Chapter 30: Would He Say Such Things?

When Gan Qiongying woke up the next morning, she and Lihua were embracing each other—she had once again held Lihua while sleeping through the night.

Gan Qiongying sat up, gazing at Lihua’s sleeping face, and sighed inwardly about how habits could be harmful.

Truth be told, Gan Qiongying had never been in love in her previous life. Logically speaking, after being reborn and sleeping while holding a grown man, she should have blushed, felt her heart race, or indulged in wild thoughts.

That’s how it’s written in novels—arranged marriages turning into love, and all that.

But in reality, the sheer effort of living cautiously had already drained all her strength and spirit.

All she could think about now was maintaining control over the current situation. On the foundation of a predetermined tragic ending, she aimed to carve out a different happy ending.

Thus, even though she had held Lihua like a pillow, she felt no flutter of romantic feelings.

Instead, she blamed her habit of sleeping while holding something. Next time she slept, she would ask Manyue to add an extra blanket to avoid making the Consort think she was deliberately taking advantage.

Seeing that Lihua was still sound asleep, she slowly withdrew her hands and feet, gently got out of bed, and moved with deliberate slowness. Only after putting enough distance between herself and the bed did she call Manyue to help her freshen up.

Gan Qiongying assumed Lihua, who had his back turned to her, was still deeply asleep and was careful not to disturb him. After all, putting herself in his shoes, being woken up early could rank among life’s ten greatest tortures.

Little did she know that the person in bed had already slowly opened his eyes. His long, dark eyelashes fluttered twice, his gaze calm and gentle—perhaps he had woken up even earlier than she had.

Manyue deftly attended to Gan Qiongying, half-crouching beside her to adjust her dress.

Meanwhile, Gan Qiongying, still bleary-eyed, was thinking about what to have for breakfast. After the exhausting events of the previous day, only delicious food could soothe her now.

“Princess,” a maid reported from outside, interrupting Gan Qiongying’s thoughts. Manyue, having finished adjusting the dress, retreated to the table to pour tea.

Gan Qiongying walked slowly to a chair and sat down, her posture relaxed as she waited for breakfast to be served.

She nodded to the maid, signaling her to speak.

“Early this morning, Eunuch Li came. Seeing that the Princess was still asleep, he asked me to relay a message,” the maid said, lowering her head and speaking at a measured pace. “His Majesty said he wishes to summon the Princess to the palace today.”

Gan Qiongying, who had been sitting loosely, felt her heart drop at these words and instinctively straightened her posture.

Manyue, hearing this, also paused for a moment before handing over a cup of hot tea. Gan Qiongying feigned composure, her expression unreadable, though inwardly she was panicking. “Today?”

The maid replied, “Yes.”

Why the sudden summons?

Gan Qiongying quickly realized the reason and inwardly cursed. It was likely because she had summoned the Imperial Physician twice in one night. The physicians on duty had fixed schedules, and her disruption of the order must have alarmed the palace.

Of course, the Emperor wouldn’t personally concern himself with the physicians’ schedules, but he did pay attention to her.

After dismissing the messenger maid, she instinctively wanted to rest her forehead in her hand to think of a plan but restrained herself and instead reached for the hot tea, hoping a sip would calm her nerves.

It must have been those eighteen surveillance agents secretly reporting to the palace. No matter how much she guarded against them, surveillance was hard to evade!

With over a dozen pairs of eyes watching, even the slightest movement was noticed. The Emperor probably knew which foot she stepped in with first.

This was bad.

Really bad.

Gan Qiongying had let her guard down a bit these past few days and couldn’t immediately recall if she had said or done anything inappropriate.

.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t prepared for this. Nearly two months had passed since her transmigration, and meeting the Emperor was inevitable sooner or later.

But when it actually came time to meet him, she couldn’t help feeling nervous and afraid. Aside from the little bit of plot she had read, she was completely in the dark about the Emperor, this dynasty, and all court etiquette.

Moreover, Gan Qiongying’s panic wasn’t even due to her ignorance and having to brace herself to enter the palace. It stemmed from her private dealings with court officials and accepting bribes.

After transmigrating, when Gan Qiongying first saw those blatantly placed letters of bribery from Princess Duanrong in the study, she was shocked. Who keeps evidence of corruption and bribery out in the open like that?

But at the time, she had neither the mind nor the time to deal with it, so she just left it untouched. Since her transmigration, those letters had received no response.

At this stage in the plot, her situation was akin to being surrounded on all sides. Although the plot described the Emperor as consistently indulgent toward her, the major crime of disrupting the officialdom was something even a Princess couldn’t escape severe punishment for. Moreover, the absurd things Gan Qiongying had done in the plot were countless.

One day, she forcibly took the son of a disgraced official into her residence; the next, she relentlessly pursued the hostage from an enemy state, making it known to everyone and bringing shame upon the royal family.

With each and every one of these incidents, if the Emperor wanted to deal with her, wouldn’t it be a matter of minutes?

In the plot, there was very little description of the relationship between the Emperor and Princess Duanrong. It only mentioned that the Emperor indulged her. Yet, the Emperor clearly knew she was infatuated with the Jinchuan hostage Zhongli Zhengzhen, but still married her off to a lowly merchant—this was something Gan Qiongying could never understand.

No matter how many times she recalled, she couldn’t remember any interaction between these two. The plot didn’t even mention any scenes of them together.

Gan Qiongying thought about how the original host had refused the Emperor’s summons twice before, yet not only was she not punished, but the Emperor even sent people to bring her gifts and check on her. From this, it was clear that Princess Duanrong had always been arrogant in front of the Emperor.

Gan Qiongying had been maintaining her persona all along without any slip-ups, but today she planned to show submission in front of the Emperor.

To keep her life, she couldn’t afford to lose face.

During breakfast, Gan Qiongying was still thinking about this. Normally, she would savor delicious meals with delight, but today she was clearly distracted, and Lihua kept glancing at her.

Several times, Lihua looked up to see Gan Qiongying looking grave. He had been enjoying the meal himself, especially since he hadn’t eaten well at dinner the night before. But seeing Gan Qiongying’s troubled expression and how she barely touched her food, he lost his appetite as well.

Lihua put down his chopsticks and looked up, wanting to meet her gaze, but she never raised her head.

Lihua took a quiet deep breath, thought it over carefully, and finally asked, “What’s troubling you? Is it that General Qu’s condition has worsened?”

Gan Qiongying was pulled from her turmoil by his pleasant voice and looked up at him.

Lihua continued, “If the Princess is truly worried about Little General Qu’s injuries, there’s no need to lose your appetite over it. Even if the Imperial Physician cannot cure him, it’s not entirely hopeless.”

“There is a miraculous doctor among the common folk, skilled in healing, but he is eccentric and never accepts payment.” Lihua paused here, pursed his lips, and seeing that Gan Qiongying was listening attentively, he spoke again, his voice cooling by two degrees.

He slowly raised his head, looking at her, his eyes also turning cold. “That miraculous doctor accepts a certain type of fruit, and my estate happens to have it.”

At this point, Lihua paused again, glancing at Gan Qiongying once more.

Then, speaking slowly, he said, “I can visit that miraculous doctor and invite him to the residence to treat Little General Qu.”

After saying this, he lowered his head, no longer meeting her gaze.

Upon hearing this, Gan Qiongying remained silent. With her own life hanging in the balance, how could she spare the energy to worry about others?

Feeling irritable and too weary to care, she casually said to Lihua, “You decide matters within the estate. Handle it as you see fit.”

Then, recalling something else, she hesitated before adding, “I need to go to the palace today. I’m not sure if I’ll be back tonight.”

Gan Qiongying stared down at her bowl, completely distracted. “If I don’t return tonight, you’ll… have to sleep alone.”

“Ah,” she sighed, “I’ll have to sleep alone too.” Who knew if she’d even get the chance to sleep at all.

Li Ye was momentarily taken aback by her words. They sounded… odd, as if she were reluctant to part, as if they couldn’t sleep without each other.

They hadn’t even slept together many times.

At this thought, Lihua’s ears began to flush again. He picked up his chopsticks, the warmth gradually returning to his eyes.

So her lack of appetite wasn’t because she cared about the Little General Qu, but because she was worried about entering the palace?

Lihua paused, took a bite of food, chewed it slowly, and swallowed. He wanted to advise Gan Qiongying, but words of caution were difficult for him to voice.

“Don’t…” Lihua lowered his head, hesitating before finally speaking up. “Don’t clash with His Majesty.”

He feared that offering unsolicited advice might anger Gan Qiongying, causing her to revert to the arrogant and domineering demeanor she had shown two months ago. Seeing that she didn’t interrupt, he continued, “Temper your disposition a bit.”

Huh?

Did I hear that right?

He actually said something like that?

Gan Qiongying was astonished. A smile spread across her face as she readily replied, “Thank you for the reminder, husband. I promise to follow your advice.”

No wonder he had been stammering and hesitating earlier. She finally understood that Lihua’s hesitation was because he wanted to advise her.

Of course, she wasn’t ungrateful. If Lihua was starting to worry about her, how far could they be from standing on the same side?

“I’ll listen to you,” Gan Qiongying added earnestly.

Their eyes met. Gan Qiongying’s face was lit with a smile, while Lihua couldn’t bear her gaze and lowered his eyes to avoid her overly intense stare.