Tong Wanyan was stunned. Hongsheng and Jiarong's son with Gege Shuo were born at the same time, less than a month apart.

It's only been a little over half a year, and she's already pregnant with her second child!

"Isn't this a bit too fast?" Tong Wanyan helped her sit down and moved the plum juice that the palace maid had brought over to the side.

Xia Zhu cleverly went out and asked the small kitchen to bring over a cup of goat milk that had been deodorized.

Jia Rong and Princess Shuo gazed longingly at the purplish-red plum juice in the white porcelain cup. Its clear color and sweet and sour taste made her hungry.

"Yes, it was only half a year apart. You told me everything I needed to be careful about back then, and my grandfather and I kept it in mind. But there are always unexpected things. One time I forgot to drink it, and I still got sick. However, my father and mother were happy when they found out, and I'm in good health, so I can still handle it." Jia Rong and Princess Shuo felt warm inside knowing that Tong Wanyan cared about her.

She happily took Tong Wanyan's hand and placed it on her belly: "It's exactly three months along. The doctor said the pregnancy is stable, so I couldn't wait to go to the palace. A day apart feels like three autumns. Although I'm doing well at home, my husband is busy with his duties, and I sometimes get very bored by myself in the mansion. If this pregnancy hadn't come at such an inopportune time, I would definitely have gone to the palace to talk to you every few days. The Crown Prince even told me to spend more time with you during the New Year and not let the Crown Princess seduce you!"

Tong Wanyan said, "Don't listen to my master's nonsense. The Crown Princess is of noble character and a good person."

"Ever since the Crown Princess entered the palace, the people praising her could stretch from the Shenwu Gate all the way to the outskirts of the city. Even those usually difficult and picky old wives of the imperial clan are full of praise for her. Such a person is no ordinary person." Princess Jia Rong was close to the wives of the imperial clan, and all she heard were good things about the Crown Princess.

The most competent principal wife in the entire Qing Dynasty, a model of a principal wife, possessing the demeanor of an empress. Truly, every good adjective imaginable is used to describe Shi Xiuzhu.

Having witnessed countless power struggles within the inner court, Jia Rong and Princess Shuo were particularly worried about their naive and innocent little sister when they were in the mansion.

Don't let the Crown Princess sell you out and then help her count the money.

“You may not believe me, but you have to believe my husband. If the Crown Princess is even slightly wrong, he’ll make a scene. He told you that it’s because he’s jealous that I’m close to the Crown Princess and that I spend less time with him,” Tong Wanyan said.

Princess Jiarong said earnestly, "No matter how shrewd a man is, he will stumble when it comes to women. When I met the Crown Princess during the New Year, I thought she was generous and easy to get along with. But when I went back and told my sister-in-law, I realized that a woman's heart is not so easily made to be generous. If you weren't my good friend and my husband's sister, I, as the legal wife, would not like you either."

"How so?" Tong Wanyan took a sip of tea.

“A good family background, both talent and beauty, and children at home—which principal wife wouldn’t be wary and resentful of him? Ordinary families have a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, but there’s no such distinction in the palace. Just look at how Hongzhao pleases the Emperor; once the Crown Princess has a legitimate son, how can she not have some reservations?” Princess Jiarong was extremely worried.

Throughout history, no empress has ever been willing to watch her favorite concubine's son become the next emperor.

"Even the most magnanimous woman can become petty and calculating when it comes to her children," Jia Rong and Princess Shuo concluded.

Tong Wanyan got up and massaged her shoulders: "You haven't been sleeping well these past few days. You seem a bit irritable. Being pregnant and a mother is always tiring."

Jia Rong and Princess Shuo were like a fully inflated ball, but Tong Wanyan slowly and deliberately poked them, causing them to deflate and lose their temper.

"Give me a break. I'm thinking of having a few more sons so they can marry your eldest daughter. 'A daughter three years older is like a gold brick,' I'd be happy to marry two gold bricks." Jia Rong and Princess Shuo really wanted to become in-laws with Tong Wanyan.

Tong Wanyan couldn't tell Jia Rong and Princess Heshuo that while the Crown Princess was a model of elegance and grace for women of the Qing Dynasty in public, she was a carefree and unrestrained man in the courtyard behind closed doors.

Some people are born into the wrong family; even if they are born as girls, they cannot live as women.

Asking her to fall in love with a man is harder than killing her.

What's even more unspeakable for Tong Wanyan is that Yinreng never had any distant relationship with Shi Xiuzhu. Every time she went to Shi Xiuzhu's house on the first and fifteenth of the month, Shi Xiuzhu would squat in a horse stance so hard he wanted to hang himself and kick the stool.

These are secrets that even the closest of friends cannot mention. They must remain known only to the person in question, hidden from view until the very end.

Tong Wanyan changed the subject, saying, "You can have a daughter who marries my son. I'm not the kind of wicked mother-in-law who sends concubines to her son, so you can rest assured."

"Royal rules are strict, so let's forget about it. Unless the younger generation really takes a liking to each other, I don't want to," Princess Jiarong said, echoing Tong Wanyan's words.

"No, I was talking to you about the Crown Princess." Princess Jia Rong and Princess Shuo were not easily fooled.

Tong Wanyan brought the warm goat milk to her: "Do you want me to feed you?"

Jia Rong and Gege, without any hesitation, brought their lips close to the rim of the cup and actually took a sip from Tong Wanyan's hand.

“I bet you have more than one happy event in your life, sister-in-law?” Tong Wanyan said.

Despite the saying "pregnancy makes you stupid for three years," Jia Rong and Princess Shuo were still influenced. She said excitedly, "You're the smartest. My second sister-in-law is also pregnant, about a month later than me. I guess it was before my second brother passed away."

Princess Dolan is intelligent and skilled in martial arts, making her and Tong Ruita a perfect match.

When the two of them are together, no one can get in.

It's the best thing for newlyweds to have a happy occasion.

"That's wonderful, with so many pregnancies happening, it's a sign of the Tong family's prosperity." Tong Wanyan was, of course, referring to Tong Guozhu's lineage.

Jia Rong and Princess Shuo nodded repeatedly, then she glanced at Tong Wanyan several times, somewhat embarrassed.

That look in his eyes seemed to want to say something but couldn't, making Tong Wanyan's heart itch with curiosity.

"You need something from me?" Tong Wanyan guessed right away.

Princess Jiarong smiled happily, revealing her teeth, "My sister understands me best. My temper has improved a lot since I got married, and I interact with the wives of the other wives much more than before I was married. For the past two years, there have been rumors in the capital that you are a lucky star. Coincidentally, neither my second sister-in-law nor I have had any trouble with conceiving. Those wives who have not had many children think that it is because my sister has blessed our family, and because my relationship with my sister is good, that everything is going well for us."

“When I attended a flower viewing party a while ago, someone brought up the idea of ​​asking if it would be possible for you to give them a statue of Guanyin.”

Tong Wanyan was extremely embarrassed. She asked in surprise, "So, in the eyes of all the wives, I've become a goddess who grants children?"

"It's pretty much the same thing. The source of this is still the Third Princess Consort. She sent a message to her family saying that being close to you will bring good fortune and blessings, and that Dong E's people must not clash with the Tong family," said Princess Jia Rong.

Tong Wanyan sighed and said, "Why don't they consider that the Third Princess Consort, who is so close to the Emperor, is not pregnant yet?"

Jia Rong and Princess Shuo laughed and said, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. After all, you're a person personally certified by the master of Tanzhe Temple as having great fortune."