After the beautiful moonlight that night, Xiao Che's mysterious "remedies for having a child" finally subsided.
He stopped forcing Lin Wanwan to "absorb the essence of the sun and moon," stopped researching those strangely flavored "nutritious pastries," and even stopped practicing handstands to "strengthen her muscles." He seemed to have returned to his former composure and normalcy, and devoted all his energy back to the mountain of official duties.
Lin Wanwan was happy to have some free time, assuming that he had finally given up those unreliable ideas and was ready to truly "let nature take its course".
However, her own body gradually began to show some abnormalities.
At first, she simply had a poor appetite. The dishes she used to love from her kitchen now smelled somewhat unappetizing, and she developed a particular fondness for spicy and sour foods.
Then came excessive sleepiness. Every afternoon, she would feel an irresistible drowsiness, and even if she did nothing, she would feel extremely tired.
"Your Majesty, you seem to be lacking in energy lately. Is something wrong with your health?" Ruolan asked worriedly, looking at Lin Wanwan, who was slumped on the soft couch and beginning to doze off again.
"It's alright," Lin Wanwan waved her hand dismissively, "Perhaps I was overworked assisting His Majesty in handling state affairs a few days ago. Now that I've rested, I've actually recovered from the fatigue. It's just a side effect of 'political exhaustion,' I'll be fine after a rest."
She didn't take it to heart, after all, in her modern view, being in a sub-healthy state was commonplace.
She didn't care, but some people cared a lot.
Xiao Che quickly noticed that something was wrong with her.
That evening at dinner, when Lin Wanwan looked at the carefully prepared dishes on the table, she only frowned and took two bites before putting down her chopsticks, Xiao Che's eyes instantly changed.
"What's wrong? Doesn't it suit your taste?" he asked in a deep voice.
"No, I'm just a little tired and don't have much of an appetite," Lin Wanwan replied weakly.
Xiao Che's gaze immediately sharpened. He reached out and touched her forehead, then looked at her face, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.
Loss of appetite, lethargy...
These symptoms instantly reminded him of his own past sickly state. Could it be that the assassination attempt at the hunting grounds had damaged her very foundation, and these symptoms were only now manifesting? Or perhaps, someone in the palace had secretly sabotaged her?!
The thought of these possibilities made Xiao Che's heart clench instantly, and an overwhelming sense of tension and lingering fear welled up inside him.
He slammed down his chopsticks, and his handsome face instantly turned frosty.
"Wang Dequan!" he shouted sternly.
"Your servant is here!" Wang Dequan scrambled in.
"Issue my decree!" Xiao Che's voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth. The tension and anger contained within it seemed to freeze the air in the entire palace. "Immediately summon all the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital to Kunning Palace for a consultation! Anyone who is late within one incense stick's time will have their head handed over to me!"
This imperial decree, like a thunderclap, instantly resounded throughout the night sky above the entire palace.
"Your Majesty, there's no need for this..." Lin Wanwan was startled by his exaggerated reaction and quickly tried to stop him.
However, Xiao Che grabbed her hand without saying a word, his eyes filled with an unprecedented seriousness and obsession.
“Your health is no small matter,” he said. “It is a matter of state for me.”
So, the Imperial Hospital, which had only just calmed down for a few days, was once again disturbed by a midnight commotion.
When the imperial physicians were dragged out of their beds by the Imperial Guards and heard the imperial decree that "Her Majesty the Empress is unwell and His Majesty has summoned the entire court for a consultation," they were all terrified.
Carrying their medicine kits, they staged a "race against time" on the palace road that was even more thrilling than when the Empress had "eaten too much." Everyone thought that a shocking coup had occurred in the palace, or that the Empress's unborn child had been harmed. Their faces turned pale, and they were all mentally prepared to die on the spot.
When they rushed into Kunning Palace, panting and stumbling, they were met with a scene completely different from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood they had imagined.
The bedchamber was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was oppressively suffocating.
Their Emperor was pacing back and forth with an icy expression, the oppressive aura emanating from him more terrifying than when facing a million enemy soldiers. Meanwhile, the Empress, rumored to be "unwell," leaned helplessly against the headboard, seemingly... only a little mentally unwell, but otherwise quite alright.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" The imperial physicians, led by the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.
"Forget it!" Xiao Che had no patience for their nonsense. He pointed at Lin Wanwan and ordered directly, "Take the Empress's pulse immediately! Everyone, one by one! You must find out what's wrong with the Empress!"
"yes!"
The imperial physicians dared not delay and immediately lined up, with the most experienced senior physician going forward first.
The old abbot took a deep breath, his hand trembling, and gently placed three fingers on Lin Wanwan's fair wrist.
Inside the bedchamber, you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone held their breath, watching the old magistrate's expression with bated breath.
At first, the old abbot's brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression was extremely solemn. This made Xiao Che's heart sink to the bottom.
However, after a few breaths, the old abbot's expression suddenly changed. His tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, followed by shock. As if he couldn't believe his own judgment, he moved his fingers slightly and listened intently once more.
This time, the shock on his face was gradually replaced by an unbelievable ecstasy!
His wrinkled old face flushed red with excitement, and even his beard trembled slightly.
Immediately afterwards, the second and third imperial physicians stepped forward...
Everyone's expression was exactly the same, having gone through a dramatic transformation from solemnity to doubt, and then from shock to ecstasy.
The entire pulse-taking process was filled with an eerie silence and increasingly strange expressions from the imperial physicians.
Xiao Che watched from the side, his heart pounding along with their expressions. He went from initial fear to confusion, and finally, even a hint of impatience.
What on earth are these quack doctors up to?!
Finally, when the last imperial physician finished taking his pulse and showed the same expression of ecstatic joy, Xiao Che could no longer contain himself.
"What exactly happened?!" he demanded sharply. "What is wrong with the Empress's health?!"
"thump!"
With a muffled thud, the old abbot knelt down on the ground without hesitation.
Immediately afterwards, all the imperial physicians in the hall knelt down with him.
Xiao Che's heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition enveloped him.
Could it be... could it really be some incurable disease?!
Just as his mind went blank and he was about to lose his balance, the old abbot kneeling at the front suddenly raised his head.
Tears streamed down his face, yet his expression wore an unprecedented, radiant smile. With all his might, in a trembling, almost hoarse voice, he cried out in celebration:
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
"It's a pregnancy pulse! It's a pregnancy pulse!"
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty is pregnant!!!"
This congratulatory shout, like a bolt of lightning traversing the sky, instantly cleaved through all the tension and repression, exploding in everyone's ears!
With a "boom," it was as if thousands of fireworks exploded simultaneously in Xiao Che's mind.
He froze on the spot, his mind blank, as if he had been completely stunned by this sudden and enormous surprise.
He stared blankly at the old magistrate kneeling on the ground, trembling with excitement, and then stared blankly at Lin Wanwan on the bed, who was equally shocked.
Is she pregnant?
Is Wanwan pregnant?
I...I'm going to be a father?
This thought, like a wildfire, instantly swept away all his reason.
He was still holding a memorial he had just brought from the Imperial Study, which he planned to continue working on that night.
"Clatter".
With a soft sound, the memorial concerning the livelihoods of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians slipped from his stiff hand, and the scattered pages, like butterflies, fluttered and fell to the ground.
But he was completely unaware of this.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com