noffsinger Chapter 307 Do You Know? Lin Yitang 21
Chapter 307 Do You Know? Lin Yitang 21
The day before Zhao Huiyue's first birthday party, Lin Yitang was training Zhao Huiyue to draw lots, looking at the little Zhao Huiyue with loving eyes.
"Mother, Mother, here you go!" Zhao Huiyue said cheerfully.
Hearing Zhao Huiyue call her "mother," Lin Yitang realized that the thing she was most dissatisfied with in the Song Dynasty was that princes and princesses could only call their birth mothers "elder sister" and the empress "auntie" or "niangniang."
If she has another child, what will the younger child call Zhao Huiyue, and what will they call her?
Therefore, Lin Yitang didn't care about so much. As long as they weren't outside, Lin Yitang made Zhao Huiyue call her "mother".
At first, the Emperor would correct Zhao Huiyue, but every time he heard Zhao Huiyue call Lin Yitang that, and since the Emperor loved his child, he gradually agreed, allowing her to call him that only inside the Wutong Pavilion.
The Emperor now enjoys visiting Wutong Pavilion for two reasons: firstly, Zhao Huiyue is there, and secondly, the Emperor feels that Lin Yitang is blessed and wants her to have another child, especially a son.
After four concubines in the harem became pregnant but only gave birth to two princesses, and another princess died young, the ministers of the court began to submit memorials again, requesting the emperor to establish a crown prince.
The Empress's maternal family, the Cao family, strongly promoted this matter. If the Emperor wanted to establish a Crown Prince, he would need to bring a member of the imperial clan into the palace to raise him. Only the Empress could raise the "Crown Prince," so the benefits that the Cao family would gain from this were immeasurable.
For this reason, the Emperor became increasingly impatient with the Empress. Although the Empress still held power in the harem, the Emperor granted Consort Zhang and Consort Miao the power to assist her.
Consort Miao was originally from the Empress's camp, while Princess Fukang grew up in the Empress's presence. Consort Miao's "lifeline" was in the Empress's hands, so she was not in the same camp as the Empress.
Consort Zhang was someone the Emperor had helped to oppose the Empress. Consort Zhang herself was at odds with the Empress, was ambitious, and suspected that the Empress was behind the death of her daughter. Naturally, she was constantly at odds with the Empress.
Lin Yitang knew that the Emperor might not truly love Consort Zhang, but he must have once doted on her. Now, however, his affection for Consort Zhang had become a kind of "bargaining chip."
Consort Zhang may have known about this, but she was ambitious and didn't want to give up the tempting position of Empress.
Her support for Lady Zhou might not be entirely unrelated to the idea of having a son. If Lady Zhou gave birth to a son, Consort Zhang could rightfully raise him, and the Emperor wouldn't refuse Consort Zhang.
"Mother, here you go." A child's voice came from beside me.
Lin Yitang snapped out of her thoughts and started playing with Zhao Huiyue. The carpenters of the Song Dynasty were very clever. Lin Yitang only had to describe the shape of the building blocks, and the carpenters made them.
"Great, Huiyue is amazing! You managed to build it so high, that's really awesome!" Lin Yitang teased Zhao Huiyue.
After Zhao Huiyue had had enough fun, Lianyun brought over the lot for drawing lots. He used the "Classic of Filial Piety" to train Zhao Huiyue. As for the other items, Zhao Huiyue could draw whatever she liked. Usually, she would draw two or three items.
……
Time flies, and on the day of Zhao Huiyue's first birthday banquet, the place was brightly decorated and bustling with activity.
Lin Yitang and Zhao Huiyue arrived not too late, but when they arrived, apart from the Emperor, the Empress, and Consort Zhang, all the other concubines were already there. Not long after, the Empress appeared alone.
A quarter of an hour later, the Emperor openly arrived with Consort Zhang. As expected, the Empress's face turned ashen, but she still managed to suppress her emotions. Lin Yitang saw everything.
"Your Majesty, may you be well." The concubines bowed, but Consort Zhang did not avoid the Empress and the other concubines' bows.
Consort Zhang wore an expression that said, "You're very sensible." Perhaps it was the Emperor's recent attention to Consort Zhang, or perhaps it was the fact that she had been in power for over a year that had made her arrogant.
"No need for formalities." The Emperor walked to the seat of honor and sat down. Consort Zhang gave the Empress a defiant look, and then sat down to the seat of honor below the Emperor with great dissatisfaction. Only the Empress was allowed to sit with the Emperor on important occasions.
"Where is Huiyue?" The Emperor seemed completely oblivious to the lawsuit between the two.
Lin Yitang stood up and bowed, gesturing to the wet nurse who was holding Zhao Huiyue. The wet nurse then carried Zhao Huiyue to the Emperor.
The Emperor dotes on Zhao Huiyue mainly because she is not afraid of him. He used to dote on Princess Fukang, but Princess Fukang was timid towards him.
The Emperor picked Zhao Huiyue up from the wet nurse's arms, and Lin Yitang was so nervous that her throat tightened. She was really worried that the Emperor's frail body wouldn't be able to carry Zhao Huiyue. Fortunately, nothing went wrong in the end.
The emperor carried Zhao Huiyue to the place where the lot-drawing took place, put her down, and said softly, "Go quickly and draw a few that you like."
Zhao Huiyue tilted her head, looked around at the people, remembered her mother's words, and slowly started to walk, swaying unsteadily, with her wet nurse carefully protecting her from the side.
Seeing Zhao Huiyue's healthy appearance, the concubines realized that although they had had children over the past ten years, none of them had been able to walk at the age of one like Zhao Huiyue. She looked healthy.
Zhao Huiyue walked to the table full of things, saw a small book, picked it up, and a person standing around her said loudly: "Princess Fushou is intelligent, quick-witted, filial, loyal, beautiful and wise."
Then, Zhao Huiyue grabbed the abacus and said in her voice, "May the princess be safe and healthy, and may she strategize with wisdom."
After all the ceremonies were over, Zhao Huiyue rubbed her eyes with her little hands and yawned. The Emperor put Huiyue to bed and had her wet nurse take her away to rest.
Lin Yitang impatiently went through the motions of politeness. She was too lazy to watch the concubines' disputes, their words full of sarcasm and sour remarks. Finally, when the banquet ended, the Emperor followed Lin Yitang to the Wutong Pavilion.