EES - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After passing a certain threshold, the button for switching the Simulator quietly lit up, displaying a status indicating it had been unlocked.

An Lin lay on her side in bed, holding a memorial she had casually picked up as a prop. After steeling herself, she tapped the conversion button.

Hmm... This feeling...

I could clearly feel my consciousness splitting in two... No, that wasn't quite right. It was as if I'd always used only one hand and suddenly had two. The extra hand's presence became strong all at once, yet it felt unfamiliar. All in all, it was a strange sensation.

A short while later, in the residence of Minister Ji, located some distance from the Imperial Palace, the beautiful woman who had been sleeping soundly with her eyes closed opened them.

Since it was now past midnight, the room was dimly lit, save for a single small lamp on a desk near the window. An Lin blinked somewhat slowly, took in her surroundings, and then looked down at the hands of her new body.

"So this is what it feels like to have two bodies?" An Lin murmured softly. "It feels a bit odd."

All my sensory feedback came in pairs. I could smell the incense in the Emperor's bedchamber as well as the faint fragrance in Ji Wanshuang's room. Even the finer sense of touch came from both bodies: I could feel the smooth silk of the imperial bedding and the fabric against Ji Wanshuang's body.

She lifted her foot, attempting to stand, but Ji Wanshuang's body did not move. Instead, the emperor's body on the other end rose.

The same went for raising a hand or speaking. I still couldn't precisely control which body did what or said what, not right after acquiring the second body.

An Lin fell silent.

I'd assumed the conversion button would let me shift my consciousness to the Empress's body when I needed it, then return to the Emperor's body afterward. I hadn't expected it to result in Simultaneous Control.

In practice, using two bodies at once was more convenient than using only one, but it would take me a long time to adjust.

I'd planned to issue an edict tomorrow to start the imperial selection and bring Ji Wanshuang into the palace. Now it seemed I'd need to practice Simultaneous Control for a while first.

An Lin sighed and began to gradually adapt.

She first tried using Ji Wanshuang's body to walk slowly around the room, perform movements, and speak, while attempting to keep the emperor's body in a state of sleep so it wouldn't mirror the activity.

How should I put it? It was like training to draw a circle with one hand and a square with the other. As I practiced and adjusted, I remembered Zhou Botong's Left-Right Mutual Combat from the wuxia films I'd seen. It seemed similar in principle to the training I was doing now.

The difference was that people practicing Left-Right Mutual Combat tried to clear their minds and let instinct take over. I had to keep every action in mind and split my focus through sheer skill.

Thus passed the first night of activating the Empress Simulator, spent entirely in adaptation and training. When dawn began to break, An Lin let Ji Wanshuang remain asleep, shifted her main attention back to the emperor's body, and got up yawning.

She then tapped the conversion button once more, temporarily disabling Dual Mode.

The previous night, she had kept trying until nearly yin shi, around three in the morning, before she could barely manage having one body rest while the other stayed active. She had slept less than three hours before needing to rise.

Fortunately, morning court was not held every day; otherwise, she would have had to wake up another hour earlier.

An Lin generally held morning court meetings every other day, or once every three days if there were no important arrangements, sparing officials from rising too early and wasting half their time in attendance without the energy to work... She also worried that veteran ministers might not withstand the strain and retire prematurely.

Once An Lin was dressed, washed, and sufficiently awake, Wang Xiuwen stepped forward to report, "Your Majesty, several Grand Scholars have arrived at the council chamber and are awaiting you."

"Hmm, proceed to the council chamber," An Lin nodded, adding casually, "Have the Dietary Bureau send over some snacks. Do not let Our dear ministers go hungry."

Alas, the veteran ministers were too worrying in this regard. Every morning when they came to discuss affairs, they ate very little, afraid of losing decorum before the throne or needing to use the lavatory mid-discussion, content to just nibble on dry rations to stave off hunger.

How could that be? If the veteran ministers didn't eat a proper breakfast, how could they keep working for me for a few more years? How would they still be around to teach students and cultivate more talent after I opened the academy?

"Yes," Wang Xiuwen replied adeptly and made the arrangements.

When An Lin and the veteran ministers reached the council chamber, they exchanged brief greetings. After a short discussion of recent affairs, I figured the timing was about right and eased into it. "By the way, there is one more matter."

"That is how it stands," An Lin said lightly. "In due course, We intend to name an Empress. Have the Ministry of Rites make preliminary preparations."

The moment those words left her lips, the veteran ministers were so startled that, for a moment, no one could respond.

Ji Zhengqing spoke instinctively, "This servant receives... Wait, Your Majesty, what did you say you were going to confer?"

"The empress," An Lin repeated good-naturedly.

The veteran ministers all looked astonished.

The emperor had finally agreed to select an Empress, which was cause for celebration. After all, the ministers had urged him to do so many times before, despite his displeasure.

But...

This was the new emperor who, even as a prince, had angered the late emperor by refusing to marry. The late emperor had rejected him and driven him out of the palace to establish his own residence. What could he have experienced to change his mind overnight?

Had he suddenly come to his senses?

Grand Secretary Song Jinyuan, however, detected something in the emperor's words and asked, "Your Majesty, do you already have someone in mind?"

An Lin neither confirmed nor denied, deliberately casting a glance at the Slick-Shouldered Minister Ji.

Minister Ji's heart skipped a beat as he quickly ran through which of his daughters or granddaughters met the appropriate age.

Could it be the daughter of his eldest girl, married to Guxian? But his eldest granddaughter was already betrothed!

Then perhaps the daughter of his third girl? But his youngest granddaughter was only three and a half years old. That couldn't be it...

Lost in thought, Minister Ji completely failed to consider that the emperor might mean his youngest daughter, born late in life. After all, she had been frail and sickly since childhood, raised secluded in the inner quarters, rarely seeing outsiders. Minister Ji could not fathom where his youngest daughter might have crossed paths with the emperor.

"Does Your Majesty intend to confer the title directly, with no interest in an imperial selection?" Song Jinyuan asked again.

An Lin stared at a point slightly above the veteran minister's head and suddenly smiled. "If you wish to say something, Minister Song, you might as well speak plainly."

Song Jinyuan glanced at Minister Ji, lowered his head, and advised solemnly, "Your Majesty, the concern is not scarcity but inequality. This subject believes... a standard imperial selection should be held."

The other veteran ministers turned their gazes toward Song Jinyuan.

An Lin gazed at the Ambition rating of fifteen hovering above Song Jinyuan's head, lost in thought.

If I couldn't see the rating, I might have thought Song Jinyuan wanted to send his daughter into the palace to bolster the Song family and help others advance. However, this group of veteran ministers had little ambition. They were already old and held high positions, so their appetite for power had faded. Anyone with real ambition would have acted before reaching this age.

So why risk angering the emperor by saying such a thing?

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