Ji Lingxue's eyelashes moved, and she slowly opened her eyes. As she chatted with Xiao Yichen, she became much more awake. She yawned, turned over, and rested her head on Xiao Yichen's chest, then pulled Xiao Yichen's hand and pressed it on her stomach.
Coincidentally, the baby in her belly seemed to feel the different temperature of her hands and moved. Xiao Yichen smiled in surprise and said, "My little princess is moving!"
Ji Lingxue twitched her lips, "How do you know she's a princess?"
That day, Rong Ma looked at her belly and said with a smile, "It is said in folklore that a pointed belly is a boy, a round belly is a girl, a small belly is a boy, a big belly is a girl; a boy is fat except for the belly, while a girl is fat otherwise; a boy is not fat on the feet, while a girl is fat on the feet; the queen has a mixed taste recently, she likes both sweet and sour food, and her belly is small. I guess your majesty will have a boy this time, a little prince!"
Xiao Yichen said: "Look how much the princess in my belly likes me. As soon as I put my hand on her, she kicked me and said that her daughter was her father's lover in the previous life. She is really right."
Ji Lingxue rolled her eyes secretly, "Perhaps the emperor's words are true. I am really looking forward to the day when the baby arrives."
Xiao Yichen patted Ji Lingxue's chest gently, "It's not too early, let's rest early."
Ji Lingxue closed her eyes and soon fell asleep...
The next day, Mo Xiang carried the food box and walked towards the Imperial Hospital. Wherever she passed, the palace maids and eunuchs would bow to her and call her "Aunt". Now she is the senior palace maid beside the Queen.
As soon as they arrived at the gate of the Imperial Hospital, a burst of medicinal fragrance wafted into their noses. It was the first time for Mo Xiang to come here. She lowered her head to look at the food box in her hand and curled her lips. Ruge was always willing to fulfill every request in the palace. The food in this food box was personally ordered by Ji Lingxue and delivered to Ruge's home.
"Excuse me, where does the second prince of Dayan live?" Mo Xiang asked the medicine boy who was standing in the corridor decocting medicine.
The medicine boy looked up at Mo Xiang and pointed in a direction, saying, "In this courtyard."
"Thank you." Mo Xiang turned and walked towards the courtyard. The medicine boy behind him said to himself, "There are so many girls who came to see the Second Prince of Dayan today."
Mo Xiang paused, thought for a moment and continued walking forward. He heard a clear voice like a bell from afar, "Ruge, this is the snack I made. Would you like to try it? You finally woke up. I came several times and you were always unconscious. I was so worried. I even specially copied a thousand volumes of scriptures for you and asked for a talisman for you. I didn't expect that you would wake up after I put the talisman under your pillow for one night. It's so effective... I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, you can take out the talisman from under your pillow and have a look."
"Thank you, Ruyi!" Ruge's voice sounded a little weak.
"What are you thanking me for? Come and eat the cake. I made it myself."
Mo Xiang stood at the door and listened for a moment. Princess Linglong was showing her courtesy inside. Her appearance was a little inappropriate. After thinking for a moment, Mo Xiang finally put the food box at the door and turned away.
In Chenhua Palace, Ji Lingxue picked up a piece of red cake and ate it. When she heard Mo Xiang coming in, she turned around and asked, "The food has been delivered. Does Ruge like it?"
Mo Xiang nodded and said, "I sent it over, but Ruge was chatting with Princess Linglong, so I didn't want to disturb her and came back first."
Ji Lingxue nodded, "It seems that Princess Linglong likes Ruge very much. She has stayed with him even after he became like that. This is true love indeed."
Mo Xiang said, "Well, I heard that Princess Linglong often comes to the Imperial Hospital to visit Ruge. She also wrote a thousand volumes of scriptures to pray for Ruge and made cakes by herself. Which woman can do these? Ruge is really blessed."
Ji Lingxue said: "Mo Xiang, after some time, I will ask the emperor to grant you a good marriage."
Mo Xiang blushed and knelt down, saying, "I just want to serve the queen well, and I don't want to do anything else."
Ji Lingxue said: "You are so stubborn. When you become an old maid, there will be no good family to choose from. The greatest happiness for a woman is to find the right husband."
"Ahem!" There was a light cough at the door, with a hint of teasing. Ji Lingxue and Mo Xiang turned their heads at the same time and saw Chi Feng standing at the door with a folding fan in his hand, looking very elegant.
Ji Lingxue asked: "What brings you here, Prime Minister?"
Chi Feng bowed to Ji Lingxue, "Your humble servant greets Her Majesty the Queen."
Ji Lingxue said: "If you have something to say, just say it. I guess you don't come here for no reason."
Chi Feng touched his nose, bowed and said, "The Emperor is worried that the Empress is bored, so he specially ordered me to come here to accompany her and relax." After saying that, he lifted his robe and sat on the steps. The sun was shining brightly above his head, and he didn't feel hot because he had a fan in his hand.
There is a rule in the palace that outsiders are not allowed to enter the inner palace. In order to avoid suspicion, Chi Feng sat directly on the steps at the door and did not bother anyone to bring him a stool.
Ji Lingxue said: "Can you tell me what has happened in the court recently?" Chi Feng came to see him not just to chat and relax, something big must have happened in the court.
"Recently, floods have hit Jiangnan, destroying the newly built dams. In an instant, thousands of acres of fertile land were flooded and the people were displaced. I just came back from a trip to Jiangnan under the emperor's order. I encountered many problems. Both the emperor and I are troubled by these problems."
Ji Lingxue turned her head to look at Chi Feng's slightly thin back at the door and said, "What the Prime Minister said is somewhat contradictory."
Chi Feng turned his head and said, "I'd like to hear the details."
“Even if it was a newly built dam, how could it be so severely damaged by the flood, causing thousands of acres of fertile land to be flooded and people to be displaced?”
Chi Feng said: "The Queen asked a good question. This is the doubt in the hearts of the Emperor and me, so I went to Jiangnan to find out. Guess what I found?"
Ji Lingxue pinched her chin and thought for a while, "Floods in Jiangnan have been a headache for the court for many years. Every year, the court allocates a sum of money specifically for the construction of dams in Jiangnan. Therefore, it is impossible for the dams that are reinforced and repaired every year to collapse all of a sudden after a heavy rain. There is only one reason. The money used to reinforce the dams has not been allocated to Jiangnan, or it has been allocated but the local officials have not used it for repairs in time."
Chi Feng bowed and said, "The Queen is wise." He guessed it exactly right.
Ji Lingxue sighed: "I'm afraid the Prime Minister encountered a lot of trouble during his trip to Jiangnan this time, right?"
Chi Feng twitched his lips and said, "The Queen guessed correctly. I have offended a villain and got poisoned. I heard that the Queen is good at detoxification, so I came to ask for your advice."
Ji Lingxue nodded and winked at Mo Xiang. Mo Xiang walked over to Chi Feng and took his pulse and understood instantly: "Prime Minister, have you felt bitterness in your mouth these days? Food has no taste. You always feel anxious and have nightmares at night?"
Chi Feng nodded vigorously and spread out his hands with a sincere gesture as if asking for medicine.
Mo Xiang covered her mouth and smiled, "The Prime Minister owes my master a big favor, how are you going to repay him?"
Chi Feng cupped his hands and said, "I'll leave it to Her Majesty the Queen to command."
Mo Xiang was satisfied. He took out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve, poured out two white pills, handed them to Chi Feng, and said, "Take one pill in the morning and evening before meals."
After eating, he said thank you, raised his head and swallowed the pills in his hand, leaving one in his arms, "Sorry to bother you, nothing else, I will take my leave now."
"Wait a minute!" Ji Lingxue turned around with a half-smile on her lips, "I'm curious who plotted against you?"
Chi Feng coughed twice, feeling a little embarrassed, "This... is a long story..."
Ji Lingxue held her chin up and looked at the sky outside the window and said, "It's still early. I don't feel tired. You can talk slowly..."
Chi Feng: “…”
The funds for repairing the Jiangnan Dam were embezzled, causing a flood disaster. Someone had to take the blame for such a big incident so that the court and millions of people could be given an explanation.
In the past, this amount of money was embezzled by the king's uncle's party. Now that Xiao Yichen has proclaimed himself emperor, he has directly dealt with the king's uncle, but the local officials have not been implicated. Therefore, the king's uncle's side branches and disciples directly embezzled the money.
Now that Chi Feng was here in person, he pushed the clerk forward as a scapegoat. Chi Feng was no fool and he could see the trick, so he arrested the local official with a slam of the table.
The official took advantage of the fact that he was far away and thought he was the local tyrant, and joined forces with a group of thugs he hired to assassinate Chi Feng. Fortunately, Chi Feng was protected by the secret guards sent by Xiao Yichen.
A lot of things happened during the process of escorting the corrupt underworld officials back to Beijing, and the poison was contracted by accident.
After hearing this, Ji Lingxue looked at Chi Feng with sympathy, and suddenly realized that Xiao Yichen could be considered a wise ruler since he took over the throne. He investigated corrupt officials and eradicated evil.
After Chi Feng left, Ji Lingxue was in a daze for a moment. Mo Xiang asked, "Master, what happened?"
Ji Lingxue sighed, "There's a plague in Jingzhou and floods in the south of the Yangtze River. If all these donations are allocated, the national treasury will be empty."
Mo Xiang exclaimed, "So Queen, you are worried about this. Do you want to confiscate all the money earned by Qingfeng Yashe?"
Ji Lingxue shook her head. "The wealth seized from the corrupt officials in Jiangnan is not enough to repair the houses after the flood and provide food and clothing for the people."
Mo Xiang nodded, "What should we do then?"
Ji Lingxue suddenly stood up and walked out, just in time to meet Xiao Yichen who was entering the house. The two stood at the door, looked at each other for a moment, and smiled at each other.
Xiao Yichen asked: "Where are we going?"
Ji Lingxue said: "I was just planning to look for you, but I didn't expect you to come."
Xiao Yichen took Ji Lingxue's hand and walked inside. "It seems that we are in perfect sync. What do you want from me? But don't take what Chi Feng said to you this afternoon to heart. Just focus on your pregnancy."
Ji Lingxue sighed, "I want to help you share some of your troubles."
Xiao Yichen stroked Ji Lingxue's long black hair, took Ji Lingxue's hand and kissed the back of her hand: "With a wife like this, what else can a husband ask for? I am very happy and this is enough. I hope you are happy. I will bear any storms."
Ji Lingxue smiled and said, "Let's not talk about anything else. Mo Xiang has prepared dinner. Let's eat first."
Xiao Yichen nodded and said yes. The two sat opposite each other at the dining table. Xiao Yichen looked around and asked, "Why don't I see Rong Mama?"
Mo Xiang, who was standing on one side, said, "Today, the nanny asked the queen for a day off, saying that her grandson was sick and she was worried, so she went back to check on him."
Xiao Yichen nodded, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat and put it into Ji Lingxue's bowl, and said with a smile: "Eat more."
Ji Lingxue picked up the meat, sniffed it, turned her head and suddenly covered her mouth and vomited.
(End of this chapter)