"The Princess Consort has arrived!"
Upon hearing the maid's announcement, Yunyi and Li Wanrou rose and bowed to the Fujin.
"This humble servant greets Your Highness, may Your Highness be well!"
"No need for formalities, please rise."
The speaker had a clear and pleasant voice, and although he tried his best to lower his voice to appear solemn, it still carried a hint of naivety.
The princess consort said that there was no need for formalities, and Yunyi respectfully returned to her seat.
Li Wanrou was simple-minded and impatient. With a fawning expression, she eagerly said, "Your Highness is truly elegant and graceful. I feel quite ashamed of myself in comparison!"
Ulanara felt a little uncomfortable with these blunt words, and the maid beside her whispered a reminder: "Madam, this is Consort Li."
Knowing who this person was, she raised the corners of her mouth and said, "Princess Li is joking. You are also very beautiful."
Ulanara was right; although Li Wanrou wasn't very smart, she was indeed quite pretty.
If Yunyi is a woman of elegant and refined beauty, like a chrysanthemum, and the primary consort, Ulanara, has the dignified and graceful face of a proper wife, then Li Wanrou is the most beautiful of the three.
With her phoenix eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, and oval face, she had the typical features of a Han Chinese woman. Coupled with Li Wanrou's delicate voice, she was indeed a beauty at first glance. But after getting to know her better, you would realize that she was a pretty but clueless woman.
Sure enough, the room was now filled with Li Wanrou's flattering praises of the Fujin (wife of the deceased wife), and Yunyi didn't interrupt, letting her speak quietly with a faint smile.
After talking for a while, perhaps the Fujin (princess) couldn't keep up anymore, so she changed the subject.
Facing the two women below her, who were several years older than her, the Fujin maintained a composed demeanor and, as was customary, said the things a principal wife should say to a concubine.
Then Yunyi and Li Wanrou went forward to serve tea to the Fujin and perform the concubine etiquette.
Yunyi was relieved to see that the Fujin had drunk the tea containing the pregnancy pills.
After everything that needed to be said and done was done, the Fujin (principal wife) excused herself by saying she was tired and asked them to leave.
"This concubine takes her leave!" Yun Yi and Li Wanrou, knowing the situation, bowed and withdrew together.
Reaching the door, Li Wanrou glanced at Yun Yi haughtily, then tilted her head back and left first.
She went to great lengths to please the Fujin today, and it was clear that the Fujin treated her well. As for Song Shi, she was rather dull and didn't say much at all.
Finding it somewhat amusing and thinking her childish, Yunyi didn't take it to heart and headed towards her residence.
After seeing the two off, Ulanara went back to her room and removed the jewelry from her head. Wang Mama, who was standing to the side, hesitated to speak.
Seeing her like that out of the corner of her eye, Ulanara said, "Granny, just say what you have to say, don't hesitate."
“My lady, during the greetings just now, in my opinion, that Li woman is simple-minded and not to be feared, but that Song woman is clearly a scheming woman. No wonder she was able to give birth to your eldest son and daughter.”
Bang! Ulanara slammed the thing in her hand onto the table, her voice low and menacing.
“Granny, no matter how bad Song Shi is, she is still the birth mother of the eldest prince and the eldest princess, a concubine of the master, and a mistress. She is not someone a servant like you can talk about.”
When her usually gentle and kind master suddenly reprimanded her harshly, Wang Mama was stunned for a moment. After she came to her senses, she quickly knelt down to beg for forgiveness, but she still didn't take it seriously.
“The Lady is right to reprimand me; it was this old servant who overstepped the bounds.”
Seeing that Granny Wang seemed frightened, Ulanara softened her tone slightly.
"Granny, I told you many times back home that your mouth is the biggest source of trouble. I told you to talk less and do more, but why can't you remember!"
Taking a deep breath, Ulanara explained in a low voice.
“It was fine when you were at home. If you did something wrong, I could protect you. Now that I’ve married into the royal family and am a prince’s wife, and I live in the palace, every move I make is being watched. As my nanny, you are under the same scrutiny.”
As she spoke, she helped Granny Wang up and earnestly advised her, "If one day you continue to speak so recklessly and disrespectfully, and are caught doing something wrong, I will not be able to protect you."
"Yes, yes, what the princess said is wrong. This old servant was wrong."
Seeing that Granny Wang had realized her mistake, Ulanara, understanding that she was her wet nurse, couldn't bear to be harsh with her. She gave her a few more words of advice, and the matter was thus gently dropped.
With the primary consort entering the household, the emperor's power naturally fell to Ulanara, the rightful mistress of the house.
Granny Zhou didn't make things difficult. After the two princesses went to pay their respects in the morning, she came to the main courtyard in the afternoon with account books and the keys to the storeroom.
After the handover went smoothly, Granny Zhou followed the Fujin (the wife of the emperor) for a few days before being completely relieved of her duties, only needing to manage Yinzhen's front courtyard.
During the Lunar New Year, Yinzhen took his wife to attend the New Year's Eve banquet. The two princesses, Yunyi and Li Wanrou, ate the so-called family banquet hastily with their respective children and then returned to their rooms.
After the New Year, Yunyi took the Dragon and Phoenix Pills she had bought earlier.
In February, news of Song Gege's pregnancy spread throughout the backyard.
When the primary wife, Ulanara, first heard the news, she was stunned for a moment, but then she returned to normal. She displayed the demeanor of a principal wife and repeatedly ordered the servants to send things to Song Gege.
Li Wanrou was not so calm when she heard the news. At this moment, she was holding her child, and because she was a little emotional, she tightened her grip a little.
The second princess, Qibuchen, was held too tightly, and she cried loudly because she felt uncomfortable.
Awakened by the crying, Li Wanrou quickly loosened her grip, hugged her daughter, and whispered soothing words, but her heart felt as if she had fallen into a vat of vinegar, feeling particularly sour.
This Song woman is so lucky! She just gave birth to twins, and now, less than a year or two later, she's pregnant again.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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