The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

After Xie's mother settled down in the palace, Rumu, the midwife assigned to Xie Yuzhen, and other palace maids also moved into Shouning Palace one after another.

There were two midwives, one named Sun and the other named Zhou.

When the two came to pay their respects to Xie Yuzhen, they both had the same flattering smile on their faces. Midwife Sun was dark-skinned, short, and a little plump; Midwife Zhou was of medium build, wearing a two-finger-wide gold bracelet on her hand. She had more elegant manners and looked very gentle and steady.

After the two of them paid their respects, Xie Yuzhen gave them some reward money and asked the palace servants to take the two midwives to their residence.

"This Zhou looks like she is well-educated, but I don't know why she became a midwife." Mother Xie waited until the two men left before she expressed her doubts to Xie Yuzhen.

Xie Yuzhen said: "Maybe the family has fallen into poverty?"

The families who could afford to send their daughters to school had some assets and the parents were not too conservative. The job of a midwife was not very prestigious and was mostly done by older women of lower social classes. The midwives who were selected by the Shanggong Bureau had family members living in the capital or its suburbs. The most important thing was that they had a clean family background; whether or not they had an education was secondary.

However, it was rare for a woman who spoke in a rather elegant manner and behaved like someone who had received etiquette education to be a midwife. Xie Yuzhen called Baoxi, who had brought them back from the Shanggong Bureau, and asked him, "What is the origin of this Zhou, and how did she become a midwife?"

The two young eunuchs in Jinghua Tower were not given important positions. Every time Xie Yuzhen remembered that he had something to ask or instruct them, Bao Xi and Bao Lu were very attentive.

Bao Xi bowed and said, "My lady, Zhou's family has been practicing medicine for generations. Her father is a doctor at Renxin Hall, and her mother was also a female doctor. The couple had only one daughter and taught Zhou all their medical skills. She was not originally a midwife, but a female doctor specializing in women's diseases. If she encountered other daughters-in-law who had difficulty giving birth, she would also help or give some advice."

"I see." Xie Yuzhen nodded.

The title of female doctor is much more respectable than that of midwife.

"According to the rules of the palace, most women below the rank of concubine are only assigned a midwife and a few palace maids to help when they give birth. But His Majesty and His Majesty both value our lady, so they made an exception and asked the Shanggong Bureau to add an extra female doctor to look after her." Bao Xi said with a flattering smile.

Xie's mother at the side had more questions to ask: "Has Zhou ever been married? Does she have any children? If so, who is her husband's family? What kind of people are they? What about their children? If she has never been married, what is the reason?"

Bao Xi was stunned by her question before she answered, "I have never asked that. The Shang Gong Bureau must have thoroughly investigated the candidates and found no mistakes or inappropriateness, so they summoned her to the palace."

The young eunuch's face turned pale, realizing that he had not done his job properly. He quickly knelt down and prostrated himself on the ground: "Madam, please forgive me, Madam, please forgive me, it was my carelessness..."

Xie Yuzhen looked at his mother, then at Baoxi: "Okay, get up, go to the Shanggong Bureau and ask about the situation in Zhou's family in detail."

Seeing that Xie Yuzhen was not going to punish him but gave him a chance to make amends, Bao Xi breathed a sigh of relief, thanked him repeatedly, wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried out.

"Something is wrong." Xie's mother frowned.

Xie Yuzhen touched her belly, looking quite relaxed: "No matter how many things are wrong, as long as we know about it in advance and stay alert, no matter how many tricks she has, it will be difficult for her to hurt me!"

Unless the person behind the scenes could break through the heavy protection of the palace servants and rush into the delivery room with a knife and kill herself directly at a speed faster than her own system could load the game, Xie Yuzhen was confident that her plan would be in vain.

But...unless it comes to the last resort, Xie Wei really doesn't want to reload the game and have a child again.

"Call Baolu and ask him to go to the Shanggong Bureau and get the records of Sun and Zhou. Then..." Xie Yuzhen tapped the table lightly, "Let's do this for now."

"Yes, my lady." Chunfen knelt down and replied, but she was still a little confused, "I can also ask for you..."

The little girl's doubts were a little sour, and Xie Yuzhen looked at her with a smile: "It can be regarded as a test for the two of them. Our Chun girl is different from those two."

Chunfen's face blushed, and she turned around and walked out with happy little steps.

"The Shang Palace Bureau... can it be trusted?" Seeing that her daughter still had the energy to tease the little palace maid and didn't look nervous at all, Xie's mother couldn't help but want to knock Xie Ruizhen on the head and tell her to stop keeping the secret in front of her old mother.

"Don't worry, mother. I have a plan in mind. In two days, when His Majesty comes to Shouning Palace, I will use him to investigate the family members of Sun Zhou and the other two outside the palace... This is the most reliable way." Xie Yuzhen said slowly.

She was a suspicious person, so how could she let her guard down when it came to such a big thing as giving birth?

When Bao Xi first entered Jinghua Tower, he once secretly contacted a palace servant from an unknown palace at night. Although he has not made any unusual moves since then, Xie Wei will never forget it easily.

Although Baolu was usually very diligent and careful in his work and seemed to be a loyal person, he was the godson of Eunuch An, the head of the Imperial Study. Xie Yuzhen didn't like him very much. When Concubine Zhang, who also came from the Imperial Study, entered the palace, he became even more wary.

No matter what news these two young eunuchs brought back from the Shanggong Bureau, Xie Yuzhen did not believe it.

The Yongjia Marquis's Mansion had not been built yet, so he could not extend his hands out of the palace and could only go and take advantage of the emperor's land.

"It's good that you have a plan. But if you want to do something, give your mother a hint in advance and don't scare me." Xie's mother could tell at a glance that her daughter seemed to have some bad intentions. That expression was exactly the same as when she was a child setting traps with Jun Yuexin and her siblings to catch birds.

He is a little bit naughty, a little sinister, and full of malice, but in Xie's mother's eyes, he is very playful and cute.

"Mother, you just need to let it go peacefully." Xie Yuzhen said, "Well, I'm afraid you will have to take care of Tan Nu when the time comes, and don't let anyone take advantage of the chaos to attack him."

Mother Xie frowned: "Tan Nu is not of royal blood, how... Yes, I understand, but... Don't you want me to accompany you in the delivery room?"

"If you were with them, how would they dare to do anything?" Xie Yuzhen hugged her mother's arm and acted coquettishly.

If her guess was correct, and someone really wanted to do something to her while she was giving birth, then both Xie's mother and Tan Nu would become her targets.

Although Tan Nu was not of royal blood, he was Xie Cairen's biological son and eldest son. If Tan Nu was harmed while she was giving birth, she would be heartbroken and something terrible would happen. The reason for targeting Xie's mother was even simpler. As a mother, if she had entered the delivery room to accompany the birth, how could she not pay attention to every detail of her daughter's delivery and become an obstacle that the person behind the scenes had to remove before taking action?

"As long as you are all safe and take care of yourselves, that will be the greatest protection and encouragement for me." Xie Yuzhen said in a delicate voice, leaning on her helpless mother, with a cold light flashing in her eyes.