Chapter 2 Efficiency Enters the Palace

Kangxi must be a bit abnormal.

Regardless of the relationship, she said that the Fourth Prince had asked her to find the child. She also mentioned that she was pregnant and that the Fourth Prince had told her not to make a fuss when he asked her to find the child. She also said that she wanted to bring the child to him in perfect condition.

Although I have never heard of the Fourth Prince keeping any women outside, nor have I heard of any princesses running away from his residence.

They could find a jade shop quietly, but the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was unsure what to do with her.

"Sir, why don't you take the jade back to that official and see how he decides to treat me and the child in my womb? It's getting late, and I need to eat." Seeing that he was unsure of what to do, Chen Guanxue didn't want to just stand there with him.

Seeing that he hesitated for a long time before leaving the house, he even closed the door behind him.

After he left, she sat down, looked at the dishes she really liked on the table, touched her stomach and sighed softly.

What a mess! She was planning to handle it all on her own, but unexpectedly, it got dragged into other things.

The person searching for the jade is Yinzhen, but the one who truly wants to see her is probably Kangxi. What will become of her and the child in her womb will depend on whether he believes her.

"Since your imperial father wants to come over, your mother will get all your things." Whether it's a prince's mansion or the treatment of a leisurely prince, it has to be the best, otherwise she won't give Kangxi a good look.

After all, it was he who came looking for this person.

Runxi came in to serve her a meal and told her that the people brought by the Shuntian Prefect were guarding outside the house.

If he keeps guarding it, it won't bother her. The words I deliberately guided him to hear will reach Yinzhen's ears. He will naturally consider them carefully before going to the palace to report to Kangxi. This jade is extremely important to Kangxi, and there should be a result tonight.

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture did indeed go to see Yinzhen immediately, explaining that the jade came from a woman and that it was a gift from someone to her unborn child. Yinzhen's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.

"What did you say? A child?" The Emperor calmly said that he had found the woman who had the jade, but he didn't mention that she was pregnant.

Indeed, under layers of concealment, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was unaware that this was what Kangxi had instructed Yinzhen to do.

His shocked expression, in the eyes of the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, confirmed his suspicions.

Unexpectedly, the Fourth Prince, who is usually the least respectable and has the fewest people in the backyard, has such a scandalous past. If he weren't standing in the Fourth Prince's residence, he would have clicked his tongue a few times.

"Have everyone evacuated. Whatever happens tonight, don't let anyone know." Yinzhen left these words and hurriedly entered the palace.

However, news of his entry into the palace spread throughout the entire harem.

By this time, the palace gates were already closed. To open them, one had to report to Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi was always being watched, so it was not surprising that the six palaces knew about it.

Emperor Kangxi was in a bad mood today and hadn't slept well for several nights. Just as he fell asleep tonight, Liang Jiugong received the news and, after some thought, woke him up.

"Let the fourth prince enter the palace." The magnetic voice, slightly languid from just waking up, made one's face flush and heart race.

The palace maids who served him as he dressed felt only fear. They dared not harbor any affection for the smiling Kangxi, let alone for his expressionless face; one wrong move and they and their families would be imprisoned.

After settling down and sitting in a chair, Yinzhen ran all the way to the outside of the Qianqing Palace, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside.

"Your subject greets Your Majesty." Yinzhen lowered his head and knelt down, not daring to look him in the eye.

In the palace, only the Crown Prince dared to look directly at Kangxi, even though he always wore a smile and looked only twenty-five or twenty-six years old. In their hearts, he was the emperor, not their father.

"Have you found the person?" I was woken up right after falling asleep. My head felt a little uncomfortable, and I pressed my thumb, which was adorned with a jade thumb ring, against my head.

Yinzhen organized his thoughts before speaking, "Reporting to Father Emperor, we found her. The woman pawned the jade at the pawnshop, intending to buy a house to take care of her pregnancy."

Upon noticing the keywords, the seated person opened their eyes, a slight smile playing on their lips. "Pregnant? Go and bring her back. If she gets hurt, watch out."

After agreeing, Yinzhen withdrew and then raised the person he had not yet met to a higher position.

Everyone could read Kangxi's mind, so when he said to have someone take him back, they knew that he would bring the person into the palace in a sedan chair. But the second half of the sentence made Yinzhen's heart tremble.

Because his thoughts are easy to read, he doesn't need to say anything else. If he does, and things aren't handled well, even his own son will suffer physical pain.

Being torn and bleeding was nothing to Yinzhen; what he feared more was being categorized as someone incapable of doing anything, which would make him no different from a commoner.

When Yinzhen arrived in a sedan chair, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture dismissed all his men and personally guarded the outside of the house. Seeing this, he was glad that he had not acted rashly and had not offended the people inside.

"Fourth Prince." The person being knelt to simply nodded and then knocked on the door respectfully.

Chen Guanxue was not surprised to see Yinzhen, but she was somewhat puzzled by his cautious manner.

Hearing him say he would take her to see the owner of the jade, and being so respectful, as if he were someone she knew well, she mentally assessed Kangxi's attitude.

Who wouldn't punish the thief for losing something? They would even have their son respectfully escort the person back. Even if they had witnessed Kangxi's special treatment of her, they shouldn't be treating her this well now. Could it be that Kangxi has also traveled through time?!

Thinking about how Emperor Kangxi's appearance remained unchanged for decades, I felt that I had guessed correctly.

Then she wouldn't be so careful anymore; she was the most precious person in the heart of the most esteemed emperor of the entire Qing Dynasty.

Runxi reached out and supported her arm, straightening her back. As she passed Yinzhen and walked out of the house, before the sedan curtain fell, she saw the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture kowtowing to her.

Although he disturbed her meal, she forgave him because of his sincere kowtowing—his forehead was bleeding—and his obedient act of relaying a message to Yinzhen.

He kept kowtowing until the Fourth Prince left in his sedan chair before the Prefect of Shuntian dared to get up. His forehead ached so badly that he grimaced, and he was also a little dizzy. When he returned to his residence with his men, he didn't even dare to call a doctor.

Little did he know that the child in her belly was not the Fourth Prince's.

Seeing the Fourth Prince respectfully knocking on the door, she knew she was in trouble. So, just like when she apologized to Emperor Kangxi, she kowtowed three times when she saw him, hoping that he would forget about her and not mention him in front of the Emperor.

It was well past Chen Guanxue's bedtime today, and he almost fell asleep in the sedan chair.

When the sedan chair stopped, a hand with distinct knuckles, more perfect in proportion than a work of art, lifted the curtain, and a faint light shone into the sedan chair, like someone finally opening the door to a dark room and bringing light.

She was familiar with this hand; it was the hand she saw day and night, the hand that would often magnify and cover her eyes.

The familiar hand made her want to tell him all the hardships she had endured that day, so she reached out and grasped it. However, the owner of that hand withdrew it as soon as he touched her skin.

The sedan chair was carried into the Qianqing Palace. Kangxi reached out his hand, wanting to see the woman inside as soon as possible. He felt her soft, delicate skin on his fingers and immediately withdrew his hand.

He regretted it a little after taking it back. He liked both the skin and the temperature very much. He even wanted to raise his hand and smell it to see if the scent on it was also one he loved.

However, he didn't allow himself to be so impulsive, so he just rubbed his thumb against his index finger, which was the finger he touched the most.

Before he could fully savor and absorb the lingering warmth from above, he heard broken sobs coming through the sedan curtains.

Seeing the light inside the sedan chair disappear, and being unable to see his own fingers in the darkness, he was stunned for a long time before he came to his senses.

This was not the Kangxi she knew. The Kangxi she knew would not have pulled his hand away when she touched him; he would have only pulled her into his arms or gotten into the sedan chair himself and embraced her in the darkness.

This isn't the familiar Kangxi Emperor, so why would he let her enter the palace? Could that jade be the reason?

The breakdown happened in an instant. The grievances she suffered today and his reaction made her sad, and she was also sad that she might never see the person she knew again. She couldn't suppress her sobs and they escaped her lips.

In just a moment, light appeared before her eyes. The person who had just lifted the sedan curtain dispelled the darkness, and with a handkerchief in hand, gently wiped away her tears.

"If someone makes you unhappy, you can have them beat you up or killed. What's wrong with you crying?" This was the second time he had said the first thing to her, and it was the same thing he had said when they first met.

Emperor Kangxi couldn't bear to see her cry, and even though he had just withdrawn his hand, he couldn't help but wipe away her tears.

He disliked being controlled since childhood, but now he was happy to be controlled by her. He even wished he could be controlled by her for the rest of his life because she stopped crying and her eyes, filled with tears, only had him in them.

When Yinzhen looked up, he saw Kangxi half-bent over, leaning into the sedan chair. The person inside stared blankly at him, unable to tell whether Kangxi had fallen into darkness or Chen Guanxue had been greeted by light. He only felt that the candlelight in the Qianqing Palace was so beautiful that it almost made him lose his senses.

He almost did, however, when Liang Jiugong moved his arm, he withdrew his gaze.

What belongs to Kangxi, whether it be objects or people, is not to be spied on by others. Liang Jiugong has already seen his actions, and even if he brings the person back, he will probably not escape punishment.

Tears were wiped from her eyes, and a hand covered her eyes, then left after a moment. She then heard him say, "From now on, you will live in the East Warm Pavilion. Tomorrow, you can choose a few more people to serve you."

"Hmm." She couldn't quite describe how she felt about him. He wasn't someone she knew well, but he wasn't a complete stranger either. Even the first thing he said to her was something she knew.

Having decided on a place to sleep for the night, she was also a little sleepy. She reached out and Runxi helped her out. Although his hands were trembling a bit, he didn't forget what he should do: to be there to serve her.

Chen Guanxue followed the palace maid who led the way to the East Warm Pavilion, while Yinzhen, who remained behind, immediately knelt down.

His movements escaped Kangxi's notice, but not Liang Jiugong's.

Hearing the crisp sound of his knee hitting the ground, Kangxi, still holding the damp handkerchief, didn't look away. He tilted his head back, covered his face with the handkerchief, took a deep breath and smelled the indescribable fragrance. In a good mood, he waved his hand, letting Yinzhen off the hook.

[Author's Note]

The male lead in this story is a bit crazy and perverted, so there's a serious out-of-character (OOC) element, but the male and female leads are such a good match!!!

Thank you to the lovely Lei Lei from [Lemongrass Flavor]!