A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace

Chapter 539: Chapter 539: The Son Can Walk Now

I refuse to believe that Consort Ning, you would gain anything good from this! With that thought, Xia Ruqing slept soundly. Punishing oneself for the mistakes of others is foolish!

She slept like this until evening before she got up.

Zi Yue was carried back by Xiao Xizi and Xiao Zhu Zi. Her face was deathly pale, and the area beneath her clothes was a mangled mess of blood and flesh.

Xia Ruqing felt a deep discomfort, her eyes reddening again and again.

Consort Ning, I will remember this, she thought, clenching her teeth and fists in secret. We all live in the Harem. Since you’ve decided to take things this far, don’t blame me for being impolite. We’ll just wait and see.

One cannot challenge authority openly, but there are ways to vent anger in secret.

Xia Ruqing ordered someone to fetch the best Female Doctor for Zi Yue.

Palace Maids couldn’t use the Imperial Physician. The palace had its own Female Doctors and medical attendants. However, some of these Female Doctors and medical attendants were good. To request their services, one either had to be favored or use silver.

Xia Ruqing stuffed twenty taels of silver into Xiao Zhu Zi’s hand.

”Please bring the best Female Doctor here. Tell her the cost of medicine will be calculated separately!”

Xiao Zhu Zi, touched, wiped her tears, kowtowed, and left.

Xiao Xizi went to fetch the meal, while Zi Su and Zi Ning attended by her side. Xia Ruqing’s life wasn’t significantly affected.

A while later, the evening meal arrived.

Zi Su and Zi Ning served the meal, laying out one dish after another on the table.

All were her usual favorites: light vegetarian stir-fries, rich braised seafood, and even a bowl of glistening braised pork. These were the dishes she had been craving just the day before. She had even joked with Zi Yue, saying that when autumn comes, one must ”put on autumn fat,” and had specially requested this dish.

Now, looking around, she didn’t want a single bite.

With just some rice, she ate a bit of green vegetables and then put down her chopsticks.

Zi Su brought her some tea to rinse her mouth.

After rinsing, she asked, ”Where is the Imperial Son? Has he eaten?”

Sister Huang hurried over to report, ”Your Highness, the Little Prince has eaten! He had several bites of vegetable puree, some meatballs, and fishballs. He even ate a cornmeal bun the size of an egg.”

Xia Ruqing nodded.

Then she followed Sister Huang to the next room to see Little Bun, who was playing gleefully with Da Bai and Xiao Bai.

With his belly full, Little Bun was having the time of his life playing with the two cats. Seeing his mother approach, he scrambled up from the ground and instinctively toddled forward a few steps. Then, unable to steady himself, he fell.

Xia Ruqing’s face lit up with joy. He can walk?

She watched as Little Bun fell and got back up, giggling merrily and trying to run towards her again. After a couple of steps, however, he tumbled once more.

Fortunately, to prevent bumps and bruises, the floor was covered with soft woolen velvet rugs tributed by Persia. The plush fabric cushioned his falls. Xia Ruqing didn’t rush forward to help. Instead, she squatted on the other side of the rug, encouraging him.

”Come here, baby!”

”Stand up and run over here!”

As she spoke these words, her voice was choked with emotion. It was hard to describe what she felt. Perhaps she was moved. She suddenly felt her son had grown up. Time passes so quickly. Her child would one day be a man of honor and valor. Could he be a Prince one day? Mmm, she definitely had to discuss this with the Emperor, to ensure his fiefdom would be prosperous. Even if it’s small, it doesn’t matter. And when it comes to marriage, he needn’t marry from a prominent family; as long as he likes her, that’s enough. She wouldn’t force him to have many concubines, but if he wanted to, that would be acceptable too. In short, whatever her Chenchen likes is fine! This is the way of this era, after all! Having concubines isn’t wrong by ancient standards; what feels wrong is the vastly different perspective from the modern world she had once lived in! But then again, that’s just how feudal societies are, right?

Little Bun, Zhao Qichen, stumbled and wobbled. But in the end, he made it across the large, several-meter-long carpet and ran to her side. Giggling, Little Bun threw himself into her arms.

Thankfully, thankfully, her son had learned to walk, and she hadn’t missed this moment.

She held Little Bun tightly, crying as she kissed his cheeks fervently.

Little Bun was a bit frightened and also somewhat perplexed. His large eyes rolled around. What’s wrong with Mommy?

Xia Ruqing sobbed as she whimpered, ”Imperial Son, baby, you can walk now! Mommy is... Mommy is just... so happy!” Moved and thrilled!

Nearby, Sister Liang, Sister Huang, Sister Jiang, and the others were all greatly astonished. The three unanimously declared that the Little Prince was in excellent health and truly strong. After all, children who can walk before they are one year old are quite rare; you might only find two or three out of a hundred!

Xia Ruqing was both laughing and crying. All those long months of fish soup... they weren’t for nothing; fish soup is the most nourishing! Of course, it also depends on one’s constitution!

Her constitution, in the Harem, could at best be considered above average, while Zhao Junyao’s genes were comparatively powerful. She guessed her son took after him.

Just as she was contemplating this, she suddenly felt something soft and light stroking her cheek.

Xia Ruqing turned her head.

She then saw Little Bun raising his small, soft hands, trying to wipe her tears!

Wow!

Xia Ruqing’s heart swelled in an instant. A heart that felt a bit cold suddenly filled with the warmth of a hot spring, encasing her whole being, warming and moistening it. That feeling was truly—!

Xia Ruqing’s tears streamed down again. WHOOSH.

”Son, you truly are... the most beautiful and adorable baby in the world!”

Xia Ruqing kissed him again.

Little Bun busied himself again trying to wipe her tears. But try as he might, left and right, he just couldn’t wipe them all away, and Little Bun started to get a little anxious.

”Mama! ¥@?#%R...” he blurted out a whole bunch of mysterious sounds in his haste.

Xia Ruqing intuitively understood her son’s intentions. She patted his little shoulders.

”Darling, Mommy won’t cry anymore!”

Sure enough, Little Bun was no longer anxious and looked relieved.

Xia Ruqing also finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to instruct the Wetnurse Nanny to take good care of the Little Prince, a loud shout suddenly came from outside.

”The Emperor has arrived!”

Xia Ruqing had to carry Little Bun and go forward to greet him.

”Greetings to the Emperor!”

Zhao Junyao entered, looking travel-worn as usual, and helped her up. ”Rise!”

Only then did Xia Ruqing stand up. Little Bun was very well-behaved this time, nestled in his mother’s arms without moving.

Zi Su quickly offered tea, respectfully placing it before the Emperor. Zhao Junyao didn’t pay much mind to the fact that the Senior Palace Maid serving tea had changed and simply lifted the teacup to take a sip.

After a moment, he looked up and noticed Xia Ruqing’s somewhat swollen eyes.

”Been crying?” he asked, putting down the teacup and feigning nonchalance.

Inside, though, he felt a bit displeased. I’ll have to get someone to check later why she was crying!

Xia Ruqing nodded a little embarrassedly but didn’t say much. She couldn’t very well say that she cried from happiness because her son could walk now, could she? That would be somewhat embarrassing!