Chapter 70: Full Moon and the Hundred Days of the Fourth Princess
In the warm room of Yiku Palace, Xiao Tao had already directed the young palace maids to clean up everything. Xiu Yu had given birth to the child all night and was now exhausted and her face was very pale.
After Xuanye entered the room holding the little princess, Xiao Tao led a group of young palace maids to bow and leave the warm room.
"The child came so suddenly." Xuanye walked to the bedside and sat down, looking at Xiu Yu's pale face, feeling very distressed.
Xiu Yu stroked her daughter's chubby cheek and smiled, "I heard that babies are always born with wrinkles, and they're really ugly."
"There are ugly ones, but how could our daughter be ugly?" Xuanye placed the little princess in Xiuyu's arms. "She rushed out before the due date. Perhaps she missed seeing you, her mother, so much."
Xiu Yu's eyes were filled with fatigue. He placed his daughter on the inside of the bed and said, "I don't know what you're so anxious about. Is it because the Emperor's third brother urged you to come?"
"Then I am truly amazing." Xuanye raised his hand and touched Xiuyu's cheek: "Thank you for your hard work. Go to sleep if you are tired. I will watch over you."
Xiu Yu glanced sideways at the time on the Western clock and said, "It's almost time for the court session. You should take a break. It's time to go."
"Yes, I should go now." Xuanye helped Xiuyu lie down slowly. "Rest well. I will come over for lunch."
For the next month, Xiu Yu stayed in bed to recuperate, and Xuanye would report to the Yiku Palace every day, but he was still not in a good mood. He would only smile when he was entertaining the children. Xiu Yu wanted to ask, but was not sure how to ask.
When the fourth princess was one month old, Xiu Yu personally went to the kitchen and prepared a table full of food. Xuan Ye joked: "Those who know that it is our fourth princess's full month, those who don't know think it is mine."
"You? Full moon?" Xiu Yu picked up a piece of fried hairtail fish for Xuanye and said, "How old are you?"
"I thought I was still young." Xuanye looked at Xiuyu and said, "It won't be a problem for you and I to have a few more princes and princesses."
Xiu Yu was suddenly driven away, and she felt a little shy. She poured Xuanye another glass of wine and said, "Actually, the Fourth Princess's full moon celebration doesn't need to be so extravagant."
"Is this a waste? If I hadn't been here recently..." Xuanye stopped talking halfway.
As Xiu Yu served Xuanye the dishes, she said, "It's because I felt that you were worried and had been hesitant to speak for the past month that I prepared a table full of dishes for you."
"Want to hear my honest words after drinking?" Xuanye drank a cup of wine and sighed, "Wu Sangui has proclaimed himself emperor, and he chose to do so around the time our daughter was born. Has he lost his mind?"
"So that's why." Xiu Yu had a plan in mind: "Wu Sangui, he must be at the end of his rope. You don't have to worry about him."
"I know he's at the end of his rope, but he delayed my daughter's full moon celebration." Xuanye said angrily, "Fourth Princess is your and my first child. I originally wanted to give her a proper full moon celebration."
"If you say so, Yu'er said something inappropriate..." She hesitated for a moment: "Yu'er would like to thank Wu Sangui."
Xuanye was puzzled: "You thank him? What does he have to thank you for?"
"The Emperor treats the Fourth Princess well. I know in my heart, and that's enough." Xiu Yu clasped her hands together and placed them on the table. "Yu'er doesn't want everyone in the harem to focus their attention on the Fourth Princess."
Xuanye smiled and shook his head, patting Xiuyu's hand. "You, don't think so much. The master of Yikun Palace has always been the most dazzling existence in the harem. You are, and our little princess can't hide. It's not surprising that I treat you well. If one day I hide this kindness, I'm afraid that something big will happen in the harem."
"Huh?" Xiu Yu was a little confused.
Xuanye stopped short: "Some people have dog eyes and dog noses, flattering the powerful and looking down on the weak, but there are quite a few of them."
What Xuanye said was absolutely right. There was no big celebration for the full moon of the fourth princess of Yikun Palace. After this matter was passed around among the harem and those who were given imperial edicts, news such as "Yipin didn't give the emperor a little prince with her first child, and she is going to fall out of favor" spread.
Xiu Yu naturally just smiled when she heard that, but Xiao Tao was very angry.
"Really? They have long ears and long eyes. What does it have to do with them if they live their lives behind closed doors?"
Xiu Yu rocked her daughter to sleep while laughing at Xiao Tao: "Well, what does their gossip have to do with us?"
"They should stop chewing our tongues!" Xiao Tao slowly fanned Xiu Yu. "Besides, there's no point in chewing them."
"Let them talk, let's just live our lives." Xiu Yu teased her daughter, who kept her eyes open and refused to sleep. "Your ears don't have calluses, so it won't matter."
"What if it does?" Xiao Tao squatted down and said, "Look, it really did! You're really a tiger that doesn't show its might, and they think it's a sick cat."
"How about, Xiao Tao, can you give me some advice? How should I show my power more appropriately?" Xiu Yu joked.
Xiao Tao said, "They are so cowardly that they only dare to gossip behind your back. None of them come to you, so you have no way to show your power."
"Yes," Xiu Yu said, "Now, our Yikun Palace is already the best in the palace. We have everything we want. There aren't many palaces like ours in other palaces. If we don't let people vent their complaints, they'll get sick."
Xiao Tao asked, "Is that what you think?"
"No matter which dynasty or generation, whether it's the former or the harem, it's always like this." Xiu Yu's eyes showed a look of seeing through. "Look at them, when they come to Yikun Palace, they all have smiling faces, but once they leave Yikun Palace, they must be talking about my faults. Back then, when you were my little disciple, didn't you say anything bad about me behind my back?"
Xiao Tao stuck out his tongue and said, "I really can't remember what happened back then."
During this period, Xuanye devoted most of his energy to Wu Sangui, like a dying man's last breath. After Wu Sangui proclaimed himself emperor, he actually won several battles, which made Xuanye, who was already confident of victory, nervous for a few moments. Although he knew that nothing could happen, he still felt a little uneasy because the matter was not yet final.
In August, when the weather gradually turned cooler, the fourth princess was one hundred days old.
In the Cining Palace, Empress Xiaozhuang placed a silver lock around the fourth princess' neck and said, "Ukuma Ma hopes that my great-granddaughter will grow up happily and live a long life."
Xiu Yu smiled and said, "Yu'er thanks the old ancestor on behalf of the Fourth Princess."
At that time, most of the ladies in the harem gathered in the Cining Palace, and one after another presented gifts to the little princess, at least they all had smiles on their faces.
Xiaozhuang was very satisfied with everyone's performance. Looking at Wuya Zelan who was sitting in the distance, she said, "Zelan should give birth soon, right?"
Wu Yazelan hadn't been given a title yet, and was rarely mentioned by the ancestor. She stood up and said, "Ancestor, the imperial physician said there are still two months left."
"You've gained weight, so just sit still." Empress Xiaozhuang said with a smile, "Yu'er has given the Emperor a beautiful little princess. I think you look like a little prince."
Wu Yazelan smiled, touched her round belly, and said nothing.
Tong Jia Zifu, who was sitting next to Xiaozhuang, said with a smile, "Grandma, I asked the imperial physician a while ago, and he said that Zelan's baby is a little prince."
"You." Xiaozhuang glared at Tong Jia Zifu: "What little tricks are you thinking? Do you think I don't know?"
It was almost noon, and all the women in the warm room were actually waiting for Xuanye to come. Some, like Xiu Yu and Tong Jia Zi Fu, wanted to have a meal with Xuanye because of the little princess's hundredth day celebration. Of course, there was another type, who had not seen Xuanye for a long time and wanted to take this opportunity to let Xuanye remember that there was someone like her in the harem.
Xiaozhuang was getting a little impatient waiting, so she said to Su Moer, "Find someone to go and see which blind minister of the previous dynasty has tripped up the emperor."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xuanye entered the warm room with a leisurely pace, holding a memorial in his hand. He walked up to Xiaozhuang and greeted her: "Grandson greets Mama. May Mama live a long and healthy life."
A group of concubines, led by Tong Jia Zi Fu, also stood up and greeted Xuanye.
Xiaozhuang smiled and said, "You are so happy today. Did something good happen in the previous dynasty?"
"Madam, Wu Sangui is dead." Xuanye handed the memorial in his hand to Xiaozhuang and said, "If it weren't for this news, your grandson would have come here a long time ago." He glanced at Xiu Yu and smiled.
Empress Xiaozhuang took the memorial, glanced at it casually, and then put it down: "It's hard for him to have been doing it for so long."
Xuanye lifted his robe and knelt beside Xiaozhuang, saying, "Madam, in the battle against the Three Feudatories, this time our Qing Dynasty has already secured victory! Thank you, Madam."
Xiaozhuang helped Xuanye up and said, "I am your Royal Madam. For you, it is my duty to do anything."
Only Xiaozhuang, Xuanye and Su Moer, who are in the warm room, know how difficult it has been in the past eight years.
Su Moer saw the tears welling up in the eyes of her own princess and the emperor, and smiled, "Princess, Your Majesty, it's getting late, it's time for lunch. Today is also our Fourth Princess's hundredth day."
"Yes!" Xuanye calmed down and said, "Today is the fourth princess's hundredth day. What a good day!"
After lunch, Xuanye obeyed the Empress Dowager's order to offer sacrifices to his ancestors. It was not until the evening that he arrived at the Yiku Palace, followed by a Western painter from the Ruyi Pavilion.
Xiu Yu was a little curious: "You brought a painter with you, aren't you going to paint a portrait?"
"Yes." Xuanye held his daughter in his right hand and held Xiuyu's right hand with his left. The two sat down on the couch together. "I have pondered for a long time what to give the little princess on her hundredth day. After much thought, I think a portrait of the three of us would be the best. When the little princess grows up, she will be able to see what she looked like as a child, and what her father and mother looked like when they were young. How meaningful!"
Xiu Yu had been feeling a bit regretful that she couldn't take a photo of her daughter's 100th day since there were no cameras in that era. Unexpectedly, Xuanye had the same idea as her. She smiled, looked at Xuanye, and said softly, "Thank you."
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