Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Chapter 68

A Heng, not yet grasping his mother's pregnancy, circled her belly, asking, "Mama, is little brother in your tummy? But why can't I see him?"

"It might not be a little brother; it could be a little sister. The baby isn't big enough yet. When it grows and Mama gives birth, you'll see. Then, our A Heng can read to him or her, right?"

A Heng nodded vigorously. "Your son will read Tang poems to him."

She-Niang smiled, patting her son's head. "Our A Heng is so well-behaved."

Li Ju typically spent his days in the study. After finishing her duties in the main hall, She-Niang would retire to her room to rest. Now, with her pregnancy, her responsibilities had actually increased. After the Dragon Boat Festival, she had to start preparing gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Scented sachets, spices, fabrics, and jewelry were essential, along with dried fruits, candied fruits, and mooncakes.

While there were precedents from previous years, this year she needed to remove the Prince of Jin and a few other households from the list, making some cuts and drafting the list in advance.

Mama Xia brought over some pregnancy tonic. She-Niang, in the midst of writing the list, casually said, "Just leave it there."

"Madam, you really should drink this tonic. You can't just skip it," Mama Xia urged, worried.

She-Niang smiled. "Those imperial physicians only know to prescribe ginseng and deer antlers—whatever's expensive, they buy, regardless of suitability. I've just conceived, and since they previously said my health was fine, I don't need to take medicine."

Everyone's body has the ability to heal itself. Unless there are genuine symptoms, there's no need for constant medication.

Mama Xia wanted to press further, but recalling She-Niang's stubbornness—knowing she was a woman who, once decided, was hard to sway—she refrained.

The Prince's household had many unnecessary expenses, and the imperial physicians' provisions were a significant portion, especially the cost of ginseng, which had become the largest.

However, it wasn't yet her time to fully wield power, so she had to tolerate it for now.

At least, from assisting to full management, she had gained control over the household. This differed from the Pei family, where external accounts were separate from internal ones, and she merely managed household expenses. But as the mistress of the Prince of Qing's household, she had authority over both external and internal accounts. Even when the Prince or Heir was absent, the women were in charge.

One step at a time, with patience, no rushing—She-Niang reminded herself.

At lunchtime, Li Ju returned and had the meal served. She-Niang didn't eat much, which worried Li Ju. "Still morning sickness? What did the physician say?"

"What can they say? It's perfectly normal. I don't like those pregnancy tonics. Too many tonics make me feel feverish and restless at night, and even more tired during the day."

Seeing his wife uncomfortable, Li Ju felt distressed too. She-Niang laughed. "You're a grown man—why are you being so fussy? Don't make that face."

After their meal, Li Ju accompanied She-Niang for a walk in the bamboo grove to aid digestion. He brought up the Prince of Jin: "The guards say the Prince of Jin is calm and composed, copying Buddhist scriptures daily. It's rather admirable."

Even for royalty, house arrest couldn't be comfortable.

In She-Niang's view, the Prince of Jin was a formidable character—quiet on the surface but likely scheming in private. She only asked, "After Zhao Shi cried her way into marriage, I wonder how she's doing? I'm quite worried about my cousin in that household."

Hearing this, Li Ju quickly comforted her, "It should be fine. What's left to fight about now?"

"That's true," She-Niang chuckled.

Before, the Prince of Jin had quite a promising future, especially after the crown prince's death, when the emperor's position was unstable. But now that the Prince of Jin was under house arrest, what was there to contend for? Even if he won, he couldn't escape confinement.

Yi-Niang had never been particularly favored, so she wasn't targeted much.

Even after Zhao Shi entered the household, Yi-Niang remained practically invisible. The Prince of Jin hardly remembered her, so Zhao Shi had no reason to target her. With the money She-Niang gave her, she could occasionally treat herself. In life, it's all about eating and drinking.

When she was at Water-Moon Convent, she never imagined she would leave. But in the end, she did. It showed that nothing was impossible in this world.

Today, she ordered braised pork hock, both a salty and a sweet soup, and a few seasonal dishes—about ten dishes altogether. But just as the food was served, the Prince of Jin arrived. She quickly stood up to welcome him.

The Prince of Jin clearly had no fondness for someone like Zhao Shi, who cried all the time. Even though he was under house arrest, Zhao Shi had married above her station. Lady Liu was delicate and needed his comfort, not to mention his previously favored concubines, You and Fang, who had been anxious since the house arrest.

Only Lady Pei remained calm and composed. Seeing that she had just served the meal, he sat down to eat with her.

Noticing Yi-Niang standing, he couldn't help but smile. "You should join us too."

Yi-Niang cautiously sat down. The Prince of Jin asked, "Why are you eating such greasy food?"

Though he was royalty, the Prince of Jin had no particular interest in rich food. His diet was very light, and he even drank very little alcohol. Yi-Niang actually disliked eating with him. Hearing his comment, she mentally rolled her eyes but put on an innocent face. "Perhaps the kitchen made a mistake."

When the Prince of Jin ate with his other concubines, they ate very little—sipping soup delicately with small spoons, afraid to make noise while eating harder dishes, behaving very elegantly. Yi-Niang was different. At first, she had some decorum, but gradually she ate heartily, quickly devouring the pork hock with her chopsticks, which somewhat surprised the Prince of Jin.

After the meal, Yi-Niang brewed some digestive tea. Her room always had a faint medicinal scent.

Even though there was no intimacy between them, the Prince of Jin fell asleep almost immediately. Perhaps he instinctively felt that Yi-Niang was harmless. After all, over the years, she had lived quietly in the rear courtyard without causing any trouble, almost as if she didn’t exist.

But such a person was also dull. He liked women who were gentle but not spineless, clever but not overstepping, knowledgeable but not preachy.

As for Yi-Niang, she didn’t fit any of these. As a man, he wasn’t particularly fond of her.

So, the Prince of Jin only visited her briefly for a day or two before stopping. Yi-Niang had once had romantic feelings, but after seeing the women in the courtyard fight like jealous hens, watching once bright and vibrant girls wither away like flowers, she had seen through many things.

By the Ghost Festival in mid-July, She-Niang no longer went out, focusing on resting at home.

News came from the palace that a consort had given birth to a princess and was granted the title of Virtuous Consort.

Everyone in the Prince of Qing's household secretly thought that the timing of the birth was inauspicious, but the court officials still submitted congratulatory memorials. This Virtuous Consort was He Biyun. She-Niang only briefly crossed paths with her and noticed that she was completely different from how she had been in the Pei household—now cautious and humble. Even though it was the princess’s full moon celebration and her own special day, she remained very modest and quickly withdrew.

It seemed she wasn’t as favored as one might have imagined!

He Biyun was afraid when she saw She-Niang. She had already thoroughly investigated all the connections in the capital and never imagined that the ill-tempered girl from childhood would become the wife of the Prince of Qing's heir.

The Prince of Qing was a hereditary prince and also the Imperial Clan Superintendent. She was terrified that her past would be exposed and didn’t dare cause any trouble.

The emperor’s harem was full of young, beautiful, and affectionate consorts. Although He Biyun had some charm, she couldn’t compare to them, so she had to keep a low profile and bide her time.

After all, surviving in the harem wasn’t just about relying on beauty.

After escaping the Pei family, she first worked for a family teaching their daughter reading and embroidery before eventually meeting the Viscountess Zhao and being selected to enter the palace.

If she hadn’t entered the palace and had been discovered by the Pei family outside, they would never have let her off easily.

Now, after dressing carefully and avoiding Pei She-Niang, she felt relieved to see that She-Niang didn’t seem to remember her.

After returning from the palace, She-Niang was about to rest at home. Her belly was now showing, and the Princess of Qing had said she shouldn’t enter the palace next time.

Unexpectedly, news came that the princess was pregnant. The Princess of Qing was very considerate. "I’ll go myself. You don’t need to trouble yourself."

"I’ll first have someone prepare some gifts to bring," She-Niang said. It was good that she didn’t have to go, but she still needed to prepare tonics and other items herself.

She packed a full cart of gifts. Seeing this, the Princess of Qing thought it was too much and had some items removed.

After seeing off the Princess of Qing, Gui Fang said to She-Niang, "Madam, why go to such lengths? Others might think the Marquis of Shouning's household lacks these things."

"I’m not giving them to her; I’m doing it for my mother-in-law to see," She-Niang replied.

Gui Fang immediately understood.

Getting along with one’s mother-in-law was an art. The Princess of Qing was relatively reasonable, and She-Niang tried to save face for her. But if she were a difficult mother-in-law, She-Niang wouldn’t be so accommodating.

When the Princess of Qing went to her daughter’s place, the princess herself was somewhat incredulous. She said, "Mother, I truly never expected..."

"What is there not to expect?" the Princess of Qing soothed her daughter.

The princess was overjoyed to have her mother with her. The Princess of Qing added that she had brought many tonics and supplements: "Originally, your sister-in-law prepared two cartloads, but I thought, what does the Marquis' household lack? If I really brought them all, people might say we don’t trust them."

In front of her mother, the princess had always been blunt: "Everyone says sister-in-law is capable and competent, just a bit narrow-minded."

"Oh, you, your sister-in-law did it all for your good. Today we went to the palace to celebrate the little princess's full moon. She is pregnant herself, and upon hearing you were pregnant, she went to a lot of trouble." The Princess of Qing felt that her daughter had originally gotten along well with her sister-in-law, but now she always seemed to find fault with her, which was not good.

In the future, the household would inevitably be managed by the sister-in-law. Her parents wouldn’t be able to handle everything forever; eventually, it would be up to her brother and sister-in-law. Even the Princess of Qing herself had gotten along well with her own sister-in-law when she was in her family home. Her younger sister had been immature and had a mediocre relationship with their sister-in-law, so when things happened, the sister-in-law couldn't be bothered.

The princess snorted coldly: "Mother, you’ve really changed—now all you care about is sister-in-law."

"You silly child, are you jealous of your sister-in-law now?" the Princess of Qing laughed.

After visiting her daughter, the Marchioness of Shouning invited them to stay for a meal. She ate a full feast at the marquis's residence before taking her leave. When she returned, she saw several older servants coming out to greet her. The Princess of Qing asked, "What are you all doing here?"

"The heir's wife asked us to wait here for you. She was originally here too, but the heir returned and needed her to serve him dinner, so she went back first," the older servants explained.

Hearing this, the Princess of Qing said, "In the future, you should advise the heir's wife to take better care of herself."

Speaking of She-Niang, who was serving the heir, she was now lying on Li Ju’s lap while he fed her bananas, breaking them into small pieces: "Besides bananas, what else would you like to eat?"

"I have a snack box on the heated bed platform. I want to eat crispy rice crackers." She-Niang usually avoided eating crunchy things in front of others, but in private, she ate whatever she wanted.

Li Ju fed her again, and after finishing, She-Niang yawned and said, "I heard there’s another court attendant in the palace who is with child. It would be great if she gives birth to a prince."

Li Ju also said, "Did you see Consort Xu, the mother of the Second Prince, today?"

"No. It’s strange—she usually loves to show off at such occasions, but this time she was conspicuously absent," She-Niang said thoughtfully.

Li Ju sighed: "I’m afraid the Second Prince is not doing well. Someone in the palace passed word to me."

Ah? She-Niang didn’t know what to say.

Sometimes you do everything right, but it's just fate.

But in truth, it wasn’t heaven’s will. The Noble Dowager Consort, Prince of Jin’s mother, had been established in the palace for many years and had long planted her people. The Prince of Jin was playing helpless, but Wu Ting was his man, as were the generals of the Right Battalion in the capital, who had once fought alongside him in northern Liao.

He was just waiting for the Second Prince to die, and his plan would succeed.

Meanwhile, Li-Niang truly blossomed first and bore fruit later. After previously giving birth to a daughter, this pregnancy turned out to be twins—a pair of twin sons—making her family complete with both sons and daughters.

Lady Yu had been most worried about her eldest daughter, but now her life was getting better and better. However, because she gave birth to twins, she had to observe a two-month lying-in period and couldn’t go out to see people.

Lady Yu came over to She-Niang’s place to chat. She shouldn’t have said this to She-Niang, but she couldn’t help herself: "Your sister gave birth to twins. Although the delivery was somewhat difficult, thankfully everything is fine now. You must also take extra care. Since you already have A Heng, you should prioritize yourself."

She-Niang found her mother’s words strange and asked, "Mother, did sister have a difficult childbirth?"

"Twins are big. Your sister suffered a lot during the birth—it almost came down to choosing between saving her or the babies. After giving birth, she had a heavy bleeding. Fortunately, the doctor we hired was excellent. I even passed out from fear beside her." Lady Yu was still terrified just bringing it up.

Even now, she felt a lingering fear, but thankfully everything turned out fine.

She-Niang stroked her own belly and said, "I don’t dare eat too much these days. If I eat a lot one day, I eat less the next. I’m afraid the baby will grow too big and make delivery difficult. Sister really suffered."

Lady Yu secretly wiped her tears: "You’re right. Your sister was also lazy and didn’t move much—you know how much she loves snacks. You mustn't be like her. Be sure to move around more and don’t overdo it."

Hearing her mother’s advice, She-Niang repeatedly assured her that she would follow it, and only then did Lady Yu feel relieved.