Chapter 149 - 129: I Don’t Think So
Hui Pin almost lost her composure.
Her eyes reddened. If not for her apprehension that Jiang Xian, having just been in the Emperor’s room, was a "source of contamination," she would have stormed over, grabbed her by the neck, and demanded answers...
"Care to join me?"
Seeing her standing there, stunned, Jiang Xian asked again.
Her tone was gentle, laced with a hint of a smile.
Hui Pin, who had been glaring at her, slowly averted her gaze. "...The Emperor cannot be left unattended. You serve him diligently inside. If there is anything out here that needs supervising—to make sure the Palace Attendants are doing their jobs properly—just send someone to let me know."
* * *
[Attended to the sick Emperor for one hour. Palace Fighting Points +30]
Jiang Xian: ’The system is so stingy. I’m actually losing points after having to buy medical supplies.’
System: [The host could also choose to power through with sheer willpower.]
Jiang Xian decided to trust science instead.
She moved the self-sounding clock she had previously gifted to the Emperor out to the main hall, placing it where all the passing Palace Attendants could see. She also set its chime to be exceptionally loud, ringing once every hour.
There was a desk available in Weiyang Palace. Jiang Xian drew up a schedule, breaking down the duties for each group of Palace Attendants by the hour. Eating, working, sleeping—everything was planned out with perfect clarity. Her ’employees’ had no time to wallow in self-pity, much less to be lost in confusion and fear!
As for herself, she remained by the Emperor’s side, providing round-the-clock care.
Of course, the unconscious Emperor could offer no response. So, in her idle moments, she would begin prenatal education for the child in her womb.
As a mere gestational sac, the little one had yet to grow limbs or a brain. It was just a bundle of tissue. Its ability to receive prenatal education was entirely thanks to the system’s advanced technology.
’It’s amazing your era had this invention,’ she thought. ’It seems that for a civilization to advance, it really must uphold the principle of "skimp on anything but education." And education must start from the moment of conception.’
It was rare for the system to receive praise from its host.
The system fell silent.
In truth, in its era, these Prenatal Education Pills were mainly for fostering parent-child bonding, not for high-pressure early education.
"My baby is just a little lazy. How can you want to rest after only one hour of lessons?" Jiang Xian gently patted her abdomen. "Oh, sweetie, I really don’t know how you can sleep at a time like this."
The baby, upon hearing this, felt like halting its own development in protest.
* * *
Riding the coattails of the Noble Consort’s fearsome authority, the Palace Attendants of Weiyang Palace were completely obedient to Gu Pin.
Thanks to the special disinfectant she had concocted, the disease hadn’t spread to many of the Palace Attendants. Hui Pin stood guard on the periphery for two days, and seeing that the situation wasn’t as terrifying as she’d imagined—and that the Palace Attendants were obeying Gu Pin’s every command—left a sour taste in her mouth.
Less than a year ago, Gu Pin had been a mere low-ranking concubine!
Seeing that the Emperor’s condition wasn’t worsening, Hui Pin started thinking about how she could earn some merit. She summoned two palace maids to copy Buddhist scriptures with her and pray for the Emperor’s recovery. But they hadn’t even finished half a scroll when Jiang Xian, on her rounds, noticed two people were missing from their posts. A quick inquiry revealed they had been called away by Hui Pin.
Jiang Xian found Hui Pin and gave a direct order: "You two, return to your posts at once. The items the Emperor comes into contact with daily must be sterilized with boiling water."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Jiang Xian’s failure to offer her a formal greeting already displeased Hui Pin.
The two palace maids scrambling to obey Jiang Xian angered her even more. "Gu Pin, the work you’re talking about can be done by someone else, but they are the only literate palace maids here! You are interfering with my prayers for the Emperor. Is that a responsibility you can bear?!"
Jiang Xian remained unmoved. "I’ve already said that Weiyang Palace has no need for prayers. Instead of engaging in such useless activities, you might as well come inside and help me change the Emperor’s clothes."
The Emperor’s scabies sores had broken out, soiling his clothes, which needed to be changed regularly.
Hui Pin had no desire to perform such a filthy task.
The two concubines were at loggerheads. The Palace Attendants, afraid of being caught in the crossfire, had long since slipped away.
With no one else around, Hui Pin’s words became brazen. "Don’t you just love hoarding all the tasks of attending to the Emperor? Since you enjoy snatching every opportunity for credit, then by all means, go do it. You don’t have to use this to try and manipulate me."
"Attending to the Emperor is everyone’s duty."
Her words were sharp, but Jiang Xian remained perfectly placid.
Ever since she began attending the sick, Jiang Xian had entered work mode.
She wasn’t ecstatic over praise from a superior, nor was she shaken by exclusion from her peers.
"You really know how to say all the right things,"
Her placid response only fanned the flames of Hui Pin’s fury.
Everyone cared about different things. Jiang Xian wanted results; Hui Pin wanted respect. Living within the high palace walls, everyone vied for glory and riches, but they fought even harder for face. Before entering the palace, Hui Pin had an aunt who was the Empress Dowager. Whenever she attended a gathering of ladies in the Capital, she had to do nothing to earn their deference.
Serving the Emperor in the palace was supposed to be an easy task as well.
She felt she shouldn’t have to suffer like this, that she never should have entered this perilous place. "You come from a lowly background, the daughter of some nobody ninth-rank official! You fought tooth and nail to win the Emperor’s favor with your seductive little tricks, so of course you’d risk your life to hold onto it! You’ve never lived a good life, never been a master—I’m not like you! If you want to throw your life away fighting for your future, then go! Why do you have to drag me into it while playing the saint?!"
Everyone had been content to slack off in the outer hall, but Jiang Xian had raised the standard of care to round-the-clock personal attendance.
She was the daughter of a noble house, nothing like this poor girl from the family of some petty Green Bean and Sesame Official, who had arrived in the Capital empty-handed, without even a personal maid!
These past few days, Jiang Xian had brought remarkable discipline to Weiyang Palace. The palace maids and eunuchs no longer idly chatted while they worked, lest gossips spread rumors and incite panic. As a result, the entire palace was exceedingly quiet. Even knowing there were no other Palace Attendants nearby, Hui Pin still lowered her voice, pointing a finger at Jiang Xian’s nose as she seethed, "Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. Fine, I’m a coward! I cling to life and fear death! That’s because I was born with a life more noble than yours—a life more valuable than yours!"
Having spent the last two days in the heart of a plague zone, Hui Pin had been living in terror. Now, her anger was tinged with tears, her voice twisting with resentment and self-pity. "The Emperor favors you, and you love him so much you’ve lost your mind, but I’m not like you! You started with nothing, so of course you can afford to gamble everything! I cherish my life. Is that so wrong?!"
Jiang Xian quietly endured the tirade, listening until she was finished, yet she showed no sign of anger.
"You’re right, Hui Pin," she said. "That is precisely where I have the advantage over you."
"Whenever I face a matter of life and death, I dare to risk it all."
"Your noble birth and the riches you’ve enjoyed have become shackles that bind you. You don’t dare to gamble, you’re afraid to lose. I am not," Jiang Xian said with a faint smile. "As for love or the lack of it, that’s not important. I am simply fulfilling my duties as a concubine, through and through."
Her words seemed to reveal that she wasn’t so in love with the Emperor after all.
Quicker than it takes to tell, the sound of something heavy falling to the floor echoed beside them.
The Imperial Physician and the Palace Attendants were not in the room. The only person who could move about freely was the Emperor himself.
"Hui Pin, you said your life is more noble than hers, more valuable,"
A large hand pushed aside the curtain, revealing a pale, handsome face. "But We do not think so."