Chapter 41 - I’ll Be With You

Mid-spring in Bianjing; the weather slowly turned warmer. The flowers and trees in Yongxi Palace slowly began to reveal their buds and sprouts.

At this time, Rong Xi was already four months pregnant and had begun to show. Her morning sickness was gone, and her appetite was much bigger than before.

Maybe it was because the child in her stomach was growing very fast, but she was easily fatigued compared to before. Rong Xi was prone to night sweats from time to time and her calves would also suddenly twitch from muscle spasms. Her body was weaker than before.

The temperatures in Bianjing still carried a slight chill. During this month, Rong Xi had not stepped out of the Eastern Palace. Thankfully, the Eastern Palace was large and occupied a great deal of land. When she felt bored or stuffy, she could go feed the fish in the pond. She passed her days quite comfortably.

Rong Xi counted the days in her heart. Her and Mu Huai’s child would arrive sometime in the beginning of autumn this year. No matter if it’ll be a boy or a girl, they would be her most precious treasure.

Whenever she imagined the appearance of a newborn child, Rong Xi’s heart would melt into a puddle.

As her belly grew larger and Bianjing was about to usher in summer, Mu Huai called for the Department of Clothing’s people to come to the Eastern Palace to take her measurements and make a set of new robes.

Usually, it was enough for just the chief stewards to come to take measurements of ordinary concubines. Even this type of duty would have different treatment based on the ranking of the imperial concubines.

However, Rong Xi didn’t expect for the head of the Department of Clothing to personally come to the Eastern Palace and take her measurements. Even more, she was accompanied by two chief stewards and four seamstresses, quite a retinue.

The servants in the Eastern Palace all secretly felt that this Rong liangdi was truly loved and spoiled by the Crown Prince, fully basking in the sole favor that the Crown Prince showered upon her.

The reason why Mu Huai had called on this group of people was mainly because he felt that all women liked to dress up. Even after being cooped up in the Eastern Palace for a month, Rong Xi willingly complied and had never held a grudge against him. As such, Mu Huai wanted to make her happy by creating some new sets of clothes for her.

When Mu Huai was emperor in his past life, although he was not stingy, he also hated those lustful and extravagant monarchs the most. Especially those muddle-headed monarchs who would scrape out even the commoners’ bones in order to present riches to the beauty.

Now that he has such a beauty like Rong Xi, it would be a lie to say he was unaffected.

Unconsciously, he began to want to pamper and cater to this woman. Whatever treasures he got his hands on, he wanted to give them to her. But Mu Huai didn’t think his thoughts and actions were unusual.

After all, that woman possessed the sort of beauty that could topple cities. He naturally had to give her the proper treatment she deserved.

Seeing so many people from the Department of Clothing come, Rong Xi was naturally very excited. However, it wasn’t the type of happiness that came from a woman excited to dress herself up.

After Concubine Yu passed away, Rong Xi had almost become one of the chief stewards of the Department of Clothing. When she was still a palace maid serving Concubine Yu, she had formed some good relationships with the female officials in the six departments under the Imperial Household Bureau.

What Rong Xi liked the most was looking through clothing design drafts. She especially had a great interest in weaving and embroidery. If at the time Mu Huai and Mu Qian were not lacking servants, then she would probably be doing something that she enjoyed in the Department of Clothing right now.

But who could’ve imagined that a little palace maid like her had actually become the Crown Prince’s liangdi, even becoming pregnant with his child.

When she thought of this, Rong Xi shook her head helplessly.

In the near future, her belly would grow even bigger. That’s why, when one of the chief stewards was taking her measurements, she purposely added some leeway. It took time to create clothes, so they had to be made larger accordingly.

The seamstress showed Rong Xi all kinds of cloths and brocades. She originally thought that since this Rong liangdi had a commoner background, she would not recognize which type of cloth was which. Unexpectedly, this Rong liangdi was able to recognize each type of brocade.

Which was han1 embroidery, which was shu2, which was had the most vibrant colors and best quality, she [RX] was familiar with all of them.

The supervisor of the Department of Clothing was surprised, but also secretly thought that this Rong liangdi was one that was favored by the Crown Prince, even if she came from a commoner’s background, she would definitely not be an empty-headed embroidered pillow3. They must cautiously serve her this time.

Rong Xi picked up a brocade but heard the supervisor of the Department of Clothing speak flatteringly, “This embroidery was obtained through exchanging many good horses with Kingdom Yan and Kingdom Ye. Each piece is very expensive. Liangdi was born beautiful, perfectly matching these fabrics.”

The supervisor observed Rong Xi’s expression.

On the contrary, Rong Xi’s expression was very calm. She sighed and whispered softly, “How come Great Qi can’t produce any famed ebroidery works, these past few years, all the noble young ladies in Bianjing wear clothes made from other countries’ fabrics.”

Her voice was very soft, the supervisor thought it was very familiar. She secretly thought that this charming voice was quite similar to the senior palace maid that used to serve Concubine Yu.

The supervisor quickly reorganized her thoughts and respectfully replied, “These embroideries all have high craftsmanship. Take this Kingdom Ye’s han embroidery, for example, multiple embroidery girls stitched for many days, producing only one piece after a long time. To produce another piece would require even more manpower and hours.”

Rong Xi hummed in affirmation. Seeing the brocades that cost a fortune, she just had the people from the Department of Clothing make four sets of clothes for her.

Two for daily wear, two for sleeping.

As for banquet robes, it was enough for her to wear the official liangdi robes.

The supervisor was stunned. Rumors said that this Rong liangdi was arrogant from being pampered, so she thought that this time, this Rong liangdi would order at least a couple dozen luxurious robes before thinking it was enough.

Who could’ve expected she would only order four sets!

The supervisor was confused and asked, “…Rong liangdi, don’t you want to order some more, even the palace maids have four sets of daily robes every season.”

Just as she finished, though Rong Xi’s expression didn’t change, Dan Xiang shot the supervisor a look.

The supervisor immediately sensed that she had said something wrong. How could she be so stupid as to compare the Crown Prince’s liangdi to palace maids, thankfully this Rong liangdi didn’t make things difficult for her.

The supervisor shifted the topic and passed over a design draft to Rong Xi, “The seamstresses also brought over a couple fine jade pieces as well as some precious stones and pearls. Liangdi can pick whichever ones you like. This servant will return to the Department of Clothing later and have people find a craftsman.”

Rong Xi looked down and casually flipped through the designs. She originally didn’t want any hairpins, but since Mu Huai wanted to reward her with them, she had to maintain his dignity.

She was very clear what kind of intentions a man had when rewarding his woman with some trinkets.

She casually picked a few styles then handed them to the supervisor, “Supervisor can just casually create a few hairpins to match these styles. As for what kind of precious stones you use, I trust in Supervisor’s taste. You can pick them.”

The supervisor respectfully obeyed. Before leaving, she kept feeling that this Rong liangdi was really familiar.

After the people from the Department of Clothing left the Eastern Palace, Dan Xiang brought over this month’s account book for the Eastern Palace for Rong Xi to inspect.

Rong Xi had half her hair up, a simple and elegant jade hairpin was inserted into her bun. Her pretty side profile looked very peaceful. When her eyes looked down at the account book, she looked like a beauty from a painting.

Such a beauty was really pleasing to the eye, making people unable to lok away.

Dan Xing blinked. She always felt that Rong liangdi was very similar to Rong gugu. Their surnames were the same, their voices were also the same.

After entering the Eastern Palace, she had never asked her about the names of the servants, but she was able to recognize every palace maid and eunuch. During this month, she had also done many of the miscellaneous chores that Rong gugu used to do in the past, helping the Crown Prince take care of the matters in the Eastern Palace.

Dan Xiang brought over some light tea for Rong Xi, placing on the desk. She softly persuaded, “Liangdi…it’s already hard on you for being pregnant, you should rest a little.”

Rong Xi nodded, but her eyes never left the account book.

Dan Xiang could only stand next to her. Rong Xi could only calmly reply, “In the future, when the Eastern Palace receives the Crown Princess Consort, I can be the lazy and carefree liangdi. Right now, I still have to help His Highness with these small things.”

When Dan Xiang heard Rong Xi mention the legitimate consort, her [RX] expression was very calm, not at all upset.

A while ago, there were some people from the Ministry of Rites who came to teach Rong liangdi palace etiquette. She was a very quick learner, each and every movement was elegant and noble, not at all like someone who came from a commoner’s background. Instead, her temperament was more like a noble young lady.

She was already born beautiful, it was just that her background wa sa little lacking.

If she were to be honest, Rong Xi was able to match up to the Crown Prince in every way.

Dan Xiang felt unjust on behalf of Rong Xi, “Liangdi, don’t worry. Even if someone new enters the Eastern palace, the most important woman in Crown Prince’s heart will still be liangdi. No one will be able to surpass you.”

Rong Xi finally set down the account book in her hand when she heard this.

Although she knew that Dan Xiang was saying this for her, Rong Xi didn’t want her to speak such disrespectful words.

Her tone became a little heavy, “Don’t say these words in the future. If other people hear this, they’ll cause trouble for the Crown Prince.”

Dan Xiang immediately acknowledged her mistake, not daring to say anything more.

Rong Xi treated Dan Xiang as her closest palace maid and also trusted her. However, regardless of trust, she also needed to know how to read people. She can’t let the palace maid who closely serves her have a loose mouth.

Because in the future, every word and every action Dan Xiang makes will represent her own words and actions.

Although Dan Xiang was a little more intelligent than the average palace maid, her personality was not mature enough. She still needed to teach her well.

Rong Xi saw Dan Xiang became a little timid and lightened her tone, “Go see if lunch is ready. The Crown Prince will come back to the Eastern Palace today to eat.”

Not too long after Dan Xiang left to see if the food was ready, Mu Huai had returned to the Eastern Palace.

Every time there wasn’t a court session, Mu Huai would still be busy. He didn’t have the habit of taking a break.

Today, instead of wearing his court robes, he was wearing a dark-colored inner robe. Rong Xi always felt that whenever he wore dark colors, his aura was a little overwhelming, even a little aggressive and intimidating.

After entering the hall, Mu Huai placed his sights on the woman’s slightly bulging belly. Remembering how the couple had felt the fetus’s movements yesterday, he felt it was very magical.

Having lived two lifetimes, it was the first time he became someone’s father and someone’s husband.

Yesterday when Rong Xi felt the fetus move, he was beyond ecstatic but also somewhat at a loss.

He sat next to Rong Xi and asked in a low voice, “After I left this morning, did the child disturb you?”

He grasped the woman’s tender area, but felt this delicate little liangdi had broken out into a cold sweat.

Her body was much weaker than before. Thankfully, he had already suppressed the rumors of her being a criminal’s daughter and harshly punished those officials with wagging tongues. That way, her mood wouldn’t be affected by the loose tongues outside.

Rong Xi leaned into his arms and shook her head, “The baby is very good, didn’t disturb this concubine at all.”

Mu Huai’s originally cold countenance turned warmer. He glanced at the embroidered goods on the arhat bed and asked, “Do you like the goods the Department of Clothing brought over today?”

Rong Xi nodded her head and added, “There were many that this concubine liked very much.”

This not only greatly satisfied the man, he also felt a sense of accomplishment.

As long as she likes it.

Mu Huai felt Rong Xi looked a little listless and couldn’t help but frown.

In the past he originally thought after he captured this woman back, he would enclose her in the Eastern palace, make her be the canary in his cage.

But after this pretty canary stayed in the golden cage for a long time, though she was still beautiful, she also looked very pitiful.

The fragrance from the woman’s body became even stronger due to the pregnancy, intoxicating people even more.

Mu Huai kissed her forehead, “Just bear with it a little more for these few months. After the child is born, no matter if you want to go to the suburbs to hunt or climb a mountain to look at the scenery, or go to the lake to row a boat, I will be with you.”