Chapter 460: Qingming (Part II)

At the Princes’ Residence the midwives and physicians had already gone inside.

Maidservants hurried back and forth carrying things, boiling hot water, passing supplies from hand to hand. Everyone was busy, and beneath that busyness ran a current of panic.

Because He Sisi’s cries from inside the delivery room were growing weaker and weaker.

No one had expected the Princess Consort to go into premature labor.

Even less had anyone expected the situation to become so dangerous so quickly.

There was no attempt to conceal the news that the Princess Consort was suffering a difficult birth.

Nor was there any reason to conceal it.

Ji Chengjue ordered Eunuch Zhang to find Old He and He Chu and bring them over.

The woman inside that room was fighting with everything she had for their child.

And now, it appeared entirely possible that she might have to wager her life.

At this moment, as a man, something shifted inside Ji Chengjue.

Or perhaps in the end, he simply could not achieve the same true coldness as his father.

He felt that at a time like this, her father and elder brother ought to be here.

Ji Chengjue had not called them over to “encourage” her.

Her own husband was standing outside and could do absolutely nothing. What encouragement could anyone else provide?

He simply thought that if the worst truly happened at least she would not leave with regrets.

One could not blame Little Sixth Ji for thinking toward the worst outcome.

Nor could anyone condemn him for already making such preparations.

He could not give birth in her place.

He could only stand here listening to the screams coming from inside.

What else was he supposed to do?

Stand here brimming with hope and excitement while debating what pet name to give the child?

Ji Chengjue had not gone mad.

And yet right now, he almost wished he could.

The education he had received since childhood, the experiences he had endured through all these years, had long since formed an instinct inside him: the greater the crisis the calmer his heart became.

Like a wounded man trapped in agony who could not faint, and therefore had no choice but to remain conscious through every moment of pain.

Yet at this moment he was completely powerless.

All he could do was stand there with both hands clasped behind his back, his eyes staring straight ahead.

Whenever servants passed near him, they instinctively lowered their heads.

None dared look at him.

Old He and He Chu arrived.

This was the first time father and son had ever entered the Princes’ Residence.

In the past, when they brought vegetables or meat here, they always stopped at the gate and asked the Imperial Guards to pass the things inside.

Ji Chengjue and He Sisi had invited them in several times.

Father and son had refused every time.

And refused thoroughly.

One could say they were the most low-key imperial relatives in all of Great Yan.

This time, however they were practically carried inside.

Once they entered, heard the sounds coming from within, and saw palace maids constantly rushing in and out with hot water and ginseng soup, even the most muddleheaded person could understand what was happening.

Old He’s fists clenched violently.

“How did it become like this?

“How did it become like this!”

He Chu kept looking around in confusion.

His lips trembled.

Ji Chengjue still stood there with his hands behind his back.

At a moment like this, he had no mind to receive his father-in-law and elder brother-in-law.

Every scream from He Sisi inside the delivery room struck his chest like a heavy hammer.

And the more each blow landed the less he could allow himself to bend.

He wanted his wife to survive.

She had to survive.

Old He instinctively wanted to go over and ask his son-in-law what was happening.

But when he saw Ji Chengjue’s expression, he hesitated.

In the end he did not dare approach.

It was not simply fear.

He understood that even if he went over and demanded answers now, it would not help anything.

And that was precisely what made him feel so suffocated.

When an ordinary father-in-law encountered a situation like this, he could at least storm over and question his son-in-law without restraint.

He might even throw a few punches.

Even if everyone knew it would accomplish nothing at least he could vent some of the nameless fire burning in his chest.

But Old He could not.

He Chu wanted to help.

Boil water.

Carry something.

Anything.

But the palace maids and eunuchs moving through the residence were methodical and precise.

There was no shortage of hands.

There was simply no place for him to insert himself.

At a time like this having nothing to do was the most painful thing of all.

The commotion also alarmed the Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince, who lived in the same residence.

The Fourth Prince came over first.

He frowned at the scene before him.

The Fifth Prince had been busy with carpentry. When a servant reported the situation and he came out, wood shavings were still stuck in his hair.

The two brothers exchanged one look.

Then walked toward Ji Chengjue together.

The Fourth Prince asked:

“Little Sixth.

“What happened?”

Ji Chengjue did not turn around.

He did not even look at either brother.

He merely spoke one calm word:

“Get lost.”

The Fourth and Fifth Princes exchanged an awkward glance.

Both silently retreated and stood off to the side.

Neither spoke again.

First over the past year, Little Sixth, who had originally been suppressed almost into invisibility by their father, had suddenly risen.

His wedding had openly declared that he intended to compete for the succession.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince’s luck throughout the past year had only grown worse.

The Empress had passed away.

The marriage with the Commandery Princess had ended without result.

A struggle for succession before the Emperor died and before any final edict was announced was fundamentally a struggle for momentum.

At present, the Eastern Palace was clearly in decline.

The Sixth Prince controlled the Ministry of Revenue and therefore Great Yan’s money and grain.

Outside the capital, Count Pingye at Snow Sea Pass answered him.

The First Prince supported him.

Inside the court, a growing group of newly Presented Scholars had already gathered around him.

His momentum was plainly flourishing.

Princes had their own food chain.

There was, after all, only one dragon throne.

Only one person could sit upon it.

If you had no intention of sitting there—or knew you had little chance of doing so—then you had to think carefully about your future.

Otherwise, when everything ended, you might discover that even the life of an idle imperial clansman had become impossible to preserve.

Second the man’s wife was suffering a difficult birth.

A bad temper right now was understandable.

The Fifth Prince licked his lips and looked around.

Recently, he had been busy making a crib and cradle for Little Sixth’s child.

But judging from the current situation that crib might never be used.

He was not especially concerned about the child’s safety.

What bothered him was the thought that all the effort he had poured into the crib and cradle might go to waste.

After all an ordinary person was not worthy of receiving something handmade by a Prince.

But if someone *was* worthy of receiving it, then after what happened here, gifting that particular crib afterward would seem terribly unlucky.

The Fourth Prince lowered his head and stared at the ground.

From his standpoint the current situation was, privately, not entirely unwelcome.

The First Prince already had two children.

But both had been born to Savage slave women.

Their bloodline could not be guaranteed.

After all, when the First Prince had been forced to share beds with those women on the snowfields, no court recorder had been present to document every encounter.

So those two children could not even carry the surname Ji.

Little Sixth, meanwhile, was currently at the height of his momentum.

If he now produced the Emperor’s eldest legitimate grandson as well...

Haa.

After the first Eastern Expedition suffered defeat and the head of the Deng Clan died, the Fourth Prince had become far more subdued.

But how should one put it?

He was still an imperial prince.

Who among them had never dreamed of sitting upon that throne?

Even if he knew his external support was gone even if his competitiveness had already fallen badly he still did not want the matter settled too early.

At least while sleeping at night he could still dream.

But leaving now was impossible.

The imperial household was said to be the most heartless family beneath Heaven.

Yet precisely because of that it had greater need than any ordinary family to perform familial affection.

So although the two princes each carried their own thoughts they could only continue standing there like clay statues.

At that moment, the First Prince arrived.

The First Prince had spent recent months leading troops outside the capital, helping the Ministry of Revenue clear away local remnants.

In truth, he was opening trade routes.

The people he targeted were not merely bandits.

If one excluded newly annexed Jin territory, then inside the traditional lands of Yan, saying that people could leave property on the road without fear of theft would be an exaggeration but genuine banditry truly was rare.

During the most intense years of foreign war, even men caught climbing walls to commit adultery could be arrested by local yamen and sent to the front as penal troops.

What room did bandits have to survive?

If anyone dared raise some “Stockade” or “Gang” banner, local officials would already be sharpening their blades and preparing to turn them into military manpower.

The people the First Prince was truly attacking were “official bandits” remnants of the old aristocratic clans, together with newly risen powers that had seized local industries and trade routes after the old clans were purged.

Ever since the First Prince married the Barbarian Princess, his political circumstances had become somewhat similar to those of Xiong Tingshan, Great Chu’s Fifth Prince, now Prince Ding.

Once a person no longer needed to protect his political reputation doing things became much more convenient.

Plenty of officials had memorialized the throne accusing the First Prince of acting recklessly while leading troops outside.

But once the Emperor of Yan looked at the increased revenue figures submitted by the Ministry of Revenue he casually suppressed every complaint.

The First Prince arrived together with the Barbarian Princess.

She held a box in her hands.

Ji Wujiang walked up beside Ji Chengjue.

He did not foolishly ask:

“What happened?”

Instead, he said directly:

“Your sister-in-law brought one of the snow lotuses from her dowry.”

When ordinary women gave birth, their families prepared brown-sugar water to replenish strength.

Wealthier households used ginseng soup.

Ji Chengjue nodded.

He said nothing.

His household did not lack such things.

The First Prince quietly retreated several steps and stood beside his wife.

Then his gaze swept toward the Fourth and Fifth Princes standing nearby.

The two younger princes noticed and walked over.

In lowered voices, they greeted:

“Eldest Brother.

“Eldest Sister-in-law.”

“Eldest Brother.

“Sister-in-law.”

The Barbarian Princess gave both princes a slight curtsy.

She had lived in Yan for quite some time now and had long since become familiar with Yan etiquette.

“His Highness the Crown Prince arrives!”

The Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince, and First Prince were all somewhat surprised.

What was the Crown Prince doing here now?

The Crown Prince entered.

He had grown much thinner.

After entering, his gaze merely swept over his brothers once.

He did not walk over.

Nor did he approach Ji Chengjue.

He simply stood at the outer edge.

Silent.

Ji Chengjue did not greet him either.

A short while later, Li Yinglian, the Crown Prince’s attendant, approached.

He carried a box.

Inside lay a fish-shaped jade pendant.

The old master in the palace had prepared this jade as a protective talisman when the Crown Prince was formally invested.

It was said to ward off calamity and disaster.

Since that old master had already passed away in cultivation upon Tianhu Mountain this jade had become unique.

Ji Chengjue looked at the pendant.

Then beckoned a palace maid over.

He ordered her to carry the jade into the delivery room and place it beneath the bed.

Afterward, Ji Chengjue turned toward the Crown Prince standing at the edge of the courtyard.

He bent deeply in salute.

The Crown Prince did not return the courtesy.

He merely sat down on the inner gate’s stone steps.

His arms hung loosely.

His head lowered.

At that exact moment—

“His Majesty arrives!”

The Crown Prince, who had only just sat down, did not move.

He looked almost asleep.

He maintained the same posture.

The First, Fourth, and Fifth Princes all knelt.

“This son pays respects to Father Emperor!”

“This son pays respects to Father Emperor!”

The Emperor of Yan entered.

He seemed not to notice the Crown Prince sitting in the corner.

Or perhaps he noticed and simply could not be bothered to look at him.

He walked directly to Ji Chengjue and waved one hand, signaling the others to rise.

Ji Chengjue did not kneel.

He remained standing where he was.

At the same time one hand still behind his back gave a small signal.

Immediately, the senior experts and guards the Sixth Prince had borrowed through the great escort agencies withdrew from the residence.

In their place the Secret Intelligence Department experts brought by Wei Zhonghe redeployed around the compound.

The Emperor of Yan did not care that the Sixth Prince had failed to observe proper etiquette.

He asked directly:

“Who did it?”

Three words.

Nothing more.

Yet they carried the chilling pressure of the supreme sovereign.

An Emperor was suspicious by nature.

Whenever something happened, his first instinct was always:

*Who is calculating against me?*

*Who is plotting rebellion?*

That was what it meant to be the solitary ruler.

More importantly, the Emperor did not believe this son of his would fail to protect a pregnant wife properly.

If nobody had deliberately taken advantage of the opportunity to act could it truly be nothing more than bad luck?

After asking the question, the Emperor’s gaze swept toward the Fourth and Fifth Princes standing nearby.

“...”

The Fourth Prince.

“...”

The Fifth Prince.

The two princes already lived inside the same Princes’ Residence.

If they wanted to make a move they unquestionably possessed the greatest convenience.

But when they saw their father’s gaze both nearly dropped to their knees and screamed their innocence.

Heavens!

Father Emperor!

Do you have any idea how many experts Little Sixth has stuffed into this residence over the past half year?

In plain sight alone there are **three Fourth Grade experts!**

Three, Father Emperor!

Do you know how terrified we brothers have been living in the same compound with him?

If Little Sixth suddenly loses his mind one day and decides to “purge evil ministers from the ruler’s side,” the two elder brothers living under the same roof will definitely be the first and second people to get their throats cut!

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

Then said:

“Your son’s fate— is poor.”

That was his answer.

Aside from the wedding night, when Seventh Uncle and Li Liangshen had threatened him on the Commandery Princess’s behalf, Ji Chengjue had afterward mobilized his forces without restraint.

The major escort agencies all possessed genuine experts.

Their deepest foundation consisted of senior guardians who could not simply be hired with silver.

They acted only because of old debts of favor.

Use them once and one favor was gone forever.

Even so, Ji Chengjue had borrowed them.

There were three Fourth Grade experts alone.

There were also several other men whose cultivation was not especially high, but whose methods and experience were exceptionally rich.

They remained hidden in the shadows at all times, protecting this place protecting his wife protecting the unborn child inside her belly.

One could say unless someone mobilized the Imperial Guards of Yanjing to storm the Princes’ Residence even if the Commandery Princess decided to go mad again, Ji Chengjue was no longer afraid.

Food.

Clothing.

Medicine.

Every detail had been handled with extreme care.

So Ji Chengjue could exclude human interference.

This time it could only be Heaven’s will.

His own fate was poor.

This calamity had simply been written into his life.

And that was what made it most suffocating.

Because if the worst truly happened, all his fury and unwillingness would not even possess a target upon which they could be vented.

The sky darkened again.

Qingming brought frequent rain.

Fine drizzle drifted down in soft threads.

Yet rather than quenching the fury coiled across the courtyard the rain only made everyone feel more irritated.

The Emperor of Yan stood with his hands behind his back.

His posture now was almost identical to the way Ji Chengjue had stood here alone earlier.

As Emperor, he had countless matters to consider.

But there was one threshold even he could not avoid.

Inheritance.

He, Ji Runhao had seven sons.

When choosing an heir, his range of choice was enormous.

True, the system of inheritance by the legitimate eldest son existed.

But the great aristocratic clans of Yan had already been crushed beneath his horse hooves.

Could a mere inheritance convention truly bind this Emperor?

It depended entirely on whether he wished to follow it.

And beyond having multiple choices for an heir, there was another issue.

If the imperial line became thin and something unexpected happened the state might fall into disorder.

Or the dragon throne might pass from one branch of the clan to another.

They would still all bear the surname Ji.

But even full brothers settled accounts clearly.

The main line remained the main line.

So long as succession remained within the main branch, one generation after another, power continued through his own direct descendants.

Once a collateral branch gained control his own branch would lose the center of power forever.

Worse it might face far more brutal suppression.

Even the basic continuation of the line could be severed.

This was no empty alarmism.

In the State of Qian, Emperor Taizong had been the younger brother of the founding Emperor Taizu.

Taizong inherited the throne as the Imperial Younger Brother.

At the time of succession, his proclamation had openly stated that Taizu’s young son would be appointed Crown Prince and the throne returned to Taizu’s line in the future.

Then, Taizu’s legitimate son and two concubine-born sons all “died of illness.”

Even the grandchildren either died young or became idiots.

In the end the Qian throne remained forever within Emperor Taizong’s line.

As for Emperor Taizu’s branch?

Now they could only adopt descendants from elsewhere to maintain appearances and preserve ancestral sacrifices.

For the Emperor of Yan the children born by the Savage slave women around the First Prince had obvious differences in appearance from ordinary Yan people.

And second—

Heaven alone knew whether the bloodline was truly pure.

An Emperor possessed little affection to begin with.

He had no intention of wasting what little remained on children who might not even be his grandsons.

So in the Emperor of Yan’s eyes, and in the eyes of the entire court, if the child inside He Sisi’s belly was a boy then he would be the **eldest imperial grandson**.

The first of the grandchildren’s generation.

The Emperor did not want anything to happen to him.

A number of imperial physicians had arrived together with the Emperor.

But in truth famous doctors had long since been stationed inside the delivery room.

The best physicians.

The best midwives.

The finest medicines.

Even ritual objects acquired for blessings and protection.

Nothing was lacking.

Anything Ji Chengjue could think of he had prepared in advance.

At that moment, Imperial Physician Sun, one of the most respected doctors of the Imperial Medical Bureau, hurried out from the delivery room.

He dropped to his knees.

“Your Majesty!

“Sixth Highness!

“This subject deserves death.

“This subject is guilty.

“But this subject will exhaust every last effort to preserve the young master’s life!”

Among common families, if childbirth reached the most desperate point, someone might ask: save the mother or save the child?

Inside the imperial household the bloodline of the imperial heir possessed incomparable importance.

If the woman herself had extraordinary status, perhaps someone might dare ask.

But in Physician Sun’s view, He Sisi was merely the daughter of a butcher.

Clearly, her life did not outweigh the life of an imperial descendant.

Even among ordinary physicians and midwives, nobody asked “mother or child?” unless matters had truly become desperate.

Ask the question, and afterward the family might blame you for the choice.

Inside the imperial household it was even less permissible.

Asking meant throwing the decision onto the Emperor and Sixth Prince.

Physician Sun’s report carried a clear meaning: judging from the current situation saving both mother and child would be extremely difficult.

Therefore, they would preserve the child.

The Emperor of Yan gave a slight nod.

In his eyes his eldest imperial grandson was unquestionably the priority.

There was almost nothing to consider.

Physician Sun kowtowed.

He rose.

He prepared to return to the delivery room.

Then, Ji Chengjue, whose eyes had already turned bloodred, suddenly spoke:

“I want my wife alive!”

Physician Sun’s body trembled.

His footsteps stopped.

Nearby, the Fourth and Fifth Princes abruptly raised their heads and stared at Little Sixth.

Even the Crown Prince sitting on the inner gate’s threshold, nearly hidden from everyone’s attention lifted his head.

Little Sixth Ji had he gone mad?

The Emperor of Yan’s gaze snapped toward Ji Chengjue.

He waved one hand.

Physician Sun immediately bowed and prepared to obey the imperial command.

But Ji Chengjue suddenly roared:

“If my wife dies— you!

“You!

“You!

“Every last physician from the Imperial Medical Bureau standing here!

“Every person involved in the delivery!

“I will not spare a single one of you!”

As the Emperor of Yan’s son—

Ji Chengjue understood clearly.

He did not possess the authority to overturn his father’s command.

What he *could* do was threaten the people ordered to carry it out.

He had gone mad.

He knew he had gone mad.

Naturally, he understood better than anyone what the eldest imperial grandson—his own son—would mean.

The Emperor might value the child tremendously.

He might even take the boy to his own side and personally raise him.

His father had long since lost interest in his older sons.

Only toward Little Seventh did he occasionally show some patience, because Little Seventh was still young enough to give the Emperor some taste of fatherly affection.

But people said affection skipped a generation.

Would his first grandson feel different?

Would the Emperor show more of a grandfather’s warmth toward him?

Would he value Ji Chengjue himself more because of that grandson?

An eldest imperial grandson could provide enormous assistance in a struggle for succession.

Ji Chengjue knew every one of these things.

In fact, before today he had already imagined countless scenes in his mind of his future son amusing Father Emperor, winning the old man’s affection, and helping his own father compete for favor.

It was not only mothers who could rise through their sons.

Fathers could do it too.

Indeed before today, if someone had asked Ji Chengjue what choice he would make if forced to choose between saving mother or child—

Ji Chengjue believed he probably would have poured himself a cup of wine.

Allowed his eyes to redden slightly.

Then said:

“Save the child.”

Afterward, borrowing courage from mild drunkenness he would reveal an expression of pain and tell his dead wife:

*I will protect our child.*

*I will give him everything that is best.*

And use that grief to dilute the guilt in his own heart.

Among all seven sons of the Emperor of Yan the one most like his father was, in truth, Little Sixth Ji.

He could endure years of suppression and concealment.

He could go before his own mother’s grave and stage false tears.

He could endure what ordinary people could not.

For his goal he could use any means necessary.

Both temperament and ability he possessed every qualification of a ruthless hero.

He had always believed that was who he was.

Believed that was who he *should* be.

He possessed ten thousand reasons capable of comforting himself.

No.

Even if his conscience tormented him a little what did that matter?

But.

But.

But.

But the problem was ever since He Sisi entered the delivery room—

Ji Chengjue had been standing outside.

Standing here for more than half a day.

He had heard every single scream from inside.

Every agonized cry from his wife.

Each one tore straight through the heart.

He hurt for her.

Terribly.

This butcher’s daughter from Nan’an County on that night long ago because of a single sentence from him had pressed a hairpin against her own throat and forced her father and elder brother to stop blocking her path.

Then she entered his room.

No parental command.

No matchmaker.

She simply gave him her untouched body.

Later, she had joked that she had only coveted his handsome face that night and never thought too deeply about anything else.

Standing outside the delivery room hearing his wife scream again and again—

Ji Chengjue did not know why, but hatred toward that unborn child began growing stronger and stronger inside him.

Yes.

Hatred.

That child was the reason his wife was suffering such unbearable pain.

Ji Chengjue’s thoughts were already chaos.

He could no longer calculate carefully.

All he could do now was act on instinct.

He did not want to lose this woman.

He refused to lose her.

If the child was gone they could have another in the future.

If she was gone she was gone.

Toward that child he had never even seen—

Ji Chengjue revealed the greatest possible cold-bloodedness.

Since you have never opened your eyes and looked upon this world then perhaps... just treat it as though you never existed.

Everyone present was stunned by Little Sixth Ji’s sudden madness.

Including the Emperor of Yan.

“Ji Chengjue, you—”

Before the Emperor could finish—

Old He suddenly screamed:

“My daughter!

“Save my daughter!

“My daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“My little sister!

“Nothing can happen to my little sister!

“Save my sister!!!!!!!!!!”

When Physician Sun first came out, Old He and He Chu had not understood the meaning hidden inside his report.

They assumed the Imperial Physician was merely giving a routine update.

Only after hearing Ji Chengjue roar did father and son finally understand exactly what everyone was deciding!

At that instant—

Great Yan’s most low-key imperial relatives exploded.

Father and son began screaming without restraint.

If the nearby guards had not stopped them, the two might genuinely have charged all the way to the Emperor of Yan himself.

Even restrained, they continued struggling violently.

He Chu was a butcher.

He possessed no martial cultivation, but his physical strength was enormous.

It took two guards working together to barely hold him down.

The Emperor of Yan ignored father and son.

He simply stared at Ji Chengjue with an unnaturally calm gaze.

And within that gaze there was also something called disappointment.

Because in the Emperor’s view for his son to indulge in womanly softness at a moment like this was an unforgivable mistake.

Ji Chengjue obviously understood the meaning in his father’s eyes.

Yet he did not retreat.

Instead he stared directly back.

“We want Our grandson.”

He was Emperor.

The law of Heaven rode upon his tongue.

Beneath his will—

Tian Wujing had to march onto the snowfields and drive back the Savages.

Li Liangting had to return to Beifeng Commandery and continue guarding against the barbarians.

When he said fight the realm fought.

When he said peace only then could the Emperor of Qian and Regent of Chu speak of peace.

And now, here at this moment he simply wanted his eldest imperial grandson.

Ji Chengjue’s chest rose and fell violently.

For the first time his face twisted with fury toward his father.

He hated that face.

His father’s face.

And at the same time for reasons even he could not explain a memory suddenly surfaced from deep inside his heart.

Years ago he had secretly bribed eunuchs and slipped into the cold palace where his mother lived.

He pushed open the door.

And saw his mother’s body hanging from a ceiling beam.

Now his father had come again.

Come into his home.

Back then, without asking him even once, this man had decided his mother’s fate.

And now, without asking him even once he intended to decide his wife’s fate.

Ji Chengjue raised one hand.

He pointed toward the delivery room.

He stared at his father.

Stared at the supreme ruler of Great Yan.

Then spoke one word at a time:

“I.

“Want.

“My.

“Wife.”

No one could have predicted that beneath the fine Qingming rain a confrontation between sovereign and subject, between father and son, would erupt so suddenly in this form.

And then—

“Waaah!

“Waaah!

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

The clear cry of an infant shattered the atmosphere that had nearly frozen solid across the courtyard.

A female medical officer, blood staining her clothing, ran out.

She dropped to her knees.

Crying and laughing at the same time, she shouted:

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!

“You have gained an imperial grandson!

“Congratulations, Sixth Highness!

“Mother and son are safe!”

Old He and He Chu sagged with relief.

They stopped struggling against the guards.

Again and again, they muttered:

“Heaven bless us.

“Heaven bless us.”

Wei Zhonghe immediately dropped to his knees.

“This slave congratulates Your Majesty on gaining an imperial grandson!

“Heaven protects Our Emperor!

“May Great Yan endure for ten thousand years!”

All around them, guards, palace maids, and eunuchs knelt together.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty, on gaining an imperial grandson!”

“Congratulations, Your Majesty, on gaining an imperial grandson!”

The Fourth Prince.

The Fifth Prince.

The First Prince.

The Barbarian Princess.

Even the Crown Prince sitting alone in the corner all knelt.

“This son congratulates Father Emperor on gaining your eldest grandson!”

“This son congratulates Father Emperor on gaining your eldest grandson!”

The Emperor of Yan did not move.

He continued staring at his Sixth Son.

Ji Chengjue the instant he heard the female officer say “mother and son are safe” seemed to have every shred of strength drained from his body.

He dropped heavily onto the rain-dampened stone tiles.

He raised his head.

Opened his mouth.

His gaze looked blank.

He breathed in great heaving gasps.

No one could tell whether he was laughing, or crying.

Throughout the entire Princes’ Residence everyone was kneeling on the ground.

Only the Emperor of Yan remained standing.

And above them the Qingming rain continued to fall.

————

[End of Chapter 460]