Chương 759: The Crown Prince's Babysitter in Preparation

The storyteller was about to recount the Spring and Autumn Annals, but as soon as he struck the gavel, the audience shouted in unison to stop him:

"Forget about the Spring and Autumn Annals! Tell us about the Crown Princess's pregnancy! We love to hear that!"

"Yes! Talk about this!"

The storyteller struck his gavel, smiled, and continued, going with the flow:

"Please don't be anxious, everyone. I just heard about this from a palace eunuch brother. It's fresh and hot right now!"

It is said that yesterday His Majesty and his family were having dinner in the Ganlu Palace. The Crown Princess had just taken a sip of soup when she gagged. His Majesty immediately decided to summon the two renowned physicians, Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing.

Upon taking her pulse, it was indeed a sign of pregnancy! Our Crown Prince was so happy that he immediately hugged his Crown Princess and spun her around like a child who had just received candy!

I spun around and around, almost making myself dizzy!

The audience erupted in laughter, with someone slamming their fist on the table and shouting, "His Highness the Crown Prince is truly a man of character!"

"Of course! When the imperial grandson grows up, he will surely be a kind and approachable ruler!"

"One more story! Tell us some funny tales about His Majesty and the Empress from back then!"

The teahouse was filled with laughter and chatter, ten times more lively than usual. The tea servers were running around, and the teapots were practically steaming from being lifted so much.

As soon as the news spread, the shops on the street all benefited, and their businesses became incredibly popular.

That very day, the silver and jewelry shop displayed all the longevity locks, safety buckles, and small silver bracelets on the most prominent counter, each one polished to a gleaming shine.

The shopkeeper was all smiles. He had sold more than a dozen longevity locks in just one morning. These were all prepared by wealthy families to be given as gifts when the emperor's grandson turned one month old.

The shopkeeper specifically instructed the shop assistant: "Go to the workshop quickly and tell them to make more longevity locks and small silver bells, and to make the best quality ones!"

"Make another batch of small gold locks, pure gold; some wealthy families will definitely want them! We have to seize this opportunity!"

In the fabric shop, sales of soft satin, silk, and cotton thread for making children's clothes doubled.

Especially the bright red and bright yellow soft satin, which sold the fastest, were bought to make small clothes and quilts for children, to share in the joy.

The shopkeeper specifically instructed his assistant to order more bright red and bright yellow fabric, and even lowered the price by two coins, as a token of goodwill.

Even at the City God Temple, the number of people burning incense and praying for blessings has increased by 30% compared to usual.

Most of them came spontaneously from the common people, praying for the Crown Princess's safe delivery, for the Emperor's grandson to be healthy and intelligent, and for the Han Dynasty to be prosperous and peaceful.

The amount of money donated for incense was much higher than usual, and the temple keeper couldn't stop smiling.

Grandpa Zhang, who sells candied hawthorns on the street, coated each skewer with an extra layer of sugar that day, and also picked the biggest and reddest hawthorns.

A little girl with pigtails took a bite of a candied hawthorn skewer, looked up at it, and asked:

"Grandpa, why are the candied hawthorns so sweet today? Much sweeter than yesterday!"

Grandpa Zhang patted the child's head and said with a smile:

"Today is a joyous occasion for our royal family. The eldest grandson of the emperor is coming. Here's some extra candy for you, so you can share in the good fortune!"

"When the eldest grandson is born, Grandpa will give you extra sweets!"

The little girl giggled and skipped away, holding her candied hawthorn stick.

The entire city of Luoyang, from the imperial palace to the marketplace, from high-ranking officials to ordinary citizens, was immersed in a soft, joyful atmosphere.

After all, the country has been at peace for the past few decades, with bumper harvests, railways reaching every province, and more and more factories being built, making people's lives better day by day.

The birth of a child in the royal family is a good omen for ordinary people, signifying a prosperous and long-lasting dynasty.

Who doesn't hope their country gets better and better?

Ever since Xu Jingxian became pregnant, the world in the Eastern Palace has completely changed.

The former Eastern Palace was the Crown Prince's "office," with memorials, maps, and account books piled up in the study, official documents everywhere, and the air filled with the smell of ink.

Liu Chen was a well-known workaholic. He would go to court before dawn and then spend all his time in the government offices after court. Sometimes he was so busy that he would eat dinner at the government office and not return to the Eastern Palace until midnight.

Now, things have gotten really bad; the Eastern Palace has completely become the "pregnancy safety headquarters," with everything revolving around the Crown Princess.

Liu Chen was the first to change his schedule.

It used to be "work first," now it's "wife first."

He leaves court on time every day, and if he can finish the affairs of the eight ministries in the morning, he will never leave them until the afternoon. He will never take on the burden himself if he can delegate it to his subordinates. In the afternoon, without fail, he returns to the Eastern Palace to accompany his wife.

When the other princes invited him to have a drink or discuss military affairs, he always waved them off, shaking his head vigorously.

"No, no, I have to go back to the East Palace to be with my wife. She's pregnant, and I'm worried about leaving her alone."

You all go ahead and have your drinks, I won't go. I'll treat everyone after the baby is born.

The Third Prince patted him on the shoulder with a smile and teased him, "Big brother, you're spoiling your wife too much! You used to refuse when we invited you to drink, but now you're completely obsessed with her."

Liu Chen didn't mind and chuckled, "That's different. My wife is pregnant and needs someone to take care of her. There's no rush to drink. There's no time to rush."

After saying that, he turned and left, walking very fast, as if his wife would run away if he was even a step too late.

The princes all laughed at him, calling him "the Crown Prince's babysitter in preparation," but Liu Chen didn't get angry and just happily accepted it.

The kitchen in the Eastern Palace was completely renovated with a new set of recipes for pregnancy support.

The menu, jointly designed by Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing, clearly outlined what could and could not be eaten, and what supplements were needed at each stage of life. It was posted on the kitchen wall like an imperial edict.

The imperial kitchen specially sent two chefs to prepare a variety of dishes every day, including sour, spicy, light, and appetizing dishes, just in case the Crown Princess suffered from morning sickness and lost her appetite.

Today I make plum juice, tomorrow I make osmanthus cake, and the day after tomorrow I make spicy and sour bamboo shoots, changing the recipe every day.

Liu Chen even went to the imperial kitchen to learn how to make sour plum soup and steamed osmanthus cake from the head chef, saying he wanted to make them for his wife himself.

The first time he made sour plum drink, he put in too much sugar, making it unbearably sweet. He took a sip himself, and his face scrunched up like a bun, as if he had eaten a bitter pill. He frowned and poured it all out.

The second time they steamed osmanthus cake, the fire was turned up too high, and the bottom was all burnt. A burnt smell filled the kitchen. The palace maids thought there was a fire, so they rushed in with buckets of water. They found the Crown Prince standing by the stove with his face covered in soot, looking like a cat covered in soot.

The palace maids were shaking from trying not to laugh, and Liu Chen himself was quite embarrassed, scratching his head: "It's nothing, it's just that I got a little too angry, let's do it again."

The third time I kneaded the dough, my arms were covered in flour, my face was white, and there was some flour on my nose, making it look like I had a white pockmark.

After struggling for three or four days and failing five or six times, he finally managed to serve up a decent bowl of plum juice.

He presented it to Xu Jingxian like a treasure, his face still smeared with flour, a small red mark on the back of his hand, but his eyes were bright and sparkling, like a puppy waiting for praise.

"Try it! It'll definitely taste good this time! I asked Doctor Zhang, and he said that drinking this in early pregnancy is good for the appetite and won't harm the body."

I added dried plums, hawthorn berries, and licorice root, and chilled it for a while. It was lukewarm, not too cold for my stomach.

Xu Jingxian took a sip; the sweet and sour taste was just right, and the discomfort in her stomach immediately disappeared.

She smiled and nodded, her eyes curving into crescents: "It's delicious, my husband's cooking is really good. It's even better than what the imperial kitchen makes."

"Really?" Liu Chen's eyes lit up, and he grinned like a fool.

"Then I'll make it for you every day! I'll make as much as you want!"

Xu Jingxian looked at the red mark on the back of his hand, felt a pang of heartache, took his hand, and gently touched it:

"Don't make it anymore, be careful not to burn yourself. Just let the chef do it. I appreciate your kindness."

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt," Liu Chen said nonchalantly.

"As long as you like it, what's a couple of scalds?"

The palace maids and eunuchs of the Eastern Palace were on high alert, each one as light as a feather.