Quick Transmigration: The Female Supporting Character's Counterattack, A Guide to Cunning Strat

"Your Majesty, Physician Wu has arrived."

Just as Li Shangxun was about to say something more, he was interrupted by Eunuch Liu, who rushed over.

Eunuch Liu arrived, panting, with Physician Wu. Liu Shuwan quickly withdrew her hand and shrank back into her cloak like a quail.

I thought that by bringing Physician Wu here so quickly, His Majesty would forget that he had just offended Consort Song.

Unexpectedly, he still miscalculated, interrupting the emperor's good deed, and Eunuch Liu received a glare from him.

It was still Physician Wu who came, and he was still being carried in. Physician Wu is getting old, and if he has to come a few more times, he really won't be able to take it.

He's already starting to consider retirement, and it's time to train his apprentices.

But he hadn't retired yet, and he still had to work. Seeing that the Emperor had wrapped Consort Song up very tightly and that Consort Song showed no intention of reaching out, he could only say in a low and tactful voice, "This old minister will take Consort Song's pulse."

Once the wrist was exposed and covered with a handkerchief, Physician Wu, displaying the professional competence of a senior physician in the Imperial Medical Academy, began to take the pulse.

Well, it's just a cold and malnutrition, but nothing else seriously wrong. I won't die anytime soon, and a couple of doses of herbal medicine should be enough.

Why rush to bring him here? Eunuch Liu is making a big fuss over nothing!

But he couldn't say that, since judging from the Emperor's demeanor, this Lady Song was destined for great things.

It seems that it was Eunuch Liu who handled things so well, allowing him to make a good impression on the future concubines ahead of time.

"Your Majesty, Consort Song, Consort Song has caught a cold due to cold entering her body and deficiency of both qi and blood. I will prescribe some medicine for her to take on time, and she will recover soon. Of course, she should also pay more attention to her health on a daily basis."

"Alright, go prepare the medicine. Once it's ready, send it directly to Qianqing Palace." Li Shangxun waved his hand, then turned gently to Liu Shuwan and said, "Sister, would you like to live with me?"

"That's against the rules." Liu Shuwan was somewhat resistant and didn't want to agree.

Li Shangxun didn't press her: "If you don't want to, then so be it. It's just that it's too dark at night. When I live alone in Qianqing Palace, I can't help but think of the days when my fourth and fifth brothers locked me in the woodshed. It's a pity that no one was willing to light a lamp for me back then, and no one stayed with me until dawn..."

Eunuch Liu stood to the side, his eyes fixed on his nose, his mind seemingly indifferent.

Who in the palace doesn't know that the Qianqing Palace is brightly lit every night, and that the emperor's residence is never without eunuchs and palace maids?

The excuse Your Majesty came up with is rather arbitrary.

However, the Emperor is the supreme ruler, and his words are imperial edicts.

The fact that the Emperor wasn't angry at Consort Song for defying the imperial decree and refusing to go to the Qianqing Palace, and was even willing to lower himself to coax her, shows that Consort Song's status can be elevated even further.

"I'm willing, I'll stay with Ah Xun."

A hint of triumph flashed in Li Shangxun's eyes. Before she could back out, he quickly agreed, "Okay, then it's settled."

Liu Shuwan, who had agreed on a whim, opened her mouth, then regretted it, hesitated, and ultimately said nothing more, only adjusting her cloak: "So, are all those things true?"

"Is your question about falling into the water, being forced to kneel, or being bullied?" Li Shangxun asked in a flat tone.

The hardships he once endured mean nothing to him now, and recalling them wouldn't stir much emotion in him, since he had repaid them all.

Li Shangxun looked at her, and her gaze held a mixture of heartache and hope. Was she heartache for his ordeal, and hope that all of this was just a figment of her imagination?

Unfortunately, all of this is true.

If someone else asked him the same question, he probably wouldn't bother to answer, or even deny it outright.

Who would willingly expose their unsavory side to the world?

Of course, they didn't dare ask him.

However, since she asked, he naturally had to admit it and even elaborate.

What happened in his dream was just a drop in the ocean; he had experienced much more back then, and he could tell her about it bit by bit.

But he never does business without capital; knowing his past will earn him a reward.

He had no shortage of gold and silver jewelry, but he lacked someone pleasing to the eye. She would be a good match, he thought with a wicked glint in his eye.

"These are all true."

Sure enough, when Liu Shuwan looked at him, her eyes were filled with pity.

She was probably still a little unwilling to give up, and asked softly, "Back then, did anyone help you?"

"No." Li Shangxun, who had suffered greatly since childhood, was still thin even after he grew up and had everything. His pale face and deliberately low voice made him look extremely fragile.

Hearing her reply, the heartache in her eyes burned so intensely that he felt somewhat embarrassed, and a dense, overwhelming feeling welled up inside him.

He didn't want to delve into the details; he only wanted to hold onto the person in front of him. The more he wanted to possess her, the more pitiful he appeared: "I only have my sister left. She'll always be with me, right?"

"Yes, I will always stay with Ah Xun."

Liu Shuwan agreed; she had gone to great lengths to enter his dream precisely because of him.

“Since you have already agreed, you cannot go back on your word.”

It was too late to back out. Li Shangxun gently tucked her hair behind his ear with his cool hand. Seeing that she trembled slightly from the cold, he picked her up.

"Let's leave now. It's too cold here. The imperial physician said I need to rest and recuperate."

Eunuch Liu immediately followed and said solicitously from the side, "Your Majesty, it's windy outside. This servant has called for a sedan chair, which is already waiting outside."

Li Shangxun took a moment to give Eunuch Liu an approving look.

Finally, he did one thing right, and Eunuch Liu bent his back even lower.

*

In the Qianqing Palace, Li Shangxun carried Liu Shuwan directly to his bedchamber, covering her with a bright yellow quilt, which gave him an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

"This isn't a dragon bed, is it? I can't sleep here. Just find me a side room." Liu Shuwan tried to get up, but Li Shangxun held her down.

"Don't worry, sister. This is how it's decorated in the Qianqing Palace. You can stay here," Li Shangxun said naturally.

"Really?" Liu Shuwan looked at him with a skeptical gaze.

"Of course it's true, sister, don't you believe me?" Li Shangxun pretended to be sad and lowered his head.

"I believe you." Sure enough, as soon as he showed that expression, Liu Shuwan immediately agreed.

They were speechless for a moment. Li Shangxun looked at Liu Shuwan and felt that he could never get enough of looking at her.

Feeling slightly awkward under her gaze, Liu Shuwan shifted her gaze and tried to start a conversation, saying, "A-Xun, could you please stop calling me 'sister' from now on?"

The violence in Li Shangxun's heart spread instantly, and he was about to speak.

As if worried that he might misunderstand, she quickly explained, "I didn't mean to dislike you. It's just that when I first saw you in my dream, I was very young, so I asked you to call me 'sister.' But now, isn't it a little inappropriate?"

"What shall I call you from now on? My sister hasn't told me what the characters in your name are yet?" Li Shangxun suppressed his fierceness and readily agreed.

Liu Shuwan felt a little embarrassed and awkwardly clutched the bed sheet:

"I can't read, but I've only heard my father say that Liu means willow, Shu means sparse forest, and Wan means night. My father named me because my mother almost gave birth to me in the sparse forest, and it happened to be night when I was born."

Liu, Shu, Wan, Li Shangxun murmured the name as if trying to engrave it in his heart: "From now on, shall I call you Awan?"

"Yes, yes, that's fine." Liu Shuwan's expression was a little unnatural, and a blush appeared on her pale face, but she still agreed.

"Awan."

Li Shangxun's face was already stunningly beautiful, and when paired with his deliberately lingering voice, it sounded even more tender, like honey, with a hint of sweetness that made people fall in love.

"Yes, I'm here." Liu Shuwan calmed down, but her rosy cheeks still revealed her shyness.