He had been in worse positions. Barely.
"What day is it now?" he asked.
"The fifteenth day of the eighth month, mistress."
That meant nothing to him, but he nodded anyway. "And has anyone visited while I was unconscious?"
"The physician came twice. He said there was nothing he could do except try to purge the poison and pray. Eunuch Wu checked on you once. And..." She hesitated.
"And?"
"Head Eunuch Wang came yesterday. He's the Emperor's chief attendant. He seemed surprised you were still alive. He looked at you for a long time, then told me that if you died, I should report it to the Office of Palace Affairs immediately and not spread any rumors. Then he left."
Translation: The palace administration was already writing off Yan Lingxi as a lost cause. They were just waiting for the death certificate.
Alex smiled. It felt strange on this unfamiliar face.
Good.
Let them think Yan Lingxi was finished. Let Consort Su think her little assassination attempt had worked, or at least had been damaging enough that the problem would resolve itself soon.
That was fine. Alex had built an empire and a shadow assassination network from nothing. He had survived corporate espionage, assassination attempts, and a childhood in foster care that would have broken weaker people.
A harem full of scheming consorts? That was just another boardroom. And Alex Sterling had never lost a boardroom battle in his life.
Well. Except for the one that ended with him dying in a fiery explosion, but that was a statistical outlier and shouldn't be counted.
"Xiao Cui," he said, voice still rough but steady. "I need you to listen very carefully. Things are going to change around here. Do you understand?"
The girl nodded, eyes wide.
"First, I need food. Plain rice porridge, maybe some pickled vegetables. My stomach needs to recover from the poison. Can you arrange that?"
"Yes, mistress! Auntie Chen can make porridge!"
"Good. Second, I need you to bring me writing materials. Brush, ink, paper. And I need a full accounting of this household's finances. Every tael of silver that comes in, every tael that goes out. Bring me the records for the last six months."
"I... I'm not sure we keep such detailed records, mistress."
Of course they didn't. Sloppy.
"Then we start now. From this moment forward, every single transaction gets recorded. Every grain of rice, every stick of incense, every copper coin. If money moves, I want to know about it. Understood?"
"Y-yes, mistress."
"Third, I need information. I need to know the power structure of this palace. Who the important consorts are, which families they come from, what their relationships are with the Emperor, who hates whom. I need to know which eunuchs have influence, which maids gossip, which guards can be bribed. I need a complete intelligence picture. Can you gather that information discreetly?"
Xiao Cui looked overwhelmed. "I... I can try, mistress. The other maids do gossip a lot. I usually don't pay attention, but..."
"Start paying attention. Everything you hear, you report to me. No detail is too small. And Xiao Cui?" He caught her eyes and held them. "From now on, you don't work for Consort Yan Lingxi, that weak girl who let herself get pushed around and poisoned. You work for me. And I don't lose. Ever. Stay loyal, work hard, and I'll make sure you're rewarded. Betray me, and..." He smiled, and was satisfied to see her shiver. "Let's just say I have a very long memory and a very creative imagination when it comes to dealing with problems."
It was the same speech he had given to his first assistant, back when he was building his tech empire. Loyalty through a combination of promised reward and implied threat. It had worked then. It would work now.
"I would never betray you, mistress!" Xiao Cui looked genuinely offended. "Never! I've served you for two years! Even when the other servants left, I stayed!"
Interesting. So the girl actually had loyalty. That was a rare and valuable asset.
"Good," Alex said, voice softening slightly. "Then we're going to get along just fine. Now go get me that porridge. And Xiao Cui?"
"Yes, mistress?"
"Stop calling me mistress. It's inefficient. When we're alone, call me... call me Lingxi. We're going to be working very closely together, and formal titles slow down communication."
She looked scandalized. "But that's not proper!"
"I don't care about proper. I care about efficient. Now go."
She went, still looking shocked.
Alex lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was painted with faded pictures of flowers and birds. Cheap decoration. Everything in this room screamed "low budget, low priority, low status."
Fine. He had started from worse.
His first company had been run out of a studio apartment with a laptop he had stolen from his foster father. His assassination network had begun with a single contract and a target who had foolishly hired inadequate security.
This was just another startup. Hostile environment, minimal capital, powerful competitors, high risk of failure.
He closed his eyes and began planning. First priority: Survive. That meant understanding the poison's full effects and making sure his body recovered. Second priority: Secure his position. That meant preventing future assassination attempts and building a base of loyal subordinates. Third priority: Neutralize immediate threats. Consort Su had made herself an enemy. That debt would be repaid.
Fourth priority, longer term: Figure out what the hell he was supposed to do in this world. He couldn't go back to his old life. That life was gone, along with his original body. So he needed a new goal, a new purpose.
In his old life, he had built an empire because he liked winning. He had run an assassination network because he was good at it and it was profitable. Both gave him a sense of control in a chaotic world.
Maybe this world could provide the same thing.
An empire was an empire, whether it was built on stock prices or imperial politics.
And if the Emperor was as brilliant as Xiao Cui had implied during that poetry discussion, then maybe, just maybe, this situation could be interesting.
Alex had always preferred interesting over boring.
He opened his eyes as Xiao Cui returned with a bowl of plain rice porridge. It smelled bland and looked unappetizing, but his stomach was desperately empty.
"Thank you," he said, taking the bowl. "Now sit. Tell me everything you know about the Emperor."
As he ate and listened to Xiao Cui's nervous recitation of palace gossip.
This was going to be fun.