News of Luo Yu’s pregnancy spread, and before long, Noble Consort De also learned of it.

She recalled that she had once considered giving her to Fourteenth Prince. Not only would her father provide assistance, but in terms of offspring, she was indeed blessed with good fortune. What a pity.

However, her Fourteenth Prince was doing well now too. He already had a legitimate son, and another son whose birth mother was also of Manchu origin.

Thinking this, she let the matter go.

Noble Consort De didn’t care much, but there were still many who did.

Wang Xifeng had finally managed to scrape together a gift that satisfied Old Ancestor, and just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she received a letter from her cousin Wang Xiluan.

This could be described as coming to interrogate her, asking if this was false news. The tone in the letter made Wang Xifeng very angry. What was she doing?

Did she still remember she was a Gege in Prince Ping’s residence?

In her eyes, there should only be the Prince.

The Lin family was just a distant relative with an ordinary relationship! A relative separated by one degree!

Fortunately, she still knew some words couldn’t be written in letters. If others saw this letter, they would probably think she had some conflict with Luo Yu, and wouldn’t think of other implications.

If this letter had contained Chen Yu’s name and been seen by others, who knows if it would be used as a pretext, causing a major incident.

“What a worry-causing girl!” If something happened to her, the entire Wang family would be implicated.

Even all the Wang family daughters would be cast in shadow.

So Wang Xifeng couldn’t sit still. She returned to her natal home and explained the severity of the situation to her aunt. She had mentioned it before, but clearly she hadn’t listened.

This wasn’t something to be careless about.

Mother Wang indeed understood the importance of this matter and quickly found an opportunity to visit Prince Ping’s residence.

This was the second time she had spoken to her daughter about this matter.

What they discussed in the courtyard, others couldn’t hear. The area had been cleared in advance. Only certain words were overheard, and then someone secretly found an opportunity to report what they’d heard upward.

“Lin family, pregnancy?”

Zhen shi immediately connected this news. The Lin family did indeed have a daughter who married into Fourth Prince’s residence and was already pregnant. They were discussing this matter—why were their attitudes so cautious?

They had even driven away the servants. There must be more to it.

Zhen shi: “That’s all you heard?”

Nanny: “Yes. They weren’t speaking loudly. This was only heard when they suddenly became agitated.”

Zhen shi nodded: “Continue watching.”

Nanny: “Yes.”

In the second month, the Emperor toured the outskirts of the capital and took several princes along.

There were First Prince, Crown Prince, Fourth Prince, Ninth Prince, and Thirteenth Prince.

Then the Emperor immediately proceeded on his southern tour to inspect the waterways.

It wasn’t just the princes who were busy—Lin Ruhai was also extremely busy.

He had to accompany the southern tour as well, to inspect the salt administration there.

Yun Shuyao packed everything. Besides senior attendants and servants, he wouldn’t bring anyone else. Space on the boat was limited.

Old Madam was somewhat worried. If he went to Jiangnan, would something happen again?

Lin Ruhai wasn’t entirely unconcerned, but previously in Yangzhou things had settled down considerably in the later period. This time he was going to inspect. The reforms had just begun—it shouldn’t be that dangerous yet.

After Lin Ruhai left, with his departure the household’s focus shifted to Chen Yu, who would be taking the provincial examination this year.

A bit later, he too would head south to his teacher, then go directly to Gusu to take the examination.

After some time passed, he also went south. With both men gone, only a few female family members remained as masters of the household, so Old Madam reduced outside social activities.

Yun Shuyao didn’t find this stifling. She still had many things to do.

She was skilled at cultivation. She grew things at home, and Old Madam and Lin Ruhai largely didn’t interfere, because most of what she grew were flowers and plants. These flowers and plants made the Lin residence even more beautiful.

Because of this beauty, some people even took notice of the Lin family’s garden, saying if it were outside, they would be willing to pay to rent it for entertaining other guests.

This was high praise.

There were quite a few such places in the capital—plum gardens, bamboo gardens, all gardens specially maintained by certain people, publicly rented out to others.

As long as you rented it, anyone could enter.

You just needed to pay some silver. Quite a few people in the capital did this business, because the cost of living in the capital was too high. Many minor officials couldn’t afford to maintain gardens. With such places available, they only needed to spend a little money to rent them when needed.

This way they had respectability and saved money.

However, what Yun Shuyao was planting now wasn’t those flowers and plants that could only be viewed but not eaten. She planted some vegetables and fruits.

In this era, many vegetables and fruits had already been introduced, but due to inconvenient transportation and information transmission, it was possible that just across a mountain, people inside the mountain wouldn’t know the vast changes occurring outside.

These fruit seeds were all collected by people she had sent. She selected some to plant. When Lin Daiyu first saw them, she was curious and asked: “What flowers are these?”

She didn’t recognize them. The maid did: “These are vegetable seedlings.”

“Why did Concubine Yun suddenly start planting these?”

Yun Shuyao: “I find it interesting, and it doesn’t affect the aesthetics.”

She planted them in the corners of the courtyard.

Lin Daiyu nodded. Some indeed looked quite nice.

Yun Shuyao was laying groundwork in advance.

If someone objected that it was inappropriate, she would have them removed, but since no one said anything, she didn’t deal with it.

When Lin Ruhai returned, he saw the vegetables laden with produce.

Lin Ruhai: “…”

Although planted in corners, the melons and fruits hanging on the vines were really too eye-catching.

Lin Ruhai naturally recognized what these were. He wasn’t someone who had never been to the countryside before.

After walking around, Lin Ruhai had to admit that each person had their specialty.

“Shuyao, not only are you skilled at raising flowers and plants, you can also do these things very well.”

Even an experienced old farmer’s results would probably be about this good.

Yun Shuyao smiled cheerfully: “Thank you for Master’s praise. Recently our household’s vegetables are almost self-sufficient. This also saves the household some expenses.”

This was naturally an exaggeration.

The masters’ vegetable consumption could be covered, but if it included the Lin residence’s advisors and their families, plus the servants, it absolutely wouldn’t be enough.

She hadn’t planted that much.

Lin Ruhai laughed despite himself.

Yun Shuyao: “Master, I’ve prepared a surprise for you.”

Lin Ruhai couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow: “What surprise?”

Yun Shuyao: “Master’s timing in returning is just right. If Master had returned later and all these flowers had bloomed, you would have missed it.”

Lin Ruhai was led by Yun Shuyao to a corner, then caught his breath.

The Eighteen Scholars Camellia didn’t mean it had eighteen colors. This “eighteen” referred to how adjacent petals were arranged in mostly eighteen layers, which is why it was called Eighteen Scholars.

Most were pink, red, and white.

But this Eighteen Scholars plant before him had pure white, pure red, pure pink, and additionally purple, green, yellow… making up a full eighteen colors!

Lin Ruhai was speechless for a moment before asking: “This… how was it cultivated?”

Yun Shuyao: “Grafting.”

This was something she had worked hard to grow. Although future flower colors were uncertain, currently it looked quite pleasing to the eye.

Lin Ruhai exhaled, his eyes showing wonder.

Grafting wasn’t novel.

But at first glance, he couldn’t see any grafting marks at all.

Moreover, these flower colors were too pure.

Lin Ruhai stayed before this Eighteen Scholars plant for a long time, composing two poems and painting one picture.

Clearly, he was very satisfied with this surprise.

After admiring it for three days, Lin Ruhai suppressed his inner reluctance and presented this potted flower as tribute to the Emperor.

As a minister, one had to make a showing sometimes.

Yun Shuyao watched this scene with a smile. She had guessed as much.

Growing another pot wouldn’t be too difficult with this experience, but rare things are precious.

Yun Shuyao didn’t plan to grow another pot for several years.

After Lin Ruhai sent it up, when Kangxi saw this potted flower, he was indeed pleased. Kangxi was an emperor with an excellent memory. He still remembered Yun Shuyao and also remembered his rewards to her. Upon receiving the flower, he even proactively asked about her recent situation.

Yun Shuyao was laying groundwork for the future.

Luo Yu’s pregnancy progressed, and she showed quite quickly. Luo Yu noticed this and had a guess in her heart.

When Yun Shuyao visited later, she confirmed it, because she heard two fetal heartbeats and sensed two life forces.

Learning this news, far from being happy, Yun Shuyao felt a toothache.

She had given birth to twins, Luo Yu was now carrying twins, and Yun Shuyao’s maternal grandmother had also given birth to twins.

The gene for having twins had been passed down. Yun Shuyao didn’t know if these were boys or girls. Fortunately, this was a Prince’s residence.

Twin sons among imperial princes would be taboo—only one could be kept.

Because twins often looked similar, if the throne was passed to one, the other could kill him, take his place, and others might not even discover it.

However, this was now Fourth Prince’s residence, not an imperial prince’s, and above there was still the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince’s position was still quite secure at this time.

So even if Luo Yu gave birth to twin sons, there weren’t so many taboos.

And what if it was dragon-phoenix twins?

What about twin daughters?

Rather than worry about this, better to worry about whether the twins could be born safely and raised properly.

In this era, child mortality rates were very high, and twin mortality rates even higher.

When her pregnancy advanced further and she was examined for wellbeing, the imperial physician also diagnosed it.

He should have diagnosed it earlier, but for caution’s sake, only said so now.

These imperial physicians always had this style of conduct.

Unless completely certain, they wouldn’t speak.

This was also determined by the special nature of their patients.

For ordinary families, giving false joy was acceptable, but would you dare do so with the imperial family? In their anger, your head might not remain on your shoulders.

“Congratulations, Ce Fujin. Congratulations, Prince. Ce Fujin is carrying twins.”

Luo Yu touched her belly, her feelings complex. After Fourth Prince’s initial joy came worry.

Twins were difficult to deliver and difficult to keep alive.

He had lost quite a few children already.

So Fourth Prince concealed this news, instructing everyone: “Don’t spread this matter.”

Apart from Fujin, no one else knew.

However, when the pregnancy advanced and they saw Luo Yu’s belly when she came to pay respects, others guessed.

There were other pregnant women in the residence. Luo Yu’s belly was larger than normal.

Thinking again that she herself was a twin, the possibility of her giving birth to twins was very high.

The air around everyone filled with a sour smell: “…”

How could she be so blessed?!

Two children all at once?!

Thus, some couldn’t restrain themselves anymore.