Chapter 233: Chapter 234 - Children

Song Yixiao didn’t know what Ji Zifu was thinking at all.

The experience of her being taken by the hound to rescue someone in Zhanchun Venue was really a humiliation to her. Until now, she didn’t tell anyone. How could she tell others something shameful like this?

She even wouldn’t tell someone as close as her confidante and her husband.

So, after leaving Daiguo Grand Princess’s mansion, she immediately forgot Ji Zifu’s matter.

Time filed. The fifth day of the fourth lunar month soon arrived.

Dowager Consort of Hengshan’s birthday banquet was held as scheduled. Maybe it was held to bring good luck to the Dowager Consort, the birthday banquet this year was especially grand. Not to mention the friends and relatives, even all the officials of the court and the new scholars received invitations.

When Song Yixiao met her mother, Wei Mengying, that day, she couldn’t help but say in half surprise and half complaint, “There are so many people today, our carriage was trapped on the road. If others didn’t give way, we wouldn’t come in successfully at all.”

Wei Mengying said indifferently, “Elder people are all like this. They prefer to be surrounded by a lot of people. Since she only celebrates her birthday once a year, there’s no need for me to reject her request, otherwise, people may think that I treat her badly.

“The Dowager Consort required it?” Song Yixiao was a little surprised. But, since it had nothing to do with her, she didn’t take it into her heart after asking once. She only said, “Does the Dowager Consort feel better? With so many guests, it would cost her great energy even if she only greets some of them.”

“How could I know that?” Wei Mengying rolled her eyes at her daughter. She waved the round fan in her hand and snorted, “Anyway, if she wants a big ceremony, then I will hold one for her. Whether she would be tired or not has nothing to do with me.”

Although she said that it had nothing to do with her, it could be told from her expression that what she really wanted to say was “better to be dead tired”.

Song Yixiao forced a smile. Then she couldn’t help but ask, “Are you angry with her recently, Mom?”

“I told you on the second day of the first lunar month. The Prince wanted to follow her suggestion and confer Lu Guanlun as his heir.” Wei Mengying became sad when she said this. She stared at the round fan in her hand and said with a depressed voice, “The Prince originally wanted to submit the memorial on the first court of the New Year, but at that time, Qiu Shuxia reported to abolish the Crown Prince. The Prince wouldn’t cause any trouble at this time. So, this submission is delayed until now.”

Song Yixiao thought that the memorial was to confer Lu Guanlun as the heir but not Lu Guanyun. Shouldn’t her mother be happy when it was delayed because of some reasons?

Just as she was wondered, she heard Wei Mengying continued to talk, “But it won’t work if it continues to be delayed, so that old woman advised taking the opportunity of her birthday. On her birthday, there must be awards from the palace and it is necessary for her to write a memorial to show her gratitude, then she could submit the request with it.”

“It was determined a long time ago, right?” Song Yixiao asked in caution, “You don’t agree now, Mom?”

Wei Mengying turned around to glare at Song Yixiao and snorted, “You really know to be considerate in return and never forget that Prince of Hengshan’s mansion raised you for so many years. But, although you help that old woman to hurt me and sound me out, they won’t thank you for your gratefulness.”

Song Yixiao was embarrassed with a red face when hearing what her mother said. She bit her lower lip and said, “I am only…”

“Fine!” Wei Mengying abruptly stopped her and said coldly, “I’m not in the mood to hear you find an excuse. I know quite well which side are you in.”

There was a sudden silence in the room. Then she said, “I admitted that I had already lost in the competition of the Prince’s heir, but that old woman really went too far. She even wants Guanyun to be someone else’s son.”

Song Yixiao said in surprise, “Someone else’s son? Who?” She immediately remembered that when in the Qingxi Hall, Empress Su suggested choosing one of Prince of Hengshan’s sons to be the heir of Prince of Su or Prince of Xiang.

But on second thought, she found that if that was the case, why would Wei Mengying be angry?

Then, Wei Mengying said in a cold voice, “Marquis Dezhao, the Prince’s brother who died at a young age. When he died, he was only twelve and hadn’t been married. Since the late Prince of Hengshan only had two sons, he asked to confer this son as a marquis.”

Wei Mengying snorted when talking about this, “That was only a son born by a concubine. If it was not for the late Prince of Hengshan’s lack of offspring, not to mention ask to confer the boy as the Marquis, he even wouldn’t remember that he still had this son. The old woman even wants my son to become the heir of someone like that. She really went too far.”

“She thought I would exchange my son addressing me as Auntie with half of her dowry?”

Wei Mengying was really furious when saying this, she even slapped the round fan on the table, “That old woman, she really treated us badly.”

“No wonder Mom is angry like this. She not only won’t say anything good about the Dowager Consort but also made a fuss about the medicinal herbs she sent to the Dowager Consort last time.” Song Yixiao finally knew why her mother did this, “Even if she didn’t have the plan to drive Lu Guanlun out of heir to Prince of Hengshan, Guanyun is her only son. How could she afford to let him become someone else’s son?”

Actually, Song Yixiao also didn’t want Lu Guanyun to become someone else’s son. After all, it was because Wei Mengying was Lu Guanyun’s mother that she was Lu Guanyun’s sister. If Lu Guanyun became the heir to Marquis Zhaode, they wouldn’t have that close relationship anymore even if Lu Guanlun could still call her sister in secret.

She liked her brother a lot and didn’t want to distance him in any way.

“Since the Prince already decided to choose Lu Guanlun as his heir, why would the Dowager Consort still force you like this?” Song Yixiao was confused. This was not the first time for the Dowager Consort to be against Wei Mengying. No way that she didn’t know how difficult it was to deal with her second daughter-in-law. Her goal was already accomplished, but why would she still force her daughter-in-law and made Lu Guanyun someone else’s son? Did she want to make Wei Mengying put up a desperate fight with her?

“This is the result of my giving in!” Wei Mengying sneered and said, “She really treats me as someone useless. I was going to accept the result. But now, no!”

Seeing the situation, Song Yixiao knew that Lu Guanlun couldn’t become the heir easily. Although it was also not easy before. She signed in her heart, “What’s wrong with the Dowager Consort? How could she think of such a bad idea? Even I get annoyed when hearing this, not to mention my mother.”

But considering what kind of person Wei Mengying was, she couldn’t help but doubt, “Is this true? Did my mother make up an excuse to stop Lu Guanlun from becoming the heir because she didn’t want to accept the result?”

Just as she was thinking about what to say to calm Wei Mengying down, Wei Mengying didn’t seem to be angry at all. She put the round fan under her chin and looked at her daughter’s belly with a frown, “Did you use the prescription I gave you before you got married?”

Song Yixiao froze for a while. Then she suddenly understood what her mother was referring to. Thinking of the prescription that could “bring sons immediately”, she couldn’t help but blush, “The time to have children is destined, nobody can be sure.”

“As soon as you had the menstruation, I would ask doctors to check your pulse on a regular basis. In case you have a chronic illness and it will affect your ability to have children.” But Wei Mengying didn’t think so, she scolded Song Yixiao with no mercy, “Judging from the time you got married, you could have already gotten pregnant. Even Cui Jianlian got pregnant after being with the Crown Prince for almost one year. Although she isn’t aware that she was lucky, she still almost gave birth to two sons for Crown Princess.”

“Mom!” Song Yixiao said in embarrassment, “We have only been married for less than one year, there is no hurry.”

“You are really not in a hurry and Jian Xubai also allows you to do so.” Wei Mengying sneered. She used the handle of the round fan to push the jade bracelet on her waist. Then she snorted, “Have you ever asked the elders of your husband’s family? Don’t you forget who was the one hated us most in the Song Family? If that old woman didn’t come to stir up trouble all the day, why would I remarry under all the rumors, leaving you suffered from your stepmother?”

Song Yixiao argued with a smile, “I know you cared about me, Mom. Seldom elders are as inconsiderate as my grandma. My mother-in-law never said such things to me.”

“Jinguo Grand Princess is busy and there are enough children to call her grandmother, so she really doesn’t have time to urge you.” When saying the word “busy”, Wei Mengying’s tone was somewhat wry, she was obviously referring to Jinguo Grand Princess’s special hobby, “You should be worried about Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. Don’t forget. Except for Pei Yourui, who was replaced by Princess Changxing and failed to get married, and Xie Yiren, who just got married the month before last, every woman in the marriage granted by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is pregnant. Commandery Princess Nanzhang, who is Princess Consort of Wei now, Princess Consort of Liang who got married instead of her sister, and Cui Jianlian, who was entrapped to death by you not after, all got good news. Only you, you have also married for about seven or eight months, why is there still no good news? How could Her Majesty the Empress Dowager not care about it?”

“But we just consummated our marriage in the first lunar month of the year.” Wei Mengying knew that Song Yixiao and her husband didn’t consummate their marriage immediately after getting married. So, when Song Yixiao heard her mother scold her, she said in a grievance, “It is only three months when we consummated our marriage. How could I get pregnant so soon?”

Wei Mengying really found her daughter useless, “That’s why I gave you the prescription. Just use it! You and your husband are a young couple and there are no concubines or sex-related maids to divide his love from you, so why couldn’t you get pregnant in three months?”

She added, “I know Jian Xubai is good to you know now. Think about it! When I first married your father, he also cherished me a lot. But since I didn’t give birth to any child after we got married for one year, your grandmother turned to be dissatisfied with me, and he was also annoyed because of this. Later on, I gave birth to you and you are a girl. With your grandmother kept finding faults, I had no choice but to try hard to please your father. If a woman wants to get her own place in the family, giving birth to a son is a must.”

Song Yixiao said with a red face, “I didn’t say that I don’t want any children, but we just haven’t got the luck.”

“Have someone to decoct the medicinal herbs for you after you go back.” Wei Mengying still wanted to say something to her daughter, however, it was the Dowager Consort of Hengshan’s birthday today, as the Princess Consort, she was quite busy. After talking to her daughter for just a few minutes, someone came to ask her to receive the guests. She could only make the long conversation short, “You give birth to a son sooner so that I can be assured.”

As she was getting up, she said, “You come with me to greet the old woman. There are many people here today, and we couldn’t let others think that you are impolite. Although I would get angry as long as I see that old woman.

Song Yixiao agreed, then she caught up with her mother and asked, “I heard that Prince of Hengshan’s mansion is going to marry Lu Kou’er to the champion scholar? Is it true or false? Is it decided?”

“Why are you asking about this?” Hearing her words, Wei Mengying turned to look at her daughter, “You never have a good relationship with Lu Kou’er. Last time, you even frame her in Cui Jianlian’s incident, right? Why do you care about her marriage now?”

“What are you talking about?” Song Yixiao looked around and felt relieved when seeing that the maids around were her and her mother’s trusted ones. She said in a little annoying way, “It was already something that happened in the past, why did you still mention it? The reason why I asked about this was that my mother-in-law asked me to do it.”

Wei Mengying immediately understood her meaning, “Your mother-in-law is finding husbands for her two adopted daughters, right? Did she take a fancy of the champion scholar?”

Then she seemed to suddenly think of something and said with a wicked smile, “Relax, Lu Kou’er couldn’t be the champion scholar’s wife.”

Song Yixiao asked in surprise, “Why? Rumor has it that the prince’s mansion is going to marry Lu Kou’er to the champion scholar. I was worried that the marriage was set and I couldn’t explain to my mother-in-law.”

“I can’t explain it with just a few words.” Wei Mengying didn’t intend to explain anything to her at all. She just said, “Today was a busy day, what’s the hurry? I will tell you about it later.”

Seeing the compound was only a few steps away from her, Song Yixiao also found her mother right, so she didn’t ask further questions.