Chapter 24

However, the old lady did not vent her anger on Qi Xinglan. Instead, she scolded Lin Yidun as soon as she saw the person coming.

"Go back to Lin! You and Lan'er were assassinated, but you didn't even send a single message to the royal court. I complained to the people around me all day, fearing that something bad might happen to you two. You..."

"You've really grown up and become more opinionated. You dare to make decisions on your own when it comes to matters involving human lives!"

Qi Xinglan was terrified by the Queen Mother's majesty. She hung her head like a quail and dared not speak.

Hui Lin, however, seemed to be used to it, and spoke slowly: "Mother, I am just afraid that you are worried. We didn't suffer any casualties, and I have asked people to record the sacrifices of soldiers in a book. I will reward them generously when I return..."

The Queen Mother snorted and turned to look at Qi Xinglan. Her tone changed very quickly. "Lan'er, are you injured? Come closer so I can take a look!"

Qi Xinglan had no choice but to take two steps forward, "Mother, I'm fine, but I can't say I'm completely fine..."

After saying that, he turned around and looked at Lin.

When the Queen Mother heard this, she immediately realized something was wrong. "What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere and you're hiding it from me?"

As he said that, he pulled Qi Xinglan's wrist and looked around.

Hui Lin couldn't bear to watch it any longer, "Mother, please stop looking at her, and don't push her too hard, Lan'er is pregnant."

"Ah?" The Queen Mother looked at Qi Xinglan and asked, "What does it mean to be pregnant?"

Qi Xinglan laughed. The Queen Mother still couldn't believe that he was pregnant, so she patiently explained again, "Mother, it is what you heard. I am pregnant for two months and the baby will be born in January next year."

The Queen Mother remembered that she had said before that she didn't care whether they had children or not. At that time, Lan'er herself didn't really want one, so it could only be...

The Queen Mother pointed at Huilin and scolded: "Did you force Lan'er to ask for it?"

Hui Lin was about to explain, but before he could even open his mouth, the Queen Mother said, "Don't try to make excuses. Even if you didn't force him, if you don't take the initiative and take appropriate measures, Lan'er won't be able to get pregnant even if she wants to."

The Queen Mother frowned and held Qi Xinglan's wrist carefully with one hand, just like Qi Xinglan's biological mother.

"I..."

Qi Xinglan saw that Hui Lin was speechless. Although she was laughing in her heart, she still had to defend him.

"Mother, you really wronged him. I was the one who said I wanted the child. Please don't blame him, Mother."

After hearing this, the Queen Mother calmed down towards Hui Lin. She turned her head and noticed Qi Xinglan was still standing beside her. The palace maid immediately understood what the Queen Mother meant and quickly moved a stool and placed it on the right side of the Queen Mother.

"Your Majesty, please take a seat."

"Well, thank you for your help." Qi Xinglan sat down steadily.

But Huilin was still standing. The Queen Mother was not happy with him at all. "Okay, Huilin, you can go back first. Remember to take good care of Lan'er. You must not have sex with her when it is not appropriate. Lan'er is young and a man, so you must be extremely careful."

"First, remember to ask the Imperial Hospital who has experience in this area, and prepare with Lan'er. Also, look for a doctor and a midwife from Guangxi who have experience in delivering male babies and bring them to the royal court."

"When you go back, you will be responsible for these matters. As for Lan'er, I want to keep him here for a while."

Hui Lin saw Qi Xinglan nodding slightly with a schadenfreude in his expression, and when he saw him looking at her, he raised his chin with pride.

"Yes, the son left first."

"Are you feeling unwell, Lan'er? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Qi Xinglan felt her body carefully and found that the feeling was no different from before she was pregnant, so she shook her head.

Seeing that he looked relaxed, the Queen Mother was relieved, but she still said, "Don't be careless. You have to discipline the people around you, and Fu Tuan. Even a small cat can get angry and chase people away."

"And the discomfort may still come later. When I was pregnant with A-Lin, I started to feel uncomfortable almost three months after giving birth. I vomited everything I ate, and no medicine worked. I could only endure it."

Qi Xinglan knew that the Queen Mother cared about her, so she just nodded no matter what she said.

He touched his belly from time to time and said, "You little guy is quite difficult to please."

The Queen Mother heard his sigh and said with a smile: "Children not only make trouble when they are in your womb, but also cannot settle down even after they are born. The first few years are the most noisy time."

"You still have a lot to suffer if you follow Lin back."

"Isn't there a nanny watching over me?" Qi Xinglan asked, "Will I still feel tired?"

The Queen Mother pretended to be angry and tapped Qi Xinglan's forehead, then smiled and said, "That's your own child. No matter who takes care of him, how can you not think about him in your heart? When he is born, can you and his father really just sit back and do nothing?"

Qi Xinglan wanted to throw everything back to Lin Guan, but if she said this aloud, she would definitely be "instructed" by her mother again, so Qi Xinglan still insisted on her previous principle of "just nodding".

After talking about the child, the conversation returned to the past. Queen Mother Wang began to tell Qi Xinglan about the precautions, "It is more difficult for men to give birth. You can't be without someone by your side during these ten months. But Hui Lin will definitely arrange it better than I can, so there is no need for an old woman like me to worry about it."

"But I have a nanny who has been with me since I was pregnant with A-Lin. I will ask her to go to your Lanquan Palace when the time comes."

Qi Xinglan said that he really needed it, otherwise there was no experienced palace maid in Lanquan Palace and he would be at a loss if anything happened.

"Lan'er thanks mother!"

The Queen Mother also learned about the couple's plan from Qi Xinglan, and kept it secret for the first three months.

"Well, you are not allowed to take any of them, whether male or female. If the ministers want to make trouble, let them make trouble. Don't tolerate their bad habits."

"It is extremely harmful to a man's health if he gets pregnant. I dare not even think about how dangerous Lan'er was at that time. Have you found out who sent them?"

Qi Xinglan shook her head. "This matter is of great importance. Hui Lin said it will probably take some time to investigate."

The Queen Mother thought about it and thought that there were probably only a few people in the Western Capital who were willing to do that. She believed that Hui Lin must have a number of them in her mind as well, but they probably kept silent because there was insufficient evidence.

All the questions that needed to be asked had been asked, and all the concerns that needed to be expressed had been shown. The Queen Mother was finally ready to release the person. When Qi Xinglan brought Nanny Chen to the Lanquan Palace, Hui Lin was still there.

And there is a high probability that he will not plan to go back at night.

As soon as Qi Xinglan saw Hui Lin, he thought of the words that the Queen Mother had scolded him with, and he just laughed at him.

Hui Lin was helpless and personally pushed him down in front of the dining table.

"Eat something quickly, or the lucky grass will get too hungry."

When the name was mentioned, Hui Lin asked, "Well... the fact that we gave our child the nickname Fucao, did the Queen Mother not bring it up on her own initiative?"

“No.”

"That's good, otherwise she would definitely not agree."

At this time Futuan came in. Qi Xinglan picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of beef for it. The little guy was very protective of his food. He picked it up and went to a corner to eat it alone.

Huilin looked at Futuan's movements and thought, it would be great if Fucao could be as cute as its brother.

Qi Xinglan couldn't believe it and confirmed it again, "What did you say?"

"Its brother?"

He turned his hand back to Lin and said as a matter of course: "Fu Tuan is also our child."

Qi Xinglan thought of some of the incomprehensible rules of the Great Zhou and said with emotion, "Fortunately, this is Xiyuan, where there are no rules that need to be changed if you violate them. There are such rules in the Great Zhou, which is really annoying."

It's very good here in Xiyuan. No matter if you are a palace maid, a cat or a royal family member, you can name them whatever you like.

Hui Lin had heard about it in general, but he had not understood it in depth, so he was very curious, "What if the name is the same? Do I have to change it?"

"Of course not! However, there are also emperors who change their names to be more uncommon so as to avoid being confused with the common people, but they are a minority after all."

Qi Xinglan looked at him again, "If you ever have the chance to become emperor, you must not get into trouble! Otherwise, I will be the first to spit at you."

Now it was Hui Lin's turn to be surprised, "Lan'er, how did you know that I wanted to be the emperor?"

Qi Xinglan rolled her eyes at him and thought to herself, I don’t know you yet.

"When Shen Fuxuan came to Xiyuan before, I don't believe you didn't see anything. The Great Zhou is on good terms with Xiyuan on the surface, but they will turn against each other sooner or later. The old emperor has a beautiful dream of being the ruler of the world."

"And this time, the reason why you didn't assassinate the mastermind was because you wanted to catch them all in one fell swoop. There must be someone in the Xiyuan royal family who colluded with the treacherous minister He Fei. If not, how could they have defeated Xiyuan with their limited fighting power when Xiyuan fought against the Great Zhou a few years ago?"

"Wait...Lan'er, tell me in detail."

Hui Lin did not expect Qi Xinglan to know so much about the war between the two countries over the years.

"Ah? It was the battle that the He family won a few years ago. My father was the commander, but they insisted on intervening. My father said something was wrong at the time. Sure enough, they won the battle and convinced the old emperor that the He family was more suitable for fighting than the Qi family. Not long after, my father's military power was cut in half."

"And this assassination is probably related to this traitor. The Saihara royal family has the ambition to get rid of you and take over the throne. If it were someone else, why would they want to kill you?"

"There are only a few people in the royal family who are close to the royal power. You must have a plan in mind. I guess you just don't arrest anyone because you lack evidence."

Qi Xinglan saw Hui Lin was silent for a long time and teased him: "Hey, are you surprised by my words? Did I guess that you were right?"

Hui Lin pinched his face and said, "Lan'er is so smart. I am ashamed of myself."

"Then..." Qi Xinglan was about to speak, but her stomach suddenly churned, "Grrrl..."

Qi Xinglan turned sideways and vomited, her face turned red but nothing came out.

Hui Lin had no choice but to pat his back and pour some water over for Qi Xinglan to rinse her mouth. Knowing that it was a normal reaction during pregnancy, there was no point in Hui Lin getting anxious.

"Let's call the imperial physician tomorrow and have him prescribe some medicine to make me feel better. It's not a good idea to keep going like this."

Qi Xinglan took a sip of water, and the bitterness was suppressed. While returning to Lin to give him a drink, she comforted him: "I'm fine. I've seen people in the capital, whether they are pregnant men or women, they will all be like this. It will be fine after a few months."

"How many months?" Hui Lin was shocked and regretful.

"Otherwise?" Qi Xinglan looked at his expression and said, "I know what you are thinking. It's too late to say you don't want it now. Okay, okay, I'm fine."

Qi Xinglan even touched his face as if to coax him.

Hui Lin was so distressed that he kept thinking about it until midnight when he finally fell asleep.