Chapter 1806 – Quirks of Pregnancy
As the months slowly passed, although Jiang Pengji’s pregnancy was still not showing, everyone dared not slack off.
Her status was now completely on par with Wei Ci’s daughter.
Jiang Pengji couldn’t help but sigh in complaint, “National treasure panda, I’m now the only human-shaped national treasure, and it’s not making me happy at all.”
She rubbed the chin and white fur of her panda daughter, a wave of indescribable loneliness washed over her.
While others experienced various pregnancy syndromes, she was oddly fixated on wanting to work—nothing could stop her. If she didn’t work, she felt uncomfortable all over.
Every day, brimming with energy yet having nowhere to release it, she would dream of swimming in an ocean of work, surrounded by official documents.
The more she acted this way, the more everyone guarded against her, scared out of their wits even in their dreams.
How could they not worry? Which pregnant woman reacted like this?
Five million idle fish now found their greatest joy in watching Jiang Pengji outsmart everyone to get to work.
【Digital Evolution】: If I had the energy of a livestreamer when I was pregnant, my boss would’ve been grinning from ear to ear!
【A Mountain of Obstacles, No Path in Sight】: A pregnant woman like a livestreamer is quite rare; most women struggle with pregnancy and are severely low on energy. Swelling, weight gain, cravings for food and sleep—these are the norms. If any pregnant woman were as energetic as Jiang Pengji, keeping her figure intact, no swelling, skin that could withstand a fly landing on it, and still working hard—then women wouldn’t have it so tough in the job market. Nowadays, women who haven’t given birth to their second child find it hard to compete against equally qualified men.
Aside from this, many experienced mothers provided Jiang Pengji with advice about what she could and couldn’t eat.
In summary, take care of the first child according to the book, and the second child like a pig.
Jiang Pengji clutched her panda daughter, lost in thought.
So, is she counting as having one child or two?
By the sixth month of pregnancy, the northern weather had started to cool down. One day, Jiang Pengji woke up and suddenly lost interest in work.
That day, she felt lethargic, had no appetite for anything, and looked as if she had lost all attachment to the world.
Feng Zhen and the others couldn’t help but furrow their brows, clueless about what new wild idea their lord was brewing.
“Lord, aren’t you going to the Ministry of Affairs today?”
Jiang Pengji waved her hand dismissively, “Nope, looking at those bamboo slips gives me a headache. I don’t want to see a single word right now.”
The mood of the lord changed like a child’s face—one moment it was bright, the next it was stormy.
Before Feng Zhen and the others could breathe a sigh of relief, thinking their lord would finally rest and nurture the baby, she stirred up trouble again.
Zhang Ping from the woodworking workshop became an innocent target as he bore the brunt of everyone’s accusatory glares and scornful looks.
By heaven’s grace, he hadn’t lured the lord to the woodworking shop! He was utterly innocent; who knew how she ended up there and refused to leave? She even claimed the smell of wood shavings was extremely delicious, that just inhaling it could make her eat twenty bowls of rice—it was too fragrant!
Feng Zhen couldn’t help but turn pale, his expression one of pure disbelief.
“What do you mean the smell of wood shavings is nice? Who would a normal person like wood shavings? Wouldn’t they rather roll in a pile of wood shavings to sleep?”
Isn’t the delicate skin of the lord going to hurt from the splinters?
“I’ve heard that pregnant women have peculiar moods; it’s not surprising for the lord to act this way…” said a colleague with three kids, brimming with pregnancy experience. “The most important thing for pregnant women is to be in good spirits; absolutely don’t oppose her, you have to pamper and coax her.”
Feng Zhen held back for a long time and couldn’t muster a single word in retort.
He wanted to reply—he was a father of two, with their mothers pregnant while he was by their side. How come they were so normal during pregnancy? —but just thinking about that analogy seemed offensive to the lord, so he kept his mouth shut.
The other officials also remained silent for a long time.
Most of them were in their thirties, nearing forty, and had already become fathers, with at least two kids. They certainly hadn’t encountered anything like this.
One even secretly complained to his close friend.
“Having a female lord is challenging; once she’s pregnant, it feels like everyone has become a father.”
His friend highly admired Jiang Pengji, and upon hearing this, he changed his expression, ready to cut ties with this friend.
One must not associate with someone who disrespects their ruler!
In a burst of self-preservation, another official added, “Our lord is having her first child at this age; everyone is worried she might get hurt. Since she announced her pregnancy, she hasn’t had a single good night’s sleep. The heavens have yet to grant us a child, and here we are, trembling in fear.”
His friend frowned, “Even so, you can’t say such disrespectful words.”
If these words reached outside ears, he wouldn’t fear facing repercussions.
The official replied, “There’s absolutely no disrespect meant!”
He honored and respected the lord, having worried since the moment Jiang Pengji became pregnant, bearing her unreasonable pregnancy reactions—it wasn’t unlike becoming a father? If it were his own wife at home, no matter how miserable she felt or how unwell she was, she wouldn’t pick on her husband over trivial matters. But who was the lord? When she was in a bad mood, their misfortunes would be theirs as well. She would say whatever came to mind without caring about anything. Therefore, during Jiang Pengji’s pregnancy, the officials felt the fatherly duty more strongly than they ever did at home.
There were also gossips as someone turned to their wife, complaining about how the lord had unpredictable moods, changing like the weather, with weird preferences.
To their surprise, their wife rolled her eyes and shared several surprising pregnancy details.
Being overly focused on work and loving the smell of wood shavings? What kind of strange pregnancy quirks were those?
One lady, after getting pregnant, developed a fondness for picking at her feet and then sniffing her fingers without a hint of the smell, or else she’d puke and could eat nothing.
Yet, for the sake of her image, she would send all her maidservants away during that time, only leaving two close confidants nearby.
Another lady grew fond of squatting on the toilet; apparently, the smell in the pit was quite nice, and her lack of spirit significantly improved.
The husband of that lady: “…”
No wonder she’d been cooped up at home after getting pregnant, refusing to get close to him, even when they met, she was all masked in perfume.
Another lady adored the feeling of passing gas and relished being wrapped up in her blankets…
There was even one with a special habit of collecting body dirt from the tailbone area, saving it up a little bit at a time and rolling it into a big ball.
Everyone: “…”
Looking at their own wives, who exuded grace and elegance, while recalling what those ladies did, they could only facepalm.
Can we even live like this?
In comparison, it seemed like their lord was a totally normal pregnant woman. She simply loved to work and enjoyed woodworking; she wasn’t interested in taking off her shoes to sniff her feet, squatting over toilets, passing gas, and she definitely wasn’t rolling up dirt from behind!
Thinking about it this way, having such a lord seemed pretty lucky.
Jiang Pengji, however, was completely unaware of what her officials were thinking; she had recently become enamored with DIY crafts.
