Chapter 43 Going for the Fourth and Sixth Child, That's Going for the First Child
The Seventh Princess nodded: "Okay, then Xiaojiu will draw it herself."
In order to walk faster, Ji Jinyou stretched out his arms to Jin Xing who was following behind him: "Xing Xing, hold me."
Jin Xing hurriedly stepped forward with a smile, picked up her young master, and the group went to Mingzhu Palace.
The Eighth Princess ran all the way to Hibiscus Palace and shouted before she even entered the door: "Mother, Mother!"
The Imperial Concubine was sitting on the couch handling palace affairs. When she heard the Eighth Princess's voice, which was almost out of tune, she immediately rolled her eyes. When she rushed in, she scolded her directly, "Little Eighth Princess, you have become more and more out of character recently. When can you be more dignified?"
Her brother's life was more important, so the Eighth Princess didn't care about being dignified. She ran to the Imperial Concubine in two or three steps, leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Mother, Tongtong said this morning that Fourth Brother..."
After hearing what the Eighth Princess said, the Imperial Concubine's mouth sank. "Okay, I know about this matter. I'll take care of the rest. You go back and take care of Xiaojiu."
Having said that, he threw the account book in his hand on the table, stood up and walked out: "Hongyu, come with me to Fengyi Palace to visit the queen."
Ever since I could hear Xiaojiu and Tongtong talking, every day has been so exciting.
Seeing the Royal Concubine hurried away, the Eighth Princess breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on the couch, picked up the teapot on the table, poured herself a cup of tea, drank it in one gulp, then stood up and walked out to find the Seventh Princess and Xiaojiu.
When the Imperial Concubine arrived at the Empress' Palace, she walked straight in without notifying anyone. Seeing the Empress tidying up her dressing box, she walked over and gave her a look.
The queen waved her hand, dismissed the servants, and then asked, "What happened again?"
The Royal Concubine told the story of the Fourth Prince, and finally gritted her teeth and said, "Last time, they got a prostitute to frame the Sixth Prince, and this time they directly wanted to kill the Fourth Prince. It's really abominable."
The queen's face darkened. "Going for the fourth and sixth brothers means going for the eldest brother. Everyone knows that they have a good relationship with each other."
The Imperial Concubine asked, "Sister, should we inform His Majesty about this matter, or should we let the eldest prince handle it directly?"
The Queen thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty is very concerned about these matters. Now that Tong Tong is here, there's no guarantee that His Majesty will hear about it himself one day. If we hide it from him, he will be unhappy when he finds out. It's better to tell His Majesty and let him make the decision."
"Sister, what you said makes sense." The Imperial Concubine nodded in agreement. "Yesterday, Thirteen received twenty strokes of the cane, five of which were because he listened to Tong Tong's words and went to kill someone without informing Your Majesty in advance. We should be honest with each other."
The Queen stood up and said, "There is no time to waste on this matter. Let's go now."
The empress's foot had not yet healed, so she called for a sedan chair, and the two of them left the Fengyi Palace and headed straight for the Chongde Hall.
Emperor Wen Zhao had just come off court when he saw the two men approaching with serious expressions. He knew something big had happened, so he asked Liang Quan to go out and watch while he opened his mouth to ask what was going on.
The empress told Tong Tong what he had said. When she finished, the imperial concubine knelt before Emperor Wen Zhao and said, "Your Majesty, please save the fourth child."
The Fourth Prince had always been upright, and Emperor Wen Zhao liked this straightforward son who never beat around the bush. When he heard that someone wanted to harm him, he immediately became angry.
With a dark face, he reached out his hand to help the Imperial Concubine up, "What are you doing? The Fourth Prince is also my son. How can I sit back and do nothing?"
After saying this, he said loudly: "Liang Quan, the eldest prince should not have left the palace yet. Go and bring him back to me, immediately."
"Yes, I will send someone to chase him now." Liang Quan responded and ordered a young eunuch who was responsible for running errands to do it.
The Emperor asked the Empress and the Imperial Concubine to sit down, and then asked, "Did Tongtong mention who killed the Fourth Brother?"
The Queen looked at the Imperial Concubine, who shook her head and said, "I just asked Xiao Ba, and she said she didn't know. She only heard Tong Tong say that her fourth brother was going to die, so she rushed here."
"But Xiao Ba said that Tong Tong made this comment after reading some character synopsis, so he probably doesn't know who it is."
Emperor Wen Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Then let's wait for the eldest brother to come over and arrange this matter. Then we can bring Xiao Jiu over and see if we can hear anything else."
---
In the Pearl Palace, the Seventh Princess was pretending to write a letter to the First Prince.
Ji Jinyou was standing on a chair, holding a brush in his chubby hands, painting with great effort.
In light of her previous limited experiences, she became smarter and did not directly paint the scene of the fourth prince being assassinated, but planned to paint it separately.
So she held the brush with her still weak hand and drew a pine tree in a few strokes. She touched it with her little hand and said, "Seventh sister, what is this?"
The Seventh Princess was very cooperative: "Wow, our Little Nine draws so well. Is this a pine tree?"
Ji Jinyou nodded: "What color?"
The Seventh Princess: "Black ink, black pine tree, black pine."
[All right, my seventh sister is really smart, she guessed it right away.] Ji Jinyou nodded with satisfaction, put the paper aside to let it dry, and took another piece of paper to continue drawing.
System: [Of course, the Seventh Princess didn’t read all those storybooks in vain.]
Ji Jinyou grasped the pen in her whole little hand and drew an extremely sloppy arrow. Then she drew a stickman on the arrow. The arrow hit the stickman's round belly, and she also drew a few drops of blood.
She picked up the paper and held it in front of the Seventh Princess, pointing with her little hand, "Seventh Sister, what is this?"
The Seventh Princess looked at the crude but clear drawing and immediately answered, "This is a person who was shot by an arrow and died?"
"Seventh sister is so amazing." Ji Jinyou praised with a smile.
The Seventh Princess tried to hold back her laughter. If she couldn't guess it right, she would be very stupid and blind.
Ji Jinyou continued to paint, and then he drew the black pine, the man killed by an arrow, and then he drew a mountain.
The Seventh Princess pretended to write a letter. As she was writing, a light bulb suddenly lit up in her head. Xiaojiu could separate the sheets one by one to draw, so could she also separate them one by one to write?
Thinking of this, she imitated Xiaojiu and started writing a hidden-acrostic poem. She changed the paper after writing a sentence, and then changed the paper after writing another sentence...
So, when the Seventh Princess successfully finished writing a limerick that contained the words "There are thieves lying in wait in Black Pine Ridge to kill your fourth brother, be careful," she jumped up with joy while holding a stack of papers, "Hahaha, I am so smart."
From now on, if someone can't hear what Tong Tong and Xiao Jiu are saying, she can remind them like this.
This sudden laugh frightened Ji Jinyou so much that he shivered and the brush in his hand fell onto the paper. The tip of the brush landed on the mountain that he had just drawn halfway. The ink destroyed the mountain, making it a black mass and it was no longer possible to tell what it was.
She stared at the Seventh Princess jumping around with her big black eyes, and was stunned: [General, what happened to the Seventh Sister? ]
System: [I don’t know. Aren’t all the people in this palace like this? They are nervous and startled all the time.]
[Hey, when will Seventh Sister grow up?] Ji Jinyou shook his head helplessly, picked up the pen, changed a piece of paper, and continued to draw the mountain.
The little girl spoke in a childish voice, yet acted very mature. The Seventh Princess was amused by her and went back to the table to put the papers in order, pretending to continue writing.
As she was writing, she suddenly realized that the people she cared about seemed to be able to hear what Tong Tong said. So even if she was inspired by Xiao Jiu to come up with this idea, it seemed to be of no use.
When the Eighth Princess came in, she saw the two of them writing and drawing at the table. She walked up to Youyou curiously and asked, "What is Xiaojiu drawing?"
Ji Jinyou's hands didn't stop, and she answered while drawing: "Eighth sister, I'm drawing for fourth brother."
The Eighth Princess looked at the Seventh Princess, and the two exchanged glances and nodded.
"Seventh sister, what are you writing?" The Eighth Princess deliberately said loudly, and her mother-in-law Wen Haitang was picking up her skirt. Seventh Princess pretended not to let her see, picked up a pile of papers on the table and ran away. The Eighth Princess chased her, and the two of them ran into the inner room while fighting.
Ji Jinyou looked up and couldn't help laughing: [Everyone, the seventh and eighth sisters are fighting again.]
System: [They fight all day long, but our Youzi is the best behaved. ]
As soon as the seven or eight princesses entered the inner room, they calmed down and spoke in low voices.
The Seventh Princess: "Have you told mother about Fourth Brother's matter?"
The Eighth Princess: "I heard that Mother went to see the Queen Mother and said that we don't have to worry about this matter."
Seventh Princess: "Xiaojiu wanted to remind Fourth Brother, so I asked her to draw a picture and told Big Brother to bring it over. She will definitely ask us to guess later."
Princess Eight: "Okay, I understand."
The two of them made a plan and pretended to fight and went out. The Seventh Princess put away what she had written and put it in an envelope, preparing to destroy it later.
The two of them lay on Ji Jinyou's left and right, chatting with each other about the two paintings she had drawn.
Princess Eight: "This is a pine tree, and this is a person who was shot dead by an arrow."
Princess Seven: "This is a black pine, a black pine tree."
Ji Jinyou finally finished drawing the mountain in her hand and tapped the paper with her little hand: "Eighth sister, what is this?"
Princess Eight: "Mountain."
Ji Jinyou took the picture of the pine tree and placed the two pictures together.
Without waiting for her to remind her, the Eighth Princess took the initiative to guess: "One is Heishong, one is Shan, Heishong Shan? Why does this name sound so familiar?"
The Eighth Princess pretended to think for a while, then said in surprise, "I remember now, what a coincidence. When Fourth Brother was still here, he was looking at the Kanfu map at home, and I was watching it with him. On his way to the south, there was a place called Hei Song Ling."
As she was talking, the Eighth Princess suddenly covered her chest and said, "Oh no, why is my heart beating so fast? Is something going to happen to Fourth Brother?"
Sometimes there are some inexplicable psychological feelings between relatives. Ji Jinyou didn't think much about it. He picked up the paintings he had drawn and stuffed them into the hands of the Eighth Princess, reminding her: "This painting is for the fourth brother. Let the eldest brother deliver the letter."
“好，七姐你的也給我，我一起拿着，讓人送出宮去。”八公主接過來，匆匆折好，往信封裏一放，又接過七公主遞過來的信封，就要出門。
還不等走出門，思畫走進來禀報，說陛下讓他們去崇德殿。
七八公主猜到是和四皇子的事有關，應好，八公主把信遞給七公主拿着，她一把抱起小九就走。
---
幾人來到崇德殿，見大皇子剛好也在，行禮過後，季瑾悠扯了扯七公主的袖子，待七公主低頭來看，她指了指她手裏還拿着的信，小聲提醒：“給大哥哥。”
七公主應好，走過去，把兩封信交到大皇子手上，沖他使眼色：“大哥，這是我和小九給四哥的信，你幫忙送給他。”
八公主也上前說：“還有我這心跳得厲害，咱家就四哥在外頭，大哥你一定要提醒他，歸京路上多留意。”
屋內衆人見七八公主邊說話邊眨眼睛，知道這是演給小九看，皇貴妃也附和着叮囑幾句：“是啊，對了，一定要叮囑老四那個莽夫遇事別沖動，三思而後行。”
文昭帝也點頭：“前兩日朕剛聽說，那個叫什麽……，什麽嶺的地方來着？”
大皇子接：“黑……”
八公主又接：“松……”
七公主再接：“嶺。”
一人一個字往出蹦，費了老大勁，可算把黑松嶺給說全乎了。
文昭帝接着編：“對，就是那個地方，聽說最近正鬧匪患，你派一隊親兵趕過去和老四彙合，讓他順便把那匪賊給朕剿了。”
“是，那兒臣現在就出宮去安排。”大皇子起身，行禮之後，揣着兩封信走了。
季瑾悠原本以為還要費些功夫才能提醒成功，沒想到竟然如此順利，想到又救下一個人，她很開心，一直繃着的小肩膀放松下來。
看着胖乎乎的小姑娘，文昭帝心情莫名就很好，招招手：“小九啊，到父皇這裏來。”
季瑾悠走過去，站到他面前，仰着小腦袋靜靜看着他。
文昭帝伸手就要去抱，季瑾悠小身子一扭，躲開他的手，“悠悠自己坐。”
說罷，走到椅子那，自己往上爬，奈何短胳膊腳腿的，爬了兩下竟然沒爬上去。
一回頭，見大家都忍着笑看她，她有些不好意思，也不爬了，就那麽靠着椅子站着，“悠悠吃太飽，站一會兒。”
小姑娘一本正經為自己找個借口的小模樣，惹得衆人哄笑出聲。
季瑾悠知道大家都是善意地笑她，也跟着嘿嘿笑了兩聲。
八公主把小姑娘抱起來，拉着七公主到榻上坐了，擺弄起桌上的棋子來。
文昭帝有心聽小九再說說四皇子的事，便給皇後和皇貴妃遞了個眼神，兩人領會，閑聊了起來。
皇貴妃嘆氣：“這個老四也是，出去數月，竟然才給我寫過三封信，等他回來，我定要好好罵罵他。”
皇後勸：“孩子大了，不再像小時候那般黏人，也是情有可原。”
皇貴妃：“老四這孩子，從小他就沒黏過我。”
皇後笑：“一個小六找你撒嬌，你都整日裏嫌煩，要是老四也那般，你還不得煩死。”
皇貴妃想象了一下，五大三粗的老四像小六一樣賴在她身邊，母妃長母妃短地撒嬌，忙搖了搖頭，也忍不住笑了：“是夠煩的。”
季瑾悠和七八公主坐在榻上扒拉棋子玩，聽皇後和皇貴妃聊得開心，也豎着小耳朵聽得起勁兒。
可聽着聽着，兩位娘娘又都只顧笑，不說了，她就忍不住問系統：【統統，我先還忘了問你，你知道害四哥哥的人是誰嗎？】
系統：【暫時沒解鎖，但看梗概裏寫的，是因他這次南巡查出什麽東西來了，得罪了南邊不少地方官員，而且那些官員背後還有京中貴人撐腰。】
皇後和皇貴妃，還有七八公主，全都下意識看向文昭帝。
文昭帝見幾人望過來，面不改色微微颔首，示意自己聽到了。
幾人怕小九發現異樣，忙又轉回頭，喝茶的喝茶，扒拉棋子的扒拉棋子。
季瑾悠問：【京中貴人，那是說誰？】
系統：【暫時還不知道。】
季瑾悠：【好吧。統統，你能看到明天的事嗎？】
系統：【還不能。】
【統統，上回你不是說你要升級，你還沒升嗎？】
【還沒呢，得等上頭安排。】
【那好吧。】
季瑾悠見再問不出什麽，也就懶得再問，往挨着她的八公主身邊一靠，悄聲問：“八姐姐，咱們還要在這裏待多久？”
八公主也小聲問：“小九想去玩了？”
季瑾悠點點頭：“父皇這裏好沒趣。”
大家都這麽幹坐着，兩位娘娘也不聊天了，一點意思都沒有。
“好，那咱們就去玩。”八公主悄聲說，随後起身朝上首坐着的幾人行禮：“父皇，母後，母妃，兒臣們先告退了。”
文昭帝剛從前朝回來，還有一堆事務待處理，見一娃一桶也不聊了，便點頭允了：“去吧。”
七公主抱起胖娃娃，三人行完禮，向外走去。
知道文昭帝還要忙，皇後和皇貴妃也跟着起身離開。
---
十五皇子早上起來，洗漱過後，身邊太監擺上早飯，他沒胃口，不想吃，便爬到樹上去，仰着頭，望着天空發呆。
順妃提了兩碗馄饨來，見到樹上的小男孩，笑着招手：“十五，下來吃馄饨，我早上現包的，羊肉餡的，可鮮了。”
十五皇子想到以前敦妃也是這般對他好，心中難受，跳下樹來行禮：“多謝順妃娘娘，十五不餓，您拿去給十四皇兄吃吧，十五先告退。”
說罷轉身回了殿內。
順妃看的直嘆氣：“這孩子，以前多皮一個孩子，如今都蔫頭耷腦的。”
她惦念自家兒子身上的傷，也無暇多管，從宮女手裏接過食盒，提着進了東偏殿：“兒啊，你可好些了？”
十四皇子趴在榻上擡起頭來，“母妃，兒子好多了。”
順妃又關心地問了幾句，見真的沒有大礙，放下心來，把馄饨端出來：“方才在院裏見到十五，我喊他來吃馄饨，他不吃，回屋去了。”
說着端碗坐到榻上，“來，母妃喂你。”
十四皇子搖搖頭：“母妃您先回去吧，兒臣這會兒不餓，待會兒自己吃。”
順妃想着宮裏還有些事，便将碗放在桌上：“也好，那母妃就先回去。”
随後又叮囑幾句，起身走了。
等順妃出門，十四皇子讓身邊太監去喊十五皇子過來，結果十五不肯來。
他便讓小太監送一碗馄饨過去，十五也不要，連門都沒開。
十四皇子想了想，從榻上爬起來，一瘸一拐走過去敲門，敲了好一會兒，門才從裏面打開。
十五皇子眼眶通紅，顯然剛剛哭過，他黑着一張小臉，語氣不大好：“你煩不煩，我都說了我不吃了。”
十四皇子笑了笑：“你要不吃，那我也不吃，我陪你餓着。”
兩人對視着，僵持着，好一會兒，都憋不住笑了。
十五走出門來，從十四皇子手裏接過食盒，扶着他進屋，兩人到榻上，一個坐着，一個趴在，一人抱着一碗馄饨都吃光了。
十三皇子挨了二十板子，傷得比十四皇子重多了，他趴在床上，在身邊太監的勸說下，捏着鼻子剛喝了一碗苦得要命的傷藥，熏得差點吐出來。
他臉色煞白，有氣無力地趴在床邊，好一會兒才緩過勁兒來，往裏挪了挪，問道：“方才我聽到順妃娘娘的聲音，她是又來過了嗎？”
太監應：“是，來送馄饨，沒一會兒就走了。”
十三皇子臉色難看：“沒說給我送一碗來？”
太監搖頭：“不曾，順妃娘娘倒是喊十五皇子吃，不過十五皇子沒要。”
十三皇子捏緊拳頭。
以往順妃不管給十四做什麽，都有他一份的，一向也把他當成親生的一樣對待。
如今他被打成這樣，順妃來了景明宮兩回了，都不曾來看他一眼，想想就知道，定是十四和她說了什麽。
他又問：“剛才外頭那麽大敲門聲，又是在做什麽？”
太監也不隐瞞：“十四皇子親自去給十五皇子送馄饨，這會兒兩人正在屋裏吃着。”
十三皇子氣得握拳砸床。明明未來的那些事情還沒發生，他也沒有害十四，十四竟然膽敢率先和他斷交。
好，斷交就斷交，誰還怕了他不成，誰沒他還活不了了是吧。
十三皇子氣得發瘋，卻全然忘了，昨天他剛因為未來還不曾發生的事，拿刀就去殺人。
十四皇子對十三皇子的心思一無所知，吃完馄饨，就賴在十五皇子那裏不肯走了。
十五皇子也不趕他，自己坐到門檻上，靠着門框，望着天空。
兩個小男孩，一個沒了母妃，一個沒了兄弟，一個趴在榻上，一個坐在門口，各自發呆。
After a moment's silence, two palace maids suddenly came in from the doorway. The one walking at the back walked in with her head very low. She walked in too hastily and stepped on the heel of the one in front of her. Both of them stumbled and almost fell.
The fifteenth prince heard the noise and looked over. He recognized at a glance that the palace maid behind was actually the thirteenth prince's mother, Concubine Li.
At the same time, the guilty Concubine Li also looked over. When their eyes met, Concubine Li was stunned.
The fifteenth prince was also stunned, but he quickly stood up, turned around and went back to the house, pretending not to see it.
He disliked Thirteen and disliked Concubine Li even more, but that didn't mean he liked to meddle in other people's affairs. He already had enough troubles of his own, and he didn't want to meddle in other people's affairs.
When Concubine Li saw the fifteenth prince return to his room, she breathed a sigh of relief and quickened her pace into the main hall.
As soon as she entered the room, she saw the Thirteenth Prince lying on the bed with a pale face, still wiping his tears. She felt so distressed that she rushed over to him, sobbing, "My son, my son."
When the Thirteenth Prince saw Concubine Li, he was surprised, happy, and aggrieved. He immediately cried out, "Mother, why did you come just now? I was in so much pain that I couldn't sleep all night."
The young eunuch was startled, and hurriedly bowed and greeted, then went out to guard.
Concubine Li is still under house arrest. If anyone knew about this, it would be a serious crime of disobeying the imperial order.
Concubine Li squatted beside the bed and touched the Thirteenth Prince's head. The mother and daughter cried to each other for a long time before they stopped.
Concubine Li took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the Thirteenth Prince's eyes: "Don't blame me, it was your father who ordered me to do this, and I dare not disobey."
She originally wanted to ask Concubine Shun to help her keep an eye on Thirteen, but when her personal maid went to ask Concubine Shun about Thirteen's situation, Concubine Shun was hesitant and couldn't give a definite answer.
When the palace maid went back and told her about this, she guessed that Concubine Shun must not have come to see her. She was really worried, so she found an opportunity and sneaked out disguised as a palace maid.
The Thirteenth Prince then noticed that Concubine Li was wearing the clothes of a palace maid. He looked worried and said, "Mother, please go back soon. I am not in so much pain, I just miss you."
Concubine Li asked, "Did Concubine Shun not come to see you?"
The Thirteenth Prince was angry with the Fourteenth Prince. He nodded when he heard this and said, "No, she came to Jingming Palace twice and never came to see me."
Concubine Li looked fierce: "Okay, okay, okay, you little bitch, wait for me to come back."
As he was speaking, he heard a childish voice coming from outside: "Fifteenth brother, are you here? Seventh sister and eighth sister and I are here to see you."