Empress Zhou was the second person outside to learn of Yao Huang’s pregnancy, because Emperor Yongchang came to her palace through the rain, asking her to arrange for a nanny skilled in caring for expectant mothers for his second daughter-in-law.

Originally, such matters should have been entrusted to Consort Du, Prince Hui’s adoptive mother. However, even if Consort Du hadn’t been scheming to throw dirt on Yao Huang, given her attitude toward Prince Hui, Emperor Yongchang didn’t trust her. In the end, he would still turn to Empress Zhou.

Empress Zhou both liked Yao Huang and pitied Prince Hui’s experiences, so she was very happy to hear such good news. After brief consideration, she said, “What does Your Majesty think of Nanny Jin by my side?”

Nanny Jin was originally a female physician in the palace. After Empress Zhou’s first pregnancy, Nanny Jin was transferred to attend to her, and from then on remained by Empress Zhou’s side. All three of Empress Zhou’s children were born under Nanny Jin’s watchful care. The first two princes only died of illness at the age of four or five, which had nothing to do with Nanny Jin’s care.

Emperor Yongchang hesitated, “Weren’t you planning to have her accompany Qiong’er when she leaves the palace?”

The eldest princess was named Zhao Qiong.

Empress Zhou smiled, “Qiong’er’s princess residence hasn’t been built yet, and her wedding isn’t until next May. By then, Yao Huang will have long finished her postpartum confinement, and with wet nurses caring for the child, Nanny Jin can retire with accomplishment.”

Emperor Yongchang looked at Empress Zhou’s gentle, smiling face and recalled how she had managed the inner palace so impeccably over the years, which stirred a sense of regret in his heart.

Had he known back then that Empress Zhou’s two princes wouldn’t live long, he should have registered his second son under the Empress’s name. This would have given the Empress another child to show filial piety to her, and spared his second son the suffering he endured as a child under the Noble Consort.

After Emperor Yongchang left, Empress Zhou summoned her daughter and spoke about transferring Nanny Jin to her second sister-in-law’s side.

The eldest princess said joyfully, “Of course that’s fine! Mother, please arrange it. Second sister-in-law is pregnant! I’m going to congratulate her right now!”

Despite the rain, the eldest princess ran off cheerfully.

As soon as the eldest princess arrived at Cloud Mountain Hall, Zhao Sui had no choice but to yield the princess consort to her and went to the study in the front to read.

Learning that Empress Zhou wanted to arrange a nanny for her, Yao Huang first thought of Nanny Fang, who had taught her etiquette when she was a palace maiden. She asked nervously, “Is Nanny Jin easy to get along with? She won’t watch over me and forbid me from going out, will she?”

Although Emperor Yongchang had rewarded her with four gemstone rings, that didn’t mean she could really be confined to the residence staring at gemstones all day. That month-plus in the Maidens’ Pavilion had nearly driven her mad with boredom.

The eldest princess laughed, “Second sister-in-law, rest assured. Nanny Jin is only coming to care for you; she wouldn’t dare control where you can or cannot go. If she were such a strict nanny, I wouldn’t dare take her to my princess residence either.”

Yao Huang blinked at her, “Since you and Mother treat me so well, I’ll definitely instruct your second brother to build your princess residence both magnificent and elegant.”

The eldest princess replied, “Even without you saying so, second brother is already very dedicated. Second sister-in-law, you’d better change to a different gift to thank me.”

Yao Huang thought for a moment and smiled mysteriously, “Alright, I’ll give it to you before your wedding.”

The next day the weather cleared, and Empress Zhou personally brought Nanny Jin over.

Nanny Jin was in her fifties, slightly plump in figure, and clearly had a gentle, accommodating temperament.

Yao Huang smiled at her, “Your surname sounds like we’re destined to be connected. My name contains ‘huang’ (yellow), and your surname contains ‘jin’ (gold). Gold-yellow, yellow-gold—we’re naturally one family.”

A’Ji beside them suddenly burst out laughing.

Yao Huang looked over, “What are you laughing at?”

A’Ji tried to suppress her laughter until her face turned red, shaking her head, not daring to speak.

Yao Huang figured it out herself—there was also a dog named “Jinbao” (Golden Treasure) in the prince’s residence. But with Nanny Jin just arriving, she couldn’t mention Jinbao, lest Nanny Jin misunderstand that the princess consort was deliberately making things difficult for her.

After introducing Nanny Jin, Empress Zhou carefully instructed Yao Huang on various matters, finally saying, “Since you’re with child, you can skip the formal greetings on the fifth…”

Yao Huang interrupted, “Mother, please don’t say that. I don’t feel pregnant at all right now. I still want to go boating and play chuiwan with my sisters-in-law in the gardens. I could walk all the way to the traveling palace, but suddenly can’t walk to pay my respects to you? If you insist on exempting me from formal greetings, you’re essentially saying I must stay obediently in Cloud Mountain Hall and can’t go anywhere, and I really can’t bear that.”

Empress Zhou relented, “That’s true as well. Then do as you please. Whenever you feel tired, excuse yourself. Right now, no empty formalities or amusements are as important as you mother and child.”

Yao Huang happily hugged Empress Zhou, “Mother is so kind. Don’t worry, I know what’s important.”

Thus, on the fifth of the seventh month, it was time to pay respects at the Western Palace again, and Yao Huang still brought A’Ji and left her residence.

These past few days, Zheng Yuanzhen had been accompanying Prince Qing in Pine Breeze Hall for their closed-door reflection and hadn’t gone out. Consort Shen and Princess Imperial Fucheng, mindful of Emperor Yongchang’s displeasure, also hadn’t visited the young couple. So Zheng Yuanzhen only learned from Prince Kang’s secondary consort Gu’s inquiry about why Yao Huang was still coming to pay respects that Yao Huang was actually pregnant.

Actually, it was quite normal for a married woman to become pregnant. Under different circumstances, Zheng Yuanzhen wouldn’t have thought much of it. But she and Prince Qing had just suffered a setback, and now Yao Huang and Prince Hui were celebrating good news…

“Congratulations, second sister-in-law,” Zheng Yuanzhen said politely.

Yao Huang graciously accepted her congratulations.

Among the elders, Consort Xian, Consort Shen, and Princess Imperial Fucheng could all sense that Emperor Yongchang had been rejoicing these past days over Prince Hui and his wife’s happy news. However, it was indeed worthy of a father’s comfort that Prince Hui, despite his crippled legs, could still normally father children. In any case, Prince Hui’s legs were still crippled, and having several children wouldn’t help him compete for the position of Crown Prince, so the three women didn’t take this matter to heart.

After the formal greetings ended, Yao Huang and the others went to play in the North Garden. Zheng Yuanzhen sat briefly with Consort Shen and her mother before returning to Pine Breeze Hall alone.

Prince Qing sat on the daybed in the side chamber, his two letters of reflection placed before him. The Emperor had only written “Mm” on the first one, leaving him and those around him unable to fathom the Emperor’s meaning. When writing the second letter, Prince Qing continued to focus on the nearly thousand palace guards who had died in battle at Tanzhou, saying he was willing to pay from his own coffers to supplement each guard’s family with five taels of consolation money.

Prince Qing’s wealth couldn’t compare to his two elder brothers. He had only been enfeoffed as a prince at twenty and had properly received his stipend for just one year; this year’s had been confiscated as punishment. Taking out nearly five thousand taels of silver to send to Tanzhou all at once showed real sincerity.

After the memorial was sent and the Emperor’s response returned, it only had one more character added: “Approved.”

When Zheng Yuanzhen entered and saw those two memorials, her heart grew irritated.

Both she and Prince Qing enjoyed luxury. Just after their wedding, Prince Qing had spent over three thousand taels of silver buying her various valuable items to please her, and had also paid over a thousand taels in filial respect to her mother. This meant the public accounts of the prince’s residence weren’t nearly enough to supplement Tanzhou. They couldn’t let Consort Shen know about the couple’s lavish spending, so they had no choice but to temporarily take silver from her dowry to make up Prince Qing’s payment.

Zheng Yuanzhen was willing to spend several thousand taels on a piece of excellent jewelry for herself, but to give it away to unrelated people for nothing—she certainly wasn’t happy about that.

“About the memorial, did you tell Mother Consort?”

Prince Qing asked. Mother Consort would find a way to communicate with Grandfather to see how Grandfather interpreted the Emperor’s one-character responses.

Zheng Yuanzhen nodded, “Mother Consort told me to come again on the ninth.”

Prince Qing studied her expression, “Is there something else?”

Zheng Yuanzhen glanced at him and said, “Nothing urgent. Second sister-in-law is pregnant. The pregnancy was confirmed on the day of the heavy rain at the end of last month. Apparently, the Emperor went to Cloud Mountain Hall through the rain, and the next day Mother Empress transferred Nanny Jin from her side to second sister-in-law.”

Hearing this, a trace of interest floated through Prince Qing’s eyes. With a half-smile, he remarked, “Second brother is capable—his legs aren’t completely useless after all.”

Zheng Yuanzhen didn’t want to hear such vulgar remarks and walked away, leaving him behind.

On the thirteenth of the seventh month, Prince Qing anxiously submitted another letter of reflection to the Emperor, saying he had already arranged for people to send out the consolation silver, hoping it would somewhat comfort the families of the deceased guards.

When the memorial came back, it had one red character added: “Good.”

Prince Qing inexplicably felt a sense of defeat, wishing the Emperor would just scold him directly and tell him exactly what he’d written wrong, rather than each time giving him a single character that left him guessing in every direction.

After Zheng Yuanzhen saw this “Good” character, she felt equally uncertain. What made her even more anxious was that her monthly courses were already half a month late, making it increasingly impossible to cling to any false hope.

Zheng Yuanzhen didn’t want to be pregnant at this time at all. Wouldn’t that openly tell others that Prince Qing still had the mood to be intimate with his princess consort during his closed-door reflection?

However, after several more days, even Prince Qing noticed the abnormality with her monthly courses.

Zheng Yuanzhen rushed to seek her mother’s help.

Princess Imperial Fucheng summoned an imperial physician. After taking her pulse herself, she had the physician check her daughter’s pulse as well. It was indeed a pregnancy pulse.