Volume 1, Chapter 10: I Have Transmigrated!

Pei Yueshu felt much better, yet she maintained a facade of frailty, slumping against a large bolster as if she had no bones in her body. She signaled for Iris to let the visitors in.

"This old servant pays respects to Consort Chen. May the Consort be well. In accordance with the wishes of His Majesty and the Empress, I have come to deliver the medicinal decoction."

Matron Qiongfang, arrogant and condescending, felt her disgust deepen upon seeing Pei Yueshu in such disarray, still lingering in bed at this hour.

"What is this decoction? Our mistress is perfectly healthy, so why should she drink it?" Iris blocked Yinqiao, who had stepped forward to receive the bowl. Yinqiao and Haitang exchanged glances and stood firmly before Pei Yueshu’s bed. They knew the palace maids and eunuchs outside were unreliable, and they feared the Empress’s people might bully them.

"How insolent! This old servant is speaking to Consort Chen; what place is there for a lowly maid to interject?" Matron Qiongfang glared. As a servant born into the Ji household, she had been groomed for years and now served as the head matron by the Empress’s side. Iris was but a young girl and was no match for the woman’s overbearing aura.

Pei Yueshu gestured for Iris to step back and asked in a soft voice, "What is this?"

"His Majesty respects the Empress and has decreed that until the Empress bears a legitimate heir, no other consort shall conceive. Consort Chen, you would do well to drink it obediently." Matron Qiongfang smiled triumphantly and signaled the maids to bring the bowl closer.

Pei Yueshu reached out and took it, causing Iris’s heart to tighten. In her previous life, she had not been summoned to serve the Emperor so quickly, but after she had, Matron Qiongfang had come to Jingyang Palace just like this to deliver the contraceptive. Back then, she had no desire to bear a child for another man, so she had drunk it willingly.

But this time, just as the bowl reached her lips, Pei Yueshu suddenly hurled it at Matron Qiongfang. The smirk on the matron’s face shattered piece by piece.

"Get out!" Pei Yueshu gripped the tassels hanging from the bed curtains, her face flushed with genuine fury. Iris patted her back to help her catch her breath.

The palace attendants outside, having heard the commotion, rushed in. They had been strictly ordered by the Emperor to look after this mistress, and for the sake of their own lives, they politely urged Matron Qiongfang to leave. Previously, after Consort Xiang and Consort Huo had served the Emperor, the matron had delivered the same medicine; while they hadn't drunk it, they had never been as brazen as Pei Yueshu.

That she dared to treat her this way meant she held neither the Empress nor the Ji clan in any regard. A mere daughter of a Duke, and a widow at that—how dared she! Matron Qiongfang glanced back at Pei Yueshu; though she said nothing, her venomous gaze spoke volumes.

Once the hall was cleared and everyone had left, the anger on Pei Yueshu’s face vanished, replaced by a faint smile.

At the Qinyin Pavilion, Empress Ji had only stopped by for a look, yet the dying Lady Lin had suddenly awakened, sitting up and rambling nonsense.

"Where is this? Why is it so strange?"
"I... I’ve transmigrated!"

Lin Shuangjian stared blankly at the extraordinarily noble beauty in palace robes and the old imperial physician, then touched her own face. The physician checked her pulse again, announcing in shock that she was out of danger. Empress Ji was thoroughly annoyed and, not even bothering to maintain social niceties, left on Mingxia’s arm.

Upon returning to her palace, she encountered Matron Qiongfang, who was in a wretched state with a large stain on her clothes. Empress Ji covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief. "She dared to splash you?"

Matron Qiongfang lowered her head, aggrieved. Having followed Ji Yiling for so many years, this was the first time she had suffered such a slight.

"Hmph. Next time, just send a low-ranking maid to deliver the medicine."

That was a promise Xiao Xuanyu had made to her personally. It was one thing for the noble Consorts Xiang and Huo to have powerful families backing them, but Pei Yueshu had nothing. Such a person was not worth her personal attention.

Yet, she did not expect Xiao Xuanyu to visit her that evening. Xiao Xuanyu disliked her haughty nature, but to stabilize the Ji clan, he had to maintain appearances, which was why he usually only visited for lunch.

"What wind has blown His Majesty here?"

Xiao Xuanyu, having been frustrated at Jingyang Palace, lacked his usual gentleness. "The Empress has been in the palace for three years now, hasn't she?"

Empress Ji nodded.

"I have given you three years. You cannot go on like this indefinitely. If I were to leave the Xiao family without an heir, I would be failing my ancestors."

The composed smile on Empress Ji’s face faltered. He was intending to stop the contraceptive medicine for the low-ranking consorts as well.

"Does Your Majesty intend to break your promise?"

Xiao Xuanyu shook his head slowly and stood up. "It is not that I am breaking my promise, but that the Empress is incapable. I have already sent word to Minister Ji: since the Empress is in poor health and prone to illness, he should send a few more women of the Ji clan into the palace to... share your burdens."

"Xiao Xuanyu!" Ji Yiling was so furious that her pointing finger trembled.

Xiao Xuanyu smiled slightly. "Do not be angry, Empress. Once they bear princes, they will still be raised under your tutelage. I must return to Jingyang Palace to comfort Consort Chen; please excuse me."

After he left, Ji Yiling collapsed onto her daybed. Had her father and the Ji clan already decided to abandon her?

"Mistress, why must you be this way? No matter how you look down on His Majesty’s origins, he is the master of Great Jin. If you had only been slightly more yielding before, he would not have come to this..."

"Matron, must you twist the knife in my heart, too?" Ji Yiling burst into tears. She had never asked for this position of Empress. She had never wanted to enter the palace at all!

"This old servant only wishes for you to see the reality," Matron Qiongfang said, her face full of worry. "The head of the family sending women into the palace is surely meant to help you. Consorts Xiang and Huo are already forming an alliance; having someone to support you is a good thing. As long as the Ji clan stands, your position as Empress will remain unshakable. Whether you conceive yourself or a woman of the Ji clan does, we will have nothing to fear."

Ji Yiling wiped away her tears and lifted her head, though it was unclear if she had truly taken the words to heart.

The news that the Emperor had suddenly left Jingyang Palace for the Kunning Palace, only to return to Jingyang Palace without even having dinner, spread through every corner of the palace like the wind. Yet, no one dared to mock the Empress; everyone pretended to know nothing.

The candles in the bedchamber were extinguished. Xiao Xuanyu dismissed the attendants and stepped inside. Pulling back the layered curtains, he found the slender, exquisite beauty sleeping on her side. Xiao Xuanyu removed his outer robes, donned a loose sleeping gown, and climbed into bed, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"That was not my intention; it was the maids in the Empress’s palace acting on their own. I have already punished them. They will never bring any such nonsense to you again."

Pei Yueshu avoided the lips that were pestering her face. She had no desire to serve him and took this opportunity to refuse. Xiao Xuanyu laughed instead of getting angry. For the past few nights, Pei Yueshu had been willing to serve him, suggesting she had let go of her past and was willing to live well in the palace. The trouble was that the Empress’s delivery of the contraceptive had truly wounded her pride.

Xiao Xuanyu himself felt his pride wounded as well. For an Emperor of his age to have no children was indeed a strange matter. But he was the one who had chosen the Ji family, and later, to keep them in check, he had brought the daughters of the Xiang and Huo families into the palace. Looking at his harem, even he could not offend these three formidable figures, so he let them fight it out.

He gently stroked the woman’s fragrant hair, recalling her docility over the past two days. Her refusal to drink the medicine meant she was willing to bear his child. A rare, genuine tenderness surfaced in his eyes.

"Qingqing, bear me a prince, and I will keep him safe."

Pei Yueshu opened her eyes, her gaze filled with chill. "Qingqing" was her childhood nickname, used only by those closest to her—and her husband. She did not know how Xiao Xuanyu had learned it, but she felt only endless nausea. Yet, in her previous life, she had grown accustomed to this, and could no longer distinguish between heartbreak and disgust. She closed her eyes, choosing to hear nothing.

Xiao Xuanyu held her through the night and went to court as usual the next day. A fortnight passed, and Xiao Xuanyu spent almost every night at Jingyang Palace, only occasionally visiting the Empress and the other three consorts for meals, never stepping foot in their quarters otherwise.

Those who had initially looked down upon Pei Yueshu—a consort who had entered the palace as the widow of a meritorious official—finally realized something was amiss. The clans of the Ji and Xiang families, joined by several court officials, submitted a joint memorial during the morning court, intending to warn the Emperor against favoring one person too much. As for the Huo clan, because their family had undergone a change of leadership, they were too busy with their own interests to care about Consort Huo in the palace.

That night, Xiao Xuanyu went to the Kunning Palace.