The Virtuous Concubine

As soon as Ulanara left, the prince called Chen Xin in: "Who is Yang Gege?"

Chen Xin quickly replied, "Your Highness, Yang Gege is the eldest daughter of the Yang family. Her uncle and brother were both officials in the previous dynasty and made great achievements in the court. The power of her family should not be underestimated—"

The prince raised his hand slightly, waved it impatiently, and interrupted: "That's not what I want to hear."

Chen Xin sighed secretly and added, "She is the one who likes to wear the clothes of a palace maid and hang around in front of Your Highness."

The prince reacted and suddenly had an idea. He immediately asked Chen Xin: "Did she give me a sachet?"

Chen Xin nodded hurriedly and said, "All the gifts sent by the princesses and concubines are stored in the storeroom. Do you want me to get them for Your Highness?"

The prince shook his head, his expression grim: "No need, just burn them all. Don't mention the matter of the sachet again. Yang, I'm afraid you will never return to Yuqing Palace again."

After saying this, the prince sighed inwardly. Although the emperor's father loved him very much, this love sometimes seemed like a heavy yoke that almost suffocated him.

He is like a bird imprisoned in a gorgeous cage. Although he has fine clothes and delicious food, his flying feathers have been clipped.

Sometimes, he would have a strong desire to escape from this cage, and Malu was his only... the only symbol that he still had a little freedom.

This time, the Emperor used the incident of Yang Gege to warn him, and clearly told him to treat everyone equally and not favor one person alone. The prince thought, he might as well follow the Emperor's wishes and burn the gifts given by those women, so as to cover up the fact that Malu gave him the sachet, so as to avoid any more trouble.

The prince was right. Princess Yang did not come back until evening.

Ulanara was restless in her residence, struggling for a long time. Finally, she sent her close confidants to ask Chen Xin, who was serving the prince, how to deal with this emergency.

Chen Xin calmly accepted the heavy red envelope and calmly conveyed the prince's intention: "From now on, in Yuqing Palace, just pretend that Yang Gege has never existed."

Upon hearing this, Ulanara was extremely frightened.

She was still young, and although she was usually dignified and prudent and behaved with propriety, she was inexperienced after all. It was the first time she met someone who was so close to her, and he just disappeared like that.

She was so anxious that she had no appetite. She had no appetite at all despite the delicacies on the table. She just fiddled with the bowl and chopsticks for a few times and could no longer swallow.

The nanny beside her tried to persuade her to eat something, otherwise her body would be ruined, how could she give birth to an heir for the prince?

Ulanara had no choice but to take a bite, but her stomach suddenly churned, and she vomited out all the food in her mouth with a "wow".

She raised her head uncomfortably, but saw the nanny's happy smile.

The young eunuch of Yuqing Palace hurried to invite the imperial physician before the palace gate was locked, and he confirmed that she was pregnant.

For a moment, the gloomy atmosphere in Yuqing Palace caused by Yang Gege was swept away.

Ulanara was overjoyed, and she happily sent the palace maids around her to invite the prince, hoping to inform him of the good news as soon as possible. However, she didn't know that the prince did not come.

The palace maid heard it clearly, but the prince just said coldly that he knew it, and went back to tell the concubine that he was busy with affairs today and had no time to go, and asked her to take good care of herself.

When Ulanara saw the palace maid coming back alone, the smile on her face froze instantly, and the joy in her heart was extinguished as if by a basin of cold water.

Could it be that the prince was really so in love with Yang Gege? He even loved her so much that he remained indifferent and ignored such a great event as hearing that she was pregnant?

But she comforted herself in her heart. First, Yang Gege was probably in danger now. She was probably punished by the emperor for some reason. After all, she was just a dead person. No matter how favored she was in her life, it was all gone now and posed no threat to her.

Besides, she was pregnant with a child, and this was no ordinary child. Who knows, it might be the emperor's eldest grandson! Even if the prince was a little cold to her at the moment, there was still a long time to come. As long as the child was born smoothly, everything could turn around.

Thinking of this, a spark of hope rekindled in Ulanara's originally dim eyes.

The light in the prince's study stayed on all night.

The next morning, when it was just light, Chen Xin hurried out of the palace with the token in hand. He rode non-stop all the way to Tanzhe Temple outside the capital. He found the abbot of Tanzhe Temple in the capital, set up an unlettered tablet, and offered incense every day.

Ulanara was not the only one who brought good news to the prince’s wife in this generation.

The Fourth Lady was also pregnant, and she went to Yonghe Palace in person to announce the good news.

Malu was very surprised when he heard this: "You could have just sent someone to tell them, why did you make a special trip? Or you came by yourself? Where's Lao Si? Why didn't he come with you?"

The Fourth Lady bowed slightly, with a gentle smile on her face, and said slowly, "In reply to your Majesty, I should have asked a servant to tell you the good news, but I thought that I should tell you the good news in person to show respect, and the Fourth Master is busy with his affairs in the court and cannot get away, so I came here on my own."

Malu disagreed, "You are pregnant now, you should take good care of yourself. Respect or disrespect is not the point. Don't be so stubborn in the future. We are all family, there is no need to be bound by these empty formalities. And you should not be restrained by virtue. No matter how busy I am, I should take care of you."

After that, Malu said, "Please sit down first. I will ask someone to prepare some nourishing tea and snacks for you. You are pregnant now, so you must not be careless about your diet."

The fourth lady hurriedly thanked him and sat down with the help of the palace maid. Ma Lu looked back at the fourth lady, carefully examining her and asked, "Are you feeling well now? Are you feeling unwell? If you need anything, please let me know."

The Fourth Lady gently stroked her belly, which had not yet bulged, with a happy smile on her face, and said softly, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am in good health. I just have some morning sickness occasionally, but it is not serious. Your Majesty, don't worry."

As she spoke, she actually explained for the Fourth Prince, saying softly, "When my husband knew that we were having a child, he was very happy and said that he would do more work for the child."

Malu didn't believe it. She thought the Fourth Prince just wanted to avoid taking care of the household chores. His wife was pregnant, so he had to work overtime.

But she was also unwilling to say too many bad things about the Fourth Prince to the Fourth Lady. Since the Fourth Lady was willing to accept it, she had nothing to say, so she nodded. However, she heard the Fourth Lady take the initiative to ask Malu to give her two people to take back to the Fourth Prince's mansion.