Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Slippery Pulse

The night grew deeper, yet Panju Hall was brightly lit.

When the Empress received the news, she was woken up by Bai Zhi. She frowned uncomfortably. “What is it?”

Bai Zhi lit the candles in the hall.

“Panju Hall has summoned the imperial physician.”

The Empress was startled and immediately sat up, frowning. “Help me change.”

It wasn’t just Kunning Palace that was disturbed, every consort who heard the news hurriedly rose. For Panju Hall to summon an imperial physician in the middle of the night was, in itself, no small matter.

When they arrived at Panju Hall, the group saw Xu Shunfu and the others and couldn’t help but pause in surprise.

The news from the imperial court yesterday, was it that Panju Hall had served in bed?

Of course not.

The Empress gave Xu Shunfu a glance. Her expression didn’t shift as much as the other consorts’ did. She asked directly, “What’s wrong with Yun Jieyu?”

Xu Shunfu was briefly at a loss for words, not daring to speak the truth. After a moment, he forced out, “Yun Jieyu is feeling a bit unwell.”

Noticing his hesitation and halting speech, the Empress arched her brows ever so slightly.

Inside Panju Hall, Yun Si was still a bit dazed. She didn’t understand how Tan Yuanchu had suddenly changed the subject to summoning the imperial physician.
She looked at him in confusion.

Tan Yuanchu simply stretched out his hand, his knuckles tapping her knee. It wasn’t actually very painful, but Yun Si still let out a soft hiss.

Tan Yuanchu gave a quiet, cold chuckle.

“I thought you didn’t feel pain.”

Yun Si gave a light cough and avoided his gaze. At the time, in that kind of situation, who could care whether it hurt or not?

Today happened to be Physician Chang’s duty shift. Qiu Yuan came in and draped a robe over Yun Si. Not long after the pulse diagnosis began, a clamor arose outside. Yun Si faintly heard the voice of the Empress. Sure enough, Xu Shunfu quickly announced, “Your Majesty, the Empress and the other mistresses have arrived.”

Yun Si glanced at the small mark on her leg, feeling her scalp tingle. An injury that could heal after one night’s rest had somehow turned into such a commotion in the middle of the night, it even felt a little pretentious to her.

Moments later, a crowd entered the hall. Yun Si got up to pay respects to the Empress, but the Empress stopped her.

“Lie down. What on earth happened?”

The Empress examined the young woman’s complexion, her color was quite good, her cheeks rosy, and immediately felt puzzled.

Yun Si gave a small “uh.”

Seeing that she was too thin-skinned to answer, Tan Yuanchu adjusted her robe for her, drawing the others’ attention. Yun Si’s almond eyes went wide as she turned to look at him, but Tan Yuanchu thought she was rather spineless.

With such thin skin, how could she accomplish anything?

Tan Yuanchu lifted his eyelids and, in a light tone, answered the Empress’s question for her. “Nothing serious.”

He ordered someone to offer the Empress a seat and asked, “Who woke you?”

A simple sentence, yet it carried the feeling of “Who was so talkative?” and the consorts in the hall instantly fell silent. They had only been thinking about how the Emperor had not entered the inner palace for a long time and wanted to show their faces before him, but they had forgotten what time it was now.

The Emperor calling for the imperial physician out of concern for Yun Jieyu could be seen as a romantic gesture, yet their rushing over in the middle of the night seemed rather like deliberately causing trouble.

Who would want a crowd barging in during their time in bed with the Emperor?

Just then, Imperial Physician Chang furrowed his brows, and Yun Shi’s heart suddenly tightened. Qiu Yuan also frowned, recalling her mistress’s oddities over this period.

Imperial Physician Chang withdrew his hand and suddenly asked, “Has the Jieyu shown any unusual signs recently?”

This question made Yun Si’s face pale slightly. She gripped Tan Yuanchu’s hand, unusual signs?

Thinking carefully, there had indeed been quite a few lately: easily drowsy, emotionally sensitive, a constant loss of appetite.

When she thought more about these abnormalities, Yun Si’s expression became increasingly strange.

Why did these symptoms seem so familiar?

Qiu Yuan also realized something, her breath tightening. “The mistress has been getting drowsy very easily lately.”

The surrounding consorts caught the implication, and all felt a jolt in their hearts.

Tan Yuanchu tightened his grip on Yun Si’s hand. He had only called the imperial physician to look at the injury on her knee, yet somehow another issue had been discovered. After hearing Qiu Yuan’s words, his face turned cold.

“This is how you attend to your mistress? You noticed something strange and didn’t report it earlier?!”

Qiu Yuan dropped to her knees with a loud thud, without the slightest hesitation. Yun Si heard the crisp, muffled sound and instinctively furrowed her brows.

Qiu Yuan lowered her head. “This servant has been negligent in her care. I ask Your Majesty to punish me.”

Yun Si discreetly tugged at Tan Yuanchu’s sleeve.

He glanced at her and did not press Qiu Yuan further, instead turning to Imperial Physician Chang.

“What’s wrong with her?”

Although Imperial Physician Chang was the head of the Imperial Hospital, each doctor had their own specialty, and gynecology was not his field of expertise.
Yun Si’s pulse was also faint, and he could not be completely certain. He had to ask further:

“How long has it been since the Jieyu last had her monthly cycle?”

At these words, even if Tan Yuanchu were slow to react, he understood the situation. He suddenly turned his head toward the young woman.

Yun Si also looked back at him, her expression blank.

Qiu Yuan answered immediately, “Since returning from the Temporary Palace.”

Before Tan Yuanchu could darken his face, Qiu Yuan quickly explained, “You previously prescribed medicine to regulate Mistress’s health and said it would take some time to take effect. This servant always kept that in mind. Also, Your Majesty had Mistress’s pulse taken just a few days ago.”

Aside from the fact that her mistress’s cycles had always been irregular, Qiu Yuan had no way to deliberately track the exact dates. Moreover, Panju Hall’s ‘peace pulse’ check had never been interrupted, who could have expected that in this situation the mistress would be with child, yet it hadn’t been discovered?

Facing Tan Yuanchu’s gaze, Imperial Physician Chang felt his scalp tingle and had no choice but to explain.

“In the early stages of pregnancy, it is very difficult to detect the pulse.”

Tan Yuanchu didn’t want to hear them shirking responsibility. His eyes darkened. “What exactly is the matter with Yun Jieyu?”

In the hall, not only Tan Yuanchu but everyone else was staring at Imperial Physician Chang, all eager for an answer.
The physician felt tremendous pressure and respectfully said, “The Jieyu’s pulse is like pearls rolling on jade. If this subject is not mistaken, Yun Jieyu should have a slippery pulse.”

Yun Si felt Tan Yuanchu’s grip on her hand tighten. He did not show overt joy, but she sensed the shift in his mood.

The hall stirred with quiet commotion.

After a few rounds of questions and answers between Imperial Physician Chang and Qiu Yuan, everyone had already been mentally prepared, but when they actually heard the answer, they still couldn’t help feeling incredulous.

For a moment, the crowd turned their heads toward Yun Si with varying expressions.

Yun Jieyu was pregnant?

How long had she even held her title?

In less than half a year, and setting that aside, ever since Yun Si gained her rank, she had been the most favored in the entire harem. Now that she was with child, wasn’t this something extraordinary?

A faint unease stirred in everyone’s hearts, the kind of insecurity and threat that even Su Jieyu’s pregnancy had not brought.

When Su Jieyu heard Yun Shi had a slippery pulse, she froze in place, her gaze locking tightly onto Yun Si’s lower abdomen, the look in her eyes dark and unreadable.

In that instant, the atmosphere in the hall shifted. Everyone remained silent, yet it felt as though undercurrents were surging.

Yun Si vaguely sensed that many eyes were on her belly. She didn’t even have time to feel joy over the pregnancy before she suddenly came back to her senses. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, one hand instinctively shielding her abdomen, while she unconsciously edged behind Tan Yuanchu.

Tan Yuanchu snapped to attention, keenly aware of Yun Si’s unease and knowing exactly where it came from. He stepped in front of her, lifted his gaze to the others, and, with a frown and a cold voice, said,

“It’s late. You should be going back.”

The consorts fell silent. If it were any other concubine with child, they could at least offer congratulations. But with Yun Jieyu, the Emperor wouldn’t even let them speak words of congratulations before sending them away?

Some frowned, some bit their lips, all feeling a trace of displeasure.

The Empress was the first to recover. She glanced at Yun Si, their eyes meeting briefly in the air, and then inclined her body in salute.

“It is indeed late. This concubine will take her leave first. Since Yun Jieyu is with child, she should also rest early.”

With the Empress setting the example, the others, whether they liked it or not, could only follow suit and take their leave.

No sooner had the group stepped out of Panju Hall than they saw a palace servant leading the imperial guards away.
Su Jieyu stopped them.

“Where are you going?”

The servant quickly replied, “By order of His Majesty, we are fetching Imperial Physician Lin to enter the palace and take Yun Jieyu’s pulse.”

The women’s expressions changed again.

Imperial Physician Lin, he was the most skilled in gynecology at the Imperial Hospital, and whenever a concubine in the palace was with child, he was the one inevitably summoned to examine her.

An Cairen, who had been held back by Gui Chun from speaking all this time, could no longer resist and blurted out,

“Can’t His Majesty wait even one night?”

The palace gates were already locked at this late hour, yet the Emperor insisted on fetching Imperial Physician Lin tonight to confirm whether Yun Jieyu was truly pregnant?

When had he ever shown such urgency over an imperial heir before?

Thinking of this, An Cairen couldn’t help but glance at Su Jieyu. Ever since the palace servant had left, Su Jieyu had stood in place, her expression cold and unreadable.
An Cairen muttered quietly, “Truly, the same people can have such different fates.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than she felt an icy gaze turn toward her. Looking up, she met Su Jieyu’s frosty stare. Startled, she quickly averted her eyes in guilty haste.

Gui Chun looked at her with a “hate iron for not becoming steel” expression.

Her mistress was good in every way, except for one flaw, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut!

And was Su Jieyu someone she could afford to offend?

The Empress, hearing their words, cast them a glance and said sharply, “Enough. Yun Jieyu’s pregnancy is a joyful matter. If anyone makes sour remarks again and lets this Palace hear of it, I will not be lenient!”

Everyone stiffened and bowed.

“This concubine obeys.”

The Empress’s expression eased somewhat, and she nodded. “It’s late. All of you should go back and rest early.”

With that, the Empress glanced at Su Jieyu, who was looking toward the direction of Chu’an Palace. The Empress’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly before she mounted her palanquin with Bai Zhi and departed.

Yet even after returning to Kunning Palace, the Empress had not put her mind at ease. Her eyes were lowered, her expression visibly calm to the point of detachment.

Bai Zhi, a little puzzled, tentatively asked, “Your Highness, are you unhappy about Yun Jieyu’s pregnancy?”

From Bai Zhi’s perspective, she actually had mixed feelings about it. First of all, Yun Jieyu had helped her mistress deal with the nuisance of Consort De, and she was sincerely grateful for that, though she didn’t know exactly how Yun Jieyu had managed it.

Still, gratitude was one thing. Seeing Yun Jieyu now pregnant, Panju Hall bustling more than ever, and every good fortune seemingly falling upon her, it made Bai Zhi feel a twinge of bitterness on her Highness’s behalf.

At these words, the Empress seemed mildly amused and shook her head.

“What do I have to be unhappy about?”

“She helped me deal with Consort De, which is a debt I owe her. Besides, even if she had not conceived the Emperor’s child, sooner or later someone else would have. Better it be her.”

The Empress’s eyes grew deeper in expression, she was speaking the truth.

Compared to other consorts conceiving, she would rather it be Yun Si.

Bai Zhi was perplexed. “Then what is troubling Your Highness?”

The Empress pressed her lips together subtly, and after a long moment, sighed.

“I am only worried that Su Jieyu will make a wrong move.”

Thinking of Concubine Su, Bai Zhi’s expression also grew uneasy.