Chapter 96 – Rebirth: The Poisonous Concubine (37)
Bai Mo’s agricultural endeavors in the Northwest were thriving, and the Bai and Yu families had written to inform him that they had settled in well. Everything was going smoothly.
By contrast, the capital was becoming increasingly turbulent. The emperor’s health was failing, and the struggle between the princes had come fully into the open. Now, even neutral courtiers were being forced to pick sides—refusing to do so could mean disaster for their entire families. However, even those who did choose a faction weren’t guaranteed safety. Political rivals attacked each other relentlessly, making every day a perilous gamble.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuyan was nearing childbirth, and her demeanor had grown even darker. As she stood in the courtyard, gazing at the rare clear sky, she listened to the latest news from the servants. When they mentioned that “the people adore Bai Mo,” she clenched her hand so tightly that she snapped her carefully manicured nails.
Her once-delicate face twisted with fury, sending a chill down the spines of the watching maids.
Miss was becoming more terrifying by the day.
Suddenly, as if struck by some realization, Wei Yuyan laughed. A glint of madness surged in her beautiful eyes, and her once-sweet voice dripped with malice.
“Let them live a few more days.”
The chilling intent in her words left the servants too afraid to even entertain rebellious thoughts.
…
“Your Highness, the Third Prince has woken up.”
A palace maid rushed in to report. The Jingyang Palace, where the Third Prince resided, was already under Wei Yuyan’s complete control. With the emperor unwell and the empress dowager having fallen ill after visiting him, she had been forced into seclusion within the Cining Palace.
Wei Yuyan frowned. Lan Gaoyi had woken up? Did the medicine fail?
But after a moment’s thought, she smirked. It didn’t matter. The entire palace was in her hands.
If he was awake, so be it—being conscious would only make his suffering all the more unbearable.
“Let’s go have a look.”
Supported by her maid, Wei Yuyan stepped into the chamber.
Lan Gaoyi sat weakly on the bed. He was no longer surrounded by filth, but after days of being confined there—eating, drinking, and relieving himself in the same place—even the most diligent servants couldn’t fully erase the lingering stench.
The saying goes: ‘When enemies meet, their eyes burn with hatred.’ But the animosity between Lan Gaoyi and Wei Yuyan had long since surpassed simple enmity—they utterly despised each other.
Lan Gaoyi’s gaze fell upon Wei Yuyan’s prominently swollen belly. His gaunt face twisted into a mocking grin, his voice dripping with venom.
“Your little bastard is about to be born, isn’t it?”
The prime minister’s daughter—pregnant with a child whose father was unknown.
How utterly pathetic.
Wei Yuyan’s expression changed slightly, but she refused to show weakness. She sneered, “All thanks to you—your selfless sacrifice, really. My son will replace you in every way: your power, your status, and even your throne. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you—according to the imperial physicians, medicine is always somewhat poisonous. You’ve taken far too much of it. For the rest of your life, you’ll never be able to have children.”
With a casual shrug, she spoke as if she were merely sharing a joke with a friend.
And indeed, what a cruel joke it was.
A man being cuckolded by his own woman—what man could tolerate such a thing? But really, who could he blame? Lan Gaoyi had brought this upon himself. As a parting gift, Wei Yuyan had given him a dose of infertility medicine. For the rest of his life, he would never father a child of his own.
How does that feel? Infuriating, isn’t it?
A serpent must be struck at its weakest point. Power had always been Lan Gaoyi’s lifeblood, but now he had lost even his ability to produce an heir. Even if he did ascend to the throne, without a successor, the empire would eventually fall into someone else’s hands. And that was the one thing Lan Gaoyi could never accept.
As his memories of the past few months slowly returned to him, the weight of his suffering and the devastating news of his infertility struck him like a thunderbolt. The once-weak and despondent patient suddenly erupted in rage.
With a furious bellow, he shoved aside the palace attendants standing between him and Wei Yuyan and lunged at her, wrapping his hands around her throat. His grip was so strong that he pushed her backward until her back slammed violently against the wall. A dull pain spread through her belly, and as her airway constricted, her face turned red from lack of oxygen.
“You wretched whore—I’ll kill you! Die! Die!”
His voice was low and guttural, seething with unrelenting hatred. And in that moment, Wei Yuyan knew—he truly intended to kill her.
Driven by sheer survival instinct, she clawed desperately at his hands, but as a pregnant woman, she was already physically weaker than him—let alone now, when she was suffocating.
Only when she completely lost the strength to fight back did the stunned palace attendants finally snap out of their daze. Screaming, they rushed to call for help and tried to pry Lan Gaoyi away.
But the furious prince was unstoppable. One maid who dared approach was struck down immediately. Another followed and was swiftly beaten as well.
No one knew how many people it took to subdue him. Only when Wei Yuyan’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed into unconsciousness did the physically drained Lan Gaoyi finally lose his strength and allow himself to be dragged away.
…
Wei Yuyan went into premature labor due to the incident and was urgently carried to a side hall. Even though she had passed out, the imperial physician forcibly revived her with golden needles.
Upon hearing the news, the Prime Minister’s wife hurried into the palace, only to be faced with a difficult decision.
“Prime Minister’s wife, the concubine suffered severe trauma. Not only is she in premature labor, but the fetus is also in the wrong position. The royal heir cannot be delivered naturally. I’m afraid…” The imperial physician hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.
Saving the mother or the child—this was an age-old dilemma.
If no political interests were involved, the Prime Minister’s wife would have undoubtedly instructed the physician to prioritize saving the mother. But Wei Yuyan had not married an ordinary man—she had married into the royal family. And in the imperial household, the heir always took precedence. No matter what happened to the mother, the child had to survive.
“Save them both. Neither the concubine nor the prince can be lost.” The Prime Minister’s wife refused to make a choice—or perhaps, she simply did not dare to.
“This… I will do my utmost,” the physician said with a bow before retreating to discuss a strategy with the midwives.
Entering the delivery room, the Prime Minister’s wife took Wei Yuyan’s hand in hers and offered encouragement. “Yuyan, hold on. Every woman must endure this trial. Once you get through it, you’ll never have to suffer again.”
Of course, Wei Yuyan understood exactly what she meant. She did not want to die. She still had ambitions—she wanted to rule from behind the curtain, to rise above all others.
Biting down on a ginseng slice handed to her by a maid, she suddenly noticed several unfamiliar old attendants entering the room. Before the Prime Minister’s wife could question them, the leading woman spoke.
“His Majesty has sent us to assist the concubine with her labor. The delivery room is filled with heavy bloodshed—Prime Minister’s wife, it would be best if you stepped outside.”
The power struggle between the Emperor and the Prime Minister had already reached its peak. There was no way the Emperor would send people to help Wei Yuyan give birth. The only explanation was…
“That won’t be necessary. I have experience in childbirth, and I will stay by Her Ladyship’s side.” The Prime Minister’s wife refused to back down, fearing that if she let her guard down for even a moment, these people would harm her daughter.
The old attendants exchanged glances, then suddenly, several of them lunged forward and restrained the Prime Minister’s wife.
“Since you wish to watch, then watch.” The lead attendant strode toward the bedside.
A terrible premonition surged in the Prime Minister’s wife’s heart. She struggled desperately and shouted, “What are you doing?! Stop!”
As the Prime Minister’s wife cried out in distress, the old attendants forcefully massaged Wei Yuyan’s abdomen. This was a labor-inducing technique, but it caused immense harm to the mother’s body—eight out of ten women subjected to it would hemorrhage and die after childbirth.
“You… what are you doing…” Wei Yuyan was in so much pain that she could barely complete a sentence. Her face was drenched in sweat, and with each brutal press of the massage, her complexion grew even paler.
“Yuyan—!” The Prime Minister’s wife wailed in agony.
Then, as the newborn’s cries filled the room, the light in Wei Yuyan’s eyes faded. Her grip on the attendant’s hand loosened and fell limp.
The old attendant wrapped the child in swaddling cloth and handed him over to the midwife before leading the others away to report their success.
“Yuyan, my daughter…!” The Prime Minister’s wife threw herself onto the bedside. The woman lying there had died with her eyes wide open—a testament to her hatred and unwillingness to accept her fate.
Wei Yuyan’s sudden labor had caught the Prime Minister off guard, leaving him no time to switch the baby. Fortunately, the child was also a boy—a later exchange could still be arranged.
Wei Yuyan was dead. The Prime Minister’s wife was utterly devastated. Before she was sent out of the palace in a daze, the Emperor summoned her for a private audience. He spoke with an unmistakable undertone:
“Jinguo belongs to the Gao family, but the imperial palace will forever remain under my control.”
His words made it clear—he had seen through all their schemes.
Everything they had plotted was within his grasp. In the end, she was nothing more than a joke, and her daughter had become the greatest sacrifice.
Upon returning home, the Prime Minister’s wife saw her husband completely unaffected by their daughter’s death. Instead, he was only concerned with gathering information about the young prince.
A deep, bone-chilling coldness spread through her veins. She suddenly felt as if she had never truly known the man who had shared her bed for the past twenty years. Wei Yuyan was his daughter too.
She said nothing, drowning in the grief of losing her child. Even when a concubine gave birth to a son and deliberately humiliated her during her postpartum period, she barely reacted.
To outsiders, it seemed that the Prime Minister’s wife had been utterly broken by the tragedy—so devastated that her heart had died along with her daughter. If not for the fact that Wei Yuyan had left behind a young prince, they believed she would have taken her own life to follow her daughter.
At the Prime Minister’s insistence, she used the excuse of visiting the young prince to enter the palace again and again.
And before the prince’s first-month celebration, she quietly and seamlessly switched the two children.
As the child being taken to the full-month celebration was carried out by the old attendants, the Prime Minister’s wife sat at the banquet with an unreadable expression, her gaze vacant and unfocused. The Prime Minister paid her no attention—her task was complete, and she was no longer of any use to his future plans.
By custom, a concubine had no right to enter the palace. Yet, at this moment, one was clinging to the Prime Minister’s side, her eyes gleaming with greed as she looked at the child in the old attendant’s arms.
Her son… was going to be Emperor.
She then turned her gaze toward the Empress Dowager, who was being carefully escorted to her seat. The elderly woman’s complexion was poor, but her clothing and jewelry were of the finest quality. Soon, all of it—the exquisite jewelry, the grand palaces, the lavish life with dozens of attendants—would be hers.
…
Meanwhile, in the northwest, the commoners had enjoyed a comfortable winter. Although greenhouse cultivation was limited, at least there was enough food to go around, and no one starved to death—a blessing in itself.
Bai Mo, the man everyone was grateful for, wore a gentle smile. First, he was happy to have done something meaningful for the people. Second, his efforts had bolstered Bai Zhu’s influence, making it impossible for the officials sent from the capital to find any fault with him. Third, Madam Yu had given birth—to a healthy, beautiful baby girl.
At first, Master Yu was a little disappointed, having hoped for a son. But the moment he held his soft, delicate daughter in his arms, his heart completely melted. Even before she was a month old, he was already worrying about her future marriage.
Just the thought of his sweet little girl being mistreated by her husband’s family made Master Yu’s heart ache. Every day, he wrote two letters to Yu Chenyi and Bai Mo, pouring out his concerns.
Bai Mo simply offered him a solution—why not have her recruit a son-in-law instead?
In other words, let the groom marry into their family. Having been educated with modern values of equality and freedom, Bai Mo saw no issue with this arrangement. They could have two children—one taking the mother’s surname, the other taking the father’s—perfectly balanced.
Master Yu had initially wanted a son to continue the family line, and now, with a daughter, he was even more anxious.
The in-laws wouldn’t be the same as her natal family; he couldn’t always be there to protect her. What if she was bullied? What if her husband took multiple wives and mistreated her?
The mere thought of it was enough to keep him awake at night.
As soon as Bai Mo’s suggestion came out, the Yu couple clapped and agreed. This would not only solve the problem of no successor, but also they would not have to worry about their future son-in-law bullying their daughter where they couldn’t see.