Chapter 91

“Your Majesty, the tribute fruits from Jiangjia Village have arrived.”
A palace maid presented a tray of washed fruits.
Every year, Baron of Huaishan would send people from Jiangjia Village to deliver fresh seasonal fruits. Yun Pianpian and Xiao Changyuan had personally planted five acres of fruit trees in the fields of Jiangjia Village. The fruits they bore were plump, juicy, crisp, sweet, and exceptionally delicious. This time, the tribute fruits sent into the palace by Baron of Huaishan were peaches. After taking a few bites of the sweet, rich peach flesh, Yun Pianpian suddenly felt a churning in her stomach. She uncomfortably pressed a hand to her chest.
This terrified the young maid who had delivered the fruits.
“Your Majesty, what's wrong?”
The young maid's face turned as pale as paper. If anything happened to the Empress, she would surely not survive either.
Liu Shun, who had been outside the palace hall, heard the commotion and immediately entered. Seeing Yun Pianpian furrowing her delicate brows as if unwell, Liu Shun dispatched someone to fetch the imperial physician while sending another to inform Xiao Changyuan, who was currently holding court in the Golden Hall.
Xiao Changyuan arrived even before the imperial physician. The moment he entered the hall, he scooped Yun Pianpian into his arms, his face etched with stormy tension.
“Pianpian, where are you feeling unwell?”
Yun Pianpian bit her red lips. “It might be.”
She was most likely pregnant.
Yun Pianpian and Xiao Changyuan had been married for three years, yet in all that time, they had remained childless.
Logically speaking, given Xiao Changyuan’s lack of restraint, Yun Pianpian should have conceived long ago.
But her belly had never shown any sign of life.
Later, Yun Pianpian speculated that perhaps Xiao Changyuan’s prolonged period of abstinence had harmed his health, and she had blamed herself for a long time because Xiao Changyuan’s abstinence was entirely for her sake.
The imperial physician arrived swiftly. Through a thin curtain, he placed a red thread on Yun Pianpian’s delicate, pale wrist to take her pulse. Then, with a bow, he congratulated Xiao Changyuan.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty. The Empress is with child.”
Xiao Changyuan froze for a moment, looking down at Yun Pianpian in his arms as if unable to process the news.
“With child.”
Yun Pianpian lifted her almond, shaped eyes to gaze at Xiao Changyuan.
“Husband, you are going to be a father.”
After Yun Pianpian became pregnant, Xiao Changyuan completely abandoned court sessions, entrusting state affairs to his officials so he could focus entirely on accompanying Yun Pianpian during her pregnancy, terrified that something might happen to her.
“Aren’t you afraid the empire might face trouble, husband?”
Yun Pianpian worried she would become a calamitous enchantress, but Xiao Changyuan simply leaned down and kissed her long, thick eyelashes. “If the empire faces trouble, I can always reclaim it. But if something happens to you, Pianpian, I will make the entire empire pay the price.”
His voice was icy and ruthless.
She had always known Xiao Changyuan was not a good emperor, but he was a wonderful husband.
Yun Pianpian could not help but love such a Xiao Changyuan.
Although Xiao Changyuan had stopped attending court, he still reviewed memorials from his ministers daily, and all important matters passed through his hands. Compared to the Ming Emperor Wanli, who did not hold court for twenty, eight years, Xiao Changyuan could be considered a diligent and benevolent ruler, albeit a tyrannical one.
Her tyrant husband was so diligent and caring.
Yun Pianpian felt entirely at ease embracing her role as the enchanting empress.
At night, the palace was ablaze with lights. Yun Pianpian had vomited again during dinner, so Xiao Changyuan gently washed her, carefully cradled her in his arms, and lulled her to sleep.
The sound of her soft, steady breathing filled his ears.
Only after confirming Yun Pianpian was asleep did Xiao Changyuan lift his pale, slender hand and place it over her belly. His palm seemed to caress the child within.
His icy tone was filled with a threatening chill.
“If you make your mother vomit one more time, I will ensure that after you are born, you never see your mother again.”
“Husband, I heard you.”
Yun Pianpian’s plaintive voice suddenly reached his ears.
“You’re threatening my little baby.”
Xiao Changyuan looked at Yun Pianpian with an expressionless face.
“I did not.”
“Then what were you doing just now, husband?”
“Talking to the baby.”
“Is that how you talk to the baby?”
“I've always talked to him like this.”
“Your ears are red, husband.”
Xiao Changyuan turned his handsome face away, his delicate, fair ears growing even redder, like a child caught doing something wrong but stubbornly refusing to admit it.
“I did not.”
“Apologize to the baby.”
“...”
“Apologize.”
“...”
Yun Pianpian decided to use her trump card.
“Does my husband not love me anymore?”
Xiao Changyuan furrowed his brows and said, “I'm sorry.”
He looked utterly unwilling, like a small animal that had been wronged but dared not speak up.
Yun Pianpian slowly curved her red lips into a smile. She reached out with her delicate, soft hands, wrapped them around Xiao Changyuan's neck, and offered her red lips to him.
“It's alright.”
A child who admits their mistakes deserves a reward.
“I forgive you on behalf of the baby.”
After that day, Yun Pianpian's morning sickness gradually lessened. By the fifth month of her pregnancy, her sense of taste and smell finally returned to normal, and she no longer felt nauseous.
The following summer, after ten months of pregnancy, Yun Pianpian finally went into labor. The midwife and medical attendants were already prepared, but Xiao Changyuan, ignoring everyone's objections, stayed in the delivery room.
“Your Majesty, the delivery room is an unclean place. It may harm your imperial health. You cannot stay here.”
“I said I can, so I can.”
“But.”
“One more word, and I will have you killed.”
The midwife and medical attendants were terrified, their faces pale as they assisted Yun Pianpian with the delivery, not daring to look at him the entire time.
Yun Pianpian was in so much pain that sweat poured from her and tears streamed down her face.
“Husband, it hurts so much.”
Xiao Changyuan tightly held Yun Pianpian's small hand, lowered his head, and kissed her sweat, dampened fingertips. His face was even paler than Yun Pianpian's, and his hands trembled uncontrollably, but his voice as he comforted her was steady and gentle.
“It won't hurt anymore, wife. It will stop soon.”
This tender, gentle tone was a stark contrast to the cold, murderous emperor from moments before.
Yun Pianpian cried until her eyes were red.
“I don't want to give birth anymore.”
Xiao Changyuan's voice was low and hoarse. “I promise you, after this one, we will never have another.”
With a loud infant's cry, the midwife finally breathed a sigh of relief, a joyful smile spreading across her face.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty, it's a little prince!”
Xiao Changyuan personally cut the little prince's umbilical cord.
The medical maid wrapped the little prince in swaddling clothes and brought him before Xiao Changyuan, but he didn't even glance at the baby in the bundle, his heart entirely focused on Yun Pianpian.
He leaned down and kissed Yun Pianpian's sweaty forehead.
“My wife, you've worked hard.”
Yun Pianpian's clothes were soaked through, as if she had been pulled from water. Fine beads of sweat dampened her dark hair, clinging to her cheeks as she gazed at the little prince in the swaddling clothes.
“Husband, I want to see the baby.”
Xiao Changyuan signaled the medical maid to place the little prince beside Yun Pianpian. Finally seeing her child, tiny, with bluish, purple, wrinkled skin, Yun Pianpian couldn't help but remark, “So ugly.”
The midwife chuckled and said, “All newborns look like this. They'll become much prettier after some time.”
Xiao Changyuan named the little prince Xiao Yunmu and, on the day of his birth, designated him as the crown prince.
Before long, the little prince's wrinkled face smoothed out, transforming into a delicate, jade, like doll. His small eyebrows, eyes, and nose were the spitting image of Xiao Changyuan, while only his rosy cherry lips resembled Yun Pianpian's, crimson and pearly, with features as exquisite as a painting.
For a long time after the little prince's birth, Xiao Changyuan found himself competing for attention with his son.
This little fellow, who only knew how to cry, monopolized Yun Pianpian's focus. Every day, Xiao Changyuan would gaze at her with a resentful, restrained look in his eyes.
Seeing him like this, Yun Pianpian found it somewhat amusing and leaned in to kiss his lips.
That kiss ignited like a spark in dry grass.
With red, rimmed eyes, Xiao Changyuan gripped Yun Pianpian's slender, soft waist, deepening the kiss urgently.
His voice was low and husky, suppressing turbulent emotions.
“Pianpian, the imperial physician said we can resume marital relations.”
It had been three months since Yun Pianpian gave birth to the little prince, and she too desired to satisfy him, but she worried about becoming pregnant again.
“But.”
“Don't be afraid. I've already taken a contraceptive decoction. From now on, I will never let you get pregnant again, Pianpian.”
The moonlight shifted, casting blurred shadows of flowers in the hazy night.
When Xiao Yunmu turned five, Xiao Changyuan began teaching him martial arts, having him practice horse stance every day.
Yun Pianpian watched the father and son from the sidelines.
The little prince lasted less than half an incense stick's time before his legs trembled with exhaustion. A single glance from Xiao Changyuan made him stiffen in fear, but soon he was swaying unsteadily again. With red, rimmed eyes, the little prince looked pleadingly at Yun Pianpian, hoping for her intervention, but she pretended not to notice. Left with no choice, the little prince complained to Xiao Changyuan.
“Father, I don't want to practice anymore.”
Xiao Changyuan replied expressionlessly, “If you don't practice for a full hour today, you won't be allowed to have dinner.”
Tears welling in his eyes, the little prince looked at Xiao Changyuan.
“Why do I have to practice for so long?”
“Because one day you will inherit my throne.”
“But I don't want to inherit the throne.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want to go out of the palace with Mother to play.”
Xiao Changyuan asked, “What will you do if you encounter danger while playing outside the palace?”
“Father will protect us.”
“What if I'm not with you?”
“The guards will protect us.”
“What if those guards are assassins?”
The little prince was so frightened by Xiao Changyuan that his face turned pale.
Xiao Changyuan tapped the little prince’s head gently. “Your father and mother won’t be with you forever. You must learn to protect yourself. Only when you are strong enough can you choose the life you truly want. Do you understand?”
The little prince stared blankly at Xiao Changyuan.
“I understand, Father.”
Only the strong have the right to choose.
He must strive to become stronger.
After practicing arduously for two hours, the little prince was finally allowed to have lunch. Shortly after finishing his meal, he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep. Yun Pianpian covered him with a brocade quilt.
She stepped out of the bedchamber.
Xiao Changyuan was reviewing memorials.
Yun Pianpian said worriedly, “What if Mu’er still doesn’t want to inherit the throne when he grows up?”
Xiao Changyuan replied, “He has the right to choose.”
Yun Pianpian hesitated, “But.”
Xiao Changyuan said softly, “Adults should not impose shackles on their descendants.”
In his own childhood, he had been bound by Emperor Zhaoyan’s constraints, becoming a tool to unify the five kingdoms.
He had no right to choose.
Xiao Changyuan did not want Xiao Yunmu to repeat his fate.
Yun Pianpian gazed at Xiao Changyuan in a daze.
Finally, she smiled in relief.
“My husband is right.”
She had always worried that Xiao Changyuan might not be a good father, but now it seemed he was doing even better than she had hoped.
Yun Pianpian wrapped her arms around Xiao Changyuan’s waist. “Then you must live a long life and always remain the ruler of the Mo Kingdom. Otherwise, there will be no emperor for the Mo Kingdom.”
“In that case, you must pray for your own long life,” Xiao Changyuan said, lowering his head to kiss Yun Pianpian. “Because I wish to share the same lifespan as you. Only if you live a hundred years can I live a hundred years.”
From the very beginning, Xiao Changyuan had never wanted to live alone.
The reason he remained in this world was because his Yun Pianpian was here.
With tears in her eyes, Yun Pianpian smiled and said, “Alright.”