Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 152 Empress Wu Gives Birth to a Son

December, the seventh year of Yonghui.

The Lizheng Hall was bustling with activity.

Three days ago, the imperial physician Meng Shen took Wu Meiniang's pulse and said that the queen would give birth soon, within ten days.

Sure enough, early this morning, Wu Meiniang felt something wrong with her stomach, and in the afternoon, she felt cramps.

The three most experienced midwives in the palace had moved into the side hall of Lizheng Palace half a month ago.

The palace maids and eunuchs also changed into colorful festive clothes, and everyone wore amulets, praying for the queen's childbirth.

Wu Meiniang's mournful cries continued to come from the direction of the bedroom.

Li Zhi walked back and forth in the outer hall, occasionally raising his head to glance towards the rear hall, appearing quite anxious.

There were four other imperial doctors in the room, and they all looked very uneasy, whispering to each other.

Xiaoji stood in the corner, watching all this silently. A similar picture emerged in his mind, and his eyes blurred unconsciously.

At that time, the person in the room was not Li Zhi, but his father, Prince Wu Li Ke, and the person screaming in the back hall was not Empress Wu, but his mother Yang.

It was just as busy then, very similar to now.

It’s a pity that time flies, things have changed, and he is now just a bystander.

He quickly lowered his head so that no one would notice his abnormality.

Just then, a slight cry was heard.

He turned his head to look outside the door and saw Princess Gao An standing behind a pillar, waving at him.

Xiaoji glanced at Li Zhi, then at Wang Fusheng, and quietly slipped out of the house.

Princess Gao An pulled Xiao Ji's sleeve and walked to a corner. She said crisply, "Xiao Ji, how is the situation here? Did mother give birth to little Abao smoothly?"

Xiaoji said, "I'm not sure, but judging from the Queen's voice, she must be in some trouble."

Princess Gao An sighed like a little adult and said, "Oh, what should I do? I hope nothing bad happens."

Xiaoji looked at her round little face and said, "Princess, why are you so concerned about the Queen?"

Princess Gao An was surprised and asked, "She is my mother, of course I care about her. Why do you ask?"

Xiaoji shook his head, turned his head away and said nothing.

Princess Gao An stretched out her hands, turned his head, and said, "Why are you acting strangely today? I thought I saw you crying just now. Aren't you also concerned about your mother?"

Xiaoji whispered, "I'm not crying for the queen."

Princess Gao An blinked and asked, "Why is that?"

Xiaoji fell silent again.

Princess Gao An puffed out her lips and said, "You've been like this lately. You become so quiet while talking that you become speechless. Don't you like playing with me anymore?"

Xiaoji looked up at her and said, "Princess, I may have to leave the palace."

Princess Gao An was startled, grabbed his sleeve, and asked, "Why?"

Xiao Ji said, "A while ago, His Majesty came to talk to me and said that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yue had given birth to another child and that they were short-staffed, so he planned to have me serve at the Prince of Yue's mansion."

Princess Gao An said anxiously: "No, I will go and beg Ye Ye, I won't let you go!"

Xiaoji stared at her and said, "Princess, please don't go to His Majesty and let me go."

Princess Gao An was slightly startled. This was the first time Xiaoji looked at her with such eyes, which made her a little nervous.

"Why are you leaving? Don't you like the palace?" She pursed her lips, looking like she was about to cry but holding it back.

Xiaoji tilted his head slightly and said, "Yes, I don't like this place."

Tears as big as beans flowed from the corners of Princess Gao An's eyes. She pursed her lips tightly, as if she was about to cry out at any time.

Xiaoji looked at her like this, his lips trembling, and suddenly pulled her to a corner in the northwest of Lizheng Hall.

This is the most remote place in Lizheng Hall. There is an ancient well nearby. It is said that during the Zhenguan period, palace ladies died here for three consecutive years.

Later, a ghost appeared and a Taoist priest with great magical powers was invited to catch the ghost. It turned out to be a palace maid from the Sui Dynasty.

Empress Changsun ordered people to build several rockery here to suppress evil spirits. Since then, few people have come here.

Xiaoji pulled Princess Gao'an behind a rockery at the innermost part.

"Hey, Xiaoji, can't you find another place to talk? It's so dark here, and I heard it's haunted!" Princess Gao An complained.

Xiaoji was very cautious. He looked around for a while, making sure that no one was following him before retracting his head.

"Princess, if anyone hears what I am about to say to you, I might lose my life, so I hope you don't tell anyone." He said in a deep voice.

Princess Gao An was startled. She covered her mouth with her hand, spread her two fingers a little apart, and whispered, "Just tell me. I won't tell anyone, not even my sister."

Xiaoji nodded and whispered, "This palace may seem prosperous and peaceful, but it actually hides hidden dangers. You must be careful in the future."

Princess Gao An was surprised and asked, "What are you being careful about?"

Xiaoji whispered, "Take Her Majesty the Queen for example. You should keep your distance from her in the future. Even though she is friendly to you now, it is because the Saint favors you. If you lose favor one day, she might harm you."

"No, you're talking nonsense. Why doesn't Ye Ye spoil me anymore?" Princess Gao An's voice was filled with tears.

Xiao Ji sighed, "Things change so fast, who can predict for sure? Look at Zhang Sun Wuji. A year or so ago, wasn't he all-powerful and arrogant? Humph, now he's fallen to this point."

When he mentioned Changsun Wuji, his voice became a little colder.

Princess Gao An suddenly felt that the person in front of her was a little strange, and she stammered, "Why is mother trying to harm me again?"

Xiaoji said, "Your biological mother was driven out of the palace by her. Have you forgotten?"

Princess Gao An's face turned pale, and she twisted her hands together and whispered, "Auntie Zheng said that my mother made a mistake and was driven out of the palace by Ye Ye."

Xiaoji said, "She lied to you. She didn't want you to clash with the Queen and get herself into trouble, so she tried her best not to let you hate the Queen."

"But, but..." Princess Gao An wanted to argue. However, when she thought about it carefully, she realized that Concubine Zheng had always praised the Queen and belittled her former mother in front of her, so she rarely thought about her biological mother recently.

Xiaoji said softly, "Based on my observations in the palace, the queen has a strong desire for revenge and is also good at forbearance. She is nice to you, but it's just on the surface. You have to keep your distance from her, otherwise the more you want to get close to her, the more hurt you will be."

Princess Gao An looked as if her worldview had been shocked, and she was speechless.

Seeing this, Xiaoji felt soft-hearted and couldn't bear to say anything more.

After a long while, Princess Gao An raised her head again and said, "Xiao Ji, besides mother, who else should I be careful of?"

Xiaoji was stunned for a moment and said, "Do you believe me?"

Princess Gao An didn't say anything, just nodded.

Xiaoji was silent for a moment, then said, "You still need to be careful of Concubine Zheng."

Princess Gao An was not too surprised this time. She just asked, "Why?"

Xiaoji said, "She's just like the Queen. She's not really kind to you. Sometimes I feel like her thoughts might be even deeper than the Queen's."

Princess Gao An's hands trembled slightly as she said, "My aunt plays with me every day. She gives me everything I want. She also teaches me when I want to learn a song. Why do you say she's not sincere to me?"

Xiaoji whispered, "If she truly cared about you, she would have nurtured you and taught you like Xu Chongrong did to Princess Yiyang, instead of letting you play. Did she ever take the initiative to teach you music?"

Princess Gao An suddenly covered her face, squatted on the ground, and sobbed softly.

Xiaoji didn't say anything else and patted her back gently.

Just then, there was a slight noise in the distance, as if someone was coming.

Xiaoji was shocked and hurriedly covered Princess Gao'an's mouth to prevent her from making any sound.

This place is already remote and no one would come here on weekdays, not to mention that the queen is about to give birth.

The few years in the palace had made Xiaoji extremely vigilant. He could tell in an instant that there was definitely something wrong with the person walking towards him.

Princess Gao An looked at Xiao Ji in astonishment. When she saw him pointing at her ear, she stopped struggling, listened carefully, and soon heard some movement.

Xiaoji poked half of his head out from behind the mountain wall, and in the moonlight, he quickly saw that the person coming was a palace maid.

She was very cautious, looking back every few steps. After taking a few steps, she would squat like a cat and wait for a while before continuing forward.

After a while, she came to the sealed dry well, bowed to it, dug the soil with her hands, and buried something beside the well.

After the burial, she bowed again and left quickly.

Only after she walked away did Xiaoji let go of Princess Gaoan's mouth.

Princess Gao An had also just peeked in and noticed the palace maid's behavior. She asked curiously, "Xiao Ji, what did she bury? Let's go and take a look."

Xiaoji said solemnly, "Your Highness, please go to His Majesty and tell him what you just saw."

Princess Gao An nodded obediently and said, "I understand."

Xiaoji was worried and asked again, "His Majesty asked why you came here, how would you answer?"

Princess Gao An said, "I just said I came here to play with you and saw it by accident."

Xiaoji shook his head and said, "No, Her Majesty is giving birth, and you are playing in an unlucky place nearby. His Majesty will definitely be unhappy when he hears this."

Princess Gao An was stunned and asked, "Then what should I say?"

Xiaoji said, "Just say you saw the palace maid nearby, and because she was acting suspiciously, you followed her here."

Princess Gao An nodded and said, "I've remembered that. Brother Xiao Ji, do you have anything else to say?"

Xiaoji was stunned: "What did you call me?"

Princess Gao An blushed slightly and lowered her head, saying, "Fourth brother never says these things to me. The way you spoke to me just now made me feel like you were my real brother."

Xiaoji said solemnly, "Never call me that again."

Princess Gao An muttered softly, "You're about to leave the palace, so I can't address you anymore."

Xiaoji pretended not to hear and pulled her out of the ancient well area and back to the outer hall of Lizheng Hall.

Empress Wu seemed to have not yet given birth to the fetus and was still screaming, but her voice was getting weaker and weaker.

Li Zhi was still pacing back and forth in the hall, looking even more anxious than before.

There was some sweat on the foreheads of the imperial doctors. The four of them were responsible for the queen's care during her pregnancy. If anything went wrong, they would not be able to escape responsibility.

Princess Gao An trotted into the hall and shouted to Li Zhi, "Yeah, yeah."

Li Zhi turned his head and saw that it was his daughter. His expression relaxed a little and he reached out to touch her little head.

"Why are you here? Your mother is giving birth. Aye doesn't have time to talk to you. Please go back to Penglai Palace."

Princess Gao An raised her head and said, "Father, just now on the way here, I saw a palace maid sneaking to a well and burying something."

Li Zhi frowned and asked, "Where's the well?"

Princess Gao An said, "It seems to be in the northwest corner."

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Zhi's face changed instantly.

He naturally knew where the northwest corner of Lizheng Hall was, and immediately glanced at Wang Fusheng.

Wang Fusheng understood what he meant and quietly left the hall.

Princess Gao An took out a peace amulet and handed it to Li Zhi, saying, "Yeah, this is the amulet I prayed for my mother. I hope she can give birth to little Abao safely."

Li Zhi touched her little face and smiled, "Gao An is such a good child."

At this moment, the originally weak Wu Meiniang suddenly let out a hoarse scream and then died.

Li Zhi ran towards the bedroom. Just as he passed through the corner door, he saw Jiang Shanggong running towards him with small steps, a look of joy on her face.

"Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness the Queen has given birth to a son, both mother and child are safe!"

(End of this chapter)