Tantai Yu tentatively picked up a few grains of salt and tasted them.
There was no bitterness, no astringency. They were crystal clear!
Tantai Yu took a step back in disbelief. The jar of salt slipped from her hand and fell toward the floor.
Matron Fang caught it just in time and said, “Princess Shengping, you should be more careful. This jar of salt was newly bestowed by His Majesty. It would be troublesome if it were spilled on the floor.”
Tantai Yu grabbed the matron’s arm and demanded furiously, “You had such refined salt all along. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Matron Fang replied, “There was no such thing before. This salt was only made in the past few days. I heard it was created by Princess Fuxi.”
Tantai Yu’s pupils widened. “Princess Fuxi! How could Princess Fuxi make refined salt?”
“Princess Shengping can make it, so it shouldn’t be surprising that Princess Fuxi can make it too.”
Tantai Yu shook her head repeatedly, as though she had thought of something. She turned to the empress and said, “Mother, it’s fake, isn’t it? It has to be fake! Princess Fuxi couldn’t possibly make refined salt! I’m the only one—I’m the only one who can make it!”
The empress looked at Tantai Yu with displeasure, though her voice remained fairly gentle. “It is already a settled matter. This was indeed made by Princess Fuxi. You should stop making a fuss about it. Now that refined salt has already been produced, making it again will no longer be anything remarkable.”
With that, the empress glanced at the scattered cloth and cooking pot. She calmly ordered her attendants to clear everything away, then turned and returned to her palace.
The instant she turned around, the empress’s expression darkened.
Princess Shengping truly was inferior to Princess Fuxi. A few days ago, she had loudly proclaimed that she would produce the most extraordinary refined salt in the world. She had even told the empress that, if she succeeded, she would share half the credit with her.
And the empress had actually believed her—only to be toyed with by a child!
Tantai Yu returned to her palace in a daze, repeatedly asking herself:
Why?
How could this have happened?
It shouldn’t have turned out this way.
How could Princess Fuxi know how to make refined salt?
Could she…
Tantai Yu’s face paled. She suddenly rose to her feet.
Could Princess Fuxi also be a transmigrator? Could she, too, have received a mission?
Tantai Yu screamed inwardly, “System! System! Princess Fuxi is also a mission-taker, isn’t she?”
[There is only one mission-taker in this world: the host.]
Tantai Yu asked, “Could Princess Fuxi be a transmigrator?”
[The system is conducting a scan… According to the data, Princess Fuxi’s soul is highly compatible with her body. She is not a displaced soul from another world.]
Tantai Yu said, “Then why? Why would she know how to make salt, and how could she produce refined salt so quickly? I don’t believe it! I don’t believe she could have made refined salt for no reason at all!”
[The system would like to remind you that Princess Fuxi’s intelligence is many times higher than that of an ordinary person. Given a one-percent probability, it is indeed possible that she produced refined salt by accident.]
Tantai Yu clenched her fists tightly, her face as pale as paper.
She didn’t believe it. Princess Fuxi definitely had a secret. There had to be something about her that Tantai Yu didn’t know.
What could it be? What?
Tantai Yu held her head, feeling as though her mind were about to split apart.
[Wait, that’s not right.]
Tantai Yu immediately said, “You discovered that there’s something wrong with Princess Fuxi? You found something, didn’t you?”
[No, host! The mission progress bar moved! It suddenly advanced by five percent. Host, what did you do? You helped the future emperor!]
Tantai Yu wiped the tears from her face. “What… what did you say?”
[The host must have done something unintentionally to help the future emperor, which caused the mission progress bar to advance!]
Tantai Yu’s eyes widened. “I—I didn’t do anything! Who exactly is the future emperor?”
[The host must have done something to help the future emperor, or the mission progress bar would not have moved. You must carefully recall whom you have encountered during this period. Whom did you help?]
Tantai Yu stared blankly at her hands.
During this period, she had been busy making salt. She hadn’t done anything else.
She hadn’t seen her fourth brother or her fifth brother.
The fourth prince wasn’t busy researching refined salt; he was busy visiting Noble Consort Cui.
Wait!
She had helped Noble Consort Cui!
To verify whether the child in Noble Consort Cui’s womb was the future emperor—the person she was meant to assist—she had spent these days trying to find a way to confirm it.
She had sent all kinds of beneficial items for pregnant women to the Palace of Everlasting Joy.
Noble Consort Cui must have used the things she sent, and the child in her womb had benefited from them as a result.
That was why her mission progress bar had moved!
Tantai Yu’s body trembled with excitement.
She had finally found the future emperor!
At last, she had a direction!
From now on, as long as Noble Consort Cui gave birth to the child and Tantai Yu continued helping the future emperor, the system would have a steady source of energy. Not only could she make refined salt, she could even exchange for firearms!
There was only one problem…
She was afraid that, after the future emperor was born, Noble Consort Cui and Princess Fuxi would not allow her to see the child.
Noble Consort Cui and Princess Fuxi truly were her archenemies, the obstacles standing in her way. She had to find a way to remove these two obstacles!
…
Rongyao took the letter her mother handed her and read it carefully.
It was a letter from her third uncle.
In the letter, her third uncle said that he had found Sun Yi’s father in Duzhou.
Sun Yi was the licentiate who had once been engaged to Chen Yunxiang. After Chen Yunxiang disappeared into the palace, he had fallen into a lake and drowned.
Afterward, Sun Yi’s family had moved away from Zou County.
Her third uncle wrote that Sun Yi’s father, Sun Niujin, had refused to say anything. He had now tied the man up and planned to bring him directly to the capital for questioning.
They would arrive in a month.
Cui Huaiyin said, “Rongyao, this Sun Niujin must know something. Once he reaches the capital, we’ll question him ourselves.”
Rongyao nodded obediently. “All right.”
“Mother, what’s wrong?”
Rongyao had just finished speaking when she saw her mother’s face turn pale, sweat beading on her forehead.
“Mother! Mother!”
Cui Huaiyin drew a deep breath and glanced down at her belly. Holding her daughter’s hand, she did her best to smile at her.
“Don’t… don’t be afraid. Rongyao, go call Chenxiang and Daoxiang. Mother is going to give birth.”
Rongyao hurried outside.
“Mother is going to give birth! Sister Mingyi! Sister Mingyi, come quickly! Mother is going to give birth!”
Her cry echoed through every corner of the Palace of Everlasting Joy. Everyone rushed over, running and shouting as they informed one another:
“Noble Consort Cui is going into labor! Noble Consort Cui is going into labor! Call the midwives!”
“Inform His Majesty!”
“Call the imperial physicians!”
There was some initial confusion, but preparations had been made long ago, and there were plenty of people in the Palace of Everlasting Joy. Everyone had already been assigned their duties.
Some were responsible for summoning the imperial physicians, others for notifying the emperor, and still others for boiling water.
In short, the people of the Palace of Everlasting Joy soon brought Noble Consort Cui into the room that had been prepared for her.
Chu Mingyi entered the delivery room with several midwives to assist with the birth.
Several imperial physicians waited outside, preparing the medicines and constantly asking about the situation inside.
The palace maids of the Palace of Everlasting Joy bustled about, running back and forth without daring to delay for even a moment.
The emperor arrived soon after. He picked up Princess Fuxi, whose eyes had reddened, and comforted her, repeating over and over that everything would be fine.
It was hard to tell whether he was saying it to Princess Fuxi or reassuring himself.
Night fell in the blink of an eye. Two hours had already passed since Noble Consort Cui had gone into labor.
The emperor stood outside the delivery room, his face tense and his body utterly still.
Princess Fuxi clung to the door as well, trying to get inside, but someone stopped her.
From outside, they could hear the midwife’s urgent cries coming from the room.
Noble Consort Cui’s voice, on the other hand, was not nearly as loud.
She must have been exhausted, already too weak to cry out.
“She’s delivered! Noble Consort Cui has given birth!”
