XH 163 - Return me my touched feelings!

The next morning after the welcome banquet for Doctor Bai, the Emperor held the morning court and informed everyone that the Second Prince will be married in a month's time; the date chosen was a good day for marriage.

The Emperor had sent his head eunuch to inform the Empress, who was currently receiving morning greetings from the other concubines. Everyone had assumed that Concubine He would be absent again after a night with vigorous exercise with the Emperor, but surprisingly she turned up without looking tired.

Concubine He humbly accepted the good wishes from other concubines even if they were spoken in a half-hearted manner.

The Empress gave Concubine He a warm look that was the polar opposite of how she felt when she offered her congratulations. "The royal family will increase a member soon. Concubine He must get along well with the Second Prince's Princess Consort and teach her the palace rules on my behalf."

"This concubine will listen to the Empress," Concubine He agreed submissively. Since she had won this round, she will not make trouble for the Empress for today. But her belly certainly was an eyesore to her.

"One month is enough time for a normal wedding to be organized, but this is our Second Prince's wedding and need to be carefully prepared. Concubine He, this matter will be handled by you. If you face any difficulties, your sisters will help out. Just say the word."

"Thank you, Your Highness. This sister will thank everyone first and will trouble you in the future."

The concubines were all smiles, but naturally, there were some concubines that do not wish for their husband's other woman to be happy and decided to throw in some wood to increase the fire.

"This concubine would have thought it's the Crown Prince and Third Prince that would get married first, with plenty of good ladies charmed by them. Your Highness, this concubine recently heard of some disturbing news that the Third Prince has the same interest as the Fourth Prince when it comes to females."

"Oh, Concubine Rong! That is just rumors. Why would you be so silly as to believe them? You would anger the Empress for slandering the Third Prince."

Concubine Rong sneered inwardly at how Concubine Su sounded nice, but her heart was black. She swiftly put on a concerned expression. "This concubine does not know they are rumors! Your Highness, please forgive this concubine's ignorance."

Another concubine decided to speak up. "Ignorance only works if you are truly so. Who here does not know what you wish to do, Concubine Rong?"

"This concubine does not know what you meant, Concubine Xia." Concubine Rong wanted to slap these two-faced concubines. They shared the same thoughts as her, yet they mercilessly painted her as the only one with that thinking and try to push her down the cliff! 

"If the Emperor sees fellow sisters arguing, he would be sad." The Empress finally cut in, no longer feeling patient to watch their play. Her mind was occupied with the appointment with Doctor Bai later. "Concubine Rong, this Empress will clarify the rumors today in hopes that there will be no more worries."

Before Concubine Rong could speak up, Concubine Xia had already taken the initiative to further whitewashing her own image. "This sister apologizes for the trouble, Your Highness. In fact, this younger sister is clear that the Third Prince is innocent and would never be interested in a maid." Concubine Xia's appearance would easily get other's pity if she was not displaying it in the harem that was filled with two-faced ladies.

"Even if you have that thought, this elder sister believes that not everyone shares the same thought. The rumor about the Third Prince liking a servant is actually the truth."

Sharp feminine gasps filled the room. Concubine He knew that the rumor was true, but she was actually surprised that the Empress would actually admit it when she should have concealed this embarrassing fact.

The Empress remained indifferent at the concubines' response. "The Third Prince's personal maid is actually Doctor Bai's daughter. The truth is, this matter is not officially announced yet and the Emperor would not want this matter to spread around. The Third Prince indeed has plans to marry Doctor Bai's daughter in the future, but the discussion had yet to take place."

The female with the most power in the room smiled down at the women that shared the same husband as her. "This elder sister would tell younger sisters about this because we are a family."

Who in this room could miss that underlying threat under the Empress' heartwarming declaration? Each has their own thoughts on why the Empress would tell them about this, but one thing they were certain was that the Empress was using them to inform their family not to have any ideas to approach Doctor Bai's daughter for marriage or they will face difficulties. 

"Your Highness, please rest assures that we will not spread the news. For the Third Prince to have such a great fortune, please accept this younger sister's good wishes," Concubine Xia offered sweetly.

The rest of the concubine offered their congratulatory wishes as well, with even more impressive vocabulary than they offered to Concubine He.

The annoyance in the Empress' heart was satisfied when she noticed Concubine He's dark expression that was nearly hidden under her generous expression. After that, the Empress dismissed the crowd and headed to the room where the Emperor will be meeting Doctor Bai. She arrived just a second before the Emperor, who had first freshened up after his morning court before coming over.

Inside the room, Doctor Bai, the 19th Emperor, and Xiao Hua were already waiting. The newly formed father and daughter stood up as the Emperor and Empress entered the room.

"Greetings to the Emperor and Empress."

The Emperor waved them to sit down before looking at Doctor Bai with a friendly gaze. "Doctor Bai, are you comfortable with Peach Courtyard? If you need anything, We will do our best to provide it."

Xiao Hua: Spoken just like a hotel manager!

"Thank you for allowing me to stay at your residence. The courtyard suits me and my daughter well."

"You could have stayed at my place. It's certainly much better than the guest courtyard," Long Yuen complained.

The 19th Emperor has his own personal courtyard in the palace, which was the one he had stayed during his ruling days. The 20th Emperor had built a completely new courtyard and harem pavilion when he takes over the throne, refusing to take over the 19th Emperor's courtyard.

The 19th Emperor's harem had disbanded after he stepped down from the throne, setting them free and gave them enough money to live comfortably outside the palace. They were not allowed to remain in the palace since they were not the Empress and the Emperor will be traveling around the world alone.

The 20th Emperor's biological mother had died once he entered the world and the 19th Empress had died in depression after her son, the crown prince had died. The 19th Empress knew it was the 20th Emperor that killed the crown prince, but she could not get revenge for her son for the sake of Guilin Country that needed an Emperor.

That anger and depression caused her to wither away, choosing death in the end and reunite with her son instead of continuing living and watch the 20th Emperor living happily. The 19th Emperor did not blame his wife for choosing that path, for they have gotten married for politics with no love between them, but he still mourned for her when she passed. With thirty years of marriage, it was not easy to remain heartless after experiencing countless hardships together.

"I would prefer to spend more time with my daughter in peace." Doctor Bai refused.

"I want to spend more time with my granddaughter too!"

"Long Yuen, are you beginning to get infected by memory loss? Hua' Er is my daughter and Princess Long Lian is your granddaughter. Fortunately, the princess isn't in attendance today or you would hurt her fragile heart."

"What rubbish you saying! I'm still young! You are the one with the memory loss with how much older you are!"

Doctor Bai ignored his good friend and turned to the Emperor. "Your Majesty, I've asked for this meeting is to clear things up about my daughter."

The Emperor laughed. "If Doctor Bai is worried about your daughter's marriage, We decided to allow Long Zhu to marry Miss Bai. We can see how much our son loves Miss Bai."

"That indeed solved one of my concerns. But the reason why I requested a meeting with Your Majesty is to clarify that Bai Hua is actually adopted by me two days ago by blood. It would not be good if this is not clarified before the marriage and have someone use it to create trouble for the young lovebirds."

Once again, the Emperor and Empress turned speechless. The Empress quickly realized that Doctor Bai was the one her son had asked for help in adopting Xiao Hua so that he can marry her without any complaints from anyone!

The Empress laughed, unable to hold back the feeling of disbelief and the fact that her son was able to achieve the impossible. What shocked her the most was her son able to have Doctor Bai adopts Xiao Hua by blood instead of by name.

You have to know that with adoption by name, the guardian can easily revoke it. But when it comes to blood adoption, there was no way to revoke it! Xiao Hua will be a Bai clansman until her death, accepted by the Bai ancestors as their own descendent!

"Empress?" The Emperor stared at his wife warily.

"I apologize for my rudeness. I am just laughing in relief for Long Zhu," the Empress gave a half-truth excuse, quickly regaining her composure.

The Emperor accepted the excuse and proceeds to question Doctor Bai. "Doctor Bai, We want to know why you did not make it clear yesterday."

"Please, do not get me wrong. I treat Bai Hua like my own daughter and did not regret the adoption. I believe there is no need for everyone to know the truth, except for important people."

Long Yuen laughed. "Old Bai, why not just admit you are lazy to entertain everyone's question?"

Doctor Bai spared his friend a glance. "I may not interact spend most of my time among the society but I retained my tact but it seems to be missing from you the older you get."

The 20th Emperor felt touched that he was considered important to Doctor Bai, even if he knew that it was because he was Long Zhu's father. But his heart was quickly smashed in the next second.

The 20th Emperor: '...' Return me my touched feelings!