Chapter 5: As a Maidservant, Shouldn't You Pour Tea?

Upon hearing this, Fan Li rolled his eyes.
“I think you’re ill—mentally ill! There’s a certain physician at the Imperial Medical Bureau, renowned for his skill. Would you like an introduction?”
A physician at the Imperial Medical Bureau especially skilled in treating the mind?
Xiang Ning had never heard of such a person.
But since Fan Li named him outright, Xiang Ning immediately assumed this physician was an ally of the treacherous minister.
She must find an opportunity to have that physician expelled from the Bureau—better yet, from Chu itself!
“What’s your name?”
Lost in her own thoughts of purging the treacherous minister’s cronies, Xiang Ning didn’t even hear Fan Li’s question.
It was only when he asked again that she snapped back to reality.
“My name is Ning’er,” she answered, clearly annoyed.
Only two months on the throne, and her gender was her most guarded secret. Under no circumstances could anyone—especially Fan Li—learn the truth.
“Go, make me some tea,” Fan Li ordered, utterly unceremonious.
Xiang Ning was dumbfounded.
“You—you—you dare order me around? By what right?”
Fan Li regarded her with a curious look.
“You’re just a palace maid. Even if you usually serve the emperor and empress dowager, it’s hardly beneath you to serve the prime minister tea today, is it?”
Xiang Ning’s cheeks turned crimson with rage!
With her peerless beauty and royal bearing, could she not be a distinguished princess?
“How do you know I’m a palace maid? What if I’m a princess?” she retorted, refusing to yield.
Fan Li sneered. “I have studied the royal genealogies thoroughly and recall no princess called Ning’er. The current emperor is alone in the world, and you’re certainly not one of the concubines. Besides the empress dowager, the only women permitted in the palace are maids.”
Xiang Ning was left speechless by this logic.
But to serve tea for this treacherous minister—she would never agree to that.
Smack!
“Ow!”
Still stubbornly resisting, Xiang Ning was caught off guard as Fan Li smacked her—squarely on her backside.
“You dare strike me?!”
Xiang Ning clutched her stinging hip, both shocked and furious.
Fan Li’s voice was cold. “Someone could walk into Chengming Hall at any moment. If you refuse to serve me tea, how will you explain your presence? Do you want people to suspect you of stealing memorials? Or think you’re having an affair with me?”
“Ugh!”
Xiang Ning’s face burned with shame, and she found herself unable to argue.
She even realized, with a start, that Fan Li seemed entirely concerned with her safety.
Trespassing in Chengming Hall? Tampering with court documents?
With Fan Li’s power, no one would dare challenge him.
But if she really were just a lowly maid, she could be caned to death on the spot.
“I don’t believe it. How could a treacherous minister be so kindhearted?”
Though she thought this, Xiang Ning still, rubbing her sore hip, reluctantly went to prepare the tea.

Chengming Hall once again regained its tranquility.
Fan Li had just completed a task assigned by the system. After swallowing the Marrow-Cleansing Pill, he felt as though he had been reborn.
He guessed that the original host’s injuries had healed, but what did that mean?
Fan Li didn’t know, nor was he eager to return to the Fan estate.
Half the memorials from the officials of court still awaited his review.
“The young emperor is still in seclusion, but since he calls me ‘Imperial Father,’ I suppose I’ll work overtime for my son today.”
Muttering to himself, Fan Li picked up another memorial.
In the far corner of Chengming Hall, Xiang Ning was boiling water, unable to stop herself from stealing glances at Fan Li.
She had never before spied on a man—especially not one so focused and diligent.
“If the treacherous minister could truly reform, perhaps I might spare his life,” Xiang Ning found herself thinking.
She had never brewed tea before and ruined several pots in succession.
By the time she finally managed to make a drinkable pot, dusk had already fallen outside Chengming Hall.
“Prime Minister… here, have some tea?”
Carrying the tea over, Xiang Ning called out, only to find Fan Li so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even hear her.
“Is the treacherous minister working himself to the bone for my empire?”
Xiang Ning shook her head abruptly, dispelling an unexpected wave of emotion.
Treacherous minister!
Not to be trusted!
Just thinking of being forced to call him ‘Imperial Father’ made her grind her teeth in anger.
If not for him, would she have needed to disguise herself as a man and seclude herself in bitter cultivation?
“Is this tea even drinkable?”
Fan Li finally noticed Xiang Ning’s presence.
He glanced at the tea—it had gone cold when she wasn’t looking.
Flushing, Xiang Ning retorted, “It’s your fault for being so absorbed in those memorials! I called you several times and you didn’t answer. How can you blame me for the tea getting cold?”
The words were barely out before she regretted them.
Right now, she was pretending to be a maid while he was the all-powerful prime minister.
To speak to him like this—was she giving him an excuse to kill her?
Fan Li pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“You’re right. I can’t blame you for the cold tea.”
He was indeed somewhat thirsty, and didn’t mind that the tea was cold. He picked up the cup and drank.
The cool, slightly bitter liquid quenched his thirst, even if it tasted awful.
Fan Li smiled. “Thank you. I hope next time I can try your tea while it’s hot.”
Xiang Ning had never imagined the treacherous minister could possess such a gentle side!
Especially the harmless look he wore as he smiled—it seemed to imprint itself on her mind.
“You’re so young—why force the emperor to call you ‘Imperial Father’?” Xiang Ning changed the subject, her tone full of wounded resentment. “Don’t you mind being called old?”
Fan Li was momentarily taken aback. This little maid certainly had nerve—was that really a question for her to ask?
He wasn’t angry, but he couldn’t tell her the truth, either.

To complete a system task?
Who would believe that?
So Fan Li answered casually, “Don’t be fooled by my youth—I’m more than old enough to be his father.”
The original host was only about twenty-five or twenty-six, but if Fan Li counted his own age from before he came here, he was well past fifty.
A decrepit fifty-year-old acting as father to a nineteen-year-old boy—he was certainly qualified.
“Hmph! Treacherous minister—shameless!”
Xiang Ning clearly found his explanation unconvincing, further proof in her mind of his villainy.
Once all the memorials were reviewed, Fan Li prepared to leave the palace and return home.
Ding!
“New mission: ‘The Monarch Serves the Minister.’”
“Mission description: Have the emperor serve the host, in any form. The greater the degree, the better the reward.”
Fan Li froze.
What kind of ridiculous mission was this?
To have the young emperor serve him?
They were both men—Fan Li didn’t even consider certain possibilities. At most, he could force the Chu emperor to pour him some wine.
“When the young emperor finishes his seclusion, I’ll have him pour me a cup of wine,” Fan Li thought, rather unenthusiastically.
Even with all his wit, he couldn’t imagine how to maximize the mission’s reward.
It seemed there was no chance for a double reward this time.
Feeling thirsty, Fan Li tapped his teacup.
Couldn’t she see it was empty? This Ning’er was a most unobservant maid.
“Hmph!”
Xiang Ning was fuming, too.
She, the mighty emperor of Chu, was being ordered about like a maid by Fan Li.
But with her identity to protect, she had no choice but to pick up the teapot and refill his cup with fresh tea.
As soon as Fan Li downed the tea, a familiar chime sounded in his head.
Ding!
“Detected: the emperor, dressed as a woman, has served tea to the host!”
“Congratulations, host! Mission ‘The Monarch Serves the Minister’ completed at a high level. Double reward granted!”
Fan Li stared in a daze for a few seconds before slowly turning his gaze on Xiang Ning.
Ning’er?
Xiang Ning?
The emperor of Chu?
Kid… you’re quite something, aren’t you?