On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the first year of Rongshun, it was the eightieth birthday of Master Wang Qing, the great scholar of the current age. Master Wang was a pillar of integrity in his time, with a renowned reputation throughout the south and north of the Yangtze River. Even after returning to his hometown in glory, he had not remained idle, writing books and spreading knowledge, having now authored works that filled shelves. When the old master was to celebrate his grand birthday, the prominent families of Jiangzuo naturally could not fail to pay their respects, all rushing toward Master Wang’s hometown in Kuaiji Commandery of East Yangzhou.

However, if one were to truly speak of it, the nobles’ purpose was not solely to say a few auspicious words before Master Wang, but they also harbored the small intention of showing their faces before Grand Tutor Qi. This matter had its intricacies.

After the young emperor ascended the throne, the court officials originally expected the Grand Tutor to monopolize court affairs, but unexpectedly he truly left many major matters unattended and rarely associated with court officials. After court each day, he would go directly back to his villa on Qingji Mountain. Once the gates closed, he would refuse to see anyone who came to visit, no matter who they were, acting like a hermit hiding in plain sight at court.

Seeing such circumstances, people naturally couldn’t help but discuss privately. Some said the Grand Tutor was pretending to relinquish power, others said he truly had thoughts of withdrawal, and still others said it was because his newly married wife was pregnant—after all, even a Grand Tutor was human, how could he ignore his wife and child? They thought that once the Grand Tutor’s wife safely gave birth, the Grand Tutor’s attention would return to court affairs.

But such waiting was not a solution. The lady’s childbirth would take at least half a year, and if during this period they couldn’t find a way to get close to the Grand Tutor, waiting to follow the crowd to curry favor later—how could the Grand Tutor remember their kindness? Naturally, they needed to find another way to show their faces before him and seize the initiative.

This Master Wang had once been the Grand Tutor’s teacher. When the teacher was to celebrate his eightieth birthday, surely the Grand Tutor would not fail to show his respects? Well-informed officials had already heard that the Grand Tutor would personally bring his wife to Kuaiji Commandery to celebrate Master Wang’s birthday—this was incredible! Missing such an opportunity would be unforgivable by heaven’s law!

The officials immediately sprang into action. Even those who had never met Master Wang hurried toward Kuaiji Commandery. For a time, the official road connecting Jiankang and Kuaiji was crowded with people, with luxurious carriages racing past everywhere. The coachmen whipped their horses one after another, fearing to fall behind even a step and incur their masters’ scolding. It was extremely lively.

Upon reaching Kuaiji, everything became even more bustling. Master Wang’s ancestral home had been managed by several generations and was quite spacious, but no matter how spacious, it couldn’t accommodate so many people, ultimately becoming somewhat burdensome. Master Wang, at such an advanced age, naturally no longer managed such trivial matters as arranging banquets. Everything was handled by his grandson Wang Mian and granddaughter-in-law Lady Zhou.

These two junior family members, living in Kuaiji, had never seen so many high officials and nobles from Jiankang. Seeing them come to their door, they naturally couldn’t bring themselves to refuse, so they simply welcomed them all into their home—a great crowd of people that was truly dazzling.

That night at the birthday celebration, while the officials took turns approaching the birthday celebrant to curry favor, they also secretly watched the gate of the Wang residence, hoping for the Grand Tutor’s personal arrival. Before long, their wishes were fulfilled. Outside the residence gates, bronze bells chimed—the Grand Tutor had arrived with his wife. When everyone looked upon hearing the sound, they saw the Wang family members leading them inside.

The officials had often seen the Grand Tutor’s stern, cold demeanor in court that made people fearful. Now seeing him personally supporting his wife as she crossed the threshold and descended the steps, with a gentle expression and smiling eyes, they found it quite disconcerting. Only his familiar students found this unsurprising, thinking to themselves that their teacher had always been this way with their teacher’s wife in Fenghe Court—what was so strange about it?

As for the Grand Tutor’s wife, though she was pregnant and now showing, she still appeared graceful and beautiful. The red beauty mark between her eyebrows was like a masterful painting, and even while pregnant, it did not diminish her stunning beauty but rather added to her charm. She was truly a peerless beauty.

Some of the officials present today had seen Shen Xiling before—specifically during that time when the Qi family was in trouble and she was brought to court for public trial. At that time, everyone vaguely understood the extraordinary relationship between her and the Grand Tutor, and later heard that the Grand Tutor had personally traveled thousands of li to Langya to escort her to her wedding. This romantic affair had once spread widely throughout Jiankang City. Stories of separated lovebirds always attracted sympathy, making all listeners sigh with emotion. Who would have thought that after many years, they would still end up married? This truly showed that fate was destined by heaven and could not be torn apart by outsiders.

However… though this story was moving, some details were less than satisfactory when examined closely—for instance, this Grand Tutor’s wife was already on her second marriage, and her first marriage had been to a person from Wei… Admittedly, former lovers reuniting after long separation naturally had its own touching sentiment, and it was human nature for the Grand Tutor to be unable to resist the temptation of old affection. But as time went on, the fact that his pillow companion had once been married to another man would probably become less pleasant to bear, wouldn’t it? Though the Grand Tutor wielded power over the realm, he was ultimately still a man—how could a man tolerate his wife having been involved with others? If this was the case, whether this Grand Tutor’s wife could sit securely in her position as primary wife might still be questionable.

The officials’ minds were all active: currently the Grand Tutor was the foremost person in Great Liang. If the current high-ranking noble families of Great Liang didn’t want to be pushed out of court by the rising common-born families, they inevitably needed to establish some relationship with him. And among all relationships, what could be more reliable than marriage ties? If… their daughters could marry into the Qi family…

The birthday banquet was filled with laughter and joy, but secretly everyone harbored their own schemes.

The two parties involved, Qi Ying and Shen Xiling, paid no attention to such matters. They had come properly to pay birthday respects to Master Wang. Master Wang was Qi Ying’s teacher and had also taught Shen Xiling for a period at the main residence, treating her quite well and showing her kindness. Now that the old master was celebrating his birthday, the couple should rightfully come to offer congratulations.

Besides this, Shen Xiling also had another small intention. Since she became pregnant, Qi Ying had been managing her very strictly. Originally, she had been discussing trade regulations with the Secretariat with great enthusiasm. Though it was somewhat tiring, she did it happily, feeling that she too was doing good deeds for the welfare of the common people, so naturally she was very energetic.

But once she became pregnant, Qi Ying no longer allowed her to busy herself with these matters, requiring her to rest at home all day to nurture the pregnancy. He even limited how many hours she could read daily, which truly made her uncomfortable. She had wanted to comply outwardly while acting contrary in private, but Li Wei turned out to be a spineless person who only knew to listen to his teacher. Ever since receiving Qi Ying’s instructions, he no longer even set foot in Fenghe Court. Her letters to him also disappeared without a trace, leaving her helpless.

She was thus forced to live a life of never leaving the house. Every day she ate after sleeping and slept after eating, even more idle than Xue Tuan’er. Her dissatisfaction was too obvious, and women’s tempers inevitably became worse during pregnancy. Having nothing to do, she naturally had to pass time by finding fault with Qi Ying.

This finally allowed Qi Ying to experience his wife’s ability to dredge up old grievances. He didn’t know how her memory could be so good—she even remembered things from when she was little ten years ago. Things like which day he came home late and made her wait until she fell asleep, which day he went to the palace to meet the princess and came back with perfume scent on his clothes, which day he didn’t finish the meal she prepared for him, which day he didn’t praise an essay she had written seriously… and so forth, countless examples.

He really didn’t know how many old grievances she had stored up. She would bring them up today and again tomorrow, often leaving him speechless. At first, he thought the little girl was just being difficult and listened to these words as entertainment. But once she cried while bringing up grievances and nearly affected the pregnancy, which truly left the Grand Tutor flustered and confused.

From then on, he no longer dared to not take his wife’s words seriously. No matter how she complained, he would listen, and moreover cooperate by constantly admitting fault at her side and coaxing her in every way before getting through it. Fortunately, his wife was quite easy to coax. As long as he spoke a few pleasant words gently, she would stop making trouble. If her emotions were particularly unstable on any given day, he only needed to pluck a few grass stalks and weave a little grasshopper or rabbit to amuse her, and it would be effective.

However, little grasshoppers and rabbits could surprise the little girl the first few times, but later became commonplace. She began to be gloomy again. Today, while sitting in the small flower hall eating, she also threw a tantrum and wouldn’t touch her chopsticks, giving Qi Ying quite a headache.

If this had happened in the past, Qi Ying would certainly have assumed the posture of an elder and lectured the little girl who wouldn’t eat properly. But now she was his wife and was working hard carrying their child. He was already being extremely careful, yet she was still thoroughly dissatisfied. If he showed her a stern face, wouldn’t she cause even more trouble? He couldn’t bear to scold her, so he could only coax her. At this moment, he also put down his chopsticks and sighed while persuading his wife: “Wenwen… eat your meal first. Whatever you want to say, we can talk about it after eating, alright?”

Shen Xiling wouldn’t buy into his account and continued sitting glumly on the soft stool, her mouth pouted enough to hang an oil bottle. The maids all watched from the side, wanting to laugh but not daring to, and seeing their young master looking completely helpless, he asked his wife: “What exactly would make you happy?”

These words carried some meaning of compromise. Shen Xiling understood him best and knew this was when she had the best chance of getting what she asked for. She felt secretly pleased, but still put on a dejected appearance, saying listlessly: “What’s the use of talking? You won’t listen to me anyway.”

Governing a great country was like cooking a small fish, yet Qi Ying felt that coaxing her was more difficult than governing the country. He sighed again and continued asking good-naturedly: “How do I not listen to you? Don’t I listen to everything you say? It’s just that recently you’re pregnant, so you need to take care of your health.”

Shen Xiling snorted, her little temper flaring up: “Take care, take care—exactly how long do I need to take care before it’s enough? Even peasant women can weave and farm while pregnant. Among the people running businesses for me, there are female shopkeepers who can work on boats even with big bellies. Why is it that only I must stay at home?”

She was truly stifled, and there were again signs that she might cry. Qi Ying felt as if facing a great enemy, quickly waving his hand to signal the maids to leave. He then sat beside his wife and pulled her into his arms, comforting her: “Your constitution is delicate—how could you endure such hardships? I’m not trying to lock you up. As long as your health improves a bit more and the pregnancy stabilizes, you can go out and do whatever you want, alright?”

He spoke earnestly and added another sentence: “Didn’t you always complain that I wasn’t by your side to accompany you? Now I’m here, so why do you want to run outside again?”

This was true. Though Qi Ying managing her and not letting her go out did indeed make Shen Xiling feel stifled, he himself hadn’t gone out socializing either. Every day as long as court was over, he would come home to accompany her. However many days she had stayed at home, he had as well, never leaving her alone. She was indeed being somewhat ungrateful…

Previously when he was busy, she couldn’t see him all day, and at that time she felt that as long as she could stay by his side, she would be willing to do anything. Now that this wish had come true, she was making trouble again, even wanting to drag him out to play. This did have some meaning of being fickle…

Shen Xiling felt somewhat ashamed. She knew she was being somewhat spoiled and willful, but she just wanted to make trouble in front of him, to see his helpless expression, to see him indulge her, to hear him coax her. Whenever he did this, her heart would feel happy, and even the hardships of pregnancy seemed to be cancelled out. She really, really loved him so much.

Thinking this way, Shen Xiling’s expression softened again and she was no longer huffing angrily. She leaned in her husband’s arms, gently pinching his clothing, and coquettishly said in a small voice: “But I’m really stifled and want to go out for some fresh air… I want Second Brother to accompany me, even if just for a day or two?”

Author’s Note: Shen Wenwen, Jiangzuo’s famous whining monster (The extras with plot will come a bit later, let’s be sweet first~)