Chapter 111: The Spicy Ninth Princess Consort 8

In early May, Su Huandan summoned Imperial Physician Song to take her pulse, and the Ninth Prince soon learned that his Fujin was pregnant.

“Ninth Brother, congratulations on becoming an Ama.” The Tenth Prince patted his Ninth Brother’s shoulder, looking quite envious.

Before the end of last year, the Ninth Prince’s Fujin had suffered a miscarriage; after the New Year, the Tenth Prince’s own Fujin had also miscarried. The Tenth Prince truly felt that he and his Ninth Brother were brothers in misfortune.

Now, it seemed the clouds had cleared for his Ninth Brother to see the moon again, as Ninth Sister-in-law was pregnant once more.

As for his own Fujin…

She would need more than half a year just to recover her health. If he wanted a Legitimate Son, he still had a long wait ahead of him.

The Ninth Prince now felt a sense of rejuvenation, completely forgetting his cold war with his Fujin. He headed straight back to the Princes’ Quarters and rushed to the Main Courtyard.

The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he heard his Fujin’s voice calling out with great vigor: “Pack that pair of vases separately as well. Remember to send them out of the palace to Prince Jian’s manor tomorrow. Everyone work hard today and get all the gifts for this month packed up. We don’t want to be scrambling when the time comes; haste leads to mistakes.”

She was arranging matters?

Didn’t she know she was pregnant?

Could the servants really mess up these tasks if left to their own devices?

“I’m just bored and looking for something to do. Why do you have so much to say? You’re back quite early today. What is it? Do you need something from me?” Su Huandan glanced at the Ninth Prince and continued looking down at her “work log.”

Heh, Su Huandan had simply recorded and organized a year’s worth of social visits and gift exchanges. By doing so, she had completely mapped out the intricate interpersonal relationships of the imperial family.

The Ninth Prince pursed his lips. The way his Fujin spoke to him was always so stifling, marked by a look of extreme impatience. She really didn’t care for him at all!

“I just heard the news that you’re expecting, so I came back to see you. Anyway, let the servants handle the work. You don’t need to exhaust yourself like this.” He had a sheepish expression on his face.

Only then did Su Huandan lift her eyelids to glance at the Ninth Prince. “I know. That’s why I’m just sitting here using my mouth. What exactly are you trying to say?”

How tiring could it be to just talk?

The Ninth Prince knew his Fujin didn’t think much of him, but for the sake of her pregnancy, he felt he could indulge her a little.

He sat down right beside her, and a quick-witted servant nimbly served tea and pastries.

The tea was fine – it was all tribute tea and tasted the same.

But as soon as he tasted a pastry, he knew it was left over from yesterday.

The Ninth Prince’s face darkened again. He reached out and swept the pastries onto the floor.

A piece of pastry hit Su Huandan’s knee. It was Sachima – greasy and sticky. A large oil stain immediately appeared on her moon-white cheongsam. Su Huandan’s face darkened as well.

She particularly liked this cheongsam, both for its color and its embroidery. It had taken the embroiderers two months to finish this garment, and now it was ruined. What a waste.

“What kind of madness are you throwing now? My life is better when you don’t come back. The moment you return, you look for trouble. What’s the matter? You really don’t want to live this life anymore, do you?” Su Huandan snapped at him immediately.

At this moment, the Ninth Prince felt truly wronged. His Fujin didn’t even ask for the reason before blaming him?

“These pastries are left over from yesterday! What? I have never eaten overnight pastries in my life. Am I not even allowed to lose my temper?” The Ninth Prince’s tone was laced with grievance.

Su Huandan sneered. “What’s wrong with overnight pastries? I ordered too many yesterday and didn’t finish them. If I don’t eat them today, they’ll go to waste. Do you know how many people outside can’t even afford pastries? Go ask around the world what an overnight pastry looks like; how many commoners have ever even seen one?”

After saying that, she grabbed a piece of pea cake and stuffed it into her mouth. It wasn’t as delicious as when it was fresh out of the steamer, but it wasn’t at the point where it needed to be thrown away.

Hearing this speech, the Ninth Prince felt a heavy blockage in his chest. He stood up and ran off again.

This time, Nanny Yao, who served in the Main Courtyard, felt compelled to offer some advice: “Fujin, I know you have been unhappy, but if you and the Prince are always at odds like this, living your lives in such a strained way is quite meaningless.”

There were so many elders watching from above. Right now, the Ninth Prince was in the wrong, so it didn’t matter if the Fujin acted this way. However, by the end of this year at the latest, if she still dared to anger the Ninth Prince into running away at every turn, the Empress Dowager would likely call her in for a talk.

Nanny Yao had spent more than half her life surviving in the palace to summarize this truth.

You cannot reason with the imperial family.

Su Huandan nodded to show she had taken the lesson to heart. Nanny Yao’s words were well-intentioned, and it wasn’t that she couldn’t listen. It was just that seeing the Ninth Prince made her irritable in every possible way. Now that she was pregnant, her temper was even hotter. Besides, hadn’t she gotten used to snapping at the Ninth Prince since her reincarnation? It was a bit hard to change her tone now.

Just wait. Once they moved out of the palace in August, the Prince’s Manor would be large. She could live her life behind closed doors. If they saw less of each other, there wouldn’t be so many conflicts.

Su Huandan’s thoughts were pleasant, but as it turned out, though the Ninth Prince had left in a huff during the day, he returned at night.

He intended to sleep in the Main Courtyard.

“Then go sleep on the warm couch opposite. Otherwise, I won’t have enough room to stretch out.” As soon as Su Huandan finished speaking, the servants in the room all dropped to their knees.

The Ninth Prince sneered. “Fine, you’re really something. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re pregnant and I’m worried, do you think I’d be happy to sleep in the same room as you?”

Lying sideways on the warm couch, the Ninth Prince kept his eyes open, unable to sleep. Was he really that annoying?

His Fujin wasn’t even willing to sleep with him?

Being despised every day, the Ninth Prince originally thought he would be driven half to death by anger, but as he stayed angry, he eventually got used to it.

When he went to pay his respects to his mother, she asked, “Have you still not reconciled with your Fujin? I heard she’s still constantly snapping at you.”

Consort Yi felt her son deserved it, but seeing it continue like this, she felt her daughter-in-law was going too far. It was just that it wasn’t appropriate for her to interfere, which was why she had stayed out of it.

Sure enough, staying out of it had been the right choice. She had clearly asked out of concern for her younger son, but the ungrateful boy didn’t appreciate it: “Mother, what do you know? My Fujin picking fights with me is just our way of flirting as a couple.”

He dropped those words and ran off.

Consort Yi’s face turned white with rage. She asked her trusted nanny, “This brat deserves to be handled by his wife. Listen to that – is that even human speech? I never became Empress, which must have really slighted this little brat, for him to actually say I don’t understand the flirting between a husband and wife.”

Indeed, your mother is just a palace consort, a concubine who never spent a single day as a primary wife and understands nothing of such things. You little brat, if I ever meddle in the affairs of you and your Fujin again, your mother is a total fool.

Consort Yi said she wouldn’t interfere, and she truly meant it.

She had never dared to meddle in her eldest son’s inner manor. Her eldest son had been raised by the Empress Dowager, and as long as the Empress Dowager lived, Consort Yi had no authority over his household. Even though she knew her eldest son favored his concubines to the point of neglecting his wife, and she watched as her eldest daughter-in-law’s heart grew colder by the day until their marital discord was set in stone, she couldn’t say a single word no matter how anxious she felt. If she did, the Empress Dowager would surely go to the Emperor in tears.

In the end, neither she nor her son would come out of that situation well.

Now, she simply decided not to bother with her younger son either. She would just wait and see what kind of pathetic lives these two bastards would manage to lead.

That being said, Consort Yi never wavered in giving her two daughters-in-law the respect they deserved. Every few days, she would bestow fabrics or jewelry upon them to signal that she held them in high regard.

Before long, Consort Yi had successfully established herself as a model mother-in-law!

The mother-in-law was excellent, and the daughters-in-law were wonderful; it was just that the sons were both complete scoundrels.