In late summer and early autumn, Suyi's belly gradually became more obvious.
It seemed that the King of Rui had not really realized until now that the princess was pregnant with two babies. In the past, when he held Suyi, his hands were mostly placed on her waist and back, stroking her up and down. Recently, he often touched Suyi's belly in a trance.
The Queen Mother's birthday was just around the corner. Because it was not a full birthday, the Queen Mother did not like to make a fuss, so there was no big celebration. Those who appeared at the palace banquet were all members of the royal family.
The Queen Mother sat in the upper center, the Emperor was on her left, below them were the princes, princes, their respective wives, and several princesses and their husbands, and the Queen was on the Queen Mother's right. Below her sat the concubines of the harem, as well as some young princes and princesses.
Prince Rui and Su Yi sat at the front, just below Prince An and his wife among their peers. Following closely behind them were the Second Prince and his wife.
He was only the Emperor's nephew, but he sat before all the other princes, which was enough to show how much the Empress Dowager and the Emperor valued him. Others, at least on the surface, did not seem to be dissatisfied with this. Last year
, Prince Rui attended the banquet alone, but this year he brought his wife, who was pregnant with the future master of the palace. The Empress Dowager was happier than receiving any gift when she saw this scene.
The late old Prince Rui was the youngest son of the Queen Mother. Nothing is more heartbreaking than the death of a young person. The current Prince Rui looks and acts like his father. The Queen Mother feels sorry for him because he has no parents, so she gives most of her love to this grandson, and also to Su Yi. Not long
after the meal started, she had already served two dishes to Princess Rui, and frequently asked her about her appetite and whether she could eat. No one else had ever received such treatment.
No one really showed any envy, except for a 14 or 15-year-old princess who pouted and complained coquettishly, "The Empress Dowager has given all her heart to the princess and her sister-in-law, and never gave a bit to her granddaughter." The Queen Mother
pointed at her and said with a smile, "Little monkey, when you get married next year and bring your husband back to the palace to celebrate my birthday, not to mention two dishes, the Empress Dowager will give you a whole table of dishes."
Everyone in the palace laughed, and the princess blushed and stamped her feet in shame.
The Queen Mother covered her mouth with her hands, and still smiled, "According to the imperial physician, the pregnancy of Princess Rui is very safe. I see that the princess has a rosy complexion and is full of energy. I think there is nothing wrong with her diet. Mother can rest assured."
"As long as it is safe," said the Queen Mother.
When the empress took action, the second prince's mother said with a hint of sarcasm: "If there is anything wrong, I'm afraid that before we find out, Prince Rui will be more anxious than the empress dowager, just look."
Everyone looked over at her gesture and saw Prince Rui using a silver stick to pick up a small piece of the tribute melon and pass it to the princess' mouth. Judging from his skill, he must have done it more than once or twice.
No one paid attention before, and he fed it to Su Yi, and she opened her mouth and ate it. Now that so many people were watching, she felt that she was a princess after all, so it would be better to be reserved, so she resolutely did not open her mouth and shook her head.
Prince Rui passed it twice, and seeing that she did not take it, he had to take it back, looked around at everyone with an expressionless face, put it into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it.
"You, you..." Seeing this scene, the Queen Mother nodded at him, shaking her head and laughing. The others laughed too. Su Yi lowered her head shyly. For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace was harmonious.
On the right side, Concubine Li sat among the concubines, watching all this coldly.
Not long ago, she was the most favored concubine in the harem. Even the Queen had to politely call her sister. But in just a few months, the favors she had received in the past seemed to have become a joke.
His Majesty has not stayed in her palace for several months. You know, in the past, even if there were new people entering the palace, His Majesty would be greedy for novelty and favor them for a while. He would still go to her a few days in a month.
After more than ten years in the palace, Concubine Li has always been an evergreen in the harem. Even if new people stole the limelight for a while, no one could shake her position as the favorite concubine.
According to the previous trend, everyone thought that she would always be favored, including Concubine Li herself.
No one expected that the emperor's cold shoulder would come back so ruthlessly and abruptly.
Concubine Li couldn't figure it out. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out. She just made things difficult for Princess Rui verbally, how could His Majesty have the heart to treat her like this? Was the affection for many years all fake?
At first, when he didn't come, Concubine Li was full of anger and refused to bow her head. She would throw things or get angry at the servants in her own palace. When she was outside, she would still hold her head high and not allow anyone to ridicule her.
Later, as she accumulated grievances and resentment, she began to curse Princess Rui and even thought about getting rid of the baby in her belly to vent her anger.
If she was younger, she might have done it.
The reason she didn't do that was because His Majesty came to her palace again, but he was only here to see the little prince and princess and he didn't stay overnight.
Concubine Li then realized that His Majesty may not have had deep feelings for her, and now she still had to take care of her children, and could no longer do whatever she wanted like before.
But she had been proud for so many years, and now she had fallen to the point where she could only rely on her children like those old and ugly concubines to get His Majesty to look at her more. How could she be willing? How could she be willing? Concubine
Li had a cold expression on her face, but her eyes wanted to pierce out a needle and pierce directly at the Princess Rui who was the focus of everyone's attention, and her eyes stayed on that stunning face.
She always believed that in this world, when it comes to beauty, if she considers herself second, no one can be the first, until she met Princess Rui in the harem that day.
How much of the embarrassment she felt from the first meeting was because the other party had snatched her niece's marriage and caused her child to lose the powerful helper of Prince Rui, and how much was it because of that face that even she had to admire? Perhaps even Concubine Li herself didn't know.
Looking at Princess Rui at this moment, she had only one dark thought in her heart: His Majesty was protecting Prince Rui so much, was it really because of the brotherhood he had with the old Prince Rui, or was it that he also yearned for Emperor Xuanzong?
Su Yi didn't know how someone was secretly plotting against her, she just ate and watched the singing and dancing, occasionally turning her head to talk to Prince Rui.
As she was watching, a hand suddenly reached out from her waist, resting on her lower back and rubbing it gently. Prince Rui whispered in her ear, "Are you tired?"
This man had never understood anything about women's pregnancy before. When Su Yi was pregnant for one or two months, she pretended to have morning sickness, and the maids were very calm, patting her back and serving tea. Only Prince Rui was frightened, and his bronze skin looked a little pale. He immediately picked up the princess and put her on the bed, then ran out to fetch two imperial doctors from the palace.
He really fetched one in each hand, but fortunately the imperial doctors were knowledgeable and had seen a lot of things, so they were not frightened.
Even though they later learned that morning sickness was common and most pregnant women would experience it, every time Su Yi vomited, King Rui would bring the imperial physician over and insist that he come up with a prescription to prevent morning sickness.
Later, Su Yi thought that even if she didn't care about the increasingly thin nerves of the King Rui, she should also be sympathetic to the old bodies of the two doctors to see if they could withstand such torture. So her morning sickness was "cured without medicine", and the subsequent symptoms such as cramps and edema did not appear at all, so the doctors repeatedly said that her pregnancy was very good and very stable.
However, a few days ago, Qinglian came to talk to her. Her belly was seven months and it was a little difficult for her to walk. The King Rui accidentally saw that she was holding her lower back with her hands. She looked very uncomfortable whether she stood up or sat down. In the past few days, in addition to touching Su Yi's belly, he often put his hands on her lower back, as if if he didn't do this, his princess would be too tired to sit still.
"It's OK, I don't feel tired, just take care of yourself and don't get so close." Su Yi secretly pushed him.
Although she no longer cares about his excessive clinginess and doesn't blush because of it, after all, there are so many old-fashioned people watching, she thinks it's better for them to give others less stimulation. It's a pity
that the King of Rui listens to her most of the time, but only at this time, he pretends to be deaf and just rubs her waist.
Because of the large amplitude of the movement, Su Yi noticed that Princess An next to her looked over.
Since the last time she met Sun Shuli in Prince An's mansion, Princess An rarely invited her to her house, probably to avoid suspicion. However, when they met in the palace, she would still come over and talk to him gently, as if her cousin's husband had not been transferred to a remote place by the emperor because of Prince Rui.
At this time, Princess An's usually calm face showed a little surprise, her eyes stopped at the hand of Prince Rui rubbing the princess' waist, until she met Su Yi's eyes, she smiled subconsciously, then turned her head as if she had come to her senses, her expression was a little embarrassed and uncomfortable, as if she had accidentally discovered something private.
Su Yi had expected this to happen. To avoid being seen by more people, she pushed King Rui again, and said in a more serious tone, "Sit back on your side."
King Rui looked at her expression and then stepped back, but before he did, he stroked her abdomen.
In fact, Su Yi was a little slow to stop him. Even if other people couldn't see it because of the angle, the people at the top could see it clearly.
The Queen Mother was attracted by the opera and didn't pay attention to this. The Queen saw it, but except for a deeper smile on her lips, her expression didn't change at all. She just glanced and looked away.
The emperor accidentally watched the whole process, including his nephew who was eagerly sticking to the princess to rub her waist. He was pushed by the princess but still refused to leave. He thought he was very tough, but when Princess Rui pushed him a second time, his nephew observed the princess's face, then frightened and obediently withdrew his hand. On the way, he even touched the princess's belly reluctantly.
It was embarrassing.
The emperor drank a sip of wine and couldn't help reflecting. His nephew grew up by his side. Which step went wrong to raise such a little bastard?