ASTRP -Chapter 244 He Actually Wants the Prince to Choose Concubines

The wet nurse had already been waiting at the side, holding a milk bottle.

“Princess Consort… please take a rest.”

“Didn’t the imperial physician already check your shoulder yesterday?”

“He said you can’t keep the same posture for too long. Please hand the little princess to me.”

Xi Qingli Yue refused, a hint of irritation in her voice.

“Wasn’t it you who said a child must be raised personally? That if you don’t raise them yourself, they won’t be close to you?”

“And now you want me to hand her over? Slapping your own words in the face?”

The wet nurse hurriedly slapped herself once.

“This servant deserves to die… but you really can’t tire yourself out like this.”

“Look, you haven’t even done your hair and makeup. What if His Highness comes later and blames us for exhausting you?”

Xi Qingli Yue still refused.

“I don’t need makeup. The Prince won’t care about that.”

The wet nurse was sweating nervously, thinking this mistress truly knew how favored she was and had become a bit willful because of it.

Right now, Xi Qingli Yue only looked at the baby more and more lovingly, unable to resist wanting to kiss her.

She had finally experienced the joy of being a mother.

She suddenly remembered how, when she was little, she would fall and cry, and her mother would rush over to pick her up.

Others would say that even if she was a child, she shouldn’t be so delicate.

Now that she had her own daughter…

Xi Qingli Yue treated her like something that would melt in her mouth and shatter in her hands.

The wet nurse said this was just how mothers were.

If you weren’t a mother, you would never understand.

“Princess Consort, you can switch hands if you want. It’s better to use the uninjured shoulder than to strain the injured one.”

Xi Qingli Yue still didn’t want to disturb the baby’s sleep, so she refused to switch hands.

At that moment, the Prince walked in.

“Who is so disobedient? I told you to rest and you still refuse?”

Everyone immediately knelt.

“Your Highness.”

Xi Qingli Yue was about to bow, but the Prince quickly stopped her.

“Yue’er, didn’t I already say there’s no need for that?”

“Between us, things are still the same as before.”

He even said that in the palace, they would live just like they did in the Prince’s estate.

The servants of the palace were all stunned—they had never seen anything like this before.

But later, they got used to it.

The Princess Consort was deeply favored—truly blessed by fate.

“All of you, rise. And leave.”

“Yes.”

Soon, the vast palace hall was left with only the family of three.

“You’re still injured, so don’t hold her,” the Prince said.

“It’s fine, Your Highness. It’s just a little soreness.”

“I’m not that delicate anymore.”

The Prince laughed.

“You’re not delicate? You’ve been holding her in the same position for a whole month and your shoulder still hurts.”

Xi Qingli Yue gently kissed her daughter’s cheek.

The Prince looked envious.

“Let me hold her.”

“Your Highness, isn’t it usually women who hold babies? What are you joining in for?”

“She’s my child. I’ll hold her if I want.”

The baby was sleeping soundly and peacefully, and the Prince truly adored her.

He gently traced her little nose, her eyes, and her tiny mouth that was slightly drooling.

“Our baby really looks like me.”

Xi Qingli Yue immediately disagreed.

“Doesn’t she look like me at all?”

Just then, a maid came in with a tray.

“Your Highness, which palace will you be staying in tonight?”

The Prince waved his hand.

“Still the same—Unending Palace.”

That year, he had taken several concubines. He hadn’t wanted to, but the Empress Dowager insisted.

She said a regent prince with only one consort was one thing, but a prince could not be the same.

At that time, even Xiao Jinghan said nothing, so he had no choice but to agree.

For Xi Qingli Yue’s peace of mind, he never touched any of those concubines.

The maid sighed inwardly.

A prince who only favored one person—truly rare in the world.

He even stayed in the Unending Palace all the time.

“You… should at least distribute your favors equally.”

Distribute his favors equally… nonsense.

That was what the Prince thought.

Even if he went, he would just sleep.

Purely sleep.

Nothing else.

But if he went, even if he did nothing, Xi Qingli Yue would still be unhappy.

So every time, he only said two words:

“Not going.”

“Alright, leave.”

“Yes.”

The Prince looked at the baby again.

“Yue’er, look—her eyes are just like mine, her nose too, her mouth too…”

Xi Qingli Yue frowned.

“Is there nothing like me?”

They argued for a while, until the baby puckered her lips as if she was about to wake up.

They both quickly shushed each other into silence.

The Prince wanted to hand the baby to the wet nurse, but Xi Qingli Yue refused.

He felt a little jealous.

“We haven’t had any time alone together for so long. What’s wrong with letting the wet nurse take her for a while?”

“The wet nurse understands better than us. She won’t hurt the baby.”

Xi Qingli Yue bit her lip.

“But what if she stops being close to me in the future? What will I do then?”

The Prince thought: so that’s what she was worried about.

He took her hand and led her to sit on the bed.

Playing with her fingers lightly.

Life now was good.

He truly didn’t want anything to change.

“Yue’er, today in court, Imperial Uncle said that after the baby is born, he and Imperial Aunt will leave Jing Nation.”

Xi Qingli Yue wasn’t surprised. They had always known Xiao Jinghan and Feng Jingge wanted a free and ordinary life.

“Your Highness, do you miss Imperial Uncle?”

“No,” the Prince shook his head.

“Imperial Uncle said that after he leaves, I should take care of Yuer…”

“He’s still young. There are many state affairs he can’t handle yet. In the future, I might have less time with you.”

“And the Empress Dowager still wants me to take concubines.”

Xi Qingli Yue acted indifferent.

“Then take them. You’ve already taken a few this year anyway.”

“It doesn’t matter if there are a few more.”

Those concubines were never forced upon Xiao Jinghan, and the young emperor was still small, so they could only pressure him instead.

The Empress Dowager’s catchphrases could even be recited by heart.

“Back in the previous emperor’s time, at seventeen…”

“The emperor before that at sixteen…”

Xi Qingli Yue knew the Prince would never touch those women.

Now that she was a mother, she even felt a little sympathy for them.

“Yue’er… I came to discuss countermeasures with you, not to hear depressing words.”

“I’m not being depressing. You don’t like them anyway, so what’s the point?”

“So I really don’t care. Besides, you and I already have a daughter…”

The Prince suddenly felt something was wrong.

“So you’ve got a daughter and you don’t want me anymore?”

“…!”

The Prince turned and looked at her with a smile.

He clearly did not agree with that at all.

“When women give birth, they can’t share a bed for six months. I only waited half a month and you already refused me, saying you need to take care of the baby.”

“So now we haven’t been intimate at all. You’ve truly forgotten me because of our daughter!”

Xi Qingli Yue rested her chin on one hand.

With the other, she flicked his forehead.

Fortunately, no one saw this.

Otherwise, they would think the Prince was being disrespected.

Who would dare treat a prince like that?

“You… you’re already a father. How are you still jealous of your own daughter?”

The Prince grabbed her hand and kissed it.