She hadn’t noticed earlier, but looking closely now, Shen Ying found that Golden Bean’s fur was standing completely on end all over its body, as if facing some terrifying thing opposite it.
Shen Ying looked carefully once more, yet failed to spot anything terrifying in front of Golden Bean.
“Golden Bean, Golden Bean?”
Golden Bean did not respond, remaining frozen with its fur bristling as before.
This behavior left Shen Ying completely baffled. “Golden Bean? What in the world is wrong with you?”
Golden Bean had no time to answer Shen Ying’s question; it hadn’t even heard her calling out to it. Its cat eyes were fixed intently on the black progress bar.
【99.00%… 99.01%… 99.02%… 99.06%… 99.27%… 99.35%】
The progress bar, which had finally come to a stop earlier, was actually creeping upward slowly. This discovery filled Golden Bean’s heart with deep unease.
*What is going on?*
*What on earth is happening? Hasn’t the tyrant’s dark progress bar already stabilized?*
*Why has it suddenly started rising again?*
In contrast, its own green progress bar began to retreat slowly.
【3.29%… 2.76%… 2.23%… 2.00%… 1.89%】
Clearly, the tyrant’s dark progress bar had suppressed its own progress bar. Golden Bean couldn’t care about anything else at this point; its mind and eyes were filled entirely with the tyrant’s progress bar, as if hearing the sound of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting in its ears.
Just as it thought it was finished for good, the tyrant’s dark progress bar suddenly halted, and the roaring noise in its ears vanished along with it. Golden Bean was drenched in sweat all over, its body slumping into complete limpness.
For a moment just now, it had suspected it might actually die.
Whether out of fright or due to the loss of energy, Golden Bean had no strength left whatsoever, slumping there completely unable to move.
Although Shen Ying found it strange, she didn’t think too much of it; Golden Bean usually gave her the cold shoulder anyway. After calling out a few times and seeing it ignore her, Shen Ying couldn’t be bothered to pay any more attention to Golden Bean either.
Looking up, Shen Ying felt a bit surprised to see Xuerong still hadn’t left. She sat up on the daybed, looked at Xuerong, and said, “Aren’t you going… going off shift today?”
Xuerong shook her head. Prior to this, Xuerong would certainly have left once her shift ended. But with the young crown prince regarding her mistress with special favor today, Xuerong naturally knew how to read the room, understanding that she needed to serve the master before her well.
This Candidate Shen was the only person the young crown prince treated uniquely, so she naturally didn’t dare to neglect her.
Since she didn’t say anything, Shen Ying didn’t pry further as to why. Either way, she wasn’t the one paying her wages, so whatever the girl did had nothing to do with her.
Her gaze caught sight of a food box placed on the table. “What’s this?”
“The Crown Prince ordered it sent over. His Highness said that if the mistress feels hungry, she may have some to pad her stomach.”
“The little kid is quite thoughtful.”
At the thought of the young crown prince treating her as his mother, Shen Ying couldn’t feel happy again. Golden Bean had only told her to appease the tyrant and stop him from turning darker, yet its explanations were vague and unclear. Shen Ying truly had no idea what to do.
She sincerely wanted to complete this so-called task, but seeing Golden Bean half-dead and giving her the cold shoulder, she felt that rushing up to flatter it would give Golden Bean too much face.
So she simply refrained from saying anything further.
Seeing her staring at the food box, Xuerong opened it to show her. Inside were several plates of pastries.
The pastries were not very large—small, delicate, and exquisite. Shen Ying picked up a piece to taste it, even saying to Xuerong, “You should eat some too, I can’t eat that much by myself.”
“Thank you, Lady.” Xuerong voiced her thanks, yet didn’t move to take any at all.
Near the ice blocks stood an ice chest containing some chilled fruits. Shen Ying picked out two to sample; they were icy cold and refreshed her thoroughly, making her feel as though the stifling heat on her body had been swept away.
“Lady had better not indulge too much in cold things, lest your body feels unwell,” Xuerong advised.
Shen Ying nodded. She wasn’t particularly interested in the food itself, merely seeking that refreshing chill, so upon hearing Xuerong say this, she stopped eating.
After brushing her teeth, she went to bed to rest.
Although she knew ancient times had toothbrushes, Shen Ying still looked at it with curiosity while brushing her teeth.
“Golden Bean, this ancient toothbrush doesn’t seem any different from the ones back in my world.”
Of course, “no different” referred to its shape.
Golden Bean lay sprawled there motionless, without even flicking its tail.
“Golden Bean? Golden Bean? You aren’t really dead, are you?”
Seeing Golden Bean’s fur clumping into strands and its belly showing no sign of rising or falling as it lay there, Shen Ying couldn’t help but grow anxious as well.
“Golden Bean, if you’re still alive, give me an answer! Golden Bean?”
Shen Ying was no fool. Knowing she had time-traveled here, she naturally couldn’t go around shouting about it to others. Although she could talk to the female lead, Jiang Wei, they didn’t share much common ground to speak of.
The only one who could talk to her—or more accurately, understand what she said—was Golden Bean.
“Golden Bean, you…”
Before Shen Ying could finish speaking, she heard Golden Bean let out a mumbled response.
Seeing that it could still make a sound, Shen Ying instantly felt relieved.
Golden Bean wasn’t a real cat after all, so it naturally wouldn’t die that easily.
Knowing it was still alive, Shen Ying said no more. Golden Bean lay sprawled there; though unable to move, that didn’t stop its mind from racing with thoughts.
It truly wanted to jump up right now and demand that its host find the tyrant. It believed that as long as the tyrant saw the host, it would definitely gain energy.
However, right now it lacked even the strength to move, let alone speak. It was all because it had been overly cocky earlier—the moment it got a bit of energy, it went off eating lollipops and drinking happy water.
It had focused solely on enjoying itself, forgetting that its energy was actually sparse.
How careless! It had truly been far too careless.
After Shen Ying fell asleep, Golden Bean went to sleep as well. It felt utterly exhausted and needed to rest. If it could recover its energy, it would definitely urge its host to find the tyrant immediately—they couldn’t go on like this any longer.
In its dream, Golden Bean saw the tyrant’s dark progress bar vanish, while its own energy progress bar filled up completely, successfully completing the task. Overjoyed, it actually laughed itself awake.
Shen Ying hadn’t slept peacefully all night either. Whether because the young crown prince kept chasing after her calling her mother, she actually dreamed of a child—a child much smaller than the young crown prince, unable to speak clearly, continuously calling her mother and reaching out for her to hold them.
That tiny child seemed to be feeling unwell; Shen Ying felt deeply saddened watching them, and ultimately reached out to hold the child in her arms.
Clutching her sleeve, the child kept crying out with closed eyes, “Mother, don’t go.”
Shen Ying woke up abruptly.
Just as she sat up from the bed, Xuerong came in.
After Shen Ying washed up, Xuerong dressed her hair for her.
Without Shen Ying knowing how Xuerong did it, a hair bun was quickly styled.
The bronze mirror actually reflected quite clearly. Shen Ying looked at the reflection inside; this face was actually identical to her own, only younger and more tender.
Standing behind her, Xuerong spoke up, “Breakfast has been served. Would Lady like to have some?”
Shen Ying nodded. When she sat at the table, she noticed something wasn’t quite right—today’s breakfast was far more lavish than that of the past two days.
The porridge was sweet, and even the steamed cakes were drizzled with sweet honey, looking like things children loved to eat.
A child?
“This couldn’t have been sent by the little… Crown Prince, right?” Shen Ying asked in confusion.
“Replying to Lady, it was indeed sent from the Eastern Palace.”
Shen Ying took a glance and ultimately didn’t eat it; eating things that were too sweet early in the morning was bad for health.
She could only decline the young crown prince’s kind gesture.
She still ate the breakfast sent previously, the same as what the other candidates ate.
Just after finishing her meal and stepping out the door, she ran straight into Jiang Wei.
The two of them could barely be considered comrades who had been through life and death together.
The two went out for a stroll. Not far from Mingxiu Palace stood a pavilion where it was cooler to sit.
Along the way, Jiang Wei kept looking at Shen Ying with burning curiosity.
“Do you have something to say?” Shen Ying said, waving the round fan in her hand.
Seeing this, Jiang Wei didn’t deny it either. Looking at Shen Ying, she was genuinely curious about how she had made the young crown prince act so attentively toward her.
She had seen it yesterday—the young crown prince had come looking for her wistfully.
Jiang Wei was truly curious in her heart. In the palace, one naturally wasn’t as free as at home, so whenever someone brought up an interesting topic, everyone would listen exceptionally closely.
Of course, she wasn’t merely curious; she had other thoughts as well, though they were inconvenient to share with Shen Ying.
Thinking back to how those candidates had attempted to catch His Majesty’s attention before, at first she had found it embarrassing, but later they simply used it to poke fun at themselves, and nobody took it seriously. Only Jiang Wei had listened with utter seriousness and kept it in mind.
Yesterday, the Crown Prince had actually come over in person and even sent gifts to Shen Ying; Jiang Wei was naturally curious.
She had actually witnessed from afar just how magnificent His Majesty’s bearing was, yet all of that was still not enough.
Hearing Jiang Wei bring up the matter, Shen Ying sighed, giving the exact same answer: she had truly done nothing at all. If she had to specify, she had probably offended the Crown Prince instead—even if unintentionally, she had stepped on the Crown Prince’s beloved pet, Little Black.
Jiang Wei listened thoughtfully, asking for a few more details, her words implicitly inquiring whether she had seen the Emperor.
Shen Ying noticed something amiss as well. She looked at Jiang Wei, her expression filled with confusion. “Why are you asking this?”
“N-Nothing. I was just bored and asking casually,” Jiang Wei coughed twice, hurriedly waving her hand as she spoke.
Perhaps because Shen Ying’s searching gaze was too obvious, Jiang Wei simply made up an excuse and left, her footsteps somewhat flustered.
Watching her walk away, Shen Ying still felt Jiang Wei was a bit strange.
Looking at the energy slowly increasing due to being near the female lead, Golden Bean felt it had regained a bit of strength, and its mood finally improved just a tiny bit.
Watching Jiang Wei’s departing figure, Shen Ying couldn’t help saying, “Golden Bean, has the female lead fallen in love with the Emperor? Judging by this, the Emperor is still the male lead, right? If I matchpace them together, would that count as completing my task too?”
Golden Bean was just about to speak to Shen Ying when it unexpectedly heard these words from her first. It instantly grew vigilant. “You, you, you! Whatever you do, don’t act recklessly! The female lead doesn’t like the tyrant, and things are completely different from what you think! Don’t make things even worse!”