The affairs of Prince Yu's Mansion were not spread out due to the restriction of Prince Yu's Concubine Dowager. It was only when Jiang Changning received the invitation from Prince Yu's Mansion that he learned that Fang Youting had given birth to a son a month ago.
Jiang Changning would definitely not attend the full moon banquet, but she would have to ask the Concubine Dowager about how to give the gift.
As soon as she went to the Queen Mother, Prince Jin came back with a lot of tribute from Johor.
The little princess who didn't see him with a big belly in the room frowned, "Where is the princess?"
"To reply to the prince, the princess has gone to the Liuxuan Courtyard." The one guarding the house was Fangju.
"What's the matter that requires her to go to her mother in person?" Prince Jin sat down on the kang.
"In reply to the prince, the princess has something to discuss with the dowager concubine." Fangju said as she placed the teacup on the kang table, bowed and withdrew with the maid.
King Jin finished his tea. Jiang Changning hadn't come back yet. He picked up the box beside him. Inside were some scraps of paper with patterns drawn on them. "Someone come here."
Fang Ju came in, "My Lord, what do you want me to do?"
"What is this?" King Jin asked without any hesitation.
"To answer your Highness, this is a puzzle that the princess had made for the young prince to play with."
Hearing that it was for the brat to play with, Prince Jin put the box back, but Fangju continued, "The pattern is too difficult. The young master can't put it together, and the princess can't put it together either."
Prince Jin's eyes lit up. This was quite challenging, so he started to play the jigsaw puzzle.
This set of puzzles has a total of 300 pieces, and the picture on it is "A Hundred Horses".
"A Hundred Horses", as the name suggests, depicts a hundred horses in different postures.
The horses have different postures and different hair colors, but they are all horses after all. It takes a lot of eyesight to pick out a few pieces to piece together from three hundred pieces.
After finding a few pieces and putting them together, King Jin frowned. How could a pregnant woman do such a strenuous task
When people come back, he has to persuade them. There are many ways to kill time.
A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Changning came back. Fang Ju went up to him and reported, "Princess, the prince has been back for a while, and he brought back a lot of things."
"In the past few days, he has been coming back earlier and earlier. I'm afraid he went home as soon as the court was dismissed today." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"The princess is about to give birth, and the prince wants to come back to be with her."
Zhao Xifang caused the death of Song Yirou and two lives, which made everyone nervous. Even with Nanny Feng, Prince Jin did not think of hiring a midwife. He was still worried and still wanted to keep watch.
Jiang Changning curled the corners of his lips, walked into the room, and saw Prince Jin lying on the table, working on the puzzle. He smiled and said, "Your Highness has a good eye. He has already put together such a big piece."
"This puzzle is too time-consuming, you should not put it together for now." Prince Jin threw the pieces in his hand back into the box, and as he spoke he got off the kang and went to help her.
"I didn't try. My belly is so big that I can't sit still." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"What important matter did you go to talk to mother about?" asked Prince Jin.
"The Prince of Yu's Mansion has sent an invitation to hold a full-month banquet for the eldest son. I have to discuss with my mother what gift would be more appropriate."
"Just follow the usual routine. No need to worry too much."
"We just can't follow the old rules. After all, it's difficult for Princess Yu to have children. This eldest son out of wedlock might be the one who inherits Prince Yu's mansion in the future. He's different from the ordinary eldest son out of wedlock," Jiang Changning explained.
Prince Jin smiled faintly and said, "There is no difference. Prince Yu will not allow a bastard to inherit the title. A legitimate son will be demoted one rank, and a bastard will be demoted three rank."
What Prince Yu had always sought was hereditary succession, so why would he be willing to lower his status and inherit the title
Jiang Changning seemed to understand something. "The imperial physician said that it would be difficult for the Princess of Yu to have children, but he did not say that she would definitely not be able to have children. The Prince of Yu still has hope."
Prince Jin looked at her big belly and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Seeing this, Jiang Changning asked, "What's wrong? What I said is wrong."
King Jin laughed, "No, you are right."
"You're just trying to please me." Jiang Changning pouted.
"I dare not." King Jin smiled, "Come, take a look at these things."
As he said this, he opened one of the smaller wooden boxes.
"Yes."
"Where are you from?"
"There were three tributes from Johor. The largest one was kept in the palace. The other two were given to me and King Qing respectively."
"Find a good craftsman to carve it carefully and put it in your study."
"Here, giant clams can protect your body and prolong your life."
"Just grind the horn into beads and make a bracelet for me to wear, that's all." Jiang Changning put his hand over his mouth, "Just do as I say, and don't say no."
King Jin grabbed her hand, kissed it, and said with a smile, "I'll listen to you."
Jiang Changning asked jokingly, "Didn't Johor send any beauties over?"
"Your Majesty is still young."
"You can give it to princes and ministers like you." Jiang Changning said with a wicked smile.
"Princess, do you think the mansion is too quiet?" Prince Jin reached out and touched her belly. "Let's have more children to make the mansion more lively."
The corners of Jiang Changning's mouth twitched slightly. She was planning to give birth to the baby in her belly and not have any more children. A son and a daughter would make a good family, which was enough.
He asked her to have more children.
Do you really think giving birth doesn’t hurt
But the Prince of Jin was a man of this era, and what he valued most was having many children and great fortune.
Moreover, in his opinion, letting her have more children was a form of pampering.
For love, Taj gave birth to fourteen children in nineteen years, and finally died of childbirth complications.
Historically, Emperor Guangwu of Han failed to make his beloved Yin Lihua the empress. In order to show his love for Yin Lihua, he asked her to give birth to the same number of children as Guo Shengtong.
"There are coconuts, that's great, I want to drink coconut water." Jiang Changning changed the subject. She and King Jin could not reach a consensus on the matter of the child, so it was better not to talk about it.
She still pays attention to contraception and tries not to have children.
"Go, open the coconut, pour out the water and give it to the princess to drink."
"The coconut water has been poured out, but don't throw away the coconut. Ask Madam Cui to come over and let her use the coconut meat to cook," Jiang Changning added.
Prince Jin reminded her, "Coconut meat tastes bland and is not very tasty."
"I can make the coconut meat taste delicious, Your Highness, just wait." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"Okay, I'll wait."
The dish that Jiang Changning asked Madam Cui to cook was coconut chicken, of course it was a modified version, no, it was a simplified version.
In modern times, she had made this dish according to the coconut chicken recipe she found on Baidu, but it had been so long that she could no longer remember the entire cooking process. She discussed it with Madam Cui and made it.
To cook the coconut chicken, we used the coconut juice from three coconuts, and took the juice from the other two and brought it in for Jiang Changning and King Jin to drink.
"This coconut looks big, but it doesn't have much juice." Jiang Changning took a small cup of coconut juice and drank it in small sips.
"If you like it, I'll ask Ryukyu to send some more."
"It's too much trouble. No need."
The King of Jin smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. Just bring it here on a merchant ship. It's not like we won't give them silver."
"Okay, thank you, Your Highness." Jiang Changning smiled with his eyes curved.
"It's not too late to thank me once it's delivered." Prince Jin said with a smile.
There was really no food to eat at home, so I went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables. I walked back and forth, and was so out of breath that I almost thought I was going to see my grandmother. I collapsed on the bed and slept for a long time before I recovered.
(End of this chapter)