Zhou Ning Wen waited until Luo Zhi Qiu had gotten over all the small talk with the other ministers before stepping aside with the chancellor, “His Imperial Majesty has gone to see Consort Li.”

Luo Zhi Qiu nodded, “The birth of a prince is fortuitous, something to be celebrated.”

Zhou Ning Wen agreed, “Yes, a blessing upon Greater Zhou.”

The words between these two were only there for other people to hear. Who amongst the nine princes, even the crown prince himself, had been guarded over and visited by the emperor on the day of his birth? It seemed that this tenth prince held a special place in Emperor Xing Wu’s heart.

“Marquis Li and his wife are there too,” Zhou Ning Wei said again, quietly.

“Then the crown prince is there too?” Luo Zhi Qiu asked.

“His Imperial Highness is not well enough to go, but his consort went,” Zhou Ning Wen answered, “Her Imperial Majesty the Empress has gone as well.”

Luo Zhi Qiu looked at the edges of the sky, the first morning stars were rising already. He said to Grand Scholar Zhou in a meaningful voice, “Looks like we may have to wait until after daybreak to see His Imperial Majesty.”

On the other side of the front steps, there were a bevy of ministers surrounding the junior chancellor, Qiu Che, all buzzing with quiet talk as well.

Luo Zhi Qiu knew in his heart that this junior chancellor held no happiness for the news either. The ninth prince, Long Yi, was still young. Before this new prince, he’d still commanded some favour from the emperor because he was the youngest. Now, with the new birth of the tenth prince along with the powerful Li family behind him, the ninth prince has gained a powerful adversary in the span of a single night. Luo Zhi Qiu remarked to himself quietly with a shake of the head, no one had it easy.

In Consort Li’s Hall of Marital Harmony, Emperor Xing Wu watched the tenth prince, who was being held in the Empress’ arms. “What a rare child, to smile at me right after his birth.”

Luo Zhi Yi was looking at the tenth prince as well, feeling the same sentiment as the emperor. She’d had three sons herself, but this was the first time she’d seen an hour old baby who’d only cried for a few seconds before knowing to smile at people. “Your Imperial Majesty, look, he’s smiling at me too.”

The emperor and empress were having a great time playing with the baby together.

“Just like Xiao Wei,” Luo Zhi Yi suddenly mentioned Luo Wei.

“What do you mean?” Emperor Xing Wu asked quickly when he heard the empress mention Luo Wei.

“I heard from my brother that when Xiao Wei was born, he smiled quickly too,” Luo Zhi Yi said, “Xiao Wei was a chubby little baby back then, like one of those little cherubs(1), sadly I never had the chance to see him when he was still a baby.”

Emperor Xing Wu reached out and poked the little prince’s face. The little prince opened his mouth and made a cute noise.

“Oh,” Luo Zhi Yi smiled, “Your Imperial Majesty, I think little ten here is calling for his father.”

Emperor Xing Wu burst out in laughter, but there was some bitterness mixed into it. When Luo Zhi Yi mentioned what Luo Wei looked like as a baby, Emperor Xing Wu naturally thought of Luo Zhi Jin. A child borne of Zhi Jin must have been like a cherub, but he was never able to be beside her.

The marquis and marquise Li heard the emperor’s laugher from the outer hall, and both were elated. How happy the emperor sounded, he must love the tenth prince dearly.

But the other consorts and concubines were not happy, neither was the crown prince’s consort. However, none of them could let any of these emotion show on their face. Everyone was all smiles, saying things they didn’t mean, only following each other’s lead.

Zhao Fu entered, and reported to Emperor Xing Wu, “Your Imperial Majesty, the ministers are all outside the Hall of Imperial Light, waiting to congratulate you.”

“Has Wei Er come too?” Emperor Xing Wu asked.

Zhao Fu quickly answered, “Your Imperial Majesty has given orders not to disturb this third young master’s rest, so he does not know about this yet. I’ve only seen Chancellor Luo and the Grand General of the Capital arrive.”

“Wei Er’s not doing well,” Emperor Xing Wu saw that Luo Zhi Yi was looking at him, so he explained, “I wanted him to rest up, especially now that he’s not great with the cold.”

“Xiao Wei’s health,” Luo Zhi Yi couldn’t help worrying herself when she heard Emperor Xing Wu mention it, “It’s been more than half a year now, but he’s still not getting better. I saw him during he day and he looks thinner again. It’s not as if he hasn’t been taking medication, why isn’t he getting any better?”

“Sickness is like a mountain caving in when it comes, but taking it away is like pulling threads out of fabric,” Emperor Xing Wu’s happiness about his son’s birth dampened considerably as he thought about Luo Wei’s health, “You should stay here, Empress, I’ll go and see to the ministers.”

Luo Zhi Yi looked at him, “What if sister Li wakes up and wants to see you?”

“It’s enough that you’re here,” Emperor Xing Wu’s face became cold again. He looked at the tenth prince in the empress’ arms once more before leaving.

“Your Imperial Highness,” As soon as the emperor left, a servant from Long Xuan’s palace came and kneeled in front of Luo Zhi Yi, “His Imperial Highness the second prince begs for a imperial physician, his consort is having some pains in her abdomen.”

Tonight was Consort Li’s due date, so all the good imperial physicians were here waiting on her. Prince Consort Xu was pregnant with Long Xuan’s first child. No matter if it was a boy or a girl, it would be important to the imperial family. Luo Zhi Yi quickly appointed two imperial physicians to follow the servant back to Long Xuan’s quarters. Then, upon considering it again, she couldn’t feel at ease until she sent the matron who waited on her to go and see to the prince consort as well. As much as Luo Zhi Yi didn’t want to participate in the politics of the Back Palace, she knew well that people here were keen to take advantage of the weak. Long Xuan’s position at court was not as strong as it was before, and Luo Zhi Yi worried he’d be taken advantage of in his weakness.

In the Hall of Literary Transcendence, Prince Consort Xu called out intermittently in pain as she lay in a side room. She was soaked through with cold sweat. Long Xuan paced outside the room, sick with worry as well. Even though Consort Xu had no clan to speak of, and was useless to Long Xuan, the child in her belly was Long Xuan’s firstborn. Long Xuan was looking forward to the birth of this child.

Long Xiang sat aside, watching Long Xuan as he paced. Long Xiang didn’t know whether to stand or sit, but it wasn’t as if he could do anything right now. After a few sparse words of comfort, he felt that it’d be better if he said nothing. The only thing he could do was to shut his mouth and sit patiently aside.

The imperial physicians arrived with the servant, “Quick, go and see to her,” Long Xuan pardoned them from paying obeisance to him, and directly pointed them to the side room.

The two physicians quickly rushed in. Long Xuan gave Long Xiang a look before heading in as well. Long Xiang got up because he wanted to follow his older brother inside, but it was in the span of a step that he remembered this was the room of his brother’s consort, he was not allowed inside, so he sat back down and waited.

“Your Imperial Highness, drink some tea,” Fu Yun served another cup of tea to Long Xiang.

Long Xiang waved an annoyed hand at Fu Yun. How could he take tea at a moment like this?

In the inner room, the two imperial physicians felt for Consort Xu’s pulse once after another, then the two huddled together in discussion.

“Is my child alright?” Consort Xu was a little delirious, but she still cared deeply about her baby. She had to bite back the pain to ask even this.

“The physicians are here,” Long Xuan stepped up to comfort Consort Xu, “Don’t worry, nothing bad will come to you and your child.”

The tenderness in Long Xuan’s voice came as a shock to Consort Xu. Even when she’d been the first daughter of Shang Hang’s Xu clan, Long Xuan had never shown her kindness like this. Looks like a woman still needed a child beside her. Consort Xu sighed to herself inside, but managed to squeeze out a smile, “I will be fine, apologies for worrying Your Imperial Highness.”

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I cried a lot reading the comments because it’s still so fresh in my mind and in my family. We talked a lot recently about it because i lived with my grandma for a long time as a child, and now she is gone. <3 Reading and translating this novel will be a good distraction, I will try to put more time into it in the coming weeks as work allows. Thank u for reading it and following it!!