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墨書 Inktalez
"Miss, you slept through the night yesterday, and now it's just dawn... You must be hungry. I'll go get you some food."
The little maid busily went out, leaving Mei Shuang alone in a daze. Was last night just a dream? But it felt so vivid...
She looked at the bed; everything was as usual.
Thinking about the sweet words she had said in the dream, her face couldn't help but flush again. Oh dear, how bold of you to say that...
??
Around noon, Lin Tian'er came again, bursting in and exclaiming that she was dying of thirst.
"What have you been busy with? You can't even spare a sip of water," Mei Shuang scolded as she came out of the room.
"Look..."
Following Lin Tian'er's pointing finger, there was a large pile of medicine packets on the table.
"What is this?" Mei Shuang asked curiously.
"You, are such a fool," Lin Tian'er stepped forward, staring directly at Mei Shuang's flat abdomen. "Haven't you noticed anything unusual lately?"
Mei Shuang was stunned for a moment, astonished. "Are you talking about me??"
Lin Tian'er’s gaze shifted upward, looking at Mei Shuang as if she had seen a ghost. "It's been over two months, and you still don't know anything..."
??
When Mei Shuang was four months pregnant, a family moved in next door. The sound of children reading aloud filled the air every day, and Mei Shuang would sit on a stool in the yard to listen.
While listening and gently touching her slightly protruding belly, she silently murmured, "Bao'er, you need to listen carefully; this is free prenatal education."
At five months pregnant, she felt a gentle kick in her belly, and Mei Shuang was so excited that she couldn't sleep all night.
By six months, she began to feel heavy.
At seven months, she often experienced cramps at night and needed someone to massage her legs before she could fall asleep.
By eight months, her body became even heavier, and her belly was noticeably larger.
The most frequent visitor was Lin Tian'er. One day, she lay on Mei Shuang's belly for a long time and exclaimed, "Hey, hey, they kicked my face..."
"They?" Mei Shuang asked in surprise.
"Fool, there are two of them inside..." Lin Tian'er said proudly as she looked at Mei Shuang. "Surprised by the news?"
Mei Shuang was stunned for a moment and suddenly burst into tears of joy. "So you're saying I only have to suffer once to have two babies?"
Lin Tian'er was also taken aback. After a while, she said softly, "You're about to give birth; don't you want him to know?"
"Is there any news under heaven that he wouldn't find out?" Mei Shuang lightly stroked her belly and replied calmly.
Lin Tian'er immediately swore to the heavens, "If you don't let me say it, I haven't said a word."
"Then what about the family next door?" Mei Shuang asked.
"Uh... about that..." Lin Tian'er hesitated for a moment and then simply said, "Forget it; I know you're clever. The Emperor actually comes every couple of days. He only leaves after you're asleep. You have no idea; these days I feel like the Emperor is having a harder time than you..."
Mei Shuang felt a warmth in her heart as she lowered her gaze lazily and said, "A kind father and filial son; surely his children will honor him well in the future..."
Lin Tian'er was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Are you praising the Emperor?"
Upon hearing Lin Tian'er’s words, Mei Shuang felt a bit embarrassed. She lowered her head, chuckling softly and fell silent.
Seeing that Mei Shuang was in a good mood, Lin Tian'er teased her for a while before seizing the opportunity to ask, "Hey, on a serious note, since you know the Emperor cares about you, why don’t you want to stay by his side?"
The smile on Mei Shuang's face slowly faded. She looked up at the distance, her gaze lingering for a moment before she softly replied, "He won't only care about me..."
Lin Tian'er stared at Mei Shuang's porcelain-white face and noticed her steady gaze. She sighed inwardly; this woman truly found it hard to turn back...
"April in the human world sees the flowers fade, while the peach blossoms in the mountain temple begin to bloom."
Standing atop the hillside, Xiao Luo marveled at the endless sea of peach blossoms stretching to the horizon.
Following the stone path upward and glancing back, he could see several courtyards nestled among the peach trees, half-hidden within them. The gray walls and red tiles were quite elegant.
After gazing for a while, he heard Li Gonggong's cautious voice behind him. "Your Majesty, Zhao Prince has arrived."
Xiao Luo came back to his senses. "Announce him."
Li Gonggong hurried over to Nangong Nuo and knelt in greeting. "Zhao Prince, His Majesty requests your presence."
"Oh, alright."
Watching Nangong Nuo ascend in his brocade robe, Li Gonggong murmured behind him. It had been some time since they last met, and Zhao Prince seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight. The carefree expression that used to adorn his face was gone, replaced by a serious demeanor that felt somewhat unfamiliar at first glance.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Xiao Luo turned around and gazed at Nangong Nuo for a moment. "You’re here? Are you feeling better?"
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Nangong Nuo's lips. "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I’m much better now..."
Xiao Luo nodded and turned to look in the direction he had been staring at earlier. "She’s over there..."
The color in Nangong Nuo's eyes shifted as he could not resist the longing within him. Following Xiao Luo's gaze, he caught a glimpse through the partially concealed peach blossoms of a figure moving about in the courtyard. Although the figure appeared somewhat clumsy, he recognized it as Mei Shuang.
He was taken aback. "Her?? Is she pregnant?"
A mix of emotions surged within him, an indescribable bitterness flooding his chest as he stared at the heavyset figure until it vanished from view. This expression lasted only a moment before he quickly masked it with a smile that curled at the corners of his lips. "Your Majesty is truly fortunate!"
Xiao Luo had already noticed that expression long ago. He replied coolly, "Fortunate? I recall how she refused to be your consort in the past, and now she won’t even be my empress. What kind of fortune is that?"
Once again, Nangong Nuo was stunned, his gaze shifting as he finally broke into a silent smile. "She is simply too clever; perhaps she has been schemed against too many times. Neither of us wishes to pursue this any further..."
This statement was problematic; Zhao Prince had touched upon a sensitive topic—everyone knew that the emperor despised the word "scheme."
Li Gonggong couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for the seemingly unscathed Zhao Prince. Given the situation regarding Nangong Mo Yi Treason, it was already exceptionally lenient of the emperor not to implicate Zhao Prince. Now, however, he should be saying something more favorable; the emperor was anxious and without solutions, and this was only adding fuel to the fire—he might end up dragging himself down as well.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Luo nodded in agreement. "You do understand her!"
Suddenly, Nangong Nuo's eyes sparkled as he casually suggested, "How about I talk to her?"
？？
As the weather grew warmer, Mei Shuang increasingly felt her body weighed down. Every day, she would recite poetry and sing to her prominently rounded belly, living a leisurely life.
One night, Mei Shuang was suddenly awakened by an unexpected pain.
In an instant, a large group of people seemed to have been waiting and appeared before her.
Oh my goodness!
The intense pain made Mei Shuang feel as if she could not bear to live. Her vision blurred, and she instinctively grabbed around until she finally caught hold of a strong arm.
In that agonizing struggle, which felt like an eternity, just when Mei Shuang thought she was about to die, she finally heard the loud cries of newborns.
She had no more strength left and fainted completely.
??
"Your Majesty, it’s actually twins!" The midwife in the palace joyfully presented two swaddled infants to Xiao Luo.
Xiao Luo rubbed his sore arms, marked with bruises, and for once showed a hint of joy between his brows. "I see... Immediately report this news to the Empress Dowager..."
Not knowing how long she had been unconscious, Mei Shuang finally opened her eyes. The fatigue enveloped her like a heavy blanket. Before she could ask whether the babies were boys or girls, Lin Tian'er stepped forward with an envious expression. "A pair of twins, Miss Lin, you are truly fortunate. The Empress Dowager is eager to come see you."
"Twins?" Upon hearing this, Mei Shuang's gaze momentarily froze. After a barely audible sigh, she fell silent.
Lin Tian'er turned to look at the two rosy infants in their swaddles, joyfully examining them from side to side.
After a while, Mei Shuang finally asked, "What about him?"
Lin Tian'er pulled her gaze from the child and glanced at Mei Shuang, saying dismissively, "Look at you, a mother now, yet you still speak so thoughtlessly. Words like 'he' and 'him'—setting aside the Emperor's royal status, he is still the father of your two sons! You should refer to him as 'he' in front of the children..."
After a lengthy preamble, Lin Tian'er finally got to the point and couldn't help but exclaim, "I've truly witnessed the strength of a woman giving birth. You managed to grip the Emperor's arm like that; it's really quite a sight... Only a man like the Emperor, who has fought on the battlefield, could endure such pain!"
While Lin Tian'er’s exaggeration made Mei Shuang both amused and exasperated, she couldn't help but feel a warmth in her heart. So that strong arm belonged to him; he had been by her side all along.
When Mei Shuang's two children were nearing a month old, Empress Dowager Mingxi could no longer contain herself and summoned Xiao Luo to the palace. "The child is almost a month old; what are your plans? Are you just going to let our Great Qin Empire's Dragon Vein drift outside? Can you really be so unconcerned?"
The more Empress Dowager Mingxi thought about it, the more she felt that her son was psychologically disadvantaged in matters of men and women, somewhat inept. Previously, he had been left in disarray by Chu Xiruo, and now he was reduced to being dictated by Mei Shuang.
"In a few months, the child will be calling for his father. But where are you? Are you really going to let things remain as they are with Mei Shuang?"
Xiao Luo smiled bitterly. "What can I do? She refuses to enter the palace!"
"I refuse to believe that now that she has given birth, she won't care about her status!" Empress Dowager Mingxi found Mei Shuang's actions incomprehensible.
"If she cared about status, she would have entered the palace long ago; why would she still be outside?" Xiao Luo sighed again.
Empress Dowager Mingxi pondered for a long time before sighing, "Fine. As a woman myself, I think I understand her feelings. She loves where she is, but the child must be brought into the palace..."
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