That night, the Fourth Prince worked very hard on his physical labor. Lanqin tried her best to get rid of the slight displeasure in her heart and enjoy the pleasure of love with the Fourth Prince as usual, but she failed. There was a voice in her heart saying: You are just like other women, a tool to bear children for the Fourth Prince. Whether you like it or not, your value is reflected in whether you give birth to a prince.
Looking at the Fourth Prince sleeping soundly beside her, Lanqin experienced insomnia for the first time.
The candlelight flickered outside the bridal tent. Lanqin looked at the extremely handsome man sleeping beside her and realized that he actually resembled Consort De more than the Fourteenth Prince, yet he still couldn't receive heartfelt love from his biological mother, which was truly pitiful.
Today, he still wanted to fulfill Consort De's words, so he came to my place to spend the night first. His purpose was to both satisfy Consort De's wishes and protect himself, so that I could get pregnant as soon as possible, maintain my current status, and avoid giving others any reason to criticize me.
Master, Lanqin desires a child born from a love that is free from oppression and without any ulterior motives, solely out of deep affection for you. Do you understand?
The next day, the Fourth Prince got up at dawn as usual. After returning to the front courtyard, he read the notices from the mansion for a while. He had breakfast with Su Peisheng's help, gave some instructions on taking care of the First Prince, the Third Prince, and the group of bead-making masters led by Master Zhu, and then hurriedly took a sedan chair to the palace.
When Lanqin woke up, Nianxue helped her change her clothes and noticed that Lanqin was still looking sullen. She couldn't help but ask, "Princess, I noticed that you've been in a bad mood ever since you came back from the palace yesterday. Didn't the master come over last night?"
Yes, Fourth Master still came over, which shows that I am still the most important person in his heart!
From Nianxue's perspective, it was perfectly understandable for Consort De to urge her to have an heir. In this era, from the imperial family to ordinary people, it was perfectly normal for a mother-in-law to scold her daughters-in-law. Moreover, the master had come to stay overnight, which was an attempt to comfort the princess! So why was the princess still not very happy?
"Nianxue, does a woman have to give birth?" Lanqin suddenly asked, staring into Nianxue's eyes.
Well, Lin Mengyao's feminist ideas have now won over Lan Qin's mind. She was too naive before. Consort De's words really provoked her!
Nianxue looked at Lanqin with the eyes of someone looking at a monster, and asked in surprise, "If a woman doesn't give birth, can she still be called a woman?"
Lanqin frowned slightly and continued, "But if a woman isn't ready, but is forced to have a child for some reason, is that alright?" Actually, Lanqin didn't not want to have children; she just didn't want to do it at the behest of Consort De, even though Consort De was one of Kangxi's four consorts and held a high position in the palace. In Lanqin's eyes, Consort De was like her mother-in-law. Now, she felt pressured by her mother-in-law, and that made her uneasy.
So what if I'm being dramatic? I'll just be a little dramatic, so what!
Seeing Nianxue's bewildered expression, Lanqin waved her hand, telling her to continue changing and not to answer her strange questions anymore.
On this day, our Comrade Lanqin held Fubao and swung her around on the swings for a while, and played a little game of chasing each other for a while, but she just wasn't very happy.
"What's wrong with the princess today?" Xicha asked after seeing Nianxue finish making the princess's bed, as she was dusting the room with a feather duster.
“Gege just asked me, ‘Can a woman not have children?’” Nianxue seemed to still be in shock from those words.
“Ah, don’t all women have to give birth, unless they can’t have children themselves?” Xicha said.
The two maids were whispering and gossiping about Lanqin's words in the room, just like they had been in the days after she first arrived.
Lanqin looked up and saw the patch of sky above the courtyard wall. Suddenly, she felt like the frog in the well, thinking she was enjoying the most comfortable life in the world, but she was just a plaything imprisoned in this small world, subject to everyone's whims.
Emperor Qianlong was born in the 50th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, which is still seven years away. Good heavens! If I don't have a child in these seven years, will I still retain the Fourth Prince's favor? I doubt Consort De would tolerate a favored concubine who doesn't bear children. Qianlong doesn't seem to have any brothers, so if I have children now, they'll probably all be princesses! Lanqin couldn't help but think of Holland. The Holland of the past would never have spoken to her like that. Even Holland herself was restless and anxious about having an heir, while she had been foolish enough to think the Fourth Prince would continue to favor her like this.
Damn, people in ancient times really started having children at thirteen or fourteen! Lanqin isn't even fourteen yet!! She looked at her not-so-impressive cleavage; it was barely budding. Every time Fourth Master brutally tormented her like a beast, Lanqin silently cried out in her heart that she couldn't take it anymore!
"What are you thinking about, little sister? You were so lost in thought that you didn't even notice me coming closer?" Madam Geng gently raised her handkerchief and waved it in front of Lanqin's eyes a few times.
"Sister is here, please sit down." Lanqin immediately gestured for Geng Shi to sit on the stone bench next to the swing.
"I saw you staring blankly at something just now," Geng said with a half-smile.
"I'm thinking about having children, sister. Is having children really that scary?" Lanqin couldn't help but confide in someone.
"Is my sister pregnant?" Madam Geng glanced at Lanqin's abdomen in surprise, her expression changing instantly.
"No, I was just asking my sister. Sigh, my sister has never given birth either, so it's pointless for me to ask you," Lanqin said with a smile.
“Although I have never given birth, I have seen my sister give birth when I was at home. To say that childbirth is like a woman walking through the gates of hell, it’s no exaggeration.” Geng Shi’s eyes were full of doubt as she spoke, digesting the meaning of Lan Qin’s words.
"Alas, it's just that modern midwifery standards are too low. I'm afraid that after many women go through the pain, it's difficult for both mother and child to survive," Lanqin murmured to herself.
"What did you say? Little sister, are you really pregnant? Why are you hiding it from your older sister?" Madam Geng looked at Lanqin's abdomen again and again with suspicion.
"Sister, I'm really not pregnant, I'm just a little curious about it." Lanqin wanted to convey Consort De's message, but for some reason, she couldn't say it.
"I said it was only a matter of time before my sister was born. The master's favor towards her is unparalleled in this entire household," said Madam Geng with a smile, waving her hexagonal silk fan. But in her heart, she was thinking that with Lanqin's current favor, if she were to have another child, she might be promoted to a secondary consort.
"Sister, tell me about your sister's childbirth experience!" Lanqin couldn't keep anything to herself. It was just a pity that there were no computers now, otherwise she could search online and even watch videos. But unfortunately, she had transmigrated to the Qing Dynasty, a time without electricity, internet, or computers, so she had to rely on her own two lips to ask.
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