She's clever and immediately understood what she was saying. Yan Xijun looked at her with a sincere expression, her eyes were clear and calm, suddenly feeling that she had already become a loyal palace maid. She smiled with relief.

  It's great. There is another close person around me.

  "Thank you. Xuelian." Yan Xijun sincerely thanked her. "If there's anything difficult in the future, feel free to tell me and I'll do my best to help you."

  Xue Lian lowered her head and stared at her embroidered shoes, hesitating in her heart about whether or not to tell the master those words.

  Yan Xijun knew she had accepted her thanks and felt at ease in her heart, so she walked towards the house with a calm step.

  Master

  Behind her came Xue Lian's urgent cry. She stopped in her tracks and turned her head slightly to look back.

  "You shouldn't take the risk. What you have now is a life that others can only dream of." Xue Lian thought for a long time before squeezing out these two sentences of advice.

  Yan Xijun understands. Her kindness and good intentions. Yes. Everything nowadays is satisfactory.

  It would be satisfying if it were someone else.

  But for her, is this the life she wanted?

  Clever Xue Lian, you still don't understand me enough.

  "I understand." Yan Xijun gave her a reassuring smile and then turned around and left.

  She actually doesn't know either. How to walk in the future. Last night's thoughts now seem really too naive.

  Now she is a pawn in their hands. Everyone uses her to achieve their own goals. On the chessboard, she is at the mercy of others. She can no longer make a solo breakthrough.

  Xue Lian gazed at the back of her master's retreating figure. Although she didn't know what suffering and pressure she had endured, she vowed to heaven that in the future, she would protect her completely.

  She's a good mistress. Worth going to protect her.

  A month later

  May is the time when lotus flowers are in full bloom. On the artificial lake on the west side of the Imperial Flower Garden, the lake is filled with large and small pink, yellow and red lotus flowers. It's lively at this time.

  On the vast lake surface, many small boats were moored. Almost all the concubines in the harem came out to pick lotus pods or pluck lotus flowers.

  Of course, there are also many concubines who come to play. Rarely does the western lake scenery look so beautiful. They can't help but come and take a look.

  "Master, come quickly!" Wen Qin called out to Zhen Yu from the small boat, her voice filled with excitement. She had finally managed to find a small boat and was eager to join in on the fun, watching as the other palace maidens and consorts played together with such abandon. Her own playful spirit was itching to be set free.

  Yan Xijun sat in the pavilion, gazing at the lake where those beauties were laughing and playing. She also saw Wen Qin's face filled with excitement. Suddenly, she didn't feel like sightseeing anymore. She turned to Xue Lian beside her and said: "You go with them to take a boat ride on the lake. I won't go."

  "The master won't go, so neither will the servants." Xue Lian said quietly as she stood beside her.

  "Very well. Then go and tell Wen Qin about it. Let her play with Wen Yu, the two of them." Yan Xijun instructed.

  "Alright." Xue Lian went over and finished conveying Master's words to Wen Qin, and quickly came back.

  Yan Xijun gazed at Wenqin's small boat slowly entering the lake, then disappeared into a cluster of lotus flowers. The large lotus leaves blocked her line of sight.

  "Master, why don't you go with everyone else to play by the lake?"

  "Why don't you go and play too."

  "Wherever the master is, I will follow. This is what a servant should do." These were Xue Lian's inner thoughts. She truly liked her master, so she also liked staying with her.

  Yan Xijun didn't make a sound, her gaze was fixed on the distant lake, without a hint of envy in her eyes, as if all this had nothing to do with her.

  She stared for a long time until her stomach churned with a turbulent wave of nausea. She opened her mouth to vomit but couldn't bring anything up.

  That unbearable feeling was still surging up. She leaned against the pillar of the pavilion, her forehead covered in fine sweat, and dry heaved there.

  Xue Lian took a look and felt something was off. She hurried over to support her and anxiously asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

  Yan Xijun couldn't say a word. He could only feel the wave after wave of nausea and dizziness surging up. The sweat on his forehead flowed more and more.

  "Master, you must have gotten heatstroke." Xuelian took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped her sweat away, also reaching out to touch her forehead.

  The cold touch made Xue Lian's heart skip a beat. She supported her master and said, "Master, you really have heatstroke. Let's go back."

  "Good." Yan Xikun leaned weakly against Xue Lian. There was only one thought in her mind. It couldn't be that she's pregnant, could it?

  She knew very well that she hadn't suffered from heatstroke at all. The way she acted just now was exactly like the description in the book, a reaction during pregnancy.

  And her normally punctual period didn't arrive this month. So there's only one possibility.

  That's pregnancy.

  Xue Lian brought the young master back to Ganquan Palace, settled him in, and then hastily went to summon the imperial physician.

  Very soon, Snow Lian, who was as swift as thunder, brought in an old man with a goatee.

  The old man learned of her identity on the way here, knowing she was the emperor's latest favorite concubine. He didn't dare to delay, hastily opening the medicine box and finding a red thread, pretending to take her pulse.

  The old man's wrinkled face would sometimes wrinkle up, sometimes relax, sometimes look serious, and sometimes narrow his eyes.

  Xue Lian was bewildered by the expression on his face and anxiously asked: "Zhang Taifu, what's going on with Master?"

  Director Zhang made a "shh" sound to stop Xuelian from speaking up. His expression was solemn, which startled Xuelian into a daze.

  Yan Xijun was not intimidated by Zhang Taigong's words. She calmly closed her eyes and waited quietly for his verdict.

  After a while, Zhang Taichang's eyebrows and eyes were all relaxed, smiling and bowing his hands: "Congratulations to Yan Zhaorong, it is a joyful pulse."

  "What." Xuelian was still staring blankly at Zhang Taigong. "Wait a minute, joyful pulse... Doesn't that mean Master is now... pregnant with the dragon's fetus?"

  "Ah, I'm so delighted! This is the first time I've heard such thrilling news in the palace. The Emperor finally has an heir."

  "Doctor Zhang, are you certain?" Yan Xijun asked with her eyes open.

  "That's right, that's right. Absolutely certain. I won't misdiagnose. It's indeed a joyful pulse." Zhang Taishan said with delight. The emperor finally has an heir. And it was he who made the diagnosis. Later, the emperor will definitely be delighted and reward him with a batch of jewels."

  Xue Lian took out a handful of gold from her bosom and handed it over to Zhang Taishi. She thanked Zhang Taishi.

  "Miss, don't be polite," said Zhang Taigong with a wave of his hand. "I won't accept your gold. I'll give you the prescription for the 'medicine' to ensure a safe pregnancy."

  Zhang Taichang carefully finished writing the prescription, then picked up his medicine box and bid farewell: "I must hurry to report to the Emperor so that he can issue a decree to inform the whole world. Finally, my Western Capital has an imperial son."

  Xue Lian gazed at Zhang Taifu's delighted back, her heart also filled with joy. She called out from behind the bed curtains: "Master, what would you like to eat? I'll have it brought over from the imperial kitchen."

  "No need. I don't want to eat anything now." Yan Xijun waved her hand weakly and said, "You go out first and wait. I want to be quiet for a while."