Chapter 219 - 189: Bosom Friend of the Central Palace

Inside the delivery room.

The Empress was chewing on a ginseng slice, her forehead beaded with fine sweat. Stripped of her jewels, her face was deathly pale. At the moment of childbirth, the most honored woman in the world was no different from a farmer’s wife in the countryside, save for the extra people surrounding her.

Jiang Xian recalled a female colleague from her past life. She had been a victim of domestic violence during her pregnancy and was rushed to the hospital. With no one to pay the exorbitant medical fees, her female boss had given her a salary advance, and another female supervisor had started a crowdfunding campaign on social media. The caption for the post had quoted a line from an author: ’All women share the same fate.’

That was why seeing another woman suffer made her so restless.

"Lady Zhaoyi."

The midwife and the female doctor saw her arrive and looked at her as if she were their savior.

Of course, they knew Jiang Xian couldn’t deliver a baby, but her presence represented the Emperor’s will. And right now, what they needed most was a decisive leader who could make the final call.

The Empress lifted her eyelids, struggling to look at her, but her vision was already blurred by tears and sweat.

"How is Her Majesty doing?"

Jiang Xian confirmed the situation with the midwife again, and it was worse than she had imagined—the amniotic fluid had decreased significantly, the baby had not yet crowned, and the mother was showing signs of exhaustion. The midwife said cautiously, "If we use strong medicine to induce labor, I fear the Empress’s body won’t be able to withstand it. But if we just wait it out and leave it to fate, I’m afraid we won’t see a good outcome." Then she asked with great eagerness, "Lady Zhaoyi, did you come with the Emperor’s decree?"

People in the harem had a very roundabout way of speaking about bad news.

Such words would never have been spoken about the Empress unless the situation was truly dire.

Everyone was waiting for the Emperor to make the decision.

"Gu Zhaoyi,"

At that moment, the Empress on the bed spat out the ginseng slice. Her bloodless lips trembled as she looked at Jiang Xian. "Tell them to induce labor. They don’t need to worry about me. This is what the Emperor and I already agreed upon."

The Empress hadn’t yet developed a strong maternal love for the child in her womb.

It was like the heavy palace duties, the detestable harem life—a divine responsibility that came with her surname, Chu. The final main quest of her life was to give birth to the legitimate heir. Chu Siyun was indifferent to material desires but possessed a deep sense of duty.

"Get a new ginseng slice for the Empress,"

Jiang Xian ordered, then looked at her with a steady gaze. "The Emperor’s command is that Your Majesty’s safety is paramount."

Upon hearing this, the Empress struggled to say, "Xian’er..."

"Save your strength. Your Majesty must not speak anymore."

Jiang Xian took the ginseng slice and personally brought it for the Empress to chew on. Then she added, "Your Majesty’s problem right now is that you can’t exert your strength and your amniotic fluid is low. Coincidentally, I’ve learned a bit about assisting childbirth, but I will need Your Majesty’s cooperation."

At the same time, Jiang Xian began to browse the System Mall.

Items like fetus-preserving medicine and childbirth medicine could be exchanged in the Mall, but they could only be used on immediate family members. This was a limitation of the Palace Fighting System.

System: [Beep. Major Palace Fighting event detected.]

System: [Prevent the Empress from giving birth to a legitimate son or daughter, or cause the position of Empress to become vacant, and you will be rewarded with a large amount of Palace Fighting Points.]

Jiang Xian had never found the mechanical, synthesized voice to be so cold before.

Jiang Xian: ’Can’t an artificial intelligence have a little humanity? In all my years as a corporate drone, I’ll admit I loved pulling all-nighters and working overtime. When competing for the same opportunity, I’d be the one to come up with three different proposals to crush my rivals. But secretly deleting their proposals in the middle of the night and overwriting their saved files... I’ve never done that. I can’t.’

Jiang Xian: ’Enough of that. Is there any way to save the Empress? Is it too late for her to acknowledge me as her mother?’

On the birthing couch, the Empress was already breathing more out than in.

At this point, it was probably too late to have her admit she was Jiang Xian’s daughter.

Before entering the delivery room, Jiang Xian had already looked through all the items in the System Mall and sorted out some that might be useful. But the problems that could occur during childbirth were as numerous as the stars in the sky; she had to wait until the day itself to know which specific emergency would befall the Empress. Now, she was sifting through those "possibilities" again, searching for a solution to the exhaustion.

"Step aside. I know a little about massage techniques that can help the Empress regain her strength."

Jiang Xian had the midwife clear a space to her right, then purchased the Pleasure Halo and activated it immediately.

[Name]: Pleasure Halo

[Type]: Halo Type

[Function]: After the halo is activated, anyone engaged in sexual intercourse with the host will feel full of energy, with strength to spare.

[Note]: Suitable for Emperors with muscle weakness.

The Empress had never heard that Gu Zhaoyi knew massage, and even the female doctor thought it was unreliable.

But at this critical juncture, no matter how unreliable it seemed, they had to let her try it as a last-ditch effort.

System: [And the host questions my humanity? Is having sex in the delivery room very humane? There’s no way this can be approved!]

It was a matter of life and death, and they were both women. The Empress simply let her massage her upper body.

Jiang Xian retorted righteously: ’Sex requires foreplay. Our skin is touching—this is clearly a sign that we’re preparing for intercourse!’

This deafening declaration shocked the System.

What made it doubt its own existence even more was that the Mall approved the request. It felt the host’s reasoning was sound and convincing.

The Empress spat out the ginseng slice again and said in a daze, "I seem to have... regained a bit of strength?"

The midwife was overjoyed to hear this and once again shouted for Her Majesty to push with the rhythm.

Jiang Xian didn’t dare stop what she was doing. The Empress felt an endless stream of energy surging into her waist and abdomen. Although the flow of strength was very strange, it was exactly what she needed to solve her urgent crisis.

The Empress couldn’t believe it, yet she had to.

With Gu Zhaoyi’s unremarkable and even somewhat improper massage, she had actually regained her strength, and the delivery began to go smoothly.

This was the Empress’s first child. Lacking experience, she had wasted too much energy on fruitless efforts earlier on. Coupled with her naturally weak constitution, she had ended up exhausted in the delivery room.

Everyone in the delivery room worked together, determined to ensure the Empress delivered her child safely.

If the Empress died in the delivery room, everyone there today, with the probable exception of Gu Zhaoyi, would have to report to the underworld.

"Don’t be afraid, Your Majesty. Since your strength has returned, you’ll be able to deliver the baby soon." Seeing the Empress was out of danger, Jiang Xian didn’t dare let go. She told a joke to comfort her, "Your Majesty has supported me for a thousand days, all for this one moment."

The Empress pushed while staring fixedly at her.

The pain was so intense that the Empress could only swallow the words she wanted to say.

The Empress wanted to say that she had clearly told her how dangerous the delivery room was, that coming in meant shouldering the blame. The Emperor must have also explained the stakes to her repeatedly. She knew how much the Emperor cherished Gu Zhaoyi; this act must have been of Jiang Xian’s own stubborn insistence, which made her sincerity all the more precious.

"Your Majesty, I can see the baby’s head!"

In the harem, everyone said that Noble Princess Consort Rong and Gu Zhaoyi were as close as sisters.

But the Empress knew better. She and Gu Zhaoyi were the ones who were most alike.

[Congratulations to the host on achieving the advanced special achievement [Friend of the Central Palace]. Palace Fighting Points +2000. As long as the host does not commit treason or acts against heaven and harmony, the Empress will unconditionally trust, support, and protect you.]