Chapter 169: You Have Never Been Her Indispensable Choice

"I want to enter the palace and become an Imperial Physician."

Cen An finally stated his purpose.

Xiao Li was preoccupied with the Empress Dowager’s sudden decision to choose a Prince Consort for her. Upon hearing him, she casually glanced up. "Oh."

Cen An: "That’s your only reaction?"

Xiao Li’s expression was indifferent. "What else? You becoming an Imperial Physician is your business. What does it have to do with me?"

Cen An’s eyes widened. "Aren’t you going to ask why I want to be an Imperial Physician?"

Xiao Li scoffed. "Why should I ask?"

’What he does has nothing to do with me. I’m not so bored that I have to ask about everything.’

Cen An was furious, but he didn’t even know what he was angry about.

Song Junzhan, however, understood. He spoke up to explain for him, "He fell for Miss Wang at first sight and wants to enter the palace to see her."

Xiao Li nodded. "Mm, got it."

This only made Cen An angrier.

Seeing him like this, Song Junzhan could only speak for him again. "He would like to ask for the Princess’s advice."

’It’s not my business, so I don’t want to give any advice. Especially not on matters of love; I have no desire to comment on that.’

However, since he had asked, Xiao Li gave it a moment’s thought. "An Imperial Physician isn’t guaranteed to see Wang Wanqing. And in the palace, if a palace maid and an Imperial Physician are caught in a private affair, the woman is demoted to the lowest-ranking palace maid, and the man is castrated. You can become an Imperial Physician, fine. But if that’s your reason, and you end up harming that young lady... heh..."

That one derisive laugh said more than a thousand words.

The two left, and Cen An wore a foul expression the entire way.

Song Junzhan saw it all. After they had been walking for some time, he finally spoke up. "Are you angry because you can’t become an Imperial Physician to see Miss Wang in the palace, or are you angry because the Princess doesn’t care about you?"

Cen An’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Why would I be angry about whether the Princess cares about me?"

Song Junzhan wore an all-knowing expression. "If the Princess had just tried her best to stop you, told you being an Imperial Physician was a bad idea, told you not to do it, and even offered all sorts of conditions to make you stay as her household doctor, would you have agreed?"

Cen An refused without hesitation. "I would absolutely never go to the Princess Mansion to be enslaved by her."

Song Junzhan: "In that case, would you not feel so out of sorts right now?"

Cen An was baffled. "What?"

Song Junzhan glanced at him and lowered his eyes slightly. "You always call the Princess wicked and vicious, but have you ever truly feared her? She may have imprisoned you and exploited you for her own ends, but she never abused or harmed you. She didn’t even punish you when you spoke ill of her to her face. All of this gave you the illusion that you were equals—that you could be friends."

"Just now, when the Princess was so dismissive, your frustration and discomfort were written all over your face. You hoped she would be like a close friend who cared, that she would consider things from your perspective and try to persuade you. But now you’ve discovered she doesn’t take you seriously at all, and so you’re disappointed."

After he finished speaking, Song Junzhan looked at him calmly. "Cen An, she is a princess of noble birth. What’s more, her ability, daring, and ambition are on par with any prince. With her power, she could have countless doctors of superb skill. You were never indispensable to her."

"To this day, you have constantly called her wicked and never once bowed your head in loyalty. To her, you are no different from any other doctor out there. So why would you think she would care about you?"

Song Junzhan’s tone was calm, but his words were ruthless and blunt.

Cen An opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but was at a loss for words.

Since childhood, Cen An had followed his master, traveling far and wide. He had met all sorts of people, from poor commoners to high-ranking officials and nobles.

Because his master’s medical skills were superb, those people always treated him politely and with great respect.

When Cen An began to travel the Four Directions on his own, although he sometimes encountered ill-intentioned people, most would thank him profusely and be deeply grateful after he treated them.

Therefore, Cen An never felt he was inferior to anyone. In fact, he even possessed a trace of arrogance, a sense of superiority over others that he himself had never realized.

He had witnessed the Princess’s cruelty and knew she was not a good person, but her indulgence toward him had indeed made him feel that he was her equal and held a certain importance in her eyes.

Song Junzhan’s words had laid all his hidden thoughts bare, leaving them nowhere to hide.

No one spoke for the rest of the journey back to their residence.

Cen An got out of the carriage first and walked inside alone, his dejection plain to see from his retreating figure.

"What’s with him? Who dealt him such a blow?"

Ziyue, who had been driving the carriage outside, didn’t know what had happened.

Song Junzhan reached out and patted Ziyue’s head. "He’s gotten muddled and needs some time alone to cool down."

’Accompanying a monarch is like accompanying a tiger. Although Princess Xuanyang isn’t a King, her cold-hearted ruthlessness is no different.’

’It’s not that Princess Xuanyang is a bad person. For a follower, she’s undoubtedly the best kind of leader—calm, rational, and ruthless in her methods, yet principled. She doesn’t kill the innocent or bully the weak. Her powerful charisma makes people forget her gender and want to follow her.’

’But she isn’t suited for friendship. Especially if you approach her with insincerity—then you’re not even worthy of being her friend.’

’If Cen An can’t figure this out, he won’t even know how he died in the end.’

’As for becoming an Imperial Physician, after the Princess’s words, he’ll probably put that thought aside for now.’

------

Xiao Li rejected the Empress Dowager’s ’kind offer’ to choose a husband for her. After being rebuffed, Nanny Cui went back and embellished the story, which thoroughly infuriated the Empress Dowager.

Even though the Empress Dowager’s opinion of Xiao Li had improved slightly after Xiao Li found someone to save her, that little bit of goodwill was nothing compared to years of accumulated loathing.

The Empress Dowager couldn’t punish Xiao Li directly right now, so she simply summoned the Empress. She ordered the Empress, as Xiao Li’s sister-in-law, to send two etiquette nannies to properly teach Xiao Li the Three Obediences and Four Virtues of womanhood, as well as how to support her husband and raise children.

The Empress: ’...If you want to torment her, do it yourself. What’s so great about using someone else as your cannon fodder?’

"This servant obeys."

’Refusing wasn’t an option, and she couldn’t be bothered to argue with the Empress Dowager. But what she did after agreeing... well, that was her own business.’

Hearing that the Empress was going to send people to the Princess Mansion, Wang Wanqing was the first to kneel before her and volunteer. "Please, Your Majesty, allow Wanqing to go."

The Empress said, "The Empress Dowager wants me to dispatch etiquette nannies. What qualifications do you have to teach the Princess?"

Of course, Wang Wanqing didn’t dare teach the Princess, but that was beside the point.

"Aunt can assign a particularly capable nanny, and Wanqing can become her apprentice and go with her to learn."

The Empress was left speechless. ’Such a clever girl.’

’But since Wang Wanqing was willing to go, she wouldn’t stand in her way. As for who to send... she would need to choose very carefully.’

’She couldn’t send one of her own trusted people, yet she had to pick someone both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor would approve of. Most importantly, this person couldn’t harbor any hostility toward Princess Xuanyang.’

’The last thing she wanted was to make an enemy of her.’

Just as the Empress was in the middle of choosing, the Emperor came looking for her.

The Empress Dowager had sent a list of candidates to the Emperor, demanding that he bestow a marriage upon Xiao Li.

Her reasoning was thorough: it was improper for a princess to live alone outside the palace. Xuanyang’s personality had become unruly because Lu Yanzhi had neglected her. If they found her a desirable husband now, the couple would live in harmony and have a child soon. Once she became a mother, she would naturally learn some restraint.

Furthermore, Xuanyang’s reputation was poor at the moment, which was dragging down the Emperor’s prestige. Marrying her off quickly would solve everything.

The Empress gave the Emperor a complicated look.

’Does he really think finding a Prince Consort for Xuanyang will be enough to control her?’

Apparently, the Emperor did think so, but a faint intuition for danger made him hesitate. That was why he had come to the Empress, whom Xuanyang seemed to like, asking her to test the waters and find out what Xuanyang thought.

The Empress: ...