Cui Yunchu ignored her, never expecting that moments later, the girl would slump over her knees and start sobbing in earnest, as if she had suffered some terrible grievance.
"..."
"Cui Yunfeng, are you here to extort me?" Cui Yunchu was utterly shocked.
"Miss, my Princess Consort has had an increasingly odd, unstable temper ever since she got pregnant. Please just humor her and say you missed her, otherwise she'll keep crying for a very long time."
The Prince had been driven almost depressed these days by the Princess Consort's unreasonable demands.
Cui Yunfeng squatted on the ground, looking up at Cui Yunchu with a pitiful, woebegone expression.
"I won't say it. I just won't. I don't miss you at all." Cui Yunchu had no intention of indulging her silly behavior.
"Waaah—"
Cui Yunfeng suddenly burst into a deafening wail. Cui Yunchu stood frozen, staring at her in complete speechlessness.
"I carried this big belly, went through so much hard work, was so careful sneaking over here to see you, and this is how you treat me."
Cui Yunchu heard that string of odd descriptors tumble from her lips for the second time—the first time had been when she was cursing at someone.
"Princess Consort, don't cry, don't cry. You know perfectly well what the eldest Miss is like. She's just teasing you on purpose. Of course she misses you." Mo'er squatted down beside her, trying to talk her round with endless patience.
Cui Yunfeng twisted her body, flinging the maid to the side, then continued wailing so hard the world seemed to darken around her.
Heavily pregnant, she apparently found squatting on the ground too tiring, so after crying for a while she simply sat down on the floor and howled even louder.
Cui Yunchu ignored her, sitting on a nearby chair watching her sidelong with a look that said she was observing a total lunatic.
She was determined to see just how long Cui Yunfeng could keep crying, just how dramatic she could get.
As the minutes ticked by, the noise buzzing in Cui Yunchu's ears grew so intense they ached. The woman on the ground showed no sign of stopping, in fact crying even more fiercely, as if someone were about to murder her.
Cui Yunchu's own throat started to hurt just from listening to her.
Finally, she surrendered to Cui Yunfeng. "Stop crying already."
Cui Yunfeng was too choked up to get out a full sentence. "I... I've been so good to you, and this is how you treat me."
Mo'er went silent for a moment.
That line had become the Princess Consort's go-to catchphrase ever since she got pregnant, which she used to berate the Prince every single day. Whenever she said it, the Prince would immediately cave in.
Cui Yunchu looked on with a face full of exasperation. Did every woman turn into a total maniac once she got pregnant?
Wait a second, she started to panic a little. Just the night before, she had been cuddling up to her Lord Shen and talking about having babies of their own.
"Alright, alright," she said, walking over to Cui Yunfeng's side. "I missed you, I missed you so much I nearly died. Now get up, my ears are suffering terribly."
"Really?" Cui Yunfeng's face was still streaked with fresh tears.
"Of course it's true. What if you cry so hard the beams of my house collapse?"
Only then did Cui Yunfeng wipe her tears away, laboriously push herself to her feet, and cling to Cui Yunchu's arm without letting go.
At that moment, the urge to kick her right out the door reached its absolute peak.
Mo'er quickly spoke up. "Madam Shen, please forgive her. My Princess Consort has been like this ever since she became pregnant. The Prince summoned every single imperial physician from the Imperial Hospital, and they all say her body is perfectly healthy—this emotional instability is just a side effect of the pregnancy."
"Oh," Cui Yunchu replied. "So getting pregnant turns you into some kind of almighty god, huh."
Cui Yunfeng ignored her sarcastic jab, pressing herself close to Cui Yunchu. "You have to miss me. You're my big elder sister, and you have to think of me as much as I think of you."
"How much do you think of me, exactly?"
"We're sisters from the same family. Naturally you're the most important person in the world to me."
"Then give me Prince An's entire storehouse."
"No way. I can give you some of it, but I need the rest to raise my baby."
"Then make your kid name me the Prince."
"What if I have a baby girl?"
Cui Yunchu was left speechless. A whole basket of excuses, just so she wouldn't have to hand over any actual benefits, all while spouting empty words about how much she cared.
The worst part was, Cui Yunchu couldn't even taunt her or argue back, because she didn't want to set her off wailing again.
"Big sister, if I have a baby girl, and cousin doesn't have any children, will you help my daughter become the Empress?"
"."
"!!!"
Cui Yunchu turned to stare at Cui Yunfeng like she had seen a ghost, shocked and stunned. "There's something wrong with your head, and it has nothing to do with the pregnancy. You're just plain insane."
She stood up to leave, but Cui Yunfeng pulled her right back down. "Big sister~"
Cui Yunchu tried to shake her off, but the girl was holding on too tight, and she didn't dare use too much force in case she hurt her. "I'm your sister, not some turtle in a wishing well for you to make random wishes to."
She had always thought her own ideas were wildly fanciful, but now she realized Cui Yunfeng was the true master of absurdity. A baby empress? A little squalling newborn? Where on earth did she get that kind of thought?
"Do you think my luck is even good enough to survive that?" Cui Yunchu rolled her eyes so hard they nearly got stuck.
Cui Yunfeng clung to her tightly, leaning against her arm. "Big sister, I'm so scared. I'm terrified that once she's born, she'll get dragged into all those power struggles and get killed."
Anxiety and restlessness were written all over Cui Yunfeng's face.
"Your crazy rival isn't even dead yet, you know."
Cui Yunfeng shook her head. "I don't know why, but the further along my pregnancy gets, the more uneasy I feel. I keep thinking someone is going to hurt my baby. I make Mo'er check every single meal over and over, and I don't even dare walk too fast around the estate, for fear someone will plot against the child in my belly."
This was a far cry from the heavily pregnant woman who had been bouncing around acting like a total troublemaker in front of her just minutes earlier—Cui Yunchu could barely believe this was the same person.
After a long moment of silence, Cui Yunchu comforted her. "The power struggles in the imperial family are brutal, but your opponent is our cousin. She would never harm you or your child. Don't work yourself up like this. The most important thing is to give birth to the baby safely, stop overthinking everything."
Cui Yunfeng nodded, snuggling against Cui Yunchu's chest.
"Big sister is right. I have you, I have father, I have grandmother, and... I have my cousin who grew up with me. I'm not scared."
Before she got pregnant, she never thought about any of this stuff. She had always thought that winning or losing was just a matter of life and death, nothing to be afraid of.
But now, she kept having dreams. In the dreams, her baby was sweet and adorable, soft and cuddly, but the child always ended up dying in all kinds of wars, her tiny little body covered in bright red blood—so horrifyingly vivid that it broke Cui Yunfeng apart.
Maybe this was what Xiao Yi always talked about, she thought. A soft spot, a weakness.
The two sisters sat huddled together, neither saying a word, until Xing'er suddenly came hurrying in to report. "Madam, Madam! The master is back!"
Cui Yunchu's face lit up with joy. She immediately shoved Cui Yunfeng aside and darted towards the door.
Shen Xiabai was wearing a brand new white silk robe, his face lined with obvious fatigue. "Achu."
The moment he saw Cui Yunchu rushing to meet him, all the tiredness on his face melted away into a soft, warm smile. He opened his arms, and Cui Yunchu threw herself right into them, wrapping her arms tight around his waist.
"You're finally back." Her hands were clasped so tight around him she looked like she was afraid he might fly away.
Shen Xiabai lifted her right off the ground, leaning down to kiss her on the lips. "Did you miss me that much?"
Cui Yunchu nodded. "Yes. I missed you so, so much."
The two of them held each other tight again, pouring out all the longing they had felt for one another.
Cui Yunfeng, standing in the doorway watching the scene, started pouting again.
She had to throw a whole fit, rolling around and wailing, just to get big sister to say she missed her.
Now that big sister was married off, she was clearly someone else's family. She, on the other hand, had never strayed—she had always been the most loyal to big sister.
Waves of grievance and unfairness welled up in her chest.
"Princess Consort, they're a married couple," Mo'er tried to reason with her gently.
"I know," I said, but my emotions just wouldn't settle down. How embarrassing this is...
