I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 408 Mother is more valuable than son
Time flies, like a white horse passing by, and in a flash it has jumped from the end of autumn to the end of the year.

At the last grand court meeting at the end of the year, Emperor Zhao Heng announced one thing, that is, he decided to use a new reign title - Qianxing, which means that the Song Dynasty will prosper from then on.

The Spring Festival is just two days away, and the whole city of Tokyo is filled with the joy of welcoming the new year. Under the command of Zhao Pan'er, the entire Han Wang Mansion has been hung with red lanterns and decorations early on, making it look very festive.

That morning, Zhao Pan'er changed into the wedding dress and was about to get on the carriage to enter the palace, but she heard a familiar voice coming from not far away.

"The princess..."

Zhao Pan'er turned her head and saw Zhao Huai'en and Zhang Haohao coming together.

"Zhao Changshi, ok, why are you here?"

Zhao Huai'en bowed and said, "The Queen is holding a banquet in the palace and inviting ladies from all the mansions to attend. Haohao is also invited. I thought the mistress should also go, so I brought Haohao here. Please take good care of her."

Zhao Pan'er didn't know that Liu Wan was holding a banquet to invite powerful ladies. She entered the palace because she was Zhao Wei's wife, and Zhao Wei was not in Tokyo City now, so the emperor and Liu Wan both issued an order to let her enter the palace to celebrate the New Year.

After hearing what Zhao Huai'en said, Zhao Pan'er was stunned for a moment, and then smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, I will definitely not let Sister Haohao suffer any grievances."

"Thank you, Madam."

"Master Zhao, you're too polite."

Zhao Pan'er shook her head and smiled, took Zhang Haohao's hand, and got on the palace's carriage.

In the carriage, Zhang Haohao looked at Zhao Paner's bulging belly, with indescribable envy in his tone.

"You're going to give birth in three months, right? Has the little prince been bothering you?"

The reason I say "still" is because Zhao Pan'er felt very uncomfortable at the beginning of her pregnancy. Since more than two months of pregnancy, her pregnancy reaction started, and it was a particularly severe type.

At that time, she would vomit several times a day, and her face and neck were covered with red spots, all of which were bloodshot caused by congestion, which made Zhao Pan'er dare not leave the yard.

When the condition was at its worst, it was very difficult to eat. I would basically vomit after eating. Many times, I had to drink medicated food to feel better.

Zhao Paner subconsciously touched her belly and said with a smile, "Much better. Now he just kicks my belly. The little guy is very naughty."

Zhang Haohao looked curious: "Ah, can you also kick the stomach?"

"Yes, it's quite powerful."

"Of course, he is the prince's child after all. I heard from the official that the prince is strong enough to lift a tripod. I think the little prince is also..." Noticing the change in Zhao Pan'er's expression, Zhang Haohao suddenly realized that it was inappropriate to mention Zhao Wei in front of Zhao Pan'er, and hurriedly said, "There have been several reports of victory from a memorial hall on the northwest border. I think His Royal Highness the King of Han will soon return to Beijing in triumph."

Zhao Pan'er knew that Zhang Haohao's words were just to comfort her. After all, as the mistress of Prince Han's Mansion, she more or less knew a little about what was happening on the northwest border. It was impossible for Zhao Wei to return to Beijing in a short period of time.

"I hope so. As long as he is okay, the children and I will wait for him to come back home."

"Don't worry, His Royal Highness the King of Han will be fine."

Zhang Haohao did not comfort Zhao Pan'er, but she really believed that Zhao Wei would be fine. The reason why she was so sure of it was of course related to Zhao Huai'en.

After that, Zhang Haohao didn't dare to mention Zhao Wei again and shifted the topic to the children.

Thinking that Zhao Pan'er became pregnant not long after marrying Zhao Wei, Zhang Haohao even asked Zhao Pan'er how she got pregnant so quickly.

She now really wants to have a child with Zhao Huai'en, but even though they have tried very hard, there is no movement in her belly.

As the two chatted, the carriage slowly drove into the palace.

Xuyun Palace, where Liu Wan hosted a banquet to entertain the noble ladies and daughters of the Song Dynasty.

As a daughter-in-law, Zhao Pan'er should help with the reception, but who made her pregnant?

Just seeing that she couldn't help yawning, Liu Wan asked Xiuyin to take her downstairs to rest without hesitation.

Speaking of which, Zhao Pan'er can be considered a mother who is honored by her son, otherwise she would definitely not allow Liu Wan to treat her so well.

When Zhao Pan'er woke up from her sleep and came to Xuyun Palace again, it was already afternoon and a singing and dancing performance was being performed in the palace.

Then, she heard someone say, let Zhang Haohao go on stage and sing a song.

Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw Ning Yuanhou's wife looking at Zhang Haohao with a smile, with a bit of resentment in her eyes.

Although Zhao Pan'er didn't know why the wife of Ningyuan Hou was looking for trouble with Zhang Haohao, she had promised Zhao Huai'en that she would never let Zhang Haohao suffer any grievances.

Not to mention, Zhang Haohao is the wife of the Chief Secretary of the Prince Han's Palace. Asking Zhang Haohao to sing in such an occasion would be a loss of face for the Prince Han's Palace.

So, just when Zhang Haohao was confused and about to speak, Zhao Paner's cold voice rang out.

"Madam Xu, Madam Zhang is the wife of the Chief Clerk of the Prince of Han's Palace, not a singing girl."

Zhao Paner's voice was not small. Not only could the people around her hear it clearly, but even Liu Wan, who was chatting with Concubine Yang at the top, heard it. The entire Xuyun Palace fell silent in an instant.

Liu Wan didn't say anything, but just glanced at Li Chenfei beside her, and then turned her gaze to the wife of Ningyuan Hou, with a half-smile on her face.

Lady Ningyuan Hou didn't expect that what she said to Zhang Haohao would be heard by Zhao Pan'er who came out from behind. She didn't expect that Zhao Pan'er would not give her any face at all, making her the focus of Xuyun Palace.

"Greetings, Princess Han. I was just joking with Madam Zhang."

Zhao Pan'er said coldly: "This joke is not funny at all. I hope Madam Xu will not make such jokes again in the future."

Hearing this, Liu Wan shook her head in disappointment and gave a look to Concubine Yang Shu beside her. Concubine Yang Shu understood and said lightly: "I heard that Madam Xu's piano skills are outstanding. Why don't you play a song for everyone?"

This time, the wife of Ningyuan Hou was directly picked up.

Li Chenfei glanced at her, and then said to Liu Wan: "Your Majesty, Sister Shufei's suggestion...isn't it a little inappropriate?"

It has been half a year since Zhao Wei left the capital. Now, voices supporting Zhao Zhen are gradually emerging in the court, and Ningyuan Marquis Mansion is one of Zhao Zhen's supporters.

Liu Wan knew all about these things. She didn't say anything, but just glanced at Li Chenfei indifferently with a hint of contempt in her eyes.

Afterwards, Liu Wan looked at the wife of Ningyuan Hou, and also said nothing, just looked at her with a half-smile.

The Ningyuan Marquis's wife's heart trembled suddenly, and she said respectfully, "Then I will show my humility."

Seeing the fifty-something wife of Ningyuan Marquis preparing to play the piano on stage, Zhao Pan'er felt sorry for her, but she didn't say anything. She just lowered her voice and asked Zhang Haohao why the wife of Ningyuan Marquis would cause trouble for her.

Zhang Haohao did not hide anything and began to narrate in a low voice.

The story is not that complicated. Two years ago, the son of Ningyuan Marquis was beaten up because of jealousy over Zhang Haohao. Since then, the wife of Ningyuan Marquis has disliked Zhang Haohao. If Zhang Haohao had not been famous enough and praised repeatedly by Zhao Heng and Liu Wan, and was not a pillar of the Jiaofangsi, she would have been secretly dealt with by Ningyuan Marquis long ago.

Of course, in addition to this reason, it was also because the Ningyuan Marquisate was a supporter of Zhao Zhen, and they were looking for an opportunity to embarrass the Han Wang Mansion. This was instructed by Li Chenfei, but Zhang Haohao didn't know this.

After the wife of Marquis Ningyuan finished her song, Liu Wan praised her casually with a few words, and then asked the court musicians to continue playing music and dancing until nightfall, and then took everyone to Shengping Tower for dinner.

It was late at night and everyone was asleep. Zhao Pan'er did not fall asleep. Instead, she stood by the window in the room, staring blankly to the northwest.

"Princess, did the Queen scold you before?" Xiu Yin asked cautiously.

After the dinner, Zhao Pan'er was called away by Liu Wan for a while. Xiuyin didn't know what they talked about, but she could guess that it must be related to what happened this afternoon.

Based on her understanding of Liu Wan, Liu Wan must be dissatisfied with Zhao Pan'er's treatment of the wife of Ningyuan Hou.

"No, mother just told me some things in the court."

Xiuyin nodded and reminded in a low voice: "Princess, it's time to rest." Ever since Zhao Pan'er married into the palace, she had been serving by her side. At the beginning, Xiuyin was very dissatisfied with Zhao Pan'er, the mistress of the palace.

As Liu Wan's personal female official, Zhao Wei could be said to have been raised by Xiu Yin. In Xiu Yin's eyes, Zhao Wei was excellent in all aspects, and there was no woman in the world worthy of Zhao Wei. Zhao Wei's future princess had to be at least the daughter of a distinguished family, but Zhao Wei chose to marry a merchant girl, which naturally made Xiu Yin feel extremely sorry.

However, after being with Zhao Pan'er for a long time, she found that although Zhao Pan'er was of humble origin, her way of dealing with people and her style of doing things were very outstanding. She was also kind and generous to her servants.

If there is anything wrong with it, it is that it is not majestic enough.

But this is understandable. After all, Zhao Pan'er has just married into the palace not long ago, and majesty takes time to accumulate.

In short, she has been convinced by Zhao Pan'er and has been serving her very attentively. Especially after Zhao Pan'er became pregnant, she became extremely nervous and arranged almost everything for Zhao Pan'er, for fear that something might happen to her.

Zhao Pan'er murmured, "Yes, it's time to rest. I don't know if His Highness is resting at this time."

"Your Highness has always had a very regular schedule. There will be no movement on the northwest border recently. I think Your Highness should have rested." Xiu Yin said as she carefully helped Zhao Pan'er to go to bed.

Zhao Pan'er, lying on the bed, was not sleepy at all. The scenes of her and Zhao Wei's acquaintance kept appearing in her mind. It was not until the early hours of the morning that she fell asleep because she could no longer resist the sleepiness.

As expected, Zhao Pan'er got up late the next day, but Liu Wan and Zhao Heng didn't care. After all, Zhao Pan'er was pregnant with their grandson, so it would be no problem if she just got up late or didn't get up at all.

After celebrating the New Year in the palace, Zhao Pan'er left the palace on the second day of the first lunar month.

She did not go directly back to Prince Han's Mansion, but went to Cao's house.

This Cao family is not the general's family, but her maternal grandfather's family.

Thanks to Zhao Pan'er, the princess' granddaughter, the Cao family settled down smoothly in Tokyo City and opened a grocery store, thus gaining a foothold in Tokyo City.

Although the Cao family often sent gifts to Zhao Pan'er, they actually seldom set foot in the Prince Han's Mansion. Most of the time, they asked Zhao Huai'en and others to send gifts to the Prince Han's Mansion. Except for the dignitaries who were qualified to attend the wedding and the officials who handled the household registration for the Cao family, no one else even knew that Old Master Cao had a princess granddaughter like Zhao Pan'er.

It is obvious that the Cao family has no intention of currying favor with the Prince of Han's Mansion. This is why Zhao Pan'er is willing to interact with the Cao family and comes to the Cao family to pay New Year's greetings on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

But her feelings were not that deep, so she had lunch at Cao's house and then returned to the palace.

Then, she saw Song Yinzhang, Sun Sanniang and her son, and Ge Zhaodi.

"Pan'er."

"Sister Pan'er..."

"Auntie Pan."

This was not the first time that Song Yinzhang and Sun Sanniang came to Prince Han's Mansion, so they were no longer as nervous as before.

Fu Zifang, on the other hand, seemed very reserved, perhaps because it was his first time here, and it was obvious that he was much more polite than when he was in Qiantang.

It is obvious that Sun Sanniang and Du Changfeng put a lot of effort into his education.

"Not bad, you are more sensible than when you were in Qiantang." Zhao Pan'er rubbed Fu Zifang's head and stuffed a red envelope into Fu Zifang's hand: "Here, a New Year's red envelope."

"Thank you Auntie Pan."

Seeing Fu Zifang's formal greeting, Zhao Pan'er smiled and nodded, and asked, "Why did you come here today?"

"We're going back to my parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Yinzhang and I have no relatives or friends in Tokyo. Pan'er, you are our maternal family, so of course we have to come. But from what you said, it seems that you don't welcome us." Sun Sanniang said with a smile. The last sentence was obviously a joke between sisters.

"Welcome, why not?"

Zhao Pan'er smiled happily and immediately ordered the maid to prepare the banquet.

She just ordered the maid to prepare a banquet, but Sun Sanniang could still clearly feel that Zhao Pan'er had changed a lot compared to a few days ago. She couldn't help but sighed: "Pan'er, you are really becoming more and more like the mistress of the palace."

"What mistress style? Sanniang, you are exaggerating."

"Sister Pan'er, I also think what Sister Sanniang said is right. You are really different now than you were before the New Year. You feel like the Concubine Dowager Qian that I met before."

Zhao Pan'er looked helpless: "Yin Zhang, you are exaggerating even more. How can I compare to Old Lady Qian Wang? Stop complimenting me. Sanniang, let's talk about you. How are you and Du Changfeng doing? When are you going to get married?"

Although Sun Sanniang was a married woman with grown children, she was still a little shy when she heard Zhao Pan'er mention this: "How can it be so fast? I still need to observe him more."

No one believed this, and several people laughed out loud. Ge Zhaodi even joked, "Sister Sanniang, I think you are just being stubborn."

"You are so good, Ge Zhaodi. Now you are the shopkeeper. Even I am making fun of you."

Zhao Pan'er ignored the two people who were fighting, called Fu Zifang over, and asked, "Zifang, what do you think about your mother and Du Changfeng?"

Perhaps he didn't expect Zhao Pan'er to ask him this, Fu Zifang was stunned for a moment before he replied: "Master Du is still quite good, better than my father, and barely worthy of my mother."

"Yeah, I've grown up."

Fu Zifang smiled shyly and changed the subject: "Auntie Pan, how long will it take for you to have a baby?"

"Three months to go."

Hearing this, Song Yinzhang hurriedly said, "Sister Pan'er, I heard that the first three months of pregnancy are the most important. You must take good care of your body and don't move around. If you want to eat anything, ask Sister Sanniang to come and make it."

Before coming to Tokyo, Song Yinzhang was just a little girl who knew nothing about the world, but this nearly one year of life in Tokyo has made her grow up a lot, and her view on people and things is no longer as naive as before.

She and Sun Sanniang both knew that Zhao Pan'er was very much favored by Zhao Wei, but her birth was a stain that could not be removed after all. So for Zhao Pan'er, if she could give birth to a legitimate eldest son for Zhao Wei, then the mother would be honored by the son, and Zhao Pan'er's position in the Prince of Han's Mansion would become unbreakable.

So Song Yinzhang, like Zhao Pan'er, cared very much about the baby in her belly and prayed for Zhao Pan'er every day.

Song Yinzhang cared about the baby in Zhao Pan'er's belly and prayed for her, and Sun Sanniang was no exception.

What Sun Sanniang prayed for was not only that Zhao Pan'er would be safe, but also that she would be pregnant with a boy.

Now after hearing what Song Yinzhang said, Sun Sanniang also spoke.

"Yes, Pan'er, if you want to eat anything, just ask someone to call me."

Zhao Pan'er was touched and said with a smile, "Okay, if I want to eat something, I'll ask someone to ask you to make it, but isn't Yong'anlou busy?"

She has never been to Yong'an Tower since it opened, and all she knows about it is from the descriptions given by Song Yinzhang and Sun Sanniang.

Judging from the two people's descriptions and the dividends before the New Year, Yong'an Building's business is quite good, which shows that Sun Sanniang's life is definitely not easy.

"Fortunately, I won't be too busy in the future. I have already taught the skills to the chefs in the restaurant. Although they are not as good as me now, it is good enough."

Sun Sanniang is now in a hot relationship with Du Changfeng. Du Changfeng has promised her that if they get married in the future, she will be in charge of the household, so she doesn't care so much about Yong'an Tower now.

Her ambitions were not big. Even if the business of Yong'an Building was not so good, the annual dividends were enough for her to live a good life, not to mention that Du Changfeng had a considerable family background.

Zhao Paner nodded and turned to look at Song Yinzhang: "What about you?"

"I'm doing fine too. I just teach people to play the pipa every day. It's not tiring at all."

Even Sun Sanniang didn't care much about Yong'an Tower, let alone Song Yinzhang. She was now an official's wife, and the reason she was still teaching people to play the pipa in Yong'an Tower was purely out of interest, otherwise she would have stopped going to Yong'an Tower long ago.

Moreover, she herself had no good feelings towards Chi Pan. If Zhao Pan'er had not taken the lead, she would never have agreed to open Yong'an Building in partnership with Chi Pan.

Among the few people, only Ge Zhaodi cares the most, because she is now the shopkeeper and earns much more money than she would if she worked as a worker.

(End of this chapter)