Scions of Heaven - Calamity

Chapter 1

Year 163,947 of the reign of Hao De Tianjun.

Kingdom of Qing Qiu – Eastern Wilderness – Fox Den

I [Fengjiu] had wanted two rooms because wouldn't two little ones be more fun? - Pillow Book

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Bai Fengjiu, granddaughter of the Fox Emperor, Queen of the Eastern Wilderness in the Kingdom of Qing Qiu and wife of Dong Hua was currently scrutinising every inch of the Fox Den, checking to make sure everything was perfect.

And of course, it was. She was slightly put out that she could not find a reason to complain at Dong Hua for not ordering everything perfectly. Her cruel husband did not even provide her with an excuse to grumble. As if sensing her mood, the child growing in her belly chose that particular moment to energetically kick her ribs, bruising her already abused bones.

Currently in her and Dong Hua's private chamber, she took a moment to sit on her bed to rest a bit. Less than a minute later this had morphed into her lying on her side, supported by a virtual mountain of pillows. The child was still enthusiastically kicking away. Well, at least now she had a valid reason to growl and grumble at Dong Hua when he returned from speaking with Zhong Lin in the main hall.

Gungun had, after politely asking and receiving permission of course, immediately gone to the archives. The Fox Den was the oldest place in Qing Qiu, and as it was also the Imperial seat of power, it was where all the ancient scrolls of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan were kept. Every scroll on the laws, rules, rites, history and a million other things she'd had to memorise were in there. Thankfully she'd rarely had to go into that cursed place, if she needed to refresh her memory on something, she sent Mi Gu to fetch the scrolls needed.

The constant stream of maids, courtiers, supplicants and general well-wishers that flooded Taichen palace when they were there was enough to give her a headache. She was looking forward to the peace and quiet of the fox den with only Mi Gu, Dong Hua and the occasional visit from a family member or friend in the next few months.

Well, no one had really flooded Taichen Palace, Dong Hua would never have put up with it, and no one was really brave enough to try. But that was what it had felt like to her in any case. If all she wanted was peace he could have chosen to stay at Bihai Cangling. For some reason she had not figured out, she'd felt drawn to spend the next two months in the Fox Den,even though she'd never quite felt 'at home' in the place before. She and Donghua had lived in Bihai Cangling for a short while with Gungun. But her son's quick friendship with her aunts' little dumpling A-li, now with the proper name of Bai Chen, had meant it made more sense to live in Taichen Palace.

Fengjiu had adamantly refused all maids, guards and other irritants to be allowed to float around her Fox Den; her husband had not been sanguine about it at first. She had pointed out that she managed to bring Gungun into the world without such things, and they were certainly not required now, thank you very much. With the weighty history behind her son's birth Dong Hua wisely acquiesced. With no servants other than Mi Gu around she intended to make the occasional very silly demand of Dong Hua, a small vengeance for him not having to suffer tiny feet prancing around the walls of his stomach.

Gungun with his recently awakened gift of being able to sense the emotions of others had escaped her mood-swings relatively unscathed in the past few months; but even his luck would run out sooner or later. And so he was being shipped off to her Aunt Bai Qian and Ye Hua for the majority of the next two months to share lessons with Bai Chen. Not that Gungun needed to attend lessons, her son had already completed every form of study he was allowed to learn.