Although all the officials attending the morning court session had eavesdropped on the inner thoughts of Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian, everyone was still half-skeptical about the matter.
It was not until half a month later that definitive news came out from the Marquis of Dingyang's Residence: the marchioness of their household had been pregnant for half a month.
This time, the entire Capital City was in an uproar.
Who wouldn't be excited upon hearing such a thing?
Regardless of whether it was in ancient times or modern times, the age of the Marquis's Wife was that of a grandmother!
Yet now word came out that she was pregnant?
Was this definitely not a fantasy?
Even some households that had been married for many years and likewise failed to have children sent their domestic servants outside to inquire, asking the servants of the Marquis of Dingyang's Residence which temple their marchioness frequently went to burn incense.
Later, nobody knew where it spread from, but everyone in the Capital City knew that the reason the Marchioness of Nanyang could still become pregnant at this age was entirely thanks to that little commandery princess of the Prince of Beiping's Residence.
Consequently, calling cards and invitations delivered to the Prince of Beiping's Residence piled up in the hands of the doorman like snowflakes.
The Prince of Beiping doted on his wife and couldn't bear to beat his daughter, so he simply requested leave from the emperor, taking his own wife out to soak in hot springs and clear their minds.
On the second day after the old man took his mother to the hot spring villa, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian also requested leave from the emperor.
Their Begonia Garden had already completed its renovation, and the actors performing the plays had also thoroughly practiced their acts.
Thus, they deliberately chose an auspicious day, once again inviting a dragon and lion dance troupe, riding the imposing Big Yellow, and circling the city three times to publicize our Begonia Garden.
By the time they finished their publicity and walked to the Begonia Garden, a very long line of people was still following behind.
Most of them were pages and maidservants from various officials' households; after all, currently the only medicinal wine capable of getting people pregnant was in the hands of this little commandery princess.
They had previously rushed over to ask the little commandery princess if there was any more medicinal wine for sale, saying they were willing to purchase it at five times the original price.
However, the little commandery princess smiled sweetly at them, revealing a row of dazzling white teeth, and said with a beaming smile: "The product hasn't launched yet, the one from that day was just a trial batch."
Upon learning of this matter, the emperor returned to the inner palace and hugged the empress while laughing heartily.
Sure enough, his eye for people was flawless; look, the medicinal wine that others desperately wanted to buy yet couldn't obtain was freely given to him by that girl Luoshui.
Having finally waited for the grand opening of the little commandery princess's new shop, the pages-who had long since been instructed by their respective masters from various estates-immediately perked up. They were determined to help their masters snap up the medicinal wine sold in the little commandery princess's shop, and nobody was going to stop them!
Returning to the shop, the crowd who had originally only intended to come and watch the excitement froze in place at the sight of the buildings that had suddenly appeared here.
This place was so luxurious it rivaled a prince's residence?! Weren't the little commandery princess's actions today practically investing the entire family fortune of the Prince of Beiping's Residence here?
Stepping inside the shop, they discovered that it was actually even divided into a male guest zone and a female guest zone.
In truth, the interior layouts were largely identical; it merely segregated male and female patrons.
Each zone contained a theater stage, a blind box shop, a food shop, and a leisure area.
In the leisure area, one could play leaf cards or get beauty treatments and manicures.
It was only after contacting these spirits and ghosts that Wenren Luoshui learned that over half of these phantoms were actually transmigrators who had crossed over during the previous dynasty.
However, the previous dynasty was tough to get by in, and basically none of them survived even half a year here before kicking the bucket due to all sorts of reasons.
After death, they couldn't return to their original worlds, and with no ghost-catchers coming to claim them, they could only drift about the mortal world in the state of wandering spirits.
It wasn't until later, when they encountered my junior granduncle and his classmates, that they finally found a place of refuge.
Yesterday, the eldest and third sisters-in-law of the Yun Family had received news sent by the younger sister stating that the shop she co-owned with the little commandery princess of the Prince of Beiping's Residence was opening today.
Therefore, the two sisters-in-law of the Yun Family brought their respective daughters out to show support for the family's youngest sister.
Only after coming here and truly experiencing it for themselves did they realize how wonderful this place was.
Putting aside whether the staged plays were good or not, even the small snacks provided while watching the plays were quite delicious.
That thing called milk tea was sweet, and inside there were chewy things; eating it down into one's stomach gave rise to a feeling of physical and mental delight.
If one grew tired of sitting, they could also head to the leisure area, lying on chairs while having people massage and relax them.
The massage techniques here were far more comfortable than when the domestic servants in the estate hammered their legs.
After coming here to experience it for themselves, quite a few people actually developed the thought of not wanting to go home.
Places where women could go to have fun were already scarce to begin with, and this place was simply tailor-made for women.
Naturally, there were also those who were solely intent on buying medicinal wine.
These people basically bought the medicinal wine and ran off, without a shred of hesitation.
Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian had only prepared a hundred bottles of medicinal wine; once sold out, they closed the doors directly, paying no heed to whether there were still customers inside the storefront.
"Little Sister, Commandery Princess Luoshui, come quickly, come quickly."
The eldest and third sisters-in-law of the Yun Family waved at us, and seated beside them were three little maidens somewhat younger than us.
All five of them held a cup of milk tea in their hands, and seeing them, they hurriedly waved them over.
Yunjian dragged Wenren Luoshui as she sprinted toward them, Wenren Luoshui terrified that she wouldn't be able to brake in time and would crash right into them.
"Eldest Sister-in-law, Third Sister-in-law, how is it? Isn't this place fantastic?"
The eldest sister-in-law of the Yun Family nodded, her temperament leaning toward gentle and graceful, and her smile carried the air of a matriarch.
As for the third sister-in-law, her personality was relatively lively and rather outspoken, the sort who spoke her mind whatever it might be.
"It's quite nice, you have far too many fun things here. If I were still an unmarried maiden, I'd definitely run over here every single day."
Third Sister-in-law was evidently extremely satisfied with this place, her tone brimming with envy.
"If both sisters-in-law like it, you might as well just stay here; if Eldest Brother and Third Brother dare to scold you, I'll stand in front of you, and if they dare to beat me, I'll cry."
Yunjian really couldn't get used to the pitifully scant recreational activities of ancient women.
It was one thing to write poetry, paint, and play the zither at home, but when going out to attend banquets, those same few activities repeated at the banquets as well.
The mere thought of it gave her a headache.
The sky was blanketed with starlight as a luxurious carriage traveled through the tranquil city.
Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian were dozing off inside the cushion-lined carriage, with me resting my head on Yunjian's shoulder, and Yunjian's head resting on Wenren Luoshui's head.
In precisely this posture, accompanied by the swaying of the carriage, the two of them kept knocking on Master Lu's door.
A thoroughly disheveled woman stumbled out from a street corner; she likely hadn't expected that at this dead of night, there would still be a carriage in the city, and failing to brake in time, she was struck by the horse's head.
Although the coachman had already reined in the horses in advance, their braking distance was insufficient, and the woman dressed in moon-white robes was still struck by the horse.
Feeling the abnormality of the carriage, Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian immediately snapped out of Master Lu's domain, lifted the carriage curtain, and before they even had time to ask what had happened outside, the coachman answered their question first.
"Commandery Princess, Little Lord Yun, a woman just accidentally got hit by the villain."
Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian stepped down from the carriage, arrived by the woman's side, and after inspecting her, felt a weight lift from their hearts.
The other party had merely fainted, with no fractures on her body.
The hour was also getting late, and most medical halls had already closed their doors, so we brought the person back to the prince's residence.
The next day when I and Yunjian returned from the morning court, we discovered that the woman they had brought back yesterday was currently arguing with a man in front of the residence gates.