At this time, a fish was brought to the table. When Cheng Yujin was about to take a bite, she was suddenly overwhelmed with nausea. The nausea came quickly and suddenly. What Cheng Yujin could do was hurriedly cover her mouth and turn to the side before she started retching.
This sudden turn of events terrified everyone. The servant girl who brought the fish suddenly felt her knees soften. She fell to the floor and kept kowtowing fearfully, “It’s not this servant! This servant didn’t do anything!”
However, no one had the mind to care about a mere servant girl. Everyone stood up one after another and looked at Cheng Yujin nervously. Fortunately, several of the guests at the table had the experience of pregnancy. One of the madams of the Xu family seemed to guess something and said tentatively: “Fish naturally smells fishy. The Crown Princess became nauseous after the fish was brought out. Could it be…”
Cheng Yujin really didn’t expect to be exposed so quickly. At this moment, half of the people at the banquet hall stopped their chopsticks and looked at Cheng Yujin without moving. Cheng Yujin managed to hold back her nausea and nodded with a pale face: “Yes, it has been three months.”
The fact that she was pregnant couldn’t be hidden for long. Her belly was getting bigger day after day, and soon after, the matter would be known to the public. She might have the option to deny it for the time being, but under the scrutinizing gazes of so many people, it would be a futile act.
She might as well admit it. Anyway, she only exposed that she was pregnant. As for the fact that she was pregnant with twins, she had to keep it secret for as long as possible.
Eldest Madam Xu couldn’t hold back her surprise and exclaim loudly. She was both happy and shocked, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say. “Oh, Crown Princess, you and Crown Prince are really…a bit too cautious. It’s been three months, so why haven’t you told us sooner? What a joyous event!”
Cheng Yujin could only laugh and calmly accept the deluge of congratulations, as if everything was according to her plan.
But in fact… it was not her intention, and she was helpless too.
The news that Crown Princess had been pregnant for three months immediately spread around the wedding banquet like a forest fire. It was happy news for everyone. On the one hand, the fetus in Cheng Yujin’s belly was the Crown Prince’s first child, which importance was that of the national affairs. On the other hand, pregnancy was good news in any family, and the fact that it was discovered during a wedding banquet made it a double joy. Naturally, everyone wanted to take a dip in the good fortune, and for the rest of the wedding banquet, all the guests rushed to congratulate Cheng Yujin, even ignoring the new Shou Wangfei Dou Xiyin, who was supposed to be the real protagonist today.
Empress Yang spent a lot of money and effort on the Second Prince’s wedding. But in the end, all the people remembered was that the Crown Princess was pregnant. In such a sudden turn of events, all the limelight was snatched away from Dou Xiyin.
The next day, Dou Xiyin went to the palace to meet her aunt, who was now her mother-in-law. All the time, she poured all the complaints and aggrievance to Empress Yang: “Aunt, I think she did it on purpose. Otherwise, three months have passed, yet she didn’t announce it sooner and made it exposed during my wedding. She must be deliberate!”
Empress Yang also felt aggrieved, but more than the matter of losing face, the Crown Princess’s pregnancy was a great threat to her and her son.
Li Chengjing returned to his identity fully prepared. In the past year and a half, his reputation grew steadily, and he had never made mistakes since he entered the court. He also perfectly finished various errands one after another, which made him very popular among the grass-root officials. Nowadays, whenever the Crown Prince was mentioned in the court, he was met with unanimous praises.
The only blemish in the Crown Prince’s otherwise perfect reputation was the fact that he had yet to have a child. To put it bluntly, the matter of the Crown Prince’s heir directly related to the stability of the country. If Li Chengjing remained childless for a long time, his position as the Crown Prince would gradually falter.
But now, Cheng Yujin was pregnant. Moreover, the news came out only after she had already passed the most dangerous first trimester. This made Empress Yang very depressed. Both the husband and wife in the Eastern Palace were too cunning. On top of that, they were also good strategists and very cautious in their actions. What could she do then?
During the first trimester, they hid the news of the pregnancy from the public because they were afraid that the child would be harmed. Empress Yang could understand the logic. If they claimed that they hid the news for fear that the attention might disturb the child’s fortune, Empress Yang could barely understand it. But now, three months had passed, yet they were still trying to hide it. If Cheng Yujin didn’t feel nauseated because of the fishy smell, who knew when the outsiders would finally know the truth?
No matter what the reason, they were too cautious, right?
Now, the people in the palace finally understood Empress Yang’s mood at the moment, as they were also made very speechless by the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess. For weak concubines with no backers, it was understandable if they didn’t dare to publicize their pregnancy for fear of being harmed, but why did the Crown Prince and Crown Princess do the same? Did the couple have some misunderstanding about the inner palace’s combat power?
Empress Yang was very conflicted at this moment. Seeing that Empress Yang’s mood didn’t seem good, Dou Xiyin didn’t dare to make too much fuss and quickly stopped crying. She then said: “Aunt, they dare to do this clearly because they have no respect for you. Now that they have yet to make a formal announcement, there is still time to take action. Aunt, why don’t you use this opportunity to send a few spies to the Eastern Palace?”
Spies? Yang Empress stared at Dou Xiyin and said sullenly: “Do you think This Palace has never tried it? But all the people were dealt with before they could even do anything. This Palace has wasted a lot of manpower.”
Dou Xiyin lowered her voice and said, “Then let’s just send a proper spy that Cheng Yujin can’t dispose of in private.”
“You mean…”
“Crown Princess is currently the only woman in the Eastern Palace. Previously, it was excusable for the sake of di-born heirs. But now that the Crown Princess is pregnant, she can no longer serve the Crown Prince in bed. It is time to fill the Eastern Palace with more people.”
T/N:
Tuesday’s late chapter
