Chapter 18 Chapter 18 This maid has never changed a man’s clothes before…
When Bai first entered the palace, she was still a concubine. She was chosen by Chunyu because her father often had business dealings with the Prime Minister's Mansion and was privately friends with Prime Minister Chunyu. Bai's father often mentioned to the Prime Minister that he had a daughter of marriageable age, who was beautiful, good at needlework, and had studied for a few years. However, because of his humble status as a merchant, his daughter could not find a suitable husband.
The Prime Minister's wife saw the daughter of the Bai family, and thinking that her own daughter was infertile, she proposed that the daughter of the Bai family be the concubine of the virtuous prince. If she could give birth to a son or a daughter, she could be given the title of concubine.
But the Prime Minister's wife had a condition: if Bai gave birth to a son, the child would be registered under the name of the princess, and the princess would be respected as the mother, while Bai would be regarded as the concubine, and would inherit the prince's title in the future.
Father Bai felt that this was a good in-law. For a humble merchant like him to marry a noble and virtuous son-in-law like the virtuous prince was a blessing that his Bai family had accumulated over several generations!
But the daughter of the Bai family was unwilling to accept the status of a concubine with a sad face. She had no thoughts of marrying up to a rich and powerful man. She just wanted to find a confidant to spend the rest of her life with and live an ordinary life of taking care of her husband and raising children. Although she was poor, she was at least a wife, not an unofficial concubine of the prince.
Father Bai advised, "My daughter! As long as you give birth to a child, you will be named the concubine of the virtuous prince, and our family will become royal relatives."
"Father, you worked so hard to raise me and teach me to read and write, and yet you really expect your daughter to marry and become a concubine when she grows up? Moreover, if I give birth to a son, he will have to be given away. What then would I be in the palace? I can't even see my child, and my own son can't recognize his own mother. How dare you agree to such an unreasonable request? The prince can take concubines as many times as he wants, but I am the lowest of the low. Do you really want your daughter to live such a life in the future?"
"You're so foolish! Princess Chunyu is barren. If you give birth to a son, he will be the prince's only son and will undoubtedly inherit the title. Although the title is recorded under the princess's name and she is respected as her mother, the child will naturally know who his biological mother is when he grows up. Besides, the princess is much older than you and hasn't lived as long as you. You should just be a concubine in the palace peacefully, don't cause trouble, and take good care of yourself. When she and the prince are dead, your son will inherit the title, and you will be the prince's biological mother. Are you still afraid of not enjoying endless wealth and glory? From now on, the descendants of our Bai family can also leave the merchant class. How can I not agree to such a marriage that will bring honor to our family?"
If she were to marry him and become a concubine, it would be fine, but how could this be considered a marriage? Her status would be the same as those servants bought into the palace. If she couldn't give birth to a child, she would have to waste her whole life here, Bai sighed secretly.
At the urging of her father, the daughter of the Bai family entered the royal palace, her mission to bring honor to her family. While other families sold their daughters to wealthy families as concubines due to poverty, what about her? The Bai family had been merchants for three generations, and their wealth was substantial, yet her father still sent her to live in the royal palace. To ensure his daughter would not suffer in the palace, he even prepared a lavish dowry for her.
The wife of Prince Xian held a concubine ceremony for Bai's daughter because Bai's father had a good personal relationship with the Prime Minister and because Bai's father had given her a dowry of ten thousand taels. However, her actual status was still that of a concubine.
On the day she entered the palace, Princess Chunyu was very amiable and addressed the prince as a sister. She also personally decorated the wedding room for her and the prince, which made the daughter of the Bai family think that the princess was very easy to get along with.
On the night of the wedding consummation, Bai sat stiffly on the edge of the bed with her head covered by a veil. Through the gap under the veil, she saw the prince pacing back and forth in front of her. He was reluctant to lift the veil. Could it be that he was unwilling to consummate the marriage with her?
She had long heard of the deep love between the prince and princess, and had prepared herself mentally for not being favored. But when she was actually ignored on her wedding night, the sense of loss in her heart burst out like a flood.
Perhaps the prince heard the faint sobs from beneath the veil, so he stopped in front of her and lifted the veil as instructed by the matchmaker.
At that moment, her eyes were filled with tears, and her affectionate peach blossom eyes exuded a weak but unwilling look.
The prince was stunned and speechless, standing there staring at her until the matchmaker brought the wedding wine. He came to his senses, took the wine glass and drank it all, forgetting the ceremony of cup-exchanging.
The fortune teller joked, "Is your Highness impatient?"
Bai lowered her eyes in shame, covered her face with her sleeves and swallowed the cup of love wine. Because she was a concubine, she had no maid by her side. After the matchmaker left, only she and the prince were left in the festive bridal chamber, and both of them were silent.
The prince turned around and prepared to turn off the lights: "It's getting late, go to bed early!"
"Then...I? Oh no, I will change your clothes for you right now."
Bai always reminded herself of her status as a concubine. Although the princess politely called her "Sister Bai", she secretly had the matchmaker watch outside the door and did not arrange for the maid to go in to help the prince go to bed.
When her fair and slender hands rested on the prince's shoulders, she felt his body tremble suddenly. Thinking that he was not used to her touching her, she withdrew her hands cautiously.
But the prince asked, "Why stop?"
"Your Highness, I have never changed a man's clothes before, so my technique is inevitably unfamiliar. I'm afraid I might offend you."
"Isn't it just taking off clothes? There's no need to be so particular. There are no other maids right now. Do you want me to change clothes myself?"
Bai lowered her head and dared not look at him. She used her delicate fingertips to carefully undress him, but the more careful she was, the more likely she was to make mistakes. She had never undressed a man before, so she was stumped by how to untie the belt around her waist. She was so unfamiliar with it that she seemed a little clumsy.
Unexpectedly, Prince Xian not only did not blame her, but instead taught her how to untie the belt step by step. His hot palm covered the back of her slightly cold hand. She couldn't help but tremble slightly and subconsciously wanted to pull her hand away.
"What's wrong? Are you cold?"
Prince Xian looked at the pure red wedding dress she was wearing. It was simple and plain, without any embroidery. Apart from the bright red color, it was not a wedding dress at all. There were no hair accessories on her head, only a jade hairpin with a bird holding a branch in its mouth.
"Did the princess prepare this outfit for you? Why is it so shabby? You may be a merchant woman, but now that you've married into the palace, you belong to the prince. How can you be so shabby? Your attire is worse than that of ordinary people out there!"
"No... that's not the case, Your Highness. The princess did prepare a wedding dress for me, but I felt that my status was low and I wasn't the princess's concubine. If I wore something too fancy, I was afraid it would break the rules. So I took the initiative to change into this red dress."
Prince Xian was a little surprised that Bai was so well-mannered and sensible. Her elegance and propriety were no less than those of the daughters of officials. If it were not mentioned, who would know that she was a merchant woman?
The matchmaker, who had been eavesdropping outside the door, turned around and told the princess everything she had seen and heard. Chunyu sarcastically said, "With her status, is she worthy of me preparing wedding clothes for her? She is a discerning and eloquent person, but she has the manners of a prostitute. Your Majesty is a man after all. He has never tasted such a fresh dish, but he was seduced by this vixen? It seems that I will have to be more careful in the future."
The matchmaker replied, "Don't worry, Princess. No matter how powerful a sparrow is, it can never turn into a phoenix. I have already followed your instructions and put the doctor's secret recipe into the love wine, which guarantees that you will get a boy. She will only have this one chance tonight to sleep with the prince. If a boy is born, Princess will be able to leave the mother and keep the child."
There is no way to know what the magic medicine of the doctor's prescription was. All we know is that Bai became pregnant shortly after her wedding night. Prince Xian was overjoyed. He had been married to Chunyu for many years but had no children. He never thought that this merchant woman was so powerful.
Princess Chunyu was naturally the one who benefited the most from Bai's pregnancy. She became even more considerate and caring towards Bai, fearing that something might happen to the baby in her belly.
Bai was only six or seven months pregnant, but her belly was much larger than that of an ordinary woman. Princess Chunyu initially thought that she had given her too many supplements, which caused the fetus to be too large. She was worried about the risk of difficult labor in the future and was wondering what to do.
After the imperial physician took Bai's pulse, they learned that she was pregnant with twins, a rare pregnancy. The prince and his wife were surprised and happy, but at the same time they were deeply worried.
There were only a handful of women in the country who were pregnant with twins. The imperial physicians in the palace had practiced medicine for many years but had never delivered a woman who gave birth to twins. In addition, Bai's belly was getting bigger and bigger, and she was getting thinner and thinner. Her belly was stretched to a layer of skin, and she looked like she was ready to give birth at any time.
The imperial physician told the princess that there was a possibility of premature birth, and premature babies were very likely to have congenital deficiencies and might even die. When the princess heard this, her heart skipped a beat. If neither of the two children survived, wouldn't that mean that the prince would have no descendants?
In order to ensure a smooth delivery for Bai, Princess Chunyu called back the quack doctor who had given her the secret prescription. Little did she know that the doctor actually knew how to deliver babies?
More than a month before her full-term birth, Mrs. Bai suddenly showed signs of premature birth. In order to save the fetus, the princess spent a lot of money to hire a doctor to replace the midwife to deliver the baby for Mrs. Bai.
The Bai family was thin and the twins were large. There were signs of difficult labor on the day of delivery, and it took a full ten hours before the twins were born safely.
When the doctor saw the two children, he felt mixed emotions. He was happy that he had given birth to two sons, but he was worried that the younger son was too thin and purple all over, and might die.
Mrs. Bai looked at the two children and couldn't help but burst into tears. She knew very well that these two children no longer belonged to her from the moment they were born.
The prince immediately summoned all the imperial doctors in the palace and tried their best to save the two children.
The princess glanced at the two children. The elder one was healthy and cried loudly, but because he was born prematurely, he was not as plump as other newborns and looked a little thin. The younger one was skin and bones, his body was purple, and he was dying. It didn't look like he could survive.
She was in a dilemma. It would be great if she could save both, but the imperial physician's medical skills were limited. If it really came to the point of having to make a choice, she would give priority to saving the eldest son. Having one was always better than having neither.
Without informing the prince, she privately ordered the imperial doctors to focus on saving the eldest son, and to pretend to save the younger son, and to leave it to fate whether he could survive or not!
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