Chapter 147: The Empress’s Eternal Imperial Legacy

In a single night, Yanqi underwent earth-shaking changes. The Prince of Qi was cured of his chronic illness by a miraculous physician and took a new consort; his former primary consort was forced to take her own life by poison after being cast aside. Crown Prince Qi Ming’s concubine, the *fengyi*, was found guilty of theft and overbearing jealousy, resulting in her exile to the borderlands. Overnight, Marquis Chu was stripped of his peerage and reduced to a commoner.

At court, the balance of power shifted as the Prince of Qi regained his eligibility to contend for the imperial throne. The position of the First Prince and Crown Prince, Qi Ming, became precarious. Every prince holding a fiefdom now sought to participate in this new round of the succession struggle!

......

[Master, would you like to take a rest?] Little Bitch asked tentatively.

In the boundless void, a fluffy white ball drifted along with a solitary soul.

"No, let's head straight to the next world."

"Alrighty then! Sit tight and hold on, your veteran driver is online!"

With a blink of an eye, the surrounding environment instantly became unfamiliar.

The Ancient State of Lin'an—a peculiar realm where women reigned supreme and men held lowly positions, valuing the female and degrading the male.

"Quick, go inform Her Majesty the Empress! His Highness the Young Prince has woken up!"

"Yes!"

The voices of women conversing echoed in the ear.

[Bai Qiuyue, the youngest daughter of Empress Lin'an of the Ancient State of Lin'an, commonly known as the Young Prince, is indecisive by nature. Rumor has it that the Empress intended to pass the imperial throne to Bai Qiuyue. Once this news leaked, she was targeted for assassination by the First Princess, Bai Qiushuixing.]

[The detailed plot will be filled in later. It is said that Her Majesty the Empress dotes greatly on her youngest daughter Bai Qiuyue, yet rarely pays attention to her, hoping that Bai Qiuyue would develop a personality like her own—resolute and decisive, passing through a myriad of blossoms without a single leaf clinging to her coat~]

Huh?

Passing through a myriad of blossoms without a single leaf clinging to her coat?

Isn't this basically grooming her to become a supreme player in the game of love? But... Lian rather likes it. Hehe, hehehe~

"Her Majesty the Empress." The maid’s greeting was soft, yet perfectly audible.

From behind the beaded curtain and fine gauze, the Empress approached with unhurried, graceful steps. If one were to use idioms to describe her, it would be peerless in grace, unmatched in all the world!

The Female Sovereign was crowned with a phoenix diadem and robed in a phoenix gown, the peony-tinted corners of her eyes making her appear all the more noble, aloof, and striking.

"Is the youngest awake?" Her cold tone carried a trace of genuine care.

"Mother." Lian uttered this maternal title with remarkable smoothness, slipping off her tongue effortlessly.

"You may all withdraw; I will tend to the youngest." The Female Sovereign cast a cool glance at the bowl of herbal medicine that had grown cold on the table. "Take this to be warmed up. I shall feed her myself."

A daughter of the imperial house was delicate, and ordinarily, her youngest was reassuringly sensible. Though affairs of state kept her extremely busy, she had never truly neglected Qiuyue.

The youngest resting on the bed had perfectly inherited her looks: deep-set eyes, a high bridge of the nose, cherry-red lips, and that single red mole right between her eyebrows.

Pity it was only the exterior she had inherited. Her personality had somehow turned out like that useless father of hers—benevolent and full of charitable pity all day long. Yet whenever she stepped on an ant, her father had never once been seen building a tomb or erecting a stele for it.

The Empress had originally intended to temper Bai Qiuyue’s administrative abilities by having a trusted aide leak the intention of passing the throne to her youngest. Never had she imagined that the First Princess would harbor such boundless ambition as to attempt the assassination of her own younger sister.

At this thought, a cold smile inevitably crossed the Empress's lips, causing the temperature in the room to drop perceptibly.

"Mother, you look even younger than before," said Lian, alias Bai Qiuyue.

The temperature instantly rebounded. "Oh? Is that so? A treasure presented by a neighboring country—something called a facial mask. Applying it to the face for half an hour replenishes moisture and beautifies the skin. I’ll have someone bring a couple of pieces for you later."

"Your Majesty, the Young Prince's medicine is warm." A maid brought a bowl of black, murky liquid to the Empress's side. Taking it, the Empress signaled for the maid to exit the chamber.

"Mother, this medicine..."

"It's yours. Come on, drink it up."

Inside the dimensional space, Little Bitch watched this pair of mother and daughter, involuntarily recalling a classic literary trope:

Pan Jinlian: "Come, Brother Da, drink your medicine."

Wu Dalang: "I—I'm afraid I won't live much longer."

Ew~ Little Bitch cast this bizarre mental image aside and continued to monitor the situation within the space, ready to provide prompts at a moment's notice.

Gazing at the bowl of pitch-black concoction, Bai Qiuyue truly struggled to find a way to swallow it. "Can... can we leave it here for a bit? I'll drink it later."

"You wish! Open wide!" What a truly devoted mother the Empress was, tirelessly feeding her medicine. Bai Qiuyue was utterly moved, bursting into silent tears.

"Mother, *gulp*, that's really unnecessary, *gulp, gulp*..."

The moment her mouth opened, a spoonful of medicine followed, its bitterness turning her stomach and causing acid to rise.

By the time the bowl was scraped bottom, Bai Qiuyue's soul had practically left her body.

After finishing, the Empress very humanely shook the medicinal bowl upside down, making sure not a single drop of liquid was wasted.

"There now, get some rest." The Empress came with a flick of her sleeves and left with a flick of her sleeves, not even disturbing a speck of dust.

"Respectfully sending off Mother." Bedridden as she was, Bai Qiuyue was spared the formalities.

In the vast, expansive chamber, only Bai Qiuyue remained, lying alone on the bed.

[Master, I've found the location of your true body! It's inside the Imperial Jade Seal!]

The Imperial Jade Seal—doesn't that mean she has to inherit the imperial throne?

"Pull up all the data on Her Majesty the Empress for me. I want to know her preferences, her habits, and every single detail concerning Bai Qiuyue. Oh, and bring me a file on the First Princess, Bai Qiushuixing, as well."

[One moment, please.]

Bai Qiuyue gently leaned back against the head of the bed. Her current vessel had a rather sizable hole stabbed into its back, and it was still throbbing with a dull ache.

Pulling aside her sleeping robe, she revealed a bloody, centipede-like scar on her fair, tender arm—a wound likely inflicted a long time ago. This, too, seemed to be the handiwork of the First Princess in the shadows.

From her lower abdomen all the way to her chest, bandages were tightly wrapped, and the pungent fragrance of traditional Chinese medicine cleared her head immensely. Whether shifting or turning over, the slightest tug on her wounds felt like excruciating torture.

Gently brushing her fingertips against her back, a heart-rending wave of pain instantly forced Bai Qiuyue to contort her face into a grimace, baring her teeth in agony.

"Hiss—how could sisters of the same flesh and blood resort to such vicious hands? The heart of this First Princess must be made of millennia-old profound iron—so unimaginably ruthless!"

Bai Qiuyue's muttering might have been a bit too loud, for the maid on guard outside the door hurriedly pushed it open to check. "What is wrong, Your Highness?"

Bai Qiuyue quickly smoothed her grimacing expression back into normalcy. "Oh, nothing at all. There was just a moth a moment ago."

Still somewhat uneasy, the maid scanned the room once more before retreating to resume her watch outside, pausing to give a final reminder: "If Your Highness needs anything at all, just summon us. We are stationed outside in shifts!"

Bai Qiuyue nodded to indicate she understood.

The moment the maid stepped out, a flash of white light flickered across Bai Qiuyue's body, and a ball of white fluff materialized out of thin air.

[Master, all the information you requested is recorded in this crystal core!]

Bai Qiuyue gave Little Bitch a fierce petting session. The tactile feel of the fluffy white ball was utterly peerless under heaven—simply too satisfying to pet.

The black crystal was rich in spiritual energy; once channeled with her divine sense, the information stored within its energy would project directly into her mind.

This method of recording history had been pioneered by a supreme powerhouse in the cultivation world ages ago. Later on, however, recording things via scrolls and books had grown far more widespread, causing the method of using crystal cores to gradually fade into the long river of history.