nothing but yellowed vegetables and watered-down congee again!”
Lu Yunxi maintained a completely blank, detached expression. Mei’er’s brow knit with immediate worry, while a sudden, sharp glint flared in Zhu’er’s eyes.
Consort Ji paused briefly before finally laying bare her executive decision. “I need one of you to help me serve the emperor. We must find a way to drag His Majesty’s heart back to the Jinse Pavilion.”
The three maids remained perfectly still, their expressions unchanged.
Consort Ji sank into deep thought as she studied them. It appeared the Countess’s initial assessment had been entirely correct: Mei’er and Lan’er possessed absolutely no desire for personal power and were completely loyal to her house. As for Zhu’er… she still couldn’t quite decipher the girl’s thoughts.
Moving her gaze across their faces once more, her eyes ultimately settled onto Lan’er.
When all was said and done, the person she truly wanted to elevate was still Lan’er. The girl was not only fiercely loyal, but she was also breathtakingly beautiful. Even within an inner court overflowing with the empire’s most exquisite daughters, Lan’er’s features comfortably ranked among the absolute best. If a servant like her managed to secure a rank, it would yield the greatest political benefit to Consort Ji.
But if Lan’er herself harbored no desire to climb into the imperial bed… she couldn’t force the issue. A forced melon was never sweet.
Lu Yunxi kept her eyes lowered, acting entirely oblivious to Consort Ji’s intense scrutiny.
To put it bluntly, her mistress simply wanted to find a proxy to secure her household’s imperial favor because she herself detested serving the emperor. Sometimes, Lu Yunxi genuinely wondered if Consort Ji was sabotaging herself on purpose! Perhaps she utterly loathed the monarch, but because her clan’s survival hinged on her performance, she couldn’t openly defy the throne. Instead, she chose to orchestrate one catastrophic, bumbling failure after another to keep him at arm’s length.
How else could a highly educated, meticulously groomed eldest daughter of a prominent aristocratic house make such consistently idiotic mistakes? They were entirely transparent blunders!
While Lu Yunxi was buried in her own quiet suspicions, Zhu’er suddenly dropped to her knees, her voice ringing with absolute devotion. “Your Majesty, I am willing to serve you and share your burdens!”
Me’er flinched, staring down at Zhu’er with a profoundly complex look. She never expected Zhu’er to be willing to pay such a devastating price for their mistress. If the command were laid upon her own shoulders, she would have refused without hesitation. It wasn’t that the emperor was a terrible man, but surviving as a low-ranking, disposable concubine in the treacherous depths of the inner palace was infinitely more miserable than remaining a senior maidservant to a stable Consort!
Lu Yunxi, however, understood the girl’s motivations perfectly. On the surface, Zhu’er had always appeared calm, detached, and entirely unbothered by palace politics, but beneath that placid veneer layer lay a fierce, calculation-driven ambition. She had merely been biding her time.
A flash of intense displeasure crossed Consort Ji’s face.
Even though she had been the one to suggest offering a maid to the dragon bed, a sudden wave of betrayal washed over her the exact second her servant eagerly volunteered for the position.
The main hall fell into a suffocating, heavy silence.
Zhu’er spent the next five minutes sweating in fear as her initial excitement devolved into sheer terror under her mistress’s icy glare. Only after Consort Ji managed to swallow her irritation did the tension in the room begin to dissipate.
A tight, artificial smile played across Consort Ji’s lips. “Since Zhu’er is so fiercely devoted, then Zhu’er it shall be! Rest easy; you emerged from my household, so I shall certainly ensure you are not treated unfairly once you attain a title.”
Zhu’er bowed her head to kowtow, though a wave of bitter regret instantly flooded her heart.
Had she possessed better situational foresight, she never would have spoken up at this exact moment. It was far too early! Consort Ji hadn’t been driven into a truly desperate, hopeless corner yet. Zhu’er felt a surge of profound annoyance at herself; she had successfully maintained her mask for so long, only to let her ambition slip at the final hurdle.
The truth was, from the very second she had entered the palace gates, her ultimate objective had been to catch the emperor’s eye, surpass the senior consorts, and climb the ranks to become an Imperial Concubine, a Noble Consort… or perhaps even seize the Empress’s throne itself.
She was originally the daughter of a legitimate court official. It was only because her family had been swept up in a political purge that she had been reduced to an indentured servant within the Earl’s Mansion. Based on her original lineage, she possessed every right to enter the palace as a proper candidate for the selection manifest. If the scales of fortune were balanced, why shouldn’t she serve the emperor?
However, she had long since deduced that Consort Ji lacked the temperament to hold the monarch’s heart permanently. Her original strategy had been to wait until Consort Ji was entirely abandoned and desperate, stepping forward as her savior to secure the mistress’s eternal gratitude while simultaneously utilizing her leverage to ascend the imperial ranks.
Who could have predicted her own impatience would ruin the timeline?
“How bizarre. Where on earth have Mei’er and Zhu’er wandered off to?” Consort Ji muttered, rubbing her aching temples with a weary sigh.
Ju’er immediately stepped forward, pulling back the heavy silk curtains. “Sister Mei’er went to the imperial kitchens to inspect our allotments. As for Zhu’er… Your Majesty, why do you still waste your precious energy worrying about that treacherous, ungrateful viper?!”
Lu Yunxi, who was currently hiding in the secluded rear courtyard pretending to fish, couldn’t help but shake her head in dark amusement when the words drifted over.
Although Consort Ji had technically orchestrated Zhu’er’s entry into the imperial bedchamber, she had explicitly refrained from explaining the arrangement to the rest of the palace staff—perhaps out of lingering resentment. Consequently, the entire inner court operated under the assumption that Zhu’er had covertly seduced the monarch behind her mistress’s back. Zhu’er had tried frantically to clarify the situation to her peers, but her words were entirely useless; inside these walls, no one believed a maidservant’s desperate excuses.
While Lu Yunxi quietly listened to Ju’er’s relentless mudslinging, the frantic echo of hurried footsteps caught her attention.
“Your Majesty! First-Class Female Attendant Zhu has fainted in the gardens!” Mei’er burst into the hall, her breathing ragged. Her hair was heavily disheveled from sprinting across the sectors, and sweat clung to her linen robes, leaving her looking utterly frantic.
Consort Ji lazily fluttered her eyelids, raising her hand to critically inspect her lacquered nails. “Fainted?” she drawled, her voice dripping with an icy indifference. “Why on earth would she suddenly faint? Hasn’t your precious Attendant Zhu always possessed a remarkably sturdy constitution?”
Ju’er rolled her eyes, instantly picking up on her mistress’s blatant distaste. She sneered, “Sister Mei’er, you truly are an absolute fool! A servant who flagrantly betrays her own master deserves nothing less than death, so why are you wasting your tears on her? Consort Ji is your true benefactor! Instead of catering to your actual master, you choose to coddle a piece of disposable trash… Tsk, tsk! Her Majesty’s immense kindness is thoroughly wasted on a creature like you.”
Mei’er’s face flushed with deep embarrassment, and she turned a desperate, pleading gaze toward Consort Ji. After all, allowing Zhu’er to serve the emperor had been an explicit mandate delivered by Consort Ji herself!
To her horror, Consort Ji merely nodded in absolute agreement with Ju’er’s words. “Indeed, Mei’er. You are my personal attendant, not some maidservant indentured to Female Attendant Zhu.”
Mei’er’s expression went entirely rigid, her heart plunging into a cold abyss. Keeping her head low to hide her features, she offered a silent bow and quietly backed out of the main hall.
Standing at the sun-baked intersection of the courtyard paths, her eyes swam with absolute bewilderment. After a long moment, she forcibly mastered her emotions, turning her steps toward the servant quarters.
Lu Yunxi, who had been listening to the entire domestic drama from the adjacent courtyard, immediately picked up a wooden ledger and a brush the moment she tracked the incoming footsteps, pretending to be deeply absorbed in organizing the pavilion’s inventory.
“Lan’er.”
Hearing Mei’er’s tight voice, Lu Yunxi abandoned the act, looking up with an easy smile. “Mei’er? What brings you out to the storehouses?”
“Zhu’er… Attendant Zhu has collapsed inside the Imperial Garden,” Mei’er rasped, drawing a heavy, shuddering breath. “Could you… could you please help me carry her back to the side hall?”
Even as she voiced the plea, she harbored very little hope. Their young mistress had once been so gentle and kind to them back at the estate, but the oppressive atmosphere of the inner court seemed to have warped her into an entirely unrecognizable stranger.
“Sure,” Lu Yunxi replied simply.
“If you’re too busy, please don’t force—wait, what?!” Mei’er cut herself off, her eyes widening in profound shock as tears began to rim her lids. “You’re actually willing to help me?”
Lu Yunxi acted as though she hadn’t noticed the girl’s emotional breakdown. Offering a casual smile, she securely locked the storehouse doors. “Let’s go.”
With Mei’er guiding the way, the two hurried through the stone corridors toward the Imperial Garden, quickly locating Zhu’er’s limp form sprawled across the cobblestones.
While Lu Yunxi stepped forward to hoist the unconscious consort, she took advantage of a brief second when Mei’er turned her back to check the path, subtly pressing her fingertips against the side of Zhu’er’s neck. Checking a patient’s vitals didn’t explicitly require access to the wrist; the carotid artery provided a perfectly accurate diagnostic readout.
The exact instant her fingers processed the pulse structure, Lu Yunxi’s eyes darkened slightly.
Zhu’er was pregnant! While the average palace physician might fail to detect a conception this early, Consort Ji—having successfully carried a child to term herself—should have easily recognized the telltale behavioral shifts. Could it be that Consort Ji had explicitly engineered this situation, deliberately forcing the girl into the sweltering heat to induce a miscarriage and terminate the lineage?
“Mei’er,” Lu Yunxi asked casually, shifting the girl over her shoulder. “Do you happen to know what triggered Attendant Zhu’s sudden collapse?”
“I heard she inadvertently offended a high-ranking concubine during her walk,” Mei’er whispered, her voice tight with grief. “The lady commanded her to kneel on the flagstones as penance… and she simply fainted under the sun.”
Chapter 226: The Tea Is Not Good
“Your Majesty, Attendant Zhu has been completely unresponsive for an entire day. Could you please grant her an imperial physician, or at least a regular medical officer?”
Unable to bear the sight of Zhu’er lying deathly still on the hard bed, Mei’er gritted her teeth and knelt squarely in the center of the main hall, pressing her forehead against the floorboards as she begged her mistress.
Ju’er stood behind Consort Ji, lazily fanning the woman with a painted silk fan.
Hearing the plea, Consort Ji remained entirely silent. Ju’er, however, let out a slow, contemptuous sneer. “Oh? Does our precious Sister Mei’er truly harbor that much pity for Attendant Zhu? She actually has the audacity to demand an imperial physician for her!”
It was common knowledge within the harem that when low-ranking consorts—such as Selected Ladies or Female Attendants—fell ill, they were usually forced to rely on their own immune systems to survive, or at best, scrape together enough silver to bribe a newly promoted, junior medical officer. Senior physicians of the imperial rank exclusively attended to the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress.
Previously, Consort Ji had been incredibly fortunate to receive care from the Head Physician. The emperor had personally dispatched the doctor in a moment of panic following her garden disaster, and she had subsequently conceived the very first imperial heir, cementing her priority status. If not for that miraculous stroke of luck, she never would have been permitted access to the elite medical staff.
Mei’er kept her head bowed, her hands trembling slightly against the floorboards. “I misspoke. Please, Your Majesty, simply dispatch a doctor to examine her.”
Ju’er didn’t voice any further insults, merely letting out a cold, dismissive snort.
Only then did Consort Ji finally flutter her eyelids open.
She stared down at Mei’er’s prostrate form, her gaze heavy with a dark, ambiguous calculation. After a long, suffocating silence, a tight smile stretched across her lips. “Very well. After all, she and I were once master and servant. I shall dispatch a doctor to examine Attendant Zhu. Consider it my final reward for her past service.”
With that, she waved a languid hand toward Ju’er.
Ju’er bowed respectfully, retrieved Consort Ji’s official pavilion tablet, and hurried out toward the Imperial Medical Bureau.
Roughly twenty minutes later, Ju’er returned, leading a very young, anxious-looking man toward the dilapidated side hall of the Jinse Pavilion.
“Sir, Attendant Zhu is resting inside that room. Please conduct your examination,” Ju’er instructed, gesturing toward the shabby, weathered doorway with a mocking smile. “I must return to attend to Her Majesty, so I shall not accompany you inside.”
The young doctor nodded, his expression completely rigid with tension.
Hiding in the shadows of the courtyard, Lu Yunxi noticed that the young man’s legs were visibly trembling beneath his medical robes.
A flash of sharp suspicion crossed her eyes.
What the hell? What is he so terrified of? Did Ju’er secretly threaten him into murdering Zhu’er during the examination?
Narrowing her eyes, she silently channeled her lightness skills, leaping up into the dense branches of a nearby ancient pine to get a better vantage point.
Standing alone before the door, the young man drew a massive, shuddering breath, exhaling slowly. After repeating the breathing exercise several times, he clenched his fists tightly and forced himself to step through the threshold.
“Pull yourself together!” he muttered under his breath, his voice cracking slightly. “Today just happens to be the day every single senior physician is out on assignment, and I’m the only one left in the bureau. I’m terrified… Damn it, no! I cannot think like that! I must remain perfectly calm! I can do this. I will successfully diagnose the imperial consort and prove my worth!”
He continued to whisper frantic encouragements to himself, squeezing his fists tight as if trying to physically wring courage out of his own body.
By the time he pushed open the inner door, his face had smoothed out into a mask of stoic, professional reliability. If Lu Yunxi hadn’t witnessed his total panic attack in the courtyard, she absolutely would have believed he was a seasoned, unflappable veteran.
Hearing his frantic pep talk, Lu Yunxi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. As long as he wasn’t part of an assassination plot against Zhu’er, she didn’t need to intervene.
“Attendant Zhu is with child! Congratulations are in order!”
The young doctor carefully withdrew his hand, having spent a very long time thoroughly analyzing the pulse through a thin silk handkerchief resting over the patient’s wrist. He stroked his chin, a bright, relieved smile breaking across his face.
The suffocating tension gripping Mei’er’s chest vanished instantly, replaced by a radiant smile. After all, she and Zhu’er had grown up together as sisters in the Earl’s Mansion. Although she vehemently disagreed with Zhu’er’s ruthless ambition to climb the imperial ranks, her only true desire was to see her childhood friend safely deliver the dragon heir.
“Thank you, Doctor. Is the child healthy?” Pulling a small purse from her sleeve, she carefully slipped it into the young man’s hand.
The doctor felt the reassuring weight of the silver inside and accepted the bribe without hesitation.
“Rest assured, the dragon fetus within Attendant Zhu’s womb is incredibly resilient. Although she was subjected to prolonged physical stress on the stone paths, the child remains entirely unharmed,” he noted, offering a reassuring nod. His tone then shifted, turning serious. “However, you must pay extreme attention to Attendant Zhu’s personal constitution. It appears she suffered severe malnutrition during her early months in the palace, leaving her internal foundation quite brittle. If she does not regain her vitality soon, I fear the actual delivery will be extremely perilous.”
Mei’er meticulously noted down his dietary recommendations before escorting the young doctor out with profound gratitude.
While the physician had been conducting his diagnosis, Ju’er was kneeling proudly before Consort Ji in the main hall of the pavilion.
“Well? You managed to find the absolute youngest, most inexperienced medical officer in the bureau for Attendant Zhu, correct?” Consort Ji asked, casually adjusting a floral arrangement on the table, her face completely impassive.
“Your Majesty, I executed my task flawlessly. Please set your mind at ease!” Ju’er replied, her chest puffing with pride. “When I arrived at the Medical Bureau, the Head Physician and all the senior officials were out on high-priority assignments; only the newest apprentice was left on duty. Even the heavens are conspiring to aid Your Majesty!”
Consort Ji withdrew her hand from the flowers, a benevolent, sickly-sweet smile curving her lips. “Excellent. After all, she is merely a low-ranking Attendant. Having a senior imperial physician examine her would undoubtedly ruin her meager fortune.”
“Your Majesty speaks the absolute truth!” Ju’er beamed, eager to flatter.
In the opulent main hall, the master and servant exchanged dark, conspiratorial smiles.
While they reveled in their petty sabotage, a completely different atmosphere enveloped the side hall. Under Mei’er’s dedicated care, Attendant Zhu finally regained consciousness.
Upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, shock widened her eyes, quickly giving way to profound, overwhelming ecstasy.
Because Attendant Zhu had never been assigned a personal palace maid, Mei’er took it upon herself to sprint to the Emperor’s administrative hall the exact moment she saw Zhu’er’s condition stabilize.
When the emperor received the breathless report that a second consort was with child, he was absolutely elated.
Following Consort Ji’s initial success, the harem had remained entirely barren. This new pregnancy was a monumental blessing! There was a very high probability this child would be a prince! And even if it wasn’t, the emperor was still thrilled—after all, his massive, sprawling empire currently possessed exactly one infant heir.
Canceling his immediate meetings, the emperor summoned his royal palanquin and rushed straight toward the Jinse Pavilion.
However, Consort Ji, sitting comfortably in the main hall of the very same pavilion, remained entirely oblivious to the monumental shift in power.
Because she harbored such intense, venomous hatred for Attendant Zhu, Consort Ji actively refused to send anyone to check on her rival’s condition. By sheer coincidence, a junior maid passing through the courtyard happened to mention that the side hall’s dinner consisted solely of a single plate of wilted vegetables. The tragic sight had nearly driven the young girl to tears.
Hearing this gossip, Consort Ji was so euphoric that she immediately consumed two massive bowls of rice, stuffing herself until she felt thoroughly bloated.
The imperial palace was truly massive.
By the time the emperor’s royal palanquin arrived at the gates of the Jinse Pavilion, the moon had already risen high into the night sky.
Yet, the entire pavilion remained brightly lit.
Consort Ji was slowly pacing through the courtyard gardens, attempting to digest her massive dinner, while Attendant Zhu sat alone in the dilapidated side hall, weeping quietly.
“Ah!” Consort Ji suddenly yelped, her foot catching against an ornamental stone.
Ju’er turned deathly pale. She lunged forward, catching her mistress just before she crashed onto the cobblestones.
It took a moment for the master and servant to collect themselves.
“My Lady, please, lean on my arm while you walk.”
Consort Ji nodded, wisely accepting the support.
At that exact moment, a long, piercingly loud announcement echoed from the pavilion gates:
“The Emperor arrives—!”
Consort Ji froze, her face instantly blooming with sheer, unadulterated joy. She quickly spun around, spotting the approaching monarch, and dropped into a graceful curtsy. “May Your Majesty be blessed with eternal fortune!”
The emperor was in a spectacularly good mood. Smiling warmly, he waved his hand casually. “My beloved Consort, please rise. The night air is quite brisk. Why did you not drape a heavier cloak over your shoulders before stepping out?”
Consort Ji entirely missed the distracted, impatient glint in the emperor’s eyes. Assuming he had rushed across the palace specifically to see her, a deep blush painted her cheeks, accompanied by a wave of intense, secret regret.
I never should have eaten so much at dinner! she thought frantically. My slender waist is my greatest asset, but right now my stomach is completely bloated!
“Your Majesty…” she began, her face flushed as she scrambled for a topic to buy time. She had to stall him in the gardens so he wouldn’t immediately drag her back to the bedchambers. If the emperor placed his hands on her bulging, food-stuffed belly, she would die of mortification!
“I merely stepped out to enjoy the moonlight and ease my mind. You…”
However, as she looked up, she noticed the emperor’s gaze was locked entirely onto the dark, shabby outline of the side hall. He offered a hasty, perfunctory nod. “My beloved Consort, I am afraid I have urgent matters to attend to elsewhere. Please, continue your stroll at your leisure.”
Without waiting for her reply, the emperor brushed past her, hurrying toward the side hall with his eunuch entourage in tow.
Consort Ji stared blankly at his retreating back, her face rapidly cycling from pale shock to a bruised, violent shade of purple.
“Is… is His Majesty actually heading to see Attendant Zhu?!” Her normally gentle, demure voice warped, turning incredibly sharp and grating against the night air.
Ju’er was even more horrified. Remembering how relentlessly she had humiliated, starved, and bullied Attendant Zhu over the past few weeks to curry favor with Consort Ji… all the blood drained from her face.
The master and servant stood rooted to the spot, watching the emperor walk away with mounting terror.
The emperor, completely indifferent to Consort Ji’s presence, focused solely on reaching Attendant Zhu.
However, just as he approached the weathered door of the side hall, the sound of muffled, heartbroken sobbing drifted out from within.
His face darkened instantly. He held up a hand, silencing the eunuch who was about to announce his arrival, and stepped quietly through the doorway.
Yet, to say that seeing is believing would be an understatement. Upon entering, the emperor was utterly appalled.
The wooden threshold was actively rotting away. The small wooden table was scarred and slick with dampness. The silk bed curtains were stained a sickly yellow, and even the thin linen sheets draped over the bed were frayed and ancient.
Attendant Zhu, who had been sitting on the edge of the mattress weeping, jumped in shock at his sudden appearance. She quickly scrambled to her knees, bowing deeply. “May Your Majesty be blessed with eternal health!”
After delivering her greeting, she looked around the pathetic room in a state of utter panic. Finally locating a tin of moldy, low-grade tea leaves, she hastily poured a cup of lukewarm water for the monarch. “Forgive me, Your Majesty… the tea here is not of the finest quality…”
As she spoke, her eyelashes fluttered nervously, and she lowered her gaze, projecting an aura of profound, delicate melancholy.
