Being a System was so exhausting.
With a Host this unscrupulous and brutal, it was just so furious.
Honestly, it was starting to seriously doubt if Jiang Pengji would really just make the Emperor’s harem her own once she entered the palace.
The thought of Jiang Pengji later donning the Empress’s formal robes, with a consort on her left and the Nine Concubines on her right, while the Jieyu [Note: a mid-level concubine] massaged her legs and the Meiren [Note: a lower-level concubine] peeled grapes for her…
and the Emperor, like a castrated quail, cowering in a corner biting his handkerchief and whimpering…
The System’s entire being felt unwell.
System: “No, you can’t keep hiding your identity as a woman.
Otherwise, how will you enter the palace?
How will you engage in palace intrigue?”
Jiang Pengji’s eyes darkened as she asked tentatively, “Is palace intrigue really that important?”
System: “I am the Palace Intrigue Live Streaming System!
Do you not understand what the main point is?
Otherwise, the popularity will…
In short, the consequences will be severe!”
At this point, the System’s voice died down.
Jiang Pengji’s eyes darted as she asked, “Must we engage in palace intrigue?”
The System declared resolutely, “We must!”
It suddenly felt that having a Host with such strong opinions was not a good thing at all.
How irritating.
“But this has no logical connection to whether I restore my female body or not…”
System: “…”
So, what the Host is saying is that she wants to flirt with girls and play the yuri angle, while also keeping her male body to seduce the Emperor and play the gay angle?
Host, you’re trying to ride a firecracker straight into the sky!
Faced with the System’s wild imagination, Jiang Pengji frowned slightly, a wave of indescribable irritation and disgust washing over her.
The ancient era was tens of thousands of years removed from her own.
Though her history and culture courses had never been her strong suit, she knew that women of that era were both miserable and pitiful.
This broken System wanted her to become one of them?
Was it out of its mind?
If this was the price for being reborn, she would rather slit her own throat with a dagger right now.
The System could find someone else to play its little game of palace intrigue.
Palace intrigue?
In this era, no matter how high a woman’s status, no matter how far she climbed—even to the System’s so-called ultimate goal, the Empress who would “descend from the heavens”—it all came down to this: no matter how glorious the Empress appeared in public, wouldn’t she still have to kneel and worship the only man in the inner palace behind closed doors?
Jiang Pengji’s eyes darkened as she addressed it, “System…”
The System, having just been called out, felt a sudden, inexplicable chill.
“I don’t know what little schemes you’re plotting in that head of yours,” Jiang Pengji said, her voice cold.
“But I’ve known one truth since I was a child: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
I don’t know what you’re trying to get out of me, and right now, I can’t do anything about you.
But I can decide the fate of my own life.”
The System fell silent.
She continued, “You need to live-stream to gain popularity.
I can help you with that, but that’s all.
We can be partners, but I hope you won’t try to be too clever for your own good.
And don’t you dare cross my bottom line.”
The System swore to itself: Jiang Pengji was absolutely the most difficult, willful, and stubborn Host it had ever encountered in its entire career.
I’m never choosing a transmigrated Host who is this shrewd, stubborn, violent, and…
perverted again!
Local-born girls are so much softer and cuter.
“Aside from my hatred of rape and abduction,” she added, “what I hate most is being threatened or forced to do things I despise.”
Therefore, if the System ever tried to annoy her with palace intrigue again, she would truly find a way to teach it a lesson it would never forget.
This time, it was the System’s turn to be quiet as a mouse.
After a moment, its synthesized electronic voice sounded a little more aggrieved.
“I-I didn’t mean it…
Helping the Host win at palace intrigue was the responsibility I was born with…
If the Host doesn’t like it, I’ll just do the live streams, okay?”
She remained unmoved, instead scoffing, “Stop trying to act cute.
Your voice could cause an ear abortion.”
System: “…”
Damn it!
Don’t stop me!
Believe it or not, I’ll risk my life to curse you to be a single dog for the rest of your days!
Jiang Pengji crossed her arms and reclined in the main seat, appearing to nap, but in reality, she was berating the System in her mind.
Seeing that she showed no intention of moving, the group of noblewomen all wore bitter expressions, their gazes daring not to fall on the corpses on the ground.
Nowadays, foreign customs were prevalent, and things like tables and chairs were slowly spreading to Dongqing.
However, they were only popular among the lower classes.
The stubborn aristocratic clans still preferred to adhere to ancient customs and were more accustomed to sitting on the floor.
They couldn’t just lie down on the ground, could they?
And the tables and chairs were occupied by some of the corpses.
For a moment, no one knew where they should rest.
An oil lamp burned in the room, its flame so weak it seemed ready to extinguish at any moment.
Though it was the season of lush grass and singing orioles, of green willows and blooming flowers, the night air remained bitingly cold.
The girls hadn’t brought any warm clothes.
After a day spent in terror, they were now exhausted, chilled to the bone, and starving.
Their misery was beyond words.
But they had no choice but to rest.
A few of the braver ones, fighting back the numbness in their scalps and the tears welling in their eyes, worked together to drag the bandit corpses off the tables and chairs and onto the floor.
They would have to make do for one night.
By tomorrow, the clan would likely send a search party.
“Wrap yourselves in these,” Jiang Pengji said, tossing the animal-skin rug from the main seat to Wei Jingxian and the others.
“The tanning is poor, so it’s not very soft and smells a bit, but it’ll keep you warm for now.
I’ll go fetch some firewood and start a fire…”
The others had tried to move the bodies quietly, but to Jiang Pengji’s ears, their rustling and scraping were unbearably loud.
She was bursting with energy.
Thanks to her unique breath-control technique, she could drastically reduce her need for sleep and rest, leaving her feeling refreshed and alert.
Once they reached an understanding and the conflict subsided, Jiang Pengji’s weakness for beautiful faces flared up again.
Looking at the group of young girls—all under fifteen on average—looking so miserable, she felt a mix of exasperation and amusement.
Why should I waste my energy being angry at them?
“Hmph…
Who asked for your kindness…” the young noblewoman who had earlier spoken up against Jiang Pengji muttered under her breath.
Jiang Pengji shrugged, her posture completely unladylike.
“If you precious little misses freeze, your elders will come looking for me to settle the score.”
“Scoundrel!”
Now she’s playing the good person, but where was this gentleness when she was threatening us with the carrot and the stick just moments ago?
“No, this is called versatility.
It’s a natural talent of women.
At the very least, it proves my gender is the same as yours.”
To insult others, she was willing to ruthlessly trash her own reputation.
“The mountains are crawling with beasts right now—starving wolves and wild boars everywhere.
Stay inside the house and don’t wander off.
I’ll go find some food.”
In front of everyone, Jiang Pengji dragged two corpses out by the hand.
Whenever she encountered severed limbs or bone fragments, she stuffed them directly into the corpses’ clothing before tossing them outside the door.
Thus, the young noblewomen were certain that even when they grew old and their hair turned white, they would never forget this night.
Under the eaves outside the bandits’ house, a large pile of chopped firewood had been stacked.
Jiang Pengji simply used her dagger to dig a small pit in the hall where the noblewomen were staying, then helped them start a fire.
She instructed them on how to add wood, warning them to keep the flames from going out—and also to make sure they didn’t burn the house down.
“But…
are you really going out dressed so lightly?”
Wei Jingxian looked at Jiang Pengji, who wore only an inner garment and a thin spring robe.
It was far too little.
Jiang Pengji grinned.
“What, Jing’er?
Are you going to generously strip off your clothes and lend me a couple of layers?”
Wei Jingxian’s expression soured.
She spat out a curse.
“You’re so damn improper.
You’d be better off being carried away by a black bear so you can stop tormenting people.”
Since she’d rejected me, I’m not happy.
And if I’m not happy, no one else gets to be happy either.
Jiang Pengji withdrew the foot she had just stepped outside the door, turned back, and smiled.
This novel is set in a completely fictional world, blending elements from various dynasties.
It is not a serious historical romance.
The author is a science-student-turned-monk-in-training who is completely illiterate in literature—please go easy on me!
QAQ Jiang Pengji (with a meaningful smile): Generously strip off your clothes…
A certain strategist (with a face full of despair): A Lord like this is doomed.