Doctor Mao was soon summoned to Xihe Palace, but Zhuang Yuyan was still a little surprised when he diagnosed that the baby was pregnant.

"Are you sure?" Zhuang Yuyan withdrew her hand, looked at Doctor Mao's wrinkled face, took the honey tea brought by Ting Zhu and drank it slowly, "I hope Doctor Mao won't make any mistakes this time."

When Doctor Mao heard this, he shuddered at his heart, as if his whole body had fallen into an ice cave. This Concubine Zhao actually knew that the slippery pulse she found last time was a misdiagnosis. Thinking about how much status Concubine Zhao had achieved since she pretended to have a miscarriage, Doctor Mao felt like he was suffocating. This was an extremely aggressive and powerful person. The most terrifying thing was that such a terrifying woman was only beautiful in the eyes of others, which showed how deep her mind was.

Zhuang Yuyan smiled as she looked at the sweat on Doctor Mao's face. "It seems that the weather is a little hot today. Doctor Mao is old now. He has worked hard for so many masters in the palace over the years. I heard that your grandson is quite accomplished in medicine. If he can enter the Imperial Hospital to inherit your legacy, the Mao family will be considered a family of medical renown."

Don’t be fooled by the fact that in novels, any capable doctor doesn’t like to work in the Imperial Hospital, and those who stay in the Imperial Hospital are all good-for-nothings. In reality, it is quite the opposite of the novel. Don’t you see that any institution with a national name attached will make people feel more high-end and grand?

Therefore, being able to enter the Imperial Medical College was a recognition of one's medical skills, because the imperial doctors and female doctors in the Imperial Medical College all served the royal family and high-ranking officials. To enter the Imperial Medical College, one had to pass five tests, in terms of medical skills, clean family background, and moral conduct. As the saying goes, a doctor is a doctor of life, so which ruling class dares to joke with their own lives?

Doctor Mao's heart trembled, and he understood what Concubine Zhao meant. He immediately kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Putting down the jade lotus leaf teacup, Zhuang Yuyan smiled, "I am only a concubine, how can I deserve the word grace? Imperial Doctor Mao is too kind."

Doctor Mao looked up at Zhuang Yuyan and kowtowed again: "I am sorry for what I said."

"You don't have to be like this," Zhuang Yuyan looked at Doctor Mao's graying beard and waved her hand, "Go away. You can take my pulse properly in the future."

Imperial Physician Mao knew that Concubine Zhao wanted him to devote all his energy to protecting the baby in her belly. The current situation did not allow her to think too much, so he bowed deeply and retreated.

Seeing Doctor Mao leave, Ting Zhu said with some concern: "Master, the pulse is only more than a month old now, and the fetus is not stable yet. Should we hide it a little? I am worried..."

"What's the point of covering it up?" Zhuang Yuyan stood up nonchalantly. "It's not like there haven't been precedents. What will be the end result of covering it up?"

Looking down at her flat belly, she was just going to take a big gamble, betting that the emperor really wanted this child, that Emperor Chengxuan was not a tyrant controlled by the harem, and if he really wanted a woman to have both mother and child, there wouldn't be so many accidents, unless her body was really not doing well.

I opened the window and looked towards the palace where the emperor lived. I wondered how the emperor would react when he knew that I had honestly reported that I was pregnant.

The emperor's palace was never short of luxury and grandeur. The Empress and Consort Shugui, who had just been summoned to accompany the emperor and listen to music, each posed calmly, looking at the graceful singer with indifferent expressions, occasionally saying some compliments.

Feng Jin held the teacup in his hand, listening to Concubine Shu Gui's praise of the singer with a half-smile, and only spoke after the song ended: "The voice is nice, but it's a pity that it still lacks some charm. What a pity."

"Your Majesty has heard the wonderful voice of Concubine Rou, so you naturally feel that others are always lacking some charm," the Queen glanced at Concubine Shu Gui and said with admiration, "I have been in the palace for many years, and I have never heard a voice more beautiful than Concubine Rou's."

Concubine Shu Gui showed her approval, but she was a little sarcastic in her heart. Since she entered the palace, she had seen the empress always act in such a generous manner. It was a pity that the emperor never treated her coldly, and respected her more than loved her. Even though she was in a high position, she was still a pitiful woman.

Holding up the exquisite teacup in front of her, Concubine Shugui smiled faintly. It didn't matter if she held the most honorable position among women in the world. The empress would never be able to enjoy the favor she had in her lifetime.

Feng Jin was listening lazily to the empress's words. Just as he was about to say a few words, he saw a eunuch at the door saying something with a happy face to Gao Dezhong who was guarding the door. He seemed to be a palace attendant of Xihe Palace.

He waved his hand, asking all the waiters who were playing musical instruments to stop, and said, "Gao Dezhong, let him come in and answer the call."

After the eunuch knelt in front of him, Feng Jin remembered that this eunuch was a more useful eunuch in Concubine Zhao's palace. Seeing his happy face, Feng Jin felt a little curious.

"I have seen the emperor, and I have come to report the good news to him." The eunuch knelt down in an orderly manner, not showing any sign of confusion because of the good news.

Feng Jin's eyebrows twitched, and he sat up straight involuntarily, but his expression did not change: "My beloved concubine, do you have any good news to tell me?"

Concubine Shugui's hand holding the teacup had already froze. She thought of a possibility that she didn't want to see. She glanced at the Empress out of the corner of her eye and saw that her magnanimity seemed a little forced.

"Your Majesty, the imperial physician just examined the Empress and said that Concubine Zhao is more than a month pregnant."

As expected, Concubine Shugui felt a little bitter. Although she did not admit that Concubine Zhao was more favored than her, she had to admit that Concubine Zhao was really lucky.

"Is Concubine Zhao pregnant?!" The emperor leaned forward from his upright position, a smile on his face, "Did Concubine Zhao ask you to come?"

"When the queen heard that she was pregnant, she cried with joy and asked me to report it to the emperor," the eunuch could not hide the joy on his face. "If it weren't for the two aunts, I'm afraid the master would have come to see the emperor in person."

When Concubine Shu Gui heard what the eunuch of Xihe Palace said, she couldn't help but feel unhappy. This was too frivolous. Could it be that Concubine Zhao was the only one in the harem who had a child? However, I don't know if Concubine Zhao was too happy or what, she was so eager to let the whole harem know that she was pregnant. Isn't this waiting to make the concubines in the harem jealous?

It turns out that the word "getting carried away by success" can be used by anyone.

If it was anyone else, Feng Jin might have guessed the same as her, but the one who did this was Concubine Zhao, and he understood in his heart why Concubine Zhao was so happy.

Concubine Zhao had truly fallen in love with him, which was why she was so sad after the miscarriage. Getting pregnant again gave her hope, and even made her forget the dangers of the harem. She only wanted to let him know that they had another child.

Just when the Empress and Concubine Shugui thought that the Emperor would say words of reward, they saw the Emperor stand up and stride out of the palace.

"Farewell, Your Majesty." The Empress and Consort Shugui knelt down and watched the Emperor's back quickly disappear behind the palace gate, with mixed feelings in their hearts.

The hall suddenly became silent. Apart from the palace maids kneeling quietly on one side, the only people left standing in the hall were the empress and Consort Shugui.

The empress walked towards the palace gate. When she heard Concubine Shugui's gentle farewell, she couldn't help but turn around to look at Concubine Shugui who was lowering her head and looking obedient. It was not until Concubine Shugui's bent knees began to tremble that she spoke: "You are not the only one who understands the harem. You think you see through others, but who knows that they also see through you." After saying this, the empress held the hand of a palace maid and walked out of the emperor's palace with the empress's dignity.

As long as she was the empress, she was the emperor's wife, the legitimate empress of Emperor Chengxuan of the Jiuzhou Dynasty. No matter how favored the concubine was, she was just the emperor's plaything. Even in future history books, her name would be written above these women, and no one could surpass her.

Concubine Shugui stood up straight, her face looking a little gloomy, but she glanced at the palace servants around her who belonged to Yu Qian, then followed him out without changing her expression.

When Feng Jin rushed to Xihe Palace, the whole palace was filled with joy. The woman he met was standing at the palace gate, looking at him with a smile. Her small face looked a little hazy in the drizzling autumn rain. He sat in the sedan chair and looked at her, and he seemed to see again the despair in her face when she kept saying that their child was gone.

He got off the sedan chair, held her warm hand, and seeing that she was dressed warmly, he smiled and said, "I heard the good news and hurried here."

"I was wondering if the emperor would come," Zhuang Yuyan said with a satisfied smile, "and sure enough, the emperor finally came."

"Yanyan presumptuously speculates on the emperor's mind, aren't you afraid of my punishment?" It was already cold in late autumn, and Feng Jin was worried that she would catch a cold, so he led her into the house, "It has rained these few days, and the weather has become much colder. You have to be more careful."

Hearing the emperor calling her like that, Zhuang Luoyan had a strange feeling that she was honored because of her son. She tilted her head to look at the tenderness in his eyes and smiled even sweeter: "I dare not let myself get sick. I heard from Doctor Mao that if I take medicine when I am pregnant, it will be bad for the baby in my belly."

After Zhuang Yuyan said this, Feng Jin realized that she was wearing thicker clothes today than usual. Although she was not as graceful as other concubines, she looked more genuine.

“Speaking of guessing the emperor’s mind, I feel embarrassed. I often wonder when the emperor will come, what kind of clothes he would like me to wear, what kind of hair I would comb, and what I should learn to make him like me more.” Zhuang Yuyan’s hand holding the emperor’s wrist became more tense. “I always think that if I know more about his hobbies, he will like me more…”

Realizing that she had said too much, Zhuang Yuyan turned her head away awkwardly, as if she was embarrassed and afraid.

After hearing this, Feng Jin looked at Zhuang Yuyan's expression of not daring to look at him, and said with a smile: "Why are you so silly? But I like it very much."

After hearing this, Zhuang Yuyan raised her head with some pride: "Of course, I am the mother of your child."

The child’s mother?

Feng Jin raised his eyebrows, and walked into the gate of Xihe Palace with Zhuang Yuyan without making any comment.

Outside the Xihe Palace, beside the rockery of the lotus pond, the empress sat on the phoenix sedan chair and watched the emperor and Concubine Zhao being carried into the Xihe Palace together. She could not see the expressions on their faces, but the way they interacted made her feel like she saw something else.

"Your Majesty, are we still going now?" He Yu asked hesitantly.

"Go back to Jingyang Palace." The Queen held the armrest of the Phoenix Paladin and closed her eyes. As the Phoenix Paladin turned, Li Xihe Palace was getting farther and farther away.

The news that Concubine Zhao was pregnant spread to other palaces in less than an hour, and even the news that the emperor had not left Xihe Palace yet reached everyone's ears.

It's not like there were no concubines in the harem who were pregnant in the past, but I've never seen the emperor pay so much attention to them. The difference in whether a pregnant concubine was favored or not was too great.

However, the Queen gifted quite a few things to Xihe Palace during this hour. Each of these things was unusual, but none of them was suspicious.

The Queen's attitude seemed very clear. She valued the fetus in Concubine Zhao's belly as a warning to other concubines not to have any inappropriate thoughts.

All the concubines felt a little puzzled. The Empress and Concubine Zhao were not very close in the past. Moreover, if they remembered correctly, Concubine Zhao was also involved in the dethronement of the Empress' cousin. How could the Empress be so virtuous and generous?