Work overtime

Chapter 770

As a father who owns the world, Li Beichen hopes that his daughter can marry the person she wants to marry and live a happy and carefree life. If Bater can't do it, he can't agree to let his daughter marry him. But if Bater can do it, he will keep his promise and agree.

At this time, Bater was only eleven years old, but actually ten years old, and he had grown to a height of 1.65 meters. It can be said that he had strong genes.

Battelle and the emperor solemnly shook hands and swore an oath.

Before leaving, Bater took off the wolf tooth necklace that he never took off and gave it to the second princess. There were small gold ornaments unique to the Golden Family on it, representing Bater's identity.

The second princess was surprised and asked what this meant. Jiang Yuebai told her that it meant that Bater wanted to marry her, just like his father and mother. This necklace was a token of love, so it could not be accepted easily.

The second princess thought about it, accepted the wolf tooth necklace, took off the jade pendant she was carrying and gave it back to Bater.

The two children had no idea what marriage was, so they happily exchanged tokens of love and waved goodbye.

In this year, in addition to Jiang Yuebai giving birth to the tenth princess on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Lu Liangyuan gave birth to the eleventh princess on May 20th, named Li Ziming, and promoted to Lupin. She died of puerperal fever during the confinement period and was raised by Cuipin, a Korean who had not given birth to any children.
On June 29th, Concubine Nian gave birth to the twelfth princess, named Li Zixian, and was promoted to Concubine Nian Hui; Concubine Hua gave birth to the thirteenth princess in November, named Li Zirui, and was promoted to Concubine Ye De; Xuan Liangyuan gave birth to the fourteenth princess in December, named Li Ziqian, and was promoted to Concubine Xuan Guipin.

Jiang Yuebai got pregnant with her fourth child in June, and the due date was mid-April of the following year. She was about to cry, how could she be so fertile? Was it a false pregnancy, and the condom was full of holes?

In December, Concubine Xie's son, the Seventh Prince, died of illness, and Xiao Zhaoyi, who raised her, was demoted to Xiao Wanyi.

The thirteenth princess of Concubine Hua also died in December before she was one month old. She cried bitterly and was in great pain after losing two children in succession. Jiang Yuebai and Li Beichen were both heartbroken.

After peace talks with the various tribes of the Oirats, eight concubines were brought in successively since the second half of last year. All of them were noble women from the various tribes of the Oirats, and almost all of them were daughters of their leaders.

Li Beichen called the Jingshifang and arranged the menstrual cycle of each woman.

On the working day of the night service, he would look for the one who was most likely to get pregnant. Following this method, he favored all of them, and by the end of last year, three of them had become pregnant.

On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, during the Emperor's birthday celebration, Li Beichen and the Crown Prince received congratulations from the court officials. The scene was extremely grand and solemn.

All parties sent young and beautiful noble girls: the Tatar tribal leaders sent four; the Jurchen tribes in the northeast sent two; and this time Korea sent a royal princess.

Persia also sent two exotic girls.

There were suddenly nine more women in the harem, plus the eight who were sent last year, a total of seventeen, almost equal to the native Han women.

Li Beichen solemnly announced that from now on, the prince would attend the morning court together every time.

From that day on, a small table and chairs were placed in the hall. The prince sat behind the table, holding a paper and a pen, writing and drawing.

One time, the ministers were curious and wrote something down. They were embarrassed to find out. The prince recorded the key words of the ministers' speeches in his notebook. He drew a line or a question mark on the parts he didn't understand. He circled the key points.

Although I don't remember everything and I still can't write some words. Based on the level of organization and thinking, is this a six-year-old child?
Shame on you. They only learned this in the last two years.

Others learn it at the age of six.

However, a sad event happened on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. The eldest princess and the seventh princess fell to the ground and vomited blood and died after eating Laba porridge.

What kind of person would attack princesses?
Li Beichen, angry and heartbroken, ordered a thorough investigation. It turned out that it was the seven-year-old eldest prince who poisoned him. The reason was that he wanted to be the crown prince, so that he could have Lu Changlin as his companion and become the emperor in the future.

He put poison in his own bowl, and then exchanged it with the prince's bowl on the pretext that it was too sweet. Although the prince loved sweet food, he knew that the eldest princess also liked sweet eight-treasure porridge, so he exchanged the bowl with his sister. The eldest princess loved her fangirl, the seventh princess, who was on good terms with her, so she fed the porridge to the seventh princess, and they were very happy to eat one mouthful each. As a result, after eating one bowl, both of them were poisoned and died.

During the whole process, the eldest prince just watched from the side without doing anything to stop him.

He cried and said he hated the eldest princess's carefree and happy appearance. He hated that they had such a good mother, but his own mother died at birth.

The prince punched the eldest prince in the face several times, leaving him with a black eye and a swollen face. Then he turned around, sat on the ground, hugged the eldest princess, and cried.

The third and fourth princes roared and beat the eldest prince to the ground. After being pulled away, he raised his head and cried heartbreakingly.

During the whole process, the second princess was passing tissues to her brothers to wipe their noses. Her little face was tense the whole time.

Li Beichen asked the eldest prince where the poison came from and who taught him to poison. This poison could not have been given to him by Rou Wanyi, it could only have been given by another person.

Li Beichen tortured the people around the eldest prince, but he was completely unaware of the poison in the eldest prince's body.

The eldest prince refused to say at first, but later said that a mysterious person came to his room in the middle of the night and gave it to him, and he didn't know who it was.

Li Beichen executed all the people who served him, including Rou Wanyi.

The eldest prince kept asking, "Why can't I be the father? Why can't I be the crown prince? Am I not as good as my brother?"

Li Beichen was speechless for a moment, but he also told him honestly: "Because since ancient times, the eldest son of the queen has always been made the crown prince."

Unless the queen has no son. But he would not tell the eldest prince in this case.

"Why must the queen's child be the crown prince?"

Li Beichen said helplessly, "Because the queen is my wife."

"Why is my mother not my father's wife?" the eldest prince asked crying.

He was silent for a long time, touched the eldest prince's head, and felt a little pain in his heart.

The past events came to his mind one by one. He understood his eldest prince too well.

He understood this kind of sadness, jealousy and powerlessness too well. He had also envied the previous prince for many years. His father never saw his efforts. His father rarely accompanied him to educate him. He was always with the prince and the concubine's sixth prince...

"Father asked the same question. Father was not the Queen's son. But father did not kill anyone. Father was always very hardworking and motivated. I believe that one day my father would see me. Later, father made me the Crown Prince. Child, you chose the wrong path. You chose to kill people instead of working hard."

The reality is, no matter how hard he worked or how ambitious he was, if the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince had not died, it would never have been his turn.

It's just to leave a thought for the eldest prince, to guide him to have correct outlooks on life, life and values, so that he won't go astray.

The eldest prince covered his face and cried bitterly, "Father, I was wrong. Father, I was wrong."

Li Beichen sighed, "But it's too late. Yan'er, Xiaoqi and the others will never survive. Your mother, Concubine Rou Wanyi, who loved you the most, also died because of you."

The eldest prince squatted on the ground, buried his face in his tears and cried loudly.

"Now can you tell me who gave you the poison?"

The eldest prince choked up and said, "Father, I really don't know. He covered his face."

"From today on, you will stay in the Yanxi Palace and reflect on yourself." Li Beichen said this and left.

The eldest prince was obviously used by someone with ulterior motives because of his young age. Li Beichen did not execute him, but put him under house arrest. He sent people to secretly monitor him and try to find the murderer behind the scenes.

But the murderer behind the scenes will not appear, because Concubine Xie is dead.

The eldest prince subconsciously wanted to protect Concubine Xie. He knew that if he told her, Concubine Xie would die. He already had Concubine Rou, and he couldn't lose Concubine Xie again. Some people said that Concubine Xie was dead. But he didn't believe it. He remembered everything about Concubine Xie taking care of him when he was a child. Concubine Xie often played with him, and he was so happy.

Hua Shufei was the foster mother of the Seventh Princess. She loved the Seventh Princess very much and treasured her like her own eyes. She did not change even after she gave birth to the Eleventh Princess. Now that she had lost her beloved daughter, she fainted from crying and could not eat for several days. As for the biological mother, Concubine Zhou, she fell ill due to excessive grief. Li Beichen promoted her to Concubine Zhou as an exception to comfort her.

Jiang Yuebai was devastated by the news of her daughter's death and showed signs of miscarriage. Fortunately, she had the system's pregnancy-preserving pills. Otherwise, it was very likely that either she or the child would die.

It was customary for the first month of the eighth year of Jingchang to bring rain and dew to everyone equally. Li Beichen was in grief over the loss of his four children and had no interest in visiting anyone.

In the four months of February, March, April and May, Li Beichen favored each of the nine newly sent foreign girls several times according to their ovulation periods. Among them, the Korean princess was given a pill to stimulate ovulation, which was not a natural pregnancy. Four of the nine people became pregnant one after another. The Korean princess was named Li Fei. The Jurchen noblewoman was named Yan Wanyi; the daughter of the Tatar tribal leader was named He Fei. The blonde Persian woman was named Yangpin.

Apart from the morning court and these routine favors, Li Beichen and Jiang Yuebai were almost inseparable. He accompanied her wholeheartedly as she prepared for delivery and started the baby-raising mode.

Jiang Yuebai gave birth to the ninth prince, Li Chengkun, ahead of schedule on March 12th.

After giving birth to four children, I decided not to have any more. If I had known I could have so many children, I would not have taken the pills to increase my fertility. But who can predict the future? I can only make decisions based on the situation at the time.

It’s just that many times, after finishing the work with protection, I fell asleep exhausted, but in the middle of the night, I continued to entangle with too much passion and too many unexpected situations.
I couldn't make up my mind to use the sterilization medicine.

Li Beichen said: "It's better not to use it. This kind of medicine will definitely hurt your body. Anyway, I'm leaving soon."

Since then, we have been taking very strict measures.

His headaches became worse and worse, and he couldn't sleep all night. He took more medicine than food every day, and acupuncture and massage couldn't relieve it. It was like a tumor in his brain. Only when he was entangled with Jiang Yuebai, he forgot everything around him and his headaches could be relieved.

Li Beichen used his remaining little energy to spend time with his children.

He still took the prince to the morning court every time, and answered the prince's questions after the court. He also took him with him to the meetings in the Qinzheng Hall. He taught the prince how to be a man and a king. He taught him how to identify people and use them, how to listen to words and distinguish sounds, how to read and choose books, how to review memorials, how to appreciate poetry, how to get along with family members, and how to live a good life.

He shared everything he knew.

In the remaining time, he would gather all the little princes together in Jiang Yuebai's "kindergarten", read books and play games with them, try his best to give each little prince fair attention, and spend more time with them.

He would also take a group of princes and princesses to the imperial garden to learn about various flowers, make garlands, whistle, observe various insects, and do many interesting things.

At night, it was time for Jiang Yuebai and he and his wife. They reviewed memorials, read books, played chess, drew pictures, accompanied the newborn Xiaojiu, chatted about various things, reminisced about the past, and discussed parenting and raising children.
The two of them seemed to have endless things to say. Sometimes they did it, sometimes they didn't. Although they were still passionate and happy, they no longer did it over and over again like before. They didn't do anything, just cuddled each other to sleep, and it felt good to wake up together in the morning.

They kissed goodnight every night before going to bed, and held hands every night before going to sleep. They woke up the same way.

On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, they worshipped their relatives together. They drank together, without talking, but silently missed them. In just six years, they lost so many of their loved ones.

Later, the two of them disguised themselves and went to the Puro Temple to burn incense, went to the city to have a meal, listened to a play, strolled around the streets, and acted like ordinary people.

Jiang Yuebai spends a lot of time dressing up beautifully every day, just to let Li Beichen see her beautiful side. Li Beichen and his children are full of starry eyes and praise her every day.

Li Beichen often pushed Jiang Yuebai to sit on the swing, and their laughter could be heard from far away. They didn't care at all whether it would reach other people's ears or whether others would be jealous.

Li Beichen felt his vitality slipping away, and felt the weakness and fear as death approached. He became more and more fascinated by the vigorous vitality in Jiang Yuebai.

One day, Concubine Ye De was playing chess with Concubine Meng. Concubine Meng asked, "The Emperor has been favoring the Empress for two months and has not turned over a single card. He even didn't summon the Empress."

Concubine Ye De said calmly: "In the emperor's heart, except for the queen, everyone else is nothing."

Mengpin smiled flatteringly and said, "The Queen is already 22 years old, how can she be as pretty as Sister Hua."

After she entered the palace, she was favored several times a year, and she took the medicine she was supposed to take, but her stomach was not moving at all. Others who had slept with the emperor less frequently than she did were pregnant, and even the barbarian woman who had just entered the palace was pregnant. She was very unhappy.

Concubine Ye De slammed the black piece in her hand onto the chessboard and smiled coldly, "Disrespectful to the Empress. Twenty slaps in the face! Get out!"

Mengpin was stunned, "Sister Huafei."

"Don't call me sister. You don't deserve it." Concubine Ye De sneered.

Mengpin walked out of Yaohua Palace, covering her swollen face. She just couldn't understand why the emperor had been doting on the queen for two months, so why weren't the high-ranking officials jealous? It was incomprehensible.

In August, Li Beichen suddenly fell ill and lay dying in bed. He suffered frequent headaches, which made him roll around on the bed in pain, wishing he could die.

Can't think, can't sleep.

He went to the Imperial Observatory to ask for an auspicious day for the prince to ascend the throne, which was August 18th.

He still insisted on attending the morning court, but on August 5, he had a headache so severe that he rolled off the throne, frightening the court officials. He announced that he was not feeling well and needed to rest for a few days.

In the next few days, Jiang Yuebai was the one reviewing the memorials. Even though Li Beichen was seriously ill, she would still respectfully read the contents of the memorials and her comments to him. Then he would occasionally make suggestions for revisions and point out the routines and key points of Jiang Yuebai's handling of such matters.

When the court officials came to the Qinzheng Hall, Jiang Yuebai respectfully recorded and handled them. Li Beichen didn't talk much anymore, always holding his head and rubbing his eyebrows, occasionally commenting. Jiang Yuebai basically handled everything.

When the court officials had objections, Li Beichen angrily rebuked them without hesitation.

He doesn't care, he doesn't care about anything anymore.

Sometimes he felt conflicted, as the woman in front of him was so capable, so quick to learn, and clearly superior to him in her ability to react and make decisions on many political matters. He admired her and loved her, but he couldn't help but be wary of her and anxious about the possibility of a change of dynasty in the future.

He is traditional and hopes that the world belongs to their son and that his surname will always be Li, not Jiang.

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, there was a palace banquet at noon and a family banquet at night. It was still hosted by Concubine Lu.

During the palace banquet, Li Beichen, having taken powerful analgesics, appeared to be in high spirits and full of energy. He toasted the guests and was very friendly.
At the dinner, Concubine Lu was promoted to Concubine Lu to thank her for her management over the years. Concubine Nianhui was promoted to Concubine Nianxian, and Concubine Ye De was promoted to Concubine Ye Shu.

All the concubines sent by the Oirat side were promoted by two levels. Among them, the legitimate daughters of the two clan leaders who gave birth to children were named Anfei and Jingfei respectively, and the daughter of another small tribe was named Qian Guipin.

On July 7, Concubine An gave birth to the tenth prince, who was named Li Chenghe;
On July 29, Concubine Jing gave birth to the fifteenth princess, who was given the name Li Zixi.

On August 1, Concubine Qian gave birth to the eleventh prince, who was named Li Chenghai.

Li Beichen required each concubine to improvise their personal talents this year.

After everyone had performed a show, they led everyone to the platform to enjoy the moon.

Li Beichen sat on a high platform, with fruits and vegetables in front of him, surrounded by beauties, and Jiang Yuebai sitting next to him. Jiang Yuebai was holding the three-year-old Fifth Princess in his arms, and the sleepy Second Princess was leaning against his side.

He suddenly felt very tired and couldn't help but grab Jiang Yuebai's hand, then let go and touched the heads of the two princesses. Then he interlocked his fingers with Jiang Yuebai again.

"Jiaojiao, I'm so sleepy. I'll take a nap first."

He smiled at Jiang Yuebai, kissed her forehead as if no one was around, and said in a deep voice, "I love you."

Jiang Yuebai looked back at Li Beichen tenderly, "If you're sleepy, take a nap first."

Li Beichen has been suffering from insomnia these days. Now he took the initiative to say that he was sleepy and wanted to sleep, which was really rare. Today, because everyone was performing, everyone was noisy until very late. It was already past ten o'clock when they came out to enjoy the moon.

According to Yuan Tianshi's prediction, he should have another two months to live. Jiang Yuebai didn't realize anything was wrong and was even a little happy.

Jiang Yuebai found a thin blanket and covered Li Beichen with it.

However, after a long time, it was past twelve o'clock, and the emperor was still sleeping. During this process, Jiang Yuebai had already ordered the guards to escort the pregnant concubines, princes and princesses back in sedan chairs. Concubine Lu made arrangements and everything went smoothly.

Because the emperor was sleeping, those who stayed behind did not dare to leave or speak loudly. They could only eat melon seeds and whisper in his ear.

Concubine Lu covered her mouth and leaned close to Jiang Yuebai's ear and said, "Your Majesty, do you think you should wake the emperor? It's getting darker outside and the dew is heavy. It's easy to catch a cold."

"Yes." Jiang Yuebai handed the pine nuts in his hand to the two sisters who had just woken up from sleep, "Don't get stuck. Eat slowly."

"Thank you, mother." The second princess said sweetly.

The fifth princess imitated her elder sister and said in a sweet voice, "Thank you, mother~~"