CH 123.1

Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 123 Pt. 1

Translated by gingercat

Edited by gingercat

The very same night Yaoniang gave birth, she started to lactate.

Jin Wang was unwilling to let her feed the baby herself, and would rather hire a wet nurse. The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent over quite a few wet nurses but Jin Wang also ordered his people to look for wet nurses in private.

Yaoniang was aware of the customs and rules of large families. Very few mothers would breastfeed their children themselves, so she agreed with Jin Wang. But despite her agreement, she still felt that she owed Erbao somewhat. As a result, every now and then, she would ask Yu Chan and the others to bring the baby over to feed in secret.

Erbao and his two nurses were temporarily arranged to stay in the West Room. Sitting in the East Room, Yaoniang could hear Erbao’s earth-shattering cries. She immediately asked Hong Chou what was the matter and asked for Erbao to be brought over.

Hong Chou soon came back. Not only did she bring back Erbao, but the wet nurses also followed. The two nurses were sweating profusely. They couldn’t understand why Erbao was crying. They had just fed him and his diaper was changed. There wasn’t anything wrong, so why was he crying for no reason?

Her heart aching, Yaonaing received Erbao into her arms. As soon as Erbao was in Yaoniang’s embrace, he stopped crying.

“Looks like he missed me,” Yaoniang said with a smile reaching her eyes.

Erbao burrowed himself into Yaoniang’s chest, puckering his little mouth.

Hungry.

With a solemn expression, Yaoniang said to Hong Chou and the others, “Alright, all of you, withdraw. Leave the second young master with me. I’ll call for you if I need anything.” 

With just a simple glance, Hong Chou and the others knew that the side consort wanted to breastfeed the second young master in secret. Since the master insisted, they could only turn a blind eye to it. The group of people filed out.

Seeing that everyone had left, Yaoniang opened her clothes. Erbao shuffled forward, caught the bud in his little mouth, and began to greedily suck.

Had it not been for Yaoniang knowing that these two wet nurses had honest characters and Hong Fei always keeping an eye on them, she would’ve thought that these two wet nurses were starving Erbao.

Standing to the side, Xiaobao blushed lightly. Seeing him turn his face to the side, Yaoniang joked, “Xiaobao is shy. But you were like this too when you were younger.”

“No, I wasn’t,” retorted Xiaobao.

Ever since he was reborn, he hadn’t drunk his mother’s milk. Well actually, it’s not that he didn’t drink it, but he didn’t directly drink it like Erbao.

He glanced at Erbao, who was wearing a look of satisfaction on his chubby face, and he couldn’t help but say, “Feed him with a spoon.”

Yaoniang shook her head. “Erbao is still young and doesn’t know how to use a spoon.” 

While she was speaking, Jin Wang walked in from outside. Following him were Hong Chou and the others, wearing expressions of guilt as they turned to look at Yaoniang.

Although Yaoniang saw them all walk in, it wasn’t like she could stop Erbao while he was in the middle of eating. She could only turn away from them, like a person plugging their ears while stealing a bell.

Jin Wang sat down on the edge of the bed. Xiaobao looked at his gloomy father, then at his mother who had a guilty conscience. He wanted to speak up and tell his mother to stop looking so guilty if she didn’t do anything wrong. Only amateur thieves would exclaim that he didn’t bury the stolen three hundred taels of silver under the tree.

After exerting some effort, Yaoniang finally finished making some mental preparation before turning her head to look at Jin Wang. In a nonchalant manner, she said, “By the way, what was the thing you wanted to tell me last night but didn’t get the chance?”

It was evident to everyone there that she was trying to divert the topic. Jin Wang couldn’t help but think of what had just happened in the palace.

He had originally wanted to give her a surprise, but clearly, it wasn’t possible anymore. A sense of melancholy rose in his heart. If only he was sitting in that position, he could naturally do whatever he wanted. Now, for a matter as simple as divorcing his wife, he couldn’t even do it. 

But this wasn’t something that could be told to Yaoniang. He steeled himself and started to talk about the matter between Consort Jin and Consort Yong. Including the kind of relationship they had, what Consort Yong had done behind the scenes over these past years, and why Consort Jin decided to make a move on Yaoniang this time.

If this was before, Jin Wang wouldn’t tell Yaoniang about any of these things. Instead, he would arrange everything to be perfect for her. Her mind was simple, so if she had to deal with everything herself, she would end up swallowed alive. But now, Jin Wang changed his mind. There would eventually come a day when she would have to face all these complicated matters.

Even if she didn’t need to do anything herself, it was still better for her to at least know the truth. Otherwise, she’d be easily taken advantage of by others with hidden motives. In the end, as the mother of his two children, it wasn’t good to remain simple.

After listening to Jin Wang’s words, Yaoniang’s mouth dropped with shock. She didn’t even realize that Jin Wang had taken Erbao from her arms and passed him to Hong Chou to take away.

“You mean Consort Jin and Consort Yong…”

Now, Yaoniang finally understood why the relationship between Jin Wang and Consort Jin was so bad. She also understood why he never went to Siyi Courtyard, and why the consort didn’t give birth to any children. She used to think that it was the consort’s health that was too bad to have a child. Otherwise, why would she do something as sinister as trying to murder her to adopt her children? Turns out there were all these complicated reasons behind this incident, it truly made one chilled to the bones.

“I told Father Emperor that I’ll be sending her to the countryside to recuperate. Tomorrow, for Erbao’s xisan¹, old seventh’s wife will be here to help out.”

Yaoniang nodded.

She was still in shock. She didn’t know what else to do except nod her head. There was so much information from Jin Wang’s words that she still needed a while to process it.

On the day of Erbao’s xisan, Jin Wang Manor was extremely lively.

People from An Wang Manor, Yong Wang Manor, Dai Wang Manor and so on, all came.

Not only that, but Empress Wei also bestowed some rewards. It was said to be for the child, but it was more for Yaoniang, likely as a form of appeasement or compensation.

The men stayed in the outer yard, while the women gathered in the courtyard where Yaoniang lived.

As the midwife, Midwife Li was in charge of bathing the child. Even while sitting in her room, Yaoniang could still hear the deafening cries of Erbao.

The child had such a strong set of vocal cords that the earth would start shaking with his cries. Even Xiaobao, who loves his brother so much, couldn’t help covering his ears once Erbao starts to cry.

Hong Chou wrapped Erbao in a small blanket and brought him into Yaoniang’s room. Hong Die and the others rushed up and changed his clothes before passing him to Yaoniang. Only then did Erbao stop crying.

Hong Fei then walked in and announced that Consort An and the others had arrived.