...
No matter how turbulent the situation outside the palace, or how fierce the war between the corpses and humans was, Mu Run stayed in the palace to rest and prepare for childbirth, remaining unaffected.
Fu Yunchen protected the palace like an iron barrel, completely impenetrable, preventing any outside intrusion.
But this also exposed his weakness: the empress who was about to give birth in the palace.
Mu Run flipped through the tea ledger. This year's tea harvest was another great success. After she had processed several batches of raw tea, Fu Yunchen forcibly sent her back to the palace to rest and recuperate, fearing that something might go wrong.
But the more careful and cautious he was, the more Mu Run could imagine how tense the situation outside was.
Later, she forced Hongmi to ask, and only then did she learn the truth: it turned out that the Corpse King's Crown Prince had begun attacking Chongming Kingdom and had already captured two cities. Although those two cities originally belonged to the Northern Jin Dynasty, they were still considered invasions by Fu Yunchen.
The delicate peace that had been maintained between the two countries has been completely shattered.
Fu Yunchen summoned the wandering corpse General Feixue, which stopped the Corpse King's attack. However, while the attack was outwardly halted, the Corpse King's prince secretly spread the seeds of corpse people throughout Chongming Kingdom, infecting the people...
Corpses have also appeared in the capital. Although they were removed in time, they added another layer of protection to the already fortified palace.
Mu Run held her belly, which was already as big as a basketball. Just by looking at it, you could see the baby moving inside.
Every time Fu Yunchen returned to the palace, he would come to see her and the child. After confirming that everything was alright, he would rush off to attend to state affairs.
This made Mu Run feel that she had failed in her duty as empress.
However, this was originally her condition for becoming empress; she was merely sitting on the dragon throne in his place, while he handled all the affairs of state.
Moreover, no minister in the court truly treated her as an empress and discussed state affairs with her.
“After my title of Empress, there should be another parenthesis—Empress. Although I’m called Empress, I’m more like an Empress.” Mu Run held a banana leaf fan in her hand and leisurely waved it. “That way, I can lie here and wait for childbirth with a clear conscience.”
Hongmi laughed and said, "Shouldn't we add a 'name' after 'Prime Minister' as well?"
He was called a powerful minister, but in reality, he was the emperor.
Mu Run nodded. "We can add another identity to the one in parentheses: Emperor and Imperial Consort."
"Haha," Redmi Le exclaimed, "That's right, that's right."
Huanhuan and Tuantuan ran and jumped into the hall.
"You two little devils, be careful!" Hongmi quickly stopped the two little ones to prevent them from bumping into Murun.
Mu Run said, "It's nothing."
Huanhuan broke free from Hongmi's obstruction, stretched out her little arms and fluttered to Murun's legs. Looking at her big belly, she said in a childish voice, "Mom, I don't want to go to Yunlong Mountain."
"Yunlong Mountain?" Mu Run asked in surprise, looking up at Hongmi.
Hongmi replied, "I haven't told my sister-in-law about this yet. It was the Black Witch King's idea. He said that my sister-in-law is about to give birth, and that we had previously agreed that she would go to him to study for two months every year. The time has come."
"Mother, I don't want to go either." Tuantuan has absolutely no interest in witchcraft now, so she doesn't want to go at all.
However, Mu Run had promised Long Qian, and since he had brought it up, he had to keep his word.
Although she was also reluctant to let the two children leave her at this time, she said, "I promised, so I have to keep my word. You two should study witchcraft well with your uncle... Oh, and there's an aunt over there too. Go and meet her; you might really like her."
Yun Ruji suffered some loss in cultivation while helping Long Qian evolve, and has been recuperating at Yunlong Mountain. However, she also sent a congratulatory gift: a life-saving elixir.
It was tantamount to giving her a life.
Huanhuan and Tuantuan were still taken away by Ziwu.
Before leaving, Ziwu found Hongmi when no one was looking.
He handed her a plain black jade pendant. "This is... something I've worn since I was little. If you can accept not having children for the rest of your life, then marry me."
Hongmi looked at him in surprise, unsure how to react for a moment.
Every second felt like an eternity. Seeing that she didn't react, his heart sank deeper and deeper. Finally, he could barely lift the hand holding the jade pendant. "I...I understand."
After saying this, he was about to take back the jade pendant.
But the moment he withdrew his hand, the jade pendant was snatched away. "What do you know?"
Hongmi chuckled, examining the jade pendant she had snatched. The more she looked at it, the more she liked it. "You're not me, how would you know what I'm thinking?"
Zi Wu froze, staring at his empty hands...
"I can only say that we are a perfect match. Do you know why I never accept men's advances? It's because I was born with a disability and don't have a uterus to carry a child."
"What?!" Zi Wu thought he was hallucinating.
Hongmi hung the jade pendant around her neck. "When you come back from Yunlong Mountain, we'll get married. If you want children, we can adopt a few, a dozen or so, I have enough savings anyway."
Ziwu stepped forward and suddenly pulled Hongmi into his arms, his slightly trembling lips buried in her neck, "...I'll do whatever you say."
Hongmi patted his back and coughed softly, saying, "Be gentle, be gentle, you're going to strangle me."
...
Looking at the sky outside, Mu Run felt like she was melting from the heat. "It's like the autumn heatwave; I really want some ice water."
"We don't have ice water, but we do have ice bowls. Would you like some?" Madam Cai brought over a bowl of fresh fruit chilled with crushed ice.
With her large pregnant belly supported by one hand, Mu Run walked eagerly toward Cai Shi, saying, "I want it, I absolutely have to, I'm melting with desire."
"But you can't eat too much, just this one bowl." Madam Cai took a fan and fanned Mu Run to cool him down.
Mu Run took a bite of the icy peach, then a bite of crushed ice, and felt refreshed all over. "That was wonderful!"
"Giving birth at this time is truly agonizing," said Madam Cai, looking at the sky outside. Mu Run was due to give birth in the next few days. After the baby was born, there were many taboos against exposure to wind and cold. If the weather remained this hot, it would be unbearable.
Mu Run replied, "Who says otherwise? It's already the beginning of autumn, and it's still so hot."
Fu Yunchen had just finished showering and his hair was still wet when he came to see Mu Run.
Seeing that she was eating an ice bowl, I took it from her hand and took a bite. "Not bad, give me one too."
Lady Cai put down her fan, smiled, and withdrew.
Mu Run looked at him, "Why did you suddenly come back?"
Fu Yunchen said, "You're about to give birth. I wasn't there last time, so I'll be there to watch over you this time."
"What's there to guard? With Sister Cai here, she helps me with the births. But what's the situation in Wu?" Mu Run asked.
Fu Yunchen thought for a moment and then told her to avoid her overthinking, "The zombies are nocturnal. They don't move during the day because it's hot. They only move at night. But recently, because of the hot weather, they only harass the border in small groups at night, which is easy to wipe out."
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