East Palace
"Quickly bring the iced sour plum soup to quench His Highness's thirst."
Seeing Li Xiang coming back from outside with a sweat on his face, it is known that Chang'an City has entered summer now, so iced sour plum soup is always available in the East Palace. This is also due to the benefits of making ice with brine. Otherwise, there would be no such cold drink.
"This is really delicious, give me another bowl."
Li Xiang drank all the big bowls right away, but the people below looked at Cheng Luan with some embarrassment. Although the drink was cold and His Highness was in good health, it would be harmful to his body if he drank two bowls in a row.
"Your Highness, please be quiet for a moment. I'll fan you. This waterside pavilion is quite cool..."
Cheng Luan waved her hand and asked the palace maid to take the bowl away. Although Li Xiang still wanted to drink a bowl at this moment, his wife would not let him. What's more, what she said was right. Sure enough, after taking a short rest here, the cool breeze blew out, and there was cool water falling all around. This also adopted the principle of the windmill, so this should be the coolest place in the whole Chang'an.
After seeing the situation here, Li Shimin asked Li Xiang to build one in the same way. However, there were no big trees in the palace, so the coolness would be reduced a lot. Li Xiang's place was the East Palace. Although it was also within the scope of the palace, many opportunities were not so serious. If there were no big trees, the direct sunlight every day would not be able to reduce the temperature here much.
"I've been busy outside the city all day today and I'm exhausted. Your second brother has been doing really well recently. It seems that he has devoted all his attention to the army."
Li Xiang saw Cheng Chuliang's behavior. Marrying a wife and giving two brothers-in-law a dowry was indeed the best dowry. If he cultivated feelings with someone else, how could it be so good? In the future, if Cheng Luan gave birth to a son, Cheng Chuliang would be the emperor's uncle. Which uncle would not like his nephew?
"My second brother has been interested in military affairs since he was a child, and my father often took him to the army. But this family is too worrying. My second sister-in-law has already..."
Cheng Luan talked about some family matters. It turned out that Cheng Chuliang only had one daughter. According to Cheng Chuliang's age, he should have at least three or four children. Take Chang Sun Chong for example. They were the same age, but Chang Sun Chong already had four children, while Cheng Chuliang only had one daughter. Many people in the south of Chang'an City began to spread rumors.
Either Cheng Chuliang is not good enough, or Cheng Chuliang's wife is not good enough. Anyway, no matter who is not good enough, the rumor is a disgrace to Cheng Yaojin's family.
However, when she talked about this, Cheng Luan also felt that something was not well with her. She had been married to Li Xiang for quite some time, and Li Xiang slept in Cheng Luan's room most of the time, but now there was no movement in her stomach, and there was no movement from Cheng Ying's side either.
When he saw the expression on Cheng Luan's face, Li Xiang suddenly put away his mentality of watching the fun. It turned out that he was the biggest excitement. The two of them had been married for quite some time. If they didn't have a child by next year, then this gossiper would probably come back to bite him.
"So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and work hard."
After Li Xiang finished speaking, he waved his hand to the people around him. After all, this was his own yard, and those people understood what was going on. They lowered the tents on both sides and retreated outside the yard. Cheng Luan also thought that Li Xiang was a bit ridiculous, but thinking that this was her own territory, she obeyed her husband.
After an incense stick of time, both of them were sweating profusely. Although it was very cool here, the work just now was really too strenuous.
Cheng Luan was also very tired, but now he had to hold on to pour a cup of tea for Li Xiang. What else could a husband ask for with a daughter-in-law like this?
"I heard that my second sister-in-law has been taking some Chinese medicine recently. Do you want me to try it too?"
Cheng Luan frowned and said that for a man, if he didn't have children, it would be understandable. At worst, he could just choose another woman. But if other women had children, then Cheng Luan's position would be very embarrassing. A hen that couldn't lay eggs would be useless anywhere.
"Come on, you're still that old. Don't think about those useless things. We'll work hard... and eventually we'll have a child."
Li Xiang said nonchalantly, "At her age, only eighteen, why would she be in such a hurry to have a child? If it were the 21st century, having a child at eighteen would be on the news. I've never seen such an outstanding child before."
Although Li Xiang said so, Cheng Luan had already made up her mind that after returning to her parents' home this time, she would definitely ask her second sister-in-law for the prescription.
Just a few days after making up his mind, the imperial doctors knelt in front of Li Shimin and announced the good news.
You should know that for Li Xiang's wives, the Imperial Hospital sent special people to check their pulses, because they were afraid that these young ladies would be ignorant about their first child. If they didn't understand this, it would delay the royal family's heirs, which was the biggest problem.
Cheng Luan is pregnant...
When they got the news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Before Yongning entered the Eastern Palace, it was acceptable for either sister to have a child. But when Yongning entered the Eastern Palace, many things became different. If Yongning got pregnant, the status of the Cheng sisters would become a bit embarrassing.
It was exactly as Li Xiang thought. The gossip kings in Chang'an City had already prepared gossip about Li Xiang. Unfortunately, Cheng Luan was pregnant, so the gossip they prepared was of no use.
"Oh, oh, we need to pay attention. We can't leave these things here anymore. Quickly remove them. Also, call the imperial physician to come and check if there are any problems with these pots of flowers. If there are any problems, replace them all..."
When Li Xiang came back from outside, his mother Liu was in Cheng Luan's room. Now Cheng Luan's housekeeper rights had been taken away by his mother, so he would have to stay in this room and take care of the pregnancy in the future.
The Crown Princess has already given orders that all matters, whether inside or outside the palace, must be reported to her first, and then to Cheng Luan. If anyone breaks the rules, they will be beaten to death first, and then the entire family will be sold to Tuyuhun.
Li Xiang had no choice but to obey his mother's arrangement...
