Book 1:
Yehe-Nara Meiying
Enter the opulent world of the Qing Dynasty's Forbidden City alongside Meiying, the eldest daughter of the prestigious Yehe-Nara clan. Raised in luxury and privilege, Meiying soon finds herself entangled in the complex web...
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During the middle of winter of 1736, Yongshou Palace was in a panic as its mistress went into labour in the beginning of her eighth month. Meiying cried out in pain as her contractions hit her, holding her Elder Sister's hand in her right to anchor herself to the present. Ruyi had already sent Yonghuang and Jingyi to Zhongcui Palace to stay with Concubine Chun and Second Attendant Wan as she didn't want them to see their mother like this. Hailan was also periodically by her, wiping her brow, bringing water, and keeping the Emperor and Empress Dowager informed about the progress as everything continued.
In the early morning of the next day at the hour of the Tiger, the Fourth Prince was born screaming his heart out. A little while later, the Fourth Princess was also born. She was screaming as well but was quieter than her twin brother and smaller. As the midwives dealt with the afterbirth and cleaning up the palace mistress, Physician Qi and his new apprentice Physician Jiang, a friend of Suoxin, checked over the health of the new imperial heirs before they were announced to the Emperor and his mother. Once that was done, they handed the new babies to the new momos, Momo Xie and Momo Ji, to feed. Once that was done, Consort Xian and First Attendant Hai brought them back to their mother.
Now newly cleaned and placed in a plain light blue bianpao, Meiying smiled from her bed when she saw her new children brought inside and lightly scoot over and turned onto her side to face them as the larger, eldest twin in a bright red and gold blanket was placed next to her, while the smaller, younger twin in a dark purple and silver blanket was placed next to them. Looking over their faces, she immediately fell in love with her new children and couldn't wait for Yonghuang and Jingyi to meet them. Brushing her fingers over their cheeks, careful of her longer nails, she watched as Ruyi and Hailan left to inform the emperor of the birth of her dragon/phoenix twins.
Hurrying into the room, she saw the beaming smile the Emperor gave her as he came toward her to sit next to their new children. Empress Dowager followed more sedately behind with Ruyi and Hailan after her. Hongli, as she always associated this side of him with - the gentle, not worried about etiquette side - brushed his hand over their son first, then his daughter.
