Chapter 213.3

Outside the palace doors, Fu Cheng whispered, “Your Majesty, are you still going in?”

Emperor Jin’an glanced inside, shook his head, and turned away.

After this encounter, it was evident that Yaoniang’s spirits had improved. She cooperated well with Mammy Mu and others, refraining from eating anything she shouldn’t and walking as much as was necessary. Her obedience couldn’t help but make people feel even more distressed for her. Emperor Jin’an had assumed that if the empress got better, he would as well, but he remained gloomy all day.

As the days went by, the closer she got to her due date, the tenser the atmosphere in the palace became. All the necessary preparations were completed, such as the birthing room, midwives, and wet nurses, among others.

It was quite the opposite with Yaoniang; she seemed to have genuinely lightened up, displaying a carefree demeanour. Even Huiniang couldn’t help feeling somewhat anxious, but Yaoniang continued to smile all day long.

On this day, a midwife named Nanny Cao was examining Yaoniang’s fetal position and asked her a few questions. Then she said, “Madam, in about five days, it will be delivery time. Don’t worry, both young masters are in proper positions. The first one is engaged in the pelvis already, which is why you’ve been feeling sore and experiencing lower abdominal pressure.”

Yaoniang nodded at the time, though in her heart, she didn’t quite believe that it would be in exactly five days. As it turned out, on the fifth day, it actually happened.

The delivery process was really quick. This time, Yaoniang’s water broke first. Perhaps it was because Mammy Mu had been monitoring her diet effectively, or maybe her daily ten thousand steps had an impact. In any case, Yaoniang gave birth quickly, much faster than she had imagined. So fast that it made her realize her previous fears and worries were nothing but a joke.

Although it was painful during the process, the short duration made it bearable. After the delivery, Yaoniang even had the energy to watch the midwife wash, bathe, and bundle up the two children. She watched until the two little bundles were placed beside her, revealing two tiny, rosy figures inside. She couldn’t help but smile.

Someone entered hastily, and she looked up to see Emperor Jin’an with a worried expression approaching.

Yaoniang felt a bit embarrassed inexplicably: “Your Majesty, they’re already born, a pair of dragon and phoenix twins.”

Emperor Jin’an’s gaze fixed on her face, he looked at her twice, confirming that she was in good spirits before shifting his gaze to the two swaddled infants.

“They’re quite ugly.”

“Newborn babies tend to look quite ugly…”

As they were talking, the sound of footsteps echoed again, and Erbao’s voice rang out first: “Little brother, little sister, I want to see them.”

Like a whirlwind, he rushed over and stood by the couch, gazing at the two little figures. Xiaobao followed behind him, first saluting his imperial parents before standing beside Erbao. He appeared composed and restrained, though his excited demeanour was hard to conceal.

“Ah! They’re so ugly!” Erbao exclaimed.

Xiaobao corrected his younger brother, “You were just as ugly when you were born. You’ll grow out of it.”

Erbao was skeptical, and as he grew older, he began to realize that his older brother liked to trick him. He even learned to argue and apply deductive reasoning.

“You haven’t seen me then, so how do you know I was ugly when I was born? Mother, was I ugly when I was a baby?”

Uh, Yaoniang didn’t expect herself to be dragged into this. She glanced at Emperor Jin’an, who clearly had no intention of getting involved. She had no choice but to play the ignorant card, “Mother doesn’t remember, it’s been too long. Mother was exhausted after giving birth to you, and was sleeping for the rest of the time.”

Erbao nodded as if it made sense, then turned to Xiaobao: “Look, even Mother doesn’t know, so how do you know?”

Xiaobao chuckled, “Even though Mother was asleep, I wasn’t. Just like you’re here now to see Sanbao and Sibao, I went to see you when you were born.”

Erbao’s expression froze. In his mind, he imagined himself being born, looking just as ugly, his big brother coming to see him, not saying anything, and then commenting on his ugliness. It made him want to cry.

But this little guy was resilient, holding back his tears. Instead, he said, “That’s not fair. Big brother, you should have Mother give birth to you again, and this time, I’ll come to see you.”

This statement left the other three people in astonishment, then Yaoniang burst into laughter.

The sound of her laughter prompted Sanbao and Sibao to cry.

Hong Chou and the others rushed forward, carrying Sanbao and Sibao away, and then guiding Xiaobao and Erbao out, telling them not to disturb Yaoniang’s rest.

Meanwhile, Hong Chou brought a bowl of fragrant chicken soup noodles. Yaoniang was holding the bowl and eating.

While eating her noodles, she looked at Emperor Jin’an and said, “Your Majesty, Xiaobao gave nicknames to the children already. I had originally planned to give the two little ones nicer sounding nicknames.”

Emperor Jin’an also remembered that Xiaobao had called the two little ones Sanbao and Sibao earlier.

“It’s alright for the boy to be called Sanbao, but the fourth child is a little girl. Is Sibao really a fine name for her?” Yaoniang was worried.

What else could Emperor Jin’an say? He could only say, “Xiaobao is already named Xiaobao, so let’s just call them that.” One could only say that it was Yaoniang who initially didn’t set a good example as a mother. It wasn’t fair to blame Xiaobao for not being good at naming.

Yaoniang fell silent, then took a few more bites of noodles. “Your Majesty, I realize that I had been quite silly.” It really wasn’t so scary, yet she had frightened herself to such an extent.

“You’re only realizing that now?”