Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 5

The entire Imperial City was covered in heavy snow, yet the Zhaoyang Hall was warm as spring. The woman on the imperial throne had a beautiful, clear, and solitary appearance. Her slender fingers held a scroll of memorial, deep in thought and silent.

Her beauty was captivating, yet no one dared to look at her for too long.

The group of ministers had finished their discussions, and only this last report remained, unsure of how to handle it—officials in the Minnan region had discovered that the former Female Monarch’s old subordinates were gathering and lobbying border generals to march into the capital to save the Emperor.

News had circulated in the palace that the National Master had released the Female Monarch from the dark prison, and it was uncertain if this matter was the cause.

The ministers had various thoughts, and after a long while, they heard a crisp slap as the memorial on the table was tossed onto the desk. A clear, cold voice spoke without any emotion: “This matter will be discussed later. You may all withdraw for now.”

Everyone was stunned. It was not an order for execution but a postponement. Yet, no one dared to question the all-powerful National Master of the day, and they quietly retreated.

Only after the maids and eunuchs had also withdrawn did Shi Qingyi lean back against the chair, holding a hand warmer and rubbing her forehead, a headache brewing.

The one still busy running around outside for Xu Zhaosu was her own paternal aunt, Princess Chang of Yue, Xu Wan. According to the original script, she should have directly sent someone to assassinate Xu Wan, cutting off the last emotional tie in Xu Zhaosu’s heart.

It was precisely after Xu Wan’s death that Xu Zhaosu, finding herself utterly alone, finally went mad and desperately escaped the Imperial City, brought the army to the gates, and burned Shi Qingyi alive.

But now, she dared not seek death in that manner, wildly accumulating hatred points for herself.

Assassinating Xu Wan, infuriating Xu Zhaosu, means swift death. Letting Xu Wan go, allowing her to rally forces, also means swift death.

“What should I do?” Shi Qingyi looked up at the ceiling, completely unwilling to choose between the two options.

The System was cold and emotionless: “28 days left.”

Shi Qingyi: “…”

Knew I couldn’t rely on you.

Standing at the pinnacle of a nation’s power, her duties were extraordinarily numerous. By the time Shi Qingyi finally finished dealing with everything, the moon was already hanging over the willows. The heavy snow had been falling all day and continued to drift down. When she arrived at Mingze Hall, darkness had long enveloped the area. Quadrangular palace lanterns hung outside the hall, casting a warm glow in the cold, snowy night.

She paused at the hall door for a long time. When she walked in, the side door was slightly ajar. The woman inside, eyes lowered, leaned on a soft couch. Her glass-like eyes were currently dim and lifeless, her dark hair was scattered, and she was being assisted in taking medicine.

Shi Qingyi raised an eyebrow slightly. Wasn’t the person feeding the medicine the same anxious and terrified medicine boy from yesterday? In just one day, he had managed to secure a close position to serve her—truly worthy of a highly trained secret guard.

Seeing her arrive, everyone immediately prepared to bow, but she waved her hand to dismiss them. She didn’t go inside, just stood at the door, watching quietly.

In a corner unseen by others, the medicine boy quietly touched the wrist of the slender Female Monarch. That pale wrist bone stiffened for a moment, and her little finger twitched unconsciously.

Shi Qingyi glanced over, feigning nonchalance. The exposed part of the wrist was covered in blue and purple frostbite, winding all the way up to the cuff.

Mingze Hall hadn’t changed much compared to a few years ago, except that the tables and chairs looked older. Several braziers were burning on the floor, so even with the hall door open for ventilation, it wasn’t cold. Everyone remained silent. Only the blind woman seemed unaware, still slowly sipping her medicine.

One bowl wasn’t enough; there was another. As it was brought up, the person’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. Perhaps the medicine was fed too quickly, as she choked on a mouthful. The National Master, who had been standing silently, seemed to instinctively step forward two paces, only to abruptly halt when she was almost within reach.

Xu Zhaosu’s hand on the back of the couch involuntarily tensed. She turned her head and asked hoarsely: “Who?”

Although she couldn’t see, she could hear the footsteps.

The people around her were all trembling, afraid to answer. In the flickering candlelight, the National Master’s phoenix eyes were solemn and cold, making everyone shiver. After a long pause, someone finally stammered: “It’s… it’s the Imperial Physician, here to take Your Majesty’s pulse.”

Shi Qingyi dared not move. She glanced at the Imperial Physician next to her with her eyes. The Imperial Physician hurriedly stumbled forward to take the frail person’s pulse. Taking this opportunity, Shi Qingyi slowly retreated until she completely exited the hall.

Xu Zhaosu’s eyes remained still. Her slender, pale fingers subconsciously clenched her sleeve, carefully distinguishing the slight sounds amidst the messy footsteps. As those footsteps completely retreated outside the hall, her eyes flashed with a faint chill, which was quickly covered by her crow-feather lashes, concealing the emotion in her eyes.

—

The candlelight flickered. The wind and snow outside the eaves blew remotely, shaking the room’s candlelight. After finishing the medicine, night had fallen deep. Xu Zhaosu, weak in body, went to bed early, though small servants and maids were still stationed in the hall to keep the braziers burning without interruption.

In the dead of night, the palace maid on duty finally couldn’t help but collapse asleep in the outer hall. The person who had gone to bed early quietly opened her eyes. Her empty eyes were devoid of any emotion, holding only a chilling coldness that ran down one’s spine.

After a long time, she made a hoarse sound: “Has she left?”

The medicine boy kneeling beside the couch peered outside and lowered his voice: “She left after midnight. She stood outside for nearly an hour and a half.”

Yet, she didn’t come in. She just watched His Majesty from afar in the wind, her expression unclear.

—Wondering what vicious scheme she was thinking of again.

The heavy snow and cold wind outside the window pounded against the window frame, indicating how strong the wind was. Xu Zhaosu continued to ask: “Did she return to Yu Ming Hall?”

“No,” the medicine boy shook his head in puzzlement, “She went to rest in the study next door. She’s probably still worried about you.”

Mingze Hall had not been properly maintained for a long time, and the main hall was dilapidated. The study had long been ruined. How could a person like Shi Qingyi, who loved luxury, condescend to stay here? She must be worried about His Majesty, wanting to constantly monitor His Majesty’s movements.

Traitor! Rebel!

Xu Zhaosu slightly closed her eyes. After a long while, a hoarse question was heard: “What else did she say?”

The medicine boy scratched his head, quite perplexed, and said: “She just told us not to make the medicine too hot next time, and also…”

“Also, to prepare some preserved plums next to you when you drink the medicine.”

The medicine boy did not understand the reason for this, nor did he understand why the Female Monarch on the couch suddenly gripped her hands tightly beneath the silk quilt, clenching the bed curtain fiercely, feeling almost breathless for a moment.

Once, when Shi Qingyi intended to participate in governing, Xu Zhaosu rejected her under the persuasion of her ministers, displeasing Shi Qingyi. She immediately left the court in anger. When Xu Zhaosu pacified the ministers and went to find Shi Qingyi, Yu Ming Hall was locked, an open refusal to let her in.

Before meeting Shi Qingyi, she had never felt that she, the sovereign, would experience such a humiliating day, such a day of throwing caution to the wind.

For this one person, she was willing to stand outside the palace gates for two hours in the cold, snowy winter, just afraid that Shi Qingyi was angry and hoping to see her once.

She always remembered that the snow was particularly heavy that day. When she was almost unable to stand and about to collapse deep into the night, the main gate finally opened with a bang. The beautiful woman, wearing only a white cloak, her long hair draped behind her, stood at the doorway holding a palace lantern and slowly walked out: “Why is Your Majesty still here?”

Her voice was cold and clear, much like the pristine white snow of that winter.

She didn’t have the strength to speak. It had taken all her strength just to wait until Shi Qingyi came out. Her vision went blank, and she collapsed.

But she didn’t fall into the snow. Someone had tossed aside the lantern and caught her.

When she woke up, she was in the side hall of Yu Ming Hall. Yu Ming Hall, which never allowed strangers in, had opened its doors for her for the first time. The cold-looking woman sat by the couch in a single layer of clothing, her long hair piled on her snow-white shoulder. Her slender fingers held a scroll, which she looked at with lowered eyes, only saying indifferently: “Your Majesty is awake.”

If it weren’t for a copper basin placed beside the couch, she might have truly believed that Shi Qingyi didn’t care about her at all.

Before waking up, she had distinctly felt someone wiping her sweating forehead with a wet cloth.

This person was always like this. Even though her face was eternally cold and unapproachable, in certain details, she could always make people feel a trace of elusive tenderness. That is why the Female Monarch, who had experienced the world, fell for her, offering the entire kingdom just to earn her a smile.

That time of waiting resulted in the noble and precious Female Monarch falling seriously ill. She stayed in Yu Ming Hall for as long as she was sick. The medicine for her cold was extremely bitter, and she would always frown when she couldn’t bear it, until one day, after finishing the medicine, she found a few preserved plums on a plate beside her.

The girl in white clothes looked straight ahead, quietly reading her book, and said indifferently: “It’s just that I wanted to eat preserved plums these past two days. If Your Majesty dislikes them, then remove them.”

The wind and snow had stopped. The sunset after the snow fell on the woman’s cold eyebrows, and her fair, delicate earlobes seemed faintly tinged with red.

How could she be unhappy? It was precisely because she was so delighted that the next day, Xu Zhaosu permitted her to participate in governing, granting her an unprecedented privilege that hadn’t been seen for centuries.

Now, everything seemed so much like a carefully planned scheme of feigning aloofness to capture a heart, arranged step-by-step.

The medicine boy was still speaking in a low voice: “Your Majesty, we don’t know the situation with the Princess Chang right now. The news is said to have reached the Imperial City. If anything happens to the Princess Chang, you must immediately leave the palace—”

The Female Monarch closed her eyes tightly and forced a sound through her gritted teeth: “The plan remains unchanged.”

The wind and snow outside the window were fierce, striking a chord in people’s hearts. On the other side of the dividing wall, Shi Qingyi raised her head and rubbed her forehead.

Her hands were frozen stiff, unable to move, and even her movements were slow.

The heavy snow in the second lunar month was truly this cold. Was Xu Zhaosu also experiencing this when she waited for her that hour?

Waiting until even the heart sinks.