Chapter 879 - It’s a Ball in the Tummy

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“I’m Xiao Zhi, the family doctor. I have detected volatile ethanol in the air. For the health of you and your fetus, please stop drinking!”

Just as the empress picked up a second cup, a strange-looking robot nearby suddenly seemed to switch on. Red lights flashed in its eyes and the caterpillar tracks under its body slowly turned and moved toward her.

The sudden voice stunned Qing Yuan, Hong Luan, and the empress for a moment.

Robots were no longer strangers in the school. These new kinds of things, which were obviously lifeless and fully made out of machinery, could walk and talk and had always been well-liked by the students.

There was evidence that had caught several students who sneaked into the school in the middle of the night, wanting to dismember the robots.

However, this was still quite a fresh experience for Qing Yuan and Hong Luan.

After seeing this weird thing in the morning, the two felt that it was interesting and studied it for some time.

What they didn’t expect was that this thing could actually make a sound when the empress drank.

“Your Majesty, that thing is making a sound!” Hong Luan looked all excited.

Pow.

Clank, clank.

The empress swatted her hand over, causing the robot that had just arrived by her side to turn into a pile of parts.

The bulletproof composite ceramic shell of the robot scattered all over the floor as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer.

“There’s no sound now.” The empress poured wine into her mouth, acting as if nothing had happened.

Qing Yuan and Hong Luan were speechless, and the sadness on their faces was hard to hide.

Such a fun thing was gone in an instant.

Ren Baqian deliberately ended work early that day to accompany the empress. He first went to Yaohua Palace Hall and immediately felt that something wasn’t right when he didn’t see the family doctor robot.

He then asked the bodyguard outside.

“I threw away some garbage in the afternoon. It was so broken that I couldn’t tell what it was. Are you referring to that?” the guard asked.

Even though Ren Baqian didn’t see it, he felt that it was!

Well, it seemed that convincing the empress to quit drinking still had a long way to go.

“Where is Her Majesty?”

“She should be in Jinghua Garden.”

Ren Baqian heard the sound of a zither when he stepped out. He stood there and pondered for a moment before going back to fetch his erhu.

“Your Majesty!”

The garden was full of blooming red and white flowers, and it was extremely beautiful. The flowers were cared for by the gardener whom Ren Baqian had brought back from Tianjing Basin earlier. It now looked much better than the weeds of the past.

Two ladies were playing the zither not far ahead. The empress held a wine glass and turned to look at him and the thing in his hand.

She suddenly grew wary and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“My erhu playing level is pretty good!”

He was between tears and laughter when he heard her response.

“If you were born a few decades earlier and learned the right techniques, you might have already become one of today’s top experts.” It was rare for her to praise him.

“It’s really not bad. Let me play you a tune to liven things up!” Ren Baqian felt that the empress was biased against him.

“Do you believe that I’ll bury you together with the thing in your hand?” She glared at him.

He spread his hands and sighed. Prejudice is truly terrible.

Ren Baqian helplessly placed the erhu aside and went to sit down beside the empress.

“The family doctor robot in the hall…” he casually inquired.

“What do you want to say?”

“Forget it. It’s nothing.” Given her current moody state, he felt that he better not agitate her further.

“Are you still going out to work later?” the empress asked as she listened to the zither and sipped on wine.

Ren Baqian’s heart warmed after hearing what she said. She hadn’t expressed it in the past and he didn’t realize it either, but she actually hoped he would accompany her during his free time.

“No, I’ll accompany you this afternoon, Your Majesty. It’s been a while since I last spent time with you. I somehow find that spending every night together isn’t enough!” His eyes subconsciously turned to look at the wine glass.

He had no choice. After hearing what the doctor said, he couldn’t ignore it.

Sure enough, after listening to what Ren Baqian said, the empress couldn’t help but smile.

She then saw his gaze, and her face became indifferent again as she asked, “What are you looking at?”

“I actually found something very tasty. Would you like to try it, Your Majesty?” His eyes moved.

Fortunately, he came well prepared.

Of course, the empress got curious after hearing this and asked, “What is it?”

“Qing Yuan, go bring that white and green box over,” Ren Baqian ordered.

“Yes!” She immediately skipped away.

“What exactly is it?” the empress asked again.

“You will find out shortly, Your Majesty.” Ren Baqian smiled.

Soon after, Qing Yuan brought back a box of milk.

He took a bottle, put a straw in, and handed it to the empress.

He then gave another two bottles to Qing Yuan and Hong Luan before taking one for himself and starting to sip.

“It’s pretty good!” Sure enough, the empress liked it the moment she tasted it.

Under the sun in Dayao’s palace, an empress, a prince, and two maids were sipping away on milk. Ren Baqian felt that he ought to find the company for an endorsement fee.

After drinking three bottles in a row, she took her wine glass from Hong Luan’s hand and drank a glass.

Ren Baqian tried to pretend that he didn’t see this and stretched out his hand to touch her belly.

Pow! The empress slapped his hand and glared at him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just showing concern for my son!” He rubbed his hand and was between laughing and crying.

Ren Baqian’s defenses had indeed increased after practicing the [Yang Boosting Technique], but she had also increased the strength she used when hitting him…

Didn’t it seem like practicing this martial art actually made things easier for the empress?

She rubbed her tummy and complained softly, “Who told you it’s a boy?”

“A girl is pretty good as well!” Ren Baqian smiled and didn’t seem to mind.

The empress immediately fell silent.

“Tu Wan asked me the other day, saying that I should probably be able to detect whether it was a boy or a girl in my tummy. However, I feel that it’s neither a boy nor a girl…” She spoke after a while and felt a little puzzled.

Ren Baqian’s face turned sluggish as he asked, “What is it then?”

“It’s a ball!”

“Huh?” He was stunned.

What did you say?

“It’s odd. It seems different from the others!” The empress looked puzzled at first, but then, she quickly cast this matter aside and continued, “However, I’m the ruler, so it ought to be different!”

“No!” Ren Baqian hurriedly replied with his eyes wide open. “Ruler is just a status, and the thing in your tummy isn’t affected by this.”

How could there be a ball in her tummy?

Was she really going to give birth to a Nezha?[1.Nezha: A Chinese protection deity]

“Don’t be so nervous!” The empress waved her hand. “You are already the prince consort and you ought to act like one. You don’t look acceptable after becoming so flustered.”

“No, Your Majesty. This isn’t a problem of whether or not I’m the prince consort. Even a deity would panic if he knew that you are expecting a ball!”

“It’s nothing. Maybe there’s too much power to be absorbed in my body, so he formed a ball to shield himself from it. Since I have an exceptional gift that was never before seen, my child should have the same gift as well!”

The empress pondered for a while. She had been thinking about this matter lately, and the possibility of this happening was quite high.

“However, I can’t tell whether it’s a boy or a girl this way.”

Ren Baqian finally heaved a sigh after hearing what she said. It would be good if it really was like this…

If the empress actually gave birth to a ball and it called him father, he wouldn’t even know where its face was!

“Your Majesty, shall we visit the imperial clinic?” He still felt a little uneasy.

“He’s healthy! I can feel it!” The empress waved her hand. “I just feel a little unhappy that I can’t see what he looks like!”

Ren Baqian originally wanted to ask her why there was no change in the size of her tummy when she was already more than five months pregnant, but now, he lost the mood to ask.

At the moment, all he thought about was the ball in the empress’s tummy.