Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the dimly lit room, candlelight flickered, casting the shifting shadows of figures behind the heavy bed curtains.

The jade hooks hanging at the corners of the elaborate canopy bed, unable to withstand the violent shaking, clinked together with a crisp sound.

The fine silk quilt weighed down the curtains, dragging them to the floor...

The usually cool, pine-and-snow-like scent, under the influence of the drug, had become scorchingly hot and overwhelming.

Ji Wanyuan felt her waist was about to snap. Although her body had been exceptionally supple since childhood, she couldn't endure such "mistreatment."

As the storm of passion rolled over her, she felt her breath was being squeezed to its limit.

Then, fragmented images of family confiscation and exile flashed through her mind. The pain beneath her was excruciating. Her consciousness blurred, her spirit seemed to leave her body—it felt like the ghostly drifting described in storybooks.

Before she could adjust to this sensation, the scene shifted to an exquisitely luxurious inner chamber. Beaded curtains and jade screens shimmered with light. Someone was running and shouting right by her ear, the noise driving her to the brink of collapse.

"It's terrible! She's hemorrhaging! Hemorrhaging!"

"The young mistress won't make it!"

It seemed to be an imperial physician or a doctor giving orders, "Bring water! Fetch ginseng soup to revive her energy! There might still be a chance to save her!"

"Quickly, go fetch the master..." Her personal maid, Feicui (Jadeite), was also shouting. She even grabbed a young maid, demanding why the master hadn't been brought yet.

The young maid stammered that someone had already gone to fetch him, but the master was busy with many matters and couldn't spare the time. He instructed the doctor and the midwife to do their best.

"How can the master not come when our young mistress is giving birth to his child! She is bearing his child! What if something goes wrong? My young mistress, all these years—"

Before she could finish, the doctor and midwife cut her off, pressing the young maid, "The young mistress's condition is critical. A choice must be made now. Did the master send any word? Save the mother or the child?!"

The young maid said, "The master said... save... save the child."

"Impossible! Then what about my young mistress?!"

"..."

The dream was filled with chaotic, intense noise. Not long after, suddenly, a thunderclap tore through the sky, illuminating the entire room.

In the bronze mirror, a beautiful yet ghastly pale face appeared.

"Ah—!!!"

The silk quilt was thrown off. Ji Wanyuan's eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright, eyes wide, clutching her chest as she gasped for air.

"Oh, my precious one, did you have another nightmare?"

Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Ji immediately dropped what she was doing, hurried around the screen from outside, and rushed in. She embraced her delicate daughter, who had just woken from the nightmare, drenched in cold sweat and chilled to the bone.

"Mother is here, don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."

Mrs. Ji's heart ached as she held her only daughter, patting her back and instructing a young maid to quickly bring ginseng soup.

"Mother's here, Mother's here..."

In the gentle, comforting embrace of her own mother, Ji Wanyuan gradually regained her senses.

She... she had another nightmare...

She'd lost count of how many times it had been.

Coming back to herself now, she looked up and saw the bronze mirror on the dressing table not far away.

Although her reflection in the mirror was pale and unwell, it was still much better than in the dream. At least her face wasn't contorted in horror, her eyes bulging out, looking like someone who had died with grievances unresolved.

"Mother~~~" The thought of that lingering image of a miserable death...

Ji Wanyuan's little face, resting on Mrs. Ji's shoulder, buried itself fearfully into the crook of her neck. She whimpered like a kitten, her voice trembling with a dozen twists and turns, a sound that tugged at the heartstrings.

Tears and sweat mingled together. Her hands clutched tightly at Mrs. Ji.

Hearing this, Mrs. Ji felt her heart breaking.

She said her father had sent another summons to the imperial physicians. They would arrive by afternoon at the latest to examine her again.

She also cursed the previous physician for being utterly useless. Ji Wanyuan had been taking medicine for nearly a month, yet her health showed no improvement. Instead, the nightmares were getting worse. What a quack! She went on and on in a torrent of complaints...

If this had happened before, Ji Wanyuan wouldn't have cared at all about her mother scolding the physician. She might have even joined in to vent her own frustration!

But ever since... that incident, since she had inexplicably learned certain things, she could no longer bring herself to curse.

She even felt her mother was being somewhat arrogant. The imperial physicians were palace personnel, skilled experts in the emperor's service. Even if their official rank was lower than her father's, they had, after all, come to treat her. This was the emperor's grace. How could she insult them like that? Calling them quacks? Wasn't that slapping the emperor in the face? Those who entered the Imperial Medical Bureau had passed rigorous selection.

No wonder, later, when the Ji family fell, all the imperial physicians who had visited the Ji residence testified against the family, accusing them of arrogance, tyranny, and conduct that even overstepped imperial authority.

The things she had learned in her dream... were eerily beginning to come true.

Thinking of this, she quickly said, "Alright, Mother, your daughter just... had heart palpitations, a nightmare, that's all. It has nothing to do with the physicians. Please... don't scold them anymore... don't say any more."

Ji Wanyuan wiped her tears, sniffled, and tried to persuade her.

Seeing her pampered daughter looking so weak and drooping her head, Mrs. Ji had no mind to notice her unusual, out-of-character behavior. She agreed, saying, "Alright, alright, I won't say anymore."

The ginseng soup was soon brought. In the past, it was nothing, but now, having dreamed of hemorrhaging during childbirth when the doctor called for ginseng soup, the sight of the rich broth in the bowl made her instinctively nauseous and even fearful.

When Mrs. Ji brought it over, Ji Wanyuan caught the scent of the soup and couldn't hold back. She leaned over and vomited.

"Yuan'er!" Mrs. Ji patted her back. "Don't scare your mother like this..."

Ji Wanyuan covered her mouth with a handkerchief, staring fixedly at the ginseng soup. "Quick, quick, take this away!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she retched again. Having eaten nothing, she only brought up some sour bile.

It took half an incense stick's time for her to recover. She lay slumped over the edge of the bed, her long hair cascading down her back, some strands trailing on the floor. Combined with her pale face, she truly looked like a female ghost at that moment.

"..."

In the afternoon, the imperial physician arrived.

This time, it was the highly respected and elderly head of the Imperial Medical Bureau, Imperial Physician Fu.

This physician was very old, nearing retirement. He rarely treated patients anymore, only checking the Empress Dowager's pulse for wellness. It was because Chancellor Ji, heartbroken over his beloved daughter, had pleaded before the emperor several times, specifically requesting this physician to examine Ji Wanyuan. The emperor had granted permission.

Imperial Physician Fu's health was not very robust, and he walked very slowly. Mrs. Ji, worried about her daughter, only managed a polite smile upon first seeing the physician. After that, she paid no heed, urging him impatiently to hurry up.

From the half-open window, Ji Wanyuan had a clear view. She wanted her mother to be more polite and respectful to the imperial physician, but she lacked the strength to get up and speak.

A moment later, the physician came to stand outside the bed curtain and placed a silk handkerchief over her wrist to take her pulse.

"Please, Miss Ji, switch to the other hand. Allow me to check again."

Ji Wanyuan did as she was told, but Mrs. Ji grew increasingly anxious beside her. Could Imperial Physician Fu even tell what was wrong? Was he even any good?

After about as long as it takes to drink half a cup of tea, he was done taking her pulse.

Mrs. Ji asked anxiously, "Physician, what's really wrong with my daughter?"

"She has been taking medicine for some time now, yet shows no improvement at all. Recently, her nightmares have grown more severe. Just now, she couldn't even stomach ginseng soup—the mere smell made her vomit acid, and she retched violently. Now she is utterly weak and frail. I am truly worried."

Faced with Mrs. Ji's rapid-fire account, Imperial Physician Fu frowned, hesitant, as if struggling with what to say, pondering how to begin.

Seeing this, Mrs. Ji grew even more concerned. Had her precious daughter come down with some incurable disease?!

At this thought, Mrs. Ji could no longer restrain herself and said sharply, urging him to speak quickly and stop dragging it out and scaring them like this.

Hearing her mother's impatient tone, Ji Wanyuan felt she needed to get up and smooth things over, even if it might be of little use.

But she was truly afraid of the events from her dream coming to pass.

So, with great effort, she propped herself up, her voice barely a whisper, "Mother... in this sweltering, unbearable heat, it's very kind of Imperial Physician Fu to have come see me. Please don't be like this."

"Physician, thank you for your trouble. Wanyuan's mother is simply anxious out of concern, not disrespectful toward you."

Both Mrs. Ji and Imperial Physician Fu were taken aback.

Especially Imperial Physician Fu. This took him completely by surprise. He had met this prime minister's daughter in earlier years—she had relied on her status as the prime minister's only child to act willful and domineering. How could she now be so reasonable and gentle?

Listening to her weak, delicate voice, soft and pitiful, it truly made it hard for anyone to stay angry.

"Not at all," the physician said. "Mrs. Ji, regarding Miss Ji's illness... it's a bit crowded here. Could we speak in private?"

Mrs. Ji thought Imperial Physician Fu was afraid that Ji Wanyuan would overhear her own "condition" and worsen, so she promptly invited him to the adjoining room.

After they left, Ji Wanyuan collapsed back onto the bed, her heart filled with dread.

Could this Imperial Physician Fu have discerned her illness?

No, impossible.

This is probably all in my head, right?

The reason she began having nightmares and waking in fright was because, after she and... Wen... Wen Qiyan... did this and that some time ago... the nightmares became frequent.

Mentioning this man, thinking of his frosty profile, his dangerous and aloof demeanor, his shocking and overwhelming dominance, and his heartlessness toward her...

Ji Wanyuan couldn't help but clutch the brocade quilt tightly, a slight tremble in her legs.

"..."

Recalling that time, wild and unrestrained, she couldn't withstand his ferocity. In the end, her thoughts drifted, and then, as if possessed by a ghost, she gained some eerie foreknowledge of events that would happen later. That was what frightened her into sleepless nights, loss of appetite, and gradual emaciation.

Even if the physician were divinely skilled, how could he possibly discern those bizarre events in her mind through pulse-taking?

Medicine isn't sorcery, is it?

Even if he could read minds, he would need to look at her face to guess, wouldn't he? He was only taking her pulse.

He probably couldn't detect anything. Ji Wanyuan comforted herself like this. Phew... don't freak yourself out.

For now, she called it a "dream"... She didn't want a second person to know about the things that happened in it.

Embarrassment was secondary; the main issue was danger! After all, it concerned her father, her mother, and the Ji family.

Not long after, Mrs. Ji returned.

Hearing the footsteps, Ji Wanyuan was about to get up when she heard her mother dismiss the maidservants attending the inner chamber, even sending away her personal maid, Feicui.

Then, the bed curtain was drawn aside, revealing her mother's somewhat stern... and angry face.

Ji Wanyuan's heart skipped a beat. No way? Did she really find out?

Her mind raced, thinking of possible scenarios and how she might respond to what she was about to face.

But suddenly, she heard her mother take a deep breath and then sharply demand, "Wanyuan, who got you pregnant?"

As if struck by a blow to the head, Ji Wanyuan lay back, tilting her head in confusion.

"...Huh?"