"Niannian." Su Wanting sat on the small couch in the room, her face somewhat pale. "What's wrong with me?"
Xu Nian observed for a while, then looked at Cui Qing, whose eyes were full of concern, and asked, "Has His Highness the Crown Prince not returned yet?"
The people inside the room didn't understand why she asked that, but Cuiqing still bowed and said, "I've already sent someone to invite them, and they should arrive soon."
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince says there are urgent matters to attend to in the palace, and he may not be back for a while." Just then, someone rushed in from outside the door.
After an announcement, the white-bearded old man entered, led by him.
Qiao Nianbai recognized the official robes the man was wearing; he was an imperial physician who treated the Empress and His Majesty.
Sure enough, the man first bowed and said, "Your Highness, I have come to examine your pulse on His Highness's orders." After introducing himself, he placed his medicine box aside.
Xu Nian got up to make room for him, sat down next to Su Wanting, and patted her shoulder, "It's okay."
Su Wanting believed her, but a sense of unease lingered in her heart. Although the pain in her abdomen had subsided, she really didn't want to recall that feeling.
After a while, the imperial physician stood up with a joyful expression. "Congratulations, Crown Princess, you are pregnant."
Apart from Xu Nian, everyone in the room was utterly shocked.
It was Cuiqing who reacted first, ordering someone to give the imperial physician a reward and asking him many questions about precautions.
Although Su Wanting did not miscarry due to the recent fright, her pregnancy was unstable, and the imperial physician prescribed several remedies to calm her nerves and nourish the fetus.
He left the Crown Prince's residence amidst Cuiqing's admonition not to spread the word.
Did the host already know?
[Wow, it's amazing! Pulse diagnosis really can detect pregnancy. Why?]
Xu Nian didn't have time to read the comments at this moment. Amidst the jubilation, she held Su Wanting's hand, who was clearly still reeling from the overwhelming joy.
Suddenly recalling the thrilling scene from just now, I still feel lingering fear.
Before Xu Nian could speak, he grabbed her arm. "Niannian, we really owe you a lot just now. If it weren't for you, this child and I might not be alive now."
“We don’t need to say these things between us. If you really want to say that, then this whole thing happened because I took you out, and I should be the one apologizing.”
No, no, no.
Su Wanting hurriedly shook her head; the usually eloquent person was now unable to even form a complete sentence.
Xu Nian couldn't help but chuckle, pressing her friend's head down. "Just kidding. You should focus on your pregnancy now. After the baby is born, I'll get him a longevity lock."
After staying at the Crown Prince's residence for a while, a maid came to report that the general had returned home.
She got up to say goodbye to Su Wanting, without needing anyone to see her off. She left the Crown Prince's residence and took a carriage home.
"Guess who we ran into outside today?"
As soon as they entered the courtyard, Xu Nian threw herself into Gu Zhan's arms in full view of everyone. The two embraced and went into the house. How could anyone who had just returned from the palace not know about their heroic act with An Qing?
But she still cooperated, showing a puzzled and curious expression.
Someone sat on his lap in a good mood, "I really didn't expect it to be the Fourth Prince. I thought he was the Crown Prince who was being dishonest and had come out to find a mistress."
She was even considering whether to cover Wan Ting's eyes and beat her up.
Thankfully, I didn't act impulsively, otherwise it would have been a huge blunder.
Gu Zhan chuckled and shook his head, tapping his wife's nose. "You. But the Fourth Prince hasn't done anything good since he came back. His Majesty and the Empress are still arguing in the palace."
Hearing this, Xu Nian remembered to ask, "Oh right, I forgot to ask. Did you see the Crown Prince when you came back? Wan Ting is pregnant, and the manor sent people to invite him, but they only managed to bring back an imperial physician."
The general's eyes widened slightly, but his gaze involuntarily fell on Xu Nian's stomach.
Someone saw this, and remembering their own identity, could only pretend not to know. They gave him a urging push on the shoulder, making a move to get up from Gu Zhan.
"Don't move." The general wouldn't let her have her way. "It seems the Crown Prince won't be able to return. Something happened to the Fourth Prince."
"No way, didn't he just get back? What could have happened?"
[It's not like the young lady he brought wasn't a bodyguard but an assassin for the emperor, is it?]
Xu Nian was also puzzled. Her son, who had been wandering for years, was returning home. The emperor and empress should be happy, and with Su Wanting pregnant, it should be a double celebration.
Pulling her back to his side, Gu Zhan played with his wife's long hair. "The Fourth Prince brought back a woman. In front of everyone, he announced that he would marry her as his princess consort and break off his engagement with Princess Fukang. The Emperor is furious and has made him kneel as punishment."
...
There are so many flaws that I don't even know where to begin.
"Princess Fukang is actually engaged to the Fourth Prince?!" After thinking for a long time, she finally grasped an important piece of information.
In ancient times, there was indeed no such thing as close or distant relatives.
As long as they're not biological siblings, it doesn't matter if they're cousins.
When Xu Nian saw that woman from the martial arts world today, she felt something was off. If he were a bodyguard, the Fourth Prince would be far too attentive to her. On the other hand, the woman kept a cold face the whole time and didn't give anyone a kind look.
"So, the stories of princes and commoner girls in those novels can actually come true," Xu Nian murmured.
Gu Zhan picked her up and placed her on the bed. "If she were just a commoner, it would be fine. She would be ordinary and there would be nothing to criticize. But this person is clearly used to fighting and killing in the martial world. Even if His Majesty agrees, those ministers will not."
"what you do?"
As her clothes were slowly removed, Xu Nian finally came to her senses.
She pressed down on her husband's shoulder, "Gu Zhan, let me tell you. Practicing lewdness in broad daylight is an insult to civility. The sun is still high in the sky outside."
He mumbled incoherent replies to the young lady's words, but his hands moved with perfect precision. Liu Yun directed the maids to leave, and the door closed tightly.
Soon after, sounds that made one blush and their heart race came from inside.
Inside the palace, just as Gu Zhan had predicted.
The fourth prince knelt in the main hall of the empress's palace, while the woman had already been taken to a side room.
The crown prince stood next to his younger brother, his expression of disappointment never wavering, pacing back and forth in anger.
"Brother, don't go. My eyes are starting to blur."
Jiang Yuanmo's words drew two angry glares. An Qing couldn't sit still any longer, glancing at his parents who were still in the palace, "Are you seeing things?! Your father and mother are the ones who are really going to be so angry they'll get dizzy and their eyes will go blurry!"
"Look at you, not coming home for a year or two. And now that you've finally come back, you cause this mess. What's wrong with Fukang? She's beautiful and has a good personality. How good your aunt was to us when she was alive, why can't you get over it?!"
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