While wiping his sweat, she rubbed a red mark onto the emperor’s forehead. When pulling up the blanket, she nearly smothered him to death. As for feeding him medicine, not a single drop made it into his mouth—all the medicinal liquid ended up flowing down the emperor’s neck.
Li Dequan watched the entire series of actions with his heart in his throat. “Your Majesty, perhaps… let this servant handle it…”
Jiang Wan smiled sheepishly. “That’s fine too.”
After staying a little longer, she returned to her own palace. Originally, she should have attended to Huan Cheng tonight no matter what, but Li Dequan was afraid she might end up “attending” him to death, so he could only let her go back first.
As for tomorrow morning, if Huan Cheng wanted to throw a tantrum, that would be another matter.
As soon as she stepped into Eternal Joy Palace, Jiang Wan eagerly ordered a meal to be served. Without exaggeration, if she had held on any longer, she might have started seeing stars.
Finding too many attendants during the meal bothersome, she waved them all away, keeping only Qiaoqiao.
“You’ve been with me all day; you must be starving too. Quick, sit down and eat with me.”
Qiaoqiao shook her head. “Your Majesty, we’re not in Jiangnan anymore. We must be cautious everywhere. This servant cannot break the rules.”
“There’s no one else here now. Who would know? Besides, I’m the one telling you to eat. Who would dare say anything?”
Qiaoqiao insisted on refusing, so Jiang Wan could only sigh. “Then go out and have something to eat yourself. I’ll go to sleep right after finishing, so you don’t need to worry about me.”
Once Qiaoqiao left, Jiang Wan quickly stuffed a few bites into her mouth. Chewing as she walked, she moved behind the screen and called out to the air, “Si Ming?”
A man with his hair tied up appeared out of thin air before her, looking somewhat ethereal and insubstantial.
“Haven’t seen you in a few days, and you’re already this weak?”
Jiang Wan teased playfully, “What, did you come specifically to see me?”
Si Ming’s face darkened. “No respect for your elders! You’re the one who’s weak!”
“I can’t just descend to the mortal realm on my own, so isn’t this the only way to find you?”
Without waiting for her reply, he scolded angrily, “Why didn’t you remind me when I made a mistake in my spell? And you actually dared to openly use magic to make the emperor sick! Do you know there will be backlash?!”
As if to prove his words, a trickle of crimson blood suddenly seeped from the corner of Jiang Wan’s mouth.
Si Ming panicked. “You’re still holding it in? Spit it out quickly, for heaven’s sake!”
Jiang Wan had indeed been holding back for a long time. She had started feeling unwell back in Qian’an Hall and had endured until now.
But she remained expressionless, swallowing the blood back down and wiping her mouth with a handkerchief. “It’s not a big problem.”
She then shifted the blame onto Si Ming. “Besides, if it weren’t for this lousy identity you arranged for me, would I have to go this far? I came to help my benefactor undergo his Love Tribulation, not to bear children for that little emperor.”
Si Ming rubbed his nose. “This identity makes it easy for you to get close to your benefactor.”
Saying more would spoil the fun. He just wanted to see if adding an outsider to his script this time could stir things up.
Jiang Wan glared at him. “Before I came, you only shoved some scripts at me and said my benefactor’s fate was extremely inauspicious. You didn’t reveal anything else. I’ve been running around like a headless fly…”
Her torrent of complaints made Si Ming even more guilty. He chuckled awkwardly, “Don’t be angry. Anyway… just do what you want. You don’t need to worry about anything else. You’re not bound by fate—that’s me being generous, right?”
“…So, you’re saying I can flirt with my benefactor and get close to him as much as I want?”
“Naturally. You are his Love Tribulation this time. What you need to do is make him fall in love with you.”
If you can, that is.
Jiang Wan remembered something and grew even more resentful. “My benefactor and my current father are sworn enemies? What kind of terrible setup is this?”
Si Ming spoke with a serious expression, though his eyes were fixed on the ceiling. “You can side with one, or play both sides. The latter is preferable, but do as you please. I won’t be coming again after this, and your golden eyes won’t manifest anymore. If you don’t want to return early, you must be careful in everything.”
After a pause, he added thoughtfully, “Your benefactor is not a good person in this lifetime. If necessary, do your best to protect the people of An Chu and prevent him from accumulating too much bloodshed.”
Jiang Wan fell silent for a moment. Seeing that he wasn’t willing to reveal more, she stopped pressing. “Understood. You can go now—you look like you’re about to fade away.”
“Mm, good luck.” Si Ming smiled, gave her a meaningful look, and vanished in an instant.
Once he was gone, Jiang Wan let out a sigh of relief, her face turning pale. Now fully mortal, the backlash pain hit her more violently than before, forcing her to curl up on the bed, trembling slightly.
Originally, she was a three-golden-eyed cat at the foot of Huainan Mountain. After cultivating for a thousand years, she finally faced the thunder tribulation. Just as she lay dying, a god-like man gently touched her forehead, transforming her demon bones into immortal bones and pulling her back from death’s door.
At the time, she had just taken human form and, in her dazed state, remembered that benefactor.
For the next few centuries, she wandered the Four Seas and Eight Desolations but never found out who he was—until she met Si Ming. From him, she learned that her benefactor was from the Nine Heavens and was about to descend to the mortal realm to undergo tribulations. Seizing the chance, she eagerly volunteered to follow him down.
Though the cost was high.
But after meeting Xie Changlin today, she felt it was all worth it.
It was him. She hadn’t mistaken the person…
The backlash pain lasted a full half-hour, leaving her utterly exhausted and unable to move.
Qiaoqiao came by once but was stopped outside the screen. Jiang Wan claimed she was going to sleep, so no one else entered.
Only the food outside was also taken away—and quickly at that.
Jiang Wan slept fitfully until the middle of the night, when hunger woke her. Grumbling, she threw on some clothes and stepped out.
A night-duty eunuch immediately came to inquire. Hearing she wanted food again, he hurried off to have the small kitchen prepare something.
Finally full and satisfied, Jiang Wan slept soundly.
The next day.
Qiaoqiao arrived early with two palace maids to rouse her, saying she needed to prepare to meet the palace consorts.
Jiang Wan was so sleepy she could barely open her eyes. She only managed to instruct, “Don’t pile on as much powder as yesterday, and keep the hair ornaments simple.”
Then she continued to nod off like a puppet, amusing the maids to no end.
Qiaoqiao, who knew the empress’s original temperament well, was deeply worried.
Fortunately, Jiang Wan didn’t falter at the critical moment. Hearing the consorts had arrived, she knew to put on airs, saying she’d go out later to keep them waiting.
After hearing this, Qiaoqiao’s expression turned complicated. She leaned in and whispered, “Your Majesty, as empress, you must be dignified, generous, gentle, and tolerant to avoid giving people reasons to gossip unkindly.”
Jiang Wan was taken aback.
Weren’t the late arrivals always the more impressive ones in the palace intrigue novels Si Ming gave her? Why couldn’t she pull that off?
“Fine, I’ll listen to you.” Qiaoqiao was, after all, more reliable.
When she walked into the main hall fully dressed, she instantly felt surrounded by a room full of flowers.
Goodness, so many people.
That young emperor is already causing such a stir at his age?
At a glance, dozens of people were kneeling below, most of them girls around fifteen or sixteen, with the slightly older ones not yet twenty. Each was as lovely as a flower, their voices crisp and clear as they greeted in unison.
“Rise, all of you may sit.”
Jiang Wan wore a gentle, faint smile on her lips. Her youthful face, which would otherwise appear quite immature, was tempered by the dignified aura surrounding her, lending her an air of steadiness.
“This palace…”
Just as her bottom touched the seat and she began to speak, she was interrupted again. Li Dequan had arrived, saying the emperor had just woken up and was summoning her.
The carefully memorized speech she had prepared was now stuck in her throat.
Jiang Wan cursed inwardly, though her expression remained unchanged, and she made her way to Qian’an Hall.
At the entrance of Qian’an Hall, she saw Xie Changlin emerging from inside.
Jiang Wan’s irritation vanished instantly, her eyes lighting up as she instinctively called out, “Nine Thousand Years!”