December 26th was the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday. It was just after the beginning of spring, and more than a month had passed since the full moon ceremony of Prince Kang's son.

The person who organized this banquet was Rong Zhaoyuan, who had the highest rank in the harem. In the past, the empress dowager always held the power of the palace firmly in her own hands. This time, she specifically gave power to Rong Zhaoyuan because her niece was the current wife of Prince Kang.

Rong Zhaoyuan wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to perform well and let the Queen Mother hand over the power of the palace to her. Even if she did not have the position of Queen, it would not matter. Since the Emperor could not give birth to a son, even the Queen would not be a threat.

If her niece becomes the queen in the future, she may be more glorious than a queen dowager who is just a hollow shell. It is not certain who will become the queen dowager.

The queen had not yet officially entered the palace, so as the highest-ranking concubine in the harem, she could sit next to the emperor according to the unwritten rules. She also arranged it this way, letting the future queen sit on both sides, next to the princess.

The seats were not announced in advance, but the palace maids were allowed to lead everyone in after everyone arrived. Seeing that everyone was already there, but Dan Ruo had not arrived yet, Rong Zhaoyuan thought to herself that she was so arrogant before she even entered the palace.

Eunuch Deng, following the emperor's orders, laid a silver fox blanket on Danruo's seat in advance. When he entered the banquet hall, he saw that there were two seats next to the emperor's dragon throne. The empty one should be the empress dowager, and the remaining one was occupied by Rong Zhaoyuan.

His eyelids twitched. "Empress Zhaoyuan, where is the position of the Empress?"

Rong Zhaoyuan pointed to the second seat on the right. The princess sat in the first seat. "She hasn't entered the palace yet, and her title hasn't been granted, so she's been arranged according to her status as a princess."

Eunuch Deng looked at Rong Zhaoyuan, who was dressed extraordinarily gorgeously today, and smiled his signature smile:

"But the Emperor wants the Empress to sit with him. Your Majesty, would you like to change seats yourself, or wait until the Emperor arrives so you can explain things to him."

Eunuch Deng's voice was not small, and those who were close to the front row could hear it. Rong Zhaoyuan only felt her face burning.

She originally wanted to give the empress a warning, and the emperor usually would not care about these trivial matters in the harem, but she ended up embarrassing herself in public. She quickly ordered the palace maids to make the arrangements.

After Eunuch Deng spread out the silver fox blanket, Qi Mu slowly walked over with a stunning girl.

The girl was wearing a green flowing skirt. Everyone in the harem knew at first glance that she was a tribute from the southern barbarians. She wore a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin on her head, which symbolized her status as queen. Although she was young, her aura was enough to suppress Rong Zhaoyuan, who was wearing a head full of hairpins.

After everyone finished paying their respects to the Emperor, Eunuch Deng took the lead in shouting, "Long live the Empress!"

Rong Zhaoyuan was full of indignation and secretly cursed that it was against etiquette, but the other people in the harem were in a state of retirement. Seeing that the emperor was willing to promote the queen, they were of course willing to follow his wishes.

So she was the only one standing there among the people who were bowing. Qi Mu glanced at her and she bowed reluctantly.

After a while, the Queen Mother came over and the banquet officially began. The ladies from various families performed shows to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, but there was nothing new.

A clear sound of vomiting was heard, and the princess's face turned pale. The queen mother hurriedly called the imperial physician, and everyone else stopped eating. Could it be that she was poisoned?

Seeing the imperial physician in deep thought, Rong Zhaoyuan's heart was in suspense. She didn't tamper with the food, but she was afraid that someone else might do something secretly, and then she would not be able to escape the blame for not doing her job well.

"The princess is pregnant, but the pregnancy is still early. She must have eaten the fish in front of her, so she vomited. It's a normal reaction."

As soon as the imperial physician finished speaking, the princess burst into tears. She had already promised her husband to take a concubine and said that he would bring the person in after the New Year. Unexpectedly, she finally got pregnant. She looked in the direction of the male guest, her husband, and saw that his eyes were also slightly red.

Princess Mingxi happily supported the princess and said, "I think it was the handkerchief that Sister Danruo gave Mother that worked. At that time, Sister secretly told me that Mother's wish would come true."

The princess looked at Danruo with gratitude, and Danruo was also very happy that the little pomegranate could still be useful in this era.

Qi Mu was also genuinely happy for his sister. He had experienced the pain of being childless, and seeing his sister finally see the flowers bloom and the moon shine, he was filled with emotion.

Feeling the emotions of the people around her, Danruo touched her belly and said, "Your father has been waiting for you for a long time."

The Prime Minister saw that the atmosphere was very good at the moment and took the lead in congratulating: "The Prince Consort's outstanding swordsmanship has finally found a successor."

The prince consort thanked him repeatedly, and the prime minister changed the subject;

"But the country has no successor, and this old minister is unable to sleep at night. The empire that the emperor has worked so hard to build needs to be passed down for generations to come."

Immediately afterwards, the civil officials of the Prime Minister's faction echoed the sentiment. Seeing that Chu Xiangxiang looked much more haggard, the Duke of Chu stood up and directly recommended Prince Kang.

The Prime Minister began to agree, and the two of them sang the same tune, and the Queen Mother looked at Qi Mu eagerly.

Qi Mu knew that this matter could not be delayed any longer. He knew that he was destined to be heirless. No matter whether his elder brother was dead or alive, he would train Prince Kang well.

Just as he was about to agree, his sleeve was tugged and he turned to look at Danruo.

"My stomach hurts." Danruo looked at Qi Mu pitifully.

Qi Mu glanced at the empty plates in front of her. After spending some time with Dan Ruo, he knew that she might have eaten too much, but he did not dare to be careless. He hurriedly took Dan Ruo to the next hall and asked Eunuch Deng to call his personal physician over.

The banquet naturally paused for a short break.

During this time, Yang kept looking at Chu Xiangxiang and wanted to ask her if she had killed Xiao Danzhu, but there were many people at the banquet and she was afraid of hurting Chu Xiangxiang, so she kept it in her heart, thinking about it day and night, tormenting herself to the point of being listless.

Doctor Li, who had examined Dan Ruo once, was brought here again by the secret guards. He had become somewhat accustomed to being forced to fly for the second time.

Dan Ruo stretched out her wrist for him to take her pulse. Doctor Li looked at the familiar wrist and seemed to know some big secret.

After a moment, he seemed to know a bigger secret. Could he still keep the head on his neck?

Seeing the change in Doctor Li's expression, Qi Mu, who had originally thought he had eaten too much, felt his heart begin to hang in the air. He asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

Doctor Li: "Can you guarantee that I will live to a natural death?"

Qi Mu was confused, but also anxious: "If you keep me in suspense, I will kill you right now."

Doctor Li didn't dare to say anything more: "The Empress is over a month pregnant."

He knew that the emperor had been keeping the future empress by his side today, and from the phoenix hairpin on Danruo's head, he guessed that this was the empress who had not yet entered the palace.