"How is Consort Wan's health?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, Consort Wan's illness is extremely dangerous. If her fever cannot be brought down today, I fear..."
Wan Anran could still hear conversations in her sleep.
She struggled to open her eyes, but all she saw was a hazy ball of light and a swaying black shadow. Wan Anran struggled to move her fingers and tried to speak, but her hoarse and painful voice made it difficult to even utter a sound.
"Your Highness is awake—Your Highness is awake!"
"Shut up! Haitao, be quiet! Physician Zhao, I hope you will examine Consort Wan carefully." First came a sharp reprimand, then the woman's voice gradually softened, speaking softly and gently.
"Your humble servant will do his utmost..."
Wan Anran tried her best to listen to the words, but the voices around her grew softer and softer, and her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. In the end, she couldn't hold on any longer and closed her eyes.
Before she fell asleep, only one question remained in her mind.
Who is it...? Who is Wan Yingda...?
---
Several days later.
From being unable to get out of bed due to her illness until now, Wan Anran is finally able to sit up. She idly gazes at the snow scene outside the window and can't help but recall what happened when she was unconscious.
I didn't think of that at the time.
Isn't Wan Anran referring to herself? Wan Anran was originally a food vlogger in the future. Apart from her busy studies and research on filming videos, her only remaining pleasure was drinking sugary drinks, eating potato chips, reading novels, and watching dramas.
It's noisy, like the last book I'm following.
There's a joke circulating online: if you encounter a character with the same name as yourself, just keep reciting it until you memorize it, lest one day you find yourself transported to that world! Wan Anran, of course, never imagined that this day would actually fall on her, and what's even more ridiculous is the reason she was transported.
In this Qing Dynasty time-travel novel, Consort Wan is just an insignificant supporting character who appears in the early stages. She is beautiful and is favored by the emperor as soon as she enters the palace, but her fate is unfortunate. She is seriously ill and is soon forgotten by the emperor, suffering a lot of cold looks and wasted time.
After recovering from her illness, Wan Yingying became completely obsessed with winning favor and rising to a higher position. However, she remained a concubine for more than forty years, becoming a mere spectacle in the eyes of others.
It's tragic, lamentable, and pitiful.
Wan Anran couldn't help but leave a comment complaining.
The replies below were filled with laughter, and many kind people reminded Wan Anran to thoroughly read the book to avoid accidentally time-traveling.
Who knew that her words would come true?
Two days later, Wan Anran fainted from exhaustion due to making food videos. She only remembered that when she woke up, she was already Wan Daying, who was seriously ill. At the same time, a sentence appeared in her mind: If she wanted to go back, she had to eliminate the resentment of her predecessor.
The only way is to become the number one concubine in the harem.
Is that easier said than done? Imagine the entire harem as a company, with the top member being the chairman. If you really had that ability, you wouldn't have been a newbie in your past life; you would have been a top 100 content creator long ago.
This is simply an impossible goal!
Just as Wan Anran was feeling dejected, a flash of inspiration struck her. Although she didn't know how the novel would end, from her limited knowledge of Qing Dynasty history, Wan Anran knew that Wan Yingying, also known as Wan Liuhashi, would be the longest-lived imperial concubine in the Qing Dynasty.
Instead of vying for the title of the most beautiful woman in the harem, why not just retire early in the Forbidden City? Rather than failing in her missions and palace intrigues and dying young (without even being able to return home), she felt that living to ninety-nine was more practical.
Having finalized the future direction, Wan Anran was generally quite satisfied. As her thoughts settled, the door creaked open, and a cold wind carrying snowflakes blew into the room. Immediately afterward, a young palace maid carrying a food box hurried in.
She wore a slightly worn-out jacket, and her cheeks were flushed from the cold wind. The palace maid first stood there stamping her feet and rubbing her hands to shake off the excess snowflakes before hurrying inside.
A palace maid placed a food box on the table.
Turning around, she swiftly helped Wan Anran up, then tucked a soft pillow behind her and made sure every corner of the blanket was tucked in tightly. Finally, the maid brought out a small table and placed it on the bed: "My lady, don't be sad. That Binglu is heartless; she'll regret it later."
Two palace maids were serving the lady.
Another palace maid named Binglu found a way to leave when her predecessor was seriously ill, and she moved away in a hurry a couple of days ago without leaving a word.
"Haitao, don't talk nonsense, I'm not sad."
"Yes, yes, yes, very well, my lady, you're not sad." Hai Tao replied as if coaxing a child. She placed the food box on the table and busily brought the bitter medicine that was warming on the stove to her mistress: "Please have some, my lady?"
Wan Anran: ...
The bitter medicine saddened me even more.
The medicine was terribly bitter, but how could this frail and weak body, which was so tired from walking just a few steps, survive without taking the medicine? Wan Ying lowered her eyelids, took the bowl of medicine, and drank it all in one gulp.
The bitter taste flowed from the tip of my tongue all the way down to my stomach.
The last trace of blush on Wan Ying's face vanished instantly. She couldn't help but clench her fist and tap it against her chest, then coughed a few times with a furrowed brow.
Hai Tao was so anxious that sweat beaded on her nose: "My lady!"
She quickly opened the food box and took out a plate of red date cake: "My lady, quickly take a bite to suppress the astringent taste."
The red date cake is sweet; one bite and the sweetness fills your mouth, quickly suppressing the bitterness of the medicine.
Wan Yingda's brows relaxed, and she let out a satisfied sigh. Then, she lowered her gaze to the red date cake and couldn't help but ask, "I don't remember this being included in my allowance?"
Why did the imperial concubines go to such lengths to climb the ranks?
There are many reasons for this salary - for example, Wan Yingying, apart from her daily fixed amount of food, had to spend money to buy everything else, such as the stove, charcoal and so on. To be honest, someone like the original owner who was not favored lived a life that was even worse than that of the palace maids around the noble masters.
It's no wonder that later books mention maids of noble ladies living better lives than young ladies from ordinary families.
These days, aside from bitter medicine, all we eat is rice porridge.
Wan Anran initially wanted some candy and snacks to mask the bitterness of the medicine, but later found out... there was no candy in the promised portion!
In the Qing Dynasty palace, you had to be given a ration of sweets :)
So much so that when Wan Anran saw the jujube cake in front of her, she was so excited that her eyes welled up with tears. Of course, she still had to confirm before using it.
Hai Tao responded.
She paused for a moment before adding, "This was sent by Consort Xuan."
Consort Xuan was the principal wife of Xianfu Palace.
She had a prestigious surname—Borjigit. Nominally, she and Consort Tong were both the Emperor's cousins. After entering the palace, she was granted the title of Consort Xuan and held a principal position in Xianfu Palace. However, given that Consort Tong was a Noble Consort and Consort Xuan was just a Consort Xuan, it's clear that the Emperor had little affection for Consort Xuan and treated her with indifference.
Consort Xuan was happy to accept this arrangement.
The emperor treated Consort Wan, who was moved to Xianfu Palace due to illness, with kindness and gentleness. He not only did not ignore or neglect her, but also frequently summoned the imperial physician to treat her. To put it bluntly, if it weren't for Consort Xuan, Consort Wan might not have survived until Wan Anran's time travel.
Wan Anran suddenly realized.
The red date cake was soft, sticky, and sweet. She ate two pieces in one go before stopping, still wanting more—it was much tastier than the rice porridge she had been drinking these past few days!
The peach blossoms were unusually silent today.
Wan Anran looked up at Haitao, who had a stern face, and handed her the plate with a smile: "What's wrong, Haitao? Here, have a piece of red date cake! When you're in a bad mood, you have to eat something sweet!"
The peach tree should be low in the ground.
Seeing that her reaction was off, Wan Anran also came to her senses: "Did the palace servants outside say something?"
Hai Tao shook her head: "That's not true."
Wan Anran glanced at her and poked Hai Tao's forehead with her finger: "You think you can lie to me? Hurry up and tell me."
Hai Tao forced a smile.
She quickly gave in to Wan Yingying's stubborn expression: "The rumors outside are getting more and more exaggerated. I want to tear their mouths apart just listening to them! The imperial physicians clearly said that Your Highness can recover as long as you take good care of yourself, but they keep saying that Your Highness, Your Highness..."
As she finished speaking, Hai Tao's nose tingled, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.
It's obvious when you think about it.
Perhaps they're saying she won't live much longer? Wan Anran looked around but couldn't find a handkerchief, so she could only wipe away the tears from Hai Tao's eyes with her fingertips: "Let them talk. Once I've recovered and gone out, let's see who can talk about you anymore. Then I'll take Hai Tao and make a lot of noise in front of them, okay?"
Hai Tao stopped crying and started laughing.
As she watched her mistress chattering away about how she was going to 'show off' her power, most of the bitterness in her heart finally subsided.
Your Highness is right!
"The most important thing is to rest and recover quickly." Hai Tao smiled sweetly and nodded emphatically, "Yes, this servant believes that Your Highness will get better! By the way, Your Highness, we've been living in Xianfu Palace for over two months now, and Your Highness has been ill and hasn't been able to pay your respects to Consort Xuan. Shall we go and pay our respects to Consort Xuan tomorrow?"
If the imperial harem were a company...
The Six Palaces are like departments within a company, Consort Xuan is the department manager, and Wan Anran is a junior employee within that department. Now that the leader has shown goodwill, Wan Anran, as an employee, should respond: "That's right."
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