While this certainly wasn't a good idea it at least reassured Bai Jingfei and let her go back to sleep in peace. Now the head in her dreams was the emperor's and the children were singing of the unjust ruler.
"The emperor is dead! Mr. Wang lost his head!"
Women danced around the emperor's body and Bai Jingfei sat on the throne as a scantily clad Song Yongrui fed her grapes one by one.
The whole scene looked as if it had come straight out of a One Thousand and One Nights story except for a loli on the throne and a thug feeding her grapes. That definitely wasn't in One Thousand and One Nights.
Well I didn't read all 1001 so I can't be sure.
'Song Yongrui?' thought Bai Jingfei, 'Where did he come from?'
Maybe it was a sign, a premonition or just a manifestation of longing but Bai Jingfei didn't care. It made no sense.
Well since it was a dream it didn't have to make sense, and Bai Jingfei was quite enjoying the dream so she let it be. Song Yongrui feeding her grapes one at a time wearing skimpy clothes was very pleasant.
Soon she had to wake up from her sort of embarrassing dream and face reality.
She had to go to the palace and deal with whatever the emperor wanted her to deal with, even if it was no fun. It would only be fun if she could re-enact her dream and high the emperor's head around.
Bai Jingfei yawned, stretching her hands above her head. In the process she knocked down a few things on the shelf next to her but it didn't really matter to her.
Creating chaos as she moved, Bai Jingfei finally headed out of the jade mountain, toward the palace. The palace wasn't exactly her favorite place considering how large and sunny it was. Well there was no one who liked their future execution ground.
Bai Jingfei nervously walked into the main hall where the meetings were conducted and to her relief, she saw her father sitting at the front of the table, right after the emperor.
She'd thought she was there alone but now that she knew she wasn't, her confidence spiked up ever so slightly. Worst case scenario her father could help her attack the emperor. He doted on her quite a bit so it was unlikely he'd refuse.
Bai Jingfei bowed once, and then slowly moved to sit next to her father. She was confident that the emperor wouldn't say anything just yet.
Maybe soon, but not in front of the entire ministry, not to mention her father.
Suddenly it struck Bai Jingfei that perhaps she'd been caught as the one impersonating heavenly doctor Ming. It would make sense for the emperor to not tell heavenly doctor Ming without confronting her first.
Bai Jingfei's mind was running wild and she leaned on to her father's shoulder to continue worrying. There were many crimes she'd committed.
She'd burnt the prison down, she had impersonated heavenly doctor Ming, she had robbed heavenly doctor Ling, she had "summoned the rains" that had caused the floods.
Bai Jingfei stopped for a minute to consider what crimes she hadn't committed yet.
Murder seemed like one of the few.
She had also contemplated executing the emperor so that was treason.
Bai Jingfei yawned, now convinced that she had no way out. 'When in doubt, take a nap' was her philosophy and she was going to follow it. She was probably going to be executed either way. It didn't matter what her last moments were spent doing.
Prime Minister Bai smiled and rubbed his daughter's head.
He very much treasured this daughter of his, and had always been concerned about her health since she was a child. Even now his heart filled with sorrow as he looked at how short and skinny she was.
The other minister's daughters had grown up to be tall and curvy, looking both healthy and mature, whereas his Feifei had barely grown since the age of thirteen.
Prime minister Bai felt as if he had failed his deceased wife. He had promised to make sure to take care of her and treasure her but he had failed.
Because of this guilt prime minister Bai refused to allow the emperor to do what he wanted to. At the very thought of the emperor's request he felt disgusted and his smile turned to a frown.
He still continued patting his daughter's head though. He hadn't seen her for very long ever since she had headed off to study medicine.
It had been his choice to permit her to go.
He wouldn't always be able to protect her. With a teacher like heavenly doctor Ming, Bai Jingfei was guaranteed a comfortable life. Not only because of the skills she would learn but also because of the status of the pupils of a heavenly doctor.
They were basically guaranteed employment for the rest of their life.
Finally the emperor began to speak, "Dear ministers, I've gathered you here today to discuss the problem of the recent floods…"
One by one concerns and complaints began pouring in from every corner of the room as ministers described how they and their districts had been affected.
"Your majesty, my district has been completely decimated-"
"Your majesty, the flooding has ruined the crop in my district-"
"Your majesty, my district doesn't have a flooding problem but the rains have ruined crops in minister Shu's district so the food supply has been cut off-"
Bai Jingfei's worries flew away but one remained. That too soon disappeared as the conversation continued. Bai Jingfei relaxed as the ministers talked about the flooding and the panic in their respective districts.
She closed her eyes and enjoyed her father's head pats as she fell asleep on his shoulder because of them. She would regret sleeping through this meeting yet again.
"And thus I am considering sending prime minister Bai's daughter to the Fa district to help the group of priests. General Sun's daughter will be in charge of a team of troops heading there as well."