I wake up as An Lingrong, fresh from serving the emperor in bed, with his hand still resting on my waist. Lazily, he says, “Sing me a little tune from Jiangnan.”
Scenes flash through my mind of the original An Lingrong being humiliated as a singing girl and mocked by the other palace women. I roll over and cover the emperor’s mouth. “Your Majesty, my throat is a little sore today.”
“But...” My fingertip trails across his robe. “This consort has other talents.”
Three months later, I use my modern medical knowledge to save the Empress Dowager during an epidemic. The emperor gazes at me with burning eyes, holding an empty medicine bowl. “Consort An, just how many more surprises do you have?”
Meanwhile, the empress tears up her 101st handkerchief. “Why won’t this An Lingrong follow my script?”
