Chapter 75 The Birth of the Eldest Princess

After a while, Consort Niohuru arrived quietly with her nanny.

She remained aloof, bowing respectfully to Kangxi and Jiang Nan.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to the Emperor and to Consort Jin."

Emperor Kangxi was somewhat surprised.

"Why are you here too?"

Consort Niohuru lowered her eyes, her tone indifferent.

"I heard that Consort Wang is about to give birth, so I came to see her. I... also like children."

When she said the last few words, her voice dropped almost imperceptibly for a moment.

With a hint of undisguised loneliness.

Jiang Nan had been observing her closely and keenly caught the fleeting sadness in her eyes.

They are pitiful people too.

It must be heartbreaking to see others give birth when you can never have your own child.

But then I thought about it again and realized that Consort Niohuru was just too arrogant.

With so many concubines in the palace, if she really wanted a child, given her rank and family background...

Wouldn't it be better to keep a fertile concubine in Yikun Palace? It wouldn't be difficult to tell her.

She's turned herself into an iceberg. She's all alone in Yikun Palace, why bother? She's far too rigid in her approach to life.

Emperor Kangxi had obviously also thought of the fact that Consort Niohuru was infertile, and a complex look flashed in his eyes.

His tone carried a hint of reassurance.

"You're so kind. Let's sit and wait together then. Nan Nan said it might take a long time, and I'm afraid you won't be able to wait."

Consort Niohuru nodded slightly and sat down to the side.

The voice was calm, yet it carried a profound meaning.

"Your Majesty knows that childbirth is difficult for women. There's nothing wrong with waiting. In fact, I envy Consort Wang for being able to endure such pain."

After hearing this, Kangxi looked at Niohuru with a more complicated expression and remained silent for a moment.

With a hint of guilt, she replied in a low voice.

"You...you've been wronged. I failed to protect you."

Consort Niohuru quickly lowered her eyelashes to hide her heartache, and her tone returned to its usual aloofness.

"Your Majesty is too kind. I am... quite well now."

Kangxi nodded and said no more.

Outside the bedchamber, all was quiet again, with only occasional suppressed cries of pain coming from inside.

It serves as a reminder of the life-or-death trials within.

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Jiang Nan's gaze swept back and forth between Kangxi's solemn profile and Consort Niohuru's face.

This woman was made empress a year after Hesheri's death.

However, he died of illness after only six months.

Died of illness? Oh dear, she guessed, it was probably the work of the Hesheli family.

She died after only six months as empress.

Looking at Consort Niohuru's pitiful yet forcedly strong appearance, a thought arose in Jiang Nan's mind.

This woman is indeed aloof and cold.

If we could train her a little, and get her to show some different expressions...

For example, she might act cute and charming, or she might suddenly become carefree and unrestrained. The contrast between these two is something Jiang Nan finds very interesting.

Jiang Nan looked at Consort Niohuru with a mixture of curiosity and eagerness.

The wait outside the West Annex Hall seemed exceptionally long, depending on the different thoughts of the people waiting.

Inside the palace, Lady Wang was making arduous efforts to give birth to the first healthy child of the Kangxi Emperor's reign.

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The waiting outside the sleeping quarters lasted from the afternoon until the sun began to set and evening was approaching.

Jiang Nan was already starving, but out of consideration for others, she was too embarrassed to leave the emperor and everyone else to eat by herself.

We can only grit our teeth and bear it.

Just as she was pondering whether or not to ask Zhao Deyi to secretly bring some snacks over.

A faint but clearly audible cry of a baby finally rang out from inside the hall.

"It's born! It's born!"

Dai Jia was the first to jump up and excitedly grab Jiang Nan's arm.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

All eyes turned to the tightly closed palace door.

Emperor Kangxi suddenly stood up, took two steps forward, and nervously rubbed his hands together.

After a while, the palace door was gently pulled open a crack.

Fangruo carefully wrapped a baby in a thick, soft cotton quilt.

He walked out with a tired smile on his face.

She gave a steady curtsy to Emperor Kangxi and Jiang Nan.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Consort Wang has given birth to a princess safely. Both mother and daughter are well."

As expected, she was a princess, Jiang Nan thought with a flicker of excitement.

This little baby is the eldest daughter of Emperor Kangxi in history.

As I recall... he died young in the tenth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign?

How exactly it disappeared remains a mystery.

She subconsciously pressed Fangruo for answers.

"Where is Chunlan? Has she checked the child's pulse? How is his health?"

She wanted to check the child's health.

Fang Ruo understood and quickly replied.

"Your Majesty, Chunlan is inside doing the final cleaning and bandaging for Consort Wang, and will be out soon. She has just carefully checked the little princess's pulse and said that the little princess's cry is strong, her heart and lungs are healthy, and there is nothing seriously wrong."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nan felt relieved.

That's right. Wang had been carefully monitored during this pregnancy, and the nutrition and environment were kept at the best.

Historically, this child lived to the age of three, indicating that Wang's illness did not last long.

Now that's good, without Heseri's scheming, he's truly a healthy child.

Once she put aside her thoughts, her attention was completely focused on the child.

Seeing that Kangxi was standing right in front of Fangruo, staring intently at her with a silly grin on his face as a new father.

Jiang Nan couldn't help but squeeze forward.

"Your Majesty, you've been looking at it for so long, let me take a look too."

She looked down into the swaddling clothes—

"Oh dear," Jiang Nan immediately thought to herself.

Just as she had imagined, it was wrinkled and red, like a little old man.

Although she was mentally prepared, this was the first time in both her lives that she had ever seen a newborn baby in person.

The visual impact is truly impressive.

She couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"Oh dear... how come she looks so ugly? What if she grows up to be an ugly girl?"

Emperor Kangxi was immersed in the joy of having a daughter when he heard this and immediately became displeased. He turned around and looked at her with disdain as she retorted.

"Nannan, what nonsense are you talking about? How could my princess be ugly? Look closely, her eyebrows and eyes, her features, are clearly just like mine. She will definitely be a great beauty when she grows up."

Jiang Nan rolled her eyes back without any politeness.

"Come on, with that scrunched-up face, where do you see it resembles you?"

Kangxi ignored Jiang Nan's teasing and looked at the small bundle, feeling very pleased with it.

She reached out to hug the child, but was afraid of being clumsy and hurting him.

He was so anxious that he paced around in circles, a sight that made Jiang Nan want to laugh.

Jiang Nan noticed that Consort Niohuru was also standing a little distance away, looking at the child with gentle eyes.

They clearly wanted to get closer and take a closer look, but refrained from doing so out of politeness.

With a mischievous glint in her eyes, she once again pushed aside Kangxi, who was still struggling with how to hold the child.

His tone carried a hint of disdain and dismissiveness.

"Your Majesty, you've been here all day. There's still a pile of memorials from the court waiting for your review. Hurry back and attend to state affairs. National matters are of utmost importance. I'll keep watch here."

He finished speaking without waiting for Kangxi's reaction.

She grabbed the neck of Consort Niohuru beside her and pulled her in front of Fangruo.

“Sister Niohuru, don’t you like children? Come, come closer and take a good look at this little old man… uh, this little princess, isn’t she adorable!”

Consort Niohuru was taken aback by Jiang Nan's sudden intimate gesture and looked at her in surprise.

Jiang Nan didn't care at all. To be honest, it felt pretty good to be holding Niu Kulufei. She smelled nice.

She pointed to the child and said.

"Oh dear, why are you looking at me? Look at the child! Although he's a bit ugly now, look at his little hands and feet, aren't they so cute?"

After hearing what she said, Consort Niohuru temporarily put aside this sudden intimacy and turned her attention back to the child.

She carefully examined the tiny baby, watching its slightly twitching little nose and mouth.

An aunt's smile, radiating maternal warmth, unconsciously appeared on her face, softening her usual aloofness.

It looked exceptionally touching.

Jiang Nan looked at Consort Niohuru's genuinely emotional expression.

Wow, looks like he really likes kids.

However, her aesthetic sense is on a completely different wavelength.

After playing with Niohuru for a while, she lost interest, mainly because she was really hungry.

Seeing that Kangxi was still reluctant to part, Consort Niohuru was also engrossed in watching and released Niohuru.

"Alright, alright, you can take your time watching. I'm hungry, I'm going back to have my meal."

Thinking that the child wouldn't grow up quickly anyway, she would wait for Sister Wang to raise her until she was fair and tender.

It's more fun to hold and play with a soft, fragrant baby.

After saying that, she yawned, too lazy to pay attention to the emperor and Consort Niohuru anymore, and, holding Fangruo's hand, went straight back to the main hall.

Emperor Kangxi, Consort Niohuru, and a group of palace servants remained, surrounding the newborn eldest princess.