Yun Chaoxi gently stroked her flat stomach. After receiving an affirmative answer, she slowly revealed a gentle smile. "Your Majesty, I will definitely love this child well, just like Father, Mother and brothers loved me at home."
Chu Xiao imagined the scene, and a surge of emotion welled up in his heart. He hugged Yun Chaoxi tighter.
He suddenly thought of the remaining half of the people in the harem. "There are still too many people in the palace. You are pregnant and need to go out for walks more often. If you happen to bump into someone who doesn't know their place and get angry or hurt, it will not be good for you and the baby. I will draft an edict to move the rest of the people to another residence."
He had originally planned to move everyone out of the palace, and now the timing was perfect.
Yun Chaoxi raised her head, rested her chin on his chest, and secretly glanced at him, "So, Your Majesty, from now on, I'll be all alone?"
"Didn't I already say that I only have you!"
Yun Chaoxi immediately buried her head in Chu Xiao's arms, her voice muffled by his chest, "I thought Your Majesty was just trying to coax me. Besides, it will be a long time before I can serve Your Majesty. Won't Your Majesty be tempted?"
Chu Xiao narrowed his eyes dangerously. "When have I ever lied? I only desire you. It's alright if it's inconvenient for you to serve me in bed; I have other ways."
Chu Xiao's words were loaded with meaning.
Yun Chaoxi immediately thought of the night they first met, when Chu Xiao coaxed her to get used to things first, and her face instantly turned red.
The conversation couldn't go on any longer; Yun Chaoxi was afraid she would lose control of the situation if she continued. She tugged at the emperor's sleeve, "Your Majesty, I'm hungry."
Chu Xiao then remembered that the concubine hadn't eaten much at the banquet before running out. Now that so much time had passed, she must be starving. He quickly ordered the palace servants, "Someone, prepare the meal."
...
The news of Consort Xian's false pregnancy being exposed and Yun Chaoxi's pregnancy spread throughout the palace in an instant. The concubines who remained in the palace sighed that Yun Chaoxi was lucky. They no longer sought any favor from the emperor, but only hoped to stay in the palace and not be driven out like the others.
Only two people in the entire palace were filled with jealousy and resentment: one was the virtuous concubine in the cold palace, and the other was Consort Li, who had been demoted from the rank of concubine to beauty.
Two months ago, Consort Li suffered a serious knee injury after kneeling on broken porcelain shards, and could only rest in bed. Therefore, she was not among the concubines who were moved out more than a month ago.
Upon learning of Yun Chaoxi's pregnancy, Consort Li began plotting revenge. She knew she couldn't act alone; as a mere concubine, she would only suffer at the hands of the Imperial Concubine. With more than half of the palace's concubines gone, those remaining were mostly timid and dull-witted, too afraid to oppose Yun Chaoxi.
Just as Consort Li was racking her brains, her maid rushed in, shouting, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened!"
"What's wrong? I'm perfectly fine!"
"No, it's an imperial decree that all the remaining concubines in the palace must move to another residence, supposedly for the safety of the imperial heirs! Perhaps the only one left in the entire palace is that deposed Consort in the Cold Palace!"
"What?!" Consort Li was dumbfounded. She thought she was lucky enough to stay in the palace forever, but she never expected that she would have to go to another residence in the end!
At this moment, Consort Li even considered going to the Cold Palace to be with the deposed Consort Xian, hoping that at least she could find a way to see the Emperor while still in the palace. The Emperor almost never went to the villa; going there meant never seeing him again in this lifetime!
Before Consort Li could come up with any brilliant idea to get revenge on Yun Chaoxi, she was packed up and sent out of the palace overnight.
Li Meiren, "..."
With all the concubines gone, the entire harem became quiet. Chu Xiao thought of the remaining danger in the Cold Palace and was trying to find a reason to get rid of the deposed Consort Xian, lest she escape from the Cold Palace one day and harm Xi'er.
If only he had just ordered her execution that day, it would have been a pity that Consort Xian's old fox father was shrewd and had a high-ranking official position, and was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. Chu Xiao had no choice but to give this old scoundrel some face and spare Consort Xian's life.
Chu Xiao was well aware that the Minister of Revenue had embezzled a lot of money over the years, but he couldn't find a reason to punish him for the time being.
Just as I was thinking about it, the reason came to me.
Prime Minister Yun submitted a memorial impeaching the Minister of Revenue, accusing him of abusing his position to seize fertile land from the people, forcing several families to lose their livelihoods and, in despair and hunger, drowning themselves in a lake.
As soon as Prime Minister Yun stepped forward, his faction followed suit, and all the major and minor deeds of the Minister of Revenue were brought to the table.
This pleased Chu Xiao greatly, so he took the opportunity to remove the Minister of Revenue from his post, imprisoned the entire family, and sent someone to deliver a cup of poisoned wine to the Consort Xian in the Cold Palace.
Prime Minister Yun, who had accomplished all of this, kept his achievements and fame hidden.
Now, only Chu Xiao, Yun Chaoxi, the Empress Dowager, and a few concubines in the secluded palace remained in the entire palace, and everyone in the palace seemed to have become more relaxed.
The Empress Dowager didn't feel lonely at all. She didn't like crowds anyway, and now that Yun Chaoxi was pregnant, she focused all her attention on Yun Chaoxi.
Every day, he would inquire about Yun Chaoxi's medical records and her daily meals, showing even more care than he had for Consort Xian's previous pregnancy.
Chu Xiao would inquire about her every day. In addition, he was always worried about this and that. Sometimes he worried that Yun Chaoxi was not eating enough, so he tried all sorts of ways to coax her to eat. Other times he was worried that her clothes were not soft enough and would rub against her skin, so he had someone go to the storeroom to find soft silk from Jiangnan to make her an undergarment.
Yun Chaoxi found it somewhat amusing; was this person treating her like a porcelain doll?
With fewer people and less work in the palace, Yun Chaoxi had fewer things to worry about, so she handed over most of the palace affairs to Zhu'er and was happy to have some free time.
Yunlang's letter was sent to the palace not long after.
The letter said that he secretly investigated Lin Zhirou and found that Lin Zhirou went to a pharmacy to buy medicine one day. When he went in and asked, he was shocked to find that she had bought abortion pills!
Yun Lang immediately guessed that this was Chu Yansheng's child. Chu Yansheng was dead, and Lin Zhirou was busy secretly aborting the child in her womb, pretending that nothing had happened!
Of course, he couldn't let Lin Zhirou have her way, so he immediately bribed a beggar to come to Lin's father's door and tell him that his precious daughter was pregnant with the child of a traitor, and also had the news spread throughout the capital.
Seeing that the matter had become public knowledge, the Lin family felt ashamed and feared that the child would bring disaster to the Lin family. So they forcibly removed the child from Lin Zhirou's womb and sent her to a nunnery to fend for herself.
Just a few days later, Lin Zhirou suddenly disappeared from the nunnery one night!
In his letter, Yun Lang stated that he would continue searching for Lin Zhirou's whereabouts.
Yun Chaoxi finished reading the letter and put it away.
I never expected Lin Zhirou to be so hard to kill. Even after being sent to a nunnery, she managed to escape all by herself. No wonder she was able to come up with so many ideas for Chu Yansheng in her previous life, and that Chu Yansheng revered her as a goddess.
Remembering there was a map in the small space, Yun Chaoxi took it out and silently recited Lin Zhirou's name in her mind. Soon, a dot appeared on the map.
The place they were in was none other than the palace!
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