Chapter 92:- Is the Crown Princess a Blessed Womb?

Xie Yao lifted her gaze and smiled at Xiao Ji. Hooking her arms around his neck, she said sweetly, “I’m not in a hurry.”

Xiao Ji bent down and kissed the corner of her lips, then suddenly pulled her to her feet. “Come, let me see if my Crown Princess has improved these past days.”

Thanks to her unusually fertile constitution, even though Xie Yao was pregnant, she had not given up her martial lessons with Lin Xia.

At first Xiao Ji had been worried, but after the court physicians swore repeatedly that the Crown Princess’s body was indeed robust, he had finally relented.

He was always careful with their sparring.

Only once he was certain she had taken no harm would he breathe a sigh of relief.

When the training ended, both were covered in sweat beneath the summer morning sun. After bathing and changing, they finally sat down to breakfast.

“Your Highness.”

Si-nan entered quietly to report, “News from the palace, today the Second Prince and Princess He Yi quarreled bitterly in Weiyang Palace.”

“When the Princess left the palace, there was a slap mark on her face.”

Xie Yao and Xiao Ji exchanged a look, both guessing that the two ledgers had taken effect. With the Li family destroyed, the Second Prince and Princess He Yi were now turning on each other.

“Brilliant, Your Highness,” Xie Yao said, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

“All thanks to you, Yao-yao,” Xiao Ji replied. “They were never of one heart to begin with. I merely allowed Xiao Hong to see it clearly.”

Xie Yao followed his lead with a smile. “So in a way, he ought to be grateful to us.”

The husband and wife locked eyes, both wearing radiant grins.

…

Many things were happening in the capital lately.

Song Wenbo was still only a scholar, not yet holding office, so his wife Xie Yujiao did not receive many court rumors.

But the news of the Li family’s downfall was impossible to miss.

“No… no, this isn’t right…”

Xie Yujiao sat in her chamber in a daze, muttering the words over and over, her eyes vacant.

Song Wenbo grew irritated. “What isn’t right?”

“Everything is wrong,” she answered reflexively. “How could this happen? How could the Li family be ruined…”

In her previous life, she had only known that the Nanzhou flood disaster had been severe, with many dead.

But the Li family… had remained perfectly fine.

The Second Prince had even gained merit through the affair.

Seeing her muttering like a madwoman, Song Wenbo recalled all the strange, cryptic, yet confident words she had spoken to him before.

His eyes narrowed, his voice chilled. “What do you know?”

Xie Yujiao jolted, her gaze flitting nervously. “Husband, what are you saying? I don’t understand…”

Before she could finish, Song Wenbo grabbed her collar roughly, yanking her close and demanding harshly, “Speak! What exactly do you know?”

The more he thought, the more suspicious it seemed.

“At first you never even looked at me. Then suddenly you insisted on marrying me. You even said I would surely become Master Qingshan’s disciple, with a boundless future…”

Listening, Xie Yujiao turned pale as paper, unable to meet his eyes.

His suspicions only deepened.

She definitely knew something.

“Husband, I…” She had been beaten enough times to truly fear him.

Her hand instinctively dropped to her lower belly, her body trembling as she dared not speak.

Song Wenbo lowered his eyes, and then suddenly released her. His manner turned gentle as he drew her into his arms. “Jiao-jiao, it was my fault before.”

“But all of that was because the Princess forced me. She said if I disobeyed, she would kill you.”

“You don’t know… from the very first time I saw you at the Xie household, my heart held only you. How could I bear to see you hurt?”

“Now… the child in your womb is our only child. I swear I will treat you both well.”

His voice was full of oaths, even as his hands roamed over her body. “Though I cannot sire more children, I can still make you happy.”

“Jiao-jiao, don’t you want to live a good life with me?”

“Everything you want… I will win for you.”

…

Song Wenbo was skilled, and for the first time, Xie Yujiao was “gently” coaxed by him.

Overwhelmed, in the midst of passion, she panted out, “I—I know what will happen in the future…”

That very night, Song Wenbo slipped away to Princess He Yi’s manor under cover of darkness.

Kneeling before her couch, he looked up at Xiao Ning and said, “Your Highness, I can help you.”

…

Three days later, Minister Li was beheaded, his male kin exiled, his female kin sent to the Music Bureau. The matter seemed settled.

But only a handful of officials knew the truth: though convicted of corruption, the actual silver confiscated from the Li’s was not much.

Far less than what had been siphoned from the Nanzhou embankment funds.

With only half a month left until the Longevity Festival, Xie Yao and Consort Shu were run ragged with preparations. Her figure had clearly grown more rounded.

Xiao Ji, on the other hand, vomited daily, growing thinner and paler.

One morning, after sending Xie Yao into the palace, Si-nan advised, “Your Highness, you haven’t had your pulse examined in a long time. Si-bei has gathered several physicians these past few days. Please, let them take a look.”

“Very well.”

Xiao Ji agreed without hesitation.

With masks concealing them, master and servant soon reached the house where the physicians were lodged.

For years, Si-bei had scoured the empire for healers. Now a group of them surrounded Xiao Ji.

His pulse was by now an old tale.

The physicians had pored over his medical records endlessly, consulting ancient texts and testing remedies whenever there was even the faintest hope.

Si-bei had done everything possible to assist.

One by one they checked his pulse, and one by one their faces darkened. None dared speak.

After a pause, Xiao Ji asked, “Is it possible that my body could still allow a woman to conceive?”

He did not suspect his Crown Princess’s fidelity, he was utterly certain of her. His question came from the thought that there might be a secret in her body.

He had long known he could never have children. Before, he assumed it was simply fate.

But after hearing the witch physician’s words, he realized it was a curse of Gu poison that had rendered him sterile.

And yet…

His Crown Princess was pregnant. And he was absolutely certain it was his child.

One witch physician frowned, looking at him with eyes full of hesitation and sympathy.

Xiao Ji: “…”

He wanted to gouge out those eyes!

Doubt him if they must, but never doubt his Crown Princess.

Just then, one physician spoke up. “It is said that some women are born with a rare constitution of fertility. If one were to encounter such a woman, Your Highness’s wish might not be impossible.”

Xiao Ji’s gaze cut through the crowd, landing sharply on the man. “Is this true?”

Could it be…

That his Crown Princess possessed such a body?

Of course!

He was sterile yet after only one month with her, she had conceived.

Startled by his stare, the physician stammered, “This constitution only exists in legends… I have only heard it spoken of. Perhaps… perhaps we should invite the master who told me?”

Cultural Notes:

1. Rare Constitution Of Fertility:- literally “blessed womb body,” a legendary constitution of extreme fertility, almost mythical.