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It was merely borrowing the Emperor\'s reputation, and did the Emperor suffer any loss?

Not only was there no loss, but the palace would gain one or two beautiful concubines next year. She really didn\'t understand what he was fussing about.

He insisted on fixating on the point that the Qinzhou governor was a protégé of the Song family.

And then there was Jiang Yuan\'s father, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who used to be nothing more than a watchdog for the Song family. Now, with the Emperor\'s backing, he dared to challenge the Song family.

Concubine Zhen was pregnant...

Concubine Li tapped the edge of the table. "Leak the news to the Yikun Palace. The Empress now has the fifth prince and is eager for the Emperor to name a crown prince. If she learns that the Emperor is colluding with Concubine Zhen to protect the child in her womb, it will be clear that this child is more favored than the prince born to that nameless, unpopular Court Lady Lan."

So, being born into the right circumstances is indeed important.

Most importantly, now that Concubine Li had her eye on Concubine Zhen\'s pregnancy, she wouldn\'t make a move against her.

As for whether Empress Zhu would act against Concubine Zhen, that was none of Concubine Li\'s concern.

In any case, whether Concubine Zhen\'s child survived or not, she didn\'t care.

There was just one point: she wouldn\'t harm the child herself.

Not because she was too kind-hearted to do so, but because if she did such vicious things too often, and one day the Emperor found out, what man would like a woman so ruthless and without boundaries?

Didn\'t Empress Zhu like to give infertility potions to the palace concubines? Now that Concubine Zhen threatened her interests, could the two remain as close as before?

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Xinyue was already three months pregnant.

This pregnancy was extremely stable. She ate well and slept soundly. The baby in her belly had hardly troubled her at all. She had experienced some nausea and vomiting three months ago, but as soon as she hit the three-month mark, her appetite returned with a vengeance.

Adhering to the principle that men don\'t understand the hardships of pregnancy unless they experience it themselves, every time the Emperor came over, she pretended to be extremely unwell, as if she had been vomiting to the point of exhaustion.

Shuang Jiang had even cried several times in front of the Emperor because of this. Perhaps out of guilt, she cried so convincingly, full of genuine emotion and heartache.

Her superb crying performance had scared Xi Que so much that she hadn\'t dared to appear in front of the Xuanwu Emperor for several days, fearing that her own tears wouldn\'t be as genuine as Shuang Jiang\'s, causing the Emperor to question her feelings for her mistress.

"What are the Imperial Kitchen and Imperial Physician Yan doing?" The Emperor held the pale-faced Jiang Xinyue, who had vomited so much, his eyes reddening with distress. "Concubine Zhen\'s morning sickness is so severe, how come they haven\'t found a way to improve her appetite? I see that Consort Shu has become quite plump during her pregnancy, why is Concubine Zhen getting thinner and thinner?"

Consort Shu wasn\'t plump, she was truly fat.

Concubine Li had forced Consort Shu to eat so much excessive food, and using pregnancy as an excuse, confined her to bed all day, not allowing her to move. It was said that even for using the toilet, Concubine Li had palace maids bring a chamber pot, making her relieve herself in the room.

With such a lifestyle of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, Jiang Xinyue felt she could gain six jin in five days, let alone Consort Shu who had stayed with Concubine Li for a whole month.

If the Dowager Empress hadn\'t forcibly rescued her, by the time of delivery, Consort Shu would probably have weighed around 180 jin, like a Tang Dynasty beauty.

Now she had only gained about 20 jin, which was quite well-controlled for Consort Shu.

If she really reached 180 jin, she would likely have a difficult delivery, possibly resulting in two deaths.

But Concubine Li could completely absolve herself of responsibility. She could claim she only wanted to provide more nutrition for Consort Shu, to help the baby grow better. What was wrong with that?

She couldn\'t have known it would make Consort Shu so fat.

There were countless ways to kill without a trace in the palace. Jiang Xinyue examined herself daily, looking for aspects where she hadn\'t mastered the essence, and then improved upon them.

She would eventually become the most cunning favored concubine in the Great Yan palace.

No, now that she was with child, she aimed higher – to become the most cunning Imperial Noble Consort in the Great Yan palace.

"Your Majesty, please don\'t be angry." Jiang Xinyue sniffled, letting two clear tears fall from her beautiful eyes as she curled up small in the Xuanwu Emperor\'s arms. "Chief Steward Gao and Imperial Physician Yan have been very attentive. It\'s just that my body is weak. I originally thought I would never be able to have children in this lifetime. It\'s all thanks to Imperial Physician Yan\'s careful treatment that I\'m even able to conceive. I\'m very grateful to him. Please don\'t blame him, Your Majesty."

"Oh, you!" The Emperor tapped her forehead. "You\'re just too kind, always thinking of others. That\'s why people treat you like a pushover. The time you led the palace maids to beat up the guards at Kunning Palace was quite good. In the future, you need to be that tough with people who bully you. Only then will they respect and fear you, understand?"

Inciting his favored concubine to slap his own mother\'s face, the Xuanwu Emperor was probably the first in Great Yan history to do so.

At least, Jiang Xinyue had never seen such an emperor in all the palace dramas she had watched.

"Your Majesty, please don\'t tease me." Jiang Xinyue blushed and sat up from the Emperor\'s embrace, glaring at him. "It\'s bad enough that they used vulgar language to discuss me, Xi Que, and Shuang Jiang, but they even... even mentioned Your Majesty. I... I won\'t allow them to gossip about you."

"What do you mean it\'s bad enough they discussed you?" The Emperor poked her forehead again forcefully. "Shuang Jiang and Xi Que are your personal maids. How dare they covet them, even wanting to make Xi Que a concubine. It\'s outrageous. I\'ve already had Wang Dequan send those two guards to the Office of Careful Punishment to have their tongues cut out. From now on, no one will dare disrespect you again."

Jiang Xinyue hadn\'t left the palace, and in the past few days, Hexi Palace had closed its doors, with no palace staff going out. Naturally, she didn\'t know what big events had occurred outside.

Those two guards who had their tongues cut out were paraded around the palace to acknowledge their crimes.

Now everyone in the palace knew that the people of Hexi Palace, from top to bottom, from masters to servants, were untouchable.

Concubine Zhen wasn\'t in the palace, yet tales about her circulated everywhere.

No wonder...

Jiang Xinyue had been wondering why the Dowager Empress had no reaction when she beat up her people. At the very least, she should have come to Hexi Palace to make a scene and throw a tantrum!

It turned out she had been frightened by the Emperor\'s thunderous actions and was hiding like a quail in Kunning Palace.

Her peaceful days were all thanks to the Dowager Empress bearing the burden for her!

Jiang Xinyue embraced the Xuanwu Emperor once again, saying, "Your Majesty has done more than enough for this humble consort. I only wish to be with Your Majesty for a long, long time. As for everything else... I care for nothing else."

Because she loved him deeply, being able to stay by his side was already satisfying enough. She asked for nothing more.

"I plan to promote your father to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and have him work with Minister Jiang of the Ministry of Personnel to investigate the corruption case of the Qinzhou governor," the Emperor said.

This was clearly a move to elevate her father\'s status to counter the Song family, and it was quite a promotion - straight to a high-ranking official position of the third grade. Some people were bound to be envious.