Chapter 729 - 353 Life_3
Qian Yixiu had no chance to talk more with him and left after exchanging brief greetings.
On the seventeenth day of August was Qian Yiyuan’s first birthday, and Qian Yixiu returned to the Qian family to celebrate the birthday feast.
Today the Crown Prince did not come but sent gifts instead.
According to Pan Yue, two unfamiliar women were gifts from Empress Dowager Min to the Crown Prince. She said that several women were pregnant and unable to serve him well. One of the women was a niece of Empress Dowager Min’s family, named Min Wen, who was granted the title Consort of the Crown Prince, of equal rank to Huang Lingling but higher than that of Cui Shuqin. The other was the daughter of a fourth rank officer, named Bai Yu, who was granted the lowest rank of Chenghui.
It was said that Zhu Sujin seemed displeased with these two women; his attitude toward them was not nearly as favorable as it had been toward the previous three women.
Pan Yue also voiced some criticism, "Empress Dowager Min is somewhat overstepping her bounds. Although she has been granted the title of Empress Dowager, she is not the Emperor’s birth mother, nor has she ever raised him. Everyone knows that her being granted the title of Empress Dowager is a provisional measure by the Emperor. Now, suddenly sending two women into the Eastern Palace, it has made the Crown Prince unhappy. The Crown Prince is only sixteen years old, still a child..."
Qian Yixiu knew Zhu Sujin, who grew up in the countryside and was raised in the atmosphere of the Qian family. Intelligent, upright, kind, and generous, all his traits were virtuous. Marrying those three women was a last resort, hoping to quickly start a family. The arrival of these two new women made him seem lascivious, which surely displeased him.
She couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the young man.
By October, Qian Yixiu’s belly was so large it looked like it might burst at any moment, and when she walked, she could no longer see her toes no matter how wide she stepped. Liang Jinzhao and the elders were extremely worried; skilled midwives had been brought in, and two expert gynecological Imperial Physicians from the palace had taken up residency in the mansion.