newborn
The first snow of the ninth year of the Yonghui era quietly fell in the dead of night.
When Wu Meiniang was awakened by waves of contractions, she found that Li Zhi had already gotten up and was holding her hand, his eyes bloodshot.
"Your Majesty... haven't you slept at all?" she asked with difficulty.
Li Zhi gently wiped the sweat from her forehead with a warm handkerchief: "I can't sleep. I just dreamt of the time we first met at Ganye Temple..."
Before he could finish speaking, another sharp pain struck, and Wu Meiniang grabbed his wrist in agony.
Li Zhi immediately whispered to the outer room, "Summon the imperial physician! Quickly!"
(Inner monologue: This baby is moving more strongly than the previous two times...)
Ten-year-old Li Hong ran over in his pajamas, his hair disheveled and his face pale.
He stubbornly stayed at the door of the delivery room, refusing to go back to sleep no matter how much the wet nurse tried to persuade him.
“Your subject is the Crown Prince,” he clenched his small fist, “and it is my duty to be here to share the burdens of the Empress Dowager.”
Five-year-old Li Xian was startled awake and kept sobbing. He clung to his brother's waist, too afraid to look into the delivery room: "Will Mother...will she feel as uncomfortable as she did last time when she had a fever?"
Li Zhi bent down and picked up his second son, wrapping him in his cloak: "No, Physician Sun is the highest-ranking physician..."
Even so, when he heard the suppressed cries of pain from the delivery room, his arms around Li Xian tightened involuntarily.
(Inner monologue: Mei Niang has always been strong-willed; she would never make a sound unless she was in extreme pain...)
Inside the delivery room, Wu Meiniang bit down hard on the cork, her undergarments soaked with cold sweat.
The midwife anxiously noticed that the baby's position seemed to be slightly off-center.
"Your Majesty...you need to try harder..."
Outside the hall, Li Hong suddenly broke free from the palace servants' grasp, ran to the portrait of Empress Zhangsun enshrined in the side hall, knelt down, and respectfully kowtowed three times: "Grandmother, please bless my mother with peace..."
Seeing this, Li Zhi's Adam's apple bobbed, and he buried his face in Li Xian's soft hair.
(Inner monologue: Mother... if you are watching over us from heaven...)
During the most agonizing moment, the delivery room suddenly fell silent.
Li Zhi suddenly stood up, almost spilling the ginseng soup.
At this moment, Wu Meiniang's weak yet firm voice came from inside:
"Your Majesty... if anything happens to you... protect the child..."
"Nonsense!" Li Zhi raised his voice to his wife for the first time. "I want both! Imperial Physician Sun—"
The imperial physician scrambled inside, and a moment later came a joyful shout: "It's right! Your Majesty, push again!"
As dawn broke, a loud cry finally rang out.
Li Zhi staggered in, even forgetting to put down Li Xian in his arms.
The midwife wept with joy: "It's a prince! Mother and child are safe!"
When Li Zhi bent down, Wu Meiniang saw the tear stains on the corners of his eyes that he hadn't wiped away.
He kissed her forehead, his voice trembling, stammering, "Meiniang... I just want you to be safe... I only wish you were safe."
(Inner monologue: So even bosses are afraid...)
Li Hong carefully touched the newborn's cheek and breathed a sigh of relief: "The little brother looks just like his mother."
Li Xian stopped crying and smiled, placing his most treasured safety lock beside the swaddling clothes: "For my little brother! May it bless him to grow up safely!"
Looking at the four men surrounding the bed, Wu Meiniang suddenly felt that all the pain was worthwhile.
She whispered to Li Zhi:
"Does Your Majesty believe me now? Last night, I did indeed dream of Venus."
Li Zhi embraced her and the child, his voice hoarse: "I believe you. I believe everything Meiniang says."
The morning light, reflecting off the snow, streamed through the window and shone on the newborn's soft hair.
——
[Mini-Theater: A Sleepless Night]
(What the palace maids on night duty at Zichen Palace witnessed that night)
His Majesty paced outside the delivery room all night, rejecting three memorials—his vermilion brushstrokes even spilled outside the paper.
His Highness the Crown Prince secretly wiped away tears seven times, and sent us away to kowtow alone to the portrait of Empress Zhangsun.
The most heartbreaking thing was the second prince, whose little head was nodding with sleepiness, but he insisted on waiting until "Mother's pain is gone" before he would go to sleep.
(Fortunately, at dawn, the Third Prince's loud cries broke the tense atmosphere.)
Watching His Majesty stagger into the delivery room, I suddenly realized—the imperial family is just like any other ordinary people.
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