Empress Zhou was the second person outside to know about Yao Huang's pregnancy, because Emperor Yongchang came to her place in the rain to ask her to arrange a nanny skilled in caring for pregnant women for his second daughter-in-law.
Originally, such a matter should be entrusted to Prince Hui's adoptive mother, Noble Consort Du, but even if Noble Consort Du didn't think about throwing dirty water on Yao Huang, given her attitude towards Prince Hui, Emperor Yongchang couldn't trust her, and ultimately would still find Empress Zhou.
Empress Zhou both liked Yao Huang and pitied Prince Hui's experiences. She was very happy to hear such good news, and after a little thought, said: "What does Your Majesty think of Nanny Jin by my side?"
Nanny Jin was originally a female physician in the palace. After Empress Zhou became pregnant for the first time, she transferred Nanny Jin over to serve her. Since then, Nanny Jin stayed by Empress Zhou's side for a long time. Empress Zhou's three children were all born under Nanny Jin's watch. The first two princes died of illness at the age of four or five, which had nothing to do with Nanny Jin's care.
Emperor Yongchang hesitated: "Weren't you going to arrange for her to leave the palace with Qiong'er?"
The eldest princess was named Zhao Qiong.
Empress Zhou smiled: "Qiong'er's princess estate hasn't been built yet, and the grand wedding is also in May next year. By that time, Yao Yao will have long finished her confinement month, and there will be a wet nurse to take care of the child. It will be the perfect time for Nanny Jin to retire after a successful mission."
Emperor Yongchang looked at Empress Zhou's gentle smiling face, recalling how Empress Zhou had helped him manage the inner palace in an orderly manner over the years, and a sense of regret arose in his heart.
If he had known that the two princes on Empress Zhou's side would not live long, he should have registered the second son under the Empress's name. This would not only give the Empress another child to show filial piety, but also save the second son from the hardships he suffered at the Noble Consort's place when he was young.
After Emperor Yongchang left, Empress Zhou called her daughter over and talked about transferring Nanny Jin to her second sister-in-law's side.
The eldest princess said in surprise: "Of course you can, Mother Empress, please arrange it. Second Sister-in-law is pregnant, I'm going to congratulate her right now!"
Ignoring the rain, the eldest princess ran off happily.
When the eldest princess came to Yunshan Hall, Zhao Sui had no choice but to yield the princess consort to the eldest princess and went to the front study to read himself.
When Yao Huang learned that Empress Zhou was going to arrange a nanny for her, the first person she thought of was Nanny Fang, who taught her the rules when she was a show girl. She said nervously, "Is Nanny Jin easy to get along with? She won't watch me and forbid me from going out, right?"
Although Emperor Yongchang rewarded her with four gemstone rings, that didn't mean she could really be cooped up in the house staring at the gemstones every day. That month or so in the Chuxiu Pavilion almost drove her crazy.
The eldest princess smiled: "Don't worry, Second Sister-in-law. Nanny Jin is just coming to take care of you, she wouldn't dare control where you can go. If she were that strict of a nanny, I wouldn't dare take her to the princess estate."
Yao Huang blinked at her: "Sister and Mother Empress are so good to me. I will definitely instruct your second brother to build your princess estate to be both expensive and elegant."
The eldest princess: "Even if Second Sister-in-law doesn't say anything, Second Brother is already very attentive. Second Sister-in-law had better change the return gift to thank me."
Yao Huang thought for a moment and smiled mysteriously: "Okay, I'll give it to you before you get married."
The next day, the weather cleared up, and Empress Zhou personally brought Nanny Jin over.
Nanny Jin was in her fifties, slightly plump in figure, and looked to have a gentle and easy-going temper.
Yao Huang smiled at her: "Nanny's surname sounds like it has an affinity with me. My name contains Huang, which means yellow, and your surname contains Jin, which means gold. Jin Huang, golden yellow, born to be a family."
Beside them, A'ji suddenly burst out laughing.
Yao Huang looked over: "What are you laughing at?"
A'ji held back her laughter until her face turned red, shaking her head, not daring to say.
Yao Huang figured it out herself. There was also a dog named Jinbao in the prince's estate. However, Nanny Jin had just arrived, so she couldn't mention Jinbao, for fear that Nanny Jin would misunderstand that the princess consort was deliberately making things difficult for her.
After introducing Nanny Jin, Empress Zhou carefully instructed Yao Huang on some matters, and finally said: "Since you are pregnant, the morning greetings on the fifth of the month will be exempted for you..."
Yao Huang: "Mother Empress, don't be like this. I don't feel pregnant at all right now, and I still want to go boating, visit the gardens, and play Chuiwan with Sister and the others. I could walk all the way out of the temporary palace, so how could I not be able to walk to pay respects to you? If you insist on exempting my morning greetings, you're asking me to stay obediently in Yunshan Hall and not go anywhere, and I can't stand that."
Empress Zhou: "...That's true, then it's up to you. Whenever you feel tired, you can exempt yourself. Nowadays, no empty formalities or playing around is as important as the two of you, mother and child."
Yao Huang happily hugged Empress Zhou: "Mother Empress is so good. Don't worry, I know what's important."
Thus, on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, when it was time to go to the West Palace to pay respects again, Yao Huang still took A'ji out.
For the past few days, Zheng Yuanzhen had been accompanying Prince Qing to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors in Songfeng Hall, and had not gone out to walk around. Consort Rou and Grand Princess Fucheng, scrupulous of Emperor Yongchang, had not come to the young couple's place either. Therefore, it was only when Zheng Yuanzhen heard Prince Kang's Side Consort Gu ask why Yao Huang still came to pay respects that she learned Yao Huang was actually pregnant.
In fact, it was very normal for a married woman to get pregnant. At any other time, Zheng Yuanzhen would not have thought much of it, but she and Prince Qing had just encountered a setback, while Yao Huang and Prince Hui had added joy...
"Congratulations, Second Sister-in-law," Zheng Yuanzhen said politely.
Yao Huang generously accepted her congratulations.
On the elders' side, Consort Xian, Consort Rou, and Grand Princess Fucheng could all feel that Emperor Yongchang had been happy about Prince Hui and his wife's joyous event for the past few days. However, the fact that Prince Hui could still have normal offspring despite his crippled legs was indeed worthy of his father's gratification. Anyway, Prince Hui's legs were still crippled, and no matter how many children he had, they couldn't help him compete for the position of the Eastern Palace again. Therefore, the three of them didn't take this matter to heart.
After the morning greetings, Yao Huang and the others went to the North Garden to play again. Zheng Yuanzhen sat with Consort Rou and her mother for a while before returning to Songfeng Hall by herself.
Prince Qing was sitting on the couch in the secondary room. In front of him were his two memorials of reflection. On the first memorial, his royal father had only approved with a single "Hmm," making it impossible for him and the people around him to figure out his royal father's intentions. When writing the second memorial, Prince Qing continued to put effort into the nearly a thousand estate soldiers who died in battle in Tanzhou, saying that he was willing to pay out of his own pocket to subsidize each estate soldier's family with a five-tael pension.
Prince Qing's family background couldn't compare with the previous two brothers. He was enfeoffed as a prince at the age of twenty and had only formally received a year's noble salary, and this year's had been confiscated as a penalty. Taking out nearly five thousand taels of silver in one breath to send to Tanzhou was truly very sincere.
The memorial was sent over, and after his royal father approved it and sent it back, there was only one more word on it: Approved.
Zheng Yuanzhen came in, and seeing those two memorials, she felt annoyed.
Both she and Prince Qing were people who liked to enjoy themselves. Just after getting married, in order to please her, Prince Qing spent more than three thousand taels of silver to buy her various valuable items, and he also showed filial piety to her mother with more than a thousand taels. This resulted in the silver in the prince's estate's public account being completely insufficient to subsidize Tanzhou. Furthermore, they couldn't let Consort Rou know about the couple's extravagance, so they could only take silver from her dowry to temporarily make up the shortfall for Prince Qing.
If Zheng Yuanzhen was asked to spend a few thousand taels to buy a piece of top-quality jewelry, she would be willing to part with it. But if she was asked to give it away for nothing to unrelated people, Zheng Yuanzhen would definitely be unhappy.
"Have you told Mother Consort about the memorial?"
Prince Qing asked. Mother Consort would find a way to communicate with his maternal grandfather to see how his maternal grandfather understood his royal father's one-word approval.
Zheng Yuanzhen nodded: "Mother Consort told me to go over again on the ninth."
Prince Qing observed her expression: "Is there anything else?"
Zheng Yuanzhen glanced at him and said, "It is nothing urgent. Second Sister-in-law is pregnant. The pulse of pregnancy was confirmed on the day of the heavy rain at the end of the month. It is said that Imperial Father braved the rain to visit Yunshan Hall, and the very next day, Imperial Mother reassigned her personal Nanny Jin to serve Second Sister-in-law."
Hearing this, a hint of amusement flickered in Prince Qing's eyes. With a half-smile, he said, "Second Brother is quite capable. It seems his legs are not completely useless after all."
Zheng Yuanzhen had no desire to listen to such vulgar remarks, so she left him behind and walked away.
On the thirteenth day of the seventh month, Prince Qing anxiously submitted another memorial of repentance to his Imperial Father, stating that he had already arranged for the compensation silver to be sent out, hoping it would bring some small comfort to the families of the estate guards.
When the memorial was returned, it bore a single additional character written in red ink: Good.
Prince Qing felt an inexplicable sense of frustration. He would much rather his Imperial Father scold him directly and tell him exactly what was wrong with his writing, rather than leaving him to endlessly speculate over a single word every time.
After seeing this word "Good," Zheng Yuanzhen was equally uncertain. What made her even more anxious and restless was that her monthly courses were already half a month late, making it increasingly impossible for her to hold onto any wishful thinking.
Zheng Yuanzhen absolutely did not want to be pregnant at a time like this. Would that not plainly tell everyone that Prince Qing still had the mood to be intimate with his princess consort while he was supposed to be reflecting on his mistakes behind closed doors?
However, a few days later, even Prince Qing noticed the irregularity of her monthly courses.
Zheng Yuanzhen hurriedly went to her mother for help.
Grand Princess Fucheng summoned an imperial physician. After checking the pulse herself, she had the physician check her daughter's pulse as well. Sure enough, it was a pregnancy pulse.
