Chapter 122
C122 After the the full-moon-birth feast ended, everyone knew that An Wang Fei had given birth to a pair of twins of mixed sex. One of them was named Yan Su, and the other was named Yan Jin.
Crown Princess had been married to the crown prince for six years and had no children. She was depressed and carried Yan Jin as she arrived in front of Yan Tao and asked with a smile: “Your Highness, look how cute this child is.”
Yan Jin had slept for the entire night, and now she finally woke up. She was just as unafraid of living as being serious. Her brother smiled when he saw people, and her eyes were as big as grapes as she stared unblinkingly at him. Her red cherry lips parted to reveal a smile.
Crown Princess then said: “I haven’t seen her smile even once last night, and instead smiled when I see her. It can be seen that this little girl is fated to be Your Highness and likes you.”
When the Crown Prince heard this, he looked over and saw a small, jade-like fellow reaching out his hand towards him with a smile. The little hand that was as white as snow. He couldn’t help but stretch out his hand, and the little guy quickly grabbed one of his index fingers and nibbled at it. It didn’t taste good, so it put it down after taking a few bites. It continued to giggle.
This was the first time Jin had laughed so happily tonight.
Xie Zhen almost stared straight at him, he thought to himself, what’s going on with this guy, could it be that what Crown Princess said was true, that he had some sort of fate with the crown prince?
The first time he had hugged a child was always a little funny, so the Crown Princess taught him in detail from the side, “Hold your head in your hands and shake it lightly …”
The two adults were helpless against a baby. Luckily, with the mama’s reminder, Yan Tao was able to make it after a while. Yan Jin did not cry nor make noise in his embrace, but occasionally let out a few “Ah” sounds. Yan Tao used his free hand to touch her face, it was as tender as water tofu, as if it would shatter upon contact.
Yan Gui opened her small mouth and sneezed, scaring Yan Tao and Crown Princess to the point of stopping.
She looked towards Xie Zhen’s direction, raising her hands wanting to return to Mother’s embrace. Xie Zhen brought the child back and wiped Ah Gen’s face with a handkerchief. “If Second Brother and Second Sister-in-Law likes children, then I should take one myself. The Empress just told me that she wanted to hug this grandson for a long time.”
after the talk. Crown Princess’s face revealed a little awkwardness, he laughed with difficulty: “This cannot be rushed …”
The matter between her and Yan Tao was something only she knew clearly in her heart. The two of them did not love each other and were not active in matters of the bed. Furthermore, she had experienced a cold when she was young. Every next month, when she was not allowed to be pregnant, the doctor also said that it would not be easy for her to conceive. She could only drink the medicine and slowly adjust her condition, but she did not know how long she would need to recuperate.
It was also good to have no children, so they wouldn’t be too worried about each other. They were still two separate people.
Xie Zhen advised her a few more times, but she didn’t take it to heart, and only smiled as she echoed his words. After Xie Zhen left, she turned to look for Yan Tao’s figure, but realised that he had left long ago, and was currently with a few officials.
Ling Xiangwu laughed. She had long gotten used to being like this.
They want a child. It should take a long time, right? It won’t be easy.
The baby was the fastest, three or five days the same. Before Madam Leng was born, she made many small clothes and pants, but because she was not sure if it was a boy or a girl, she made all of them, and now they were all useful. However, the two little fellows had grown up too quickly, especially in a serious manner. Many of their clothes could no longer be worn, and they still needed to find a mama to make another one.
He was only six months old!
Xie Zhen curiously pinched his arm and leg, it looked like a white lotus, “Why do you look so fast? You want to wait for your sister to know? ”
His serious facial features had fully grown, and were no longer the same as when he was born like a monkey. Now, he looked more and more like Xie Zhen. Hearing Xie Zhen’s words, he grinned and hugged Xie Zhen’s neck, “Ahh ahh …” He bit her chin, making her drool. It was obvious that she didn’t understand what he was saying.
Xie Zhen cried out in disgust and picked him up from the ground. He intentionally opened his eyes wide: “You are not allowed to eat my face … …”
He blinked his eyes seriously, clearly not understanding what she meant.
The boy had nothing to do with his name. It was not serious to say that he was serious, but it was a typical example of mischief. Yan Yu bought him several kinds of things, including a windmill, a rattle drum, a Zhong Kui mask, and a cloth tiger. However, in less than three days, it would all be torn apart by him and thrown pitifully to the side.
The cloth tiger was still lying in the corner, covered in filth. It was unknown how he had destroyed it.
Xie Zhen still had more to say, but a stern voice was heard from behind him, “Only Ah’ma can eat her face.”
Yan Yu stood beside the Arhat Bed, with one hand holding his son and the other holding onto a wooden short blade, he sent the blade to Yan Su: “Go play with it.”
The wooden sabre was about the same height as him. He held the sabre as he sat on the Arhat Bed at the side and fiddled with it twice. The sabre hilt fell out of the scabbard and there were even exquisite inscriptions carved on the sabre edge. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was slightly open. He looked extremely surprised.
Xie Zhen asked: “Will you hurt him?”
Yan Yu assured her, “It’s made of wood, and light, so it’s no big deal.”
As a boy, he couldn’t always play with things like kites and cloth tigers. Otherwise, when he grew up, he would become a sissy. It was because of this point that Yan Yu went around looking for something suitable for serious to play with. Seems like he had bought the right wood blade, he hugged it tightly and refused to let go, no longer bothering with Xie Zhen.
Yan Jin slept behind him. After a while, she woke up, turned over, and crawled to Yan Jin’s side.
The two little fellows stared at each other and spoke a bunch of words that the adults couldn’t understand. They even seemed to be happily chatting with each other.
Yan Gui wanted to look at the wooden sabre in his hand, but her serious little hands were tightly covering her as she retreated, not allowing her to look. He didn’t want to let her see it, so Yan Jin insisted. Just as Xie Zhen wanted to persuade her, Yan Jin had already cried from the pursed her lips.
The cries of children would always get infected. One would cry, and the other would cry. Xie Zhen was so anxious that he didn’t know which one he should coax at the moment.
After a while, Yan Jin’s wails gradually stopped. She laid in Yan Yu’s embrace and played with the jade pendant on his waist, no longer crying. Fortunately, Yan Yu was very fair and wouldn’t favor any side. If he brought toys for his son, he would naturally bring a daughter as well. As if performing a magic trick, he took out an empty and exquisite ball from his sleeve. There were two bells inside the ball, and they rang with a crisp sound when they shook. Yan Jin liked hearing voices the most and immediately liked them. With beaming eyebrows and a smile, she imitated Yan Yu and shook the bell twice.
Xie Zhen finally realised what she meant. No wonder she kept hearing the bells, she thought she had heard wrongly … So it turned out that he was the one who had hidden his trump card.
The serious face in her arms gradually stopped crying. She picked up the child and asked with a straight face, “Why aren’t you playing with me for your little sister?”
Being serious at such a young age and knowing how to act coquettishly, he thought that she wouldn’t be angry if he hugged her neck and pretended to be innocent. Xie Zhen was a little soft-hearted, but she still had to say what she needed to say. She pointed at her serious nose and said: “Why aren’t you playing with me for your little sister?”
He did not understand and tilted his head to look at Xie Zhen.
Xie Zhen continued, “Little sister is the person closest to you, you cannot bully her. In the future, when father and mother are gone, the two of you will depend on each other for your lives …”
Before he could finish, Yan Yu glared at him fiercely, “What nonsense are you spouting?”
In his heart, he had always thought that only when he could follow Xie Zhen to the end would his life come to an end.
Xie Zhen laughed mischievously, “There will always be a day like this.” After that, she continued to educate him with seriousness, “You have good things in your hands, you can’t just think about yourself, and your sister wants them as well. Can’t the two of you play with them together? In the future, even if she had something good, she would give it to you. Do you want your younger sister’s bell? ”
Xie Zhen carried him and showed him the Exquisite Ball in Yan Jin’s hands, which issued a series of crisp sounds in Yan Jin’s hands. He was a little tempted, but he knew that he didn’t let his sister play with the wooden sabre just now, so he just looked on, embarrassed to ask for it.
Xie Zhen then tried to put the two little fellows together. Yan Jin was very generous, she handed the Exquisite Ball to her brother to play with, and didn’t mind his actions just now at all.
They had finally made up again.
He didn’t know if’s words were understood seriously, but ever since then, he would think of his sister everything, and whatever his sister wanted, he would give her. He was not stingy at all. He was becoming more and more like an elder brother. Although he was still very mischievous, he still cared for Yan Jin very much. If anyone bullied Yan Jin, he would definitely be very angry.
This year, capital had a total of two snowfall sessions. One was shortly after the start of winter, and the other was on the eve of New Year’s Eve.
In the end, Emperor Yuan Hui didn’t manage to endure through this winter. On New Year’s Eve, she suddenly choked and it was only an hour later that the the old eunuch outside the hall discovered her. It was said that he had left very peacefully with his eyes closed. That night, he was in high spirits and even ate a few dumplings stuffed with fennel, saying that he would go with Empress Wang to the back garden to watch the fireworks. Before he left, he wanted to sleep for a while, so he had Eunuch Gao stand guard outside the hall. The people inside the hall all rushed out, and he silently lay on the dragon bed without a trace of life.
By the time Eunuch Gao discovered this, it was already too late. He knelt by the bed and shouted “Your Majesty!” several times, but no one agreed.
Yan Yu was summoned into the palace overnight to discuss about the affairs of the Emperor Yuan Hui with the crown prince.
Fortunately, everything had been arranged in front of the Emperor Yuan Hui. The Emperor’s Tomb was built on a high slope three hundred miles outside of the city. The women of the harem who had not given birth to children were dismissed, and those who had given birth to princes stayed in the harem to recuperate. Empress Wang and his concubines cried their hearts out. Even though they had already mentally prepared themselves long ago, they still could not accept it.
Grief is grief, but you still have to take care of the rest.
The Emperor Yuan Hui’s coffin stayed in the Palace Xuanshi for seven days before being sent to the Emperor Tomb to be buried.
I’m afraid this year is going to be bad.
All the citizens of the capital must wear white clothes, and must not eat meat or fish, and must not share a room with a husband or wife, and must mourn for the Emperor Yuan Hui for a hundred days. On the day Emperor Yuan Hui was buried, heavy snow suddenly began to fall from the sky. It snowed for an entire day and night, completely covering one’s ankles.
Xie Zhen stood in the in the porch with his cape wrapped around his shoulders and the furnace hidden in his sleeves, waiting for Yan Yu to return home.
It was unknown if such a heavy snowfall would delay the return of his life.
When the sky was about to turn dark, Yan Yu walked out from behind the shadow wall while facing the snow and wind. He was wearing a black fur cloak over a faded robe, and his shoulders were covered with snow. Even his eyebrows were covered with it. Xie Zhen quickly pulled him to the in the porch, took out the handkerchief and wiped his face, “Have you settled the matter?”
Yan Yu nodded. “The father is buried in the Emperor Tomb. With three concubines willing to stay behind, I presume they won’t be lonely.”
Xie Zhen said that would be good, and passed the furnace in his hand to him: “You are warm, is it cold outside?”
Judging from the wind and snow, they probably won’t stop for a short period of time. It had snowed less in the past few days, but now it had accumulated to this day.
Yan Yu didn’t accept it, and directly covered her hands to keep them warm. “Where’s the seriousness and Yan Jin?”
“Sleep in the house. It was very noisy just now. The wet nurse just coaxed them.”
He nodded, thought for a while and said, “The day after tomorrow is second brother’s Imperial Ceremony, I also want to come out, I should be a bit late.” Then, she took Xie Zhen by the shoulder and walked into the house, “Once things have settled down, there’ll be nothing left for me. I’ll take you and the child back to the Qing Zhou.”
Returning to the Qing Zhou to visit Gao Xun was something that they had agreed upon beforehand.
The Second Prince was finally about to ascend to the throne. After the Emperor Yuan Hui passed away, the ministers all wrote to Yan Tao requesting for him to ascend to the throne. Because of Yan Tao’s excessive grief, they postponed it for a few days, and set the date to the day after tomorrow.
Xie Zhen listened and nodded, “Alright then.”
He just faintly felt a sense of unease.
When the Emperor Yuan Hui was still alive, there were many voices in the imperial court supporting Yan Yu. Because of his outstanding battle achievements and abilities, a few people thought that he was more suitable than the Second Prince to retain the throne, and humbly requested that the Emperor Yuan Hui abolish the crown prince and change him to the sixth prince. Now that Yan Tao was about to ascend the throne, the days of those people were not easy, they should be regretting it at home.
I wonder if Yan Tao will deal with them?
Xie Zhen carried on with his thoughts and walked into the house absent-mindedly.
That shouldn’t be the case… Isn’t the relationship between the crown prince and Big Brother Xiao Yu good? Aren’t they the same people?
Just as she was thinking, the wet nurse suddenly stumbled in and knelt on the ground, saying anxiously, “Prince, Princess, the young princess is missing!”