The Emperor's Favorite (Dropped)

17. Summer Heat

The photo I used as the chapter cover is
Imperial Concubine Xian, aka Ling Xue, dancing for the Emperor.
The photo I used it's not mine, credit to the rightful owner.

–

Imperial Concubine Rong was resting in her personal garden, it was a sunny day, in the afternoon all of the concubines, minus Consort Hua, and the Royal children will depart to the Autumn Royal Palace, even the Empress Dowager will come, trying to escape the summer heat.

Imperial Concubine Rong was currently two months pregnant, when her maiden clan, the Liang, heard about her pregnancy, they immediately started to pray for a Prince, saying that she would be the mother of the Fourth Prince; a lucky number, since the current Emperor was the previous Fourth Prince.

But the thing that her mother and father, the Minister of Internal Affairs, didn't predict, was that both Noble Consort Xi and Imperial Concubine Chun are eight months pregnant, meaning there is a high possibility that one of them will birth a Prince, 'I hope both of them will be Princesses, if it's a boy I pray he will be a stillborn.', thought Imperial Concubine Rong.

Even if now she's an Imperial Concubine, meaning that it's a middle-ranked concubine, she's still far behind the four Consorts, Zhen fei, Hua fei, Xi gueifei, Qi huang gueifei.
All of them have more than one Royal child, and even if Consort Hua doesn't have a Prince, she's still has a powerful clan behind her, like all of the Consorts.
'But I still have a chance, – thought Imperial Concubine Rong, – If I give birth to a Prince, I might be promoted to Consort! There is still two empty spots for the Consort position!'

Meanwhile, Consort Zhen was nursing her son, the Second Prince, meanwhile the Fifth Princess was sleeping. In only three months, the little Princesses have grownup so much, both of them now have more distinct figures, both resembling Jiao Wei and the Emperor.
The other maids were busy packing their master's belongings and theirs, since soon they will depart to the holiday in the Autumn Palace.

"NiangNiang has spent these nights with the
Emperor! a baby might be born soon!" said mockingly one of the maids; Jiao Wei, after laughing, replied, "Now it's too early, we will get to know the Third Prince while we're at the Autumn Palace, since all the Royal children will come with us, – then, Jiao Wei briefly stopped, looking and smiling at the Fifth Princess waking up, – Now please take the Fifth Princess and Second Prince back to the nursery, and remember to add a crib and all the essentials for the Third Prince before departing, since when we will come back, the Third Prince will already stay with us."

"Shi, NiangNiang" replied the maids, as they retired with Jiao Wei's children.

At the same time, the Emperor summoned to his private study in the Dragon Hall, currently empty, Noble Consort Xi and Imperial Concubine Chun.
The two concubines, when they got the oral Imperial Decree of summoning in the Dragon Hall, were quite scared and worried if they did anything wrong, but when they encountered eachother at the Side Gate of the Dragon Hall, they knew the Emperor wanted to speak to them regarding their pregnancies and trip to the Autumn Palace, since both of them reached the eight month of their pregnancies, there is a high possibility they will give birth to the Royal children during the holiday in the Autumn Palace.

Noble Consort Xi and Imperial Concubine Chun waited for the Emperor permission to enter, after the eunuch announced them, "Announcing Noble Consort Xi and Imperial Concubine Chun arrival."
The Emperor gave his permission for the two concubines to enter, after greeting with a bow, the oldest concubine started to speak, "This concubine wonders why His Majesty called us.", asked Noble Consort Xi.