Seeing Consort De fawning over him, Gu Yuchen felt defeated, but he couldn't compete for favor with a child, so he gave a cold smile.

To his surprise, this wasn't the most frustrating thing.

The next morning, after the court session ended, he learned from Zhao Xi that Consort De had requested a contraceptive soup early that morning.

Gu Yuchen glanced at Zhao Xi, then heard Zhao Xi say with difficulty, "The Consort De said that since the Empress has not yet given birth to the Crown Prince, she dares not..."

Gu Yuchen scoffed coldly, too lazy to argue with these women. After finishing reviewing the memorials, he went to the private treasury to pick and choose, intending to have Guard Zhang take them back.

Meanwhile, in the inner palace, all the concubines gathered in Kunning Palace to pay their respects to the Empress.

Consort De entered the palace with a smug look on her face, holding the letter in her hand. Her proud demeanor made the other three consorts want to tickle her.

She didn't dare to be too arrogant. After enjoying the envious and jealous looks, she took the initiative to hand over all the letters and even explained, "Dear sisters, I didn't secretly look at them beforehand."

Despite the murderous glares from everyone, she spoke with an increasingly innocent tone: "I just wanted to watch it with all of you ladies, so we could exchange ideas afterward."

When Xiao Liu wrote her first letter to them, they assumed that the content of her letter would be the same as theirs, but they later discovered that it was completely different when they mentioned it casually.

He seemed to understand each of their preferences, as his letters focused on aspects that interested them.

Xiao Liu's thoughtful gesture instantly touched them.

They had seen plenty of hypocrisy, which is why Gu Yuzhi's letters were so precious.

That's why they show favoritism and love for this child.

As soon as Consort De finished speaking, the group eagerly opened the letters. As usual, Xiao Liu greeted them first, then told them about the interesting things that had happened recently, focusing on those that interested them. After that, he gave each of them a gift.

The Queen, who was usually very happy after reading the letter, was somewhat worried this time and did not even participate in the discussion that followed.

As the four consorts spoke, they sensed something was amiss. Consort Xian carefully asked, "Empress, what's wrong? Did Xiao Liu say something unpleasant in his letter?"

The Empress shook her head and handed the letter to the head palace maid without saying a word.

This was the first time the Empress had shown such an expression after reading Xiao Liu's letter.

Could it be that something else has happened to Xiao Liu?

This child only told them good news and not bad news, only telling the Empress?

The four consorts felt increasingly uneasy, exchanging glances for a while before Consort Xian spoke again: "Empress, if something really happens to Xiao Liu, you must tell us."

Consort Liang then added, "That's right, sister. You're pregnant now, so you shouldn't overwork yourself. No matter what happens, don't worry. Tell us and we'll think of a solution together."

The empress not only remained silent, but even closed her eyes.

The head palace maid couldn't stand it any longer and said indignantly, "It's all because of His Highness Prince Wen, who wrote in his letter congratulating Her Majesty the Empress on her pregnancy."

The group sensed something was amiss; if that were all, the Empress wouldn't have reacted this way.

Sure enough, the head palace maid continued, "His Highness said he didn't know what gift to give to the unborn prince, so he simply..."

"Shut up!" The Empress snapped, raising her eyelids sharply. "Since when did it become your place to speak out of turn? Go outside and slap yourself twenty times!"

The head palace maid turned pale, but still went out.

The four concubines never imagined that the usually sensible sixth child would say such a thing, and for a moment they couldn't find any reason to comfort him.

The hall fell silent. Even the concubines held their breath, and the atmosphere gradually became oppressive.

After a while, the Empress finally composed herself and said with a smile, "Don't be upset about this. Xiao Liu is just a child. I'm already very happy that he did this."

"Besides, if he's willing to give gifts, it's out of respect for us, his sisters-in-law. If he's not willing to give gifts, that's normal too. We sisters-in-law are all this age, how can we hold a grudge against him over something like that?"

The four concubines agreed that this made sense.

Consort Liang thought for a moment and said, "I think that since the sixth prince has just experienced a robbery and blindness, he is probably still afraid. Now that he has learned that the Empress is pregnant, he might think that we will not love him anymore."

The concubines thought about it and realized that this was very likely the case.

Kids like to have everyone's attention on them, so they're not happy when someone else suddenly tries to compete for their attention.

Moreover, this was after experiencing such a great crisis.

The last trace of displeasure in the Empress's heart was completely dispelled by Consort Liang's words.

She sat up straight, a look of guilt appearing on her face: "This child is still so distant from me."

"He doesn't even consider that the baby in my belly isn't even born yet. Even if it were, it wouldn't be able to compete with his favor!"

"Even if she is a princess, she is still the emperor's eldest daughter. Who would dare to neglect her? Xiao Liu is surrounded by attendants; otherwise, she wouldn't have been bullied by a mere merchant!"

When Consort De saw the anger on the Empress's face, she quickly comforted her, saying, "This sixth prince is just being childish. He's an elder now, and he should be showing some affection to the younger generation. The younger generation hasn't even been born yet, and he's already starting to be jealous."

Consort Xian chimed in, "That's right, Consort De is absolutely right. I think we shouldn't send any gifts to Xiao Liu this time. We need to teach him that jealousy and rivalry are not things we should do!"

The others immediately turned around and looked at her with a half-smile.

Consort Shu was thick-skinned and completely unaware of the truth.

Consort Shu wouldn't tolerate her bad habit: "If you don't want to send it off, that's your business. I'll still send it off."

Those people, those contracts and tokens, will be handed over to Guard Zhang today.

Upon hearing this, the Empress quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, I will still send one."

With so many people and such a long journey, if something goes wrong and good intentions backfire, she, as the Empress's sister-in-law, would truly have no face to associate with Xiao Liu anymore.

Consort Xian rolled her eyes and pouted, saying indignantly, "Whom am I doing this for that you're all making fun of me like this!"

The group chatted amongst themselves, and the atmosphere in the hall quickly became lively.

Gu Yuzhi, far away in the northern desert, sneezed several times, rubbed his itchy nose, silently counted the days in his mind, and muttered to himself, thinking that Guard Zhang should have seen his elder brother and the others by now.

But what he didn't expect was that his original intention was to give his elder brother and sister-in-law the Empress a little surprise, which is why he said he wouldn't give gifts.

Who knew they would misunderstand and think it was jealousy?

If he finds out, he'll definitely cry foul!

He only showed affection, never competed for favor!