Chapter 685 Su Rongrong Gives Birth
"Grandmother, isn't this prince consort a bit too arrogant?"
"On his wedding day, he dared to give the guests a hard time! Who does he think he is?"
Even though the other party was Qiao Qinghe, who was at odds with the Yongchang Marquis's mansion, she still felt that this consort was too arrogant.
"That would be better!"
Lady Wen smiled and patted Wenxi's hand, explaining, "The prince consort is a disgrace, causing trouble everywhere. Even if Princess Huaiyang is just cleaning up his messes, she will still have to rely on the Prince of Chu in the future."
"With the prince consort as a weakness, you don't need to worry about Princess Huaiyang becoming uncontrollable in the future."
Upon hearing this, Wenxi exclaimed with delight, "So, the more arrogant and domineering the prince consort is, the more people he offends, the more advantageous it is for us?"
Madam Wen smiled and nodded: "You could say that."
After all, now that the King of Qi is out of the picture, the King of Chu is all-powerful, and it's only a matter of time before he becomes the crown prince.
Having dealt with external enemies, we must also guard against internal threats.
Thinking of this, Madam Wen couldn't help but ask with concern, "Is everything still peaceful in the inner quarters of the Prince of Chu's residence?"
Wenxi scoffed and said arrogantly, "I have the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion standing behind me. Even the Prince has to rely on our Marquis's Mansion. Do those concubines think they can rebel against the heavens?"
Madam Wen nodded in deep agreement, "That makes sense, but you can't let your guard down."
"Granddaughter understands. Grandmother, please don't worry." Wenxi obediently agreed, but in her heart she didn't think so.
Even the King of Chu had to give her some leeway, so wouldn't everyone else have to obediently grovel at her feet?
***
After Li Sanqi's wedding, various families in the capital held flower banquets one after another.
However, Qiao Qinghe did not participate.
She is now completely focused on Su Rongrong's belly.
Su Rongrong is due to give birth in two months.
Qiao Qinghe began to arrange for a midwife, prepare a doctor, and gather the necessary medicinal herbs for her.
Just half a month before Su Rongrong was due to give birth, Qiao Qinghe moved into the Enping Marquis's residence with Mu Jin.
Fortunately, after several rounds of screening, no one in the Enping Marquis's mansion dared to cause trouble.
Su Rongrong gave birth on time and successfully delivered a son.
The Marquis of Enping's household was overjoyed, and the Marquis of Enping was so happy that he wept. He submitted a memorial that very night requesting that his child be named the heir apparent.
Oh, by the way, Yan Jin named his child Yan Xu, which means "rising sun".
The child's nickname was Lele, given to him by Butler Wu.
After the child was born, Su Rongrong specially sent someone to inform Steward Wu and also specially invited Steward Wu to come to the Marquis's residence to see the child and stay for a while.
As a result, Butler Wu refused, citing his own illness and the fear of infecting the child.
However, someone did pass a message to Su Rongrong, saying that he wanted to give the child a nickname, Lele.
After consulting with Yan Jin, Su Rongrong readily agreed.
And so, Yan Xu's nickname was decided.
When Butler Wu learned of this, he was so happy that he cried. He said that he would live well and wait for Lele to get married and have children in the future.
After hearing what Butler Wu said, the slight unease Su Rongrong felt because Butler Wu refused to come and see the child vanished instantly.
Qiao Qinghe stayed at the Marquis of Enping's residence for another month, until she finished helping to organize the baby's full-month celebration, before returning to the Qiao residence in Nancheng.
During the months that Qiao Qinghe focused on Su Rongrong's childbirth, some minor disturbances occurred in the capital.
One example is that Fu Wenqing, the seventh son-in-law, entered the Hanlin Academy for less than a year before being exceptionally promoted to one of the Six Ministries, and even skipped several ranks to become a fifth-rank official.
As a result, Li Sanqi was impeached by numerous censors.
However, after investigation, it was discovered that the person who helped Fu Wenqing was not Li Sanqi, but the King of Chu.
The matter was eventually dropped.
But anyone with eyes could see how much Li Sanqi valued Wen Qing, the son-in-law.
The second matter is also about the prince consort.
It is said that the prince consort brought his family from the countryside to the capital.
On the day they entered the city, the Fu family's carriage forced a wedding procession from a seventh-rank official's family to give way and let the Fu family's carriage pass first.
Afterwards, the Fu family's behavior in the capital was quite arrogant and absurd, like a poor person suddenly becoming rich and not knowing their own limitations.
She was exactly like Fu Wenqing at the wedding banquet.
Unfortunately, with Princess Huaiyang backing them up, no one dared to do anything to the Fu family.
The third matter concerns the Chu King's residence.
In addition to the principal wife Wenxi, the concubine Min Pan'er, and the secondary wife Zhou, the Chu Prince's residence also had two other concubines.
This incident involved the other two concubines.
After Wenxi married into the Chu Prince's household, she forbade the Chu Prince from favoring any other woman.
The King of Chu also promised her that he would not touch any other women until she gave birth to his eldest son.
However, the King of Chu was not a faithful man, nor was he someone who could remain unmoved by beauty.
So, six months after the wedding, Wenxi's belly still showed no signs of pregnancy, while both of her concubines were pregnant.
As for Min Pan'er, the King of Chu has never stayed in her room.
Consort Zhou, on the other hand, is still recovering from her previous miscarriage.
Of course, that's just an excuse.
The main reason she didn't want to get pregnant now was that she didn't want to confront Wenxi.
The fact that the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion intervened when the Zhou family clashed with the Qian family demonstrates just how powerful the Yongchang Marquis's Mansion truly is.
She was unwilling to be the one to stick her neck out.
It would be good to deal with Min Pan'er, that pitiful little thing with no background, no family connections, and no connections.
She wasn't that foolish to put her at odds with Wenxi.
Thus, the two concubines who entered the household after Consort Zhou and before Wenxi became pawns in Zhou's test of Wenxi.
She didn't do anything special; she simply pushed the man to her two concubines when the King of Chu brought Wenxi to her room for the night.
Then they changed the medicine that the two concubines drank on the second day after serving the emperor.
The herbal soup, originally intended to prevent pregnancy, has been replaced with one that strengthens the body, nourishes the constitution, and promotes fertility.
As a result, after being favored by the emperor several times, both concubines became pregnant.
Upon learning of this, Wenxi flew into a rage and immediately ordered that the two be given abortifacient medicine.
One of the concubines resisted fiercely and was ordered by Wenxi to be beaten to death on the spot, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child.
The other concubine survived, but she lost her child and damaged her health, so she won't be able to get pregnant again for the next three to five years.
With such ruthless methods, Wenxi was immediately branded as a jealous woman.
If it weren't for Wenxi's status, everyone would have called her a vicious woman rather than a jealous one.
Because of this incident, the King of Chu was also impeached by the censor, who said that he was not strict in managing his household, and the Yongchang Marquis's mansion was also the subject of much discussion.
In short, because of this matter in the inner quarters, the King of Chu was once again severely reprimanded by Emperor Xiaozhao.
Upon returning to his residence, the King of Chu, unusually, lost his temper with Wenxi.
He left the manor saying he was going to the estate to clear his head, and then departed.
Li Sanqi arrived at the door the day after the King of Chu left the capital.
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