News of the Mo Family Army’s occupation of the Chu capital spread across the land within a month, instantly sobering the previously scheming nobles of various nations. In less than ten years, Prince Ding Manor had transformed before their eyes from a weakened state under Mo Jingqi’s suppression to a formidable power capable of competing with anyone. Many regretted not delivering the final blow when Prince Ding Manor was at its weakest, which had now resulted in another unpredictably powerful enemy.
However, seeing the fierce Mo Family Army soldiers stationed at the frontier, those who had been itching to act withdrew. While the desire to destroy the Mo Family Army was strong, everyone understood the principle of not being the first to stick their neck out. If anyone impulsively engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Prince Ding Manor, it would only benefit others.
While the rulers of various nations harbored their thoughts, chaos erupted within Prince Ding Manor in Li City.
The usually peaceful main courtyard was in an uproar. In the flower hall, several people either sat or stood restlessly, while many more waited anxiously in the courtyard outside. Those who had been in Prince Ding Manor long enough would remember a similar scene seven years ago. Indeed, today was the day new members would join the Prince Ding family.
In the flower hall, Mo Xiuyao sat calmly in the main seat. However, a closer look would reveal his entire body was rigid with tension, and if not for his extreme self-control, he might have already rushed into the room. Although he had experienced this once before when Mo Xiaobao was born, that experience only made it more terrifying. Moreover, when Mo Xiaobao was born, there was only one child, but this time there were two. Everyone in the flower hall unanimously kept their distance from Mo Xiuyao, even the usually mischievous Mo Xiaobao, who wisely stayed far from his father and nestled in Master Qingyun’s arms.
Ye Li wasn’t one to cry out when in pain, so her labor sounded less terrifying than most from the outside. Sitting to one side, Qin Zheng couldn’t help but recall when she gave birth to Xu Zhirui when her screams reportedly echoed throughout the entire Xu Manor and even caused the usually composed Xu Qingze to faint upon hearing the child was born. Comparing that to Ye Li’s current situation made her feel quite embarrassed.
Mo Xiaobao watched wide-eyed as maids frequently entered and exited with water. Worried, he cuddled closer to Master Qingyun, his dark eyes filled with fear. Master Qingyun patted his great-grandson compassionately and said softly, “Don’t be afraid, Chen’er. Your mother will be fine. Would you like to go play with Zhirui and the others? When you return, your younger siblings will be here.” Mo Xiaobao shook his head, “No, I want to wait for my younger siblings. Great-grandfather, did Mother hurt this much when she had me?”
Master Qingyun smiled, “Yes, every mother experiences great pain when giving birth. That’s why Chen’er must be filial to your mother in the future. Understand?”
Mo Xiaobao nodded firmly, “I understand. I will be filial to my mother. I love Mother the most.”
“Good child.”
Outside in the courtyard stood many others, including Hua Tianxiang, Han Mingxi, Ye Wenhua, and more. The flower hall was too small to accommodate everyone, so they waited anxiously in the nearest courtyard.
In the bedroom, Ye Li lay enduring waves of pain, her face pale. Second Madam Xu anxiously watched the midwife working while holding Ye Li’s hand, saying, “Li’er, don’t be afraid. If it hurts, cry out.” Ye Li managed a smile for Second Madam Xu, though this birth was indeed more difficult than when she had Mo Xiaobao. During one particularly intense wave of pain, Ye Li finally couldn’t help but groan.
Second Madam Xu wiped the sweat from her brow while asking, “What’s happening? How much longer until the birth?”
The midwife replied worriedly, “We must wait a bit longer. The young master’s position is slightly incorrect; we need to adjust it first.” Second Madam Xu’s expression darkened. Having given birth to two children herself, she knew the complications of an incorrect fetal position. “Then hurry up. You know the Princess Consort’s status – nothing can go wrong!”
The midwife nodded repeatedly, “Don’t worry, Madam. The Princess Consort’s condition isn’t serious; nothing will go wrong. The Princess Consort will just have to endure some more discomfort.” Ye Li, having heard their conversation, nodded slightly, “It’s fine, go ahead.” Only then did the midwife step forward to begin adjusting the baby’s position. Second Madam Xu held Ye Li’s hand, softly comforting her, “Don’t be afraid, Li’er… relax. When your aunt gave birth to your third brother, his position was also incorrect. Don’t worry.”
Ye Li nodded, enduring wave after wave of pain.
They waited from daylight until nightfall, with only Ye Li’s occasional groans of pain coming from the bedroom, but no infant’s cry. Mo Xiuyao, who had been sitting in the main seat, finally couldn’t bear it anymore and stood to go inside. Master Qingyun quickly called out, “Stop!” Mo Xiuyao paused briefly but continued forward. Master Qingyun said sternly, “If you care for Li’er, don’t go in! How will the midwives dare to work with you there?” This was true – Mo Xiuyao’s current aura was intimidating not just to the midwives but to everyone in the flower hall. Qin Zheng had long since taken Mo Xiaobao to wait outside. If Mo Xiuyao went in, the midwives would likely become flustered, and mistakes made in panic were not uncommon.
Cold air continued to emanate from Mo Xiuyao as he looked back at Master Qingyun. After a long moment, he finally returned to his original seat. However, his piercing gaze left no doubt that he wanted to blast open the tightly closed door with one palm strike.
Everyone waited until dawn before the first infant’s cry finally rang out.
The previously tense and worried crowd seemed to wake instantly, all rising to their feet. Mo Xiaobao rushed in from outside, “Sister! I heard my sister’s voice!” He ran to the door but found it still tightly closed, so he waited eagerly at the entrance. After another while, a second cry was heard, and everyone finally relaxed completely. Soon after, Madam Xu and a midwife each carrying a child emerged, announcing, “One boy and one girl, mother and children are safe.”
They brought the children to Master Qingyun, who was delighted to see the two wrinkled little “red monkeys.” “Good, good children. How is Li’er?” Second Madam Xu smiled, “After a day and night of exhaustion, she’s asleep. Father, look, this is the elder sister, and this is the younger brother.” Master Qingyun nodded joyfully, “A daughter is truly perfect. Very good, very good…”
Mo Xiaobao tugged at Second Madam Xu’s clothes impatiently, “Aunt, aunt, I want to see my younger siblings!”
Everyone burst into laughter, but when Second Madam Xu turned to show the children to Mo Xiuyao, he was nowhere to be seen.
With the children safely born, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After waiting a day and night, they were all quite tired. Especially Master Qingyun, who at eighty years old couldn’t handle such fatigue. Seeing Ye Li and the children were safe, Xu Hongyu quickly instructed Qin Zheng and Xu Qingze to help Master Qingyun back to rest, while others also dispersed to rest. Only Second Madam Xu needed to stay to help the midwife look after the two children.
Ye Li woke from her deep sleep to find the room lit by candles, with darkness outside. Habitually touching her abdomen, she found the round belly that had accompanied her for months was now flat, and her entire body felt as if it had been taken apart and reassembled, aching all over. As she shifted slightly, she noticed a head of silver hair spread across the edge of the bed. Mo Xiuyao was sleeping there, holding one of her hands.
Ye Li’s movement quickly woke Mo Xiuyao. Seeing Ye Li looking at him, his still sleepy eyes immediately lit up with joy, “A’Li, you’re awake…” Ye Li nodded, raising her hand to smooth his somewhat disheveled hair, asking softly, “How long have I slept? Where are the children?”
Mo Xiuyao looked outside, “It’s the fifth watch now; you’ve slept almost a day and night. The children…” A trace of confusion crossed Mo Xiuyao’s eyes – he hadn’t seen the children yet.
“Come here!”
Qingshuang and others who had been guarding outside quickly entered upon hearing his voice, “Your Highness, the Princess Consort is awake?” Seeing Ye Li awake, Qingshuang was also overjoyed, “This servant will have the prepared hot porridge brought in.” Mo Xiuyao stopped her, asking, “Where are the children?”
Qingshuang smiled, “The young master and young princess are sleeping in the outer room. This servant will ask the nurse to bring them in.” With that, Qingshuang curtsied and hurried out.
Soon after, Nurse Lin and Nurse Wei entered, each carrying a swaddled infant. They carefully placed the bundles in the space beside Ye Li on the bed, smiling, “Princess Consort, look how beautiful the young master and young princess are.” Ye Li looked down, and although she knew what newborns looked like, she still felt embarrassed. With her discerning eye, she really couldn’t see what was beautiful about these two wrinkled, slightly reddish little monkeys. However, they were her children, and watching these little ones sleeping peacefully with their eyes closed, Ye Li felt her heart soften like cotton.
Lovingly touching the babies’ rosy little faces with her finger, Ye Li couldn’t help but smile.
Nurse Lin said, “Princess Consort, the one in the red swaddling is the young princess, and the yellow one is the young master. The young princess looks exactly like you did as a baby.”
Ye Li’s mouth twitched – she certainly couldn’t see any resemblance between this little dumpling and herself. She smiled at Mo Xiuyao and asked, “Xiuyao, what do you think?” Mo Xiuyao, who had initially shown little interest in the two little dumplings, looked over after hearing Nurse Lin’s words. He studied them for a long while, then looked at Ye Li’s face before nodding, “Indeed very similar. Our little princess will surely grow to be as beautiful as A’Li.” So, he hadn’t seen the resemblance either, but it was a lovely wish.
Having slept for a day and night, Ye Li was now hungry. After eating a bowl of carefully prepared meat porridge brought by Qingshuang, she sent Mo Xiuyao to rest. He hadn’t properly rested since Ye Li went into labor two days ago, and only now, seeing her truly safe and sound, did he finally relax. After Ye Li finished her porridge, he went to rest.
Ye Li, however, had slept too long and couldn’t fall asleep now. She kept the two little dumplings, who hadn’t even opened their eyes yet, beside her on the bed, watching them. Seeing the two babies sleeping soundly with their eyes still closed, tender feelings flowed from her heart. She bent down to kiss their wrinkled little faces. Just as dawn was breaking, Mo Xiaobao, having received news of Ye Li’s awakening, came running over without waiting to be announced. Ye Li looked up to see his little head peeking in from the outer room and smiled, “What are you looking at? Come in!”
“Is Father here?” Mo Xiaobao’s eyes darted around the inner chamber, and only after confirming Mo Xiuyao truly wasn’t present did he dare enter. Running with small steps to Ye Li’s side, he looked at the two babies lying side by side on the bed, “Mother, are you better now?” Ye Li smiled gently and ruffled her son’s hair, “Mother is fine. Come look at your sister and brother.”
Mo Xiaobao climbed onto the bed, kneeling to look at the two little bundles. He reached out curiously to poke them, asking, “Why do sister and brother look like wrinkled little monkeys? They’re not pretty at all.”
Ye Li quickly grabbed his mischievous little hand, laughing, “In a few days, they’ll become plump babies. Little Bao looked just like this when you were first born.”
“What?” Mo Xiaobao’s confusion held a hint of disdain and disbelief. How could he have looked like these wrinkled, ugly things? His aunt had said he was a plump, fair baby when he was born. However… looking again at his sleeping, well-behaved siblings, they weren’t really that ugly. Mo Xiaobao nodded firmly to himself – even if his siblings were a bit ugly, he would still love them and treat them very, very well, even better than he treated Cold Dai and Xu Zhirui!
“What are you thinking about?” Seeing Mo Xiaobao nodding and shaking his head to himself with a contemplative expression, Ye Li touched his forehead.
Mo Xiaobao smiled, “Mother, I will love my brother and sister very much.”
Ye Li smiled, “Mother knows Little Bao will be a good big brother.”
Unlike most families, Ye Li hadn’t completed a full month of postpartum confinement after giving birth to Mo Xiaobao. In her previous life, it wasn’t uncommon for women to be up and about a week after giving birth, and Western cultures had no concept of postpartum confinement at all. Ye Li naturally didn’t have the patience to remain confined for a full month, especially with so many matters requiring attention these past few months. Nevertheless, Second Madam Xu and the two nurses still confined her to bed for half a month before allowing her to move freely.
At the end of May, Prince Ding Manor sent invitations to neighboring countries’ nobles and various dignitaries, inviting them to attend Master Qingyun’s eightieth birthday celebration at the end of June. Along with the invitations came another piece of news: in May, the Princess Consort had given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, adding new members to Prince Ding Manor. News of Ye Li’s pregnancy had previously circulated only among Prince Ding Manor’s commanders and hadn’t been announced publicly. Though outsiders found it strange that the Princess Consort, who usually accompanied the Prince in all matters, hadn’t participated in the battle for the Chu capital, many assumed she had stayed behind to oversee the northwest and didn’t think much of it. Now that the news was out, it made people both envious and jealous of Prince Ding. He had just taken the imperial cities of Xiling and Chu, and now his wife had given birth to dragon-phoenix twins – it seemed heaven had bestowed all its good fortune on Mo Xiuyao alone.
Among those who heard this news, none were angrier than Mo Jingli and Ren Qining.
Mo Jingli’s reaction was understandable – he and Mo Xiuyao were natural enemies, and now his rival had a loving wife and multiple children while he couldn’t even find his only son. How could he not be angry? In his fury, he couldn’t help but remember his deep hatred for Mo Jingqi, taking it out once again on the seven or eight-year-old young emperor. The already timid and weak young emperor was frightened to tears and nearly fell ill.
Compared to Mo Jingli, Ren Qining was even more grief-stricken. Mo Xiuyao had killed all his sons, daughters, principal wives, and concubines. Such killing was practically equivalent to exterminating his entire household. On top of that, Mo Xiuyao had stirred up the already discordant factional struggles in the northern border region, how could Ren Qining not hate him to the bone? Seeing the crimson invitation decorated with golden auspicious clouds, Ren Qining nearly coughed up blood in his grief and anger.
“Mo Xiuyao! Mo Xiuyao!” In the study, seeing Ren Qining’s gnashing teeth and twisted expression, his confidants were too frightened to speak. After a long while, when they saw Ren Qining gradually calm down, someone carefully stepped forward to ask, “Master, this invitation… shall we go?”
Ren Qining laughed coldly, gripping the invitation tightly as if he were gripping Mo Xiuyao himself, “Go? Of course, we’ll go. Not just us, but the Northern Rong, Southern Zhao, and Xiling will all go. If we don’t attend, wouldn’t that make us look weak?” His advisor was startled and asked worriedly, “Could Mo Xiuyao be planning a trap like the Hongmen Banquet?”
Ren Qining glanced at his subordinate and snorted, “A trap? Even with all his abilities, Mo Xiuyao couldn’t manage to trap and kill so many people in Li City. He just wants to gauge the thoughts of the various rulers, and that’s fine – I also want to meet Yelü Ye and Lei Zhenting.”
Hearing this explanation, everyone relaxed. Soon, another person raised an issue, “Master, if you go in person, you should probably bring a lady with you. But now…” It would indeed be inappropriate for a nation’s ruler to visit foreign lands without female companions. Moreover, on some occasions, the presence of noble ladies was irreplaceable. Especially since Prince Ding Manor had an influential Princess Consort, the noble guests attending the birthday celebration would surely bring their ladies. However, the current problem was that the northern border royal family’s women had all been killed, none remaining. This same issue was now giving Ren Qining a headache regarding his royal harem.
Previously, after marrying a Northern Border tribal princess as his principal wife, Ren Qining had taken several concubines. Most were Central Plains women, which naturally suited the wishes of his Central Plains officials. After all, they had always considered themselves the legitimate successors of the Central Plains, and although they now had to rely on Northern Border power to restore their nation, they still hoped the next generation’s emperor would be of pure Central Plains blood. Therefore, when the queen and legitimate children were first killed, these Central Plains officials admittedly felt some secret joy. But when the Central Plains concubines’ princes and princesses were also killed, everyone finally realized the gravity of the situation.
Now, a nation couldn’t go a day without a ruler, and likewise, the royal harem couldn’t go without a mistress. However, regarding whether Ren Qining should marry a Central Plains woman or a Northern Border woman as queen, neither side would yield. Originally, when the Central Plains faction was weaker, the matter was easier to handle, but now that the Northern Border had occupied large portions of Chu territory, the Northern Border army had quickly recruited many former Chu people. Thus, the previous situation of the army being entirely Northern Border people was quickly broken, and the Central Plains officials gradually gained leverage to challenge decisions. As a result, the question of whether to marry a Northern Border woman or a Central Plains woman had been debated for no less than half a month. The two factions were now exchanging glares and trading barbs whenever they met, barely restraining themselves from physical confrontation.
Ren Qining naturally leaned toward the Central Plains faction. As a man, he certainly preferred the gentle and refined Central Plains noble ladies to the somewhat rugged Northern Border women. However, the Northern Border people weren’t all fools – Ren Qining himself was from the Central Plains, and if he married another Central Plains person as queen, wouldn’t the Northern Border essentially become a Central Plains nation? Would there still be a place for their Northern Border tribes? They were naturally determined to oppose this.
Just thinking about this matter gave Ren Qining an extra headache. Originally, if they had successfully taken the Chu capital, he could have used his identity as a survivor of the previous dynasty’s royal family to restore legitimacy, and these Northern Border people wouldn’t have been so important. Unfortunately, due to Mo Xiuyao’s interference, their plan failed. For now, he would still have to rely on these Northern Border people, and it would be impossible to shake them off or suppress them for quite some time. Not only impossible, but he would have to treat them even more favorably. With a wave of his hand, he cut off the ongoing discussions and said gravely, “Go announce my decision. Helan of the Taji tribe will be elevated as queen.”
“Master!” Everyone exclaimed together, and one stepped forward to say, “Master, Princess Helan is willful and unreasonable, how can she be the nation’s queen?”
Ren Qining impatiently replied, “Can you find a more suitable candidate from the Northern Border? Willful and unreasonable… there are advantages to being willful and unreasonable. At least she won’t have so many schemes to give me headaches.” His previous wife, that Northern Border princess, had been no less cunning and skilled in scheming than any man. The Northern Border didn’t place as many restrictions on women as the Central Plains did, and that Northern Border princess had been raised to be a successor, though unfortunately she fell in love with Ren Qining at first sight and was willing to be a queen in the harem rather than the mighty leader of the Northern Border’s strongest tribe. Even so, her various constraints on Ren Qining had long since made him impatient. If Mo Xiuyao hadn’t been so ruthless, Ren Qining might have wanted to thank him.
“Additionally, bestow the title of consort on Minister Wang’s eldest daughter and Minister Zhang’s third daughter.”
With this, everyone was satisfied. In terms of harem politics, how could Northern Border women who only knew how to throw tantrums be a match for Central Plains noble ladies?