Not long after the New Year, when the festive bustle had only just begun to fade, on a day when snow drifted softly from the sky, Tuan Yun went into labor.
At that time, Cui Jianying was in the palace, reporting on official matters and reviewing documents with His Majesty the Emperor. The moment the news arrived, he immediately requested leave and rushed back home without delay.
The Emperor had long since agreed to Cui Jianying’s request together with that of Consort Miao. Nearly a month earlier, he had personally assigned two imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy to be stationed at the Cui residence, prepared at all times to respond to the birth of the Commander in Chief’s wife. Thus, with attentive consideration, the Emperor readily approved Cui Jianying’s swift return and merely instructed the palace attendants to report any updates back to the palace at once.
Unexpectedly, before the Emperor could even return to Consort Miao’s quarters and warm his seat, he was pulled right back up again.
“Tuan Yun is giving birth?”
Consort Miao had barely set down her teacup before she began pacing back and forth in agitation.
“Someone come at once! Prepare a carriage for this consort!”
What kind of household goes visiting while someone is giving birth? The Emperor, ever gentle, tried to comfort her kindly. “My beloved, do not be anxious. Everything has long been prepared. The child has come to full term, there will surely be peace and safety.”
“It’s easy for Your Majesty to say so when you only have to move your lips,” Consort Miao snapped. “It’s not Your Majesty’s wife giving birth!”
“………………”
It wasn’t Consort Miao’s wife giving birth either but His Majesty the Emperor, being rebuffed by the woman he loved, felt a faint sourness welling up when he thought it over carefully yet the moment he looked at Consort Miao’s phoenix eyes standing sharply upright, at least to him, the angrier the consort became, the more beautiful she was, he couldn’t muster even a shred of temper.
He could only issue an order for the chief eunuch to hurry and prepare the carriage and the imperial couple set out together for the Cui residence.
Even as they departed, he wrapped an arm around Consort Miao’s waist and spoke softly to reassure her,
“We’re going now, we’re going right now. Put your mind at ease, don’t let this disturb your own pregnancy.”
Consort Miao herself was already with child.
Speaking of this was yet another matter that made the Son of Heaven feel quietly aggrieved.
Before and after becoming pregnant, the consort had often had Tuan Yun accompany her in attendance. After learning of her own pregnancy, she had always felt it was thanks to Tuan Yun’s good fortune.
“The physicians of the Imperial Medical Academy all said that when a woman is in good spirits, her chances of conceiving are higher. With Tuan Yun by my side, I feel happy whenever I see him. Being able to have this child, how could it not be Tuan Yun’s merit?”
But how could it possibly be Tuan Yun’s merit?
It was clearly His Majesty the Emperor who, for several months straight, had followed Cui Jianying in practicing leg strength, waist strength and horse stance, on top of secretly drinking medicinal decoctions!
Yet such matters touched upon his dignity and he couldn’t very well tell the consort about them. All he could do was swallow the bitterness inwardly and accept the credit being misattributed.
From their departure to their arrival at the Cui residence, less than an hour had passed.
What surprised everyone was that although Tuan Yun was carrying twins, the labor progressed with astonishing speed. He suffered hardly at all throughout the process. By the time the Emperor and Consort Miao dismounted from their carriage, the entire Cui residence, from the gatekeepers onward, was already overflowing with joy. Tuan Yun had already given birth.
A young lady and a young lord.
However, this differed slightly from the physicians’ earlier predictions. Tuan Yun did indeed give birth to a pair of children but not a boy and a girl as expected. Instead, it was a daughter and a son.
Strictly speaking, in this world both daughters and young lords would eventually marry out. Consort Miao had originally worried that this discrepancy might stir some unrest within the Cui household yet observing the atmosphere of the residence and seeing Cui Jianying inside the room holding Tuan Yun after childbirth, feeding him medicine, both husband and wife wearing nothing but relaxed and joyous expressions, it seemed there was nothing to fear.
Consort Miao was a woman who appeared carefree and forthright on the surface yet was in truth meticulous to the finest detail. With just a hurried glance, her thoughts had already turned over countless times.
This young couple of the Cui residence, upon closer examination, neither Cui Jianying nor Tuan Yun had been blessed with good parents. Neither of them had ever experienced the indulgent love of parents yet these twins were truly fortunate.
Consort Miao could tell at once. There was no place that produced paternal and maternal affection more abundantly than a household steeped in deep marital love.
“Have their names been chosen?”
Tuan Yun was still extremely tired after childbirth. After exchanging greetings with His Majesty and the consort, he lay down to rest. The Emperor and Consort Miao were thoughtful people and only asked once they had stepped outside.
“They have,” Cui Jianying replied.
Holding the children in his arms, he said, “The daughter is named Jin Ye. The young lord is named Bao Zhu.”
“A fine choice of names.”
Perhaps because they themselves were soon to become parents, both the Emperor and Consort Miao felt a heartfelt admiration upon hearing them.
So much deep affection and expectation were contained within those two names.
The couple leaned in to look at the children and at a single glance, both were stunned.
The imperial family was vast, with countless branches and innumerable children. Newborns were nothing unusual to them. They had seen plenty, each one red faced, wrinkled, little skin monkeys fresh from the womb yet these two little treasures were different. They looked fresh and tender, their skin dewy and delicate. Their cheeks were like freshly steamed buns just out of the pot, soft, plump and pillowy. Their small mouths were pink and though neither had opened their eyes yet, the shape of their eye sockets already revealed that both would have large, round eyes.
Cui Jianying, whose courtesy name was Qionghua, had been as pretty as a fine young lady in his youth and grew into a strikingly handsome man as an adult. Tuan Yun, the more he was cherished and cared for, the more he resembled a lotus emerging from water.
After bearing children, his beauty was even more apparent. These two children seemed to gather the finest traits of both parents. Barely having entered the world, they were already destined to lock down the future reputation of Shengjing’s twin beauties for decades to come.
“Damn the heavens,” Consort Miao exclaimed, unable to put them down in her delight. “How is it that all the good fortune ends up in your hands? There’s no family in the world better at having children than yours! They’re truly adorable!”
Not just the consort, even His Majesty the Emperor felt a twinge of envy. After leaving behind generous rewards at the Cui residence, on the way back he couldn’t help but lean close to Consort Miao and murmur quietly,
“They say you can tell the future at three years old but these two don’t even need three years. I can already see it, both are celestial beauties. Let’s settle it early. In the future, we’ll have one marry into our family and become a wife for our Jue’er.”
Jue’er was the name of the child in Consort Miao’s womb. The child had not yet been born yet the Emperor had already decided it must be a boy. He had even taken medicine for it!
“Your Majesty thinks quite beautifully,” Consort Miao replied. “But how do you know Lord Cui would agree?”
“He wouldn’t agree?” the Emperor said. “Jue’er will be the Crown Prince. Whoever marries him becomes the Crown Princess. I’m not asking for both children, just one. Why wouldn’t that work?”
Consort Miao only smiled yet there was no trace of conviction in her eyes.
The Emperor’s competitive streak flared. Determined to prove himself, he immediately ordered the chief eunuch to halt the carriage and stepped down.
“You wait here. I must go ask him myself.”
The carriage had only just set off and had not gone far at all. When the Son of Heaven said to turn back, he turned back. Consort Miao did not stop him, merely remained in the carriage, reading her storybook while she waited.
Not long after, the Emperor returned.
As expected, His expression was subtle.
Consort Miao laughed and asked, “Your Majesty, how did it go?”
The Emperor said nothing.
He wasn’t angry. After a while, he let out a long, drifting sigh.
It wasn’t that he had been refused.
It was that he hadn’t even asked.
For when he returned to the Cui residence, he did not have anyone announce him but went straight in. There he happened to see Cui Jianying standing watch beside Tuan Yun, who slept peacefully with the two children. Cui Jianying’s gaze was lowered, fixed upon his wife and children.
From that angle, the Emperor could only see half of his face.
Yet it was precisely that half which caused the Emperor to freeze for a moment. Forget asking for a future daughter in law, even disturbing the scene felt difficult.
The Emperor truly liked Cui Jianying.
Setting aside the titles of ruler and subject, the two of them could be considered friends.
Kindred spirits, partners in mischief.
More than once, the renowned tutors who taught the noble youths had said that if the Emperor and Cui Jianying had not been born into royal and aristocratic families, they would surely have become two shameless ruffians.
Cui Jianying would have been even worse, hot blooded and fond of fighting, destined to become a violent criminal.
Cui Jianying was a beast of tiger and wolf. When it came to blade mountains and seas of fire, the two might walk together yet there were times even the Emperor felt hesitation and doubt, while Cui Jianying charged ahead without restraint. He feared no one.
The Emperor believed that if a person could choose their own manner of death, Cui Jianying would never choose hanging or beheading. He would choose three thousand cuts for himself.
Because he was already living as though enduring three thousand cuts, only in such a life could there be thunderous brilliance, a death without regret and a satisfaction that was fierce and complete.
Cui Jianying was fearless. By nature, he feared nothing under heaven, or so the Emperor had always believed yet after witnessing that fleeting moment just now, the Son of Heaven was suddenly no longer so certain.
So it turned out that Cui Jianying, too, could feel fear and anxiety.
Not because of the brutality of the world, nor because of hardship, blade, or frost but because of a gentle, warm water soft young man and two infants so delicate they seemed boneless.
This, too, must be a law of the world, was it not? That even a fierce villain would grow a tender spot, a weakness.
He feared the frost and wind of the world would fall upon that weakness.
“Your Majesty? Your Majesty?”
Consort Miao smiled as she looked at him. “Are we returning to the palace or not?”
The Emperor came back to himself. Looking at the tall, beautiful woman before him and the curve of her swelling belly, he suddenly felt the worry of realizing, far too early, that those who laugh at others may soon find themselves in the same position.
Who does heaven ever spare? It will soon be my turn.
“They truly are good children,” the Emperor said at last. “We could first acknowledge them as godchildren. Let them come to the palace often in the future. If the children grow up together as childhood sweethearts, who knows, perhaps it will become a heaven ordained match. What do you think, Your Consort?”
Consort Miao’s smile bloomed, radiant as the morning clouds.
At once, the Emperor’s mind was once again led astray. All worries were forgotten for the moment.
Driven to foolishness by beauty, with not the slightest air of a wise ruler, he leaned close and whispered, “My dear, how could we let one of the two children marry into another family? What a waste. Other than our child, who in this world would be worthy of the Cui family’s precious daughter?”
“In my view, I ought to work harder. Let us strive to hold two children in our arms within three years.”
Consort Miao burst into laughter at his words and tugged at the Emperor’s ear.
The husband and wife laughed and played all the way back to their own home.
The End
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
⚠️ TRANSLATOR COFFEE LEVELS CRITICALLY LOW ⚠️
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
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ChaptersChapter 1 · How can you, so crude and vulgar, be a match for me?Chapter 2 · Children don’t just appear out of thin air if you want themChapter 3 · I also grew up reading the classicsChapter 4 · I am willing to dress up as the Goddess of MercyChapter 5 · If Cousin Ji doesn’t like me, do you not like me either?Chapter 6 · He actually summoned such a YamaChapter 7 · Am I not worthy of your attention, Madam?Chapter 8 · I think Lord Cui likes you very muchChapter 9 · Dragon and phoenix twinsChapter 10 · I will never allow anyone to belittle or despise you againChapter 11 · If that’s true, then marry your wife to meChapter 12 · Well, it really is true that one thing can subdue anotherChapter 13 · Extra 1Chapter 14 · Extra 2Chapter 15 · Extra 3Chapter 16 · Extra 4