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Chapter 8 – “I Had a Dream”

  An imperial physician had been summoned to Zhaoyang Pace on Pei Yan’s orders.

  Inside the bedchamber, the imperial doctor knelt beside the bed to take Jiang Shuyi’s pulse. Pei Yan stood outside the screen, with kneeling pace attendants filling the room.

  “Her Highness was acting strangely this morning,” Jinzhu reported quickly, beating Yuzhu to it.

  “She scolded this servant out of nowhere—that’s never happened before! Then on the way to Kunning Pace, she suddenly jumped off the sedan chair and ran there by herself! And—and Her Highness has always been close with Jiang Guiren. She’s been preparing her quarters since the selection, but today she suddenly changed her mind and demanded that she be moved to another residence!”

  Jinzhu took a breath and added, “Oh right! She also made the little prince cry. He was so frightened, and I don’t know if he’s settled yet. Does Your Majesty want to check on him?”

  As soon as she finished rambling, Chief Steward Cheng gave her a sharp gre and snapped,“Useless girl! His Majesty asked why Her Highness is feeling unwell, not for you to gossip!”

  Jinzhu shrank back with a frightened expression, murmuring, “This servant really doesn’t know…”

  Because she is one of Jiang Fei’s closest maidservants, Cheng Shouzhong dared not be too harsh with her. Just as he turned to question the others, Pei Yan had already started walking toward the inner chamber.

  Imperial Physician Wang had just set aside the pulse pillow when the emperor entered. He immediately bowed.

  “Your Majesty, Her Highness Jiang Fei is in good physical health. Apart from some internal agitation, there are no other symptoms.”

  Pei Yan gave a slight nod and calmly dismissed him.

  Inside, Jiang Shuyi sat on the edge of the bed, cautiously watching Pei Yan from the corner of her eye, heart pounding.

  She hadn’t expected that after saying what she did, Pei Yan would think she’d lost her mind—and call a physician to examine her without another word.

  She’d overheard everything Jinzhu said outside the screen. Would Pei Yan start to suspect something? How should she expin it?

  When the physician finally packed up and left, Pei Yan turned his gaze to find Jiang Shuyi stealing a look at him.

  Their eyes met. Jiang Shuyi quickly averted her gaze, head down, clutching the silk bedsheet tightly in her hands.

  It was written all over her face: guilt.

  Pei Yan’s eyes flickered with a trace of doubt. He studied her for a moment, then walked over and sat by the bed, gently taking her hand and rubbing it twice with his thumb.

  “Jiang Fei, what’s really wrong with you today?”

  His touch was warm, soothing—his voice as soft and comforting as spring water under sunlight. Jiang Shuyi’s taut nerves slowly began to rex.

  She lowered her gaze to his pale, elegant fingers, shes fluttering lightly. Her voice was quiet and fragile: “Does Your Majesty remember… the nightmare I had st night?”

  Pei Yan gave a faint smile. Of course, he remembered—she’d kept him up all night.

  “Of course.”

  Jiang Shuyi continued in a soft tone: “Last night, I dreamt that after my sister entered the pace, she harbored ill intent toward me. Pei Yu grew up to be an ungrateful son who sided with his aunt and bullied me. In the dream, I became irritable and harsh, unrecognizable, and in the end, everyone turned against me. The only one who stayed by my side… was Your Majesty.”

  She paused, voice tightening.

  “But even then, I still refused to listen to Your Majesty’s guidance, and in the end, I was… killed by my own sister.”

  Pei Yan was silent.

  Her words matched the mutterings he had heard in her sleep st night. That much was true.

  But it was still just a dream. Could it truly make her want to sever ties with her own son and sister?

  “The dream felt too real.”

  Jiang Shuyi’s eyes brimmed with tears. She looked up at him and whispered, “After waking, I couldn’t shake it off. I started thinking… maybe it was a sign from the heavens, warning me to stay away from them. So… Your Majesty, I don’t want to see them as family anymore. Is that alright?”

  She looked at him with complete reliance, as if she was ready to abandon everything, so long as he said yes.

  But would she really?

  Pei Yan could feel it—ever since Pei Yu was born, Jiang Shuyi’s reliance and affection toward him had noticeably lessened. Her heart seemed to revolve entirely around the child.

  He hadn’t minded. Most women were like that once they became mothers. Still, in idle moments, he would sometimes miss the days when Jiang Shuyi had no child and clung to him, sweet and innocent like spring sunshine.

  But no matter how much he missed it, those days would never return.

  Right now, he figured she was simply shaken from the nightmare and hadn’t quite recovered. Give it a few days, once the memory faded, she’d throw herself back into doting on her son as before.

  That thought left a faint trace of displeasure in his heart, but it passed quickly.

  “Don’t be afraid. It was just a dream.”

  Pei Yan didn’t directly answer her plea. He only spoke gently to soothe her: “If it’s upsetting you this much, then don’t see Pei Yu or Jiang Guiren for the next few days. And don’t attend the morning assemblies either—I’ll inform the Empress you’re unwell.”

  Jiang Shuyi let out a silent breath of relief.

  She had been truly afraid that even this younger version of Pei Yan would force her to py the loving mother again.

  Luckily, Pei Yan was still Pei Yan—even ten years ago, he treated her extremely well.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Shuyi looked at him with tearful eyes and pitifully asked, “How many days can I take off?”

  She never enjoyed those morning court assemblies. Even though they allowed her to show off, the rigid schedule was always suffocating.

  Especially now, right after being reborn, her mind was a chaotic mess.

  Pei Yan, whether he saw through her or not, gave a soft ugh and asked in return, “How many days do you want?”

  She tested the waters: “A year… is that okay?”

  Pei Yan was caught slightly off guard. “A year?”

  Seeing that Jiang Shuyi realized how outrageous that sounded and was now visibly sheepish, he softened his tone: “Do you think that’s reasonable?”

  Of course, she knew it wasn’t.

  She gave a pitiful little whimper.

  “Then… how about half a year?”

  Pei Yan was both amused and helpless at her exaggerated antics. He couldn’t help but feel a touch of affection.

  “Three days,” he said. “I’ll give you three days to calm your thoughts.”

  As soon as he said it, disappointment flooded Jiang Shuyi’s almond-shaped eyes. Her shes trembled with unshed tears. She looked like she was going to cry again.

  Pei Yan sighed and sat beside her, pulling her into his arms.

  “It’s enough that you’re being unreasonable. Must I—the emperor, the father of this nation—indulge you in everything too? Morning assemblies for the Six Paces are an ancestral tradition. If you find them tedious, you can go for two days and rest one day. But if you stop going entirely—with my permission, no less—it would be improper. It would damage my reputation.”

  Curled up in his arms, Jiang Shuyi felt conflicted.

  She knew how much Pei Yan valued the image of a wise and virtuous ruler. Since his ascension, he had governed tirelessly, accepted criticism openly, and had not once scked in his duties. He was also deeply filial to the Empress Dowager.

  And yet, despite all of that, he had still been dragged down by her in their past life.

  When her crimes against other consorts were eventually exposed, Pei Yan had tried to protect her. In desperation, Jin Pin’s father, who had once received a golden armor from the emperor himself, threw himself against the pace gates and died. It ignited a firestorm. Military officials erupted in outrage. Wu Guifei and Shufei’s families joined the upright civil ministers to submit a joint petition: they demanded the death of the “demonic consort.”

  But Jiang Shuyi had continued to live comfortably in Zhaoyang Pace, draped in fine robes and waited on hand and foot, unaware of how things ended. Pei Yan never told her. He even forbade the pace servants from speaking of it.

  Still, regardless of how he suppressed the uproar, it would always leave a mark in history. He would never be recorded as a fwless ruler.

  That thought made her heart soften.

  She no longer had the heart to push back. She blinked away the tears and snuggled deeper into his embrace.

  “Alright… I’ll listen to Your Majesty.”

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