Wei Zhenfeng had a good sleep that night. When he woke up the next day, he didn't feel hungover. He was full of energy and high spirits, but a little confused.
He sat on the dragon bed, staring at the palm of his hand, turning it over and over, but couldn't make any sense. Instead, Zhao Mian felt guilty.
He used this hand for a long time last night, but Wei Zhenfeng was asleep the whole time, so he probably had no impression of it.
Zhao Mian said nonchalantly, "Bai Yu prepared some medicine for your fourth brother. Remember to bring it back to Beiyuan."
Wei Zhenfeng moved his eyes away from his palm and looked at Zhao Mian silently. Zhao Mian looked at Wei Zhenfeng with a straight face. After a moment, Wei Zhenfeng suddenly said: "I have been looking at your hand for such an abnormal behavior and you didn't even ask 'what's wrong'. Zhao Mian, did you do something with my hand?"
Zhao Mian: “…”
Sometimes a concubine really doesn't need to be too smart.
"So what?" Zhao Mian replied calmly, "Last night you and Zhao Lin were drinking and arguing, and the wine spilled all over the floor, so I used your hands to wipe the floor."
At this moment, Wei Zhenfeng felt that he was being insulted like a fool.
He had no recollection of what happened the rest of last night, but for some reason he always felt as if he had touched something extraordinary.
"Believe it or not, it's up to you." Zhao Mian raised his hand to adjust the cuffs of his dragon robe, and said nonchalantly, "The horses and dry food are ready. I have something else to do, so I won't send you off."
"Wait," Wei Zhenfeng jumped off the bed and followed Zhao Mian out, "What happened last night? Why don't I remember anything?"
Zhao Mian said indifferently: "Because you sleep like a pig."
Wei Zhenfeng's expression was a little broken: "Then didn't we do anything last night?"
Zhao Mian lied without blushing or beating his heart: "I did it. I did it four times."
Wei Zhenfeng couldn't help but admire: "How do you lie so calmly?"
Bai Yu, who was waiting in the outer hall, saw the two men coming out one after the other, and greeted them with a smile: "Your Majesty, did you sleep well last night? Ji Chong is waiting outside the hall to set off with you."
Wei Zhenfeng disagreed: "He came early."
In fact, it was already late, and if they didn't set off now, they would not be able to return to Beiyuan within the expected time.
Wei Zhenfeng looked at Zhao Mian: "Then I'll leave?"
Zhao Mian's heart tightened, and he nodded calmly: "Okay."
"After this separation, we may have to wait until next year to meet again."
"I know, you go now." Zhao Mian spoke faster unconsciously, "I'm going to the Qinzheng Palace..."
As soon as he turned around, Wei Zhenfeng grabbed his wrist. Wei Zhenfeng grabbed him and wouldn't let him go. He lowered his head to study his expression and said helplessly, "Stop pretending, Mianmian. You're obviously unhappy, so why pretend to be calm? If you have a temper, just let it out. I can still coax you now."
Zhao Mian's eyelashes trembled, and he turned his face away: "I'm not pretending."
Wei Zhenfeng sneered: "Forget it, I will never fall in the same place twice."
The scene of how Zhao Mian pretended to be calm when seeing him off last time, and then silently lost her temper after he left, was still vivid in his mind. He felt uncomfortable whenever he thought about it, and couldn't forget it even if he wanted to.
Zhao Mian compromised and admitted: "I really can't bear to part with you, but I won't be angry about it."
Wei Zhenfeng raised his eyebrows lightly: "Okay, you said you are not angry, then prove it to me and go to bed with me now."
Zhao Mian looked numb: "Are you sick?"
Wei Zhenfeng smiled and said, "It just happened to let me see if there were four times last night. If there were, it would be a little different, and I would definitely be able to tell."
Zhao Mian picked up the Jinghong Sword beside him and drew it angrily: "Go back to your Beiyuan!"
Wei Zhenfeng was driven out of Yongning Palace by Zhao Mian. Before leaving, he found an opportunity to kiss the emperor on the forehead, who was furious and wanted to chop people.
Ji Chong, who had been waiting outside Yongning Palace for a long time, finally saw his own prince. The prince did not come out from the main gate, but climbed out through the window, with a playful smile on his face, like a teenager who was having fun.
But when his legs landed on the ground and the window behind him slammed shut, the smile on his face disappeared instantly, and the light in his eyes dimmed, suppressing a layer of hidden loss.
Ji Chong called out tentatively, "Your Majesty?"
Wei Zhenfeng restrained his emotions, his expression was hard to read: "Let's go back to Beiyuan."
Ji Chong saw a figure standing behind the window and asked, "Aren't you going to look back?"
"No, if we look any further we won't be able to leave." Wei Zhenfeng said decisively, "Let's go now, the sooner we go the sooner we can return."
Zhao Mian stood behind the closed window, holding a sword in one hand and stroking her belly with the other.
Feeling the vitality of the little thing in his stomach, Zhao Mian snorted coldly: "Last night I asked you to move but you refused, but now you move freely."
There was another slight twitch, like a butterfly gently flapping its wings. Perhaps he was not the only one who was reluctant to part with Wei Zhenfeng.
"Don't move." Zhao Mian sighed softly, "Father doesn't want him to leave either."
But there is no other way.
Wei Zhenfeng and he were never the kind of people who would ignore the overall situation for the sake of love. When they were together, they enjoyed themselves to the fullest. When they were apart, they did what they should do, and then... they looked forward to seeing each other next time.
After four months, he was in the second trimester. He had almost no common early pregnancy symptoms in the first four months, and Bai Yu praised him as a baby who would make people feel sorry for him. Bai Yu also said that after four months, the baby would grow faster in his belly, and by then his belly would be too big to hide.
Zhao Mian had to start thinking about how to explain the origins of this child to the fathers and the world. His father's actions in the past might be worth referring to.
The secret medicine for giving birth to a child in Dongling is extremely precious and rare. Not to mention in other places, even in Dongling itself, only the royal family can have it. Therefore, for most people in Nanjing, a man giving birth to a child is still something that only appears in stories and rumors.
There are many scholars in Nanjing, who have read a lot of ancient books of sages, and some ancient rituals are deeply rooted in their minds. In their view, giving birth to children should be a woman's job, and it is incredible for a man to give birth, let alone the emperor himself giving birth to a child.
When his father gave birth to him, in order to stop the gossip, he never said that he was his and the prime minister's child. His father told the ministers: Anyway, the prince is my biological child, as for the prince's "birth mother", don't ask, I am too lazy to tell.
At first, everyone believed this statement, and the mystery of the prince's biological mother once became one of the top ten mysteries in Nanjing. After a few years, the prince looked more and more like Xiao Xiang, and the second prince was born. The young and ignorant second prince once let the cat out of the bag in front of the civil and military officials, and stretched out his hands to hug Xiao Xiang while calling him daddy. Only then did everyone finally determine who the prince's "biological mother" was.
Later, the four members of the family were too lazy to pretend, and Zhao Qi even had an attitude of "Ah, yes, yes, Mianmian and Alin are the children of me and the Prime Minister. So, you don't accept it and rebel." Therefore, the life experience of the crown prince and the second prince became an unspoken secret in the Nanjing Palace.
However, not all ministers could accept this result. The fact that the emperor personally gave birth to a son for Xiao Shiqing made the entire Imperial Censorate explode. Several respected old censors cried and cried, and were in great pain. Every day they denounced the treacherous minister for deceiving the emperor and forcing him to give birth to an heir with Xiao's bloodline in order to steal the country!
Zhao Qi was annoyed by the wailing of these old ministers day and night. He certainly couldn't move. The ancestral system of Nanjing didn't kill censors, so there was no need for such a small matter. He had no choice but to say: I've already given birth, you can't let me stuff the crown prince and the second prince back into my stomach.
Censor: Xiao Shiqing is ambitious, Your Majesty must not allow a child of his bloodline to inherit the throne. Otherwise, I don't know whether the future of Nanjing will be ruled by the Zhao or Xiao family!
Zhao Qi: So what do you want
Censor: Your Majesty should follow the tradition and make women your queens and concubines, so that they can have children for your majesty!
Zhao Qi: But I am impotent with women.
Censor: …
In this way, the censors were forced to accept the reality with tears.
The precedent of his father gave Zhao Mian some inspiration. He originally planned to give birth to the child first, and then he could just deal with the censors when they called him. Unexpectedly, the censors would also upgrade and evolve. With the previous experience of the retired emperor, they learned a painful lesson. Even if they risked their lives, they would let the new emperor get back on track and restore peace to the Nanjing royal family.
When Zhao Mian was still the crown prince, many ministers tried to persuade the emperor to choose a suitable crown princess for him in order to prevent him from following his father's path. The emperor said: I don't want to. So they had to give up.
After waiting for a long time for the crown prince to ascend the throne, they could finally start a new round of persuasion. They would submit memorials to Zhao Mian whenever they had time, reminding him that it was time to establish a queen.
Zhao Mian’s reply in red: Let’s discuss it later.
The Censors: "Let's discuss it again" is fine, at least it's not "I won't", their Nanjing will finally have a real queen who can rule the country.
This delay delayed the matter until October. By this time, the beginning of winter had passed, and the capital was beginning to feel cold. The court officials wore official uniforms specially made for winter. Zhao Mian's dragon robe was also several layers thick. When he met with ministers, he sat behind the dragon table, and his stomach was just blocked; when he was going out, he wore a wide cloak that could cover his entire body. But Zhao Mian knew very well that he could not hide it from everyone.
After the family celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, my father moved to Yanhe Garden with my grandmother and sister. After that, my father often invited him to Yanhe Garden for dinner, but he always declined on the grounds of being busy with state affairs. My father understood that he was busy, and after being declined several times, he said, "Stay in the palace and don't move. I will go to the palace to see you."
When Zhao Mian got the news, he knew that this day had finally come.
He was pregnant before marriage, so he would probably be scolded to death by his fathers.
Zhao Mian was in a heavy mood. The three people from Yongning Palace sat around him, trying to comfort him with words.
Bai Yu: "The emperor and the prime minister will know sooner or later. Your Majesty has taken the initiative to inform them, and Prime Minister Xiao will definitely understand."
Zhou Huairang: "Yes, yes, the emperor loves your majesty so much, he will support your majesty no matter what you do."
Shen Buci: "I'm afraid His Royal Highness Prince Jing will go crazy for a few days."
"Don't say anything." Zhao Mian pressed his brows, "Change my clothes."
The family dinner was held in Yonghua Palace. The three of them escorted His Majesty to the door. His Majesty stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then walked in with a firm gaze and his head held high. His back looked quite tragic and majestic, ready to die.
When Zhao Mian arrived, Zhao Qi, Xiao Shiqing and Zhao Lin were chatting. Seeing his son finally coming after more than a month of absence, Zhao Qi smiled and waved his hand: "Mian Mian, come quickly, we've been waiting for you."
Zhao Mian subconsciously delayed the confession: "Where's my sister?"
"She is with your grandmother." Xiao Shiqing said, "Sit down."
Zhao Mian hesitated for a moment and nodded. He raised his hand, untied the string of the cloak with trembling fingertips, and took off the cloak that covered his stomach.
The three of them looked at Zhao Mian's belly.
Xiao Shiqing: “…”
Zhao Qi: “…”
Zhao Lin said cheerfully: "Brother, you have gained a lot of weight."
Zhao Mian sat down as if nothing had happened, looking at the delicious food on the table, and said calmly in a trembling voice: "Next year, there will be one more pair of chopsticks at the family dinner."
Silence, dead silence.
What followed was a commotion and the scene was extremely chaotic.
Xiao Shiqing was chilled: "Where is Wei Zhenfeng now?"
Zhao Qi collapsed: "Mianmian, how old are you? You are still a baby yourself!"
Zhao Lin went completely crazy: "Ahhhh—"
(End of this chapter)