Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 224 - You Want My Big Brother to Be a
Chapter 224: Chapter 224: You Want My Big Brother to Be a Deserter?
Chapter 224 -224: You Want My Big Brother to Be a Deserter?
Prince Ling’s Mansion had an unexpected visitor.
The Fifth Princess.
Speaking of which, it had been some days since Murong Jiu had seen the Fifth Princess after her father and brothers went off to war.
Even the Empress had become much more low-key in the imperial harem, wary of the Emperor, let alone her, the Fifth Princess.
In the past, the Fifth Princess was also greatly favored. After all, there were only two princesses in the entire palace, and the other was merely seven years old, while she could act coquettishly and vie for favor. How could her imperial father not dote on her?
However, once the incident with Consort Jing and The Third Prince came to light, she realized that everything in the past was nothing but a fleeting illusion in a cup, and her father’s affection was all a sham.
The Emperor pretended to dote on the Eldest Imperial Brother to set him against the Second Imperial Eldest Brother, all the while watching the Third Prince wait to benefit from their rivalry.
His feigned affection for her as Princess was just to make it seem that the Emperor respected the Empress, which meant that the Second Imperial Eldest Brother, being the legitimate son of the Empress, also had a chance of becoming the Crown Prince.
In the end, everything the Emperor did was for that despicable maid, Consort Jing, and her wretched son, The Third Prince.
Consort Jing was nothing but a peasant girl, a rustic servant. In contrast, her own mother was of noble birth, truly a world apart from Consort Jing. Yet now, she had to endure that vile woman riding roughshod over her. Not to mention her own wrath, the Fifth Princess herself was seething with anger.
When she heard that the Emperor was even contemplating matchmaking for her, intending to marry her off, and all the prospective matches were from insignificant families, the Fifth Princess’s inner fury intensified.
Preoccupied with her thoughts, time flew by quickly.
Unconsciously, she had already been waiting for half an hour!
The Fifth Princess rose angrily and said to Steward Lin who was waiting by the side with a cold voice,
“Princess Consort has quite the nerve, making me wait here in the cold for half an hour. Does she think that just because she is pregnant, I can’t do anything to her?”
“What exactly would you like to do to me? I am right here, all ears,”
Murong Jiu, supported on either side by Chun Tao and Hong Yi, slowly walked into the hall. Her voice was cool and clear, her beauty incomparable, and even though she was heavily pregnant, she gave off the impression that the room brightened considerably as she entered.
The Fifth Princess’s face stiffened, but her gaze fell upon Murong Jiu’s belly.
Despite Murong Jiu’s loose clothing, her belly was alarmingly large, as if she might give birth at any moment, especially since Murong Jiu was still very slender.
The Fifth Princess took a few steps back.
She thought that if anything happened to Murong Jiu, Prince Mansion would surely blame her.
The Emperor’s favor was false, and when the Eldest Imperial Brother returned alive, she would be in trouble.
“Imperial Sister-in-Law, please don’t misunderstand, I was merely voicing a minor complaint. You know I’m direct and sincere, with no ill intent. With the temperature dropping, and it having rained today, you can imagine my impatience having waited here for over half an hour,” she said.
Murong Jiu surprisingly gave the Fifth Princess a glance, not expecting that after not seeing her for several days, the Fifth Princess’s speech had improved considerably and she no longer possessed the same arrogant, haughty air she had before.
Her tone even sounded somewhat genuine.
However, Murong Jiu did not take it to heart. Whether the Fifth Princess was deeply scheming or not did not matter to her; she was well aware of the Fifth Princess’s character.
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“As you can see, I am now in the middle of my pregnancy, but because I am carrying twins, it’s harder than an average pregnancy. Furthermore, I had some complications due to a previous incident at Consort Jing’s, where I experienced spotting sometimes if I moved too much. I have to move slowly and rest frequently to nurture the twins. I would not have met with you if you didn’t say you had a message for Her Majesty the Empress,” she explained.
“Twins?!”
No wonder her belly was so huge!
Fifth Princess was extremely surprised. She had originally thought that Murong Jiu was avoiding people because she was worried others would notice her large belly and suspect that the child she carried wasn’t from the Eldest Imperial Brother since Murong Jiu had only married into the Prince Mansion half a year ago.
If the child were of the Eldest Imperial Brother, at the most, Murong Jiu would have been pregnant for just over six months. Speaking of a ten-month pregnancy, the Empress had mentioned that in reality, after a little more than nine months, a pregnant woman would give birth.
That is to say, Murong Jiu still had three months to go before giving birth.
But if it were twins, then such a large belly seemed quite normal.
She believed that Murong Jiu actually looked to have a large belly simply because she was too thin.
However, Murong Jiu had already been pregnant for more than seven months, and her expected delivery was around New Year’s Eve.
Whether she would give birth before or after the New Year was uncertain.
In her previous life, Murong Jiu had given birth prematurely, and the child was incredibly weak. But now, she paid attention to prenatal care and exercised, confident that she could give birth to a healthy child.
Fifth Princess said, “Then congratulations to the Imperial Sister-in-Law, the Prince will surely be very happy to see two children when he returns.”
Yet in her heart, she felt a hint of schadenfreude. In the Great Yan Dynasty, twins were not considered to be a good fortune, as many women died giving birth to them, and the common people believed twins were an ill omen that could bring disaster to the clan.
Even if they could be safely born, it seemed one would have to be drowned.
Fifth Princess couldn’t keep things to herself; her mouth curved into a smile and she said, “The Empress is worried about your health, so she especially sent me to visit you and bring you some nourishing products. However, I have a personal matter to discuss with you, could you please have your attendants leave?”
Murong Jiu waved her hand, and people such as Steward Lin exited, but Chun Tao and Hong Yi didn’t leave; they stood by her side.
Fifth Princess frowned and asked, “Why haven’t these two servants left?”
“I’m not feeling very well these days, and they can take care of me. Don’t worry, my maids are tight-lipped and won’t speak of things that shouldn’t be said outside,” Murong Jiu replied.
Even though Fifth Princess was displeased, she did not insist. She herself was afraid of being implicated if Murong Jiu unexpectedly lost the pregnancy, as such incidents had been not at all uncommon in the palace before.
Having maids present was somewhat better.
Thus, she began, “My Second Imperial Eldest Brother is very concerned about your health, and he asked me to send his regards.”
“Is that the personal matter you wished to discuss?” Murong Jiu slowly stood up. “As for my health, the Prince himself will take care of it. If that’s all you wanted to say, please leave. Someone, see out the guest!”
“Wait!”
Fifth Princess also stood up immediately, stopping others from coming in. She spoke in a low voice, “Imperial Sister-in-Law, let’s not talk about the Second Imperial Eldest Brother. What I wanted to discuss is actually about your elder brother!”
Murong Jiu looked at her. “Oh? What does the Princess have to do with my elder brother?”
Fifth Princess’s face showed a bit of embarrassment as she said, “I’ve heard that the Xiongnu’s weapons are extremely terrifying. My Second Imperial Eldest Brother was injured by their Fire-thunder, and I’m worried that Elder Brother Fu Heng might get hurt too. I hope you could write a letter to have your elder brother return to the capital.”
Murong Jiu’s eyes narrowed; she hadn’t expected Fifth Princess to still be concerned about her elder brother.
But the thoughts of Fifth Princess were laughably naive.
Murong Jiu spoke sarcastically, “Princess, are you suggesting that my elder brother becomes a deserter and be spat upon by everyone under the heavens?”
Fifth Princess said urgently, “No! That’s not it at all! How could I harm him? What I mean is, you could first request permission from the Emperor, find a reason to have your elder brother return, you saved the Emperor and Consort Jing, he will definitely agree! Then, you could write to your elder brother under the pretense of being unwell, asking him to come back from the Frontier Pass!”
