The Virtuous Concubine

Malu nodded: "Well said. No matter what, never deny yourself because of other people's choices. You deserve better. One day, you will meet someone who appreciates and cherishes you. When the time comes, I will grant you marriage and prepare a generous dowry so that you can marry in style."

Bai Xia forced a smile. As for what she was thinking in her heart, only she knew.

Seeing this, Bai Fu quickly changed the subject and reminded Malu, "Speaking of the imperial physician, the eunuch who is in charge of getting information from Zhou Quanfu reported that Chengqian Palace has been summoning the imperial physician every day recently, sometimes even two or three times a day."

Malu's attention was drawn to Bai Fu's words. She frowned slightly and said, "Oh? Chengqian Palace summoned the imperial physician so frequently. It seems that Imperial Concubine Tong's pregnancy may be more difficult than that of Concubine Wei."

Bai Fu nodded: "I don't know the specific situation, I hope the master will be careful. Should the Fourth Prince stay away from Chengqian Palace for a while? Just in case." If the child runs or jumps and bumps into the Imperial Concubine, no one will be able to explain it.

Malu nodded: "Let Jingyi talk to Xiao Si'er. He is the most sensible and will understand."

Seeing that her master listened to her advice, Bai Fu was relieved. "The news also said that Concubine Wei had a near-death experience this time. It is said that her vitality was seriously damaged and her uterus was damaged... The Imperial Hospital is busy from top to bottom. The Emperor has issued a death order, saying that she must be cured. The herbs for replenishing blood and qi are running out."

Malu was not surprised. In history, Concubine Liang had no children after giving birth to the Eighth Prince. Listening to the gossips among the concubines, Malu decisively opened the system to check the conditions of the two people. Sure enough, Concubine Tong's condition worsened, and Concubine Wei even couldn't stop her bleeding until today.

What surprised her even more was that she also saw that Concubine Yi was pregnant! As expected, the Ninth Prince also came, but Concubine Yi... Did she know she was pregnant? What was her purpose in staying until the end that day?

After thinking about it, Malu decided to forget it. There was nothing to fight about with these concubines in the harem. The real palace fighting would only begin when the child grew up. Concubine Yi had to keep it a secret until the baby was three months old. It was normal for the baby to be stable. It was just that the number of children in the harem was surging! There were babies crying in every palace.

After being in the palace for a long time, everyone has figured out the emperor's personality. He is extremely cold to those he doesn't favor, and doesn't even think about them. But he doesn't care much about his favorite concubines either.

According to Malu, he seemed to be born with an anti-addiction system. Even if he was particularly obsessed with someone for a while, he would automatically treat this person coldly after a while, and would not continue to summon this person until he felt that the favor was balanced.

This means that everyone will be favored and everyone will fall out of favor. The concubines who have been favored have all been hurt, so naturally they will focus on their offspring. Malu smiled and continued to do his research.

Although there was no plastic in ancient times and it was impossible to make modern lifebuoys and other items, the clever ancient people had already used natural items to fight against the forces of nature. For example, after hollowing out the gourd, the ancients who could not swim would tie several large gourds around their waists, calling it a "waist boat." This simple life-saving equipment, although not gorgeous, can save lives at critical moments.

There is an idiom that goes "A gourd dropped in the middle of a river is worth more than 1,000 taels of gold", which means that if you fall into the water in the middle of a river, someone can throw you a big gourd, which is more valuable than 1,000 taels of gold.

The same principle applies to Malu's request for a lightweight jar from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In ancient times, there was something called a floating jar, which was a few empty jars tied together on a wooden frame. People sat on the frame and used the buoyancy to float across the water.

It was difficult to replicate the life buoy, after all, there was no rubber at that time. However, Malu also asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a lot of light wood, and made a flat hollow ring, which could float on the water more easily than usual by holding it with both hands. Malu called this thing a floating ring.

However, whether it was a floating pot, a floating ring, or a gourd, they were all very large and difficult to carry around. So Malu had people sew sheepskin, cowhide, pigskin, and other animal skins, or even oil paper, into air bags, which were then fixed to clothes. Finally, young eunuchs of different weights were asked to test how many air bags could float a person of what weight.

In fact, in addition to these, the bladder of a pig or cow, inflated and tied up, can also be used as a lifebuoy. This is what Malu heard when she was a girl in Wuya's house about a deceiving quack. This person walked to the river, suddenly sat on the water, and floated across the river.

People around were all shocked and thought he was a god. He swindled a lot of money. Later, someone exposed him. It turned out that he had tied a few inflated pig bladders under his buttocks and wore a long robe on the outside, so no one could tell.

As for the improvement of wool material, let the Ministry of Internal Affairs handle it first. She really didn't want to deal with Nalan Rongruo. After passing on these matters, Malu was also tired. She whispered to the palace maid: "Go, bring the twins here. I want to see them."

Compared to the worryingly well-behaved Fourth Prince, the twins were much more noisy. Every morning, it was no longer Bai Fu who woke Malu up, but the piercing voices of these two little bastards. Yinzuo was really one of the most annoying ones. He would cry as soon as he opened his mouth, even if there was nothing wrong. Wen Xian followed her brother and cried when her brother cried.

As soon as the nurse came over, Yinzuo started crying, and Wenxian also cried for fear of being left behind. Malu patiently held one and then the other, but it was completely useless. The two children cried even harder when they saw someone comforting them.

Dachun was no longer surprised, so he quickly picked up the rattle and played it in a regular rhythm. The clear sound seemed to have magic power, gradually attracting the children's attention. Yinzuo's crying became quieter, and Wenxian also stopped crying. The two little heads turned curiously to the source of the sound.

Dachun was shaking the rattle and humming a lullaby softly. The soft melody and the rhythm of the rattle made the children's eyes brighter and brighter. Finally, they were completely attracted by the rattle and forgot to cry.

Malu was relieved. If she continued crying, her throat would be damaged! She whispered to the nurse beside her, "Do they usually cry like this in front of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager?"

The nurse thought about it carefully before whispering, "Your Highness, the young masters are naturally well-behaved in front of the Emperor and the Grand Empress Dowager." It was when Empress Defei asked this that she suddenly realized. These two young masters seemed to know when to make a fuss and when to be quiet! Empress Defei is really good at giving birth.

But after hearing her answer, Malu was not happy. It turned out that they were just torturing her, their biological mother! She touched these two big precious bumps with hatred. She loved them in her heart, but she complained: "You only know how to torment your mother, why don't you learn from your brother? Little Si'er is so good! I wish he could be like your brother."

Seeing this, the nurse couldn't help but smile. She knew that although Malu complained, she loved the two children in her heart. She comforted them softly, "Madam, the young masters are still young. If you teach them slowly, they will be as obedient as the Fourth Prince in the future."

The warmth inside the door was infinite. The fourth prince outside the door heard Malu's complaints. Although there was no expression on his face, he was very happy in his heart - Mother still likes me the most! Even if my younger brother is a boy and a girl, he can't compare to me!