Lanfang covered her mouth in surprise and looked at Song Shuhao, only to see that her expression was indifferent, without revealing much emotion. She even nodded and said to Cui'er first, "I can't believe you yet." Then she turned to Lanfang and said, "Take the person away and investigate carefully." She still had the same attitude as before.
A dazed Lanfang responded, then ordered someone to take Cui'er away. A wave of fear washed over her, but she didn't forget to order the imperial physician to be summoned to the Xuanzhi Hall. Back beside Song Shuhao, Lanfang whispered, "This Cui'er is truly too strange… I wonder what she means…"
Song Shuhao ignored Lanfang's words and stood up on her own. Her eyes flickered slightly. She had not only lost her appetite but also completely lost the desire to eat. After a while, Song Shuhao said to Lanfang, "When His Majesty finishes his morning court session later, I will mention to him the matter of letting you leave the palace. I have no other intention, but you don't need to get involved."
Lan Fang was slightly stunned, her mouth agape in surprise, yet she couldn't utter a single word.
When the imperial physician arrived, Song Shuhao didn't rush to take his pulse. First, she asked him to check all the tea, food, and other items in the hall, and found no signs of poisoning. She couldn't say she was completely at ease, but at least she had a sense of unease. However, to take action in the Xuanzhi Hall was extremely difficult in itself.
In fact, she was only half-convinced by Cui'er's words. She didn't completely believe her because she wasn't familiar with Cui'er, but she believed her to some extent because she didn't think Cui'er was an ungrateful person. The fear, panic, urgency, and fluster she showed didn't seem fake.
Song Shuhao instructed the eunuch Xiaodouzi to keep a close watch on Cui'er, and also instructed Lanfang not to reveal a single word about what happened in the palace that morning. Thus, at least to those unaware of the situation, it was difficult to distinguish whether Cui'er had confessed voluntarily or had been exposed and brought to justice.
Having completed Song Shuhao's instructions, the imperial physician was finally able to take her pulse through the curtain. After confirming the diagnosis three times, subtly asking Song Shuhao a few questions, and then taking her pulse one last time to confirm, the imperial physician stood up, bowed, and slowly said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Judging from your pulse, Your Majesty is likely pregnant!"
Hearing this, Ahao was already prepared, so her emotions remained calm. However, when she looked up, she saw Zhang Yu, who had just returned from court.
Hearing the imperial physician's words, he stared at her, momentarily stunned and forgetting to take a step. Ah Hao couldn't help but cover her mouth slightly and chuckled, "Your Majesty is back."
Author's Note: The Olympics are such a pesky little devil! Waking up early felt like it was all for watching the games. I watched the women's 10m synchronized diving, women's team gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming... _(:зゝ∠)_
My body is completely hollowed out QAQ
Chapter 101 Proposing Marriage
Zhang Yu returned at just the right time, precisely when the imperial physician and Song Shuhao were congratulating each other. He paused for a moment, then a wave of joy washed over him. The happiness he couldn't hide in his eyes and brows fully betrayed his feelings, making it impossible for Zhang Yu to maintain his composure as he usually did in front of others.
The imperial physician was very perceptive; after bowing, he voluntarily withdrew. Although Song Shuhao couldn't see Zhang Yu clearly through the curtain, it didn't prevent her from recognizing him at a glance, nor did it affect her ability to sense his current mood.
Lifting the bed curtains, Ahao saw Zhang Yu walk quickly to the bedside, and Lanfang had already led the palace maids away quietly. She had intended to sit up, but seeing Zhang Yu before her, she gave up the idea.
As Zhang Yu leaned down and reached out to hold her hand, Ahao pulled him down to lie down with her, and the two of them were instantly face to face, very close as they spoke. Zhang Yu placed his palm on Ahao's abdomen, staring at her with a slightly conflicted look in his eyes.
Ah Hao wanted to laugh, so she lowered her voice and asked, "Why is Your Majesty so conflicted?" This child came at the perfect time, neither too early nor too late. At least for now, none of them felt they couldn't give him a good future or take good care of him.
“Hmm, I was just thinking…” Zhang Yu stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence. He looked at Ahao and smiled, a glint of light in his eyes. Then he asked, “Are you planning to leave the palace today? Shall I go with you?” He remembered what Ahao had said, and that was why he had returned so quickly after court.
"Let's do it another day... I have something more important to do today, but I'll have to trouble Your Majesty." Ah Hao recounted the matter concerning Cui'er to Zhang Yu. She should have handled it herself, but considering her pregnancy, she didn't want to get upset, so she decided to let Zhang Yu deal with it, since his people would be able to investigate much faster.
After hearing Ah Hao's words, Zhang Yu frowned for only a moment before telling her not to worry too much and to leave the matter to him. He thought of someone and felt that this way of doing things was very much in line with that person's personality, and immediately felt a chill in his heart.
Ah Hao didn't doubt that he couldn't handle it, so she nodded naturally. Zhang Yu was about to get up to give some instructions, but Ah Hao stopped him instead, saying, "The person has already been locked up and interrogated carefully, Your Majesty doesn't need to be too anxious." She then pulled Zhang Yu aside and started talking about the child.
The two talked about what preparations they should make, the question of whether it would be a boy or a girl, and then about whether Ah Hao would go to the yamen (government office) since she was pregnant. Ah Hao felt that if she didn't have too many discomforts, it wouldn't matter, but Zhang Yu insisted that she should take good care of herself.
Since they couldn't reach an agreement, some arguments were inevitable. However, both of them were very polite, neither raising their voices, and both expressing their thoughts in soft voices. In the end, they both laughed, after all, neither of them had ever argued with anyone like that before.
Ah Hao did not give up and continued to persuade him, "Now that His Majesty has opened up the possibility of women serving as officials, this issue will inevitably be addressed. I am not an exception, so how can it be good if we treat me differently? If a woman cannot serve as an official after becoming pregnant, then what His Majesty did before may not be as meaningful as before."
Girls could marry when they reached the age of fifteen, and most married before the age of twenty. Song Shuhao believed that if a girl became pregnant, she would have to give up the path of becoming an official. This would mean either delaying her marriage, or not daring to have children, or not choosing to become an official, or, to put it more strictly, not marrying at all.
This is clearly not a guarantee at all.
Ah Hao had discussed similar issues with Ling Xiao before. After all, they were women and were more likely to think about these things, but they also had their concerns. Bringing up this issue now that she was pregnant would also give Zhang Yu more to consider.
Knowing her thoughts, Zhang Yu glanced at Song Shuhao slowly. Even among men, few become officials before reaching adulthood, but they can still get married and have children, which will not affect their careers and may even be beneficial.
“It must have been Ling Xiao who mentioned it to you,” Zhang Yu said slowly, then paused for a moment before adding, “I will talk to her about it in detail later, but I also have to consider that they may have given up on this path after having a child.”
"Perhaps, when they choose this path, they will choose to give up marriage and having children, because they also have ambitions in their hearts. There may be few such people now, but who knows how many more will appear in the future?"
Ahao refuted Zhang Yu's words, and then, thinking of the mourning system of the current dynasty, she put forward her own opinion: "Although it is not appropriate to put them together, if we take this as a reference and grant them the opportunity to be reinstated, it would probably be better. There are not too many people who need to worry about this."
Zhang Yu smiled, unable to handle her serious demeanor, and conceded, "In that case, you shouldn't go to the government office for the time being. You should be more cautious for the first three months. If there's anything you haven't finished, tell Ling Xiao and let her arrange it."
Seeing that he had already conceded, Ah-hao did not insist any further, but simply said, "Let's see how things go, that's also an option."
·
The news of Song Shuhao's pregnancy soon reached the ears of Ling Xiao, Prince Ning, Zhang Xin, Xia Mingzhe, and others.
Zhang Xin was due to give birth in about a month. She was so confident in her experience that she wanted to teach Ah Hao herself. If Xia Mingzhe hadn't stopped her, she probably would have gone to the palace as soon as she heard the news.
In comparison, Prince Ning looked at Zhang Xin and Xia Mingzhe, who were about to have their first child, then at Song Shuhao and Zhang Yu, who were ready to become parents, and finally at himself, who was still nameless and without status... He felt heartbroken to the point of suffocation.
"Well, from now on, no one should doubt His Majesty's incompetence." Ignoring the resentful look in Prince Ning's eyes, Ling Xiao commented indifferently after hearing the news, and then said cheerfully, "Try to go to the palace when you have time to take the pulse of our Empress."
“Lord Ling,” the Prince of Ning, who had always been relentless in his pursuit of Ling Xiao, calmly called out to her, even though the accusations had been ignored.
Ling Xiao glanced at him sideways, and Prince Ning said fearlessly, "I also need Lord Ling to take my pulse now." He paused, then explained, "My chest hurts, and I feel like I can't breathe..."
"..." Ling Xiao smiled and looked at him, "Yeah, the weather is quite muggy today."
“Lord Ling, you should be asking me why my chest hurts,” Prince Ning corrected.
"Do you feel hopeless because others can get pregnant but you can't?"
"Heh. I feel sorry for myself." Seeing Ling Xiao's feigned sincerity, he couldn't help but want to pin her down and teach her a lesson in all eighteen different ways! Prince Ning was indignant inside, but responded coldly on the surface.
Ling Xiao: "..." I feel like I've become a scumbag woman again.
Despite his humble and subservient behavior, Prince Ning failed to win Lord Ling's favor. Feeling a bit resentful, Prince Ning unusually did not warm Lord Ling's bed for him that night, as he usually did, and instead returned to his residence on his own.
Ling Xiao, feeling that Prince Ning was becoming increasingly difficult, had no intention of comforting him. After a tiring day, she tidied up and lay down on the bed thinking about her plans for the next day. She wondered if Prince Ning would sneak back in the middle of the night. Soon after, she fell asleep easily.
After waking up, around midnight, Ling Xiao felt thirsty and got out of bed to get a drink. Just as she reached the table, a sharp pain shot through her head. The pain came on suddenly and intensely, making her dizzy. She had to lean on the table to steady herself, but she couldn't and collapsed to the floor.
This hadn't happened in a long time. Her face was cold; she had always thought everything was alright, but she never expected it to happen again. After the pain subsided, a long-lost voice appeared in Ling Xiao's mind. That voice coldly told her, "You took my body. Even if you successfully helped me get revenge, I will still be resentful."