Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating
Chapter 96: Preparation

Ye Shuo is an adult after all, and he has understood one thing: never pin your hopes on others, otherwise all you will get is disappointment.

This is especially true in the current situation.

Only when you hold the sword in your own hands can you attack or defend.

Regardless of whether it will be useful in the future, it never hurts to make arrangements early.

Well, anyway, let’s keep it for now…

But this kind of thing cannot be rushed, as rushing can easily lead to chaos. Anyway, it is still early, so there is plenty of time to make arrangements slowly.

After making up his mind, Ye Shuo stopped wavering, and the anxiety he had felt since the moment Concubine Rong became pregnant also slowly disappeared.

Ye Shuo finally regained his former calmness.

This made Concubine Rong, who had been secretly watching him, feel relieved.

Before, Imperial Concubine Rong had always been worrying about her son’s affairs and had no time to care about other things. Now she finally realised that the little princess would be born in a few months.

“When you grow up, you must protect your brother.” Concubine Rong couldn’t help but whisper to the baby in her belly, not caring whether the baby could hear her or not.

The two maids beside her couldn’t help laughing when they heard this: “Your Highness, I’m afraid you said it the wrong way.”

In this world, older brothers protect their younger brothers and sisters. There is no reason for younger brothers and sisters to protect their older brothers.

What’s more, the imperial concubine’s baby is a princess.

The imperial concubine did not correct them when she heard this, but shook her head slightly: “Madam, you don’t understand.”

The imperial concubine used to think so too, she felt that her son was happy every day and heartless, he was the only one who made people angry to death, while she herself was very happy. What could he have worried about under such circumstances?

It was not until now that the imperial concubine saw clearly that the child seemed to be particularly afraid of losing, and would become extremely nervous at the slightest disturbance.

It was as if… he had tried so hard to protect someone before, but the result seemed not to be satisfactory, so he was afraid of repeating the same mistake.

He seemed to have hidden all his worries, not willing to let others see them easily, but in fact, he was not as strong and indifferent as he appeared.

But Shuo’er was obviously just a child of a few years old. Concubine Rong didn’t know why she had such an idea, but she just had such an intuition.

This child’s emotions seem rough, but in fact they are sensitive and delicate.

However, the imperial concubine did not mention all this to anyone else, not even to Nanny Jing and Nanny Yu who were by her side.

Since Shuo’er was unwilling to show it, he probably didn’t want others to know. In this case, the imperial concubine decided to keep this secret for him.

After September, the weather gradually became cooler as October arrived, and soon it was time to set off back to Beijing.

Because the imperial concubine and the queen were both pregnant, Emperor Jingwen kept them behind to avoid any problems during their journey.

Emperor Jingwen originally wanted to take his son with him. After all, the imperial concubine was pregnant, and if he stayed here, it would only cause more trouble. The imperial concubine might have to worry about it, and a child could not help, so how could he really be expected to do anything?

“Come back to the capital with me, so that your mother won’t have to worry about you every day.”

When Concubine Rong heard this, she immediately became nervous.

Ye Shuo didn’t dare to separate from his mother for too long. Could it be that the imperial concubine dared to separate from her son?

Especially since this temporary palace is so far away from Shangjing, if something happens, the imperial concubine won’t even have time to cry.

So the imperial concubine wanted to refuse Emperor Jingwen’s order without thinking twice.

But before she could say anything, Ye Shuo started to make a scene: “No, no, I have to wait for my sister! I want to see my sister!”

In fact, there was no point in seeing a ghost sister. The child hasn’t been born yet so who knows what it will look like. Ye Shuo was really afraid that his mother would be harmed if left alone.

Giving birth is like walking through the gates of hell for a woman. It is very easy to do anything during this time.

Of course Ye Shuo didn’t dare to leave at this time.

But he certainly couldn’t say it directly, because the prince’s excessive dependence on his biological mother was not a good thing in itself, and his stepfather would definitely not agree to it. But it would be fine if he used his sister as an excuse.

As expected, Emperor Jingwen not only did not feel anything, but could not help but jokes: “I still remember, I don’t know who said that – I don’t want a sister but a brother.” Children change their expressions very quickly.

Seeing his son clinging to the pillar and refusing to let go, with an expression of “Don’t even think about taking me away”, Emperor Jingwen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Finally, after thinking it over, he decided to keep him.

However, in order to prevent his son from causing trouble during the delivery, Emperor Jingwen deliberately left some people on hand, and told them that they could hold the prince down when necessary.

Ye Shuo: “…”

Tsk.

Soon, the large group left leisurely, and the whole garden became deserted.

When saying goodbye, Ye Shuo stood beside his mother and saw the Empress whom he had not seen for a long time. The Empress looked more and more haggard now. The dark circles under her eyes could hardly be concealed. She had lost a lot of weight as well. It seemed that she had been tormented a lot by the child in her belly.

It’s been less than five months, and it will probably be even more painful when the growing fetus presses on the internal organs and spine.

This reminded Ye Shuo of what his nanny had said about how his mother looked when she was pregnant with him, and it was said that she was not much better than this.

Fortunately, his younger sister was relatively well-behaved. Apart from being a little active, she was fine in other aspects. Ye Shuo couldn’t help but feel relieved.

The gate of the palace slowly closed. The imperial concubine and the queen looked at each other. Finally, the queen and her entourage left first.

She’s just a princess, nothing to worry about.

Fortunately, she won’t give birth to another prince. Thinking of this, the queen felt a little comforted.

Don’t be in a hurry, there is still a lot of time to come.

Finally, the queen left with the careful help of her maid.

“The Queen is coming——”

“Farewell, Her Majesty.”

Seeing that the Queen Mother didn’t even have the strength to compete with his mother, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but smack his lips. The Queen Mother was indeed very ferocious.

But Ye Shuo will not relax just because of this.

Now, there are only the queen and his mother left in the garden, and at most a newborn little princess who is not suitable to be moved, but is the easiest to be exploited.

It would be a bad idea if someone were to kill two birds with one stone and divert trouble to someone else.

Ye Shuo didn’t dare to let his guard down even when it came to the Queen.

Therefore, when Concubine Rong went out to visit the garden, Ye Shuo was usually by her side to prevent any accidents.

Ye Shuo uses his perception to basically avoid danger before it occurs.

Just like now.

Noticing the movement in the bushes, Ye Shuo almost subconsciously stood in front of his mother when the other party rushed over.

Ye Shuo stretched out his hand to stop him, but even though he reacted quickly enough, he was still nearly scratched by the other party.

Ye Shuo only touched a little very soft fur.

After being thrown to the ground by Ye Shuo, the other party seemed to be quite frightened, and quickly ran into the bushes and disappeared.

Ye Shuo vaguely saw that the cat-sized creature had black and white fur, but before he could see clearly what kind of animal it was, the creature disappeared.

After Concubine Rong realised what was happening, she was horrified: “Shuo’er, are you okay? Are you injured?”

Everything just happened so fast that in the imperial concubine’s eyes, the only thing left was the scene of her son suddenly rushing in front of her, and then a black shadow crashing into him.

Concubine Rong squatted down hurriedly to check on her son, and was relieved when she found that only the clothes on his arm were torn and he was not injured.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, luckily you are not hurt.”

Ye Shuo was about to open his mouth to comfort her, but he saw the patrolling guards heard the commotion here and hurried over.

“This subordinate pays respects to the Imperial Concubine and the Ninth Prince.”

Because the garden itself is relatively large, and there are mountains, water and everything else around it, wild animals often appear there. Now that most of the nobles in the garden have left, the remaining staff are a little insufficient, and it is inevitable that some small animals will accidentally break in and not be cleared out in time.

As luck would have it, he bumped into the imperial concubine and the prince, and the patrolling guards broke out in cold sweats.

“I failed in my duty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince.”

Ye Shuo didn’t think anything was wrong, after all, he wasn’t really injured.

However, Imperial Concubine Rong was terrified and started scolding the guards, making them unable to raise their heads.

Usually Ye Shuo didn’t dare to interrupt his mother when she lost her temper, otherwise his mother would scold him too, so he really could do nothing to help in such a situation.

Please, guards, take care of yourself…

“I’ll forgive you this time. If it happens again, don’t blame me for being rude!” After a long while, Concubine Rong left with her people after saying this harshly.

“Shuo’er, let’s go.”

“I’m coming.”

Jogging two steps to catch up, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but look back. What he was thinking was, did the sable just now really come in by mistake?

For safety reasons, Ye Shuo basically took a different route whenever he took his mother to visit the garden.

Sure enough, nothing like this happened again afterwards.

Autumn goes and winter comes, and in the blink of an eye it is the midwinter season.

In the meantime, his cheap father sent letters from time to time. Seeing that his cheap father was giving him so much face, Ye Shuo couldn’t just ignore him, right?

Of course, Ye Shuo’s replies were basically written by Xing Yucheng. He was not used to using a brush, so he usually dictated and Xing Yucheng wrote.

Almost every time they would talk about the same three things: what we had eaten recently, what we had played, and if it snowed in the garden, they would talk about making a snowman today.

There were no cameras in those days, so Ye Shuo thought about it and drew what the snowman looked like himself.

But when it comes to studying, Ye Shuo didn’t mention a word.

Looking at the ink blob on the rice paper, Xing Yucheng was strangely silent for a moment.

The snowman is obviously so beautiful, with a nose and eyes, how come it turns out to be so ugly.

The Ninth Prince really had no talent in calligraphy and painting.

At the end of the letter, Ye Shuo thought about it, and very thoughtfully added how his mother was doing recently, how the princess in her belly was doing, and whether she was quiet or noisy today.

There was no way. As a man, Ye Shuo naturally knew the bad qualities of men.

Take the matter of giving birth for example. If the cheap father is not involved, it would be strange for him to have any feelings for the princess in his mother’s belly.

“It’s done. It’s all done.”

After handing in the reply, Ye Shuo continued his work of making a snowman.

It has to be said that winter in ancient times that had not experienced global warming was different from the modern winter. In modern times, Ye Shuo had rarely seen such heavy snow since he became an adult.

The only pity was that the roads were slippery due to the snow, so his mother couldn’t enjoy the snowy scenery in the garden with him in winter. She could only stay in Xiangjingzhai every day, which was really a pity.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was watching at this time, Ye Shuo had some fun in the garden.

It is definitely impossible to climb trees in winter, but the lake in the garden is frozen.

The ice was very thick, and it was no problem for an adult to jump on it, let alone a child like Ye Shuo.

He specially asked the manager of the garden to make a few ice skates, and Ye Shuo took Xing Yucheng and Xiao Luzi and went straight to the lake in the middle of the garden.

At first Xing Yucheng was a little resistant, after all, he was in the arts, not sports, but it didn’t take long for him to discover the fun of skating.

Ice skating in winter is quite fun.

When Xing Yucheng gradually became able to skate and no longer fell down easily, he felt excited and subconsciously wanted to show off to the Ninth Prince.

“Your Highness, look, I——”

As a result, Xing Yucheng turned around and found that the Ninth Prince was having a lot of fun.

After Ye Shuo turned 360 degrees in the air and landed steadily, he noticed the gaze of his study partner, so he stopped and asked, “What’s wrong? What did you say just now?”

“…Nothing.” In the end, Xing Yucheng swallowed back the words that were not yet spoken.

As for Xiao Luzi, well, he is not as good as him.

Xing Yucheng finally found some comfort.

The days passed one by one, and just when Xing Yucheng felt that he was about to be led astray by the Ninth Prince, spring arrived quietly.

Ye Shuo was still thinking about what to do in the spring, but one day, Xiao Luzi came back and brought back a piece of news –

The Queen gave birth prematurely.

The Queen became pregnant in mid-July, and it is only the end of February now, so a total of just over seven months, which is earlier than Concubine Song before.

Upon hearing this, Ye Shuo immediately sat up from the couch.

At the same time, Concubine Rong soon learned about this matter.

Originally, Imperial Concubine Rong didn’t think it was a big deal, as she had given birth before. But now that Concubine Song and the Queen had both given birth prematurely, Imperial Concubine Rong couldn’t help but become nervous.

Concubine Rong didn’t say anything for a long time. She held her waist and returned to the dressing table.

About half an hour later, when she came out again, there was an envelope in her hand.

Concubine Rong didn’t know if this time would be as smooth as last time, so she could only do her best to arrange everything for her son.

“Madame Jing, Madame Yu, if anything unexpected happens to me this time, you two must replace a way to deliver this letter to my father and my mother.”

The only people Concubine Rong could trust were her parents and brothers.

After realising what she meant, the two maids were horrified and fell to their knees with a plop.

“My queen!”