Chapter: 160 out of 171
The receiving room was crowded with guests that were as numerous as the clouds. Marquis Guang Xin was warmly welcoming Zhao Jie, who was sitting in the highest seat. He held up his wine cup and fawningly said, “A toast to Prince Jing. This household has been greatly honored by the prince’s presence today.”
Zhao Jie turned the wine cup in his hand and smiled with waning interest, “The marquis is too polite. This prince only came here to accompany the princess consort.”
The implication of these words was that he could care less about Marquis Guang Xin. If it weren’t because of his princess consort, he wouldn’t have come here.
Marquis Guang Xin’s old face stiffened. He smiled with embarrassment and said, “The prince and princess consort are truly a harmonious and affectionate couple.” But, in his mind he thought, this Prince Jing was exactly as rumors had described him, very difficult to get along with. He had originally planned on seeking refuge with this prince. He had hoped that Zhao Jie would look after his descendants in the future for him, but right now, this matter seemed like it was a thorny problem.
Zhao Jie didn’t express an opinion. He raised his wine cup and drank the wine in one gulp. Looking at the sky, it was time to leave more or less. He wanted to say his goodbyes and leave with Wei Luo. He originally hadn’t wanted Wei Luo to come to this one-month-old birthday.
Although the marquis’s family had Chen as their last name, this family didn’t have much contact with Empress Chen. Old Marquis Guang Xin and Empress Chen’s paternal grandfather had split their families several decades ago. Up to this day, the two families rarely interacted with each other. Even Empress Chen wasn’t happy with Marquis Guang Xin’s attempt at using old family connections to curry favor. When Marquis Guang Xin’s attempts had reached Zhao Jie, Zhao Jie didn’t even want to bother with dealing with this.
Zhu Geng came inside through the doorway. His expression looked complicated as he walked to Zhao Jie’s side. He leaned over and whispered a few words.
Zhao Jie’s face immediately sunk. He stood up and said, “Bring this prince over there.”
Marquis Guang Xin followed behind them. Not understanding the situation, he asked, “Your Highness, what happened?”
Zhao Jie wasn’t in the mood to pay attention to him. He hastened his steps towards the back of the residence.
Marquis Guang Xin, who had been left behind, had a head full of sweat. His line of sight met the confused gazes of the remaining guests. He smiled as he apologized to the other guests, then he also left the receiving room. Just as he arrived at the doorway, a servant had hurriedly rushed over here and whispered a few words into his ears.
Shortly afterwards, Marquis Guang Xin’s face paled and he hurriedly said, “Hurry and bring this marquis over there to see.”
The servant led him towards the back of the residence.
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Wei Luo unhurriedly woke up inside a guest room. She leaned against a large, decorative pillow as she slowly returned to her senses and remembered what happened before she fainted. She raised her eyes and looked in the direction of the bedside. First young madam Huang-shi was standing near the bed. Wei Bao Shan was standing in front of a cabinet. That second young master had disappeared. He was probably hiding. Jin Lu and Bai Lan were keeping watch and standing by the bedside. As soon as they saw that she had woken up, they hurriedly called out, “Your Highness, you’re finally awake.”
Seeing that Wei Luo had woken up, Huang-shi let out a sigh in relief. She walked forward and said, “Your Highness, you suddenly fainted and wouldn’t wake up. This one has already ordered people to summon a doctor. The doctor will be here soon. Your Highness, are you feeling unwell?”
Other than feeling a bit dizzy, Wei Luo felt fine. Wei Luo thought of how Wei Bao Shan had bumped into her before she fainted and furrowed her eyebrows. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Marquis Guang Zin and second young madam Lin-shi enter the room. They looked very nervous. As soon they came inside, they kneeled down in front of Wei Luo,
Second young madam Lin-shi said, “This one hadn’t shown enough care towards this princess consort and caused the princess consort to be startled. Your Highness, please forgive me.”
Wei Luo rubbed the spot between her eyebrows. She felt like she was getting a headache just from seeing a roomful of people kneeling. “You may all rise.”
Marquis Guang Zin and second young madam Lin-shi led the group of servant girls to stand up. Before they had regained stable footing, they heard a servant girl from outside say, “Greetings Prince Jing.”
House Chen’s members looked at each other in dismay. They could see the terror in each other’s faces. What must come will definitely come.
A moment later, Zhao Jie strode into the inner room with stormy eyebrows. His expression was grave and stern. Although he wasn’t angry yet, his imposing manner still frightened the people in the room. He didn’t speak and only swept a chilly gaze across the group of people.
The group of people, who had recently stood up, felt their knees softening as they kneeled down again. They were trembling as they said, “Greetings Prince Jing.”
Zhao Jie ignored them and directly walked to Wei Luo’s bedside. He held her hand and said, “I heard from Zhu Geng that you fainted. What happened?”
Wei Luo said, “I don’t know what happened either. I’ve been feeling lightheaded all day.”
By the bedside, Bai Lan couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Her eyes were red as she said in an extremely angry tone, “Your Highness, there’s something that you don’t know. The princess consort was originally perfectly fine. But, after Honored Concubine Wei bumped her into, she fell to the ground and fainted.
Zhao Jie looked at her. There was a deep furrow between his eyebrows. As he considered her words, he slowly said, “Honored Concubine Wei?”
Aware that the situation was taking a bad turn for her, Wei Bao Shan came forward on her knees. With her head touching the ground, she said, “It’s this concubine’s fault for bumping into Princess Consort Jing. Your Highness, Prince Jing, please punish me.”
She would have never expected that Wei Luo would be that delicate. She had only lightly bumped into her and Wei Luo had ended up fainting. If she had known that bumping into her would cause such a huge disturbance, she would have controlled her anger and wouldn’t have openly done anything towards Wei Luo.
While thinking of Zhao Jie reputation, she nervously explained, “This concubine was recently diagnosed with pregnancy and has frequently felt dizzy. This concubine suddenly felt dizzy when I walked past the princess consort and unexpectedly bumped into the princess consort. Your Highnesses, please forgive this concubine.”
“Really?” Zhao Jie lifted his lips without changing his expression and spat out ruthless words, “If anything happens to this prince’s princess consort, then you don’t need to keep your unborn baby either. Since it constantly causes you to feel dizzy, you might as well lose it.”
Wei Bao Shan’s face became deathly pale. She looked at Zhao Jie in dismay and shock.
However, Zhao Jie didn’t seem to feel that his words were ruthless, much less seem as if he was joking. He indifferently looked away from her and clutched Wei Luo’s hand in his palm as if he was holding a precious treasure. When he was looking at Wei Luo, his behavior was completely different from his earlier severe coldness.
After the time it would take to burn an incense stick, a doctor finally arrived. Everyone in the room was quietly sweating. They desperately hoped that the princess consort was okay. Otherwise, no one in their residence would be able to ensure that their lives would be kept.
After seeing that there were many people kneeling in the room, the doctor knew that the person on the bed had a very high status. He didn’t dare to be negligent. He mustered up all of his mental energy to check Wei Luo’s pulse. A moment later, the doctor furrowed his eyebrows. Soon after, he moved his hand away and checked the pulse on her right arm. He was afraid of making a mistake and misdiagnosing.
With furrowed eyebrows, Zhao Jie asked, “Do you have a clear diagnose yet?”
A while later, the doctor finally withdrew his hand and asked Wei Luo, “Madam, have you been feeling excessively sleepy lately?”
Not understanding why he was asking this question, Wei Luo said, “I have been sleeping more than usual.” She had thought it was because the weather had become colder. In previous years, she would also feel sleepy once the temperature had become colder, so she didn’t think much of this.
Unexpectedly, the doctor suddenly smiled. He stood up, cupped his hands, and said to Zhao Jie and Wei Luo, “Congratulations, you two. Madam has a pregnancy pulse. However, it’s only half a month old, so the pulse isn’t obvious and it took longer to diagnose.”
As soon as he said these words, the room became utterly still in an instant. Wei Luo blinked. Not believing her ears, she asked to confirm, “Doctor, what did you say? Say it again.”
The doctor patiently repeated with a smile, “To respond to madam, you’ve already been pregnant for half a month.”
The group of people in the room could finally stop worrying. Not only was the princess consort okay, she had been diagnosed with pregnancy. This was an extremely joyful and happy occasion. Their lives were also safe now.
However, the doctor’s following words abruptly turned the mood around, “Madam’s pulse isn’t stable. It seemed as if the fetus has been agitated. To prevent any accidents in the future, madam should be more careful.”
Wei Luo’s mood had rapidly risen and fallen. But, hearing the doctor say that it would be fine as long as she took care of herself in the future, she let go of her worries. Her smile became bigger and bigger. She nodded at everything the doctor said and ordered Jin Lu to pay three times the normal fee before sending the doctor away.
After the doctor left, Marchioness Guang Xin and the two young madams came forward to congratulate Wei Luo. Wei Luo acknowledged their congratulations one by one.
Because there were many people in the room, it was very noisy even with people only saying a few sentences at a time.
By the bedside, Zhao Jie finally returned to his senses and ordered everyone to leave the room. He didn’t forget to order Zhu Geng, “Watch that honored concubine.” He was referring to Wei Bao Shan.
Zhu Geng acknowledged his order.
Almost instantly, everyone else in the room had left. Zhao Jie and Wei Luo were the only two people left in the room. Zhao Jie down at the bedside and looked Wei Luo’s smiling face.
Wei Luo was brightly smiling. She wasn’t able to suppress showing her happiness. She pulled Zhao Jie’s hand over and placed it on her flat abdomen. “Big brother, we have a child. See, it wasn’t a waste of effort to eat three months of herbal supplements.”
There was a smile on Zhao Jie’s lips. He gently stroked her face, “En. It wasn’t a waste to eat them.” They had fed their child until it finally came. His young girl’s efforts hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Wei Luo giggled, “I’m pregnant.”
Zhao Jie stretched his long arm out and brought her into his arms. He felt tender affection for Wei Luo and joy for their unborn child.