Chapter 425
"Your Highness, wuwu..."
Li Qingxun was awakened by a mournful wailing. Irritated, she pressed her temples and instinctively snapped, "What's all the noise? Have you finished the experimental analysis? Completed the neutrino matter extraction? Experiment 1098 must be handled with extreme caution—the slightest mistake could cause a spacetime collapse!"
The commotion around her abruptly ceased.
Li Qingxun slowly opened her eyes to the sight of a dilapidated ancient ceiling. As her consciousness fully returned, she realized her entire body was wracked with pain, as if not a single inch of her was unharmed. The agony nearly brought tears to her eyes.
She struggled to sit up.
She found herself in a dim, gloomy room, its furnishings eerily reminiscent of a period drama. A thin, faded quilt covered her, and the bruises and cuts on her hands had yet to fade.
Kneeling by the bed was a sobbing girl in ancient attire, no older than fifteen or sixteen, pitifully thin.
Tears welled in the girl's round, frightened yet hopeful eyes. "Your Highness... you're not dead?"
Li Qingxun was utterly baffled.
A sharp pain suddenly pierced her skull, flooding her mind with bitter memories.
[In these memories, the original owner of this body was the sixth princess of Qing State, also named Li Qingxun. Emperor Qing had been a philandering man in his younger years, leaving the palace teeming with children.
A palace maid serving the Empress had harbored ambitions of climbing the social ladder. Taking advantage of the emperor's drunkenness, she had shared his bed. After a single night of passion, the maid became pregnant and gave birth prematurely to a daughter nine months later. The maid died from severe blood loss during childbirth, and Emperor Qing, disdainful of her lowly status, despised the child she left behind. He casually handed the infant to an elderly palace matron to raise.
Li Qingxun was that child—motherless, ignored by her imperial father, and left to live alone in the most remote and desolate palace, Qiu Liang Palace, attended only by a maid named Yuan'er.
For years, Li Qingxun had kept to herself in this forgotten corner of the palace. The Empress and Consort Xie were too busy locked in their deadly rivalry to bother with an insignificant princess like her, allowing her to survive into adulthood. But last year, during a palace banquet, Li Qingxun had caught sight of Zhang He'an, the Vice Minister of Rites, and fallen head over heels. The young girl's long-dormant heart had fluttered to life.
She had mustered the courage to gift Zhang He'an handmade handkerchiefs, boots, and stationery. But the aloof, moonlike official remained unmoved.
Unexpectedly, this had drawn the attention of the seventh princess, Li Qingling.
Li Qingling, the Empress's daughter, was breathtakingly beautiful and the apple of the emperor and empress's eyes. After her coming-of-age ceremony, she had been granted the title "Princess Qionghua." She, too, fancied Zhang He'an. Upon learning that Li Qingxun had dared to send him gifts, Li Qingling stormed into Qiu Liang Palace with a whip and beat Li Qingxun so severely that the poor girl had died on the spot.]
The modern-day Li Qingxun had awoken in this battered body.
As she processed these memories, Li Qingxun sat frozen in disbelief.
She threw off the quilt and stumbled out of the chamber. Outside, the daylight was blinding. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds and wildflowers, the palace walls crumbling, the roof tiles barely clinging to the eaves.
Li Qingxun gaped. "Qiu Liang Palace... Qing State..."
Refusing to accept it, she pinched her thigh hard.
The pain was real.
Covering her face, she stomped her foot in frustration. "I knew it! I never should have risked using that untested physics formula! The neutrino collision experiment must have gone wrong!"
She paced the courtyard anxiously, still unable to reconcile herself with the reality of time travel. Only when her stomach growled loudly did she realize how ravenous she was.
Yuan'er, hiding behind a pillar, watched as Li Qingxun muttered to herself, banged her head against the wall, and scribbled strange symbols in the dirt. The maid feared her mistress had lost her mind.
But at the sound of Li Qingxun's stomach, Yuan'er cautiously peeked out. "Your Highness, please wait. Yuan'er will fetch you something to eat."
She darted out of Qiu Liang Palace like a gust of wind.
About half an hour later, she returned with a small food box. Li Qingxun eagerly opened it—only to find a bowl of cold congee and two stale buns.
Her smile vanished.
With her injuries, this meager, unappetizing meal would hardly aid her recovery.
She took a bite of the bun. It was rock-hard, nearly chipping her teeth. Disgusted, she grimaced. In all her twenty-five years, she had never eaten anything so unpalatable.
But hunger gnawed at her. Reluctantly, she soaked the bun in cold water and forced it down.
After the dismal meal, she collapsed onto the rickety bed, her mind racing for a way home. Li Qingxun felt lost. Her parents were physics researchers, and she had grown up in a research institute, never wanting for anything. Her exceptional talent had earned her a place in the lab at a young age.
For twenty-five years, she had lived and breathed experiments.
As the most gifted scientist in the institute, she was accustomed to giving orders and overseeing projects—but she had zero experience surviving in a cold palace.
How could she return home?
"No, I need a plan," Li Qingxun muttered, shaking off her daze.
She began outlining her priorities:
1. Immediate goal: Eat properly and recover.
2. Leave Qiu Liang Palace and gather information about this world.
3. Search for any core equipment that might have traveled with her—if found, activate it to find a way home.
4. Go home.
With the plan set, her most urgent task was securing decent meals and healing.
But as an overlooked sixth princess in the most neglected corner of the palace, her meals were often skimped by the imperial kitchens. The Empress ignored her, Consort Xie dismissed her, and the emperor pretended she didn't exist...
She had no allies.
Li Qingxun massaged her temples, sifting through her memories. "Qing State was founded just thirty years ago. The current emperor is the second ruler—mediocre at best. To the south, the Yelang Kingdom frequently crosses borders, and to the north, the Yue Kingdom watches like a tiger eyeing its prey. Qing State is stuck in the middle."
After a moment, she turned to Yuan'er. "Isn’t today the day the Yue Kingdom’s envoys are visiting?"
Yuan'er nodded. "Yes, the front palace is bustling. But Your Highness, you’re still unwell. We shouldn’t go. If Princess Qionghua sees you, she’ll cause trouble again."
Li Qingxun fell silent. This could be her chance to turn things around.
But her life in the lab had left her with no experience in palace intrigue. Fortunately, she had a sharp, analytical mind.
She recalled the "academic green teas" at the institute—men who had schemed and backstabbed to win her favor as their professor. Studying their tactics, she quickly distilled a strategy of her own.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she beckoned Yuan'er. "When envoys visit, they usually tour the imperial gardens or some museum, right? Take me there."
Yuan'er blinked in confusion.
...