The Marquis Is Innocent - 171.1

Chapter 171.1

Extra Story: I Want To Grow Old With You

The next day, the Empress Dowager returned to the Palace with Fei Fei.

When Wei Shao got the news, he immediately stopped the meeting with the ministers to welcome Empress Dowager outside the Zhu Que Gate. He was so excited when he saw Empress Dowager, and he refused to leave after sending her back to Jiade Palace and accompanied her for a long time to talk.

Mrs. Xu thought he had something to discuss with her. She smiled and said: “Is the Emperor has something to say to Grandmother? There is no harm in speaking.”

Wei Shao froze briefly and remembered a group of ministers still waiting in the Imperial Study. He hurriedly shook his head, bade the maids to serve the Empress Dowager, and then left.

Xiao Qiao, who waited on the side, felt that he was acting strange.

When he returned to the bed chamber at night, they shared a bath, and she made fun of him. The speaker did not mean it, but Wei Shao’s heart suddenly thumped, remembering last night’s incident.

Last night he pleases Xiao Qiao in the dragon bed, and Xiao Qiao also compliments him. The two people lingered for most of the night and finally tired.

Embracing his beloved woman before going to sleep, he felt satisfied.

At that time, he did not think much, only holding the exhausted Xiao Qiao and falling asleep.

Being reminded of her at this moment, he felt like he was experiencing a dream, and anxiety burst from his heart.

Is he still in the dream and has not woken up?

“Man Man…… you hit me again! Hit me!”

Xiao Qiao was just casually making fun of him. Seeing him suddenly look grave, she giggled and peddled water with both hands, splashing him coldly: “What’s wrong with Your Majesty again?”

Water splashed on Wei Shao’s face. He closed his eyes and saw her on his opposite side when he opened them again. In the dense mist, she slightly tilted her head to look at him with her starry eyes, smiling. He stretched out his arm to hold her and connected their forehead. His heart suddenly stabilized, and all the feelings of daydreaming disappeared.

“I’m fine ……,” he murmured, lowered his head, and kissed her lips.

“Man Man, It’s so wonderful to have you in my life ….”

……

Two months later, the Empress was pronounced pregnant.

Mrs. Xu and all the officials were also overjoyed, eagerly waiting for the Empress to give birth to another dragon heir.

……

In the third year of Taihe’s early summer, in the fourth period of the day, Xiao Qiao was awakened in her sleep by a vague pain in her abdomen, so she woke up Wei Shao, who was sleeping next to her.

Wei Shao woke to see she was covering her stomach and curled into a ball. He bounced up and rolled out of the dragon bed. Without putting on his shoes, he ran out and yelled: “Empress is going to give birth!”

One shout alarmed the entire Guang Hua Palace.

The Empress’ delivery date was approaching, and the Palace had prepared early. The Emperor’s roar caused the entire Guanghua Palace immediately be awakened and inform the Jiade Palace.

Mrs. Xu quickly rushed over. At this time, a few midwives entered the room and closed the door. The Emperor was guarding the maternity ward and looked apprehensive yet excited.

When Xiao Qiao gave birth to Fei Fei, he fought in the South. Fei Fei has already several months old when he returned. He couldn’t accompany her to welcome the arrival of their first child, and he always regrets it.

This time, he could accompany her, and he felt incomparably joyful. Seeing that Mrs. Xu had also arrived, he busily assisted her, “Grandmother, Man Man is about to give birth!”

Mrs. Xu peered at him, saw him smiling, and nodded with a smile.

Wei Shao waited for Xiao Qiao to give birth to their second child with excitement and anticipation along with Mrs. Xu. As the hours ticked by, he couldn’t sit still, and his smile gradually disappeared.

Wei Shao had heard of the pain of childbirth before. He didn’t expect that Man Man would have to endure such pain. He listened to the midwives’ voices in the delivery room, interspersed with her suppressed intermittent moans and groans. His whole body tensed up tightly.

If it wasn’t for Old Zhong and Chun Niang stopping him, he almost had to break in several times.

Another cry of pain.

“Do all of you know how to deliver babies or not? It’s hurting Man Man so much!” He jumped up abruptly with cold sweat on his forehead and rushed to the door, picking his way towards it and yelling loudly.

The voices inside subsided, presumably because the midwives and the woman in labor were startled.

Old Zhong and Chun Niang went up in unison, urging him in to rest for a while.

Wei Shao where unwilling to listen and couldn’t stop walking around the doorway.

“It’s better for the Emperor to go rest for a while! When the child is born, you can come back!” Finally, even Mrs. Xu couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke out.

Wei Shao acted as if he hadn’t heard. Seeing this, Mrs. Xu smiled bitterly and shook her head.

“Ah–“

At last, when the dawn was almost breaking, he heard Xiao Qiao let out a prolonged cry of pain through the door. The last bit of blood faded from his lips, his heart beating like a drum, and he rushed to the door.

“Man Man!” He raised his hand to push the door.

“Ay! Ay! Your Majesty!”

Old Zhong and Chun Niang were startled, hurriedly tugging his left and right.

A loud and clear baby crying came from the door.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations to the Empress Dowager! The Empress has given birth to a dragon son, and both mother and child are safe!” Then, there was the midwives elevated voice of joy.

Wei Shao stopped for a long moment, exhaled, and took advantage of the fact that Old Zhong and Chun Niang had let go of him in their joy, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

The midwife had already wrapped the newly born son in swaddling clothes and sent it to Xiao Qiao’s side. Suddenly, the Emperor barged right in, making her shocked. She hurriedly knelt and congratulated him.

Wei Shao came straight to Xiao Qiao’s side and gazed down at her pale face covered with beads of sweat. Without saying anything, he reached out and gently held one of her hands.

Xiao Qiao had heard the commotion he had made outside and was not surprised to see him break in.

At the moment, although she felt tired and weak, her heart was warm. Turning her face to meet Wei Shao’s gaze, she smiled faintly and softly said, “Your Majesty, look, our son, Fei Fei’s younger brother. What a pretty face.”

Wei Shao’s gaze went to the newly born son of theirs in her arms. Although he had just been born, he already had a high nose and long dark eyelashes. He was smacking his tiny mouth in his mother’s arms. His appearance was adorable.

“Man Man, it’s been hard on you.”

In front of the midwives, he bowed to kiss his Empress’s forehead, happiness welling in his heart.

……

The Empress celebrated the birth of her prince and named him Hong.

Three days later, the Emperor held a ceremony at the Imperial Temple. The court officials made congratulatory memorials to the Emperor, and the civil and military officials wore auspicious clothes for ten days and issued an imperial decree to inform the whole world of the event.

In September of that year, a group of envoys from Wu Zhuqu arrived in Luoyang. The imperial court made a treaty with the Xiongnu, with the Sanggan River as the boundary, agreeing not to infringe on each other and opening several farms at the border. The Xiongnu paid tribute in the form of good horses, and Great Yan repatriated tens of thousands of prisoners from the Battle of Shanggu several years earlier.

The day when the prisoners were released, the banks of the Sanggan River, which had flowed for a hundred years in loneliness, were filled with the sound of calling and tears. Wu Zhuqu offering a gift to the Empress Dowager. Among the offering was ‘Hamo,’ a robe made from sixteen pieces of lamb skin.

In Xiongnu custom, after the marriage of a man and a woman, the mother of the woman’s family would receive ‘Hamo’ from the man’s family to express gratitude for her hard work in raising her daughter for sixteen years.

After the messenger conveyed the gift, Wu Zhuqu was apprehensive, lest the Empress Dowager not accept the Hamo. Half a month later, when the Empress Dowager did not return it, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

T/N: reminder; Wu Zhuqu kidnapped Mrs. Xu’s daughter and married her, and they had a son, Wei Yan.

……

In the fourth year of Taihe, after the Crown Prince turned one year old, one day, Mrs. Xu called the Emperor and the Empress and told them that she decided to go back to Youzhou and settle down in Wuzhong City.

That year, the Empress Dowager was almost seventy years old. Although she was old, she ate a light diet every day. To this day, she personally plants flowers and weeding the grass, and she is hale and hearty.

The Emperor and Empress were surprised. They both kneel, blaming themselves for being unfilial and pleading with their grandmother to retract her order.

Mrs. Xu said she wanted to return not because they were not doing well enough but because that everything was fine and she could rest assured.

Wei Shao continued to kowtow, but Xiao Qiao looked at Mrs. Xu’s face thoughtfully.

Wu Zhong City was where she and Wei Shao’s grandfather married and his burial place. Besides her husband, there were memories of her son, daughter, and grandchildren there. Half of her life’s past events, or unfulfilled wishes, are closely related and couldn’t be separated.

Now that she was nearly seventy years old and had made such a decision, although Xiao Qiao might still find it difficult to understand her feelings, she would respect her choice.

She kowtowed to Mrs. Xu and said, “Granddaughter-in-law understands. After sending Grandmother back to her hometown, I will bring my child to visit Grandmother every year in the future and hope that Grandmother will live a long and healthy life.”