Send Them All to Work the Fields

[Huh? Who's supposed to deal with them? Me?]

Jiang Nuan was a little bewildered. She did not understand why she had suddenly been put in charge of dealing with them.

The condemned people, whose hearts had been cold as ashes, heard this and grasped at it like a drowning person clutching a straw. They hurriedly begged Jiang Nuan for mercy:

"Ninth Princess, greed blinded me, and I withheld your monthly allowance, but I still have an eighty-year-old mother to support. Please spare my life!"

"Ninth Princess, you're magnanimous. Please forgive me just this once. I promise I'll never dare do it again."

"Ninth Princess..."

As they spoke, they kept kowtowing to Jiang Nuan, not stopping even when bloody marks began to appear on their foreheads.

They certainly looked pitiful, but Jiang Nuan was not someone who would soften her heart simply because they looked miserable.

[Guagua, let me hear their dirt, especially anything truly heinous.]

[All right, Host. That Liu Yu from the Imperial Household Department competed with someone else for the position of steward. He poisoned his rival, making him gradually weaken until he died, then passed it off as death from illness and successfully took his place. He also used his position as steward to withhold a great deal of the palace maids' and eunuchs' monthly allowances. On top of that, he bullied men and abused women. There wouldn't be enough bamboo strips to record all his crimes.

That eunuch Liu Yu is a twisted soul. He enjoys bullying people beneath him and gets a sense of achievement from it. He has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of at least a dozen people.

And...]

Through Guagua's information, every dark corner of their lives was laid bare.

Suddenly, they pointed at Jiang Nuan in terror, trying to speak, yet unable to utter a word.

They had clearly not seen Jiang Nuan open her mouth, yet they heard her voice, along with a child's voice that exposed every shameful, wicked thing they had done. Cold sweat poured off them.

"W-witch!" Liu Yu pointed at Jiang Nuan and managed that one cry before the shock overwhelmed him and he fainted.

His reaction startled Jiang Nuan.

Jiang Yunsheng and Xiao Xiao exchanged a glance, then Jiang Yunsheng said to Jiang Nuan:

"Tell your imperial father how you want to deal with them. I'll back you up."

We need to deal with them quickly. It would be bad if the matter of hearing her thoughts got out.

Jiang Nuan thought for a moment and came up with a solution.

"Death is too good for these people, but exterminating three generations of their families is going too far. How about executing them, then sending all their direct blood relatives to the northern outskirts to clear land and farm? Give them only enough supplies to survive."

Although punishment should not extend to the family, their relatives had profited plenty from their crimes. This could serve as their atonement.

Jiang Yunsheng nodded, reasonably satisfied with Jiang Nuan's decision.

He then ordered the guards to drag them away.

Jiang Yunsheng was still thinking about Jiang Nuan's mention of his death from illness and Great Xia's fall. Just as he was pondering how to broach the subject, Jiang Nuan yawned.

[Mmm~ My belly's full, and I've had plenty to drink. Now I'm getting sleepy. What should I do?]

Jiang Yunsheng rubbed his brow. Forget it. Let her sleep first. There's still plenty of time. It isn't too late.

"Go and rest. Oh, and don't go back to your Listening to Rain Pavilion. The Hibiscus Pavilion is yours now. Someone will take your belongings over shortly."

[Huh? The Hibiscus Pavilion? Isn't that where the previous emperor's favorite consort lived? It's the palace closest to the emperor's bedchamber, and the furnishings are lavish beyond compare. I remember Consort Xian wanted it, but my lousy dad wouldn't give it to her.

Well, if he's giving it to me, I'll take it. Anywhere is better than the Listening to Rain Pavilion. That name doesn't fit at all. Every time it rains, there's a downpour outside and a drizzle inside. It should be called the Drenched by Rain Pavilion.]

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao's heart ached again.

"Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, this daughter takes her leave."

Jiang Nuan bowed and left.

As she left, she was still thinking:

[I'll get a good sleep first. Once I wake up, I'll think about what to do when my lousy dad dies of illness six years from now and Great Xia falls a year after that.]

Hearing this thought for the first time, Xiao Xiao was deeply shaken, but she saw that Jiang Yunsheng's face remained expressionless.

After Jiang Nuan left, Jiang Yunsheng dismissed all the palace maids and eunuchs.

As soon as everyone was gone, Xiao Xiao said impatiently:

"Your Majesty, you heard Nuannuan's thoughts just now too, didn't you? Nuannuan is my daughter! What did she mean about six years from now... seven years from now...?"

"From what we've seen so far, Nuannuan's thoughts haven't been wrong yet. There's a strong chance they're true. As for those future events she mentioned, I'm not certain either."

Jiang Yunsheng did want to get to the bottom of it, but some mysterious force prevented him from telling Jiang Nuan that he could hear her thoughts. He had yet to work out its limits.

After Jiang Yunsheng finished speaking, Xiao Xiao dropped to her knees before him.

"Your Majesty, no matter what, Nuannuan is my daughter. I've already neglected her for ten years. I'm willing to exchange my position as empress and half the Xiao family's wealth for Nuannuan's life."

From ancient times to the present, no one had ever been able to hear another person's thoughts. Moreover, there was something of unknown identity by Nuannuan's side. Xiao Xiao feared Jiang Yunsheng would regard Nuannuan as an evil, unnatural being.

"Empress, why are you doing this?"

Jiang Yunsheng helped Xiao Xiao to her feet. He understood her concern, but he had no such intention.

"Nuannuan is my daughter, and she is also a divine maiden bestowed upon Great Xia by Heaven, so that our dynasty may endure for a thousand autumns and ten thousand generations. This is a blessing."

Hearing this, Xiao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Jiang Yunsheng had no intention of killing Nuannuan, she was confident she could protect her.

Seeing that Jiang Yunsheng was still troubled by Nuannuan's parting thought, Xiao Xiao offered some advice:

"Your Majesty needn't worry so much right now. Didn't Nuannuan say she would consider what to do after waking up? Her thoughts will surely reveal more information then. Why not hear them before considering a response?"

Jiang Yunsheng nodded, glanced at the pile of state affairs awaiting him, and began working through them.

Seeing this, Xiao Xiao took her leave as well.

That night was destined to be sleepless for many.

After learning of his death from illness and Great Xia's fall, Jiang Yunsheng could not sleep at all, so he simply spent the entire night handling state affairs in the Hall of Diligent Governance.

After returning, Xiao Xiao ordered her people to investigate what had happened ten years earlier, when she and Concubine Liu gave birth. Just as Jiang Nuan had said, Concubine Liu had died so suddenly that many traces of her tampering had not been properly cleaned up. Xiao Xiao soon uncovered the truth.

In her fury, Xiao Xiao had a large number of people executed.

That night, she considered how to acknowledge Jiang Nuan as her daughter.

Meanwhile, the other consorts, especially those without children, began entertaining new ideas.

When the newborn Jiang Nuan lost her mother, many consorts had been itching to act. However, because the emperor and empress disliked her, they had weighed the benefits against the drawbacks and given up.

Now, however, Jiang Nuan had somehow suddenly gained the emperor's attention and even moved into the Hibiscus Pavilion. How could they possibly sit still? One after another, they began considering how to take Jiang Nuan under their own names.

Jiang Nuan, who had set all of this in motion, knew nothing of it. Tucked beneath her quilt, she slept soundly.