Chapter 673: The End

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

In the blink of an eye, it was autumn.

Su Ying was already more than eight months into her pregnancy, but because she had controlled her diet more carefully, her belly wasn’t particularly big.

Perhaps it was because she was in the third trimester of her pregnancy, but as the fetus grew, it increasingly pushed upward to her stomach. Her appetite became even worse than before, and she could only eat a few mouthfuls of food a day.

Zhou Qing carefully helped Su Ying take a walk around the courtyard. Each step was taken very slowly as if she was worried that Su Ying would slip and fall.

Although Su Ying’s body was not feeling good, she was still in a good mood. She had been controlling her weight and the fetus was not big. Thus, the risks during childbirth were lower than if she had a big-sized baby.

“Mother, we’re back.”

Su Ying had just walked around twice when she saw two small figures walking quickly toward her.

The two little fellows had learned the court etiquette very well, but no matter how good their etiquette was, it was totally discarded in front of her.

Su Ying’s face lit up with joy. Just as she was about to bend down and hug the two children, a slight throbbing pain came from her belly.

She thought she was experiencing false labor pains. She was about to rest for a while when a gush of warm current flowed out from her lower body…

Su Ying was taken aback. Did… did her water just break?

Su Ying said calmly as she grabbed Zhou Qing’s hand, “Zhou Qing, my water broke. Help me back first.”

“Your Imperial Highness!” Zhou Qing’s face turned pale at once.

A moment later, it was complete chaos inside the Conjugal Phoenix Palace.

“Your Majesty, this… this is the delivery room, a blood-tainted place. You… you mustn’t go in.”

Su Ying only heard the sound of a door banging and then she saw from the corner of her eye Xiao Jin striding briskly to the bed.

“Yingying, how are you?”

Su Ying took a deep breath to ease the pain of her contractions. Even though she was a person with a high level of tolerance, she was still in so much pain that she broke out in a cold sweat.

“I’m fine…”

“Your Imperial Highness, don’t speak first. Drink some ginseng soup to raise your energy.”

“Let me do it.” Xiao Jin took the bowl of soup from Zhou Qing’s hands and fed it to Su Ying, mouthful by mouthful.

“You go out first.” Su Ying gave Xiao Jin a push.

“I want to stay here with you.”

Su Ying took a deep breath. “If you stay here, they will feel restrained and it will affect their skills. Get out quickly!”

Xiao Jin turned to look at the midwives whose movements were a little unnatural. He finally gritted his teeth and said, “Alright. I’ll be right outside the door. I’ll be right outside the door to keep you company.”

Su Ying didn’t want to waste her energy. She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay.”

As soon as Xiao Jin went out, the midwives immediately performed a cervical check.

“It’s dilating, it’s dilating. Your Imperial Highness, save up your strength later. When I tell you to push, then you push.”

“Alright.”

In a flash, Su Ying felt a violent contraction that was so painful that her back was drenched in sweat.

“Your Imperial Highness, push now. Push hard.”

Su Ying gritted her teeth and tried her best not to utter any sound.

Xiao Jin stood outside the door, paying close attention to the goings-on in the room.

Zhang Shuming had never seen the Emperor so flustered before.

“Your Majesty, why don’t you go to the room next door to rest for a while? I heard that this delivery won’t be completed in such a short period of time.”

Xiao Jin didn’t even look away from the door. “I want to stand by my Empress.”

Zhang Shuming could only shut his mouth tactfully upon hearing that.

As each minute and second passed, Xiao Jin’s body became stiffer and stiffer, but he was still unwilling to budge.

“The head is out, the head is out. Once the head is out, it will be almost done. Almost done.”

Su Ying took a deep breath and pushed with all her might.

“It’s out! It’s out!”

“Waa! Waa…”

The baby’s cries rang out in the hall.

“Your Imperial Highness, Your Imperial Highness…”

Xiao Jin’s heart plummeted. He quickly pushed open the door and rushed in.

“Yingying, Yingying!”

“Imperial Physician! Where is the Imperial Physician…”

Su Ying opened her eyes abruptly. She was surrounded by a sea of darkness.

The cold air in the darkness carried a whiff of blood which made her hair stand on end.

“Argh!”

Roar!

Deep growls rang out near her incessantly, and a rancid smell penetrated her nose. Su Ying turned around and saw a zombie lunging at her.

Su Ying’s eyes widened. With one kick, she sent the zombie flying several meters away.

However, before she could straighten up, a dim light shone around her. Wherever the light shone, there were ferocious-looking zombies.

Roar!

The zombie horde pounced viciously on Su Ying.

Su Ying’s fists hardened, and her eyes gradually turned bloodshot. With one punch, she knocked the head of the zombie in front of her to the ground.

However, there were too many zombies. One by one, the zombies pounced on her like a human pyramid. They almost buried her.

Even if Su Ying was made of steel, she couldn’t withstand the siege of so many zombies. After an unknown period of time, heaps of zombie corpses had already piled up around her.

In spite of this, there was still an endless stream of zombies surging towards her.

“Ugh!”

Su Ying was bitten on the shoulder by the zombie behind her, and a piece of flesh was torn off.

She groaned in pain. The zombies seemed to have found a weakness and they pounced on her like a swarm of locusts.

Just as she was about to be buried by the mountain of zombies, she heard a low, deep shout nearby.

“SuYing, Su Ying!”

Su Ying felt her body becoming light, and when she turned around, she saw a tall figure dashing toward her.

“Xiao Jin? Xiao Jin!”

Xiao Jin…

“Yingying, Yingying! I am here, Yingying…”

Su Ying struggled to open her two eyes. She almost couldn’t recognize the unshaven man in front of her.

“Xiao Jin…”

“I’m here, Yingying. I’m here.” Xiao Jin held her hand and placed it on his face. He could only feel at ease when he felt the warmth of her body.

‘Td just given birth to a child…” Before Su Ying could finish her sentence, she felt a dull pain in her stomach. “Did they cut it off for me?”

Xiao Jin nodded.

Back then, Su Ying had fainted after giving birth. The Imperial Physicians entered the room to examine her and found that the condition of the tumor was not good. After some discussion, they decided to immediately operate on Su Ying.

However, Su Ying did not regain consciousness after the surgery. Xiao Jin didn’t even attend the morning court session for the past two days. He had been waiting by her bed all this while.

Finally, at long last, he was able to see her open her eyes.

“Where’s the child? Is it a son or a daughter?”

Xiao Jin kissed her forehead. “It’s a daughter. A little princess.”

Su Ying closed her eyes and said with a smile, “A daughter is pretty good…”

Three years later.

In the back garden of the Chu State’s Empress.

A small pink figure scuttled swiftly between the artificial rockery and the trees like a rabbit.

Behind her was a group of palace maids running after her.

“Little Princess, please wait. Please wait for us servants.”

The tiny figure hid behind the artificial rockery and covered her mouth and snickered at the people chasing her.

“Hehe!”

The palace maids chasing her couldn’t see the little figure and they went round in circles anxiously.

At this moment, the figure of a princess dressed in green darted through the garden in a fleet-footed manner and came to rest on the roof. From afar, she saw the small figure hiding in the artificial rockery. She chuckled softly and darted towards the small figure swiftly like a butterfly.

The little fellow sensed that something was wrong. She subconsciously raised a rock that was half the size of her body and threw it at the other party.

Ling got a shock and quickly dodged.

Then, she went around the little girl from the other side and grabbed her up by the collar.

“You little rascal, you have almost torn up all the artificial rockery in the Imperial Garden. The moment Mother punished you to learn reading, you sneaked out immediately. Later, when we go back, I’ll see how Mother spank your little butt.”

Xiao Qi’s chubby little face scrunched up as she tugged at Ling’s clothes with a pitiful expression. “Big Sister, don’t take me back to Mother. Mother is a bad person. Qiqi doesn’t want to learn reading!”

Ling looked at her angry puffed-up little face and could not resist reaching out to poke it.

“Then do you still want to run around? Do you want to throw stones?”

Xiao Qi shook her head meekly. When she was born, she looked no different from an ordinary baby. However, from the moment she could sit up, she displayed an extraordinary natural strength. Even at the age of three, she could lift things that were much heavier than her own body weight.

Over the past three years, the Conjugal Phoenix Palace had been destroyed countless times by her. As a result, Su Ying ordered people to remove everything in the Conjugal Phoenix Palace, leaving only tables, chairs, and benches. Otherwise, her heart would ache whenever anything was broken!

“I won’t throw. I won’t throw anymore. Qiqi won’t throw anymore.”

Ling then carried her up. “You little rascal, come back with me for lunch first. I heard that the Imperial kitchen made your favorite shelled shrimp steeped in vinegar today.”

Xiao Qi’s pair of almond-shaped eyes widened when she heard that there was delicious food. “I want to eat, I want to eat. I want to eat shelled shrimp.”

Ling returned to the Conjugal Phoenix Palace with the little dumpling in her arms and immediately saw Su Ying leaning against the palace door dressed in regular clothes.

The little dumpling’s face tensed up. She twisted her body and tried to get off Ling’s body to run away.

However, Su Ying was one step ahead and grabbed the back of her collar.

“You still want to run!”

“Mother, Mother, spare me, spare me. I know my mistake.”

Xiao Qi’s voice was soft and tender as she turned her glistening pitiful eyes at Su Ying.

Su Ying gave a scornful sneer. She would not fall for this little devil incarnate’s tricks. “If you can’t recite those few poems today, don’t even think about stepping outside this palace door.”

“Emperor Father, Emperor Father, save me…”

Xiao Jin smiled and went forward to rescue the little fellow from Su Ying’s hands. “The child is still young. Don’t push her too hard.”

Su Ying gave a disdainful laugh. This little devil had already flipped her roof several times, but up till now, she still couldn’t recite a limerick. Was she pushing the kid too hard, or were the other people indulging her too much?

With Xiao Jin’s protection, the little dumpling made a face at Su Ying smugly.

Su Ying’s eyebrows twitched. Little devil, just you wait!

Su Ying led Ling to the main hall. “Where’s Ji?”

“He’s reading the memorials.” Xiao Jin sat down with Xiao Qi in his arms.

Su Ying was astonished.

“Xiao Jin, your son isn’t even ten years old.”

Xiao Jin’s expression froze momentarily. “He’s almost ten years old. He’s not young anymore.”

Su Ying was utterly speechless.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to go to the northern wilderness to take a look? Last year, after the war between the three kingdoms ended, the Nan State and the Jin State both admitted defeat. This year, they will send the last batch of resources as part of their surrender. I thought that since our Chu State already has an excess of some of those things, why don’t we send the excess stuff to the northern wilderness? I’ll accompany you.”

“Xiao Jin, you are the ruler of the Chu State.” Could he simply follow her and run all over the place for no reason?

“I’ll go too, I’ll go too. That’s my territory. I want to go too.”

Xiao Jin and Su Ying’s expressions froze as they looked at Xiao Qi who was dancing with joy. A hint of astonishment flashed across their eyes. Thereafter, they smiled at each other.

“If you want it, I’ll give it to you.”

The End..