Chapter 103

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Xiao Baozhu didn’t know what to say anymore. She’d originally just wanted to win over Li Huairou to help the eighth prince. She’d found out that Li Huairou liked beauty, and the servants around her were all first-class in appearance, so she’d secretly ordered someone to find Du Yuan.

But she didn’t expect that things would take such a big turn in such a strange way. It was incredible.

Xiao Baozhu put Li Deqing’s letter away and sighed slightly. The life of Princess Minghua was really good!

At the beginning of August, the empress dowager and Li Huairou set off for the capital. Otherwise, they would not be able to catch the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Li Deqing went to Emperor Zhengwu to report. Emperor Zhengwu praised him very much and let him rest for a few days. After the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, he would be able to go to the Ministry of Industry to gain experience.

Li Deqing didn’t show it on his face, but he breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart.

On the second day, Li Deqing asked Xiao Baozhu to meet at Fahua Temple. Li Deqing had nothing to do, so he went an hour early. But, in the backyard of Fahua Temple, he met Du Yuan, who had a sad face.

Li Deqing looked at him from a distance. Du Yuan was standing by the water in thin clothes, his face full of sorrow. He looked so fragile as to lack even the strength to bear the weight of his clothing.

Without needing to ask, Li Deqing also knew that Du Yuan couldn’t be having a good time these days. Huairou-meimei’s words were right—it was not his fault that he was born like this. It could only be said that it was due to all sorts of accidental mishaps!

Li Deqing was afraid that Du Yuan would not be able to think things through, so he walked over and said, “Young Master Du!”

Du Yuan seemed to be frightened. He turned his head with reddened eyes and slightly trembling lips, and Li Deqing’s heart swayed when he saw it.

The two stood by the lake and talked for a long time.

In the end, Du Yuan left first.

Xiao Baozhu always felt that the Li Deqing of today was a little absent-minded. Thinking that he was unhappy because His Majesty had asked him to go to the Ministry of Industry, Xiao Baozhu carefully persuaded him.

Li Deqing replied with a smile, but the truth was that he didn’t hear a word of what Xiao Baozhu said.

After nightfall, a man quietly came to Li Deqing’s mansion. After he lifted his hood, the man revealed a beautiful face. He looked at Li Deqing and lowered his head slightly.

Li Deqing walked over with a smile, took the man’s hand, and led him into the bedroom.

Taking advantage of the weddings of several princes, Emperor Zhengwu simply gave them their titles, and the eighth prince was also given the title of Prince Min.

After hearing the decree, Li Deqing was fine, but Xiao Baozhu was slightly disappointed. His Majesty has paid great attention to the eighth prince these days. The eighth prince had done several errands in succession, so why was he named Prince Min? It wasn’t as if Fujian was a good piece of land!

[Min (闵): to sympathize/pity/feel compassion for]

In the palace, the empress dowager nodded as she listened to the momo’s talking about the fiefs of the princes.

Then she asked Li Huairou, who was reading a storybook while eating snacks, “What can you see?”

Li Huairou raised her head blankly. “What?”

The empress dowager felt helpless. “Eat less; you won’t be able to eat at lunch later.”

“Oh, I see!” Li Huairou obediently put the snacks down.

“Your uncle sent someone to send a message and ask you to come over and say that there is something good for you,” the empress dowager said with a smile.

“Really? Then I’ll go right away.” Li Huairou stood up immediately, jumped, and ran happily.

“Go and tell the emperor that the princes who have been inaugurated should go to their fiefs. On Prince Min’s side, think of a way to let Princess Min stay,” the empress dowager said casually.

“Yes.”

They dared to plot against Minghua? Even if it was unintentional, it could not be forgiven. The empress dowager admired people with ambition and scheming, but if this scheming was used on Minghua, she would not be happy.

She was still here herself, and these people dared to plot against her Minghua behind their backs. If she passed away, wouldn’t Minghua be eaten by these people until nothing but bones were left? The emperor was a man, in the end; he couldn’t think of these details. So, she had to look after her Minghua herself.

The princes were still immersed in the joy of being inaugurated, but the imperial decree that ensued to make the princes go to their fiefs caught them off guard.

The noble consort immediately went to Emperor Zhengwu and cried. After Li Deqian, who was given the title of Prince Qi, learned the news, he felt helpless and had a headache. He rushed over immediately and wanted to persuade his mother.

The emperor also had a headache facing the noble consort, who had the same temperament after all these decades. He had expected this kind of scene, so he hadn’t planned to let the second prince go to his fief from the beginning. It was just that this was the order of his mother, and the court also agreed.

When the emperor saw Li Deqian coming, he said, “Hurry up, take your concubine mother back. She’s about to become a grandmother. What does it look like, crying like this?” Li Deqian’s princess was already pregnant.

The noble consort was already sad, and when she saw her son, she was even more sad. But when she heard Emperor Zhengwu’s words, she was heartbroken beyond measure. “Does the emperor dislike this concubine for becoming old? Wuuu! This concubine doesn’t want to live anymore!”

Li Deqian sweated anxiously. “Mother, you’re not old, you’re not old at all! Father Emperor, you must have something to say!”

The emperor sighed, “I’m not saying you’re old. What I mean is, you’re going to be a grandmother soon. When you are old, you should be more prudent, lest your grandchildren laugh at you.”

The noble consort choked and said, “What a joke. If Er Lang goes to his fief, this concubine won’t even be able to see Er Lang, let alone the grandchildren!”

[Er Lang (二郎) refers to her son, the second prince. Lang (郎) was a way to address a youth in ancient times. Er (二) means second, because he is the second prince]

“If you are reluctant, then let Princess Qi stay and be filial,” Emperor Zhengwu said.

“Ah?” The noble consort was stunned.

When Li Deqian saw this, he knew that his father was determined to have them go to their fief. He was afraid that if his mother said something again, Father Emperor would really have the princess stay, so he hurriedly pulled on the noble consort and said, “Mother, don’t say any more. Father Emperor’s plan has been made. Instead of crying non-stop, why don’t you go back and pack your son’s bags! The princess doesn’t understand this, and she’s pregnant, so if you don’t help, this son will have to go to the fief naked.” Then he kept winking at the noble consort, for fear that she would annoy Father Emperor by talking again.

The noble consort could only sob and be pulled away by Li Deqian.

The noble consort, who had always been favored, had returned home, and the rest of the concubines did not dare to say much for a while. Knowing that Emperor Zhengwu was determined to have the princes go to their fief, their joy over the inaugurations from before now turned into tears of separation. Those concubines whose sons were too young to be inaugurated as princes felt relieved.

Xiao Baozhu was also preparing to go to the fief in an orderly manner. In fact, she did not object to going to the fief. Under the eyes of the emperor, many things were inconvenient to operate. After becoming a vassal, it was much easier. It was just that the emperor’s move made her a little puzzled.

The other princes were going to their fiefs, but how could even Prince Qi and Prince Chu also go to their fiefs? This time, it was only the title of “prince”, but there was no crown prince. The emperor’s mind was really unpredictable!

The palace servant brought a cup of hot tea, and Xiao Baozhu took it and took two sips. She just felt that the tea was very fragrant today, so she couldn’t help taking a few more sips.

That night, Xiao Baozhu fell ill with a high fever and a rash all over her body. The imperial physician said that it was like a disease that could break out into an epidemic.

But no matter whether it was an epidemic disease, Xiao Baozhu—Princess Min—was absolutely unable to join Prince Min. Not only could she not follow, but she had to be sent to Anchang Palace for isolation, and she could only return to the capital after she recovered.

Li Deqing was worried, and Xiao Baozhu had to cheer up, comforting Li Deqing through the window. “Don’t worry, Your Highness, this concubine will take care of herself. In fact, it’s better if this concubine stays in the capital to pass news to you. Now that this concubine is staying in the capital due to illness, it can be regarded as hitting the mark by a fluke. But, this way, you will be left unattended, and this concubine…”

Li Deqing said immediately, “Don’t worry, Princess. Deqing swears again—in this life, there will be no children for me, other than yours. If I violate this oath, I shall not die a good death.”

Xiao Baozhu was relieved after receiving Li Deqing’s promise. She could bear for the prince to have other women, but she would never allow other women to surpass her and give birth to the prince’s offspring.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Prince Min went to his fief. In addition to the children of the Xiao family, there was one more person in his entourage: Du Yuan, the second son of Weiyuan Hou. This time, he followed Prince Min to Fujian as an adviser.

After the princes went to their fiefs, the capital suddenly became much cleaner.

It was just that the commotion outside did not affect the empress dowager and Li Huairou. Following the words of the imperial physician, the empress dowager began to pay attention to self-maintenance, and she exercised regularly.

Li Huairou took the opportunity to urge the empress dowager to take her on a trip. Anyway, there were many royal palaces, so they could live here today and there tomorrow.

Li Huairou also planned to let the empress dowager take her to visit the Western Lake on Mount Tai.

The grandparent and grandchild wandered around the world—no, they wrote a letter to tell Emperor Zhengwu that they would not be coming back for the Dragon Boat Festival.

After reading the letter, the emperor sighed, “Little brother, how long has it been since we saw Empress Mother and Minghua?”

Prince Fu also sighed, and the fat all over his body trembled. “It has been three months and eight days. That’s it.” Only at this time would Prince Fu despise the fat on his body. Without it, he would be able to go out to play with his mother and Minghua.

“I haven’t seen them for nearly two months,” Emperor Zhengwu sighed. “They won’t come back for the Dragon Boat Festival.”

“Alas!” Prince Fu sighed again.

“I really want to go out and play!” Emperor Zhengwu continued.

“I think so too.”

The two brothers did a “you look at me, I look at you” and both sighed in unison.

“Your Majesty, the noble consort is here, clamoring to see you,” Qin Duofu said with an embarrassed expression.

When Prince Fu heard that the concubine was coming, he immediately got up. “Imperial Elder Brother, I have something else to do, so I will leave first.” Then, without waiting for Emperor Zhengwu to say anything, he saluted and retired. This series of movements was completed in one go.

“What is she doing here! Didn’t she already raise Xiao Wu?” Emperor Zhengwu said helplessly, rubbing his eyebrows.

After Prince Qi went to his fief, the noble consort had nothing to do, and she suddenly thought about raising another child to pass time, but she was afraid of pain and didn’t want to give birth by herself, so she wanted to adopt a child. But, apart from the emperor, the women in the harem only had children as their only hope. Who would be willing to give their children to others? Especially in the case of a noble concubine.

The emperor couldn’t help but get tangled up with the noble consort.

Later, when Noble Lady Ying gave birth to the fifth princess, she died after childbirth, and Emperor Zhengwu took the fifth princess to the noble consort to raise. It’donly been a few days.

Why are you here again?

Thinking of the news he’d gotten, Qin Duofu smiled a little embarrassedly. It was probably because the noble consort thought the fifth princess was too noisy, and so she didn’t want to raise her anymore, right?

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This translation is presented by Nocturne Translations.

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