Chapter 2: Just a Discarded Queen

After hearing this, Fei'er froze for a moment before reacting. "Where is this place?"

Her eyes immediately began scanning her surroundings. This magnificent place—it seemed the tables and chairs were made of high-quality sandalwood, and those marble pillars featured patterns that looked exquisitely fine, breathtakingly beautiful, and vibrantly colorful.

The woman was stunned by Fei'er's reaction, taking a long time to recover. "Your Ladyship, this is Luoli Palace, your sleeping quarters. How could you not remember? Do you not recognize your servant anymore?"

Fei'er took a deep breath and shook her head solemnly. This time, the maid Shuilü truly panicked. "I am Shuilü! You personally gave me this name, Your Ladyship! Your Ladyship, I will go fetch the imperial physician for you!" Having said that, without even bothering to wipe the tears from her face, she rushed out in a hurry.

"Shuilü, don't go. Come back," Fei'er called out to her. This was a serious matter; if people found out she wasn't the real Empress, wouldn't she be executed? This Li Fei'er was both greedy and afraid of death, and lately, she had even picked up a bad habit—she liked handsome men. It was quite embarrassing to admit.

"Your Ladyship, you remember now?" Shuilü waited for Fei'er's answer with a face full of pleasant surprise.

Fei'er gave her an embarrassed smile. She immediately got out of bed and sat in a chair. Shuilü poured her a cup of tea.

"Shuilü!" Li Fei'er put on an expression of profound wisdom masking foolishness.

"Yes, Your Ladyship. This servant is Shuilü," Shuilü replied, her face beaming with joy. It seemed the Empress still remembered her.

"I remember you are Shuilü, my personal maid, right?"

Shuilü nodded hurriedly. Li Fei'er chuckled inwardly; it seemed she had guessed correctly.

"Shuilü, I hit my head and can't remember anything from the past. Who was that man?" Upon hearing this, Shuilü's eyes welled up with tears once again.

"Hey, hey, don't cry! Even though I don't remember, I still remember you!" Li Fei'er felt truly guilty for playing with her emotions, seeing how moved Shuilü was.

Shuilü thought to herself: *Even the Emperor is forgotten by Her Ladyship, yet she remembers only me, Shuilü. How could I not be moved? Even if I die, it would be worth it.*

She couldn't help but marvel at how masterful Li Fei'er's methods of winning people over truly were.

Hearing this, Shuilü stared at Fei'er intently, her expression a mix of terror and testing. "Your Ladyship, do you truly not remember?"

"Yes, I'll eat a puppy if I'm lying!" Fei'er said with a pout, looking incredibly serious.

Hearing this, Shuilü couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. Since when had her mistress become like this, acting just like a child? "Your Ladyship, I believe you. Please, never call yourself a puppy again."

A glint flashed in Fei'er's eyes as she said coaxingly, "Good Shuilü, tell me about the past!"

Shuilü shook her head helplessly, her bell-like voice echoing through the vast room.

After a long time, Fei'er finally realized that she had truly transmigrated. She hadn't traveled to a prosperous and stable Tang Dynasty, nor to the war-torn Three Kingdoms, but to an unknown era—the Beiming Dynasty.

The Beiming Dynasty was located in the Central Plains, bordering the Canghai Dynasty to the east and the Jiuyou Dynasty to the south, with various small nations surrounding it.

The Beiming Emperors bore the compound surname Sima, and it had been 200 years since the first generation. The current Emperor ascended the throne at age ten; in the blink of an eye, ten years had passed like a dream.

The late Emperor had appointed the Left and Right Chancellors to assist in governance, creating two forces that fought both openly and covertly, keeping each other in check. During the Chancellors' regency, the world was peaceful and the people lived in prosperity, but their respective powers had grown invisibly.

Fei'er couldn't help but smile bitterly. Why were emperors throughout history all the same? "The crows of the world are all equally black!" Fei'er lamented. As for her, Li Fei'er, she had been crowned Empress of Beiming by the Emperor following her coming-of-age ceremony. However, this position of Empress did not seem as glamorous as the world believed.

She, Li Fei'er, was known as Xiao Yuan, the only precious daughter of the Left Chancellor. The Empress Dowager was from the same clan as the Right Chancellor, Qin Xian, so the Emperor had been childhood sweethearts with the Right Chancellor's daughter, Qin Qi, and they were mutually in love. Because of a passing remark by the late Emperor, he had been forced to marry Xiao Yuan as his Empress.

Fei'er took a slow sip of tea and frowned. For some reason, the story was making her feel conflicted. Seeing the strange expression on Fei'er's face, Shuilü stopped and asked softly, "Your Ladyship, are you alright?"

Fei'er choked on the water and coughed. Without waiting for Shuilü to speak, she made a gesture: "Keep talking!"

Shuilü's expression turned sorrowful. "Shuilü has followed the Young Mistress since childhood. The Young Mistress treated Shuilü like a sister and never saw her as a mere servant. Thinking about how..."

Seeing this, Fei'er quickly handed her a handkerchief. "Don't cry, and don't talk about things that make you unhappy. Talk about something else." Shuilü's eyes filled with gratitude.

Fei'er felt ashamed; she wasn't feeling sorry for her, she just didn't want to hear so much irrelevant talk. She wondered if Shuilü would feel the urge to jump off a cliff if she knew Fei'er's true thoughts.

Wiping her tears, Shuilü said, "Master only married Madam, and Madam only has two children: the Young Mistress and the Young Master. The Young Master is eight years old and very lively and cute. The Young Mistress is the jewel of Master and Madam, and they obey her every whim. The Young Mistress's family is a model for the whole world..."

Fei'er sensed something was wrong. "Wait, if Madam and Master loved and cherished me so much, why would they let me enter the palace to be Empress? Was it because I am so incomparably beautiful that I surpass all others under heaven?" Fei'er didn't mind giving her current self a bit of praise.

Fei'er looked at Shuilü and saw her biting her lip, hesitating to speak. Finding it strange, Fei'er pouted. "Shuilü, what is actually going on?"

Shuilü was still a servant after all; seeing that Fei'er was unhappy, she immediately knelt. "Your Ladyship, this servant deserves death! This servant deserves death!"

Fei'er didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was it really necessary to go that far just because of a joke? It seemed she would have to discipline her properly in the future. A glint flashed in Fei'er's eyes as she said with a dark face, "Shuilü, tell the truth!"

Shuilü was clearly frightened. "Your Ladyship, I'll tell, I'll tell! At the time, Master and Madam did not agree, but the Young Mistress kept crying and shouting that she wanted to marry the Emperor. Master and Madam had no choice!"

Hearing this, Fei'er was shocked, spraying her tea everywhere. "What? I cried and shouted that I wanted to marry that jerk?"

Looking at her master's wide-open mouth and eyes as large as watermelons, Shuilü thought to herself: *Could the Young Mistress really have lost her memory? Looking at the situation, it seems likely.*

"Your Ladyship, the Emperor is recognized by the whole world as one of the 'Four Great Beauties'!" Shuilü blinked her innocent, large eyes.

Fei'er was completely stunned. Even in ancient times, people were this gossipy and held beauty pageants? However, *that jerk is certainly easy on the eyes,* Fei'er thought, swallowing hard.

Seeing this, Shuilü wondered silently: *Since when did the Young Mistress become such a flirt? Though she was always like this, she's never been this obsessed.*

Coming back to her senses, Fei'er gave a disdainful snort and said quite unconscientiously, "A jerk, and one of the Four Great Beauties? Even a pig is better looking than him."

Watching Shuilü's surprised expression, Fei'er said calmly, "Continue. What happened next? Does that jerk dislike me? Does he pick fights with me all day?"

"Your Ladyship, you truly forgot?" Shuilü looked incredulous.

Fei'er nodded innocently.

Shuilü looked troubled. How could she say it? Should she say that the Emperor gets a headache whenever he sees the Empress? No way, she didn't want to lose her job. "The Emperor... the Emperor treats Your Ladyship with great respect and has never..."

Looking at her, Fei'er knew she was lying. "Shuilü, do you want to go sleep in the prison cells?"

"Your Ladyship, I will tell the truth, I..."

Seeing her about to kneel again, Fei'er pulled her up. "Don't kneel anymore. When there are no outsiders, don't call me 'Your Ladyship,' call me 'Young Mistress.' And don't refer to yourself as 'this servant.' If you can't do that, you can go sleep in the Imperial Prison." Fei'er took a sip of tea, maintaining an air of calm.

"Yes, this servant Shuilü remembers!"

"Tell me about what happened after I entered the palace!"

Finally, Shuilü told the truth.

It turned out that this Xiao Yuan had a "famed reputation" even before her marriage. Don't misunderstand—it wasn't because she was beautiful or talented, but because she dared to defy social norms and didn't care about public opinion. She couldn't sew, and she knew nothing of music, chess, poetry, or painting. If asked for her strengths, fighting was at the top of the list; ordinary men couldn't do anything to her.

She was single-mindedly focused on entering the palace to be with the Emperor, but who knew that the Emperor had absolutely no interest in her? He neither mistreated her nor doted on her. Naturally temperamental Xiao Yuan was not satisfied, and thus, she turned the imperial palace into a chaotic mess.

At first, the Emperor turned a blind eye, perhaps because she was the daughter of a Chancellor. But the day before yesterday, this Xiao Yuan actually pushed the pregnant Consort Li into the water! The Emperor finally reached his limit. He transferred almost all the servants from Luoli Palace away, cut off her imperial meals, and placed her under house arrest, calling it "reflection," but in reality, it was no different from being sent to the Cold Palace.

Fei'er let out a long breath. This Xiao Yuan was truly not an easy person to deal with. Most of the concubines in the harem were likely her enemies; it looked like life was going to be difficult.

However, it was likely that not many people truly understood the real Xiao Yuan. Since her own temperament was similar, it wouldn't be hard for her to pretend to be Xiao Yuan without others noticing. Fei'er chuckled to herself.

Shuilü frowned and asked, "Young Mistress, you must be hungry?"

She had hit the mark: "Now that you mention it, I am indeed hungry. Go find something for me to eat!"

Shuilü looked proud. "Young Mistress, wash your face first, and I will bring food immediately."

With that, Shuilü went out, leaving Fei'er alone in the room.

Looking at the washing water on the table, Fei'er placed it directly on the floor and dipped her snowy white feet in. Instantly, a wave of coolness washed over her entire body. How comfortable!

Just then, a thick scent wafted toward her, making Fei'er sneeze.

"Damn it, who is it? Why use so much perfume for no reason!" Fei'er pouted angrily.

A moment later, the sound of footsteps reached her ears. Someone was coming!

Fei'er turned her head and saw a beautiful woman approaching with a flirtatious look in her eyes. Fei'er's eyes lit up!

Dressed in elegant blue finery, her features were accentuated as exquisite and graceful. Light blue peonies were embroidered on her sleeves, and silver threads traced several auspicious clouds, adding a unique charm. Her white bodice revealed a figure capable of bewitching any man in the world. A waist so thin it could be held in one hand, a blue and white sash, an exquisite and moving hairstyle, and soulful eyes—she embodied charm to the very bone.

*That jerk is truly blessed to have married such a concubine,* Fei'er thought.

Mu Chenfei gave Fei'er a faint glance and sneered, "Sister is truly interesting. Using a face-washing basin to wash feet... does Sister share her basins with everyone?"

Fei'er's face darkened. It turned out this woman was taking advantage of Xiao Yuan's fall from grace to come and pick a fight!

*Hmph, who do you think I am, Li Fei'er? I'll eat anything, but I won't be bullied.*

She then thought to herself: *Xiao Yuan, oh Xiao Yuan, you really weren't kind. If you're going to die, just die, but why leave behind so many enemies!*

Before Fei'er could respond, Mu Chenfei walked toward her with graceful, swaying steps, looking at her with a mocking expression.

Fei'er glanced at her and said, "The face-washing basin and the foot-washing basin are, of course, two different basins. If Sister cannot tell them apart, I cannot help but wonder if there is something wrong with your eyes!"

Mu Chenfei's expression immediately turned ugly. Fei'er felt a secret sense of joy; this Mu Chenfei was quite easy to deal with.

Fei'er looked up and gave Mu Chenfei a warm smile. "Sister is truly kind-hearted. I was just punished, and Sister couldn't wait to come and visit me." Fei'er's words were devoid of any warmth.

Mu Chenfei remained contemptuous as she sat on a stool next to Fei'er. The maid beside her quickly poured a cup of tea and placed it before her.

"Sister may not know, but I just returned from His Majesty's Weiyang Palace. You saw it last night—His Majesty's demands are insatiable. I am truly exhausted. I happened to pass by Sister's sleeping quarters and came to check on your injuries, and also to ask Sister for a cup of water!" She then brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead in a seemingly casual gesture.

The movement was far too seductive, and Fei'er couldn't help but look. She noticed a small red mark on the woman's neck, and Fei'er's face flushed. Even if she hadn't "eaten pork," she had "seen pigs run"—that was clearly a hickey. Mu Chenfei looked at Fei'er's expression with great satisfaction.

Fei'er cursed them a thousand times in her heart. Seeing them "doing it" last night had already been embarrassing enough, but this woman had the audacity to come and flaunt a hickey right in front of her. Thinking of the deceased Xiao Yuan, Fei'er felt a surge of anger. *Could it be that Xiao Yuan saw that scene last night, couldn't handle it, and died by hitting her head against a pillar?*