Therefore, neither of them took Kangxi's decision to postpone the imperial decree to bestow a concubine on Hongxuan's full moon celebration to heart. Instead, they saw it as a sign of Kangxi's favor towards Hongxuan, and were filled with jealousy and envy towards Taoyuan. They were actually secretly gloating.

After all, the Emperor had tricked them, creating Consort Hesheli as an enemy for them.

Ever since they learned that a woman from a collateral branch of the Hesheli clan had been betrothed to the Fourth Prince as a secondary consort, the First Lady and Lady Li, upon learning of the secondary consort's identity and family background, were naturally more vigilant, but they also looked forward to a battle between the Guarjia clan and the Hesheli clan.

But it's highly unlikely that you'd always think others are fools and don't understand things as well as they do.

After all, even if Hesheli was really that stupid, she still had intelligent people around her.

This clever man is the Crown Prince.

"Eunuch Dezhu, what are His Highness's orders?" Hesheli's father asked the trusted eunuch beside the Crown Prince with a hint of flattery.

Dezhu generously accepted the purse handed to him by a servant, pinched it between his fingers, and found it to be thin and fine, containing silver notes.

Dezhu, pleased with the bribe, stopped putting on airs and said with a smile, "His Highness has indeed given instructions that the Hesheli clan should keep a low profile for him recently. Otherwise, Prime Minister Suo will serve as a cautionary tale for you. After all, His Majesty has specifically postponed the betrothal of your eldest princess."

The implication was clear to Hesheli's father: the delay in the imperial decree for his eldest princess's marriage was because the emperor neither wanted to abandon the Hesheli clan nor wanted to give him a warning.

When Dezhu's words were relayed back by the people Hesheli had placed by his father, she immediately realized that she had been jealous of the wrong person.

The Fourth Prince of the Fourth Prince's Mansion, a legitimate grandson of the emperor, was given a full-moon celebration, but this was just a pretext. The main purpose was for the emperor to give a warning to the Hesheli clan.

After thinking it through, Hesheli knew that she had to be careful when she first entered the Fourth Prince's mansion. She could make moves against Taoyuan Guarjia and the Fourth Prince Hongxuan, but she had to do it very subtly so that no one would know.

Because the date of Hesheli's entry into the mansion was chosen very close, just over a month later, the Fujin and Li, who had a lot of opinions about Jiaming, wanted to take the lead in setting up a scheme to deal with Hesheli, as they regarded Hesheli as a formidable enemy. They harbored the idea of ​​killing two birds with one stone and planned to drag Hesheli and Jiaming, two enemies who already had a grudge, together.

Therefore, after Emperor Kangxi's belated imperial edict arrived, Jiaming lived a very leisurely life, and there were no minor disturbances from her wife and Lady Li.

In the study in the front courtyard, since the Fourth Master established the Sticky Rod Office, he has also found several advisors to serve as his strategists.

The most famous one is Wu Sidao, who was brought back by the Fourth Prince when he accompanied the Emperor on his southern tour in the 41st year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, which was last year.

"What do you think I should do about the Hesheli clan?" The Fourth Prince asked, his face expressionless. He looked at the advisors opposite him and said calmly, "They are close relatives of the Crown Prince's maternal family. I will not allow any chaos in this mansion."

The Fourth Prince's meaning was understood by all the advisors: the family background of this Hesheli clan was not much different from that of the current Fujin, whose family had fallen on hard times.

If such a concubine is brought into the mansion, and if she develops the ambition to compete with the primary wife, and wants her children to rival the eldest prince Honghui, the inner court will surely be in chaos.

It is said that one must manage one's family well to govern the country and bring peace to the world. Managing one's family is very important. If a man wants to be valued by the emperor and realize his political ambitions, he cannot do without managing his family well.

After exchanging glances, none of them spoke.

It wasn't that they had no way to deal with it, but rather, who knew if this concubine from the Hesheli clan would be favored by the Fourth Prince after entering the household? If she whispered in his ear, or if the Fourth Prince remembered their words about that concubine today, things might get...

“This servant has two ideas!” Wu Sidao said at this moment.

The advisors quickly glanced at him with concern, but Wu Sidao looked steadily at the Fourth Prince and said calmly, "Firstly, the Fourth Prince's wife should give birth to one or two more legitimate sons."

Upon hearing this, Fourth Master's expression remained unchanged, and he merely moved his lips slightly, "Secondly?"

Wu Sidao's method makes sense, but he has gone to the Fujin's place, yet there has been no good news from her. Therefore, this first method is not feasible.

"Secondly, Fourth Prince, you should just not let your concubine have a child."

Upon hearing this, Fourth Master suddenly paused, his gaze towards Wu Sidao becoming extremely oppressive.

Wu Sidao, however, acted as if he hadn't seen her, and calmly offered his advice: "Most women in the world value their children. Only if they have children can they fight for them. If they don't have children, who will they fight for them to?"

Upon hearing Wu Sidao's words, the Fourth Prince couldn't help but twirl and rub the ring on his finger. After a moment of silence, just as the staff members' hearts were pounding and they were sweating profusely with worry for Wu Sidao in the sweltering summer heat, the Fourth Prince spoke up: "This method is acceptable!"

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief almost simultaneously. However, the advisors were still somewhat worried. After all, if the concubine gained favor and the Fourth Prince brought up past transgressions against Wu Sidao, then…

Wu Sidao had thought of this as well, but as far as he knew, the Fourth Prince would never do anything that would be considered improper. Moreover, even if the Fourth Prince really favored that concubine, he was not afraid. "Of course, what this servant means is not that the concubine cannot have children for life. If she is really very disciplined, or if she can increase the age gap between her son and Prince Honghui."

...

July has arrived, and the sweltering summer heat has brought a flurry of activity to the Fourth Prince's residence.

The day the concubine was to enter the household was only seven or eight days away, but just then, something unexpected happened in the mansion, which was almost ready.

Even with ice basins available, adults in Kyoto still find the summer heat unbearable, let alone children.

The first one to have an accident was Hongshi from the Li family in the Pear Garden. This child was born prematurely and was not well cared for while in Li's womb, so he was a bit weak. As a result, the wet nurse who was taking care of him saw that he was crying because of the heat, so she put another ice basin in the room.

The little boy felt cooler and stopped crying, but not long after, he developed a fever and fell ill.

The Fujin and Li were enemies. When they saw that Hongshi was in trouble, they pretended to send someone to fetch the imperial physician, but they couldn't help but feel gloating.

But not long after, she noticed that her son was suffering from summer heat and looked very haggard.

His appearance startled the Fujin, who quickly suppressed her various thoughts and focused on taking care of Honghui, fearing that he might fall ill.

"Oh my, our Fourth Prince is still the strongest!" Hongtao, who was chatting with Jiaming about various matters in the manor, looked at the smiling and very well-behaved Hongxuan in the Peach Courtyard and said happily.

Jiaming nodded in agreement, having personally experienced firsthand how her wood-based powers had altered her child's body during her pregnancy. It was highly unlikely that the boy's physique was compromised.

However, she still felt that Hongxuan was somewhat strange; perhaps he had inherited some of her differences. (To be continued.)