Whether Zhao Hua's offspring could prosper, Zhao Hua did not dare to assert,
She only knew that for this man, she would not bear another son or daughter in this lifetime.
Ever since giving birth to Cheng Ye, after every intimate night with the emperor, Zhao Hua would secretly take the "medicine" given by the imperial doctor Zhang.
With that medicine, it was impossible for Zhao Hua to get pregnant.
Just as Rongyue said,
Children should be had with the man you love, not used as a chip to gain power.
And Xiao Jingheng was completely kept in the dark about Zhao Hua's actions,
So much so that right now he was still dreaming,
"After Zhao'er has recuperated, we shall have a few more children to liven up this household, shall we?"
Zhao Hua did not respond, only smiled shyly with downcast eyes, too lazy to even humor him with lies.
That day, when Jinghe drowned, Xiao Jingheng was so furious he wanted to execute all the wet nurses who cared for the prince,
According to palace rules, they should have died to accompany the prince for failing in their duties and allowing harm to befall their master,
But Zhao Hua was "compassionate", saying that these wet nurses had cared for the royal children since they were young, and the children were attached to them, suddenly executing them would only hurt the children, which persuaded Xiao Jingheng to spare their lives.
Later Xiao Jingheng closed the matter by punishing the wet nurses with half a year's salary deduction.
But he heard that afterwards, Zhao Hua had privately paid the wet nurses their full salary.
Remembering this now, he remarked:
"What my wife did for the silkworm farming households was very well handled. Using 10 years of the empress' salary to subsidize the mulberry growers, and having them farm their own land and plant their own mulberries, increasing their future income.
This highlights the empress' benevolence, and gives the common people more faith in me and the court, it is a good deed. I certainly won't have my wife pay for this herself, otherwise you'd be living so frugally, how could I not feel distressed?"
As they strolled hand in hand in the palace gardens, he first praised, then criticized:
"But those wet nurses clearly made a grave mistake, I spared their lives and only deducted their pay as punishment, yet my wife secretly paid them in full behind my back, that is being too compassionate. "
Zhao Hua smiled faintly, "In this palace if the servants don't see money, they will inevitably become lazy. These are the nurses who care for the royal children, if they become lazy, wouldn't it still be our children who suffer in the end?
Furthermore, it's not as if I paid their salary out of my own pocket. When giving them the money, I made it very clear, it would be deducted from the severance they receive upon retirement, I merely gave them what they were owed early, so they needn't worry about money."
Many of these wet nurses have families waiting for them outside the palace, some even have children of their own. My husband can say I'm too compassionate or disregarding palace rules, but as a mother myself, I would not want children to suffer."
"You..." Xiao Jingheng knew Zhao Hua was kind-hearted, so he did not criticize her further, instead asking:
"What about Concubine Ru? She was also involved in Jinghe's incident, I have only confined her to quarters and not decided on any punishment yet. What does my wife think, how should I deal with her?"
Zhao Hua knew clearly in her heart that Xiao Jingheng yelling about beating and killing Concubine Ru was only venting his frustration.
Even if he was handed a blade now, he probably wouldn't dare harm a hair on her head.
It was April already, the Mongol tribes would be entering the capital to pay respects early June. The Mongol King doted on his daughter and would surely want to see Concubine Ru, Xiao Jingheng could not easily refuse him this face.
So Zhao Hua casually replied:
"Concubine Ru is my husband's concubine, naturally my husband shall decide how to deal with her."
Xiao Jingheng always liked docile women. Seeing the smile on Zhao Hua's face and in her eyes after her words, he knew she was very satisfied with this response.
He said, "I originally planned to demote Concubine Ru to Attendant status, but the Mongol tribes are coming to the capital early June, and the Mongol King misses his daughter and explicitly asked to see her, I cannot be too dismissive of the Mongols. So I have decided to first raise Concubine Ru's status to Noble Lady. But it would only be a raised status, I will still be cold towards her."
Zhao Hua smiled. "How wise my husband is."
When she saw Xiao Jingheng about to summon Jiang Deshun to pass on the decree, she quickly added: "The summer bounties have arrived at the palaces, Xiao Fuzi happens to be going to Chengqian Palace to deliver gifts to Consort Ying, why not have Xiao Fuzi pass on the decree since she's going anyway, save Elder Jiang an extra trip."
As she spoke, she looked towards Jiang Deshun warmly, her gaze falling upon his right leg as she asked with concern: "With all this rainy damp weather recently, I see Elder Jiang's leg injury seems to be flaring up. Shall I have Yun Shan prepare more medicine for you later?"
Overwhelmed by the empress' care, Jiang Deshun said deferentially, "This slave thanks Empress for her concern!"
Xiao Jingheng guffawed, "As expected of my observant empress, I didn't even notice you've been walking with more and more difficulty recently. Have the imperial physician take a look later to see if there's any way to alleviate it."
Jiang Deshun bowed in thanks. But in his heart, he felt somewhat dejected.
That afternoon, Xiao Jingheng stayed in Feng Luan Palace and dined with Zhao Hua and the children,
After the meal Cheng Yu and Ruo Xin were taken by their wet nurses to play in the gardens,
Watching the harmonious brother and sister through the window, Xiao Jingheng suddenly said to Zhao Hua:
"I originally planned to restore Cheng Yu's status as Crown Prince, but unexpectedly Jinghe...Jinghe was my eldest princess daughter, now that she has met this untimely end, I'm afraid it would be inappropriate to propose this so soon, I can only put it off for now."
Zhao Hua said: "His Majesty is in his prime, what's the hurry to establish an heir?"
Xiao Jingheng said: "When Cheng Yu turned one year old, I announced to the court that he would be named Crown Prince. If I don't bring this up now, in the future there will surely be speculation. I have also discussed this with Cheng Yu before, but like his mother, his thoughts are the same as well, he does not actually hope for such grand status."
"You discussed this with Cheng Yu before?" Zhao Hua asked in surprise, "When did Your Majesty talk to Cheng Yu about this?"
Xiao Jingheng casually replied as he ate some tree fungus:
"On the day you went out of the palace for the silkworm farming ceremony, I tested Cheng Yu and Chenghuan's schoolwork and brought up the matter in passing. Chenghuan was there at the time as well. Hearing I wanted to make Cheng Yu Crown Prince, he was very supportive and genuinely happy for Cheng Yu."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hua felt as if someone had dumped a handful of ice slush over her, frozen stiff in bitter frost, shocked into speechlessness...
The day of the silkworm farming ceremony...was the day Jinghe drowned.
Which means...
Right after Chenghuan found out Cheng Yu was going to be named Crown Prince,
in a twist of fate the Jinghe wearing Cheng Yu's clothes fell into the water and died...
