A kindly voice sounded by her ear.
Shen Wan opened her eyes and saw the Old Concubine Dowager sitting upright in the seat of honor, expressionlessly skimming the foam off the tea in her cup.
It was an old matron beside her who had spoken, smiling like a blooming flower.
At the same time, the system’s mechanical voice rang out in her mind.
[This Loading of a Save is a beginner’s bonus. This opportunity will not come again.]
[Friendly reminder: Host, please remember to record a save-state. Host, please remember to record a save-state. Host, please remember to record a save-state.]
The system repeated it three times.
Shen Wan had no time to figure things out—her whole body was trembling, and she was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes.
The maids in the room all looked at her with envy.
Anyone would be moved by this. To have a maid elevated to chamber companion was an enormous gift—and this was to be the Prince Regent’s chamber companion, no less! If she could win the Prince’s favor and be raised to concubine, she would rise to become a master of the household!
The old matron’s smile grew ever deeper as she spoke. “Don’t be so overcome. Her Ladyship the Concubine Dowager is still waiting for your answer—”
“I refuse!”
The old matron’s face froze. Even the Old Concubine Dowager’s hand paused mid-skim. The surrounding maids stared at her in barely concealed shock.
Had she lost her mind? To dare refuse Her Ladyship the Concubine Dowager.
Shen Wan had indeed been tormented to the brink of madness.
Finally—finally she had Loaded past the assassination segment to a point even earlier!
Her eyes were shining, her heart pounding, her face flushed with excitement. Looking at the Old Concubine Dowager, she felt that no one in the world could be more sincere than she was right now.
“All I want in this life is to stay by Her Ladyship’s side. I beg Her Ladyship to grant my wish!”
However—
“Insolence!”
The old matron’s face darkened. “In the presence of Her Ladyship, and you spout ‘I’ this and ‘you’ that, with no regard for etiquette or rank? Guards! Drag her out and give her twenty strokes of the paddle!”
What was going on?!
Shen Wan was shocked, but she swiftly and skillfully Loaded a Save just before the old women could seize her.
“Xiao Wan, are you willing to serve as the Prince’s chamber companion?”
The familiar voice sounded again, and Shen Wan’s excited mind finally calmed somewhat.
She hadn’t read the original novel carefully, only remembering the general plotline: Pei Changli was a great villain, hot-tempered, setting fires every three days and killing every five. Abusing his high position, he plundered the people’s wealth day and night, even embezzling disaster relief funds from the provinces, leaving countless commoners homeless and destitute!
And precisely because of this, in the end, the entire Prince Regent’s residence was raided, its people exiled—a miserable fate. He himself had his hands and feet hacked off, was made into a human swine, and placed in a pickle vat, dying an agonizing death!
Since the Prince Regent’s residence was a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den, she would absolutely never become Pei Changli’s chamber companion!
Shen Wan took a deep breath. Recalling what the old matron had just said, she forced down her discomfort and knelt on the ground, head lowered. “His Highness is a man of divine bearing. This lowly maid is unworthy of him and never dared dream of becoming his chamber companion. I ask only to remain by Her Ladyship the Concubine Dowager’s side.”
The words were beautifully spoken. The Old Concubine Dowager finally deigned to glance over graciously. “A mere maid, and quite bold.”
Shen Wan froze, and the old matron beside her bellowed once more: “How dare you! What is Her Ladyship’s status, and what is yours? To dare question Her Ladyship’s decision—guards! Drag her out and give her twenty strokes of the paddle!”
That didn’t work either?!
Shen Wan’s Loading motions were already well practiced.
“This lowly maid… this lowly maid has a hidden affliction—she is a stone woman, incapable of serving a man. She has long vowed never to marry in this life, only to follow Her Ladyship the Concubine Dowager.”
“Why did you conceal it when you entered the residence? Someone come—”
Shen Wan pressed a hand to her forehead and loaded her save.
If this won’t work and that won’t work, then the best of the thirty-six stratagems is to run.
“Seize her, quickly!”
The madam gave her a vicious kick to the rear and slammed her hard against the ground.
Shen Wan let out a scream like a strangled chicken and, without hesitation, loaded her save.
“Grab her!”
Shen Wan dodged the madam, only to be struck on the head by a vase falling from the sky. The pain sent her crashing to the ground, and with trembling hands, she loaded her save.
“Grab—”
Shen Wan dodged the vase, but the next moment, a sharp pain shot through her neck and everything went black. Eyes red, she clung to her last shred of sanity and loaded her save.
“Gr—”
While chaos reigned on one side, on the other, Pei Changli inexplicably found himself back in his study. The sky was growing dim, and the memorial he was working on had only just begun.
His fingers tightened around the brush, knuckles white, his eyes growing ever more bloodshot, his breathing quickening.
Very good, very good. That sorceress’s powers ran deep—she dared to toy with him again and again!
Pei Changli drew a deep breath and called out, “Someone come. Summon the Director of Astronomy.”
His subordinate respectfully took the order and left. Pei Changli finally exhaled slowly, sat down, picked up his brush, and began writing once more.
Before long, the memorial was covered in dense writing, and the savagery in Pei Changli’s eyes finally subsided a little.
The next moment, the ink vanished without a trace.
The faint curve at the corner of Pei Changli’s mouth froze completely, the veins on the back of his hand throbbing, and he roared.
“Where’s the Director of Astronomy? Tell him to get over here at once!”
His subordinate trembled all over and scurried off with servile compliance.
Pei Changli’s breathing was ragged, his brushstrokes growing sloppy.
He refused to believe it. A single memorial—surely he could finish writing one!
A moment later, a brand-new blank memorial appeared before him.
Pei Changli gritted his teeth. “Go see what that chamber maid my mother picked out for me is up to!”
His subordinate: legs shaking. What’s wrong with His Highness now? He was writing just fine—why did he suddenly lose his temper again? Better hurry out of here.
The ink vanished.
Pei Changli’s lips quivered. “Seize Shen Wan at once!”
“Not one Director of Astronomy less—bring Shen Wan here!”
“Go seize her!”
“Go seize her!!”
Pei Changli wrote that single memorial a good hundred times without ever finishing it, his eyes streaked with red.
A drop of thick ink splattered onto the memorial with a plop. Pei Changli’s fingers bore down and the brush snapped in two. In his fury, he flipped the entire desk over—papers crashed everywhere with a clatter, ink and tea spilling across the floor.
His subordinate rushed in and went pale.
What now? Everything was fine when he brought tea just moments ago—why did he suddenly flip the desk?
He dropped to his knees with a thud. “Please calm your anger, Your Highness!”
Pei Changli expressionlessly wiped the ink from his finger, saying nothing.
One quarter hour, two quarter hours—the study did not restore itself. The ink and tea had soaked those documents through completely, not a single character left visible.
Pei Changli’s teeth ground audibly, his handsome face dark as a gathering storm.
Of all times—of all times it had to be this one! Splendid. That Shen Wan—he would remember her.
“Tell the Director of Astronomy to get over here at once!”
Shen Wan sneezed without warning, rubbed her nose, and pressed load one last time.
After a hundred-odd attempts, she was truly exhausted.
What the hell kind of Prince Regent’s residence was this? This was practically a fortress of iron walls!
She dodged the madam only to run into servants, avoided the servants only to face a big yellow dog, and escaped the dog only to find hidden guards waiting for her!!
She didn’t even know flowery fist-and-leg kung fu—there was no escaping, absolutely no escaping.
“Little Wan, would you be willing to become this prince’s chamber maid?”
That familiar voice rang in her ears again like an inescapable haunting melody.
Shen Wan took a deep breath and finally gave in: “This servant is willing.”
A chamber maid it was, then!
With the guards so tight today, escaping wasn’t an option—she could only agree for now and plot her escape slowly.
She refused to believe that, with the Save-Load System in her grasp, she couldn’t escape from a mere Prince Regent’s residence!!