After the two finished their conversation, whenever someone brought up the matter of the imperial selection during court sessions, Shen Qianyu would refuse using the excuse that the national treasury was not abundant and Dongning had no silver to spare. For those who remained undeterred, Shen Qianyu declared that whoever proposed the selection would have their own household provide the funds to host it. As time passed, the voices calling for the selection gradually faded away.

Song Wan seemed to have endured through the most uncomfortable stage of her pregnancy, and her entire person became lighter and more cheerful. Yet Shen Qianyu appeared to have become obsessed with caring for Song Wan, still staying by her side every moment without leaving even a single step. Until the day of labor, he never once departed.

Song Wan’s delivery was not particularly smooth. Perhaps because the fetus in her womb took after Shen Qianyu, the little one was physically robust and not small in size either. During birth, Song Wan suffered quite a bit. Shen Qianyu waited outside the delivery room, his entire body cold and trembling incessantly.

“Your Majesty need not worry. The Empress is blessed with great fortune and will surely deliver mother and child safely.”

Ji Rong softly consoled him from the side, while Wan Xiao stood in the distance, equally worried for his young master. Shen Qianyu’s gaze stared straight at the tightly closed door, his ears not hearing a single word from anyone. He only felt as though his three souls and seven spirits had flown somewhere unknown, his entire person existing in a state of bewilderment and daze. It wasn’t until a loud infant’s cry came from within the room that he looked up to the heavens with a long sigh, nearly collapsing to his knees with weak legs.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! The Empress has delivered the First Prince. Both mother and child are safe…”

The head physicians responsible for obstetrics at the Imperial Medical Academy all stood up together, wiping the sweat from their foreheads. The midwife, carrying the wrinkled bundle of a swaddled infant, walked out with a face full of smiles.

“Wan Xiao, watch over my imperial son.”

After speaking, Shen Qianyu pushed past the palace maids, wanting to enter the delivery room.

“Your Majesty, you cannot.”

Before anyone could stop him, he had already walked to Song Wan’s side in just a few steps.

“Your Majesty…”

Heng Zhi and Heng Wu were holding copper basins in their hands, preparing to clean Song Wan. Shen Qianyu silently stepped forward to take the copper basin and personally wiped away the stains on her body.

“Wan’er, are you alright?”

Song Wan’s face was deathly pale, like gold paper. Her disheveled hair, dampened with sweat, stuck to her face—an utterly wretched sight. Yet Shen Qianyu felt that his Wan’er, no matter when, was so beautiful that she startled his heart.

“Wan’er, you’ve worked hard.”

Song Wan weakly shook her head, smiling at his biased words. This was also her child—what hardship was there to speak of? However, she was truly exhausted at the moment. Unable to speak even a few words, she drifted into a half-conscious, half-sleeping state.

When she woke, it was already evening. Beside her was placed a bright yellow cradle, and Shen Qianyu sat by her side, softly cooing at their child.

“Wan’er is awake?”

Carrying that plump, chubby little one to Song Wan’s side, Shen Qianyu said gently, “Look at him. He looks very much like Wan’er.”

Song Wan noticed how skilled and steady his hands were holding the child, his movements quite smooth, and was rather surprised. Guessing that he must have secretly practiced at some point, she couldn’t help but feel warmth in her heart.

“Wan’er, look at our child.”

For some reason, Shen Qianyu’s voice suddenly choked up, his eyes turning sour.

Song Wan smiled at him, then slightly lifted her head to look at their child. With just one glance, she couldn’t help but laugh aloud. The bean-sized infant looked rather ugly; she couldn’t tell from where Shen Qianyu saw any resemblance to her.

After Song Wan’s light laugh, she couldn’t help but reach out to hold the little baby in her arms.

“Wan’er, give our child a name.”

“That’s not proper according to protocol.”

Shen Qianyu snorted lightly, “What protocol or impropriety? You are his mother. You went through countless hardships to give birth to him—can you not give him a name?”

Crouching down halfway, Shen Qianyu loosely encircled his wife and child, smiling broadly. “If not, how about you and I each choose one character for him?”

“Wan’er chooses first. After you’ve chosen, I’ll choose.”

Song Wan looked up at Shen Qianyu’s enthusiastic face and agreed with a faint smile. She lowered her eyes in thought for a moment before saying softly, “Would the character ‘Shi’ be good?”

Shen Qianyu said, “The character Shi is good.”

“Wan’er has always wished for men to follow the way of the gentleman. This character Shi embodies the culmination of the gentleman’s virtues—very good, very good indeed.”

Seeing that Shen Qianyu understood her meaning, Song Wan smiled faintly.

“And Your Majesty? What character does Your Majesty wish to choose?”

Shen Qianyu looked at Song Wan, then looked at the infant in his arms, gently uttering the character Yan.

“Yan has the meaning of peace and leisure. I hope that our child can in the future be a gentleman who lives his days in peaceful leisure.”

After speaking, Shen Qianyu lowered his head to look at the sweetly sleeping little baby in his arms, his heart growing tender. Years ago during the Lantern Festival, he had lost a friend. But it was also because of that person that he came to know the most wonderful woman in this world. Jiang Yan’s unspoken feelings—he would help hide them in his heart. Yet Shen Qianyu also felt that Wan’er deserved all the most sincere affections in this world and couldn’t bear to bury them.

“Yan?”

Song Wan looked up, somewhat surprised.

“What’s wrong? Does Wan’er think it’s not good?”

“Not at all.”

She thought for a moment and said, “It’s actually extremely good.”

“The Second Young Master of the Marquis of Chengyang’s household had the character Yan in his name. He was truly an elegant gentleman, upright and self-disciplined. On the day of the Lantern Festival, he was gravely injured and passed away while saving my elder brother. Both my brother and I feel deeply indebted to him.”

She knew that her brother had lit an eternal lamp for Second Young Master Jiang at the family temple, but the deceased had already passed—whatever one did now was in vain. Yet now Shen Qianyu had, by divine inspiration, chosen this character to name her child. Inexplicably, Song Wan felt it was very fitting.

“I hope that our child can in the future also be a benevolent gentleman like Second Young Master Jiang…”

Shen Qianyu continued, “Or a wise and enlightened sovereign.”

His and Wan’er’s legitimate eldest son would surely become the Crown Prince. These words Shen Qianyu could say, but Song Wan could not. She only smiled faintly and reached out to poke Shen Shi Yan’s arm.

Shen Qianyu understood her thoughts and didn’t force the matter. He held her hand in his palm and kissed it devoutly.

Swaddled children grow quickly—in just a month or two, their appearance changes dramatically. Due to Shen Qianyu’s unique harem situation, from birth Shen Shi Yan became the most precious treasure held in everyone’s palms. Shang Rong especially adored him, holding him in her arms all day long, wishing she could even take him back to her chambers at night.

Zhang Baozhen also seemed to have found her pleasure, spending all day holding her sewing basket to make clothes for Shen Shi Yan. From large items like quilts for the First Prince to small items like blessing aprons, tiger-head shoes, and tiger-head hats, even clothes for ages one or two—she had sewn no fewer than four or five of each.

Zhao Nanzhang had already begun selecting study companions for the prince at home, just waiting for Shen Shi Yan to be able to speak before having her household’s children accompany him in practicing martial arts and learning riding and archery. Qi Qing Ling had even earlier begun collecting musical scores from across the realm, so that Shen Shi Yan could in the future master music, commune with heaven and earth, and cultivate a clear heart and bright aspirations.

Even Wan Xiao, that carefree person who usually managed nothing, rarely became busy. He compiled all the secret agents of Dong Chang into registers and traveled to various places to select those gifted children, to train personal attendants and close guards who could be controlled by Shen Shi Yan alone.

And Shen Shi Yan, a little baby who could still only babble—from the moment of his birth, he already enjoyed the affection and adoration of countless people…