Following the death of the crown prince, the Dragon Throne was up for grabs. Of the remaining eight palace masters who had claims to the throne, only the Wuyang Palace Master, Grand Chancellor Liu Yichen, openly showed his interest in taking over the role of the heavenly emperor.
And so, Liu Yichen was crowned as the new emperor across the nine layers of heaven. To celebrate his coronation, he held a seven-day banquet and invited all of his supporters.
Neither the coronation ceremony nor the banquet was attended by Supreme General Zhang Fengxi.
In fact, the Longjing Palace practically withdrew itself from political affairs and focused on one and one person only -- the newborn baby that Xie Jianyu left behind.
"Little Prince, please hold on," Mingyu's eyes were swollen from crying too much. She held the baby's tiny hand in hers.
Midwife Chen replaced the cold cloth on the baby's forehead and sighed.
Outside, a servant announced the arrival of Zhang Fengxi. He came in a moment later with his mother Lady Song in tow.
"The baby has been sick for days now," Lady Song informed her son. "I have summoned all the capable royal physicians one after another, but their predictions are all too grim..."
Ever since the day Xie Jianyu died, Zhang Fengxi had not had a day of peace.
His only son, the son he did not know existed, seemed to be hell-bent on following his mother to the afterlife.
Against protests from Mingyu and Midwife Chen, Zhang Fengxi took the baby into his arms.
The man rolled his eyes when accusations were hurled in his direction.
If he wanted to harm the baby, he would have done so the day he caught a glimpse of the weak infant.
Zhang Fengxi sat cross-legged on his seat and infused the infant with some spiritual energy. It was not going to heal him, but it could at least provide some relief. As expected, the baby's breathing became even and he fell asleep in Zhang Fengxi's arms.
"Tell me what you know about your master and his pregnancy," Zhang Fengxi told Mingyu. "I want to hear all of it."
Mingyu had a lot to say. In the past, she kept holding back because her master prevented her from spilling even a word. Now, she was determined to grant her master some justice.
"My master found out that he was pregnant in his third week of pregnancy. At that time, our palace physician told him that his body was not suitable for giving birth. He will have to pay very good attention to his health and avoid strenuous activities."
Third week.
Calculating the time backward in his head, Fengxi tried to recall the few encounters he had with Xie Jianyu at that time.
He remembered that Xie Jianyu started skipping work and staying a lot at his palace around that time.
His lackadaisical attention to his duties as the crown prince earned him a lot of critics.
So that was when he found out that he was pregnant.
"When he was three months pregnant, he almost had a miscarriage. The physician said that he was under a lot of pressure. It was good for neither the mother nor the baby, so he was put on bed rest from then on."
Three months.
That was around the time when his Wenyuan passed away.
Zhang Fengxi's eyelashes fluttered from distress when he recalled the event.
Liu Wenyuan fell into the cold Crystal Jade Lake by accident. Instead of helping, Xie Jianyu only stood on top of the bridge and watched as Liu Wenyuan slowly drowned to the bottom of the lake.
It turned out that Xie Jianyu was pregnant at that time. Even if he was not at risk of losing the baby, no pregnant person should jump into the cold lake.
When asked to pick between Liu Wenyuan's life and his own son's life, who would Xie Jianyu pick? Of course his own son's life. And also his own life.
But what did Zhang Fengxi do when he found out what happened? He blamed Xie Jianyu for Liu Wenyuan's death. And Xie Jianyu took the accusation without trying to defend himself. Not even once.
Mingyu started sobbing when she continued telling the story.
"His Majesty the Emperor became suspicious of my master's seclusion, so he came to visit and found out about the pregnancy. When he found out that my master was pregnant with Your Majesty Supreme General's baby, he forced my master to abort the baby, but my master refused to. He... He..."
Midwife Chen patted Mingyu's shaking back sympathetically.
"His Majesty the Emperor stripped the crown prince title off my master and sentenced him to house arrest until the baby was born."
Zhang Fengxi raised his head and pinned Mingyu with a stare.
"That is not right," he said. "Xie Jianyu remained the crown prince until his death. His title was never renounced..."
It soon turned out that Mingyu's version of the story was quite accurate.
Before the seventh day of the celebration concluded, Shuiran Palace Master, the Fire Guardian Jiang Muchen marched into the Golden Dragon Palace. Equipped with an official decree that appointed him as the crown prince, he was there to reclaim the throne from the usurper.
Additionally, he had secured the support of the other five palaces behind him.