Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 922: Chapter 833: Refusing to Be a Slave 53

As expected, the Emperor saw the corner of Lady Jing’s skirt hidden under the quilt, and his eyes filled with even more compassion, ”My dear concubine is so kind-hearted; how can I not be considerate of your feelings? However, since they failed to rescue the Empress Dowager in time, forcing you to save her instead, leading to your miscarriage, I can spare their lives but there must be punishment. I will punish them by withholding their palace allowances for a year and will have each flogged fifty times.”

This time, the Emperor was considered lenient. Fifty lashes were merely flesh wounds; fifty strikes with a board could cripple someone. Immediately, Nanny Sun and the palace maids kneeled down to thank the Emperor’s mercy and thank Lady Jing for pleading on their behalf.

The Emperor offered a few words of consolation to Lady Jing, then turned to the Imperial Physician who attended to her, inquiring, ”How is Lady Jing’s health? Will this injury cause her any lasting harm?”

The Imperial Physician immediately bowed and replied, ”In response to the Emperor, the loss of Lady Jing’s child was very sudden, and the manner in which it happened was equivalent to a forced violent miscarriage, so naturally, the damage to her body is considerable.

Fortunately, there was a palace maid skilled in medicine by her side who provided immediate care, minimizing harm to her body. Though losing the child has inevitably caused some injury, with careful recuperation, in three to four years she should be fine, and it won’t affect her fertility.”

The Emperor was a bit surprised. He was aware of this medically skilled palace maid beside Lady Jing, as Lady Jing had previously mentioned Nangong Shuangshuang and her mother. When Lady Jing mentioned Nangong Shuangshuang, the Emperor had offhandedly instructed Song Lin to investigate a bit, driven by curiosity about how a woman managed to escape the Violence Room with her mother.

Indeed, although Lady Jing had claimed she chose Nangong Shuangshuang of her own accord, the Emperor did not see it that way. However, the Emperor did not concern himself too much. For everyone in this world, from the highborn to the lowly, desires to advance further. Even as the Emperor, he aspired to be a wise ruler for the ages.

Thus, the Emperor only casually instructed Song Lin to listen to an investigation. He didn’t dislike Nangong Shuangshuang for her actions to leave the Violence Room; in fact, he felt some admiration, as her departure with her mother indicated she was very filial.

Naturally, in the Emperor’s eyes, Nangong Shuangshuang was also an ambitious person. However, the Emperor always believed that ambition was necessary to accomplish things well.

Without ambition, a servant cannot focus on serving sincerely to earn their master’s trust; without ambition, a concubine cannot dedicate herself to serving with the hopes of advancing; without ambition, an official won’t work diligently to seek promotion. Everyone in the world has ambition, including himself, so the Emperor did not dislike ambition.

What the Emperor disliked were those who had ambition but no ability to match it. He had initially been curious about Nangong Shuangshuang’s matter, but once he was sure she had enough ability to match her ambition, he set it aside; she was but a servant of a concubine, not worth further thought.

Yet, upon suddenly hearing Nangong Shuangshuang’s name again, the Emperor recalled his previous curiosity about her and gained a further understanding of her capabilities. She was someone whose abilities closely aligned with her ambitions.

But that was all. The Emperor, currently overwhelmed with the unexpected events surrounding the Empress Dowager and Lady Jing, awarded Nangong Shuangshuang five hundred taels of silver and put her out of his mind once more.

After inquiring further after Lady Jing, the Emperor briskly hurried to Furong Palace to visit the Empress Dowager. Even though the Empress was there overseeing matters, his prolonged absence would evoke criticism.

After the Emperor left, Nanny Sun and the palace maids instantly knelt on the ground with a thud, gratefully thanking Lady Jing for saving their lives.

Though being fined a year’s palace allowance and fifty lashes was not a light punishment, for servants, fifty lashes were bearable since they wouldn’t be life-threatening or leave them crippled; however, a year’s palace allowance was crucial, as it represented the prestige a palace maid held even after leaving or growing old.

But compared to losing their lives, this punishment was indeed insignificant. Lady Jing calmly accepted their gratitude, saying, ”I promised to spare your lives, and naturally, I keep my word. You also owe thanks to Shuangshuang; if not for her clever plan, you wouldn’t have escaped punishment so easily.”

Nanny Sun and the maids, filled with gratitude, turned to sincerely bow and thank Nangong Shuangshuang, ”Miss Nangong, we are truly grateful to you.”

Nangong Shuangshuang stepped aside, not accepting their salutations, and smiled, ”Nanny Sun and sisters, there’s no need for this. We all serve the Empress, and now we share the responsibility to ease her burdens. We’re like family, and when the Empress conceives again, we’ll still need Nanny Sun and sisters to attend to her.”

Nangong Shuangshuang was helping Lady Jing rally Nanny Sun and the palace maids. With what transpired, having them attend to Lady Jing during any future pregnancy would be much more convenient.

Experts like Nangong Shuangshuang and Lan Ying wouldn’t be strictly kept away, ensuring close care for Lady Jing. Nangong Shuangshuang was confident that such tragic events wouldn’t necesitates the loss of Lady Jing’s child again.

Grateful for their reprieve, Nanny Sun and the others wisely left the inner room, leaving the space to Lady Jing, Nangong Shuangshuang, Lan Ying, Chun Sheng, and other confidants.

Once everyone had left, Lady Jing covered her abdomen with her hand, the façade of gentle and frail determination she maintained in front of the Emperor, and the calm composure she showed in front of Nanny Sun and the others vanished, leaving only the sorrow of losing her child.

Seeing Lady Jing’s demeanor, Nangong Shuangshuang remained silent for a moment before saying, ”Your Majesty, now’s not the time to dwell on the sorrow of losing a child. We’ve already practically torn our relationship with the Empress Dowager to shreds.”

Lady Jing looked up in surprise, questioning Nangong Shuangshuang, ”Shuangshuang, why do you say this? I risked my life today to save the Empress Dowager and even lost my child. Why would the Empress Dowager turn against me?”

”Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has a profoundly scheming mind. Outsiders may not know the ins and outs of this matter and wouldn’t link you to a grudge against the Empress Dowager, but the Empress Dowager isn’t the same. She knows very well what she’s done.

Even though I scattered a quickly dissipating secret potion among the flowers to attract bees and used a similar potion to lure ants to hollow out the pavilion’s railing, making everything appear accidental without any visible flaws, the Empress Dowager is different.”