Cheng Yujin’s contraction began late at night. Once the night servants were alerted, the main hall immediately lit up again. Lian Qiao quickly ran out, not even bothered to tidy her clothes as she shouted, “Go and call the midwives! Also, run to the kitchen and tell them to boil water. The Crown Princess is about to give birth!”
This cry startled the whole Eastern Palace, then rippled layer by layer, awakening the entire inner palace. In an instant, the news spread to every corner of the palace.
The Crown Princess was about to give birth.
Cheng Yujin was in so much pain that she almost fainted. She opened her eyes suddenly in the middle of the night, startled awake by the contraction pain, and immediately noticed the wetness under her body. Knowing that it was the amniotic fluid, she immediately called out. Fortunately, Li Chengjing’s sleep was very light lately, and he woke up as soon as Cheng Yujin made a movement. Li Chengjing quickly alerted the servants and afterward, had Cheng Yujin moved to the specially-prepared delivery room. So many figures went in and out of Cheng Yujin’s vision, and the pain was so great that she couldn’t tell who was who.
The pain seemed to be endless. It was said that giving birth was not hard, because every woman had to go through the same experience. However, only those who had gone through it would know how painful giving birth was.
In the end, Cheng Yujin fell into a trance. She remembered that her contraction began in the middle of the night, but the sky outside was almost bright now, approaching dawn. All kinds of shouts went in and out of Cheng Yujin’s ears, some from the midwives and some from the palace servants.
Cheng Yujin remembered the time when she gave birth in her previous life. It was also difficult then. Now that she was carrying twins, the difficulties were doubled.
In a trance, she vaguely saw a hazy figure. She couldn’t see the person’s face clearly, but a mysterious voice in her mind told her that this was the child from her previous life.
In Cheng Yujin’s previous life, she fought hard to give birth to her and Huo Changyuan’s child, but she didn’t even have the chance to see the baby’s face before losing her life. Later, the child was brought up by Cheng Yumo. Because Huo Changyuan favored this second wife, she soon gave birth to a new di son. The eldest child, who lacked attention since childhood, was timid by nature and grew up into a useless nobody.
Huo Changyuan became increasingly disappointed with this eldest son of his and finally decided to take away the child’s status as the shizi. Soon afterward, the child got drunk late at night and fell into the lake, ending his short life.
Cheng Yujin heard the figure scream at her in a shrill voice, “How can you be so selfish! You climb the ranks when you meet the Crown Prince, becoming the Crown Princess and giving up the child from your previous life. Have you ever thought that your selfish decision would completely erase the child’s existence?!”
…
It was now winter. The nightfall of the eleventh month was extremely cold, and Huo Changyuan had been training all day in the cold wind. Even the army was implicated in the Senior Grand Secretary Yang’s incident, causing Huo Changyuan to be exhausted physically and mentally. He returned home in exhaustion, thinking he could finally take a breath, but found that the whole manor was deadly silent.
Huo Changyuan went to see his mother first, only to see Huo Xue-shi sitting with a cold face. Seeing her son was back, she said sarcastically, “Raising a son is truly a loss-making effort. If I raised a daughter, she would at least know to take care of her parents. Unlike a son — even if I dug out my heart and lungs for him, he only cares about his wife and forgets about his mother.”
Huo Changyuan was helpless, so but he still tried his best to placate his mother. After a while, Huo Xue-shi finally turned to her son and began to ramble about Cheng Yumo, badmouthing the latter endlessly. No one could be in a good mood listening to someone pouring out negative energy, even if that person was his own mother. Huo Changyuan grew even more tired as a result. He returned to his courtyard, only to find the main room was pitch black.
Huo Changyuan suddenly became annoyed. He already knew what he was about to face even before entering, which greatly irritated him.
Sure enough, Cheng Yumo was sitting in the dark room, sobbing. Seeing Huo Changyuan return, Cheng Yumo didn’t get up to greet him, but turned her back and cried even louder.
Huo Changyuan had just dealt with Huo Xue-shi and no longer had any extra energy to deal with Cheng Yumo. Exhausted beyond belief, he sat down and poured himself a cup of tea, only to find it was cold.
Huo Changyuan was already angry, but he reluctantly held back his temper and asked, “What’s this time?”
The phrase ‘this time’ seemed to hit Cheng Yumo’s sore spot, and she burst out suddenly. She turned around and shouted in a shrill voice, “What’s the matter with me? I am just a shrew and is not a match with the honorable and gentlemanly Lord Marquis. If you dislike me, then get out of here!”
Huo Changyuan had just returned home and was already yelled at by his wife. He really had the urge to turn around and leave, but he knew the situation would only worsen if he left now. After all, the root of the matter lay in him.
Huo Changyuan suppressed his temper and said, “I’m just asking nicely. Why do you have to explode like a cannonball? Speak well if you have something to say.”
“Of course it’s all my fault. I have neither the appearance of a fairy nor the talent of a virtuous wife. I lost my child, my body was damaged, and I haven’t conceived again after so long. I am already a crippled woman. I am not a beauty, my personality is not great, and I don’t know how to please others. Why does Marquis still keep me? Just send me back to my natal home with a letter of divorce so that we can have a clean and neat break. Like this, I can be carefree again, free from this land of suffering.”
Angered by the outburst, Huo Changyuan said coldly, “In your eyes, marrying into my Huo family is actually stepping into the land of suffering? Since you think so, I don’t dare to keep the honorable second miss Cheng for longer. You may return to the place where you can be carefree again.”
Cheng Yumo’s momentum suddenly weakened. She had no intention of getting a divorce and only deliberately said so to make Huo Changyuan soften. How could she expect that he would actually tell her to leave!
< Advanced TOC >
T/N:
After having a bunch of fighting old geezers getting in the way of us and CYJ’s baby, now we have another distraction in the form of our ‘favorite’ couple *sighed exasperatedly*
