“Aren’t you going to the palace?”

“Not going.”

Li Jing didn’t go anywhere for the whole afternoon, just hanging around Lu Mingyu. Lu Mingyu wanted to chase him away, but she couldn’t do it.

Lu Mingyu had long since recovered from her shock and joy. Looking at Li Jing, who was still immersed in excitement, she was quite speechless: “The baby is in my belly. It’s just a little bit small now. It needs to grow up slowly. What’s the point of you circling around me now?”

Li Jing fully demonstrated how foolish a new father could be: “My heart is full of you and the child now, I don’t want to go anywhere. Mother will understand, don’t worry.”

Lu Mingyu had no choice but to follow him.

By the time we had dinner, things started to get funny again.

Li Jing insisted on sitting next to Lu Mingyu. Whenever Lu Mingyu looked in that direction, he would immediately reach out his chopsticks and fill Lu Mingyu’s bowl.

Lu Mingfang and others couldn’t help laughing.

Lu Mingyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “How can I eat so much?”

Li Jing grinned and said, “Eat slowly and eat more.”

That smile was so bright that it could blind people.

After dinner, Lu Mingyu would go to the garden to walk around to digest the food as usual. Li Jing carefully supported Lu Mingyu’s arm, and his posture was more standard than Xiaoyuan’s.

Lu Mingyu was very pleased and said with a smile, “Don’t let your mother see you like this. Otherwise, I don’t know how much she will feel sorry for you!”

Li Jing raised his eyebrows and smiled: “You don’t understand my mother at all when you say that. You are so happy when you come home, even my mother would want to hold you in her arms.”

“If you don’t believe me, just wait and see!”

Lu Mingyu pursed his lips and smiled.

When she was pregnant in her previous life, Su Fēi was also very happy. She was always concerned about her and warm to her. At that time, she had not yet seen Su Fēi’s true face and was glad that she had a good mother-in-law.

Now that she thought about it, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could never be as close as that between mother and daughter. It was a blessing to be able to respect and understand each other while keeping a distance, and to tolerate each other for the sake of the son or husband.

Seeing that Lu Mingyu didn’t believe him, Li Jing didn’t say much. He helped Lu Mingyu walk around the garden for half an hour.

When Lu Mingyu was about to take a bath, Li Jing wanted to follow her, but Lu Mingyu, who had been fed up with him, chased him out: “Get out! If you don’t leave again, I’ll take action.”

Li Jing immediately smiled and said, “I’ll be out right away. Don’t be upset. Don’t get upset.”

Lu Mingyu didn’t look in the mirror, so she didn’t see the smile in his eyes.

…

On the same night, the Eldest Prince and his wife looked at each other coldly, with many things on their minds.

The Eldest Prince returned empty-handed, and the Eldest huangzifei was naturally unhappy and complained a few times openly and secretly.

The Eldest Prince was in a bad mood and immediately stabbed back: “Yang Gongren gives birth to a son, but he will be a shu-born son. If you want to think about this, you should think about giving birth to a legitimate son as soon as possible.”

The Eldest huangzifei felt stabbed in the heart and lungs, and her eyes immediately turned red and she started crying.

Didn’t she want to?

After much difficulty, she got pregnant, but she suffered a miscarriage due to excessive worry, which hurt her body. She watched helplessly as a palace maid got pregnant and was taken into the palace by the ill-intentioned Meng Guifei to take care of the baby. She was the heartbroken one.

But the Eldest Prince rubbed salt into her wounds: “Lu Shi became pregnant as soon as she entered the family. If she gave birth to a daughter, she would be the eldest granddaughter of the emperor. If she gave birth to a son, he would be the grandson of the emperor. We got married more than three years ago, but we were a step behind in having children.”

What?

Lu Mingyu was pregnant?

The Eldest huangzifei could no longer cry and wiped her tears carelessly: “Your Highness, is what you said true? Lu Mingyu is pregnant?”

“How can I lie about something like this?” The Eldest Prince snorted and said unhappily, “Li Jing did not make it public, but only sent someone to the Jiofang Palace to announce the good news. The Empress went to the Wenhua Palace, and Mother guessed what was going on.”

“I went to see my mother and wanted to take Yang Gongren back home. Before I could say a word, I was scolded by my mother.”

“Mother is angry, so I just give up this idea!”

“Instead of thinking about this, you might as well take good care of your body. Get pregnant and give birth to a child soon. Otherwise, how can you, the eldest daughter-in-law, hold your head up in front of the Lu Shi? I am also inferior to my second brother.”

The Eldest huangzifei stared in amazement at the Eldest Prince who spoke harshly.

The Eldest Prince paid no attention to the Eldest huangzifei’s sadness and continued, “There is an imperial physician in the palace who is good at recuperating. I will ask my father to invite the imperial physician into the palace. You just focus on recuperating and don’t worry about the rest.”

After saying this, the Eldest Prince stood up and left.

The Eldest huangzifei watched the Eldest Prince’s figure go away, and the bitterness in her heart quickly spread, even the tip of her tongue was bitter.

…

That night, Emperor Yongjia went to the Jiofang Palace to stay overnight.

It was neither the first nor the fifteenth.

Meng Guifei, who was the most favored concubine in the harem, was so angry that she almost didn’t sleep all night.

After learning about this, Qin Xianfei, who was quick-witted, pondered about it carefully. The next day, she went to Shouning Palace to pay respects and mentioned a few things, intentionally or unintentionally: “…I heard that the Empress went to Wenhua Palace yesterday, and the Emperor went to Jiaofang Palace in the evening. I think there must be some happy event.”

Empress Dowager Zhao had nothing to do, so she immediately became curious: “What kind of happy event could it be? Could it be because of the Third Prince’s wedding in two days?”

This is not right!

How could Empress Qiao be so happy about Li Hao getting married? Emperor Yongjia should also go to Su Fei’s bedroom.

Qin Xianfei showed an embarrassment: “I don’t know. I don’t dare to ask the Empress!”

This was not a problem at all for Empress Dowager Zhao.

Empress Dowager Zhao immediately said, “Come here, tell her that I have a request, and ask her to come to Shouning Palace.”

If the mother-in-law wanted to see her daughter-in-law, there was no reason for the daughter-in-law not to come. Empress Qiao not only had to come but also had to pay her respects diligently, waiting for Empress Dowager Zhao to make things difficult for her.

Empress Dowager Zhao didn’t beat around the bush and asked, “What happy event happened in the Jiofeng Palace yesterday?”

Empress Qiao frowned and glanced at Qin Xianfei.

Qin Xianfei smiled apologetically and said, “It was my fault for talking too much. I just mentioned it to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager was curious and summoned the Empress to ask about it.”

Empress Dowager Zhao’s face darkened slightly, and she looked at Empress Qiao with some displeasure: “Why? Is there something you can’t tell me?”

The Eldest huangzifei, Liang Shi, had set a precedent. She didn’t want to announce Lu Mingyu’s pregnancy early. Damn Qin Xianfei! She had obviously guessed something and deliberately used Empress Dowager Zhao to annoy her.

Empress Qiao was secretly angry. But Empress Dowager Zhao was watching closely, so she had to answer. After all, it was impossible to keep Lu Mingyu’s pregnancy a secret forever.

Empress Qiao could only say, “There is indeed a happy event. Lu Shi was found to be pregnant when she went home. Because the time is short and the baby is not yet stable, my daughter-in-law did not rush to announce the good news.”

(End of this chapter)