Chapter 44 Going Down to Yangzhou 1

Lower Yangzhou 1

"Mother, look at this!" Fu Shou rushed in excitedly, carrying a lively, wriggling fish in his hand.

Seeing him eagerly presenting the fish like a treasure, Chen Guanxue couldn't help but chuckle. "What's wrong with this fish?"

Fu Shou handed it to Runxi, saying, "Aunt Runxi, quickly take it and have someone cook it. I caught it myself."

After saying that, he looked at Chen Guanxue guiltily.

Before she could even frown, Fu Shou whispered, "Mother, don't worry, I only fished for a little while, and I was at the stern of the boat, with the wind to my side."

"Hmm. In that case, go and cook it."

Fu Shou usually behaved well and was not particularly sick, so people often overlooked that he was prone to illness. Chen Guanxue had given him many instructions before boarding the boat, and it was already quite good that he only went fishing to see something new after four or five days.

"There's nothing fun on the ship. Once we dock, your brothers will take you sightseeing."

Fu Shou was young and had no maternal support. Although the Tong family favored her and her son, they were not vying for the throne.

He had a good personality, so he got along well with his brothers and had been taken out to play many times in the capital.

Fu Shou nodded. "Mother, are you still feeling unwell today?"

Chen Guanxue shook her head, "Much better."

I don't know what happened, but the first day on the ship was fine. Later on, I felt really dizzy. It didn't affect my appetite, but my legs felt weak and I felt dizzy, which made me feel quite uncomfortable.

Seeing that she was really alright, Fushou left to continue fishing.

Not long after he left, Emperor Kangxi arrived.

He immediately pulled her into his arms, saying, "We'll dock tonight, and I'll show you what good food we have here."

She had been eating in the palace for over a decade. Although there were many dishes in the palace, there were always times when she ate the same thing twice. Now that she could eat some food from the common people, it must have been a novel experience.

Chen Guanxue smiled helplessly. She just liked to eat; she wasn't pregnant with Fu Shou, so why would she crave food all the time?

However, she would not refuse his offer.

"good."

Chen Guanxue clung to him, inhaling the ambergris scent emanating from him, and told him about the fishing trip at Fushou.

Kangxi was not surprised at all. "When he was a child, he used to fish for koi in the Imperial Garden with a fishing rod. He was always surrounded by rivers and lakes, and he was always accompanied by many imperial physicians. He would just catch a chill and drink a few doses of medicine to dispel the cold."

"How can you calculate it like that?" Chen Guanxue muttered.

Kangxi touched her hand and said helplessly, "He will eventually grow up. We can't always cater to him. The servants around him are doing a good job. He was young before, but in a few years he will be getting married. Let him be."

Chen Guanxue also remembered that Fushou had turned ten.

In the royal family, children who grow up are said to live a long time.

“I always felt he was still too young,” Chen Guanxue said.

Kangxi understood, "It's alright. If you can't bear to part with him, you can keep him in the palace."

Chen Guanxue couldn't help but roll her eyes. Did he mean that Fushou should stay in the palace after getting married?

Now only unmarried princes stay in the palace. The only married prince left is the Crown Prince. If Fushou is left behind, the other princes will start to dislike him.

Fu Shou was able to get along well with his older brothers because they were about the same age and he posed no threat to them.

Chen Guanxue didn't know if he was joking or if he had seriously considered it.

"Forget it. After getting married, without your own residence, living in the palace with your wife and children won't be comfortable at all," Chen Guanxue said.

Kangxi knew she was serious, so he had no choice but to abandon the idea.

The fleet docked before dusk, the ships brightly lit and flags fluttering. The group then traveled by sedan chair to the nearest post station.

Emperor Kangxi did not conceal his whereabouts when he went to Yangzhou. Along the way, he had eunuchs convey his decrees to the officials, and he did the same when he landed this time.

The post station had already been cleaned up and was waiting outside.

Chen Guanxue lifted a corner of the sedan curtain and saw that the post station was full of guards. She recalled the scene when she first arrived and was escorted all the way to the palace.

When she arrived at the inn's room, she found many of her usual things already laid out, and Runxi was directing the palace maids to make up the bed.

Runxi is now twenty-seven. Two years ago, Chen Guanxue asked her if she wanted to leave the palace and get married under the arrangement of the government, like the other palace maids.

She refused.

Chen Guanxue then made her the head aunt in the Qianqing Palace.

Over the past decade or so, Runxi has grown from a little girl into a reliable adult, and the new palace maids in the Qianqing Palace genuinely respect her.

Chen Guanxue didn't know why, but suddenly wanted her to tell him the story.

"What would you like to hear, Your Highness? I didn't bring any new storybooks with me this time, so I can only tell stories from the past." Runxi squatted down at her feet, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Let's talk about something interesting."

Runxi nodded and immediately started talking about the play "Havoc in Heaven".

After listening for a short while, Chen Guanxue fell asleep sitting up. Runxi stopped talking, helped her lie down, and covered her with a blanket.

As he left, the Imperial Physician, who had left the palace years earlier, stood behind Kangxi. Kangxi waved his hand, and the Imperial Physician went inside.

After the court verdict was delivered, the three of them went downstairs and into a room.

"How is it?" Kangxi asked.

The court judge frowned, and after a long while said, "Her Majesty has been somewhat sleepy lately, but her pulse is fine, so it seems she just lacks energy."

Emperor Kangxi noticed that she was excessively sleepy some time ago. The imperial physician had said years ago that the medicine would only be effective for one or two decades.

He assumed she was pregnant again.

When the imperial physician was examined, there was nothing unusual.

During this trip to Yangzhou, I will stay in the hometown of the judge for a few days, hoping to show him around.

"However, Your Majesty's health is not what it used to be."

The judge's words exploded in Kangxi's ears.

"Before I left the palace, I examined Your Majesty's pulse. Compared to this time, Your Majesty is much healthier. Putting aside everything else, just look at your lifespan..." He dared not continue.

Oh dear, what's going on? Why are you still working even after resigning from your post?

Under Kangxi's gaze, he could only tell the truth, "According to the Empress's pulse diagnosis from several years ago, she should have at least thirty or forty years left to live. In recent years, the Empress has been free from illness and disaster, but her lifespan is only one or two decades. This is not reflected in her appearance or pulse diagnosis, which is quite strange."

It was only because he hadn't taken pulses for several years that he could detect it.

Those people in the palace who take pulses every day probably can't see anything, they just think he's a little tired and lacks energy.

Emperor Kangxi was still shocked by the twenty-year time difference, and it took him a while to ask, "Is there any way?"

"This is fate, and this servant is powerless to change it."

Runxi stood there for a while before Kangxi said, "Let's pretend today's events never happened."

The old judge nodded and left with Runxi.

Kangxi walked to Chen Guanxue's bedside and looked at her still youthful face, thinking that what had just happened was a dream.

As he fell asleep, Chen Guanxue opened her eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and continued to sleep.

The next day, as Kangxi was leaving, Chen Guanxue asked Runxi what had happened the previous day.

Runxi then explained what had happened.

"Twenty years? That's not a short time," Chen Guanxue said upon hearing this.

The previous ten years and the next ten years add up to twenty years, enough time to see Fu Shou get married and to see Kangxi become more and more like the person she remembered.

Her life was an extra twenty years; it's not a short time.

"Runxi, when Fushou gets married and establishes his own household, you should also become a head maid. It's more comfortable outside the palace."

Chen Guanxue's tone was unusually calm, which surprised Runxi.

But after thinking about it, she realized that her master had always been like this. She then nodded.

[Author's Note]

The time travel spree was a bit too fast before, so I'll just write about an old married couple from now on. [Thumbs up][Thumbs up]