Hustle Queen in the Harem: My Consort Won't Stop Grinding

Chapter 63: Chapter 51: Demotion to Talented Woman

"Yes, anything that displeases my dear concubine should be kept far away."

the Emperor said mildly.

Doctor Xin didn’t dare raise his head, his back breaking out in a cold sweat.

’The Emperor is just trying to placate a Beauty. Why does he have to use my diagnosis as a prop?’

"You may go and write a prescription for Noble Lady Gu." At the Emperor’s words, Doctor Xin felt as if he’d been granted a pardon. He bowed low and hurried out.

Jiang Xian was feeling unwell, and the Emperor had intended to coax her into resting. But his sick beloved concubine was even clingier than usual. The moment she lay down, her hand snaked out, pulling him down to lie with her. ’If you can get your boss to slack off with you, then slacking off is basically just working overtime.’

"Foolishness!"

"Didn’t the Emperor say he would keep me company?" Jiang Xian deliberately angled her face to look her most fetching, her eyes gazing up at him. Beneath the quilt, her slender waist tensed and she focused on her Dantian, lending her already pleasant voice an even softer, more bewitching quality. "They say people become more vulnerable when they are ill, that they long for someone to lean on. My pillar of support is the Emperor."

’Damn it. I love hearing this.’

The Emperor’s expression softened involuntarily, but he merely held her down to stop her antics.

Debauchery in broad daylight would be unseemly, and the Emperor had his reputation to consider.

He was fully dressed, and when he was silent, his handsome features held a stern, profound beauty. The Royal Family of the Yan Chi Dynasty had no unattractive members, nor would the aristocratic families dare present a woman who lacked beauty.

Gazing at his face, Jiang Xian found herself in a bit of a daze.

She had been beautiful in her past life as well, but for a girl from a poor background, beauty was like a child carrying a bar of gold through the streets at night. She had rejected all outside temptations, focusing only on her studies. She had died without ever having been in a relationship, and her resistance to handsome men was astonishingly high.

Jiang Xian lifted her hand, the pad of her finger brushing against the corner of the Emperor’s mouth.

It was a profoundly disrespectful gesture, but the Emperor, unconcerned, caught her hand. "What’s wrong?"

"My grandmother used to say that people born with the corners of their mouths naturally upturned will never have to worry about food or clothing their entire lives."

The Emperor chuckled. "And you’re applying such childish talk to me."

"Childish talk?"

"The corners of Xian’er’s lips are upturned as well. It must have been your grandmother’s wish for you to live a life free from want."

He lowered his body, tracing her lips with his own. They tasted faintly of tea as he gently caught her lower lip between his teeth. Jiang Xian closed her eyes. During this endlessly tender and intimate kiss, only a single thought surfaced in her mind—

’So the corners of my mouth are upturned, too.’

’My destiny should be a life free from want.’

The bright imperial yellow of the Emperor’s robes flashed across her eyelids, and she was suddenly jolted back to her senses. She pleaded in a low voice, "I don’t actually believe in fate. I believe in the Emperor. The Emperor can ensure I live a lifetime of peace, happiness, and endless provision."

The Emperor’s train of thought was rather unique. He kissed her eyelids and said, "I can guarantee you a life free from want for the better part of your life. As for a whole lifetime... Xian’er will have to work hard to conceive a Prince."

His hand came to rest on her flat stomach.

The women of the harem all shared a tacit understanding: to live out one’s golden years in peace, one needed a son—a Princess wouldn’t suffice. Never mind her rank; once the Emperor passed away, a concubine without a Prince was fated to be either buried alive with him, sent to guard his mausoleum, or crammed into a small residence with the other imperial concubines.

Those who had a Prince, however, could leave the palace to be cared for in honor.

Inside the palace, the title of "imperial concubine" sounded respectable, and they were technically the Emperor’s elders. In reality, they held no real power and often lived less comfortably than they had as a favored concubine. But to live in her son’s manor meant becoming the revered matriarch of the household, doted upon by all. A Prince was, therefore, a concubine’s most tangible security for the second half of her life.

The Emperor knew this and wasn’t afraid to say it aloud.

But only he was allowed to say it.

If a concubine said it, it would imply she thought he wouldn’t live long and that her only hope was a son. Then he would deliberately deny her any chance of conceiving.

"I am too short-sighted to think of such distant things. It is true that I long to conceive, but in my view, the Emperor is my support for life. Children would simply be a bonus."

’For women in a feudal era, being a concubine was like working a job.’

’Raising children was like launching a startup.’

’Could you tell your boss you were hoping to start your own business and go solo? Of course not. The boss would just think you were getting too big for your britches.’ Jiang Xian was well-versed in this logic. Besides, having just transmigrated and received a face full of spoilers from her system, she knew this Emperor was a survivor. He would live for a very, very long time.

The famously long-lived Emperor Qianlong lived to be eighty-seven.

This Emperor would live three years longer than Qianlong, making it past his ninetieth birthday.

The average life expectancy in ancient times was only thirty-five years old. The Emperor was currently twenty-five. In other words, if some concubine were to get pregnant this year, the Emperor might very well outlive his own grandson before he finally passed away.