Because both daughters-in-law were pregnant and quite far along, Emperor Yongchang only summoned Prince Kang's family to the palace for the New Year's Eve banquet this year. He allowed Prince Hui and Prince Qing's young couples to celebrate the holiday in their own homes. When the palace banquet began, Emperor Yongchang rewarded the Prince Hui Mansion and Prince Qing Mansion with eight dishes each.
The main purpose of the palace rewarding dishes was to give face to the royal grandchildren, nobles, and important civil and military officials. It did not require everyone to eat every single bite of the imperial dishes they received.
Over at the Prince Hui Mansion, the palace eunuchs withdrew after placing the eight dishes on the dining table of Prince Hui and his Princess Consort.
Once the outsiders had left, Yao Huang inspected the eight dishes one by one.
Zhao Sui said, "It's freezing cold. They must all be cold by now. Let's just eat the food made in our own mansion."
Yao Huang looked again at the eighteen delicious and steaming hot New Year's Eve dishes sent over by Master Kong and Madam Gao. She really lost interest in the eight imperially bestowed dishes. After all, she was pregnant, and Yao Huang felt more at ease eating their own food.
After eating her fill, Yao Huang wanted to spend some time in the back garden. The palace would soon be setting off fireworks, and she liked watching them.
Zhao Sui wanted Qingai to push the red sandalwood wheelchair over again.
Yao Huang said, "No need. Last time I used the wheelchair because it was snowing and the roads were slippery. Now the ground is dry, and I even walked two laps during the day."
She insisted on pushing the Prince Hui.
Zhao Sui agreed, but he required Eunuch Cao to arrange for servants to hang lanterns along their entire path, thoroughly inspect the ground for any ice, and have Nanny Jin, Doctor Li, and Doctor Liao follow at a distance just in case the Princess Consort suddenly felt unwell.
Qingai and Feiquan respectively took their orders and went to pass on the message.
Yao Huang teased, "Before, I treated the Prince as a precious egg. Now it's the Prince treating me like a precious egg."
Zhao Sui: "...What do you mean?"
Yao Huang's smile stiffened slightly. Oops, she accidentally blurted out the secret nickname she had given the Prince Hui.
Facing the Prince Hui's expectant eyes waiting for her explanation, Yao Huang touched her lower abdomen and said without fear, "It's just that time I dragged the Prince to Mount Ling. Before we left, I only thought about having fun. But the Prince insisted on arranging enough guards to guard against bandits, which scared me at once. I thought to myself, it doesn't matter if I get hurt, but the Prince is a noble son of the dragon, like a precious egg in Royal Father's dragon nest. I must carefully hold the Prince and not let the Prince suffer the slightest bump."
The more the Princess Consort spoke, the more righteous she sounded, but the Prince Hui avoided her gaze.
He only found out tonight that the Princess Consort had cherished him so much.
Perhaps it wasn't just in the past; not long ago, the Princess Consort couldn't bear to let him suffer the cold by building a snowman.
Yao Huang watched in surprise as a faint blush slowly crept up the Prince Hui's fair earlobes. She walked over, and because the Prince Hui was sitting in the wheelchair, Yao Huang raised her hand and touched his warm earlobe. With a gentle pinch, the Prince Hui's face also turned slightly red, making Yao Huang feel restless again.
"What is the Prince thinking about, making your face so red?" Yao Huang thought back carefully and confirmed that she hadn't said anything just now that should make the Prince Hui feel embarrassed.
Zhao Sui pulled down the Princess Consort's frivolous hand, lowered his eyes, and said, "You can say these words to me, but you must not joke around in front of Royal Father."
Yao Huang whispered, "Joking, joking, of course I only say it to the person closest to me."
Zhao Sui then felt that every word the Princess Consort said carried a spark.
Outside, everything was quickly ready. The couple put on their cloaks, and Yao Huang also wore a pair of warm leather gloves, slowly pushing the Prince Hui out the door.
Although New Year's Eve was cold, there was no wind. Colorful lanterns hung along the corridors, under the eaves, or in the trees along the way.
Sitting in the wheelchair, Zhao Sui silently inspected every section of the road the Princess Consort was about to step on. Yao Huang looked back at Nanny Jin and the others following far behind, and whispered to the Prince Hui, "The Prince is used to being a noble. For me to just go out and make so many people suffer the cold with me, I feel a bit guilty."
Zhao Sui: "...Everyone who follows tonight will receive a reward."
Including the two doctors who didn't go home for the New Year, they would also get an extra reward.
Yao Huang: "Sigh, the Prince is so generous. If my family were so poor we couldn't even afford food, I'd want to run to the Prince's mansion to be a maid."
Zhao Sui: "..."
If he didn't have the Princess Consort, he usually only needed Qingai and Feiquan to serve him closely, and deal with Eunuch Cao, Nanny Liu, and Guo Shu for internal and external affairs. The rest of the servants just received a fixed monthly allowance.
They arrived at the back garden, and Yao Huang found an open area best suited for watching the palace fireworks.
Qingai pushed over a red sandalwood wheelchair with a leather seat, placing it next to the Prince Hui's.
Yao Huang sat down, leaning comfortably against the backrest, and looked up.
There was no moon, and the New Year's Eve sky was as black as an invisible-patterned black silk, dotted with sparkling gems.
Yao Huang looked at it with greedy eyes: "I really wish I knew those immortal spells from the storybooks, and then I could pluck all the gems from the sky."
Zhao Sui: "...Actually, the stars should be much larger than what we see."
It was Yao Huang's first time hearing this theory, and she asked curiously, "Why?"
Zhao Sui: "Like the gem in your hand, it's the size of a longan when held in your palm. If it were placed a mile away, would you still be able to see it?"
Yao Huang:
"Then I definitely wouldn't be able to see it... I get it!"
After understanding, Yao Huang looked at those sparkling stars again and suddenly felt a bit scared, feeling that every star might be bigger than the entire Mount Ling!
"Prince, do you think these stars will suddenly fall down and hit us?"
"...No, the constellations the ancients saw are exactly the same as what we see today."
To comfort the Princess Consort, Zhao Sui began to point out the twenty-eight constellations to her one by one.
There were too many, and Yao Huang couldn't remember them at all, but she still earnestly followed the Prince Hui's finger to identify each constellation. After the Prince Hui finished explaining, Yao Huang's gaze finally returned to the Prince Hui's handsome face, which looked like elegant jade in the night, and she praised sincerely, "The Prince is really amazing, knowing so much even about the stars."
The Prince Hui turned his head away.
Yao Huang pulled his hand over and showed off the two stars she knew to the Prince Hui: the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
"Prince, do you think there are really such devoted couples? Only meeting once a year and still missing each other so much?"
Zhao Sui glanced at the Princess Consort looking up at the sky and said, "Perhaps few, but there definitely are."
The Princess Consort smiled and whispered to him, "Then on the day the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can meet, they would probably really stay in bed the whole time."
Zhao Sui: "..."
Suddenly, the first firework of the night bloomed above the imperial city.
The Princess Consort immediately tossed aside those proper constellations and improper imaginations, focusing entirely on enjoying the fireworks.
.
It was not advisable to travel at night, so on the first day of the New Year, Yao Huang followed the Prince Hui to the palace to pay New Year's respects.
Emperor Yongchang, Empress Zhou, Noble Consort Du, as well as Consort Xian and Consort Rou were all present.
There was no super large red envelope for a new daughter-in-law this year, but Empress Zhou and Noble Consort Du still each gave Yao Huang a red envelope to congratulate the new daughter-in-law on her pregnancy.
Empress Zhou was as kind as ever, and Yao Huang noticed that Noble Consort Du's gaze towards her wasn't as arrogant as before. She wondered if the severe illness last year had affected her temperament.
Emperor Yongchang could tell from the complexion of his second son's wife that her pregnancy was going smoothly. A while later, the Prince and Princess of Qing arrived. Seeing that his niece, Zheng Yuanzhen, also looked much plumper than she had at the temporary palace, the Emperor was in an excellent mood. He offered them both some advice and told them they no longer needed to enter the palace for the time being; they could wait until after they had given birth.
After instructing these two, Emperor Yongchang glanced at his quietest daughter-in-law, the wife of his eldest son.
Chen Ying blushed under his gaze.
A thought struck Emperor Yongchang, and he looked toward Consort Xian.
Consort Xian smiled and said, To answer Your Majesty, Ying'er's pregnancy was only confirmed just before New Year's Eve. I originally wanted to wait until her condition was more stable before sharing the good news with you.
The prosperity of the royal lineage greatly pleased Emperor Yongchang. He instructed Consort Xian to bestow an extra reward upon his eldest daughter-in-law.
On the way out of the palace, Yao Huang linked arms with Chen Ying, sharing some of her own small experiences from the early stages of pregnancy as they walked.
Beside them, the Prince of Kang pushed his second brother in a wheelchair, while the Prince of Qing personally supported Zheng Yuanzhen, who dared not walk too fast, trailing behind.
The next day was the second day of the Lunar New Year.
This year, it was inconvenient for Yao Huang to return to her maiden home. Zhao Sui took the initiative to invite the Yao and Luo families to stay at the prince's estate for three days. During the day, he let the princess talk to her heart's content with the female relatives from her family. He would briefly accompany his father-in-law and the other men before letting them stroll through the gardens on their own. Meanwhile, he would stay alone in the inner chambers, using the handrails to practice walking, or reading in the study, only returning to the princess's side at night.
The first lunar month flowed by like water amidst banquets and the lively festivities of the Lantern Festival.
Both the estate's two physicians and the imperial doctors from the palace estimated that the princess's due date would be at the end of the second lunar month, perhaps a few days early or a few days late.
Thus, as soon as the second month began, the Prince of Hui grew incredibly tense. At night, even the slightest movement from Yao Huang would jolt him awake.
Unable to bear the sight of the dark circles under the Prince's eyes, Yao Huang shooed him away to sleep in the front courtyard by himself.
Seeing that the princess truly did not want his company at night, and considering that if she went into labor in the middle of the night, his presence in a wheelchair would only hinder Nanny Jin and the maids from coming in, Zhao Sui agreed to her request. Every night, he would stay with her until she fell asleep before returning to the front courtyard.
However, even away from the princess, Zhao Sui was just as anxious. To stop his mind from racing, he had to exhaust himself by practicing on the handrails until he fell asleep. He would endure this for two or three nights before going back to sleep beside the princess for a night.
On the fifteenth day of the second month, there was a morning assembly at the palace. Sitting high on his dragon throne, Emperor Yongchang noticed his second son's exhaustion at a single glance.
Recalling the period of intense worry he had experienced during Empress Zhou's first pregnancy, Emperor Yongchang granted his second son a leave of absence after the assembly. He told him to rest and not return to his official duties until his wife had given birth. Since he was showing such consideration for his second son, the Emperor conveniently granted the same leave to his third son, who did not appear particularly worried at all.
On the morning of the eighteenth, the Prince of Hui was forced to sit in his wheelchair while the princess personally pushed him through the back garden to soak up the sun. News arrived from the gatehouse that the Prince of Qing's estate had just sent someone to announce good news: half an hour ago, the Princess of Qing had safely delivered a precious son, and both mother and child were doing well.
Yao Huang was secretly surprised. During a previous chat with the imperial consorts, it was mentioned that Zheng Yuanzhen's due date was a month later than hers, around the end of the third month. Did Zheng Yuanzhen give birth prematurely?
Fortunately, the Qing estate had announced it as good news, which meant the child was healthy and strong.
This gave Yao Huang even more confidence. If someone with Zheng Yuanzhen's frail constitution could have a safe delivery, her own was sure to be even smoother.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Hui, sitting in his wheelchair, was thinking: the Princess of Qing gave birth prematurely, so could his own princess also...
Let us go back. I am feeling a bit warm, the Prince of Hui suggested to his princess, his expression remaining perfectly normal.
Yao Huang asked, You are warm after only half a lap?
Leaning over to check, she saw that a fine layer of sweat had indeed formed on the Prince's pale forehead.
Not wanting the Prince to suffer in the heat, Yao Huang turned the wheelchair around and quickened her pace to head back.
Zhao Sui said, ...There is no rush. Walking slowly is fine.
To the princess, he was her one precious treasure, but to him at this moment, the princess represented two precious treasures, one large and one small, and neither could afford the slightest bump.
