Chapter 58.2

The third day after Chu Xiuming’s departure, Rui-wang returned home to ‘contemplate behind the closed door’ as per Emperor Cheng’s order. The haggard Rui-wang was carried home in a stretcher, he was treated by imperial doctors but noone could recover immediately after being hit with planks.

Shen Xuan and Shen Xi went to pick him up while Shen Qi and Shen Jin waited at the mansion. Seeing Rui-wang, Shen Qi cried and ran forward to grab his hand, “Father.”

Shen Jin’s eyes were also red but she didn’t expect Shen Qi would rush like that. Rui-wang said, “Nothing serious.”

“Wangye you have returned.” Rui-wangfei’s eyes were somewhat red too, she gently said, “Qi-er, let your Father be carried inside first.”

“Yes.” Shen Qi let go of Rui-wang’s hand.

Rui-wang also saw Shen Jin, he nodded at her.

Shen Jin walked up to Shen Qi’s side, “Sister, Father has come home so it is fine.”

“En.” Shen Qi held her hand.

The Palace assigned two imperial doctors to stay at Wangfu, one was the doctor who normally took care of Rui-wang, and the other one was a gynecologist.

Shen Jin’s lips pursed while Rui-wangfei’s eyes flashed, “Prepare the guest courtyard for the doctors, and send some servants to wait on them.”

“Yes.” Cuixi responded.

The doctor said, “His Majesty ordered that I am to treat Wangye first.”

Rui-wangfei replied, “Wangye also needs to freshen up first, you will be summoned later.”

“Yes.” The doctor didn’t continue, the two of them respectfully retired.

Rui-wangfei said to Chen-cefei, “Take Jin Girl back first, I’ll talk to Wangye.”

“Yes.” Chen-cefei responded and take Shen Jin away.

Shen Qi felt uneasy for the two of them, Rui-wangfei lightly patted her hand, “Go to the kitchen, didn’t you tell me that you and Jin Girl cooked something for Wangye?”

“Yes.” Shen Qi took Shuangqiao to the kitchen.

After they left Rui-wangfei went inside to see Rui-wang. He was injured so he couldn’t touch water, they could only wiped his body and reapplied the medicine. Rui-wang was lying on the bed under the blanket, seeing Rui-wangfei’s face, he asked, “Is there anything happened?”

“Wangye has suffered.” Rui-wangfei stretched her hand to touch his head. After making sure everyone had left the room, she softly said, “His Majesty has sent two doctors for Wangye.”

Rui-wang “en” but didn’t speak, Rui-wangfei said, “One of them is to treat Wangye.”

“The other one, is anything wrong?” Rui-wang asked.

Rui-wangfei’s lips pursed, “It’s Doctor Wang.”

Rui-wang didn’t react for a while, Rui-wangfei told him, “It’s a gynecologist.”

“Did they send the wrong doctor?” Rui-wang haven’t known Shen Jin was pregnant yet, Shen Xuan had visited him at the ancestral hall but it wasn’t the place to talk about his sister’s pregnancy.

“Anyone in the Wangfu isn’t well?” The gynecologist couldn’t be for him, “Or perhaps Mother Empress knew about Li-shi?”

“Wangye, Jin Girl is expecting.”

At the small kitchen in the main courtyard, Shen Qi was sitting outside with an anxious heart. The soup for Rui-wang was said to be made by Shen Qi and Shen Jin but that didn’t mean they really cooked it themselves.

Shen Qi said in low voice, “Shuangqiao, why do you think His Majesty sent Doctor Wang here?” She had some guesses but wasn’t willing to believe it.

Shuangqiao certainly didn’t dare to answer directly, “Perhaps the Empress Dowager was pleased to hear Wangye’s concubine is expecting.”

Shen Qi closed her eyes and laughed, “Maybe I think too much. Imperial Grandmother always loves Father, she must be very happy to hear his concubine is pregnant.”

She said so but she also knew it wasn’t that.

In Moyun Courtyard, Shen Jin had Anning tell Zhao-momo what happened. Zhao-momo frowned, “What is His Majesty doing. If he knows Furen is expecting, he could just openly send the doctor here without saying it for Wangye.”

Shen Jin’s head was lowered while she was trying to analyse it, “Mother, if this was Xu-cefei…. Let’s say Xu-cefei was doing similar thing, then what would you think she was trying to achieve?”

Chen-cefei was surprised but Shen Jin didn’t look unusual. She drew that comparison because she thought Emperor Cheng’s behaviour was similar to Xu-cefei.

“Xu-cefei is someone who can’t keep things inside. When she was feeling smugly but had no way to express it, she would…. do peculiar things. You are of similar age with the Second Junzhu but that time I was just a concubine so her situation and mine were very different. Wangye was very happy to know Xu-cefei was pregnant that he invited an imperial doctor for her. Xu-cefei was almost eight month pregnant when I found my period didn’t come, so I reported it to Wangfei. Wangfei called a doctor for me.”

Shen Jin had never heard this, she carefully listened to Chen-cefei who was recounting it slowly. “Neither Wangfei or myself had any intention to hide it, it was just not announced because my status was too low. Xu-cefei somehow found out about it, and before the doctor called by Wangfei arrived, she had already sent the imperial doctor to check on me.”

Zhao-momo’s eyes narrowed. Shen Jin could also guess what was in Xu-cefei’s mind that time, it was a warning to Chen-cefei, like a knock on the head ‘I know you are pregnant, don’t ever think of hiding it from me…. But even if you are pregnant, you are just a concubine.’

Shen Jin blinked, but what to say. Xu-cefei’s little trick was for fighting for favour in the rear courtyard, what about Emperor Cheng’s?

“Really….” Zhao-momo was amazed, could it be?

Chen-cefei said, “Xu-cefei had just entered Wangfu not long, and she was being favoured….”

But would the Emperor be as peculiar as Xu-cefei, doing things to others without any apparent benefit to themselves?

Shen Jin said, “Forget it. The gynecologist is said to be for Father, I don’t know what Father thinks?”

Chen-cefei also laughed. Sending imperial doctors wasn’t something that public wouldn’t know, with just a little effort everyone could easily find out which doctors were sent. Wonder what the officials would think when they hear a gynecologist was sent to treat Rui-wang.

Rui-wang looked happy to hear it, “This is good.”

Rui-wangfei’s eyes were slightly lowered as she said, “His Majesty made Prime Minister Chen pushed Wangye to take the blame. Count Yongning stood up to oppose His Majesty because he is married to Jin Girl. But next time when there is another natural disaster, who else would defend Wangye?”

Rui-wang’s face changed, he was about to rebuke Rui-wangfei when he suddenly understood what she meant, “Impossible, it was His Majesty who ordered….”

“Wangye.” Rui-wangfei reached out to hold Rui-wang’s hand, “You should know that once you are in trouble, this Wangfu is like losing it’s backbone. Qi-er was worried about you, she wanted to come but she was…. Forget it, no point talking about it. Please Wangye think more of us mother and daughter. Rui Wangfu exists because of Wangye, if anything happens to Wangye then everyone in Wangfu can’t live either.”

“It can’t be.” Rui-wang had more confidence prior to the earthquake but now he wasn’t so sure. He pursued, “What happened to Qi-er?”

Rui-wangfei lowered her head, tears fell on Rui-wang’s hand. “Marchioness Yongle didn’t want our son-in-law to accompany Qi-er so she had him detained, she also had her maid give Qi-er 200 liangs.”

“How dare she!” Rui-wang raged.

Rui-wangfei’s voice was bitter, “Yongle Mansion relationship with Wangfu has always been good, but they do that once we are in trouble. In the end Son-in-law managed to catch up with Qi-er and they came here together.”

“Zhu Yuhong is not bad.” Rui-wang said through clenched teeth.

“I prepared some gifts for Son-in-law and Qi-er to bring back to make amends with Marchioness Yongle.”

Rui-wang’s stomach was full with anger and his heart felt sour.

Rui-wangfei continued, “But Marchioness Yongle wasn’t willing to accept the gifts or even to meet them…. She had them kneeling outside….” At this point her voice was replaced by sobbing.

“Cheap woman! I’ll kill her!” Rui-wang pounded the bed and cursed fiercely.

Rui-wangfei was crying, “Marquis Yongle was wary of Count Yongning so he reprimanded the Marchioness when he got home. Otherwise I don’t know what would have happened to Qi-er.”

Rui-wang had never seen his wife cried that miserably, he tried to persuade her, “When I can get up, don’t worry I will definitely get justice for our daughter.”

“Wangye, Jin Girl is also our daughther. You also know why the couple was called back to the Capital, and now while Jin Girl is on early pregnancy, Count Yongning is sent to deal with the pirates.” Rui-wangfei spoke again, “Jin Girl found out about the pregnancy on the day of the earthquake, she was very shocked when she heard about you that the child was almost lost.”

Rui-wang was shocked, this time it would be pretending if he still didn’t understand. They were here in the Capital for his birthday, which was also the day of the earthquake, the baby in Shen Jin’s belly had close destiny with him, Count Yongning this son-in-law came to his defence when noone else did, while in doing so he had denied Emperor Cheng and offended Prime Minister Chen…..

The thoughts gave birth to guilt in his heart, “Furen don’t worry, Jin Girl is my daughter and the baby is my grandchild. I must be able to protect them, and protect all of you.”

Rui-wangfei sobbed in low voice, “Wangye, I am scared. We didn’t try to hide the pregnancy, it is easy to find out. But His Majesty….. ” His Majesty used a falseness to send the gynecologist, “That time it was His Majesty who ordered Wangye to choose a daughter for Count Yongning, but why now…..” As she was crying very dejectedly, the words came out broken and sounded more disturbing.

Rui-wang clenched his teeth. Was Emperor Cheng suspecting him colluding with Count Yongning so he used the earthquake as an excuse to make troubles for him? And destroyed his reputation first ? The more Rui-wang thought, the more certain he became. It must be it! Rui-wangfei must have known it, she just wanted to make him aware of it himself.

Actually there was no reputation to talk about, Rui-wangfei was just planting the seed in Rui-wang’s mind. After crying for a while longer, Rui-wangfei felt she was out of sort, she called Cuixi inside to bring water for freshening up.

Rui-wang lied on the bed watching her, “I will definitely protect all of you.”

“En.” Rui-wangfei lips pursed into a smile, “I believe in Wangye.” She looked embarrassed,  “Actually…. I have been very anxious because of Wangye, so I must have thought too much. His Majesty must be simply cares about Jin Girl and Li-shi but couldn’t say it openly. Wangye just forget the nonsense I said.”

Rui-wang felt Rui-wangfei was wholeheartedly thinking for him, “Furen, don’t worry. I know the measures.” Rui-wangfei responded and stopped talking.

Rui-wang’s injuries were on awkward places so they didn’t have meals together. Shen Qi had some things in her mind so she ate alone in her place. Shen Jin had hers with Chen-cefei, it was more carefree that way.

After pestering Chen-cefei for several nights, Shen Jin had finally moved back to her own room. Xiaobudian had been brought over, it was now sleeping in Shen Jin’s room. Anping and Anning took turns for overnight shifts on a soft bench in Shen Jin’s room so they wouldn’t too tired.

Xiaobudian slept next to Shen Jin’s bed on a large mattress so she could touch it with her feet. Shen Jin couldn’t sleep tonight, thinking of the matter of the doctors, she remembered what Chen-cefei said about Xu-cefei.

When she was feeling smugly but had no way to express it, she would do some peculiar things……

Emperor Cheng…. Xu-cefei….

Xu-cefei’s action was for boasting, for warning….

What about Emperor Cheng? What was he boasting about? Or what was he warning about, was it that he had already known Chu Xiuming was having a child?

Chu Xiuming…. Shen Jin jolted up, Xiaobudian sat up in alert. Anning who was on night shift hurriedly lit up a candle, “Furen, are you not feeling well?”

“Ask Zhao-momo to come!” Shen Jin’s lips trembled, “Hurry.”

“Yes.” Anning dared not ask anything, she grabbed her outer clothes and ran outside.