Faithful Heart (Flesh of my Flesh...Blood of my Blood 2)

Chapter 85

Riding a large, white cloud, Donghua and Feng Jiu returned to the Nine Heaven's Summer Palace and turned into purple mist as they passed through the palace's gates, rolling forth towards Tai Chen Palace. Donghua was careful in smoothing out the transition for her as they materialize at the palace's steps, conscious of her sensitivity to motion. As her feet landed on the ground, Feng Jiu waited for nausea to come and sighed in relief when nothing happened.

Zhong Li, Third Prince, Si Ming with Crown Prince, with a delegation of maids and guards, waited for them at the Tai Chen Summer Palace gates, bowing as they climbed the stairs. Feng Jiu did notice the strained look on Third Prince's face, furrowed brow and clenched hands. Troubled brewed in the Nine Heavens, and she felt Donghua was reading his mind.

They had not been gone for three months, and already the place was falling apart without Donghua's guidance. Crown Prince was as stoic as ever, but Feng Jiu heard Ah Li playing with Xinji in one of the courtyards. Her Aunt and Cheng Yu were probably inside, she thought and looked up to her husband when he turned.

"Lady Wife, why don't you join Lady Cheng Yu and your Aunt in the kitchen?" said Donghua and Feng Jiu knew at once that whatever was about to discuss, she really did not want to hear it, else he would not be sending her away.

"I am going to make a desert," said Feng Jiu and walked away to her private kitchen, Bao and a retinue of maids following at her heels. It was perhaps cowardly of her to turn away and not hear the report, but there was little she could do. This was Donghua's responsibility.

"Serene Highness, it is so good to have you back. All the maids have been working extra hard to secure Tai Chen Palace. We found and checked the background of no less than five midwives," said Bao with a happy face, and Feng Jiu knew it meant that any servant or maid that had not previously served Donghua for the last hundred thousand years was gone.

"Thank you, Bao," said Feng Jiu and beamed, thinking about how it was time to prepare a room for her to spend with GunGun the first hundred days after his birth. "In the evening, we will pick a room and prepare the place for the birth."

"Serene Highness, your Lady Mother, sends bolts of silk for the Royal Heir's wardrobe, and I stored them away so you may meet with the seamstress to prepare the clothing."

"How has everything being since we were last here with my Lord Husband?" Feng Jiu asked and saw a shadow cross Bao's eyes.

"Terrible things have happened... it was getting difficult without His Lordship in charge," Bao said cautiously, and Feng Jiu nodded as they crossed the water lily ponds filled with koi fish towards her private kitchen. "Crown Princess Consort and Third Princess are waiting, Serene Highness," Bao said as she opened the kitchen door and Feng Jiu spied armed guards at the corners of the kitchen.

"Bao, are we in danger?" Feng Jiu asked, her senses scanning the vicinity.

"No, but we are extra cautious, Serene Highness. The Nyan that attacked you was my fault. I should have sent guards to keep you safe." Bao said and bowed her head in apology. "You were gone, and His Lordship had a terrible look on his face."

Feng Jiu nodded after having the sense that Donghua was pouring magic into the shields of Tai Chen Palace. "None of it was your fault, Bao. It was a trial decree by the Heavens that no one could have stopped." She said, and Bao nodded as she walked inside the kitchen.

Cheng Yu and Bai Quian waited for her inside, both heavily pregnant, sitting by the marble roundtable Feng Jiu had placed by the large windows overlooking her garden. A smile spread over her face, it had been a long time she had last seen them, and she missed them dearly.