Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 36: Is the princess pregnant with the second prince's child?
"The position of crown prince is still undecided. Among the four princes, the second prince is the most popular choice."

"The second prince's biological mother is Empress Wu, and his grandfather is the current left prime minister, the leader of the Wu Party, and the chief examiner of the Spring Examination for four terms. His students and former officials are spread all over the court and the country. The current Minister of Justice is a Jinshi who passed the first Spring Examination he presided over, and he was able to sit on the position of Minister with the support of Prime Minister Wu. The entire Ministry of Justice can be said to be a line of officials of the second prince."

Qi Lianzhi knew the second prince quite well. He was the prince with the greatest hope of becoming the crown prince in the Daqian Dynasty.

He continued, "However, over the years, the voices supporting the Second Prince have become smaller and smaller. Even the most staunch members of the Wu Party, who were originally the Second Prince's party, have begun to turn neutral. Some have even started to contact other princes in secret... Do you know why?"

Zhao Guanxiang really wanted to ask, what does this have to do with the current case?
However, he knew that his boss would not speak without a purpose. Since he said it, there must be a connection behind it.

He could only suppress his temper and ask, "Why?"

"Because the second prince is fifty and childless!"

Qi Lianzhi lowered his voice and shared a little gossip with his most concerned subordinate: "The last prince's consort was divorced and sent home because she had no children for seven years. But in my opinion, a woman is a piece of land. Does she have the final say on whether it will bear melons? Doesn't it still depend on the seeds planted? Doesn't the second prince have enough concubines? I haven't seen any of them laying eggs."

"Although no one says it, everyone knows it. The Second Prince may have some health problems and cannot have children. Do you think Your Majesty can choose a prince who cannot have children as the Crown Prince, no matter how talented he is, or how powerful his mother's family is?"

"This is the biggest reason why the Second Prince and his faction are alienated, but now it is different."

"How could the Second Prince not know? He has been so anxious that he has sent people to look for famous doctors and tried almost every kind of medicine. Not only is the Second Prince anxious, but the new Princess is also anxious. She has been married to the Second Prince for six years now. In another year, she will end up like the previous Princess."

"Until not long ago, the princess heard that Baiyun Temple was effective for praying for a child, so she went to worship. After she came back, guess what... Hey, she actually got pregnant!"

Qi Lianzhi clicked his tongue twice and said, "There are also rumors that the Taoist priests from Baiyun Temple who traveled around the world brought back the elixir for having children... This news is both true and false, and it is difficult to tell. But in short, no matter what, the Second Prince himself owed Baiyun Temple a favor, and now that Baiyun Temple is in trouble, it is normal for him to help behind the scenes."

Zhao Guanxiang understood immediately, but then he thought of something, his face became a little strange, and he looked at Qi Lianzhi suspiciously: "General, are you sure that the child in the princess' belly is the second prince's?"

He recalled some rumors from his hometown that some women who were unable to conceive would be taken to the temple by their in-laws to pray, and would return home with big bellies after staying there for one or two nights.

But in fact, those temples that are said to be effective in praying for children are only helping these women get pregnant with the seeds of the monks and Taoists in the temples.

These are all things that cannot be brought to the table.

It's no wonder that Zhao Guanxiang would think of that. The second prince is almost fifty years old. He has married many wives and concubines and done all the necessary things, but he still has no children. Isn't it strange that the prince's wife suddenly got a child by praying in the temple?

Qi Lianzhi stretched out his huge palm and patted his head: "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you really think that the people in the palace are just decorations? Even if the child is still in the belly, there is a method of 'gold needle piercing the abdomen' to verify the bloodline, there is no way it can be wrong."

In this way...it makes sense.

But Zhao Guanxiang still frowned: "Even so, the Astronomical Observatory only obeys the orders of the emperor. Even if the second prince really sends the Ministry of Justice to ask for the person, what can he do if he is not given the person? Ghosts breed under the feet of the emperor. This is not a trivial matter..."

"It's indeed not a small matter, but compared to the 'prince's fight for the throne', what's the big deal?" Qi Lianzhi sighed softly, "A small 'ghost case' has implicated the prince. Who knows if someone has set a trap for our Patrol Observatory?"

"Right now, the Second Prince and the Third Prince are in a cold war in the capital. Both sides are restrained and everything is calm for a while. But they are all waiting, waiting for the First Prince to return to the capital!"

"The border war report has been sent back to the capital. The eldest prince will return to the capital in two months to celebrate His Majesty's birthday. Only then will it be time to 'go to war'." At this point, Qi Lianzhi gloated a little and said to Zhao Guanxiang: "But this has nothing to do with our Astronomical Patrol. The Astronomical Patrol 'patrols on behalf of the gods' and only obeys the emperor's orders and does not ask anything else!"

"You are lucky. For a case like the evil spirit in Kyoto, it would be a big mistake to fail to handle it well or mess it up. Someone is willing to take this hot potato for you, so be happy."

Zhao Guanxiang forced a smile.

He could already understand what the superiors in the Astronomical Survey were thinking and worrying about, but he just couldn't understand why there were so many connections behind the scenes for such a small case.
Whether it's the prince or the fight for the throne...what do these have to do with a mere captain like him?
He only knew that he seemed to have messed up what his adoptive father had asked him to do...

……

In Baiyun Temple, Gong Xinying, who had been running around for a whole day, returned to the underground secret room.

She looked at the strange statue in the secret room, thinking about what had happened in recent days, and felt mentally exhausted.

Ever since that day when he went to the princess's mansion to have a secret meeting with Yu Zhen, how come everything that was originally going smoothly started to be plagued by so many troubles?
The reincarnated golden boy was missing, the golden and silver guardians led half of the elite of the sect to attack a charity hall but encountered a great sword cultivator with third-grade magical powers, and even the Baiyun Temple outside the capital was investigated by the people of the Patrol of the Sky...

To say it was a coincidence is too much of a coincidence.

Gong Xinying always felt that there was a pair of eyes staring at her from behind, and a hand silently pushing everything forward...

This feeling... is hard to describe or explain.

Now they had to take the risk of being exposed and asked the Second Prince for help, only then were the Taoists from Baiyun Temple able to be released from the prison of Xuntianjian.

But doing so carries huge risks.

Gong Xinying didn't want to think about those things, so she leaned against the wall with her knees together.

The feeling of fatigue came over her and she gradually fell asleep.

She dreamed of the past, her childhood, the dark dungeon beneath the governor’s mansion in Dongyang County, Jingzhou, the old man’s bony hands caressing her back, the pain of the chisel carving into her flesh and blood…

She is the chosen saint, she is the purest flesh and blood in the world, and she is the "shell" that carries the "Mother of Life" through the world.

Until that day, an extraordinary guest broke into the dungeon, and a ray of light that did not belong here dispelled the darkness.

"Hey, you guy, do you want to play with this princess?"

That day, she was wearing a red cotton-padded jacket, and looked as delicate as a porcelain doll. She stretched out her hand casually.

Gong Xinying still remembers the warmth of that little palm.

(End of this chapter)