Yan Yan
After Yan Yan's story, they chatted idly about various things, and before long the old man and the others came back. Hearing high-pitched voices chattering away,
Hongniang
was carrying the Crown Prince, and beside her stood
Lingli,
the Princess.
"He's in perfect health."
"Oh, that's wonderful."
The face of Empress
Gyokuyou
showed heartfelt relief at the old man's report. The baby already seemed to have teeth coming in — when it opened its mouth, little white teeth were just barely visible.
"There are a few things about the weaning food I'd like to ask about."
The old man explained before Hongniang and the Empress. People's bodies have things they can and cannot accept depending on their constitution. Babies must not be given honey, and rashes can develop from fish, wheat, and other foods.
"When introducing new foods, please give only a small amount of one type at a time."
Because if you gave several new foods at once, you wouldn't know which one caused the problem if something happened to the body.
(This is because he's a prince, isn't it.)
Commoners, especially poor people living in the slums, often didn't even have food to begin with, so they couldn't afford to worry about such things.
Yao
and Yan Yan were listening carefully to what the old man was saying. Incidentally, the quack doctor was also
keeping records
as well.
"Will the Crown Prince be alright appearing at the upcoming debut?"
Empress Gyokuyou asked, looking worried.
The debut — if she recalled correctly,
Rohan
That was what Rohan had said. Apparently, envoys from other countries would be coming too, making it a grand affair.
"Frankly, I wouldn't recommend spending a long time in an unfamiliar place. An unfamiliar environment tires out young children."
The baby might cry at a moment when silence was needed, or a diaper would need changing. There was also the possibility of hunger.
About two years ago, Maomao had attended a garden party with Princess Lingli in tow, and that had been arduous as well. She had placed a hand warmer in the basket to keep the princess from catching cold, constantly watching over her.
This time, they would be outside for even longer.
"If we can keep the time as short as possible, I will make the arrangements from my end as well."
"I would appreciate it."
The Empress was being cautious partly because the Crown Prince would also be in attendance this time. The Emperor's children were Princess Lingli, the Crown Prince, and Rifa's son. As far as the imperial succession went, Rifa's son also had a claim.
Maomao didn't think Rifa would do anything cruel, but people could be made to dance to the tune of power even without the person herself being involved.
In the past, there had been a court lady who tried to poison another concubine for the sake of her beloved mistress. She had acted behind her mistress's back and failed.
If there were those who wanted to make Rifa the Empress Dowager, then the current Crown Prince would be an obstacle. They would think it would be better if he were simply gone.
He was dangerous in every sense of the word.
(Speaking of dangerous...)
Maomao hadn't seen Jinshi's face recently. How was he doing?
(But he does still have succession rights...)
He was next in line after the Crown Prince. Normally, one wouldn't immediately make a newborn the Crown Prince but would wait and see for a while, but Jinshi had absolutely no interest in the position of the next Emperor. If anything, he seemed to genuinely wish for the Crown Prince to be born so that he himself could step down as a subject.
But that decision didn't rest with Jinshi alone.
(Who knows what will happen...)
Maomao gazed at the Crown Prince's small, maple-leaf-like hand and thought.
〇●〇
The damp air was unpleasant. Hair clung to her neck.
Office work during the rainy season was miserable. Jinshi sat in his chair in the office, brushing the hair off the back of his neck as he went through documents. Someone with sweaty hands must have touched them, because the ink had smeared in places. He let out a long breath and picked up a cup from the corner of his desk. Inside was cold-brewed tea.
"......"
Jinshi swirled the teacup.
"When was this tea placed here?"
The one who asked was a civilian official in the same office. Today,
Gaoshun
was not there.
Maoshan
had recovered from his injury and returned to his original post. As a temporary replacement, they had borrowed someone skilled at organizing documents.
"Yes. Earlier, when you left your seat, a court lady brought it."
Jinshi was only human. Even he occasionally needed to relieve himself. But to think it was only for a brief moment, and moreover that a "court lady" had brought it.
There were always guards at the entrance to the office, so they must have timed it to coincide with Jinshi's movement.
Jinshi's office was, in principle, off-limits to court ladies. This dated back to his time as a eunuch, when he had stumbled upon court ladies brawling over who got to bring tea to Jinshi. On top of that, there had been incidents like hair and nails being slipped into tea and pastries as curses, or court ladies suddenly stripping and throwing themselves at him when he happened to be alone — nothing but trouble.
The temporary civilian official, though skilled at paperwork, apparently knew nothing of Jinshi's circumstances.
Jinshi opened the
drawer
of his desk. He took out a cloth-wrapped bundle from inside. Nestled within the careful wrapping was a silver spoon. Holding the spoon wrapped in cloth, he stirred the tea.
The silver spoon, which had been gleaming moments ago, began to cloud over.
The civilian official watched this with a pale face. Jinshi had shown it to him on purpose, to gauge his reaction.
It seemed he truly didn't know.
Still holding the spoon, Jinshi handed it to the guard at the entrance. Without changing his expression, the guard wrapped the spoon in cloth and tucked it into his robes. The shift change would come soon. After that, he would hand it off.
"What did the court lady look like?"
"Th-that..."
He stammered. He gave unhelpful information like "young" and "not very tall." Being a serious, by-the-book official, he was probably too focused on his paperwork to properly look at the court lady. Incidentally, there was also tea on the civilian official's desk — about half of it had been drunk.
Jinshi sighed and, accepting the situation, took out another spoon and stirred the tea. This spoon showed no reaction to this cup of tea.
"No problem."
The official's face relaxed slightly, but then he flinched as though he'd made a terrible mistake.
Jinshi had no intention of saying anything about it. He just wanted the paperwork to get done smoothly. The official's work was decent, and what's more, his strong point was that he didn't look at Jinshi with strange eyes. During this temporary arrangement, Jinshi wanted him to do his job properly.
"Just keep working without worrying about it."
Jinshi set the poisoned tea at the edge of the desk and carried on with the paperwork.
The official, his face still pale, returned to his desk.
Jinshi let out a deep breath, careful not to let the official notice, and continued sorting through the documents.