Chapter 73: The Old Prince Next Door 26

Prince Chen saw the unfriendly look in the Princess Consort’s eyes and immediately changed his tune.

“I like them both, I like them both! Don’t you know me? What I lack most is children, and what I love most is also children. I was just too happy and used the wrong words, used the wrong words.” Please, stop being angry.

After a long time of coaxing, Su Huandan finally gave him a smile. If she didn’t, she feared this man would nag her to death.

During her first pregnancy, there had been a massive amount of rewards from the palace, arriving like a flowing stream. This pregnancy didn’t have such a grand display, but several imperial physicians were sent over.

Everyone said: The Princess Consort of Chen is no longer young, and getting pregnant at this age is very dangerous. More imperial physicians must be provided to ensure she has a safe delivery!

“Isn’t that the truth? We just met too late. If we had met ten years earlier, just think, wouldn’t we be grandparents by now? You really aren’t young anymore, so you must listen to the physicians. Give birth to the child safely. As long as you are fine and the child is fine, I will be chanting Amitabha in gratitude.” As Prince Chen spoke, Su Huandan’s face grew darker.

The older he got, the less he knew how to speak. Who was old?

Say it clearly!

“Me, me, me! I’m so much older than you. I’m the old one, I’m the old one!” Prince Chen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He had finally learned his lesson: no matter a woman’s age, you can never tell her she’s old.

Pregnancy was actually not difficult for Su Huandan; she could eat, drink, and sleep well.

In contrast, Prince Chen’s reaction was quite severe.

One day he couldn’t eat chicken, the next day he wanted to vomit at the smell of fish. The day after that, just as Su Huandan mentioned wanting roasted mutton, Prince Chen threw up violently.

Su Huandan: …

I feel like you’re targeting me. Is this your way of telling me not to eat?

Is it really okay to be this disgusting?

Prince Chen was simply nervous. From the moment he found out the Princess Consort was pregnant with this child, he had been incredibly anxious, unable to eat or sleep.

“I really didn’t do it on purpose. You go ahead and eat; I’ll go to the front courtyard to eat alone.” After saying that, he hurried away.

Young Imperial Physician Wang came on duty. After taking Prince Chen’s pulse, he said, “Your Highness, what… exactly are you nervous about? The Princess Consort’s health is excellent, there isn’t a single problem. She’s healthier than pregnant women in their twenties. You really don’t need to be so worried.”

So worried he couldn’t eat or sleep; if people didn’t know better, they would think Prince Chen was the one pregnant.

But it didn’t matter who spoke to him; nothing worked until Su Huandan called their eldest son, Gousheng, back to accompany his father for a meal. The father and son had a chat, and after the eldest son returned to the Eastern Palace, Prince Chen finally lay down and slept for a day and a night. When he woke up, he was back to normal.

“Princess Consort, what would you like to eat?” Prince Chen had returned to being that nagging and gluttonous Prince Chen.

What to eat?

Today she wanted teppanyaki beef.

And so, while constantly pondering what to eat, Su Huandan reached the time for delivery.

Holding her breath, she gave birth to a chubby daughter. She really was a chubby daughter; her build was a size larger than her brother’s had been at birth.

“This girl is so fat she can’t even open her eyes.” Prince Chen spoke words of mock disdain, but his face was full of smiles.

He now had both a son and a daughter. With a broken body like his, to be able to have another daughter in his old age meant his life was truly complete.

Prince Chen hugged his daughter briefly before quickly placing her beside the Princess Consort. Looking at his wife’s sleeping face, his gaze was incredibly tender.

The best thing he had ever done in his life was marrying the Princess Consort.

Five years later, Prince Chen looked at the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes in the mirror. There really were wrinkles now. He was fifty-two this year; although his hair was still dark and shiny, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were visible.

Su Huandan was still as young and beautiful as when Prince Chen first saw her. Time seemed to never linger on her.

“What is your father doing? He’s been stuck in there for ages without coming out.” Su Huandan was already prepared. Today, the family of three was going to Huangjue Temple outside the city to offer incense and pray for blessings. This was a family activity Prince Chen had established after their eldest son, Gousheng, joined the army to go on an expedition to the Northwest at the beginning of the year.

They went once every five days. The family of three had to go, regardless of wind or rain; as long as the carriage could travel, they had to go.

The little daughter, with her short legs, scurried to the door of her parents’ bedroom. Leaning against the doorframe, she tilted her body to look inside and saw her father looking in the mirror.

She turned back and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Father is looking in the mirror and being vain!”

Prince Chen: …

This is my own daughter, I can’t hit her.

Su Huandan burst out laughing and called out, “Your Highness, that face of yours still beats everyone else in your age group. Why are you being so dramatic? When people get older, they should just age. You already look young enough.”

Prince Chen grew frantic. What was she saying in front of their daughter?

No wonder the girl, since learning to talk, often called him “Vain Daddy.” It was all because the Princess Consort talked nonsense to the girl all day long.

“Hush now, let’s go quickly. Don’t waste time; our son is still risking his life in the Northwest.” When Prince Chen believed in Buddhism for himself, he was very inconsistent, not sincere at all.

But for the sake of his son, he became so sincere he stopped eating meat entirely.

From the beginning of the year to the end, counting the time, it hadn’t even been a year, but Prince Chen had changed from his slightly plump figure of the last two years back to his previous lean physique.

And truth be told, wearing wide-sleeved brocade robes, he looked quite ethereal.

The family of three took the carriage and hurried out of the city, but their return was leisurely.

As soon as they returned to the Prince’s Manor, before the carriage could even enter the main gate, a group of people dressed in mourning clothes came straight toward Prince Chen.

Prince Chen was incredibly nervous, his face turning pale. Su Huandan watched from behind as Prince Chen’s hands, tucked behind his back, began to tremble.

War had broken out in the Northwest three years ago, and the eldest son had gone there at the beginning of the year. Although letters from the Northwest said their son was doing well, winning every battle and earning military merits until he was now a fourth-rank military officer¹.

But Prince Chen was still afraid something would happen to his son.

When his son first said he wanted to go to the Northwest, Prince Chen had lost his temper on the spot.

What was the point of going to the battlefield when he was perfectly fine as the Heir Apparent²?

If he felt being the Heir Apparent wasn’t good enough, his father would give the title directly to him. He could be Prince Chen; as long as he didn’t go to the Northwest, anything was fine.

In the end, no matter how he tried to stop him, he couldn’t. The eldest son had run away in secret.

Afterward, Prince Chen felt so aggrieved that he rushed into the palace and had a huge argument with the Emperor, and they hadn’t spoken a word to each other since.

“Your Highness, please hurry to the palace. The Empress Dowager, she…”

Prince Chen breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t his son. But a moment later, tears began to stream down his face. His sister-in-law had finally passed away.

It made sense; she was over seventy years old, and at that age, one never knew when the end might come.

The eunuchs who had come to deliver the news had brought mourning clothes with them.

The family of three changed into their mourning attire and hurried to the palace.

The moment they entered the palace, Prince Chen collapsed to his knees and wailed. She might have been his sister-in-law, but how was she any different from a mother to him?

The Emperor remained restrained and composed, but Prince Chen felt no such need. His weeping was far more heartbroken than the Emperor’s.

The Crown Prince and his wife were also crying while holding the little imperial grandson.

Wailing at a wake³ was exhausting work.

They cried from morning until night. As the Princess Consort of Prince Chen and the highest-ranking female elder in the imperial family, Su Huandan also had to receive the noble ladies who came to pay their respects.

The Noble Consort watched Su Huandan with burning envy. The Empress had descended so far into madness that she no longer knew how to dress or feed herself. By all rights, shouldn’t the task of receiving the titled ladies have fallen to her instead?

Translator’s Notes