Chapter 6 — Rebirth in the Cold Palace

Chief Physician Wang sighed softly.

“The things she made Your Ladyship see and hear through hypnosis may remain in the deepest part of your memory. It is like a dream that lasted too long. Even after waking, a person cannot immediately forget what happened inside it.”

I tightened my grip on my robe. The words spoken by the “voice in my head,” the broken images of the future—river embankments poured from cement, cannons roaring, even iron birds flying through the sky—would they follow me forever?

“But Your Ladyship need not worry too much,” Chief Physician Wang said gently. “Memories will fade with time. As long as you are not stimulated again and do not encounter the people or events connected to them, they will eventually become an old dream from another lifetime.”

He took out a set of silver needles and carefully warmed them over the candle flame.

“First, I will perform acupuncture today to open the meridians and clear the remaining poison.”

When the first needle touched the acupoint, the slight pain brought me fully awake. I remembered the Noble Consort’s final expression: resentment, jealousy, and a trace of despair that I could not decipher.

“Chief Physician,” I asked quietly, “if someone came from a thousand years in the future, had seen a prosperity we cannot imagine, and was then locked inside these four palace walls... could she go mad?”

The hand rolling a needle stopped.

After a long time, Chief Physician Wang answered slowly.

“I do not understand the world a thousand years from now. But I know this: no matter where a person comes from, if her heart and methods are crooked, then no matter how great her abilities, she will only bring disaster.”

One silver needle after another entered my skin. A faint numbness spread along my meridians, like warm water flowing through my body.

“Your Ladyship,” Chief Physician Wang suddenly said, lowering his voice. “There is something I do not know whether I should tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Last night, while the Noble Consort’s chambers were being cleaned, a locked room was discovered. Inside was a chest filled with manuscripts.”

He paused.

“They recorded many unbelievable things. For example, how to refine a medicine called penicillin, how to build a telegraph, and...”

He glanced around and lowered his voice further.

“How to make a weapon capable of destroying the world, called an atomic bomb.”

My back turned cold.

“Where are those manuscripts?”

“The Emperor personally confiscated them.”

Chief Physician Wang removed the final needle.

“I only had time to glance at a few pages. But even those few pages were enough to frighten anyone.”

No wonder. No wonder the Noble Consort had been able to produce cement and gunpowder so quickly. She had not invented them. She had merely copied knowledge that already existed in the future.

And the thing called an atomic bomb...

“Chief Physician.” I sat up straight. “Do you think that knowledge should be preserved?”

Chief Physician Wang remained silent for a long time.

“Medicine can save people, but it can also kill them,” he finally said. “A knife can cut vegetables, but it can also slaughter a city. Knowledge itself is not guilty. What matters is whose hands hold it and how it is used.”

He looked at me, his eyes clear.

“But some knowledge is like Pandora’s box. Once it is opened, it can never be closed again.”

I understood.

When I left the Imperial Medical Academy, the morning sun had filled the palace paths. A palace maid from Yonghe Palace was waiting outside with a food box. When she saw me return, she hurried forward.

“Your Ladyship, breakfast is ready. His Majesty has just sent over a bowl of bird’s nest soup to nourish you.”

I nodded and entered the hall. The food box was opened. The bird’s nest soup was clear and glistening, accompanied by several light dishes and a bowl of plain rice porridge. Everything was gentle on the stomach.

I scooped up a spoonful. The rising steam blurred my vision.

Suddenly, I remembered the punishment chamber in my second life: stale leftovers, and cold water full of mud and sand. Back then, I had always thought that if I could live again, I would eat one proper meal.

Now the meal was right in front of me, yet I could not swallow it.

“Your Ladyship,” the old matron urged softly, “you should eat at least a little. Your health is the most important thing.”

I forced down a few mouthfuls of porridge, then pushed the bowl away.

“Take it away.”

I rose and walked to the writing desk. I spread out paper, ground the ink, and watched the inkstick turn in the inkstone as its rich scent slowly filled the room.

When I picked up the brush, I did not know what to write. In the end, I lowered it and wrote four characters:

Live in the Present.

The ink had not dried. Beneath the morning light, it shone with a damp gleam.

Live in the present. I would not dwell on the tragic way I had died in my previous lives. I would not worry about the dangers of the future. I would not spend my days wondering what to do with cement, gunpowder, or atomic bombs.

Those were matters for the Emperor to consider.

I only wanted to live this life well.

Outside the window, several sparrows sang in the parasol tree. Their voices were clear and full of life. I opened the window and let the morning breeze into the room.

The wind stirred the paper on my desk. The four words—Live in the Present—shook lightly, as though they were breathing.

I suddenly remembered the Noble Consort’s final words.

“Be careful... in this era, I may not be the only outsider.”

I looked at the wide sky beyond the palace walls and laughed softly.

Let them come. They may be time travelers, but I am someone who has been reborn.

What was there to fear?

(THE END)