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T/N: Thank you patrons for sponsoring this chapter part.
Title: ChongFei Manual
Chapter: 155.3 out of 171
By coincidence, a few officers and soldiers from Shen Ji Barracks were also here eating. They heard that Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing were here and came over to propose a toast.
Zhu Geng came inside the room to ask Zhao Jie for instruction.
Zhao Jie said, “Let them in.”
And so, several people boisterously came into the room.
Wei Luo had seen three of these people at Shen Ji Barrack’s entrance. The tallest person and the one in the middle of the group was called Yu Zhi. The group of people went forward and saluted Zhao Jie and Wei Luo. They didn’t dare to bother the prince when he was having dinner with his wife. They had only planned to come here to propose a toast and leave right afterwards.
Wei Luo took a sip of Taiping green tea. Hearing their words, she pulled Zhao Jie’s sleeve and very seriously said, “You can’t drink wine.”
(T/N: Taiping was a prefecture that existed during the Ming and Qing Dynasty.)
The soldiers showed a baffled expression. It was only a few cups of wine. It shouldn’t be a big deal…
Based on their knowledge of Prince Jing’s temperament, he would mostly likely harden his face and fiercely reprimand the young princess consort. This young princess consort looked extremely delicate, but she seemed very brave. She actually dared to discipline the prince.
One of the soldiers tried to smooth things over by saying to the princess consort, “Your Highness, don’t worry. It’s only a few cups of wine. His Highness can drink many cups of wine without any difficulties.”
Wei Luo was very persistent. She shook her head and said, “No.”
Although she didn’t like Yu Mama, she agreed with Yu Mama’s words. If they wanted a child, they couldn’t drink wine. If they did, then the past several days of cultivating their bodies would be completely wasted.
Zhao Jie put down the wine cup and held Wei Luo’s hand. He said with a smile, “Did you hear the princess consort’s words? You can all withdraw.”
The soldiers felt that his behavior was rather inconceivable.
Yu Zhi had seen Zhao Jie’s protective attitude towards his young princess consort. Last time, he had only accidentally scared Wei Luo and he was still leading the soldiers in running outside the city wall for training. Yu Zhi led the group of people out of the room. Before he left, he even said, “Prince, please enjoy your meal.”
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After Zhao Jie drove Yu Mama back to the palace, Empress Chen summoned Wei Luo to the palace the next day.
Empress Chen was sitting at a rosewood table with a marble surface. She glanced at Wei Luo and said, “This empress has already heard of everything. Chang Sheng, that child, always had an excessively tyrannical temperament that can’t be disciplined. It’s normal for something like this to happen.” She sighed and rather helplessly shook her head. “Never mind, let nature take its course. This matter can’t be rushed. This empress won’t interfere with this matter anymore.”
Wei Luo said, “Imperial mother was only being considerate. It’s our fault for failing to live up to imperial mother’s kindly intentions.”
Empress Chen half-jokingly said, “If you truly feel that you let imperial mother down, give me a grandson to hold sooner than later.”
Sitting next to Empress Chen, Zhao Liuli clung to Empress Chen’s arm and said, “Imperial mother, how long have imperial sister-in-law and imperial brother been married? You’re acting so anxious, but having a child isn’t like making mud people that can be finished in a brief moment. It depends on the will of the gods.”
Empress Chen looked at her in askance. “How can you say this type of analogy?”
Zhao Liuli pouted. She felt this analogy was pretty good. Since imperial father had agreed to her marriage with Yang Zhen, she had immediately recovered from her illness and was as lively as a dragon. There wasn't a need to mention how high-spirited she was.
Empress Chen glanced at Zhao Liuli’s posture before tapping her forehead and saying, “You’re going to be married soon. Why are you still acting like a child? You’re not even sitting properly. Aren’t you worried that Yang Zhen will be disdainful of you?”
“I’ll always be a child in front of imperial mother.” Zhao Liuli acted cutely spoiled without the slightest scruple. In her mind, she thought that older brother Yang Zhen would never feel disdainful of her.
Wei Luo stayed in Zhao Yang Hall for a while. When she heard a palace servant announce that Emperor Chong Zhen would be coming soon, she stood up to bid farewell.
Feeling that the situation would be awkward, Zhao Liuli also left Zhao Yang Hall with Wei Luo.
Shortly after, Emperor Chong Zhen walked into the hall. He saw Empress Chen sitting on the couch and sipping tea. He walked forward and said with a smile, “Wan Wan, you seem like you’re in a good mood.”
Empress Chen raised her eyes and looked at him for a moment. She stood up to politely salute the emperor, “Your Majesty.”
Emperor Chong Zhen had said many times that the empress didn’t need to salute him when she saw him. But, Empress Chen didn’t listen to his words.
The emperor sat down across from the empress. There were three celadon teacups on the table. Wei Luo and Zhao Liuli had used two of the cups and Empress Chen was using the third cup. However, Empress Chen didn’t tell a servant to bring another cup and had the emperor sit there without anything to drink.
Emperor Chong Zhen coughed once and asked, “Has Liuli’s illness improved?”
Neither cold nor hot, Empress Chen said, “She’s much better. Your Majesty, you’re busy with government affairs and you still have energy to ask after Liuli. This consort thanks His Majesty on Liuli’s behalf.” These words were meant to ridicule him for not showing concern when Liuli had been poisoned back then.
The emperor’s face showed embarrassment, “This emperor…”
“Your Majesty.” Empress Chen interrupted him and asked, “This consort heard that seventh princess was the one that told you about Liuli and Yang Zhen’s relationship?”
The emperor nodded. “Yes.”
Empress Chen continued to ask, “How did seventh princess find out?”
“This…” The emperor wasn’t able to answer.
“Seventh princess knew about this matter, but she didn’t tell this empress. Why did she only inform Your Majesty of this matter?” Empress Chen oversaw the imperial harem. If anything happened in the imperial harem, she should be the first person that was informed. Zhao Lin Lang’s action had definitely been inappropriate.
“For her to not act in accordance to the established standard, this empress probably doesn’t have a significant status in the eyes of the seventh princess. When Noble Consort Ning was alive, she either didn’t properly teach the seventh princess the rules or perhaps Noble Consort Ning didn’t respected this empress to begin with.”
When Emperor Zhong Chen heard the last sentence, he sweated profusely and hurriedly said, “Lin Lang’s action was inappropriate. How does the empress wish to deal with this matter?”
Empress Chen said, “Since she doesn’t respect her elder, her morality and conduct is definitely subpar. This empress has two female officials that teach etiquette. How about taking this opportunity to properly teach the seventh princess the established etiquette rules?”
Emperor Chong Zhen said, “Let’s do as you say.”
After they finished discussing this matter, Emperor Chong Zhen saw that Empress Chen’s expression had slightly eased and he couldn’t resist saying, “Wan Wan, this emperor will stay at Zhao Yang Hall tonight…”
Empress Chen stood up, “This consort isn’t feeling well today and won’t be able to serve His Majesty. Your Majesty, please leave.”
Emperor Chong Zhen almost choked on the rest of the words that he wanted to say. She had been civil when she had something she wanted to discuss with him. But as soon as they were finished talking, she started to brazenly drive him away.
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After half a month passed, there still wasn’t any change to Wei Luo’s stomach.
Wei Luo thought this seemed wrong. She and Zhao Jie shared a bed every night and Zhao Jie was always very vigorous. Why was she still not pregnant?
She had heard that the bodhisattva in Da Long Temple could grant any prayer, so she decided to go to this temple to worship and pray to the bodhisattva the day after tomorrow. She hoped that she and Zhao Jie would have a child of their own soon.
(T/N: I'm super excited to start translating a new novel called The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir. It's a really interesting transmigration novel. I hope you will like this novel as much as I did! (I binge read the novel over 2.5 days because I couldn't stop reading. For comparison, this novel has 20% more words than ChongFei Manual.)
There's nine chapters ready for you today. And there will be a new chapter each day at 5PM EST for the next two weeks.
Here's the link to the first chapter and the NU link if you want to read my review.)