Chapter 157 - 137
"In that case, I will listen to the Emperor."
Her boss didn’t want her to guess, so Jiang Xian stopped guessing.
Seeing her crisply continue to organize his memorials, not getting hung up on the matter of love, Xie Che froze for a moment, then felt a little wronged.
’How can she not care about me at all!’
Giving up on guessing whether there was love or not saved a great deal of time and energy.
After a while, Xie Che was the one who couldn’t hold back any longer.
"Do you really not care at all whether I love you or not?"
"Love is illusory, something imagined. I never waste effort on things I can’t figure out," Jiang Xian said decisively. "But good treatment, good benefits, and a high monthly stipend—those are what’s real!"
She would never fall for any empty promises about "team culture."
Xie Che fell silent for a moment, suspecting his beloved concubine had been treated very harshly at home in the past. He asked as much, and Jiang Xian replied, "Yes, my family’s circumstances were not good when I was young."
"Did Jiang Ke treat you poorly? I heard you also have a stepmother."
"Not at all. My parents both treated me well. We were just poor, and since I was always sick, the restorative medicines cost a great deal of silver, so we were short on other things."
Jiang Xian spoke softly, not expecting the Emperor to understand.
She had dealt with the children of wealthy families before. They always thought poverty was caused by laziness, never realizing the dilemma the poor faced was like one of those math problems: "If Xiao Ming turns on the faucet to fill a pool while also leaving the drain open, when will the pool be full?"
Xie Che, indeed, could not understand.
How could a prince who never had to worry about food or clothing, who had more money than he could spend, possibly empathize with a girl from a modern-day, rural, left-behind family?
But he said, "Then I will make up for all those shortages for you in the future."
"Your Majesty, please don’t make me empty promises."
The expression ’making empty promises,’ while classical, had recently been repopularized in fan circles. Xie Che understood her meaning and retorted, "Of all the things I have promised you in the past, which have I not delivered? And have I ever treated you poorly?"
’Come to think of it, he really hadn’t!’
Jiang Xian was about to simply admit she was wrong, but Daji’s voice echoed in her mind, guiding her with exasperation: ’You’re being too honest again. Forget it, listen to me! Activate the Little Pitiful Halo, but don’t fall into His Majesty’s arms this time. Sit up straight and accuse him of only bringing up how well he’s treated you so he can hold it over your head. How could His Majesty humiliate me like this?’
Jiang Xian was taken aback. ’He’s so good to me, and he can’t even mention it? You call that humiliation?’
’This is what a favored concubine does. They act up without any reason.’
Jiang Xian considered that Daji was a grandmaster of the harem. ’Listen to advice and you’ll never go hungry,’ as the saying goes. So she activated the Little Pitiful Halo, but failed to squeeze out any tears, only managing to make her eyes red... She focused her energy in her dantian and strained so hard her body trembled slightly, but her tear ducts refused to cooperate.
Life had been too good lately; she couldn’t even cry while reminiscing about past hardships.
’I can’t just start wailing dryly!’
She had no choice but to turn the halo on full blast, accusing him with red, rabbit-like eyes, "Your Majesty is actually holding those things over my head? Did you spend every bit of silver on me in the past just so you could embarrass me, pressure me, and make things difficult for me now? Or perhaps you think you’ve treated me well enough already, so you don’t have to be good to me anymore. Even if I am of humble and fragile beauty, you cannot humiliate me like this!"
After delivering this dramatic speech, not only could Jiang Xian not cry, she felt a little like laughing.
Now the difficult part was holding back her laughter.
In Xie Che’s eyes, however, she was so sad that she was trembling slightly from trying to hold back her tears, her feigned strength making his heart ache for her.
His heart twisted into a knot.
"That’s not what I meant."
"But that’s how it made me feel."
The beauty turned her face away, refusing to look at him.
’She was afraid that if she turned back, the Emperor would see her smiling. What kind of lines were these! Could a normal person even say such things? Is this really how people in love talk?’
After a couple more rounds of this back-and-forth, Jiang Xian was pulled into his embrace, looking thoroughly wronged. "I was wrong," he said. "I shouldn’t have brought up the past. You’re right, I really haven’t treated you well enough."
In his arms, Jiang Xian’s pupils trembled in shock as she listened.
’She felt she had just been so dramatic and unreasonable, yet the Emperor had completely fallen for it and even concluded that he hadn’t treated her well enough.’
"Don’t overthink things for now. The Mother Empress and I will take good care of you during this pregnancy. Once you safely give birth to the Prince, there will be more rewards."
Daji’s voice: ’What kind of reward? Killing the Empress so you can take her place?’
Jiang Xian: ’...’
’Sometimes, you really couldn’t listen to everything Sister Daji said.’
※
Jiang Xian had some dinner, and it wasn’t until the next day after seeing the Emperor off that she realized she had been moved to Bihua Palace.
The new palace had pleasant scenery and a quiet, secluded environment.
It was just a little too quiet.
Jiang Xian remembered something. "Where is Chen Changzai?"
Upon asking, she learned that Chen Changzai was still living in a side hall of Yizhu Pavilion, completely ignored.
Bihua Palace was in an excellent location, right in the core of the harem. It was much closer than before to Qiankun Palace, Weiyang Palace, Jianzhang Palace, and Zhaoyang Palace. The only one that was farther away was Changle Palace. It was said the Empress Dowager was very displeased about this—if she wanted to see her grandson in the future, what if he caught a chill on the way over? But the move was already complete, so no matter how dissatisfied she was, she could only grumble about it.
"After the Emperor finishes with the morning court, Zhenqiu, go on my behalf and ask him to move Chen Changzai over to keep me company."
※
「Meanwhile, at Yizhu Pavilion.」
Chen Changzai rested her chin in her hands and asked eagerly, "He Xiang, when do you think Gu Wan Yi will remember me? Will she forget about me? I guess the Noble Consort is better, huh?"
"My Lady..."
"Don’t call me My Lady, call me Changzai," the newly promoted Chen Changzai corrected.
"Yes, My Lady. Understood, My Lady," He Xiang replied smoothly. "If you’re thinking of Gu Wan Yi, you can just visit her at Bihua Palace after paying respects at Jianzhang Palace today. I’m sure that, for the sake of your past friendship, Lady Wan Yi won’t throw you out."
Chen Changzai thought about it and agreed. "Then I’ll go tomorrow."
"Why wait until tomorrow?"
"The Noble Consort will probably be there today. She’ll kick me out."
※
As it turned out, Chen Changzai had guessed correctly.
Jiang Xian had intended to go pay her morning respects as usual, but unfortunately, two exceptionally sturdy eunuchs were standing guard in front of Bihua Palace, refusing to let her leave. When she asked, they said the Empress had exempted her from paying respects and told her to focus on her pregnancy.
Jiang Xian asked, "Were you sent by the Emperor?"
"We were..." The two exchanged a look. "It was the Lady who sent us. She said that if we couldn’t stop Lady Wan Yi, we wouldn’t need to return to Zhaoyang Palace. She begs Your Ladyship to rest well. The Noble Consort will come visit you at Bihua Palace after she finishes paying her respects at Jianzhang Palace."
The two of them were terrified, looking as if they were about to drop to their knees.
Jiang Xian was both exasperated and amused. She hated making things difficult for the low-level staff, but she didn’t want to miss paying her respects either. So she said, "Did the Emperor permit this? I must go and ask! I can’t let the Lady act so willfully!"
So she sent someone to ask.
A quarter of an hour later, not only were there two eunuchs in front of Bihua Palace’s main gate, but they had been joined by two guards.