Song'ao Village, Dongzhou, Huainan.
Song'ao Village is very peaceful at night; it is a small fishing village by the sea.
The sea breeze and mountain winds howled, and the air was incredibly humid.
Unlike the capital, it rains nine out of ten days here.
The candle flames flickered in the wind as Cailan and Caiwei carried basins of bloody water, weeping as they went in and out.
"How is Consort Xie?" The deposed Crown Prince Zhou Jingrui, with his unshaven beard, sat in the outer room of the house and asked the weeping Cailan.
Cai Lan cried, "Your Highness, please find a good midwife, the concubine is dying..."
But where can you find a good midwife?
The midwife currently delivering Xie Tingting's baby is the best midwife from several nearby villages; it's said that she's the one who delivered all the babies in those villages.
Wei Chuchu's lips were chapped. Holding her son, she comforted Zhou Jingrui in a hoarse voice: "Your Highness, don't worry. Childbirth is a life-or-death ordeal for every woman. I went through the same thing back then."
Ah~
As they were talking, another sharp scream rang out from inside, accompanied by the midwife's exclamation: "Madam, push! Push! My God, how many supplements did you take during your pregnancy? How come the baby is so big?"
The Crown Prince couldn't bear Xie Tingting's screams any longer and said to Cailan and Caiwei, "Gag the concubine. If she keeps screaming like that, she'll attract attention."
Go outside the house.
Wei Chuchu also went out, afraid that the child would be frightened.
The two walked through the yard until they could no longer hear Xie Tingting's screams.
Unable to calm his restless mind, he ate half a Panacea pill. He had left in such a hurry that he hadn't brought the Panacea pill with him, so he wanted to use it sparingly.
Several shadow guards followed behind him.
"Have you managed to contact Prince Cheng'en?"
Zhou Jingrui habitually called Wei Jingzhong "Lord Cheng'en," just as others habitually called him "Crown Prince."
"Your Highness, the Duke of Chengen has taken the male members of the Wei clan to the Northwest."
The Wei family had been operating in the Northwest for three generations. According to information obtained by royal spies, Wei Anyuan had stationed 300,000 troops in the four prefectures of Chang'an, Yongxing, Qinfeng, and Hedong in the Northwest.
These four states were basically within the sphere of influence of the Wei family.
Of the fourteen prefectures in the entire Da Gan region, he controlled four.
Moreover, all four prefectures are located on the border, and have intricate connections with the Western Xia, Uyghurs, Tubo, and even the Liao Dynasty.
"Did you tell him that I am in Huainan?"
"He said it, Lord Cheng'en said..."
"say what?"
"He told His Highness to take care of himself, that he couldn't worry about it anymore," the shadow guard said mechanically. "The Duke of Cheng'en said that Wei Anyuan is going to cause trouble in the Northwest."
Zhou Jingrui listened and remained silent for a long time.
He was abandoned, abandoned by his father, and abandoned by the Duke of Cheng'en.
He's a lost dog now.
Wei Chuchu, holding the child, moved a little further away. After the shadow guards finished reporting to the deposed crown prince, she came over with the child and said, "Your Highness, let's go back to the capital. Please ask the Emperor for forgiveness."
“No, going back would mean certain death,” Zhou Jingrui said. “I must bide my time. My father is in poor health. After he passes away, I will return to the capital.”
Wei Chuchu remained silent.
Looking at Zhou Jingrui, who was now in high spirits after taking the Panacea, I wondered if he could live to see His Majesty's death.
In the dark fisherman's hut, Xie Tingting strained again and again, screaming in agony each time.
Before the Crown Prince forced the emperor to abdicate, he took her and Wei Chuchu away through a tunnel and ordered his guards to escort them all the way to Huainan. They were originally in the city, but the coup failed, and the Crown Prince escaped under the protection of his subordinates.
They were searched house to house in the city, and had no choice but to stay in this remote fishing village.
She was supposed to give birth a month earlier, but all this trouble caused her to go into labor early.
The midwife and wet nurse who were prepared beforehand did not come with them. In this haste, they could only find this midwife named Aunt Chen in front of them.
Aunt Chen usually delivers babies from the countryside, where babies are usually this big. Besides, women in the countryside are used to doing farm work and are strong and healthy, so childbirth is not difficult for them at all.
Xie Tingting was only fifteen years old and had been pampered since childhood. Her baby was also unusually large, making the delivery extremely difficult even though the baby's head was already down.
She has been crying out for two days, but she can't give birth at all.
In a daze, she saw Xu Shi.
Xu looked at her without saying a word, only shedding tears.
She reached out her hand and cried out, "Mother, please save me! I'm in so much pain, I can't give birth!"
Madam Xu stood by the bed, her mouth opening and closing: "This is all Xie Zhaozhao's fault. If her husband hadn't brought people to rescue her, His Highness the Crown Prince would have successfully forced the palace, and you would be the Empress... It's all her fault, she is the culprit."
Xie Tingting cried, "Mother, go and kill Xie Zhaozhao! Kill her!"
Xu has disappeared.
She saw Xie Xiangxiang again.
Xie Xiangxiang stood in front of her bed, her face full of sarcasm, and said, "Weren't you married to the Crown Prince? How did you end up in this remote fishing village?"
Didn't I tell you to steal the letter from Father's room? If you steal the letter, the Xie family will all die, Xie Zhaozhao will die, Gu Shaoyu will all die, and the Crown Prince will become Emperor.
You didn't listen, and you deserve what happened today!
Aunt Chen watched as Xie Tingting flailed her arms wildly, her face filled with regret and ferocity, and her breath gradually weakened.
She ran out in a panic, looking for Zhou Jingrui, but he wasn't there.
"What should we do? If she faints, isn't that the end of the world? How can she fall asleep while giving birth?"
Aunt Chen said anxiously, "I've delivered so many babies in all my years, and I've never seen such a difficult birth. I'm not going to help anymore, you'd better find someone else!"
Cai Lan and Cai Wei knelt down and begged her, crying, "Auntie, please have mercy! My... young lady is still young and has a long life ahead of her. If you save her, I will grant you whatever money or desire you may have in the future."
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