Work overtime

Chapter 750

The rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and various vegetables on the chicken coop side are growing well. Chickens, ducks, eggs, fish, and various tropical fruits are produced in abundance, and sweet potato leaves can be eaten as vegetables. Everything is thriving.

The women who were exiled were sent there one after another. Many Fujian women were attracted to move there with resettlement fees, and many also fled there from Guizhou and Sichuan.

Because the island can only support a limited number of people, Meng Xin set a threshold for entry. Only adult women are accepted, not men, unless they can prove that they have outstanding qualities or pay a huge amount of immigration fees.

The soldiers usually engaged in agricultural production, fought pirates when they came, married and had children, and lived a decent life.

Some of the men who were refused to go to the island lived on the other side of the island and started to trade with the islanders, either collecting silver or bartering.

Because it can help digest the fish and fruits that cannot be eaten on the island, and can also provide daily necessities that are not available on the island. Meng Xin not only did not prohibit it, but also set up a special market to manage it, and charged low transaction fees to the vendors coming to the island. A little bit adds up to a lot, and he saved a lot of money. In addition, the money from selling agricultural products on the island was used to buy food in the mainland. Meng Xin's talent for governing the country was fully displayed when he arrived in Jilong.

Many girls were willing to marry Meng Xin as concubines. In addition to rejecting them, he organized a bonfire party with singing and dancing. At the party, young men and women were free to choose. This not only enriched the cultural life of the soldiers, but also allowed them to find their other half.

Meng Xin did all this in accordance with Li Beichen's idea. Let the soldiers settle down, have children, and make this their home. Naturally, they will protect their home with their lives.

After defeating a Japanese pirate attack, the soldiers' morale was unprecedentedly high. Meng Xin's local reputation was getting higher and higher. Many secret letters suspecting Meng Xin would establish himself as king were sent to Li Beichen's desk, but they were all suppressed.

Not only that, Li Beichen also sent someone to deliver a congratulatory letter to congratulate Meng Xin on his first major victory, and highly praised Meng Xin's achievements in chicken coop production and construction, national unity, and military training.

Moreover, in the court, he highly praised Meng Xin's contributions in resisting the Japanese invaders and defending the country, and announced that Meng Xin would be awarded the title of Duke of Anguo and would be allowed to guard the chicken coop for generations.

Meng Xin's third son Meng Bai was arranged to work in Chuanlu Temple as a seventh-rank official in charge of foreign affairs. At the same time, he was granted marriage to Jiang Yuebai's second cousin Wang, and the wedding was completed on an auspicious day, and they moved from Suzhou to the capital.

The Lu family, to which Lu Mingshi belonged, secretly asked for permission to marry her in the first month of the year. After Li Beichen discussed with Jiang Yuebai, he married her to the eldest son of the local prominent Zheng family, away from the whirlpool of the capital, just to seek safety. The second eldest son also asked to marry Qing'er, that is, Yang Qing'er, as his wife, and asked Yang Qing'er to recognize her ancestor as the local prominent Yang family, and asked the emperor for permission. Li Beichen approved it to show his favor and gave her the name Yang Sisi.

Last year at this time, there were heavy rains in the south and droughts in the north. This year, the weather is good and the harvest is good. People say that the fortunes have turned and the country is prosperous. There are also rumors that it is because of the queen chosen by heaven, the dragon and the phoenix are in harmony, and the world is blessed.

In May, the country was prosperous, the weather was good, and Li Beichen was in a good mood.

During this month, Jiang Yuebai had been urging him to be fair, but Li Beichen kept pestering her for more. He didn't know why he longed for her so much, and he felt desire just by being around her. There was a gap between them, and this attraction became stronger. He repeatedly entered there, just like constantly entering her heart.

Because it was midsummer, this kind of skin-to-skin closeness made it even more difficult for him to control himself.

In addition to Jiang Yuebai, he spoiled Nian Ronghua for three consecutive days when she was easy to conceive.

At this time, the five children were already six months old. Li Beichen finally decided on the names of his three sons.

The second prince is called Li Chengji, the third prince is called Li Chengtai, and the fourth son is called Li Chengxing. Okay. Now it is hard to tell which one is the crown prince. Because the names of the four sons are all very majestic and domineering.

However, at the end of May, something bad happened. Concubine Ye, who had been vomiting, was told by the imperial physician that the fetus was not in good condition and had no heartbeat. In the end, she had to take medicine to force the baby to abort. Concubine Ye was already six months pregnant at this time, and the fetus was already very large, so she suffered a lot.

Li Beichen and Jiang Yuebai both went there. Jiang Yuebai went back on her own accord, leaving Li Beichen to accompany Concubine Ye for the night. He also gave Concubine Ye a title of "Hua".

Hearing this title, Jiang Yuebai wanted to laugh. Is this a remake of The Legend of Zhen Huan?
Concubine Jin has been taking medicine and staying in bed to protect her pregnancy. Now that she is four months pregnant, she is stable and can get out of bed and walk around a little, but she almost never goes out, for fear that someone will harm her.

Li Beichen often accompanied Concubine Hua who had a miscarriage, and visited the eldest prince from time to time.

The eldest prince was almost one year old, and had grown a little taller. He often looked at people with his big eyes, which began to sparkle, but his hands kept tightening and loosening the things he was holding, and no one knew what he was thinking.

When he sees Li Beichen, he will be very happy and take the initiative to hug him. When he is hugged, he will clap his hands and start to smile. His eyes will often follow Rou Wanyi, and he will look for her when he can't see her. He will walk with Rou Wanyi's support and likes to touch this and that. He will kiss and hug Rou Wanyi. Although he can't speak yet, he is obviously much better than in the past few months.

Li Beichen suspected that the antidote had poisoned the eldest prince's brain nerves, so he looked like a mentally retarded child. Now he was much more normal, probably because of Rou Wanyi's careful care.

Because he was moved and grateful, he favored Rouwanyi from time to time.

The rest of the time he spent with Jiang Yuebai and the five Fuwa. When he was with these five little kids, he was truly happy and carefree. In them, Li Beichen saw what a normal child should be like at seven months old. They could pick up very small objects and look at them, and they liked to look in the mirror.
In June, the imperial physician diagnosed that Nian Ronghua was not pregnant, but there was nothing wrong with Nian Ronghua herself and she was in good health. She might just need recuperation.

During the three days when pregnancy was easy, Li Beichen went there every day as usual. He stubbornly insisted on not using the fertility pill. He wanted to have a child with Nian Ronghua naturally.

Because June is too hot, Jiang Yuebai canceled the visit. But if you want to enjoy the air conditioning, eat ice watermelon, drink iced plum juice, and read the latest novels, you can still come to Kunning Palace. You are very welcome.

Nian Ronghua often came to Kunning Palace to play and made a lot of delicious food for Jiang Yuebai. Jiang Yuebai wanted to help Nian Ronghua get pregnant and give her some male-birthing powder. But when she thought of what happened to her sister Yi, she felt guilty and heartbroken, and it was useless to restrain herself.

But let Susu go and ask Jiang Xian to take care of Nian Ronghua personally.

At the end of June, Annan was completely recovered. It was not a vassal state, but a Central Bank Province was established here. The chief executive was appointed by the central government and taxes were collected.

As expected, Xuan Guiren's father was transferred from Yunnan to Annan as a commander and was stationed in Annan. Xuan Guiren became more and more favored and was promoted to Xuan Liangyuan, and her temperament became spoiled and arrogant.

And so it was July.

July is the hottest time of the year. Nian Ronghua did not come to Kunning Palace. Jiang Yuebai prepared sour plum soup and eight-treasure ice jelly and sent them over.

One morning, Nian Ronghua felt unwell and vomited a lot of yellow water. The maid beside him was so excited that she braved the hot sun and ran across half of the harem to report the news to the Queen.

Jiang Yuebai was even more excited than she was pregnant, and immediately arranged for a sedan chair to pick her up and send her to the Imperial Hospital. After a checkup, it turned out that she was indeed about two months pregnant.

Jiang Yuebai gave Nian Ronghua a pill to preserve the pregnancy without saying a word, and at the same time sent someone to inform Li Beichen of the good news.

Then she asked her to continue taking folic acid and gave her two bottles of vitamins for pregnant women. In the past few months, she knew Li Beichen's thoughts and gave Nian Ronghua folic acid two months in advance. Nian Ronghua was very obedient and took it every day.

Li Beichen immediately rushed to Jingren Palace to visit Nian Ronghua. He was quite excited and promoted her to Nian Jieyushi and rewarded her with a bunch of good things.

This month, Li Beichen was either accompanying Concubine Hua or Concubine Nian. On July 19th of the fourth year of Jingchang, it was the first birthday of the eldest prince.

The eldest prince’s first birthday banquet was held in a grand manner, and not only the empress and concubines were invited, but also the dowager concubine.

The things placed for the prince's birthday ceremony were all boys' things, such as sheathed knives, bows, swords, brushes, inkstones, classics, flutes, gold ingots, jade pendants, lucky bags, gourds, and official seals.

Generally speaking, in order to have a good meaning, the palace would guide children to grab auspicious objects in advance.

The same was true for Xie Zhili, the official adoptive mother. She often asked Rou Wanyi to bring the eldest prince to Qixia Palace and teach him how to grab various auspicious objects.

Although the eldest prince was dull, he was very obedient and would catch whatever he was told to.

This gave Xie Zhili more confidence.

After the eldest prince was placed on the platform, he looked around and found Rou Wanyi, and then he felt relieved. Looking at the table full of fun things, he was as confused as ever.

"With such calmness, he will surely achieve great things." A concubine said congratulations.

Li Beichen gently guided the eldest prince, "Yaya, take a look at what you like. Take one."

The eldest prince turned his head, clapped his hands, and gave a clear and silly smile, revealing a few small milk teeth.

Li Beichen pointed at the things on the table and said, "Ye'er, grab whichever one you like."

"Look here." Xie Zhili called out, drawing a circle towards the official seal and the books on swords and knives.

The eldest prince looked at it for a long time in confusion. His eyes were round and round. After a while, he lowered his head, looked ahead, and bent down. Everyone thought he was going to take the inkstone nearby, but he went to take the green flute instead.

He even tried hard to lean over and grasped it several times before he finally got it in his hand. He played with it carefully and curiously picked at the holes on the flute with his fingers.

Xie Zhili was disappointed for a moment. Why didn't he follow what he was taught normally? He was indeed as stupid as his biological mother.

Li Beichen happily picked up the eldest prince and said, "Oh, you will be father's happy pill in the future. That's great. When you grow up a little bit, father will teach you to play the flute, okay?"

The eldest prince shouted "Ahhhh" happily a few times, clapped his hands, and revealed a few small baby teeth that had just erupted.

She chatted with Li Beichen for a long time, speaking words that adults couldn't understand. Although many children can speak at this age, it is normal for them not to speak.

Li Beichen laughed loudly and teased the eldest prince again. Only then did he feel relieved.

He was worried that he would make a fool of himself. For example, he would pee or poop on the table, or do something unbelievable, or be too dull and stupid. In the end, it was okay. He just looked a little dull. He subconsciously looked at Rou Wanyi, and Rou Wanyi also looked at him with a smile.

Xie Zhili, who was standing aside, looked at this scene with mixed emotions and felt very unhappy.

Xie Zhili touched his already large belly, and hope grew in his heart. She was already six months pregnant, and the imperial physician said it might be a boy. If it was a boy, everything would be easy.

Xie Zhili turned her head to look at Jiang Yuebai who was standing next to the emperor. At this time, she was laughing and teasing the eldest prince in Li Beichen's arms. The smile on Jiang Yuebai's face made her feel hypocritical and disgusting. Everyone knew what it meant to catch the flute in the royal family.

Today, the eldest prince could have grabbed a book or a pen, but he had to grab a flute.

This made Xie Zhili feel even more uncomfortable. The only thing that made her happy was that Ye Fei's fetus was gone, and she could give birth in another three months.

At night, Li Beichen stayed in Rouwanyi Palace to thank her for taking care of the eldest prince these days.

Rou Wanyi was not arrogant because of her favor, but was flattered. She thought it was her blessing to be able to take care of the eldest prince. It was this sense of duty and appreciation that made Li Beichen feel more at ease to put the eldest prince in her hands to raise.

While Jiang Yuebai was playing with the five little ones, he was looking forward to the scene of their "Zhuazhou" ceremony and was full of curiosity.

At the end of July, Rouwanyi was found to be two months pregnant.

The hottest month of July has finally passed and we have entered August.

Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon and we will hold a Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Concubine Lu quickly finished the storybook and prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. Readers said that it was a bit anticlimactic and that many plots were not explained. Concubine Lu said that she would wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival to make up for the extra chapters, which calmed the public anger.

Concubine Hua had a miscarriage in late pregnancy, which seriously damaged her vitality. She should have rested for three months. But she couldn't wait to return to work. Because the emperor almost forgot about her throughout July and only visited her twice.

The imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital advised her not to rush back to work and to take good care of herself. But she felt that her body had been clean for a long time and it should not be a problem for her to sleep with him.

When Concubine Lu told Jiang Yuebai about this, "Is she so eager to make a comeback?"

Jiang Yuebai just smiled and said, "Since she won't listen to the doctor, just let her be. If you advise her for her own good, she will think you have ulterior motives."

This is actually a double entendre.

Let Concubine Lu not persuade Concubine Qing too much, so as not to ruin their relationship.

But Concubine Lu still went to speak. She felt uncomfortable if she didn't speak, and felt that she had not fulfilled her responsibilities. Jiang Yuebai finally understood that Concubine Lu was born to worry. Concubine Lu said that she was the eldest sister of the whole big family, and both her father and mother's sides were all brothers and sisters. So she was used to worrying about others, worrying about the "adults".

Jiang Yuebai felt that he had finally realized it. Good managers are indeed cultivated from childhood.

(End of this chapter)