Chapter 473: Court
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling regretted it so much. Just because she said that her stomach hurt, she was now confined to the bed by Qi Haoran and made to rest for three days. If she hadn’t flared up and said that she would explode from anger if she didn’t go out for a walk, Qi Haoran wouldn’t have let her go out.
Qi Haoran protected Mu Yangling in the courtyard like a hen protecting a chick. The servants were already used to it and walked past calmly. When they bowed and greeted her, their voices were so gentle that they could barely be heard.
This was because when Mu Yangling went out this morning, a young lass happily bowed and greeted her loudly. At that time, glad to be finally out, Mu Yangling was gazing at the blue sky and white clouds with a hint of melancholy, so she was shocked by the loud greeting.
Qi Haoran, who was shielding her, immediately realized it and glared at the girl. He wanted to punish her, but under the glare of his wife, he could only reprimand her and send her away. However, the servants had learned their lesson and tried their best to keep their voices low when greeting Mu Yangling.
Regarding this, Mu Yangling no longer had the strength to complain. At this moment, she was standing in front of a stone bench and watching as Qi Haoran instructed someone to place two cushions on it. Only then did she sit down with Qi Haoran’s careful help.
Mu Yangling looked at Qi Haoran worriedly. “When are you going to court?”
Qi Haoran replied absent-mindedly, “Don’t worry, I’ve applied for leave. I can accompany you at home for a long time. You just have to take care of yourself. I’ll take care of everything outside…”
“You’re by my side 24 hours a day. When have you ever taken care of things?” Mu Yangling couldn’t help but get angry. “Let’s take a step back and say that even if I’m really pregnant, do you really plan to stay by my side for nine months like this? My health is even better than Sister-in-law’s, and I didn’t see Big Brother being so anxious about her back then.”
“Regardless of whether you take a step back or take a step forward, you’re definitely pregnant.” Seeing Mu Yangling frown, Qi Haoran pursed his lips. “Even if I can’t accompany you for nine months, I have to be by your side for the first three months at least, right? After three months, when the fetus is stable, I’ll go to court.”
Mu Yangling looked at the careful Qi Haoran and her heart suddenly softened. She didn’t know if it was because she was really pregnant or because Qi Haoran pampered her, but her temper was getting increasingly worse. She almost flared up at Qi Haoran three times a day.
If this had happened to another man, the couple might have fallen out long ago. Suddenly feeling a little guilty, Mu Yangling’s heart softened and she started to speak to Qi Haoran nicely.
Spring and Rain were dumbfounded. Wasn’t their mistress too temperamental?
However, Qi Haoran felt very happy. Physician Sun had long said that pregnant women had unpredictable tempers. Sometimes, they would do strange actions because they were pregnant. In his opinion, Mu Yangling’s bad temper was a sign of pregnancy. Since her temper became better all of a sudden, she was definitely pregnant.
In his opinion, being pregnant was already hard enough on Mu Yangling. It was all because the baby in her stomach was naughty that she was so temperamental. Qi Haoran felt that if he wanted to settle the score, he would only beat the child up after he was born.
Hence, not only was Qi Haoran not angry, but he was actually delighted. Of course, he did not dare to show it on his face, afraid that Mu Yangling would flare up again.
Mu Yangling asked gently, “But you can’t always take leave. There are still five days before the diagnosis. Why don’t you go back to court first? Anyway, I’ll stay in the residence and not go anywhere.”
Qi Haoran shook his head.
Mu Yangling continued to persuade him gently, “What are you worried about? Isn’t Mama Wang around? She’ll take good care of me. Even if she doesn’t, there’s still Sister-in-law.”
Qi Haoran continued to shake his head.
Mu Yangling made a face and ordered, “I don’t care. You have to go to court tomorrow. If I still see you loitering in the courtyard when I wake up tomorrow, I won’t eat.”
Frowning, Qi Haoran said, “But I’ve already applied for seven days of leave from His Majesty. If I go back now, won’t I have wasted my vacation days?”
“I only look at the results, not the process.”
Qi Haoran could only sit at the side and think in distress. After a while, he said reluctantly, “Then you have to promise me that you’ll rest well at home, eat well, and not go out…”
Mu Yangling agreed to all of those conditions.
At this moment, she finally heaved a sigh of relief. It felt good to lie on the bed and rest, and it felt awesome to be taken care of. However, if there was someone beside you who constantly forbade you from getting out of bed, worried that you’d catch a cold when you opened a window to check out the scenery outside, you wouldn’t feel all that happy.
After three days like this, Mu Yangling felt that she had already reached her limit.
The next day, Qi Haoran put on his court attire and dazedly left the residence. Upon leaving, he realized that he was the only one bringing Fei Bai along. He asked Steward Zhao, “Isn’t Father going to court?”
Although the father and son rarely spoke, they left the residence at about the same time every morning. Qi Haoran rode a horse and Qi Feng sat in a carriage. As his son, he had to go forward to pay his respects. No wonder he felt that he had missed out on something today. It turned out that he had not paid his respects to his father.
Steward Zhao was slightly awkward. “Fourth Young Master, Master received the decree to follow the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs south four days ago.”
“Oh.” Qi Haoran looked at the sky and said in realization, “It’s already winter.”
Every year, when the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs assessed officials, in addition to the grades given by the officials to their subordinates, they would also be inspected from time to time. The inspection was mainly led by imperial censors, while the officials of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs assisted them. They inspected the officials and gave them an evaluation. The results given by the imperial censors accounted for one-third of the officials’ resumes. It seemed that the Emperor had named Qi Feng this year.
Qi Haoran pursed his lips imperceptibly. It had been five years since his father had received such an errand. He wondered what the Emperor’s intentions were for sending him.
Qi Haoran rode his horse unsteadily towards the palace while letting his imagination run wild. However, he soon lost the energy to think about this because he felt that everyone was very strange.
Before entering the palace, most of the officials he met on the main road greeted him and then looked at him seriously. Even those who did not greet him would secretly glance at him. There were even officials sitting in the carriage in front who lifted the curtain and leaned out to look back at him.
At first, Qi Haoran could still deal with it calmly, but after this happened a couple of times, he could not maintain the smile on his face. He simply pulled a long face and rode forward without looking sideways. Fei Bai followed behind him, breaking out in cold sweat.
When they reached the entrance of the palace, Qi Haoran threw the horse to Fei Bai and said in a low voice, “Go and find out what happened in the past three days when I wasn’t out.”
Fei Bai agreed with a straight face.
As soon as Qi Haoran stepped into the hall, the discussions of the ministers stopped. Then, a breath later, everyone became lively again. They still gathered in groups of twos and threes to talk. Some ministers stood alone at the side.
However, Qi Haoran still realized that many people were staring at him. Some of them were even chatting and laughing with the people around them while looking at him. With a stern face, Qi Haoran scanned the crowd and saw his uncle standing at a spot behind him. Just as he was about to walk over to find out what was going on, the sound of a whip rang out.
Helpless, Qi Haoran could only go to his seat and stand still.
After the Emperor sat down and began to ask about court matters, Qi Haoran raised his head slightly to observe the people in the hall. Not knowing what had happened, he could only speculate from everyone’s reactions. He wondered if there was a problem at the border.
What Qi Xiuyuan was going to do was like a knife hanging above Qi Haoran’s head, making him constantly afraid. But at the same time, it lit up a fire in him. As long as it wasn’t that this matter was exposed, he felt that nothing else was a problem. Seeing that although everyone had different expressions, yet there wasn’t a solemnness or wariness about it, Qi Haoran felt slightly relieved.
He had just relaxed when he heard the Emperor’s slightly curious voice. “Minister Qi, why are you at court?”