Spring in the Northern Territories was still cold, yet the sky was high and the land vast.

The Prince Zhenbei’s residence, located in Baoping City, didn’t occupy as much land as ordinary princely residences, and its exterior appeared quite ordinary. Only upon entering would one discover the hidden splendor within.

Not to mention the scattered buildings, even the covered walkways had heated floors installed. Maids who hadn’t yet changed into lighter clothing could feel warmth spreading from the soles of their feet as they walked in their soft-soled embroidered shoes. If they walked quickly, a thin layer of perspiration would form on their foreheads.

The Prince Zhenbei’s residence had been completed for three years, and everyone in the household knew that the Prince feared his Princess Consort wouldn’t adapt to the Northern Territories’ cold. Wherever buildings provided cover, heated floors had been installed beneath the floorboards. This way, even on winter days when water turned to ice, the Princess Consort would remain as warm as spring no matter where she went.

As a result, the cost of charcoal alone accounted for more than half of the residents’ annual expenses.

Whenever they thought of how the gleaming silver flowed away like water as the heated floors burned, the servants felt a pang of distress.

The Prince’s cost of keeping his wife equaled what an entire city’s worth of people spent on keeping their wives.

Tsk tsk—

Beyond that, even in their hearts, the servants dared not complain further.

The wife belonged to the Prince, and the silver also belonged to the Prince. Whatever the Prince wanted to do was his business—they, as servants, just enjoyed the benefits.

“Princess Consort, the books you requested have arrived.” A maid carrying books walked down the corridor and handed the scrolls to Qiao Zhao.

Qiao Zhao was quite inconvenienced at the moment—her greatly protruding belly made even sitting down somewhat difficult.

She took the books and leaned against a corridor pillar, casually browsing through them.

The spring wind carried a few traces of severity as it blew against her cheeks, lifting the dark hair hanging at her sides and revealing skin like congealed cream.

Looking at her complexion, after four years in the Northern Territories, Qiao Zhao appeared much better than when she was in the capital. Her curved and relaxed slate-colored eyebrows made her look less sharp than in her maiden days, with an indescribable gentleness and serenity, as if time had polished an angular rough stone into a smooth pebble.

In the distance, Shao Mingyuan approached, leading a delicately carved little person.

The little one saw Qiao Zhao leaning against the corridor pillar, reading from afar, and suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Shao Mingyuan looked down at his chubby son, his eyes and brows showing great patience.

“Father, why don’t we go over later?” The little fatty dawdled, his feet in lambskin boots drawing circles on the ground.

“Why?”

“Mother is reading—we can’t disturb her.”

“Uh, can’t disturb your mother, or are you afraid your mother will ask if you recognize a character or two?”

The little fellow looked embarrassed after being exposed by his father and grinned sheepishly at Shao Mingyuan.

Shao Mingyuan patted the little one’s bottom once and said with a stern face: “If you don’t go over now, I’ll beat you!”

What he had worried about had finally happened—this foolish child took after him!

No wait, when he was this age, he could at least recognize simple characters like “heaven,” “big,” and “person.” Could this child have been picked up somewhere?

Shao Mingyuan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Having been slapped on his little bottom, the child immediately became obedient. Fearing another beating, he opened his short little legs and ran toward Qiao Zhao.

“Mother, Father hit me again.”

Hearing his son immediately running to his wife to tattle, Shao Mingyuan raised his eyebrows.

Qiao Zhao looked at her tiger-headed son and asked gently: “Did it hurt Ze Ge’er when he hit you?”

The little fellow was honest and shook his head: “It didn’t hurt.”

Qiao Zhao patted her son’s head: “When it hurts someday, then tell Mother.”

The little fellow blinked.

Something seemed wrong somewhere.

Fortunately, Ze Ge’er was young and quickly set aside his doubts. He reached out his small hand to touch Qiao Zhao’s belly, his face full of anticipation: “Mother, is there a little brother living inside here?”

Facing her son, Qiao Zhao unconsciously smiled: “Perhaps it’s a little sister.”

Upon hearing this, Ze Ge’er immediately pouted and shook his head repeatedly: “It’s a little brother, it’s a little brother.”

Old sayings claimed children had spiritual eyes and were very accurate about whether a pregnant woman’s baby was male or female. So Qiao Zhao asked: “Does Ze Ge’er feel a little brother is living inside?”

“It’s not a feeling—I hope there’s a little brother in Mother’s belly.”

“Why?” Qiao Zhao casually handed the book scroll to a maid standing to one side and asked with a smile.

Ze Ge’er glanced at Shao Mingyuan before saying: “When there’s a little brother, Father can hit the little brother, and I can hit the little brother too.”

Qiao Zhao: “…”

“Father teaching the little brother is proper, but why does Ze Ge’er also want to hit the little brother?”

Ze Ge’er put on a serious little face and said solemnly: “Elder brother is like father.”

“Pfft.” The maids couldn’t help but laugh softly.

Qiao Zhao felt her belly jump a few times. She took a handkerchief to wipe the corners of Ze Ge’er’s mouth and instructed the wet nurse: “Take the young master down to bathe and change clothes—his back is all sweaty.”

The father and son had just come from the martial arts ground.

In Shao Mingyuan’s words, his son seemed to have no talent for studying, so martial arts training couldn’t be neglected.

Literary strategy and martial prowess—in the future, a good man should excel in at least one of his father to be able to marry a wife like his mother.

After Ze Ge’er left, Qiao Zhao glared at Shao Mingyuan: “You’ve led the perfectly good child astray. All he thinks about is waiting for his little brother to be born so he can hit him—what kind of thing is this?”

“Don’t worry, if he dares hit his little brother, I’ll hit him,” Shao Mingyuan said nonchalantly.

Seeing that Qiao Zhao wanted to say more, Shao Mingyuan smiled: “The second child hasn’t even been born yet—don’t worry about it. Raising sons is different from raising daughters. If a boy enjoys such tremendous wealth and doesn’t receive some tempering, he’ll give us headaches in the future. Besides, if this child is also a son, the two brothers won’t have a big age gap—fighting and quarreling will make their relationship better.”

He placed his hand on Qiao Zhao’s protruding belly and gently rubbed: “Physician Li said it would be these few days, right?”

“Originally so, but after hearing you, father and son, discuss taking turns beating him in the future, he might be too scared to come out.”

When Shao Mingyuan mentioned Physician Li, Qiao Zhao’s increasingly anxious heart, as her due date approached, calmed down.

When Grandfather Li had decided to go north, he originally wanted to live peacefully under the protection of Shao Mingyuan’s remaining forces in the Northern Territories. Who could have imagined then that Shao Mingyuan would be enfeoffed as Prince Zhenbei, and they would all end up together again?

“Don’t talk nonsense—I’m still waiting to be a father again.”

Just as Shao Mingyuan finished speaking, he saw Qiao Zhao’s expression change.

“What is it?”

Qiao Zhao grabbed Shao Mingyuan’s arm: “I think I’m going into labor…”

Shao Mingyuan was stunned for a moment, then scooped Qiao Zhao up by the waist and hurriedly ordered: “Immediately fetch Physician Li, and quickly send word to the Li residence.”

He carried Qiao Zhao straight to the delivery room. Though his strides were large and quick, the person in his arms felt completely secure.

The midwives on standby quickly took over. Seeing Shao Mingyuan still standing in the delivery room, they said helplessly: “Your Highness, while the Princess Consort is giving birth, you should go outside.”

Shao Mingyuan couldn’t help but look toward Qiao Zhao.

“You should go out quickly,” Qiao Zhao shooed him away.

Looking at the tightly closed delivery room door, Shao Mingyuan leaned against a corridor pillar and frowned.

Though he had already experienced this once and Physician Li had asserted the fetal position was stable, his nervousness wasn’t diminished in the slightest.

Those who said “first time births, second time familiar”—they were all lying!