The Job of an Imperial Concubine

When Zhuang Laoyan roused, the sky had already grown dark. She reached out. Touched her forehead. And she discovered that she was wearing a headband, whole body practically drenched in sweat.

“Your Highness, you’ve awoken?” said Yunxi, rushing over to her side with a bowl of soup. With care, she fed Zhuang Laoyan, before saying, “His Majesty stayed here to watch over you for a very long time. He only left an hour ago.”

A smile graced Zhuang Laoyan’s lips. However, she did not roll over. In a low voice, she said, “Bring the prince here so this palace can have a look.”

At those words, Yunxi set down the bowl. She turned around and had the wet nurse bring over the prince from a partitioned-off area. Zhuang Laoyan looked at the baby that was swathed in cloth. A sweet-tempered smile appeared on her lips.

“Your Highness, Fourth Prince’s brows and eyes resemble your own. His nose and mouth resembles His Majesty’s,” said Yunxi. Then she whispered, “His Majesty held Fourth Prince for quite a while.”

This child was the fourth-born son. As such, everyone in the palace addressed him as Fourth Prince.

Zhuang Laoyan extended a hand and poked the baby’s nose. She saw his mouth twitch and could not help but laugh. Just as Fourth Prince slowly opened his eyes, he looked “toward” her.

Although she knew that newborns couldn’t make out images, Zhuang Laoyan felt as though the child was looking for her. And so, joy in her heart, she played with the baby, to the point that she even forgot she was sweltering.

After playing with the baby for a period, Zhuang Laoyan had people carry him out. She wiped the sweat on her forehead. “Even my hair is damp. Why is it so hot?”

“Your Highness, this slave has heard that women who just gave birth will have postnatal fever. After a few days, it’ll be gone,” said Yunxi, covering up Zhuang Laoyan’s arms again with the silk blanket. “You mustn’t be blown by the wind, otherwise your arms will be in pain in the future.”

At once, Zhuang Laoyan realized this was the so-called post-pregnancy convalescence period. Somewhat helpless, she said, “There’s no need to be so careful. I won’t catch a cold in such hot weather.”

“Your Highness, it’s windy during this summer.” Yunxi only opened a single window in the room. When she noticed that Zhuang Laoyan no longer tried stretching her arms outside the blanket, her worries disappeared. “This slave has heard that women in the confinement period must be careful. Otherwise, illnesses will spring up once they are older.”

Actually, Zhuang Laoyan knew a colleague from her previous life who, not longer after giving birth, held her child often. Later on, her waist and back constantly hurt. On rainy days, there would be a chill in the bones of her arms. Although Zhuang Laoyan wasn’t certain if this had anything to do with the post-pregnancy convalescence period, it was a fact that the condition of her colleague’s body was not as good as it had been before giving birth.

After lying in bed for two to four hours, Zhuang Laoyan once again succumbed to the land of dreams. In a daze, she seemed to dream of a child lying on her stomach, all smiles as he called her “mama.” Immense joy rushed into her heart. When she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn. And when she turned her head, she caught sight of the emperor sitting at the side of the bed.

“Your Majesty?!” She thought that her sweaty appearance definitely wasn’t pleasing to the eye.

“Don’t move.” Feng Jin gently held her in place. He turned and brought Fourth Prince, whom the wet nurse had been holding to her bosom, into his own arms. He smiled at Zhuang Laoyan. “The child just nursed a while ago. He hasn’t slept yet.”

Zhuang Laoyan turned her head for a look. Feng Jin was holding the baby a bit low, so she could see him.

The little baby opened his eyes wide. He smacked his lips, fingertips moving about, causing Zhuang Laoyan’s mood to rise.

“The child is still too young for a name. How about we give him a childhood name for now?” Feng Jin extended an index finger, placing it right at the corner of Fourth Prince’s mouth. The baby opened his mouth and placed his father’s finger inside. Upon seeing this, Feng Jin smiled. “His personality resembles yours.”

Wasn’t this just pointing to her as gluttonous? Zhuang Laoyan snorted lightly. “It’s a blessing if the son resembles his mother. How about we just call him Baozi? His cheeks are white and round. It’s really suitable.”

But Feng Jin furrowed his brows. “Isn’t ‘baozi’ something commoners eat? It’s a bit tacky.”

“Being tacky is a good thing.” She knew she couldn’t choose her child’s real name, and so strived her best to pick his childhood name, not caring that the other party was the emperor. “Commoners like baozi. What’s not good about that?”

“Since that’s the case, then let’s call him that.” Feng Jin felt he had already fought enough for his son. As for the result, that wasn’t important.

Translated by Sleepchaser at https://sleepchaser.wordpress.com/ If you read it anywhere else besides Sleepchaser’s wordpress, that copy was stolen.

Holding the fragrant and soft baby in his arms, Feng Jin felt he was both very light and very heavy. Never had he imagined that he would be this careful one day. Such a small baby. His neck could not even support his head. In Feng Jin’s eyes, the baby had already taken more than half of his heart.

Looking at the woman on the bed who was clearly sweating profusely yet still smiled, he reached out and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “Rest properly. Once the child is a month old, We will host a grand one-month feast for him.”

Once he sat with Zhuang Laoyan for a good while, Feng Jin rose to his feet to leave. It was evident that he did not find women in their post-pregnancy convalescence period dirty.

Gao Dezhong followed behind him. In his heart, he regarded Consort Zhao with more and more importance. So long as Fourth Prince grew up, no one would be able to surpass Consort Zhao in the imperial harem.

Zhuang Laoyan could not personally take part in the Day of Cleanse. However, Feng Jin didn’t make the event a big deal. Simply the fact that those who could attend had to have both daughters and sons.

A month was neither short nor long. When Zhuang Laoyan finished her one-month post-pregnancy convalescence period, she felt relaxed all over. She changed into new clothes. When she carried her child to the banquet celebrating the end of that period, the gazes of everyone present fell upon the child in her arms.

The empress personally indicated for Zhuang Laoyan to sit to her lower right. Afterward, she stood and made her way before Zhuang Laoyan, a smile on her face as she took in the sight of Fourth Prince, whose face had slowly grown plumper. “Fourth Prince has a prominent and plump forehead. He will certainly be a man who can support both heaven and earth.”

Zhuang Laoyan smiled. “Thanking Your Majesty the empress for the auspicious remarks.”

The empress glanced at her. “Will you let this palace hold him?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhuang Laoyan placed the baby in the empress’ arms. “This child eats a lot.”

The empress was startled. At once, she carefully hugged Fourth Prince close to her chest. Then she cautiously made sure that her bracelet did not touch him. After holding him for a while, she gave the child back to Zhuang Laoyan with care. Although she had done this, her gaze was still upon Fourth Prince.

For some reason, I feel bittersweet for the empress here. It’s obvious she wishes to have a child of her own. I believe she gave birth to a princess long ago, but the baby died shortly after. And after that, the empress only suffered miscarriage after miscarriage. Really a pity.

For this reason, I am glad she and ZL struck out a mutually beneficial alliance. ZL gets to laze around all day with all the benefits of being the most favored imperial concubine, while the empress gets to keep her prestige and hold over the harem, with her status able to make things better for her paternal family. Because I’m pretty sure that with the rumors going around (how the emperor did not depose the empress due to their shared deep love, and how the emperor even said after three generations (around 30~ years in ancient China standards) the Zhou family could participate in civil service exams again)), people won’t give the Zhou family that much trouble even though they were back to civilian status again. And mind you, they’re civilians, not slaves. That’s a huge difference.

Also, I need some help guys. For some reason, whatever I do, I can’t seem to log into JJWXC anymore! The puzzle verification doesn’t load — it keeps telling me that the internet connection is slow, but it’s not. I have FIOS. I need to log in to get my TSP VIP chapters… Sigh. Any ideas what to do?

Next release is Saturday, September 11, 2021.

That will be the last chapter of the main story.

For those of you interested in advanced chapters, there are three chapters remaining this month! If you pledge a tier that gives 4+ chapters now, you’re basically my suga daddi. Click here for September 2021’s release schedule.

IMPORTANT Patreon announcement!!

ALL TJOAIC TIERS WILL BE DELETED AFTER SEPTEMBER 2021. Please note that even if I delete a tier, as long as you do not delete your pledge (which is something entirely different), Patreon will continue charging you the pledge amount every month!

Furthermore, after September 2021, all double-novel tiers will be discontinued/re-purposed, but NOT deleted. I’m still thinking of what to do with those tiers in the future. Patrons of double-novel tiers, please delete your pledge by the end of September 2021, or else Patreon will keep charging you every month, and I will assume that you are simply donating to me.

Last but not least, I’ve decided that for October, I will be giving early access to the last two chapters of TJOAIC (120 and 121) to September patrons of all tiers except Wide Awake. Think of it as a last thank you.

If you like this novel, please rate/review/add this novel to your reading list on NU!

Thirty-sixth chapter of The Times Spent in Pretense is out! You can read it here. It’s weekly now!

By the way, I have a new BL novel project, with my own summary below:

By the emperor’s decree, Fu Ming is to marry Jin Yi and become his male wife. The initial reception is cold. Can the two sort things out between them, the winter departing and the snow thawing?

If you’re interested, you can find it here.

Also, plugging me and my friends’ website focused on BL! Click here if you’re interested.𝘧reewℯ𝚋noѵ𝒆l. cｏ𝙢