RPAGF Chapter 170 The 2nd Prince is Finally Born
Chapter 170 The 2nd Prince is Finally Born
As time went by, the smell of blood in the delivery room became stronger and stronger. Shen Zhiyao roughly guessed the progress of the delivery by observing the palace servants constantly coming in and out of the curtains to change the hot water basins filled with blood.
Although the queen looked calm, it was not difficult to tell from her slightly stiff posture how nervous she was inside.
Imperial Doctors Qiu and Zhang worked together for another hour and finally heard the baby's cry.
The Queen and Shen Zhiyao listened to the loud crying and smiled at each other, thinking that all their efforts were not in vain.
The midwife wrapped the baby up as per custom, while Doctor Qiu was still busy treating Concubine Zhuang's wounds.
Cui Bai ran out quickly and reported the good news to the queen first: "My queen, my master gave birth to a prince. The child is white and fat. Both mother and child are safe! After Doctor Qiu treats the wound, the master just needs to rest!"
The queen nodded and smiled, then turned to Shen Zhiyao and said, "Let's go. We can finally report to the emperor."
Shen Zhiyao nodded and smiled, then followed the queen out of the delivery room.
Bo Muxi had already heard the loud cries of the baby and knew that the task was accomplished. He was now looking at them with a smile.
After the queen bowed, she briefly told Bo Muxi about the situation inside.
"Good! Good!" Bo Muxi smiled and helped the Queen and Shen Zhiyao up one after another, and nodded: "Noble Concubine Zhuang has contributed a lot to giving birth to a child, and she will be rewarded generously! Of course, it was all thanks to the Queen and Jin Shuyi, and they will also be rewarded generously!"
According to common sense, Concubine Zhuang should have been promoted for giving birth to a prince when the harem was in such urgent need of having offspring. However, Bo Muxi did not mention the promotion out of consideration for the Zhao family's reputation.
"The palace has finally added a prince. I, your concubine, congratulate the emperor!" The queen smiled happily.
"The Queen has worked hard. There is no need to be so strict with etiquette." Bo Muxi smiled and stopped the Queen from continuing to perform the ceremony.
The scarcity of royal heirs in the palace is not conducive to consolidating imperial power. Of course, the empress is also prone to criticism.
But for some fetuses, even the empress could not save them, and for others, even the emperor had no intention of saving them.
The birth of the child that the emperor and empress worked together to preserve did help the emperor and empress establish their authority.
"How is Concubine Zhuang doing?" Bo Muxi asked with concern.
"Your Majesty, my sister is still drowsy under the effect of the medicine. However, with Imperial Doctors Qiu and Zhang personally treating her wounds, as long as we pay more attention to her in the future, there shouldn't be any major problems," said the Queen.
"Hmm." Bo Muxi thought about it carefully: "Noble Concubine Zhuang has suffered such a great crime, she will probably need to recuperate for a while longer. The Second Prince will need you to worry more about him, Queen."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will take care of everything," said the Queen seriously.
"Let's go. We've been tired for a long time. Let's go back to Fengyi Palace to rest." After saying this, Bo Muxi turned to Shen Zhiyao and said, "You should also go back to Cuiweixuan to rest. I will go to see you later."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern." Shen Zhiyao bowed with a smile, then walked away holding Qiuyue's hand.
On that day, the story of how the Queen and Shen Zhiyao worked together to rescue Concubine Zhuang began to spread throughout the harem.
There has never been a shortage of gossipers in the palace. Some people began to talk about how Concubine Jin Shuyi had just been promoted to the position of Nine Concubines and had already started to share the worries of the Queen, while Concubine Zhao, who had been promoted to the position of Imperial Concubine early on, had made no achievements at all.
In Yuquan Palace, Concubine Zhao was already feeling aggrieved when she heard that Concubine Zhuang had given birth to a prince. Then she heard the rumor that she was being praised by Shen Zhiyao and stepped on by herself. She was so angry that she threw things all over the floor.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. There is no need to be angry with those bad-mouthed people!" Dai Tao patiently comforted her while ordering people to clean up the mess on the floor.
"Hmph! Jin Shuyi... this person is becoming more and more difficult to deal with! The same goes for my aunt. She should have been crushed to death before she got up. Now, even if we want to go back and deal with her, it's difficult!" Concubine Zhao sighed.
"The Empress Dowager also has to consider the Shen family. General Shen is not easy to deal with." Dai Tao whispered.
"Alas! That's all..." Concubine Zhao suddenly turned around and gritted her teeth and said, "Bao Luan, are you doing what I told you to do seriously? Why is there no effect?"
Upon hearing this, Dai Tao hurriedly dismissed the irrelevant palace maids.
"My lord, I have followed your instructions and added a lot of spicy food to Concubine Zhuang's daily meals. If it weren't for the Empress and Jin Shuyi standing up for her, she would have been buried by now..." Bao Luan bowed.
"Hmph! The Queen is fine, but Jin Shuyi is really a dog trying to catch a rat. Giving birth is dangerous, so what does it have to do with her? How can she get any benefit from the birth? How stupid..." Concubine Zhao complained hatefully.
Bao Luan agreed with Concubine Zhao and condemned Shen Zhiyao, but he was laughing in his heart.
He did take some actions according to Concubine Zhao's instructions.
But he only added a little bit of it. Since Lu Wanyi didn't allow him to help Concubine Zhao do such immoral things again, he naturally wouldn't do it again.
He even thought of an explanation, but who knew that Concubine Zhuang's delivery was so dangerous and unexpected, which saved him the trouble of explaining...
"Forget it, the baby has already been born. However, if she can raise the baby to adulthood, it will be considered that Concubine Zhuang is truly capable..." Concubine Zhao smiled sinisterly.
"What does your Majesty mean?" Bao Luan looked up and asked.
"It has to be done, but it has to be done skillfully, preferably with the help of others..." Concubine Zhao motioned Bao Luan to come closer and began to plan the next move...
Ever since the emperor and the empress successfully prayed for snow, it has snowed a lot in the capital city these days. It snowed again on the afternoon when the second prince was born.
Shen Zhiyao had been busy all morning and was shocked and tired. Now she was curled up in the warm room of Cuiweixuan eating chestnuts. The stove in the room was burning so brightly that she didn't even feel that it was winter.
"Master, look..." Qiuyue pointed outside and smiled as she opened the door: "It's snowing really hard. When it stops, I'll go walk in the snow with you!"
"Well, you are in high spirits. I can't run today." Shen Zhiyao said with a smile.
But it wasn't that she really couldn't walk, but she felt that there were too many bored people in the palace, and she would inevitably encounter some gossipy people if she went out to walk in the snow, and she was too lazy to argue with them.
"Master, there are some things that I really don't understand." Qiuyue asked hesitantly.
"If you don't understand, just ask. There's nothing for us two to worry about." Shen Zhiyao smiled and glared at her. This girl has become more and more worried since she saw some dark things in the palace.
That’s a good thing, we can’t always be naive.
"In this palace, most concubines hope that others will have fewer children, or even have no children at all. Why are you rushing to help Concubine Zhuang? Besides, Concubine Zhuang doesn't like us either!" Qiuyue was full of confusion.
"I'm not helping her at all!" Shen Zhiyao was speechless. "If Imperial Concubine Zhuang and the child died today, not only would the Emperor and Empress lose face, but people with ulterior motives would take the opportunity to say bad things about the Empress. I'm helping the Empress, and even more so, myself."
The Queen is now her big thigh in her arms, what's more, if this leg falls, the one with the greatest hope of ascending to the throne will still be Concubine Zhao, which will be very disadvantageous to her!