CHAPTER 669: [663] QING CHUAN CHENG WANGFEI 32 (1 MORE UPDATE)

Xiyuan did not like to put on airs as the main wife, so the concubines in their mansion were probably the happiest, as long as they did not wander around her deliberately, she would not trouble them; their monthly salary, seasonal clothes, and rouge were all delivered by the steward.

If you want to come and express gratitude, there’s no need, she did not even want to see them, so even when she was idly growing hair, she was too lazy to have any contact with them. At first, they were not used to it, but as time passed and they learned her habits, they voluntarily stayed behind closed doors.

As for the newly arrived Yin Family and Chen, they did not need her to instruct anything, Su Mei and Su He had already received bribes from them.

Especially Su Mei, who smiled with her eyes narrowed into slits, "Princess Consort, the Yin Family and Chen are really generous, each gave a maid one tael of silver as a reward, asking about nothing but your personality and habits,"

Both were close maids to Xiyuan, naturally knowing what to say and what not to say, whatever could be said was not a secret, once they had been around longer, they would naturally know. They were just new and a bit nervous, so they directly asked the close maid of Princess Consort.

Su Mei naturally did not hesitate to educate them, because even if they did not ask, they were supposed to instruct them, and getting one tael of silver for free made her very pleased.

"You money-grubber, isn’t the silver Zhao Yang earns each month enough for you to spend?"

Zhao Yang was a flatbread shop assistant; having learned the true skills from Xiyuan, though just an assistant, considering the future of the flatbread shop, hard work could lead to a moderate prosperity.

And this man, exactly was Su Mei’s childhood friend, the two families were quite close too, of course, Xiyuan had chosen him for Su Mei’s sake.

Similarly, the partner for Su He was another assistant at the flatbread shop, Zhou Yu, who made griddle-cooked flatbread, while Zhao Yang made stove-cooked flatbread. Though called assistants, they could actually be considered masters since they were too busy and had each been given an apprentice, in the future this shop was inevitably to be managed by these two.

As a flatbread shop only earns popularity, Xiyuan did not expect to get rich from it, so she planned to give it as a dowry to her two personal maids.

After all, these two girls had followed her for ten years, and out of that affection, she would not mistreat them.

Xiyuan was sixteen this year; they were three years older than her, she intended to send them to marry when she turned twenty.

The reason she chose twenty was because she thought one more year and the flatbread shop’s business would improve further, those two young men would also save enough dowry to marry them in a splendid way.

So, for these two years, she had already started asking the two of them to cultivate successors for themselves.

Su Mei and Su He were not biological sisters, but they had come from the same village, and the names were bestowed by her; she felt these two girls had it tough, ten years of unchanged affection showed they were kind-hearted girls. Of course, this was also related to her good fortune, had they followed her into the palace or married anyone other than Yun Mi, they wouldn’t have been so happily safe.

Now everyone in Prince Manor, due to her kindness and reasonable promotion and welfare plans, became increasingly united and harmonious, and she had no disturbances from concubines by her side, not only because she did not give them the opportunity, but the people inside the mansion also tried all means to speak well of her. If initially they had some desire to compete for favor, seeing the prince seeming to have forgotten them in the back yard, they completely gave up and started living their quiet little lives.

Sometimes Xiyuan would think, whether this life was too comfortable—it really had no troubles, simply the most relaxed enjoyment among her many lifetimes.

On the evening of July 28, Xiyuan suddenly felt discomfort in her stomach, and nudged Yun Mi beside her, "I need to use the restroom, you, help me up."

In the later stages of her pregnancy, Princess Cheng could not get out of bed due to her large belly, so Yun Mi let her sleep inside for safety, and so he could easily feel any slight movement she made.

Actually, he had awakened even without Xiyuan needing to nudge him, being a martial artist, his senses were still very sharp.

He bent over to carry her from the bed to the wash basin, helping her take off her clothes—an act that had become a routine for the couple, transitioning from initial discomfort to a now natural familiarity. After emptying her bladder and just as she had finished dressing, her belly began to sink, a sensation that made her uneasy and she immediately grabbed Yun Mi’s hand.

"I, I have a bad feeling about this, you, you need to find the Imperial Physician and the midwife right now. It might be time for the baby to make its appearance today."

Yun Mi’s eyes widened suddenly, "Isn’t it supposed to be at least another half month?"

"The later stages of pregnancy can be unpredictable—some come early, some late—the midwife said it’s all normal,"

Xiyuan knew the feeling of childbirth all too well, which is why she was confident this was it.

Calmly, she instructed Su Mei and Su He to fetch the previously prepared blankets and mattresses, while those who boiled water did so and those who cooked did so, everything proceeding orderly. She herself leaned back in an armchair, utterly relaxed.

This being Yun Mi’s first time as a father, he was naturally very tense. Seeing his wife lying there as if nothing was wrong, he couldn’t help but go over and lift her up.

"You shouldn’t be lying here, didn’t the Imperial Physician say you should move around more to help with the delivery?"

Xiyuan looked at his worried expression and couldn’t help but laugh.

"I’m conserving energy for the meal later. I move around enough usually, missing a little bit now won’t make a difference. You go outside, it’s going to get crazy when I start labor,"

Thinking about the pain of childbirth now made her legs feel weak, but there was no helping it. Who asked her to end up in a woman’s body?

Sometimes she thought, being a man might not be so bad after all, especially since it would completely avoid childbirth.

Didn’t they say that without a strong body, one should not easily consider giving birth? Xiyuan had made full preparations and deliberately became pregnant only when she felt physically ready, and thanks also to her usual activity, her body was in great shape, so the birth process was much quicker than she had expected, lasting only four hours.

Of course, what mattered most was that she had borne a son, which solidly secured her position in Prince Cheng’s Mansion.

Yun Mi was incredibly delighted and sent word to the palace that very night. After finishing her confinement period, the baby was named Hong Chang, the future Commandery Prince.

In her previous life, Hong Chang was born in the fifth year of Qianlong, four years later than in this life through her time-travel. It seemed that along with her arrival, Yun Mi’s line of descendants might experience a series of changes.

Once the son was born, Xiyuan’s attention was largely drawn away, and her attentiveness to Yun Mi decreased significantly.

In his heart, he grumbled secretly, just as well she didn’t nurse the baby herself. If not for the ancestral rules, she would probably have turned the sky over in quarrels with him, and then where would he have a place in the Prince Manor?