Consort De was giving birth for the first time.
As a new mother, although she found it exhausting, she was also somewhat amazed.
She had actually given birth to a person!
Although the baby looked red and wrinkled, and a bit ugly, there was still something oddly adorable about it.
After chatting with her mother for a while, she wanted to hold the little thing in her arms, but Lady Xiahou wouldn’t let her.
“How would you know how to hold a baby? A newborn’s bones are still soft, you must be careful. For now, just focus on resting and recovering. Once your body is better in a couple of days, you’ll have plenty of time to hold the child.”
As she finished speaking, she suddenly noticed something amiss and hesitated, her expression becoming uncertain.
“…Since the prince was born, has he not cried even once?”
Consort De’s expression froze.
The midwives, who had already noticed this but chose to feign ignorance, exchanged nervous glances.
Finally, the lead midwife braced herself, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.
“We have indeed not heard the little prince cry…”
Lady Xiahou’s face instantly turned pale.
Consort De’s eyes widened in shock, blurting out, “Could he be mute?!”
Ruan Rensui:
Everyone else:
A young attendant, Fei Shangyi, saw the situation and stepped forward, speaking softly, “Your Highness, it is said that noble children speak late. The little prince is the noblest of all, so if he cries a little later, what’s so strange about that?”
After calming her down, she sent someone to summon the imperial physician, who was waiting in the side hall, to check if there was anything wrong.
One of the palace attendants beside her whispered, “Should we report this to Her Majesty the Empress?”
His Majesty was still in the Chongxun Hall discussing matters with the court officials.
Meanwhile, within the inner palace, the Empress had personally come to oversee the delivery, and at this moment, she was waiting in the main hall for news.
Fei Shangyi glanced at the worried expressions of Lady Xiahou and Consort De inside the hall and shook her head slightly.
“Let’s wait until the imperial physician examines the child.”
In the main hall, one of the Empress’s attendants also found it odd.
“The prince has been born, so why is there no further news?”
The young Empress remained calm and asked softly, “Is Lady Jia Zhen keeping watch over the situation?”
Jia Zhen was the courtesy name given to Lady Fei by the Empress Dowager.
Because she was highly favored by the Empress Dowager, even the Emperor and Empress addressed her politely by her courtesy name rather than using her given name directly.
The attendant replied in a low voice, “Yes.”
The Empress said, “If there were anything that required my decision, Lady Jia Zhen would send word. Since there is no news, it means I do not need to concern myself with it for now.”
In the past, when the Empress Dowager acted as regent, Lady Jia Zhen was her personal attendant, assisting with documents and even teaching the Emperor’s younger brother, Prince Han, to read.
After the Empress Dowager returned power to the Emperor, Lady Jia Zhen was appointed to oversee palace affairs in the Bureau of Ceremonial Affairs.
Because of this experience, after the Empress entered the palace, she treated Lady Jia Zhen with great respect.
And Lady Jia Zhen, being personally trained by the Empress Dowager, was intelligent, tactful, and knew her place.
When Consort De became pregnant, His Majesty personally asked the Empress Dowager to send Lady Jia Zhen to take care of her.
At first, the Empress was a little surprised.
But after thinking about it, she found it to be a perfect arrangement.
After all, she was still young and had never given birth before.
Due to the natural rivalry between an Empress and a favored consort, it would be inappropriate for her to be too involved in Consort De’s matters.
Lady Jia Zhen, on the other hand, was trusted by the Empress Dowager, had experience managing the inner palace, and was perceptive.
With her taking care of Consort De, all sides could feel reassured.
Thus, at this moment, with Lady Jia Zhen accompanying Consort De inside, the Empress simply remained still like a statue, quietly waiting in the main hall.
Meanwhile, Ruan Rensui was held firmly in the midwife’s arms as she patted his bottom twice.
Ruan Rensui: ‘I know you’re all anxious, but please, don’t be so impatient. I also want to cry, but I just can’t! Aren’t babies supposed to cry instinctively? Why am I not?’
The midwife, growing increasingly nervous, patted him again, a bit harder this time.
Consort De couldn’t help but reach out and poke her son with a finger as well.
Ruan Rensui, caught in a pincer attack, was overwhelmed and finally opened his mouth to let out a hesitant “Ah!”
Then, he attempted to start fake crying.
Don’t laugh at me!
If you think it’s easy, why don’t you try?
Crying is really hard!
The midwife: ‘What the hell was that?’
Lady Xiahou: ‘What the hell was that?’
Only Consort De sighed in relief, exclaiming, “Finally, he made a sound!”
The midwife and Lady Xiahou exchanged looks of doubt.
Lady Jia Zhen seemed like she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Just then, the imperial physician arrived.
After bowing respectfully, he took the baby and examined him carefully.
After listening to the sounds he made, the physician wiped the sweat from his brow and said,
“The prince is in perfect health, there is nothing wrong with him.”
Consort De finally relaxed, giving the midwives a sideways glance.
“You all made such a fuss over nothing!”
They had scared her for nothing!
She completely forgot that she had been the first one to exclaim, “Could he be mute?!”
Lady Xiahou reacted even faster than her, quickly ordering generous rewards for the physician and midwives before turning to look at Lady Jia Zhen.
Lady Jia Zhen gave a slight nod.
“The prince is healthy. I have already sent word to inform Her Majesty the Empress.”
Lady Xiahou nodded.
As for Zhu, the Empress, Ruan Rensui only had a vague, dazzling image of her in his mind.
In terms of status, he was the eldest son of a concubine, and Empress Zhu was his official mother.
Although they had the title of mother and son, in reality, due to various reasons, they rarely met.
First, because his birth mother, Consort De, had deep-seated enmity with Empress Zhu, and the two were not on good terms.
Second, because Empress Zhu herself was not particularly enthusiastic about wielding her authority as the head of the inner palace.
The concubines would visit the Empress every ten days to pay their respects, and aside from palace banquets, she was rarely seen.
But the most crucial reason…
Years later, Empress Zhu died due to childbirth complications, and the unborn child was also lost.
Her death sent shockwaves through both the inner palace and the imperial court, leading to disputes over who would succeed her.
However, until the last moment of Ruan Rensui’s past life, the Emperor never remarried.
In his memory, Empress Zhu had been the perfect Empress.
She was born into the Duke of Dingguo’s family, one of the four great noble houses of the imperial court, and she was renowned for her beauty.