Free Web NovelChapter 824: Chapter 829-830: The Fourth Year of Yong’an, Zhi Ning Is Pregnant (Part 2)
"It’s so late, we’ll have to make do for the night. Xuelan, scoot over a bit."
Luckily, the bed is big, and not all the planks are broken. We can squeeze in.
The three of them squeezed to the side of the bed, Chen Mo released Yu Zhu’s hot and tender body and leaned to Xuelan’s ear, whispering softly, "Xuelan, it’s our turn."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xuelan’s alabaster face flushed like fire, like the evening glow in autumn when the sun sets in the west.
She dared not look into Chen Mo’s eyes, only nodding slightly.
Chen Mo patted Lin Xuelan, who had already developed some rapport, and squirmed under the covers.
Rustling sounds...
...
Dawn broke, the bright morning light spilled over every corner of Tianchuan City, the world was a sheet of white.
On the rooftops of the Prince’s Mansion, a half-foot layer of snow covered the tiles.
In the morning, the snow had stopped, and the maids in the back courtyard were already busy, coming and going, carrying toiletries to the rooms of various madams.
Between the bed and couch, Xingyao, hearing a knock on the door, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, her face still flushed with a hint of red, her expression no different from usual, still as cold as always. As the knocking ceased and the maid’s voice sounded, Xingyao slowly opened her eyes.
Feeling the "furnace" beside her, Xingyao turned her head and froze slightly: "Prince, weren’t you supposed to..."
Last night, Xingyao had awakened once mid-way, the lights in the room were still on, yet the person beside her was gone. Listening to the noise next door, Xingyao had clearly understood that Chen Mo had gone to accompany Lin Xuelan.
But she hadn’t expected that, upon waking this morning, Chen Mo would be beside her, propped up on an elbow, quietly gazing at her.
Chen Mo blinked and said, "I wanted to see what the Princess looks like when she wakes up."
In fact, because of the broken bedboards, sleeping with three people was indeed somewhat inconvenient. So after accompanying Lin Xuelan, he had returned to Xingyao’s room to sleep halfway through.
Xingyao’s face, cold as ice, yet her eyes revealed a trace of bashfulness of a newlywed: "What’s there to see when waking up? I haven’t washed my face or brushed my... mmm..."
Before she could finish, Chen Mo lowered his head and captured Xingyao’s faintly colored thin lips, one arm around her slender shoulders, the other gently caressing her smooth back.
After what happened last night, Xingyao’s body instinctively responded after a brief moment of surprise.
Outside the room, the maid, hearing no response, instead heard the Prince’s voice. Having worked at the Prince’s Mansion for some time, she had an inkling of what was happening inside and quickly left without disturbing further.
A long time passed before their lips parted.
A crimson blush spread across Xingyao’s cold face as she noticed her right leg... tremblingly spoke: "Prince, the... the sun is up, it’s time to get up."
"No hurry, it’s still early."
...
Next door.
Yu Zhu’s body was recovering well; she got up early before dawn.
Unfamiliar with the Prince’s Mansion, she hadn’t found any planks, so she went to the kitchen and fetched some slender firewood.
Back in the lady’s room, she tore the replaced bed sheet into strips of cloth, then crawled under the bed, planning to tie the firewood to the broken planks with the cloth strips, making do until new planks could be found for repairs.
By this time, daylight had broken.
Lin Xuelan hurriedly dressed in her padded skirt and went outside to the courtyard, pacing while keeping a lookout.
Sure enough, soon after, a maid came by with a tray holding toiletries.
Lin Xuelan instructed the maid to set down the tray and sent her away.
"Yu Zhu, are you finished? It’s already daylight."
Lin Xuelan placed the tray on the windowsill, opened a crack in the window, and peered at Yu Zhu repairing the bed inside.
"Almost done, miss, just a little longer." Hurrying with her work as urged by the lady, Yu Zhu became a bit flustered.
"Hurry up, Yu Zhu, if those sisters from the back courtyard come over, it’ll be over."
Wu Mi and the others could not be dismissed as easily as the servants; if they entered the room, everything would be exposed.
Lin Xuelan continued her lookout in the courtyard.
Just then, she heard sounds from next door and, after a brief moment of surprise, her face instantly flushed red.
"So early in the morning, the Princess and the Prince..." Lin Xuelan’s heart fluttered.
...
The incident of Yu Zhu collapsing the bed did not spread, as Yu Zhu’s timely repair turned it into a little secret shared between Lin Xuelan, Chen Mo, and Yu Zhu.
Before last night, Yu Zhu was merely a maid in the mansion.
After the events of last night, Yu Zhu had ascended to become the seventeenth wife of the back courtyard.
Brought by Lin Xuelan to serve tea to Wu Mi.
Now Yu Zhu had her own independent courtyard in the back courtyard.
...
Time flew by, soon it was New Year’s Eve, waiting for the clock in the Imperial City to strike at midnight, marking the beginning of The Fourth Year of Yong’an.
That evening, Chen Mo invited the girls from Copper Sparrow Platform to the mansion to have dinner together and enjoy the festivities.
Unfortunately, Yang Qingqing had taken Dabai and returned to the Shu Residence a while ago; otherwise, it would have been a full family reunion tonight.
In Copper Sparrow Platform, besides Zhihua, almost all the girls were experienced.
Being experienced, they knew better how to please a man.
Upon hearing they were going to Prince Wei’s Mansion for the New Year’s Eve dinner, each of them dressed up, putting on what they considered their most beautiful clothes, adorned with jewelry and accessories.
Among them, Madam Xiao and Madam Gan were fearless of the cold, donning thin skirts as they arrived.
As Princess Consort Wei, Wu Mi was generous yet strict about rules, clearly defining certain matters.
Inviting the girls from Copper Sparrow Platform wasn’t Chen Mo’s idea; it was Wu Mi’s suggestion.
She arranged them into two tables.
The ladies of the mansion sat at one table.
The Copper Sparrow Platform girls at another.
Compared to these experienced women from Copper Sparrow Platform, Wu Mi and the others were younger, more gorgeous, with diverse temperaments and personalities. This seating arrangement allowed Wu Mi’s table to outshine the Copper Sparrow Platform’s table effortlessly.
Although Xu Ying hesitated to admit it, she indeed felt somewhat inferior compared to Wu Mi and her group.
And it wasn’t over yet.
Just then, Xia Zhiqing and Xia Zhining arrived together, the former’s plump and lustrous face full of smiles.
"Husband," Xia Zhiqing approached, calling to Chen Mo and said, "Do you know? Zhining is pregnant."
Chen Mo: "..."
What, Zhining is pregnant?
Chen Mo looked at Xia Zhining’s belly.
Xia Zhining blushed with shyness, uncharacteristically not bickering with Chen Mo: "It was Ms. Mi who told me to keep it a secret from you until tonight, to give you a surprise."
She even refers to herself as ’concubine’ now.
"Waaah..." Over there, Yi Shiyin was about to cry. She and Xia Zhining had been in the same boat, but now, Zhining too had left, becoming pregnant.
She felt quite upset.
And Xu Ying, Chu Ran, and others felt even worse.
Their hearts were sour, and the joy of dining at the Prince’s Mansion for New Year’s Eve vanished.
"That’s great, now I have a little brother or sister too," said Chen Zhong, who was brought by Han Anniang, with a smile.
Although Xiao Yunxi had been pregnant before Xia Zhining, Chen Zhong knew this also counted as his siblings, but relationships had their levels of closeness.
Compared to Xiao Yunxi, as a child, Chen Zhong felt closer to Xia Zhining.
Of course, this was all thanks to Xia Zhiqing.
Whether it was her own child or children of Han Anniang and Wu Mi, Xia Zhiqing treated everyone well, often taking them to play, so Xia Zhining, who resembled Xia Zhiqing, naturally became well-loved by children.
Chen Mo went up, holding Xia Zhining’s hand, fondly rubbing her belly, which didn’t seem particularly different, and said with a smile, "After all these years, Zhining, you’ve finally achieved your wish."
Xia Zhining let out a small hum, her heart filled with joy, without mentioning how Chen Mo had had the fun cheaply.
