Chapter 176: Sneak attack 4

En Route to Xinfeng palace

The Morning court was shorter than usual since Emperor Zhong failed to entertain any long debates. After he had shot down two debates brought up by the two main opposing parties before it could be overblown. The officials quick understood that the Emperor was not in the mood to entertain any of their usual tactics.

They didn't bring up any issues that would result in an argument to prevent the Emperor from stepping in and making a permanent decision that would be unfavourable to the parties involved as he did in the previous two cases brought up. less than two hours later the court was dismissed and Emperor Zhong left with his entourage.

Seating there and listening to the officials talk endlessly coupled with the Crown Prince's issues left Emperor Zhong with a slight headache. Emperor Zhong loosened up the bottoms at the round collar of his official robes as he walked back to his palace.

"How is the crown Prince?" Emperor Zhong asked Chief Eunuch Caihong who followed him closely. 

Eunuch Caihong like the other servants following the Emperor hastened their steps to match Emperor Zhong's long strides. "Your Majesty, while morning court was ongoing Matron Min at Xinfeng palace sent word that the Crown Prince was awake".

Emperor Zhong immediately stopped walking, he glance to his left at the path leading to Xinfeng palace in thought. The stop was so abrupt that the maids and guards following behind nearly fell on their faces, as a majority of them lost their footing. They tried to minimize the fall by holding onto each other, luckily Emperor Zhong was absorbed in his thoughts. The mishap escaped his attention, of not at his current mood. They would have spent the rest of the day at the household department and received heavy punishment 

After some thought, Emperor Zhong turned into the path leading to Xinfeng Palace. He ran into a long line of palace maids from the kitchen carrying several trays of untouched food. The maid was not very attentive and didn't hear him coming so they continued with their conversation.

When he heard the Crown Prince mention, Emperor Zhong stopped behind a tall tree. He wanted to hear what the maids were discussing. He raised his right hand, signalling the rest of his procession to be quiet. Their conversations filtered into his ear.

"What do we tell Chef Jiang, sister Xiu. This is the third set of food the Crown Prince is rejecting. If his majesty finds put that his Highness hasn't eaten anything. We might end up punished"

"His Highness must not have found these dishes appealing, let's report to the Chef and maybe get a new set of food that might be to his taste," the senior maid said. 

"Look at all these top-notch dishes made with the best quality ingredients, what about it isn't appealing. I think his highness is just throwing a tantrum!" the first maid said.

"This insolent little_" Eunuch Caihong stepped forward to caution the maid but was held back by Emperor Zhong. He turned to Emperor Zhong in shock, "Your majesty, that maid is being disrespectful, let me go discipline her_"

"No need!" Emperor Zhong said stone-faced.

"You! Be careful with your words! You must always remember your position. The walls have ears, his highness is the next Emperor. Lowly maids like us do not deserve to talk about him much less criticize him. Even if he keeps rejecting our food, you should shut up and just do your work!" the senior maid scolded. 

The mods were farther away so they no longer heard their voices so clearly. Emperor Zhong waited for them to be long gone before continuing forward. When he got to the front of Xinfeng palace, he dismissed his servants and infringing the greetings given by the servants stationed at Xinfeng Palace, he charged into the palace.

Xia Ying held a bowl of porridge up while trying to feed Zhongshan Ling who sat upon the wide bed in loose clothes. She brought a spoonful of porridge to his lips but he frowned and turned away. As she borough the spoon back to the plate, the bedroom door was pushed back with force. 

Xia Ying shivered and sat up, the spoon in her hand fell into the plate with a clang and she looked to the door. She quickly stood and bowed deeply when he came face to face with the Emperor's tight expression. "your_ Your Majesty!"

"Leave us!" Without sparing her a glance, Emperor Zhong glared down at his son. 

"Y_Yes, Your Majesty;" she glanced at Zhongshan Ling for a second before picking up the spoon and retreating from the room. 

"Paa!!" 

She turned immediately and saw Zhongshan Ling turned to the side with the Emperor's hands resting on his cheeks. She swallowed, ran out of the room and shut the door.

"Coward! I should kill you myself!" Emperor Zhong slapped Zhongshan Ling once more. "You dare try to kill yourself? Better get your act together or I will wipe away your entire maternal family including the Empress. With you dead, what do I need her? She is of no use to me. You better get your act together in two weeks or I will make an example of you. The Zhongshan family doesn't tolerate cowards, my little umbrella of protection ends in two weeks" Emperor Zhong glared at him once more and walked out of the room.

**********

Meanwhile, at the main courtyard of the Duke's mansion.

It was nearly noon, the day gradually got brighter as the intensity of the Sun increased. Zhu Fengyin reclined silently on her side head bent over a small-sized baby blouse. She carefully pierced a threaded needle through the blouse making slim straight stitches. The baby in her belly was growing every day, her stomach has gotten bigger and was now showing. she had switched out her fitted blouses and skirt for high neck maternity clothes that were loose at the tummy area.

As She flipped the blouse to the side and pierced one eñd of a side cotton material with aim of connecting both ends of the blouse by running a long line of stitches to lock both ends of the blouse. There was a slight noise at the door, Zhu Fengyin looks up and watched her lady's maid Aunt He walk in with a tray of cooling drinks.

The maids standing at the side greeted her respectfully as she walked in. She replied respectively to the maids as she walked into the room. Zhu Fengyin smiled at her lady's maid as she got closer. Aunt He picked up a small stool by the reading table and carried it to Zhu Fengyin side.

She placed the circle-shaped tray on the stool, picked up the cup of cool raspberry juice and held it up to Zhu Fengyin. "Please have some coll drink, my lady"

Zhu Fengyin paused her stitching and looked down at the bowl of juice, as she did Aunt He leaned closer and said calmly 

"A letter from the Duke just arrived, madam," Aunt He stood beside Zhu Fengyin and whispered into her ears. There was a lot of ears around, it was better to be careful. Zhu Fengyin glanced at the maids standing by the side and a small bowl of juice from Aunt He. She felt a piece of folded paper at the bottom of the bowl.

Zhu Fengyin slipped the letter into her wide sleeve, brought the bowl to her like and tipped it over. She drank up the cool juice and passed the empty bowl back to Aunt He. Aunt placed the bowl on the tray and handed the tray to a maid standing by the side. Aunt He carefully send the maids away until it was only them in the room. 

Zhu Fengyin pulled the letter out of her sleeve and unfolded the letter. Apart from asking how she and the baby were, Lu Yingjie informed her of the progress up south. Lu Yingjie has been at the south borders fighting for over a month, they could only communicate through the weekly letters.

Zhu Fengyin treasured each letter, after reading the letters she kept them in a small wooden box in the cupboard. She had been worried for days when she failed to receive a letter from Lu Yingjie. She read the letter three times before finally folding it up and putting it into a box. 

Zhu Fengyin Sat up, she brought her legs down to the ground, Aunt He rushed forward and held out her hand to Zhu Fengyin. Aunt He supported her up the seat and escorted her to the reading table at the other end of the room. She helped Zhu Fengyin to the seat and stepped aside to grind the ink. 

Zhu Fengyin waited for the ink to be ready, once Aunt He dropped the in stone beside the fresh sheet of paper and stepped back. Zhu Fengyin picked up the writing brush, she dipped the brush in ink and blended the ink before bringing it ti the paper. She held her sleeve back and began penning a response to Lu Yingjie, her strokes light like the brush was dancing on the paper.

Zhu Fengyin hissed as she felt a slight jab at the side and borough her hand to her side. Aunt, He ran forward as soon as she heard Zhu Fengyin hiss, "eldest madam, what is wrong? Should I call the doctor?".

The pain subsided and Zhu Fengyin pulled her hand away from her side and sat up, "no need, aunt He. It might be the baby kicking, nothing serious".

"Oh... Okay" 

Zhu Fengyin sat straighter, picked up her abandoned brush and continued writing. She didn't feel any more jabs so she just went about her usual activities. After writing the letter she handed it over to aunt He to deliver to steward Liu, she resumed her sewing while aunt He was gone. After an hour and a half of sewing, her legs were getting stiff, Zhu Fengyin set down the blouse in the basket and returned her needle and thread into the smaller basket.

Two maids came forward, standing at her side they held her hands and helped her out of the seat. She decided to take a turn around the small garden next to her courtyard to stretch her muscles. As stepped down the first step in front of her Pavillion, she felt a sharp pain in her lower stomach. 

It felt like she was stabbed with a knife, "Ahh!' Zhu Fengyin screamed and fell forward. The two maids supporting her up immediately held her up. "Your grace" they both called out.