Chapter 147
The crown prince consort gave birth to a daughter.
Many officials felt it was a pity after hearing this. If it was a boy, it would be the first imperial grandchild the crown prince had after he was made the heir apparent. It would be very meaningful and would definitely be doted on by the emperor and crown prince. However, if it was a daughter, it would be hard to say.
Li Yu also heard some similar rumors and didn’t think much of it.
The ancients still favored boys over girls. It was fine as long as he didn’t think so. It didn’t matter if it was a boy or a girl. The little cotton-padded jacket was also very meaningful. She was his and the crown prince’s only daughter.
As for the crown prince himself, Li Yu often saw him holding the little cotton-padded jacket and looking at her for a long time, unwilling to let go because he needed to rest. The crown prince personally took care of everything for the little cotton-padded jacket. How was this not doting? It was clearly because he was afraid she would melt in his mouth.
The crown prince’s doting on his daughter didn’t stop there. When he first learned that Li Yu was pregnant with the cotton-padded jacket, the crown prince prepared many names for his daughter. After his daughter was born, he felt that none of them were suitable. After two days, he still couldn’t decide.
Li Yu felt that the decisive Crown Prince had some difficulty in choosing. In the end, he still went out and picked the two words “Qiongxue” from the thick pile of names. It was all because two days had passed since the little cotton-padded jacket was born. Her slightly red skin had become white and glossy like a beautiful jade. This fairy-like name was very suitable.
After the official name was chosen, the next was the nickname.
Li Yu had thought of it when he hatched the young fish. He wanted Da Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, and Si Bao to pass down the names. The cotton-padded jacket was ranked fifth and was one of the five treasures. However, Li Yu wanted to show off his cute and beautiful daughter. Combined with his daughter’s official name, he simply had his daughter call her “Xue Bao.”
The crown prince said it a few times and liked it very much. Da Bao and the others quickly clapped and called her.
“You will be an older brother in the future. Take good care of Xue Bao, understand?” The father educated his sons.
The children all nodded and took out their favorite toys to give to Xue Bao. Li Yu laughed. There was still a long time before his sister could play with these toys.
When the emperor learned that the crown prince consort had given birth to a daughter, he rewarded her generously. Because Xue Bao had just been born a few days ago and could not leave the house, the Emperor came to the Crown Prince’s residence in plain clothes to see his little granddaughter. This was the first time Li Yu had seen such a thing.
The Emperor suddenly saw the confession engraved on the walls of the manor and glanced at the Crown Prince mockingly. He was much less surprised that the entire manor had been turned into a fish tank.
The Crown Prince carried Bao Xue out and showed it to the Emperor. The Emperor held it and refused to let go. Bao Xue was not afraid of strangers and looked at the Emperor curiously with its dark eyes.
The Emperor was so happy that he gave a piece of warm jade that Empress Xiaohui used to wear to Bao Xue.
In the end, Xue Bao was still a baby. Soon, he would need to drink milk and change diapers. The Emperor personally carried Xue Bao into Qin Shi’s arms and instructed her to be careful.
Li Yu looked at his daughter who was like the moon surrounded by stars and thought of those rumors. He thought that the people outside would not have thought of this.
The Emperor was never stingy with his grandchildren. He bestowed titles to Li Yu and the Crown Prince’s sons. The daughter of the Duke Chengen’s heir and Princess Jinjue was given the title of Junzhu. This time, it was his granddaughter’s turn. Originally, the Crown Prince’s daughter should have been given the title of Junzhu. However, the Emperor felt that this would be the same as the Qinghe Junzhu. In reality, one was a ruler and one was a subject. How could their statuses be the same? The Emperor unreasonably gave Bao Xue the title of Princess.
Since the Crown Prince’s husband had given both a formal name and a nickname, the Emperor did not want to be outdone and took the title. In this dynasty, princesses would usually only be given titles when they were married. The Emperor put it nicely and said that he wanted to pick a title for the little princess first.
The Emperor had also thought about this title for a long time.
The Crown Prince’s daughter, Qiong Xue, would be given the title of Princess Wenhui.
Looking at their infant daughter, Li Yu and the Crown Prince both experienced the bitterness that Ye Qinghuan had mentioned about their daughter’s marriage.
The Crown Prince: “…”
There was the word “Hui” in this title. It was the Emperor’s hope for his granddaughter and also his remembrance of Empress Xiaohui.
Li Yu originally wanted to spoil his daughter like a little princess. When he learned that his daughter had become a real princess, he was speechless.
However, even if the Emperor did not give her the title, her father would be the Emperor in the future. She would have to be a princess sooner or later.
Previously, they thought that Da Bao was a real koi, but the little princess’s luck was not to be outdone.
Because of the Emperor’s willfulness, the strict ministers could not help but argue in court. Bao Xue was a girl and the Crown Prince’s daughter. The Emperor insisted, so they could only accept it.
There were also people who advised the Crown Prince to decline on behalf of his daughter, but the Crown Prince ignored them.
Firstly, this was the Emperor’s goodwill. Secondly, Xiaoyu’s daughter was naturally worthy of the title of princess.
Those who originally wanted to see the Crown Princess in action suddenly realized that even after giving birth to a daughter, the Crown Princess was still endlessly favored.
When it came to Bao Xue’s one-month-old celebration, the Crown Prince’s residence invited more than half of the people in the imperial city. After the celebration, no one dared to say that the little princess was not favored.
Li Yu had the system. Although giving birth was extremely painful, his body recovered very quickly. According to the midwife, it would take a month to recover, but Li Yu was more or less recovered in half a month.
However, he was still forced by the Crown Prince to go through confinement.
The ancients all believed that during confinement, one should not be exposed to the wind, the cold, or bathe. One month after giving birth to little Xue Bao, Li Yu saw that swimming and bathing, which he did not care about in the past, had become a luxury. He had actually recovered a long time ago. The Crown Prince, this cautious demon, actually wanted him to recuperate for a month. How could he endure not touching water for a month?
Li Yu had to turn back into a fish once a day, but the Crown Prince was more accurate than him. Li Yu originally planned to secretly swim in the water when he transformed, but the Crown Prince mercilessly took away his right. The fish tank and crystal bottle were all confiscated, and he was only given a wet handkerchief. If Li Yu flopped on the handkerchief for a while, he would immediately turn back into a human …
After a long time, Li Yu felt that he had been raised into a dirty loach.
He protested more than once about his filth. The Crown Prince consulted the midwife and the imperial physician several times and began to help him wipe his hair and face with a hot handkerchief. However, this was almost useless. It only treated the symptoms and not the root cause.
In order to reassure him, the Crown Prince personally wiped his face for him. Li Yu felt awkward a few times before completely letting go.
In any case, the Crown Prince had seen him in his worst state. There was a row of teeth marks on the back of his hand from when he was in extreme pain. Helping him with confinement was nothing.
Finally, the day of the ban was lifted arrived. Li Yu impatiently dragged the Crown Prince to bathe for a full four hours …
After he was clean, the loach turned back into a refreshed man.
At Xue Bao’s one-month-old celebration, Li Yu wore a crimson brocade robe that matched the Crown Prince’s. Da Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, and Si Bao all wore small gold ornaments with the word “fortune” embroidered on top and fish patterns below. Xue Bao wore a small silk dress dotted with red plum blossoms. She had two small braids on her head and a hair band that matched her dress. She looked like a little fairy that had descended to the mortal world.
When the Crown Prince got a daughter, Duke Chengen’s family came to congratulate him. When the old Duke Chengen’s Ye Qian saw his great-granddaughter, his footsteps became lighter. After carrying Xue Bao, the old Duke Chengen’s Ye Qian smiled and took out an old jade necklace to personally hang around Xue Bao’s neck.
Xue Bao didn’t know anything and accidentally reached out to grab a few strands of Ye Qian’s beard. Ye Qian didn’t get angry. Instead, she made him laugh.
Princess Jinjue and Ye Qinghuan also came with their daughters. When they saw Xue Bao, they praised Li Yu for raising her well.
Princess Qinghe had already started to learn how to walk. She hobbled over to her younger sister and kissed her younger sister’s tender face. Da Bao and the others were very naughty. They pulled out all the flowers in the garden and picked the prettier ones to make garlands for their younger sisters to wear.
Li Yu hated that he didn’t have a camera right now so he couldn’t record this warm scene. Later, when he returned to his room to change, he saw an unfinished painting on the table in the room. It was the scene of the two families meeting. There was a group of cute children and two little girls wearing flowers in the middle. They all had pink, flower-like smiling faces. Although the painting wasn’t finished, it was easy to recognize that it was the Crown Prince’s painting. The Crown Prince was very good at painting. No matter whether it was people or things, they were all very lifelike.
Li Yu loved this painting so much that he couldn’t put it down. He wanted to ask Old Gong for it for his collection. Suddenly, he found that there were words in the corner of the painting. It was already written, “For Xiao Yu.”
So it was painted for him. Li Yu was very pleased. He had accidentally discovered the Crown Prince’s gift for him. It was better to continue pretending that he didn’t know anything.
Li Yu looked around. Other than the unfinished painting on the table, there was also a painting of a family of six fish on the wall.
No, there were now seven fish.
Li Yu suddenly found that there was an extra little koi fish with red dots in the middle of the painting. It was very similar to the pattern on Xue Bao’s clothes today. It was also the Crown Prince’s work.
Although the Crown Prince and Xue Bao were not fish, they still looked like fish in this painting with everyone.
Li Yu looked back and forth between the two paintings and laughed foolishly. Wang Xi called Li Yu outside the room, saying that someone from Marquis Dingbei’s fu had sent a gift and wanted him to give it to the Crown Princess.
Wang Xi’s words sounded a bit strange. There were many people who gave gifts at the one-month-old banquet. Usually, they wouldn’t specifically specify who to receive it. Moreover, Marquis Dingbei’s fu …
Li Yu was already the Crown Princess and was very confused about the dukes and marquises in the Imperial City. The Crown Prince told him to let nature take its course and never forced him to remember.
Marquis Dingbei’s fu. Li Yu felt that it sounded strangely familiar.
The person who Wang Xi was talking about should be someone from Marquis Dingbei’s fu. Why didn’t he have any impression of it?
Li Yu put the painting back and went out to see Wang Xi. Wang Xi was holding a wrapped handkerchief in his hand. Seeing Li Yu come, he opened it layer by layer for Li Yu to see. Inside, there was a pair of delicate and small silver bracelets.
When Wang Xi received this gift, he was also very confused. He was very careful now and wiped the bracelets inside and out several times. He even held them in his pocket for a while. After confirming that there was really no problem, he dared to look for Li Yu.
When Li Yu saw the word “Liang” embroidered on the handkerchief, his heart stirred. So it was her!
No wonder he felt that Marquis Dingbei’s fu was familiar. It was the family of the late Sixth Prince Mu Tianxiao. Mu Tianxiao’s wife, Madam Liang, was coincidentally helped by Li Yu.
Mu Tianxiao’s behavior of holding his first wife hostage caused Madam Liang to give up on her husband and lose the fetus in her womb. Madam Liang had always lived in her maternal home, Marquis Dingbei’s fu. When Mu Tianxiao and Princess Langya joined forces, he never thought of this wife. Fortunately, when the emperor later dealt with Loulan’s power, Marquis Dingbei’s fu, which had a broken relationship with Mu Tianxiao, was not implicated.
When Mu Tianxiao was alive, Madam Liang did not have time to divorce him. After Mu Tianxiao died, Madam Liang became a widow and lived in seclusion in a manor under Marquis Dingbei’s fu. She did not leave the house at all.
When she heard that the crown prince consort gave birth to a daughter and was about to be one month old, she originally wanted to send a blessing gift to express her gratitude to the crown prince consort.
However, she was in mourning and should not appear at the one-month banquet. She was afraid that she would offend the noble, so she could only express her gratitude in this way.
Her child was also a daughter. Because she was useless, she could not keep her child. She hoped that the crown prince consort’s child could be safe forever.
Li Yu put away Madam Liang’s gift. Thinking about Madam Liang’s situation, he felt some sympathy.
When Mu Tianxiao was alive, he did not care about Madam Liang at all. Could it be that he wanted Madam Liang to be a widow after he died?
In terms of age, he heard that Madam Liang was even younger than him. Could it be that she would have to waste her future days as a widow?
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
