Ling Lihua sighed. What else could she say?
“I’ll go to the frontier with Shenzhi tomorrow. Please take care of Weiwei, Mother.”
“Weiwei’s my granddaughter; of course I’ll take good care of her. Don’t worry,” the Dowager Duchess promised.
Seeing that the matter had been settled, Zhao Qian returned to the palace to report back to the Emperor.
“You two should get packing now so you can leave as early as possible tomorrow,” the Dowager Duchess urged.
“Of course,” Lu Hetian answered respectfully as he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then we’ll go back now,” added Ling Lihua.
“Very well. Off you go.” The Dowager Duchess waved a dismissive hand.
At night in the palace.
Lu Liangwei ate dinner alone as Long Yang did not come back. He merely asked Zhao Qian to inform her that he might not be coming over that night and that she should have dinner and go to bed early.
Given the critical situation at the frontier, Lu Liangwei knew that the Emperor was probably snowed under with work. According to Chu Jiu, he had already called for quite a few meetings with the court officials to discuss important matters.
He was probably going to spend the night in the imperial study.
“Miss, you should stop reading and go to bed early, or you’ll hurt your eyes.” Seeing that it was getting late, Zhu Yu dutifully entered the room to urge her to sleep.
Lu Liangwei yawned and passed the book to her.
After putting the book away, Zhu Yu turned back to help her mistress.
Despite the staggering size of Lu Liangwei’s bump, she had not gained any weight, so her huge stomach was actually quite a shocking sight.
Whenever Zhu Yu served her, she made sure to be extremely careful.
It was especially difficult for Lu Liangwei to lie down now; she always needed someone to help her.
After helping her lie down, Zhu Yu said, “Miss, His Majesty’s probably not coming back tonight. Shall I stay and keep you company?”
Lu Liangwei thought for a while, then nodded. “All right. Then I’ll have to trouble you tonight.”
Zhu Yu grinned. “Thanks to His Majesty, I haven’t been able to watch over you at night for a long time. Tonight, my wish can finally be granted.”
Lu Liangwei burst out laughing. “How is keeping watch at night a pleasant job?” It was especially troublesome now that her stomach was so huge. She would get up frequently at night, and it was the Emperor who had always helped her.
To be honest, ever since she entered her third trimester of pregnancy, the Emperor had never gotten a good night’s sleep.
“I enjoy serving you, Miss,” Zhu Yu said sincerely, “and I’m not afraid of hard work. I will still have to take care of my young masters or mistresses after they’re born.”
Lu Liangwei chuckled. “Well then, when that time comes, you’d better not complain of exhaustion.”
“I won’t utter a single word of complaint,” Zhu Yu said with a grin, then added, “All right, I’m going to leave you to rest. Go to sleep now, Miss.”
“All right.”
Zhu Yu blew out a few lanterns in the bedchamber and only left when Lu Liangwei was finally asleep.
At midnight, Zhu Yu heard the main doors open.
As she needed to keep watch on her mistress, she did not dare to sleep too deeply, hence she was awakened the moment the doors opened. Thinking that it was her mistress wanting to go to the lavatory, she shot up out of the bed.
However, before she could see who it was, she heard an intimidating voice. “You may leave, Zhu Yu.”
When Zhu Yu recovered her senses, the Emperor’s figure had already entered the bedroom.
Realizing who it was, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhu Yu knew that the Emperor disliked having others keep watch on the bedchamber, so she deftly got up and left.
After exiting the room, she glanced up at the sky. It was probably already the fourth session of the night watch. She was surprised that the Emperor had bothered returning at this hour—he must have been truly concerned about Miss.
The Emperor really held Miss dear to his heart.
Zhu Yu was delighted for her mistress.