Mingming extended her hand. The physician placed a silk cloth between them and carefully took her pulse. He pondered for a long while, then studied her complexion.
The Emperor frowned, visibly impatient. When the physician still didn’t speak, he leaned forward and asked bluntly,
“Well? How many months pregnant is Lanyan?”
“Ah—well…” Before the physician could answer, Mingming cut in,
“I am not pregnant!”
“Shut your mouth! Don’t force me to drag that adulterer out and behead him right now!” the Emperor snapped at her, then turned back to the physician.
“Is the fetus stable? Does she need rest and medicine? She hasn’t gone out much lately. At meals, she pretends to be eating vegetarian with me, but behind my back, who knows how much meat she sneaks…” He muttered to himself, “Well, I suppose that’s a balanced diet.”
“But today she ate a lot more than usual. Should she be avoiding certain foods? Could overeating cause the baby to grow too large and make delivery difficult later? Oh, right—earlier I patted her belly. Not too hard, but could that have harmed the child?”
There was even a flicker of genuine worry on his face.
Mingming: “…”
Physician He: “…”
Gao Fu: “…”
All the watching servants: “…”
Mingming thought, Why is he so calmly accepting that he’s about to be a dad? He even looks a little excited?!
The system wanted to cover its eyes. Knew it. This world was broken from the start.
Mingming’s gaze drifted downward, doubts gnawing at her regarding the Emperor’s manly dignity.
Is there really no other explanation?
What she didn’t realize was that everyone present—including Gao Fu—was now looking at her differently.
So it was true. Lanyan really was special to His Majesty.
They’d already thought him unusually tolerant toward her, but to see him willing to accept even a child that wasn’t his—simply because she was the one carrying it!
The one most uncomfortable was Physician He. He could tell the Emperor genuinely had expectations for this supposed child… but how was he supposed to conjure a pregnancy out of thin air?
He even caught himself worrying: if he told the truth and disappointed the Emperor, would he be able to leave here alive tonight?
Finally, trembling, he said,
“Your Majesty… Lady Lanyan is… she is…”
The Emperor leaned forward, eager.
“She’s not pregnant. Just… just a little malnourished.”
That was the second time that evening the Emperor’s face froze.
He pointed at Mingming and raised his voice.
“Her? Malnourished?”
The shock in his tone was impossible to miss.
Who would ever believe a supposedly malnourished woman could look this fair and radiant, cheeks glowing with health, skin dewy like it could drip water at a pinch?
Not to mention the fact that she had just devoured an entire pork knuckle, half a roast duck, and who knows how many other meat dishes. Who would believe that she was malnourished?
The physician collapsed to his knees.
“Your servant deserves death! But from Lady Lanyan’s pulse, there is indeed no sign of pregnancy. Rather, she shows some weakness and deficiency. Likely from years of poor nourishment, only recently has she begun to recover somewhat.”
In other words, Jiang Zelan had long been underfed at home, and only after entering the palace had she managed to make up for it.
The Emperor gave her a doubtful look.
Mingming batted her eyes innocently and muttered her go-to excuse:
“Your servant is just a concubine-born daughter…”
The Emperor rubbed his temple. That “concubine-born” excuse of hers was wearing thin. He waved her off.
“Enough. No need to repeat it.”
For once, he seemed at a loss. He told the physician,
“See how she can be supplemented.”
Physician He hurried to comply.
“I’ll prescribe some medicine for Lady Lanyan right away.”
Mingming, who had been enjoying the sight of the Emperor’s frustration, snapped alert at the word medicine.
“Medicine? What medicine?!”
She recoiled, horrified.
“Who takes herbal medicine for malnutrition? Malnutrition means you need food!”
The Emperor waved a hand decisively.
“Prescribe it.”
Mingming: You’ve got to be kidding me.
That night, as they were about to sleep, an urgent summons arrived. The Emperor threw on his robe and left in a hurry, but not before instructing her:
“Drink the medicine obediently. I’ll have someone watch you.”
Mingming turned her back, pulled the covers over her head, and pretended not to hear.
For several days afterward, she didn’t see the Emperor at all. State affairs kept him too busy. If not for Gao Fu personally delivering her meals, she might have believed he’d already forgotten about her.
Each day’s meals were plentiful, balanced, and delicious—she was quite content.
…If only the herbal concoctions from the Imperial Infirmary didn’t arrive three times a day on the dot.
With the Emperor absent, Mingming finally had time to reflect.
She decided: one cannot live life aimlessly. One cannot live only for a chest of five hundred gold ingots, another chest of eight hundred silver ingots, fifty gold hairpins, forty jade necklaces, thirty jade bangles, and twenty pairs of earrings! A person needs meaning! A person needs ambition!
The system: You counted that awfully clearly.
“So how do you plan to live meaningfully?”
Mingming muttered pitifully,
“A-at the very least, I should try the heroine’s route, right? But I can’t even figure out who the heroine is! If I can’t guide her to her happy ending, won’t I be doomed to suffer? No! I have to find out who the real heroine is!”
She decided to start with Jiang Ruotian.
And came up empty.
She stumbled on Jiang Ruotian in the palace yard—leading a dozen concubines in horse stance training…
So she turned instead to Jiang Fuling.
Jiang Fuling was in the middle of a hair-pulling fight with other concubines.
Half the women were trying to break it up, the other half egging it on. Soon, the whole group was brawling.
Mingming was struck by a wave of crushing loneliness.
Am I seriously the only normal person left in this world? Sob sob sob… System, what do I do? What do I do?!
System: A·men.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152