Chapter 125 Lying in Waiting for a Chance of Survival: Whether the deposed crown prince has overcome his hurdle or not, Shen Wanqing couldn't say for sure. Anyway, after returning to the capital, the details of this matter gradually became clear...

Whether the deposed crown prince had overcome his ordeal or not, Shen Wanqing couldn't say for sure. In any case, after returning to the capital, the details of the matter gradually spread among civil and military officials and members of the imperial family.

In Yuqing Palace, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess sat facing each other, staring at each other for a long time, unable to speak. This tactic was clever, but it could only be used once.

Moreover, after this incident, it's hard to say what would happen to the other princes, but at least the Crown Prince, Yinzhi, and Yinzhi's hearts were completely chilled.

The son had no intention of rebelling, but the father racked his brains to force and frighten his son into doing so. It's like a master of the house knowing there are thieves outside, opening the door and piling up silver at the entrance, waiting for the thieves to take it. He's just waiting for you to take it; if you dare to reach out, you're a confirmed thief.

The father's distrust of his son had reached this point, and Yinreng gave a bitter laugh, his shoulders slumping. He shook his head and let out a long sigh, unable to utter a single word of his unspoken words.

"Second Master, please don't be like that. Hongxi is overjoyed to know you're back. He and the eldest princess will be here soon. He should smile when he sees his son and daughter."

Shi Qionghua didn't know how to comfort Yinreng, as such a situation would be difficult for anyone. The eldest princess was not even a year old, so Shi Qionghua hadn't gone on this southern tour. She had initially felt a little regretful, but after hearing Yinreng recount this mess, she was actually glad she hadn't gone.

"Yes, it shouldn't have been like this."

Upon hearing Shi Qionghua mention the children, Yinreng forced himself to straighten his back and perk up a bit. He used to think that his father was wary of him, the crown prince, but now it seemed that his father was wary of all his sons.

Since that's the case, then I shouldn't let this matter linger in my mind any longer. Anyway, I'm not the only one who's been disgusted by this. The third brother has been sick on the way back, I don't know if it's from anger or fear, but he can't go out now and is recuperating at the Prince Cheng's residence.

Prince Cheng was so frightened that he hid in his palace and refused to go out. On the other hand, Prince Zhi was like a headless fly, running into many obstacles. He went to Mingzhu's residence three times but never saw her. It wasn't until Consort Hui in the palace couldn't bear to see him like this anymore and summoned her son to Yanxi Palace that things finally calmed down.

"Mother! Is this also my fault? It's clearly..."

"Silence!"

After the Eighth Prince was allowed to leave the palace and establish his own residence, Consort Wei was promoted to Consort Liang and moved out of Yanxi Palace. Now, apart from Consort Hui, who is the principal consort, most of the concubines living in the side halls of Yanxi Palace are low-ranking consorts and ladies-in-waiting.

The young girls had only been in the palace for a year or two when they vaguely heard arguing coming from the main hall where Consort Hui lived. They all tacitly instructed the maids to close the doors and windows to show that they could not hear or know anything.

"What do you mean 'clearly'? The Crown Prince did nothing in his own courtyard, and the Third Prince's drinking and gossip is just a matter of his own words. But what about you? You never even thought of rebelling, so why did you jump out and put the blame on your own head?"

Consort Hui, being of such a high rank and advanced age, certainly wouldn't have been able to secure a spot to accompany the emperor on the southern tour. The news was delivered to Consort Hui by Mingzhu through a secret channel that Mingzhu and Yanxi Palace hadn't used in recent years.

After this matter was explained clearly, this secret line was completely destroyed. Two days later, when Consort Hui wanted to use this line to send a message to Mingzhu, asking him to help Yinzhi find a way outside the palace, the people on the secret line had either been transferred out of the harem or had reached the age to be released from the palace.

Mingzhu was clearly conveying a message to Consort Hui: I'm not betting on your son. You have a son, and so do I. Your son is such a fool and a complete scoundrel, yet he's still a prince. My son lost his official position and is still unemployed at home.

To put it bluntly, as long as the Emperor remains secure, my family has no chance of rising up again.

In previous years, I, Mingzhu, led Prince Zhi to advance upwards, but anyone with eyes could see why I was advancing. But I am a pragmatic person; when it was clear that I couldn't advance any further, I had to retreat quickly.

It's alright if His Majesty no longer needs the Nara family. As long as Kui Xu is still alive and this branch of the family can continue to pass down peacefully, the Nara family will still have a chance to make a comeback when the Crown Prince ascends the throne or when the eldest prince of Yuqing Palace grows up and takes charge of the government.

“Mingzhu won’t care about us, mother and son. You shouted in front of so many guards that you had no intention of rebelling, and you even insisted that it was the Crown Prince who wanted to harm you.”

"Now that the Emperor is not mentioning this matter at all, do you think it's over? Even if there's no movement from the Crown Prince right now, this matter is a thorn in his side, and once it's stuck in his heart, it can't be pulled out."

"I was just talking nonsense when I was angry. Second brother... since the Crown Prince didn't do it, why bother arguing with me about these things?"

Yinzhi knew he had acted rashly, but even knowing this, he could only pretend it wasn't true and go about his business as usual after the guards left the next day.

Only if I can manage my subordinates without panicking, otherwise, before I even return to the capital, the memorials impeaching me, the Prince of Zhi, will probably pile up like a mountain.

"If the Crown Prince really has rebellious intentions, or if he is feared and controlled by the Emperor, as His Majesty's eldest son, would you be the first to request the execution of the Crown Prince?"

"Of course..."

Before Yinzhi could finish speaking, he looked at Consort Hui's icy face and dared not utter the rest of his words. If Consort Hui could think of this, how could the Crown Prince not? Her crime wasn't what she had done or didn't do; her crime lay in the fact that her thoughts were already common knowledge.

"Your mother knows you want to be emperor." Consort Hui softened her tone, her voice so low that only she and Yinzhi could hear her.

Consort Hui looked at her son with a hint of helplessness and self-blame in her eyes. "This matter cannot be entirely blamed on you, it is also the fault of your mother. You were not the only one who had such thoughts back then, your mother also thought about it. I thought how glorious it would be if my son could sit on that throne and possess the whole world."

Consort Hui deeply regretted being blinded by greed. Seeing her son receiving special favor and praise from the Emperor, she harbored inappropriate thoughts. She completely forgot that just as the Emperor wouldn't always favor one woman, he wouldn't truly only value one son.

"Mother, please stop. It's my fault for not being good enough, it's my fault..."

Yinzhi couldn't really say what he wasn't good enough for. He was impulsive and couldn't control his temper, but he wasn't stupid.

Over the years, he had coveted the position of Crown Prince, but as a son, he had done nothing to wrong the Emperor. Yinzhi raised his left hand, revealing a scar that ran across the back of his hand—a mark from his first campaign against Galdan.

He knew he was wounded, but he dared not say a word. He still led his cavalry into the enemy lines, beheading three of Galdan's cavalrymen before breaking through the enemy's formation and returning.

He knew he was a flag bearer; as the emperor's eldest son, he had to lead by example and earn military merits just like the soldiers, through sheer force of will. Otherwise, how could the emperor, whose own son was so weak, possibly command respect from his generals and soldiers?

Yinzhi felt quite aggrieved, but he knew that there was no use in feeling aggrieved now. His position as a Prince Zhi was precarious, and who knew that one day the Emperor might remember this incident and use it as a scapegoat again.

"Mother, what should I do to protect myself?"

Yinzhi didn't dare to even think about the throne; all he wanted now was to save his own life. He wasn't alone; he had his mother in the palace and a large family of women and children outside who depended on him for their livelihood. If he really fell, how would they survive?

"First, settle down and stop trying to contact this person or win over that person. You need to let the Emperor know that you dare not do it anymore, that you have backed down, and that whatever the Emperor says goes."

Consort Hui's words were humble, but they came from the bottom of her heart. When she was young, watching one concubine after another enter the palace to receive the emperor's favor, how could she not feel a pang of sadness?

She tried to fight for it, but in the end, the Emperor personally sent Lady Wei to Yanxi Palace. Later, when the Eighth Prince was born, he was forcibly taken away from Lady Wei and raised by the Emperor himself.

One was a concubine who had given birth to her eldest son and was getting older, and the other was a noblewoman of low birth but with stunning beauty. It wasn't enough to just put the two of them in the same palace; Consort Hui was also required to raise Wei's son.

In previous years, Consort Hui felt disgusted, as if she had swallowed a fly. At first, she thought it was because Lady Wei was shameless and the Eighth Prince was unlikable, so she always treated Lady Wei and Yinzhi coldly.

Later, on every night that Emperor Kangxi visited Yanxi Palace to visit Consort Wei, Consort Hui sat alone in her room and gradually came to understand that she and Consort Wei were the same, and there was no question of who should hate or dislike whom.

It's just that the Emperor didn't like me competing, so he conveniently threw Lady Wei into Yanxi Palace. With Lady Wei and the Eighth Prince around, I no longer had time to vent my anger and cause trouble outside Yanxi Palace, and this was the Emperor's punishment for my jealousy.

Of course, he didn't really care about the Wei family. If he truly cared about the Wei family and the Eighth Prince, he would never have let them live under his care for so many years.

"Baoqing, if the Emperor wants you to obey, then obey. If you don't, you'll be the one who suffers."

“In previous years, whether you did it voluntarily or not, you served as a whetstone for the Crown Prince, and the Emperor, out of consideration for that, did not completely eliminate you.”

"In a few years, if the situation changes again, or if the Crown Prince ascends the throne and wants to bestow favors, then you can find a way to overthrow him and have a chance to leave a future for Hongyu and the others."

Consort Hui gradually came to understand these principles. At first, she only understood herself, always feeling that since her son was the Emperor's biological son, he would definitely treat him differently than he treated her.

Now that she had completely figured things out and hardened her heart to tell Yinzhi the truth, the mother and son looked at each other in silence. After a long while, the Prince Zhi, who always prided himself on having a backbone harder than a knife, finally shed a single tear in a daze.

Several princes were brought to their knees by Kangxi's actions. Shen Wanqing was unaware of this at the time, but the emperor's feint had a significant impact on the court officials and his sons.

The night before returning to the capital, the Crown Prince summoned Yu Lang, Qing De, and others for a meeting. The meeting lasted a long time, until late at night when Wan Qing had fallen asleep, and Yu Lang returned, carrying a chill and a faint dampness.

"Chang Shun and Ning Xiang have prepared hot water. Go to the back and take a shower before you go to sleep."

"I told you I wouldn't keep you waiting. How are you feeling today? If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, tell me right away."

"I'm not feeling unwell. I've already had a good sleep. I'll just listen to you, and maybe I'll fall asleep while I'm listening."

Shen Wanqing felt that she must be infertile, and Yi'an was already six years old when she finally got pregnant again.

After Yi An gave birth, Shen Wanqing was very worried for a while and even thought about whether she should learn to make something like sheep intestines for contraception.

Unfortunately, I'm all talk and no action; when it comes to actually doing this kind of delicate work, I'm a complete disaster. So, after thinking about it for a bit, I realized I didn't even know where to begin, so I simply put it out of my mind and ignored it.

Regardless of whether she was pregnant or not, the two of them tacitly believed that Yi'an was their only son, and they indulged in more intimate activities in the bedroom.

Shen Wanqing secretly collected several rare, deluxe editions of that kind of thing. The two of them started learning from the first page and studied several whole books. Except for a few positions that they couldn't quite get right, they tried everything else they were supposed to try.

Who knew that at this age when passion was slowly transitioning to gentle tenderness, she would become pregnant again. Shen Wanqing lazily hugged her blanket and listened to Yulang talk about the meeting that evening through the screen.

After listening to a long explanation, the gist of it was that since His Majesty had reached an age where he was easily suspicious, everyone should just keep quiet and wait for this period to pass.

When your boss tells you to change your strategy and focus on recuperation, it's easy to say but difficult to do so.

The difficulty lies in the fact that subordinates have their own subordinates. Yu Lang has the entire Hesheli family under him, De Qing has the Shi family behind him, and there are also princes of the imperial clan such as Prince Yu who are already engaged to the Shi family. It will take some effort to appease all of these people.

Fortunately, everyone was minding their own business. Shen Wanqing became pregnant at this critical juncture, and after returning to the capital, she immediately used this as an excuse to decline most social engagements and interactions. Apart from the Shen family and the ladies under her command, such as Daijia and Wanyan, she rarely went out.

Yu Lang was quick to speak, and every afternoon after finishing his shift at the Ministry of Revenue, he would immediately go home. Whenever colleagues or members of the Plain Yellow Banner invited him to a banquet, he would refuse, saying that he needed to go home to watch his son study.

The officials in the Ministry of Revenue twitched at the sound of this. Could Yu Lang really be some kind of learned genius? Everyone knew how dissolute he was in the capital back then. How could he possibly teach his son to read? He was just lying through his teeth, not even bothering to pretend anymore.

However, in stark contrast to Yu Lang and Shen Wanqing's low-key attitude, Shen Wanqing has been managing her business over the years.

Zhuang Ming's cave-dwelling pigs, breeding farm, and the hybrid pigs from the north and south that he has been raising for several years have gradually become well-established.

The tenants of Hesheli's own household were already overwhelmed with work, and Zhuang Ming had even hired tenants from the public areas under the jurisdiction of the Zuo Ling (a military unit). In addition to those who farmed, almost every household had someone working in these places. Because the monthly wages were paid on time without any delay, everyone's life was much better than in previous years.

The caravans that specialized in traveling the Northwest and the northern desert route also built the transit station that Shen Wanqing wanted in Suzhou. The manager sent from the capital was Manager Song from the smallest estate of the Hesheli family.

Zhuang Tou'er and Zhuang Ming had too deep a foundation; no matter how capable he was, he couldn't outmaneuver the father and son. Shen Wanqing also knew that he still wanted to make something of himself, so she simply sent him out. The world is so big, there's nowhere he can't make a name for himself; he shouldn't be stuck in one small rut.

The ginseng, deer antler, and fur trade in Shengjing is the most stable. Yulang stopped and dared not do anything except guard his small territory in the Ministry of Revenue. Naturally, Akdun and Fuchang had to stop as well.

Fortunately, business from Shengjing to the capital was booming. When one business failed, another would succeed. With Shen Wanqing's business keeping things going, the people below felt quite at ease.

On the 29th day of the first month of the 39th year of the Kangxi reign, Shen Wanqing gave birth to a girl in the east courtyard of the Hesheli family. Yulang did not follow the tradition of naming her after her first birthday. As soon as his daughter was born, he named her Sui Ning, a name he had been thinking about for a long time.

"Peace and tranquility year after year" is a catchy name with a good meaning, but is it really worth him pondering and thinking about it so much? Shen Wanqing had nothing to say about this. She could only say that it was fortunate for Yi'an that he didn't need Yu Lang to teach him.

That same spring, Yulang found another tutor for his son. This time, however, it was a martial arts teacher who mainly taught him riding and archery, and also taught him to read in his spare time.

When the gentleman was asked to return, both Lady Tongjia and Lady Niohuru disagreed. Even Tu Nan, upon hearing the news, made a special trip back.

There's no reason for someone of school age to be neglecting their studies and wasting their days on horseback. The world is at peace now, and there aren't many wars to fight; why subject someone so young to such hardship?

Only Shen Wanqing thought it was a good idea. Yi An always caused trouble because he had too much energy, so let's just use up his energy first. Besides, it's not like he's stopped studying. This martial arts instructor used to teach princes in the palace, and he's skilled in both literature and martial arts. He can teach the Book of Poetry and the Book of Philosophy even after dismounting.

Yu Lang and Shen Wanqing were on the same side. Yi An, that little rascal, had no idea what hardships he would have to endure in the next few years. When he went out of the city with his master to learn to ride a horse, he happily turned around and waved to Shen Wanqing and Yu Lang, laughing without a care in the world.

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It's that time of year again, Black Monday! [crying emoji]

A red envelope will be given away in the comments section of this chapter! [Dog head with rose in hand]