Chapter 21: This Concubine Cannot Do It

“Greet them? Am I insane?”

Sun Miaoqing was no fool.

For long-term benefits, the protagonist group indeed needed to curry favor temporarily, but not now.

“Return to the palace.” She had no intention of becoming a scapegoat.

Inside Jingren Palace, the Empress engaged Nian Shilan in idle chatter, using the pretext of giving her gifts to ask many probing questions, all of which Nian Shilan deftly brushed aside.

At least, that was what Nian Shilan believed.

[Old woman, trying to sow discord between me and the other palaces? You’ve miscalculated.]

[I will never be on harmonious terms with those lowly women in this lifetime, but I won’t be used as your pawn either. I’ll simply sit back and watch the tigers fight.]

[Watching each of you tear at each other’s hair, rip off all pretenses, and stab each other in the back for the Emperor’s sake—until some go mad and others die—now that would be truly exhilarating.]

[I must strive to live until the blood-testing ceremony, expose everything publicly, and let that dog Emperor know exactly how he became the Fourth Master?!]

“Hmph~” Nian Shilan snorted triumphantly.

The Empress noticed her look of satisfaction, yet at the height of her delight, Nian Shilan inadvertently let out a sigh.

Had it not been for the inner thoughts being revealed, she would not have detected this subtle anomaly.

[The Emperor isn’t worth fighting over, but I still long for a child, even if it’s just a princess. Having one to bring joy to my knees would be far better than living alone and helpless in this palace, spending my days with my enemy.]

[It’s just a pity that with the Nian family around, that dog Emperor won’t allow me to conceive.]

[I once had a child, my child, already so big inside me… How dare that dog Emperor do such a thing?]

[Forcing me to take medicine to abort it—doesn’t his conscience ache? Isn’t he afraid my son will come haunting him in his midnight dreams?!]

[The instigator deserves to be cuckolded! Deserves to become the Fourth Master! Deserves to die without an heir!]

A flash of ferocity crossed Nian Shilan’s eyes, startling the Empress.

[When it comes down to it, the Empress is still too merciful.]

[Her own son was so young, so gravely ill, yet the dog Emperor was off being affectionate with another woman. Who wouldn’t be heartbroken and distressed?]

[The position of principal wife that should have been yours was given to another; the status of legitimate eldest son that belonged to your son was handed over to someone else. How can you not hate him? Instead, you target another woman.]

[Administering so many medicines to prevent heirs—why not just poison the dog Emperor to death?]

The Empress wore a sorrowful expression. Did she not know the fault lay with the Emperor?

Did she not want to hate the Emperor?

She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She was merely a woman; she and her family still depended on the Emperor for survival. She didn’t want to hate Rouze either, but her emotions had to find an outlet.

If only she hadn’t invited Rouze into the mansion back then.

If she hadn’t called Rouze into the mansion, she and the Emperor would never have met.

If they hadn’t met, none of the subsequent events would have occurred, and she wouldn’t have had to lurk in the shadows, playing the villain.

[Empress, oh Empress, do you know how pitiful you looked when you knelt before your beloved, tears streaming down your face, saying, “This concubine cannot do it”?]

[He was determined to see you dead, caring nothing for you.]

The Empress dared not imagine herself kneeling before the Emperor, weeping and uttering those words.

After sharing a bed for so many years, could he truly be so heartless?

[It’s just you, insisting on pretending to be virtuous, playing the victim to win sympathy. Your son died, and he was with Chunyuan—why didn’t you make a scene?]

[You barged into her courtyard with your Eldest Prince in your arms and threw your son at that old fool.]

[You should have stabbed him with a knife!]

Thinking of her own unborn child and the execution of the entire Nian family, Consort Hua truly wished she could take up a blade and kill him!

But these noble ladies, raised in prestigious families, were taught from childhood the virtues of obedience and submission.

Even though the Emperor was at fault first, bound by invisible chains, they dared not truly lay hands on the Emperor.

They needed a knife—a brave knife.

When it came to the matter of children, both the Empress and Consort Hua had their own sorrows.

The conversation in the hall had ceased at some point unnoticed.

Jian Qiu watched her mistress lower her head in silence, while Songzhi watched her own mistress do the same.

The atmosphere was clearly awkward, yet eerily harmonious.

Jian Qiu and Songzhi exchanged a glance, each finding the other displeasing, then lowered their heads to quietly remind their respective mistresses.

“I am weary.”

Nian Shilan rose and left.

Jian Qiu: She didn’t bow again!!!

[Actually, you weren’t wrong to kill Chunyuan. If she had lived, with your cowardly nature, forget becoming Empress, you probably wouldn’t even have managed a decent consort rank.]

“Consort Hua…”

The Empress suddenly felt that perhaps no one in the entire palace understood her better than this woman, “You are still young…”

You are still young; there will be more children.

[Compared to you, I am naturally young and beautiful.]

Nian Shilan touched her temple hair with a proud, coy expression.

“You are still young, yet the incense you use is rather too heavy.”

The Empress chose to ignore Consort Hua’s inner thoughts, “As autumn gives way to winter, warm fragrances are more pleasant. Recently, I have blended a new incense, Linyi Incense, which warms the womb and soothes sleep. You may take some to try.”

Her gentle and soft tone gave Nian Shilan a strange illusion.

The Empress didn’t seem like the Empress, but more like… an elder sister?

[Pah! Have I gone mad?]

[She’s no caring elder sister; she must have mixed some fertility-destroying powder into the incense.]

[She wants to harm me?]

[I already have the ancestor of all fertility-destroying powders—Huanyi Incense. What more do I have to fear? Even if I were to conceive, it would be impossible to carry to term.]

[The Empress clearly knows this. This is unnecessary. She might as well have sent some duck soup—I hear it’s well-stewed in her palace.]

Nian Shilan sized up the Empress, adopting an attitude of accepting whatever came her way:

“Then I thank the Empress. Songzhi, accept it.”

The Empress was inwardly startled once more: Did her “knowing” mean she knew I was aware, or that I had a hand in causing her child’s death?

Given her temperament, if she knew I had harmed her child, she would surely turn the world upside down, wouldn’t she?

The Empress did not want Nian Shilan to learn the truth, and a terrifying thought inexplicably surfaced in her mind:

If everyone who knows the truth dies, then no one can tell Consort Hua…

[Everyone’s mind is more intricate than a honeycomb; who knows what they’re thinking?]

[So annoying.]

[Didn’t Sun Miaoqing replace Xia Dongchun? Go out and award a Zhang Hong to vent some anger. After all, the Nian family is currently at the height of its power; even if I killed Sun Miaoqing, the Emperor wouldn’t do anything to me.]

Nian Shilan changed her mind.

Sun Miaoqing was simply someone who couldn’t affect the greater scheme of things.

If she dies, she dies.

It would also save the Sun Clan from scheming endlessly and harming her in the future.

Jian Qiu noticed that Huichun seemed to have something to say, so she escorted Consort Hua out and upon returning, said:

“Consort Hua was forced to stay here, as if Her Highness had given her some great grievance. Now that she’s going out, who knows who will suffer next.”