After Disguising As A Woman To Marry The Foolish Prince, I Became Pregnant - Chapter 14

Zhu Man did not have the habit of waking up early, so these past few days, he usually wouldn’t see He Tianyun whenever he opened his eyes. To his surprise, He Tianyun was actually still there today; he wasn’t sleeping, but was instead lying prone on the bed flipping through a book.

Curious, Zhu Man poked his head over to take a look and saw that it was a picture book filled with drawings of many ferocious and strange monsters.

He reached out and flipped the cover to take a look.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing).

Fair enough.

“Is it good?” Zhu Man asked him.

He Tianyun nodded and turned back to continue flipping through it, looking very serious.

Zhu Man remembered that when his younger sister finished reading this book as a child, she truly believed the monsters inside existed. She was so scared she couldn’t sleep at night and ran to knock on his door, asking if there were child-eating monsters hiding in the house.

“He Tianyun,” Zhu Man poked him, “Are you scared after reading this?”

He Tianyun turned his head to look at him, his eyes full of confusion.

Zhu Man wasn’t sure if he didn’t understand or what, so he could only repeat himself: “Are you scared?”

“Why?” He Tianyun was puzzled.

Zhu Man leaned in and pointed at the words below the page he was currently looking at, saying, “Look, it says here that this kind of monster eats children. A-woo—one bite and it eats up the disobedient children.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard He Tianyun let out a “giggle-giggle” laugh. Immediately, He Tianyun mimicked Zhu Man’s actions, opened his mouth, and let out an “a-woo.” However, while Zhu Man was just trying to scare him, He Tianyun actually bit down on Zhu Man’s hand.

Though it didn’t hurt, it truly caught Zhu Man off guard.

A few moments later, he realized that although He Tianyun acted like a child, it didn’t mean he truly believed he was a child.

He laughed, let out an “ouch,” and collapsed onto the bed, saying aggrievedly, “You bit me. I’m injured; I can’t get up.”

He Tianyun laughed even more at that.

He was handsome to begin with, and he looked even better when he laughed. It made Zhu Man’s heart flutter, and he couldn’t help but reach out to touch his face.

He Tianyun blinked and followed suit, reaching out to touch Zhu Man’s face very gently.

Then, in the next second, he pinched it.

He reached out with his other hand to pat Zhu Man’s face, kneading it like dough until Zhu Man’s face was completely deformed, laughing merrily all the while.

Zhu Man allowed him to knead for a while before raising his hand to stop him, asking, “Aren’t you hungry?”

Hearing this, He Tianyun patted his stomach and said, “Empty-empty.”

“Then get up.” Zhu Man sat up and gave him a tug.

He Tianyun scrambled up, and after getting off the bed, he sprinted outside, shouting “Imperial Mother” as he ran.

Zhu Man slowly followed him off the bed, and two maidservants walked over.

Last night, before he set out, he had left Jingxin at the Prince’s Manor after all. At the time, he didn’t know what would happen and feared that the Consort would blame and involve him, so the ones coming to serve now were palace maids from Xingqing Palace.

Having just woken up, Zhu Man really didn’t want to strain his voice, so he could only wash up in silence, appearing cold and difficult to approach.

By the time he finished washing up, He Tianyun was already eating.

The imperial chef had cooked porridge—soft, sweet taro combined with meat and shiitake mushrooms, boiled until thick and creamy with a dense texture. Served with some appetizing side dishes, it was the perfect breakfast.

Zhu Man ate elegantly and pleasantly to the eye on the side, while He Tianyun made “slurping” noises, looking less like he was eating and more like he was washing his face.

However, he ate a lot. By the time Zhu Man was full, he had just finished as well, holding a single chopstick and poking at the side dishes on the plate for fun.

Zhu Man snatched the chopstick away and said, “This is food, you can’t play with it. Get up.”

He Tianyun was unhappy and reached out to grab his chopstick back.

Zhu Man raised his hand to dodge and quirked an eyebrow at him: “Go play with something else.”

He Tianyun became even more upset and reached out to grab the side dishes on the table.

Zhu Man, quick of eye and hand, pulled him back and said, “I’ll play something else with you.”

Only then was He Tianyun’s attention diverted. He looked at him: “Play.”

“Yes, I’ll play with you. Get up,” Zhu Man said as he pulled the man up. Just as he was pondering where they could go, he saw Du Pingniang walking over, saying softly, “Princess Consort, Her Highness requests you and the Prince to come over.”

Zhu Man nodded and looked at He Tianyun: “We won’t play for now. Let’s go see Imperial Mother.”

Upon hearing this, He Tianyun’s eyes instantly lit up. He stopped playing and ran happily toward the main hall.

Zhu Man followed, only to see the Noble Consort doing needlework again. Seeing him arrive, she didn’t put it down, but simply said, “Sit.”

As soon as she spoke, He Tianyun had already run over and sat down first.

Zhu Man’s movement paused for a moment, and he made a turn to sit off to the side.

Seeing this, Consort Yu gave He Tianyun a helpless look but said nothing. she ordered tea to be served, and after Zhu Man had taken a few sips, she spoke slowly: “I have already sent people to fetch your younger sister. You will see her once you return to the manor. As for how to arrange things, you can decide for yourself.”

Zhu Man was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly stood up to salute: “Thank you, Mother.”

“Since you have become the Zhao Princess Consort, you should be like Yun’er and call me Imperial Mother,” Consort Yu said with a smile. “If you feel it is inappropriate for that child to live in the Prince’s Manor, you can also have her move outside. Yun’er has a residence near the manor; it’s not large, but it is more than enough for one person to live in. Just transfer a few guards from the manor over there.”

Zhu Man hadn’t actually thought about it in detail, so he said, “I’ll let her decide for herself. Anywhere is fine.”

After all, the guards at the Prince’s Manor were actually quite terrible.

Consort Yu nodded and added: “And that servant of yours…”

Zhu Man hurriedly said: “He’s just there to help me.”

Seeing this, the Consort smiled, shook her head, and said, “Pingniang said that his voice doesn’t seem to have changed, and it’s hard on him to follow you. There’s no need to force him to dress as a woman anymore.”

Zhu Man hesitated upon hearing this: “But is it not quite right for the Zhao Princess Consort to run around with a young man?”

Consort Yu explained: “He is Yun’er’s person. It is perfectly justifiable for him to follow you usually.”

Zhu Man understood, and a smile appeared on his face: “Thank you, Imperial Mother.”

Consort Yu nodded: “I will assign a few more people to you as well. It will be more convenient for you to get things done in the future.”

“But…”

“They naturally know your situation,” Consort Yu said. “Pingniang is usually responsible for taking care of Yun’er; she can’t manage all the affairs of the household. Those people are all from the Qin family. You can use them with confidence.”

As she spoke, she put down her needlework, opened a box sitting nearby, took out a waist token, and handed it to Zhu Man.

Zhu Man thought it was a pass for entering and exiting the palace gates, but when he took it into his hand, he was stunned.

A lifelike dragon was carved onto the delicate jade plaque, and on the other side was the character “Zhao”—it was exactly the same as the one He Tianyun had shown him last night.

He was speechless. He pulled out the jade plaque from his robe to show Consort Yu; he had originally planned to put it away properly after returning to the manor and didn’t expect to take it out here.

Seeing this, Consort Yu laughed and said, “When Prince Rui got married previously, he also clamored to get married. I gave that plaque to him, telling him to go coax a wife back to marry. Afterward, the plaque went missing; I thought it had been lost.”

Zhu Man was also a bit speechless. He glanced at He Tianyun, only to see him staring intently at the jade plaque in his hand. He handed the plaque over: “Giving it back to you.”

He Tianyun didn’t take it. Instead, he snatched the one from Consort Yu, then held it out in front of her, saying, “Imperial Mother, I want!”

Consort Yu smiled, took the jade pendant, and beckoned him over. Once he approached, she raised her hand and hung the jade pendant on his waist.

Kind, gentle, and tolerant.

She matched all of Zhu Man’s imaginations of what a mother should be.

He turned his face away and stopped looking, picking up his tea to drink very slowly until He Tianyun finished hanging the jade plaque and ran over, waving it in front of him and saying, “Princess Consort, look!”

Zhu Man smiled and nodded: “It looks good.”

He Tianyun immediately became happy and went skipping and jumping outside.

Seeing this, Consort Yu smiled and shook her head helplessly, looking toward Zhu Man: “If anything happens in the future, you can come to the palace to find me at any time. What Yun’er cannot help you with, there is still me, and there is still the Emperor.”

Zhu Man nodded: “Thank you, Imperial Mother.”

Consort Yu said: “Go back with Yun’er. Don’t keep your sister waiting.”

Zhu Man agreed and stood up to go find He Tianyun.

As they were leaving, they happened to encounter the Emperor’s palanquin.

Zhu Man knelt to pay his respects, but He Tianyun didn’t care about that. Instead, he ran over and happily called out, “Imperial Father!”

Emperor Yongshun gave a smiling response: “Did you come into the palace with the Princess Consort to accompany your Imperial Mother?”

He Tianyun nodded: “Going home now!”

“Rise,” Emperor Yongshun’s gaze turned toward Zhu Man. “Are you still getting used to the Prince’s Manor?”

Zhu Man stood up and gave a submissive “Yes.”

Emperor Yongshun asked a few more trivial questions, all of which Zhu Man answered obediently.

Emperor Yongshun nodded and whispered a few instructions to the eunuch beside him. That eunuch then ran off into the distance. Only then did he say: “Go back early.” After speaking, the palanquin continued forward.

Zhu Man breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ran over to grab He Tianyun to leave.

Just as the two were preparing to board their carriage, they saw another carriage following behind. Only then did Zhu Man realize what the Emperor had just said to that eunuch.

Inside the carriage were items bestowed by the Emperor and the Noble Consort. Although it was less compared to the things sent to the Prince’s Manor previously, when he carefully considered that he got so many things just by dropping by the palace, Zhu Man suddenly had an unrealistic feeling of having struck it rich.

Sitting in the carriage, he touched the waist token He Tianyun had given him that symbolized the Zhao Princess Consort. He couldn’t help but sigh: “Marrying you was really worth it.”

He Tianyun, sitting at the side, let out a very soft laugh. He reached out to pinch Zhu Man’s face and called him with a smile: “Princess Consort.”