Chapter 259 - Languid Arrest

After being informed of Lei Xing's return and that she was napping before dinner. The Emperor decided to finish up a few things before going over. But after a few moments, he decided to just go over to join her in her nap, it had been a long day for him as well.

But then to his surprise, he arrived in her room to find her at her desk surrounded by books, which he realized where account books as he got closer.

She was so focused in whatever she was doing that she apparently did not even hear the door.

"Xing er?" The Emperor lightly called as he came up to the table. Lei Xing jumped and then looked up, saw him and smiled, and excitedly went, "Oh, you're here! Good, come sit...I have a few things I need to talk to you about."

He had thought that she would be tired after such a busy day, but clearly, she still had a lot of energy. The Emperor sat down at her side with a smile as he commented, "You seem to have had quite the busy day..."

"It was okay..." Lei Xing dismissively said with a nod and then she proceeded to ask, "Do you know your harem has a monthly allowance of a hundred thousand gold pieces?"

The Emperor raised an eyebrow at her and tentatively went, "I see..." Not sure what she was actually getting at with this.

"My allowance is only a thousand gold pieces every month and it's the same for the other three - well, two noble consorts, the concubines get three hundred. So nine concubines - well, ten..." 

Lei Xing frowned in annoyance, factoring in Chen You's new status was messing things up so she went, "Let's just use last month, the nine concubines total twenty-seven hundred, that plus four Noble consorts' four thousand...the total actual harem allowance for last month was sixty-seven hundred and that's only 6.7% percent of the total budget. So then what happened to the rest of the money?"

The Emperor blinked at her but before he could respond, Lei Xing continued, "According to Ming Shu, this was how it was since your father's time and not much has changed - Ah, I am not at all questioning your mother's management skills...I'm just saying." Lei Xing promptly clarified raising her hands up, she was not aiming to offend anyone here.

The Emperor snorted and brought her hands down with a sigh and explained, "My father's harem at one point had over a hundred women so -"

"You don't have a hundred women so - Or do you plan on having a hundred women?" Lei Xing interjected narrowing her eye at him.

The Emperor smiled and curtly responded, "Never..."

Lei Xing smiled, "Good, then that much money isn't needed...All it does is create a lot of room for embezzlement. Ah, I'm not accusing your mother of embezzlement or anything, I'm just saying a lot of money is unaccounted for here...the funds are better utilized elsewhere than it simply sitting idly by to be splurged..." 

The Emperor quietly scrutinized her with an odd expression and Lei Xing warily looked at him and went, "What?... What is it?"

"You seem different, you seem to be enjoying this...surprisingly." The Emperor commented.

"What do you mean by surprisingly?" Lei Xing swiftly asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Emperor blinked at her and then said, "Well, it's just...you are normally -...."

{...Quite lazy...}

He thought that but looking at her expression, he definitely could not say that. It was just that this level of care she was putting into this was very surprising. It truly was very out of character for the Lei Xing he had come to know.

"Lazy? That's what you wanted to say, wasn't it?" Lei Xing asked narrowing her eyes at him with a disgruntled pout. 

The Emperor smiled, "Self-awareness is an excellent trait...very lovable." He added as he went to hug her. 

Lei Xing pushed him back and defended, "First of all, I am not lazy, I am just efficient. You can't call someone without a job lazy - Actually, forget that. My point is, there was no requirement of me to do anything given that I was allocated no responsibilities..."

The Emperor simply raised an amused eyebrow with a smirk, but before he could speak, Lei Xing seemed to realize that her defense was weak so she went, "I will have you know that before I came here I was considered a workaholic -"

"Workaholic?" The Emperor asked and Lei Xing quickly explained, "It means I was always working, all the time! I loved working - Actually, no, I loved making money, very different thing. Anyway, so long as I was getting paid, I was working -"

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, "So you want to be paid to -"

"No, no, no. My point is that I am a GREAT worker. If you don't give me a job, you can't expect me to work. Therefore, I am not lazy, I am simply an efficient and effective worker who knows the importance of energy conservation." Lei Xing finished with a resolute nod.

The Emperor blinked at her and snorted, but when Lei Xing glared at him, he held back his laugh and just smiled and said, "All very important points...I always believed you had the capacity to rise up to any occasion." He finished, pulling her into a warm hug.

Lei Xing knit her brows.

{...I sense some sarcasm there...definitely some doubt in that statement...But I shall be magnanimous and let it go this time~( ￣^￣ )...}

Lei Xing was in such a great mood, so she smiled and wrapped her arms around him and asked, "How was your day?"

The Emperor sighed and then released her and proceeded to tell her about the prisoner's words and his meeting with Prince Rui. As he told her about Doctor Lou helping the patients, he remembered his mother and so he said, "Ah, that reminds me. Could you ask Doctor Lou to come to check on the Empress dowager? I stopped by his pharmacy on my way back but it was closed..."

Lei Xing knit her eyebrows and then said, "Well...I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"Why not?" The Emperor asked also knitting his eyebrows.

Lei Xing looked at him and hesitantly said, "Well...the last time he was here...when she sent for him. She was really angry and...well, he was the reason she went into a fit, I think? Maybe, I don't know..."

When the Emperor frowned, Lei Xing quickly added, "Oh, he said he had nothing to do with it though...I will still ask or do you want to talk to him yourself?" 

"No...It's fine. Actually, that Voice I told you about already told me the doctor had nothing to do with my mother's condition. I just thought that perhaps he would be able to help her current condition since the Imperial physicians are lost..."

Lei Xing nodded and then removed his arms from her waist, "Just stay like that for a bit..." She said when the Emperor looked at her questioningly. She put a little distance between them and tried to contact Doctor Lou. 

{...Hellooo? Doc?...Doctor? Wake up! >_

"It doesn't work when we're touching..." Lei Xing explained when the Emperor gave her a weird look, "I don't really understand it either...He doesn't really explain these things." She added before he could ask any questions. 

Lei Xing tried for a bit longer and then said, "He's not responding..."

"There is no rush...She'll probably wake up soon enough on her own." The Emperor said with a sigh. 

The doors then opened and the servants came in with dinner.

"Forget that for now..." The Emperor said as he got up pulling Lei Xing with him and then walked her to the table as the food was laid out.

Crowning a wonderful day with a wonderful meal for Lei Xing. 

{...That reminds me...I really have to give these chefs a raise ~(ꈍ ᴗ ꈍ)~...}

***

While the rest of the palace peacefully slept that night, those in the Empress dowager's were in a full panic mode.

The Empress dowager had slept for the full day and the Imperial physicians were not sure what to do about it. Although her heart rate sped up here and there, it was not dipping to irregular lows like it was last time. So the Imperial physicians were not too worried.

They simply set some medicinal herbs going in the smoke pot in an attempt to calm and relieve her. 

Everything was quiet and peaceful that night, until Song mama who was on shift watching the Empress dowager suddenly screamed, "Your majesty, Stop!"

The physicians outside the room raced inside to find Song mama struggling with the Empress dowager on the bed. As they got closer, the physicians realized that Song mama was actually trying to pull the Empress dowager's hands from her throat...where she was strangling herself.

One of the physicians promptly joined in with Song mama's struggle, ripping the Empress dowager's hands off of her neck, leaving bloody gashes behind. The Empress dowager kicked and struggled with them, her hands wanting to go back to her neck.

But then all of a sudden her eyes flew open and she instinctively kept struggling thinking it was still the shadows grasping at her. The physician and Song mama continued trying to restrain her until the other physician noticed her eyes were open and exclaimed, "She's awake!"

Song mama and the other physician whipped their heads to her face, saw her eyes open, and they promptly released her.

"Your majesty, are you o-okay?" Song mama tentatively asked. The Empress dowager did not respond and just laid there taking deep breaths, staring up at her bed canopy. Now they were not even sure if she was actually awake. She did not respond to any of their calls..

One of the physicians quickly brought over a bowl of water with a cloth and handed a wet cloth to Song mama. Song mam took the cloth and then went to clean the wounds on the Empress dowager's neck.

But as soon as the cloth touched her neck, the Empress dowager immediately slapped her hand off as she barked with a croaky voice, "Don't touch me!" while she weakly retreated further into the bed, glaring at them. 

"Your majesty, we ha~" 

"Get out!" The Empress dowager barked.

"Your majesty bu-"

"I said Get out! Get out! Get out!" The Empress dowager continued shouting with increasing irritation as she threw her pillows and blanket at them. To avoid worsening her condition, the three people helplessly withdrew. It was only when they reached the outer area of the room, out of direct view of the Empress dowager that she stopped screaming and just quietly laid there, hugging herself. 

One of the physicians promptly left to inform the head physician of the new development. While Song mama and the other physician stood there in the room, out of the Empress dowager's sight, too worried to leave the obviously unstable Empress dowager alone. 

They truly could not understand what was going on with the woman.