Chapter 47: The Empress is Pregnant (5)
Translator: Sissy That Walk
Lv Li kept silent for seconds, and then she took a deep breath and was about to repeat the story, when Qi Sheng said impatiently, “Forget it, say no more.”

Then he came up to me, looked at me and the maid who was still lying on the ground and weeping in a low voice, and directly said, “Since you were bullied in Youlan Palace, don’t work there anymore.”

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Qi Sheng, curling his lips, smiled again and said to me, “Since she had begged you for mercy, there must be some predestined affinity between you two, so just let her serve you.”

His words really gave me a shock.

Qi Sheng’s smiling mouth grew even wider, and then he said, “It was still cold outside. You’d better not walk around anymore. Didn’t the physician ask you to take special care in case of miscarriage? Go back to your palace. I still have some court affairs to deal with. I’ll visit you later.”

And then, he just left….

I stood still for a long time, not figuring out what was going on with him. Did he take the wrong medicine?

I didn’t know when Lv Li came back to me, took my arm and whispered, “Your Majesty, let’s go back.”

I agreed and turned around to go back, pondering over what was wrong with Qi Sheng today. How could he keep so calm and casual when he saw such a little maid was “tortured” in misery by me?

Lv Li, staying besides me, lowered her voice and said angrily, “Judging from the direction His Majesty came from, he must have just come back from the Youlan Palace. All of this was set up by that little bitch. She really got some nerves. We didn’t do anything to her, but she couldn’t wait to make troubles for us. Luckily, His Majesty knows your character, or else your majesty would be framed and wronged. ”

As she said this, she glanced back at the maid, who had been timidly following us. Lv Li suddenly got excited and stood close to me, lowering her voice and said, “Your Majesty, I have an idea. With such a scapegoat here, we can just divert the trouble to that bitch in Youlan Palace.”

I didn’t catch her meaning for a moment.

Lv Li kept winking at me and made the pose of stroking her belly.

I understood instantly, and hurriedly pushed her aside, “Forget it. Is she a dead enemy to you? Did she dig your ancestral grave, or steal your man??”

Lv Li looked at me again in surprise and fear, stammering: “Your Majesty… ”

This was a matter of principle, which could not be broken by a little girl’s sweet talk. I gave her a stern look, said nothing, and turned away.

She instantly shut up and didn’t nag me anymore.

An old-timer once said: if you were a reasonable person, then you’d better not to reason with a woman.

At this moment, I thought he was right.

Back at the Palace, Lv Li was still serving me with extra caution. After helping me get changed, she asked cautiously, “Your Majesty, how to deal with that maid?”

I thought and said, “Get her here.”

Lv Li turned to go out and called the maid in. As soon as the maid came in, she knelt down, with her face turning pale and lips purple. I did not know whether it was caused by coldness or scare. She did not dare to speak a word and just kept kowtowing to me.

Kowtowing again?!

I was so annoyed that I shouted, “Lv Li!”

“Yes.” Lv Li answered crisply. Rolling up the sleeve, she was about to strike her, which she thought might calm me down. “Just leave it to me, Your Majesty. I will pay her back.”

“Wait a minute.” I shouted out to stop her and explained wearily, “Don’t. Help her up first.”

Lv Li froze for a while, showing reluctance, walked over to drag the little maid up, but I never expected that the little maid refused to get up, and she kowtowed and cried: “Your Majesty, I was wrong. Spare me please.”

Lv Li gave her a hard push and turned back looking at me innocently. I could read the look in her eyes clearly: You see, it was not that I did not help her. It was she who wanted to kowtow, what could I do?

I could do nothing but to walk to the little maid, bent down and persuaded her in a soft voice, “What should I do to make you understand? benothing is more important than your own life. No matter what she promised to give you, it’s not as valuable as your life. ”

The maid finally stopped kowtowing and slowly raised her head and stared at me in a stupor.

I smiled, and then said, “Anyway, she tried so hard to send you into my Palace, if you kowtowed yourself to death, how could you pass the information back to Youlan Palace?”

When I said this, the little maid’s face turned as pale as paper, hurriedly continued to kowtow again, sobbing: “I swear I dare not do that.”

Alas! I knew I was not good at persuasion. I looked at Lv Li desperately and said, “Want to have a try?”

Lv Li stretched out her hand to the maid, and said, “You could not judge a person merely from the appearance. The one who looks fierce may have a kind heart, and the one who looks like an angel may turn out to be an evil. So, whether the one is an angel or evil cannot only be judged by what she said, but by what she did. For the one who reaches out and grabs you at the edge of the cliff, even if she is mean to you in daily life, she is doing it for your own good; and those who worship the Buddha while sending you to a wolf’s mouth… ”

“Mind your words.” I reminded Lv Li seriously. “It’s either a tiger’s mouth or a wolf’s den. There is no such phrase as a wolf’s mouth.”

Lv Li followed accordingly and immediately changed her phrase, “Right, tiger’s mouth. The one, who sends you into a tiger’s mouth, must be a devil, even if she was an angel in your heart. ”

I suddenly felt something wrong. I was the Empress. How could my palace be compared to a tiger’s mouth? It was not as scary as that.

Lv Li continued to lecture that maid, “Besides, what if you were their spy? Everyone made a mistake when they were young. I used to be a spy as well, but Her Majesty still trusts me, and she never scolded or beat me.”

“Lv Li?” I interrupted.

She did not stop, “Wait a moment. I am teaching this younger sister a lesson.”

I could not bear it any longer, so I had to stretch out my hand and turned her back to face me, then Iasked, “Lv Li, you were a spy once?”

Lv Li smiled with embarrassment and answered, “I am just making it sound more credible.”

Lv Li was even more dramatic than me, so I had no choice but to say, “I got it. Well, let me do the talking.”

Lv Li retreated and brought a chair for me. She said with full consideration, “Please sit down and take your time. Don’t exhaust yourself too much. I will get some hot soup for so. It will help keep you warm. ”

I sat on the chair, overlooking at the little maid who huddled up on the ground. This really made me uncomfortable, so I simply pushed aside the chair again, squatted down in front of her, smacked my lips, and asked, “Are you… Hungry?”

This gave her a shiver. I can tell she was scared. I didn’t have the heart to see this, so I reached out and rubbed her hair and said,

“We don’t know each other, so you won’t believe anything I say. How about this? Let’s take our time to know each other. Then we’ll see if we can get along.”

I got up and called someone in to take her to eat something and have a rest. After a while, Lv Li carried a bowl of sweet soup in, I looked at the clear soup, which didn’t appeal to me at all. I negotiated with Lv Li sincerely: “May I have some meat or broth? I am pregnant, I’m not a vegetarian.”

Lv Li showed consternation, “Your Majesty, the pregnant have to keep a light diet. Didn’t they vomit after seeing the greasy food.”

I was speechless and had to give it up resentfully.

After two days, Qi Sheng really came to see me.

I called the little maid who named Xie Yi in, pointing at her and said to Qi Sheng, “Look at her. Safe and sound. Not a hair less!”

Qi Sheng was not provoked this time. He took a deep breath and thought for a moment, then he waved to let Xie Yi get out and turned to me and asked, “How are you feeling these days?”

“I am good.” I answered without thinking. Lv Li, standing beside me, kept winking at me. It almost gave her a cramp, so I added, “I am not comfortable with my stomach sometimes.”

Qi Sheng did not notice the “emotional exchange” between me and Lv Li, so his face turned a bit gloomy before he asked, “Anything wrong with your stomach? Should I send for a physician?”

“Don’t bother.” I hurriedly waved my hand and said without caution: “It’s common to pregnant women. I’ll get used to the vomiting thing.”

Qi Sheng’s eyebrows raised slightly, and he didn’t speak for a long time.

There was a moment of silence in the hall. So I tried to find a new topic, “What about Yingyue? Did she vomit badly?”

Qi Sheng seemed not to hear my question, but asked me with a strict face, “What do you want to eat? I’ll have it prepared.”

I thought to myself that he finally asked something I desired. I was about to reply when Lv Li coughed slightly to remind me, so I swallowed my words and answered reluctantly, “I want to eat nothing but some light food.”

Somehow, I felt Qi Sheng’s lips was faintly curled upward, as if he was mocking at me. Clearing his throat, he asked again, “Did you favor the sour or the spicy?”

Lv Li hurriedly chipped in, “The sour, Her Majesty favors the sour.”

Qi Sheng ignored Lv Li and only looked at me.

Of course, I should favor the sour. It was said that if the pregnant woman favored the sour, she might be carrying a boy, while favoring the spicy meant she was having a girl. I sighed feebly and replied, “The sour. I couldn’t be satisfied without the sour for every meal.”

Qi Sheng showed a slight smile. A question came to my mind: what about Jiang Yingyue? If her first baby was male, all would be fine; if it were a little girl, then I had to continue to endure.

At this thought, I felt agitated, so I asked Qi Sheng cautiously, hoping he could give me the answer I expected. “What about Jiang Yingyue? Does she favor the sour or the spicy?”