Chapter 55 Consort Hui's Personal Expedition
The three people's sedan chairs arrived at the Qianqing Palace almost simultaneously.
Liang Jiugong had already been standing on tiptoe, peering out from under the eaves. As soon as he saw them, he quickly came forward, respectful yet somewhat anxious, and bowed slightly, saying, "His Majesty is in a bad mood in the warm pavilion. This servant will lead you ladies in now. Once you're inside, please try to persuade His Majesty to stay calm and not let him get too angry."
Seeing Liang Jiugong, who was usually very perceptive of the emperor's intentions, so anxious, the three of them felt uneasy.
Oh no, could something really serious have happened?
Although they were told to go in with him, both of them were imperial concubines and had been to the Qianqing Palace more than once. They were very familiar with it, so Liang Jiugong just followed them sideways.
After passing through the main hall and entering the warm pavilion, it was completely silent.
The eldest prince, Baoqing, dressed in a royal blue robe, knelt closest to the dragon throne, his back ramrod straight. Behind him, eighty or ninety-three younger princes also knelt in neat rows, their heads bowed, not daring to even breathe loudly.
Emperor Kangxi, on the other hand, sat expressionlessly on his dragon throne, holding an unidentified book in his hand.
After a quick glance, the three children, all with limbs intact, bowed in unison, saying, "Your Majesty, we pay our respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty enjoy boundless blessings."
Suppressing his anger, Kangxi said, "Get up."
Consort Yi, who was always favored and had a straightforward personality, saw that Kangxi's face was not good, so she spoke first to probe, her tone familiar with a hint of helplessness: "Your Majesty, has Xiao Jiu been naughty in the Imperial Study again? This child has never been able to sit still since he was little. He has been punished and scolded, but he just doesn't seem to learn his lesson. That's just his personality. Your Majesty must not make yourself angry."
No matter what the situation, try using the excuse that the child is too young to understand.
The Imperial Concubine followed closely behind, saying, "And the Tenth Prince as well. Your Majesty, please just tell me what trouble they've caused so that I can be prepared."
It's heartbreaking to think about, but they've really gotten used to their son getting into trouble every now and then.
When he wasn't at the Imperial Study, he would wander around the palace, ruining the flowers and plants in the Imperial Garden, which made them furious.
I thought that if I went to the Imperial Study, there would be a tutor to keep an eye on them and they would cause less trouble, so they could rest for a while. But it seems that the result is still not satisfactory.
Yunyun was already used to Baoqing's unreliability and said bluntly, "Baoqing is always careless in his actions, while Xiaoba is always well-behaved and never makes a mistake in the Imperial Study. If both of them are involved this time, Your Majesty, don't bother trying to figure it out. Just punish Baoqing for Xiaoba's mistake as well. It's not that I don't care about him, but this child is involved in nine out of ten things that happen. Even if it's unintentional, he should be taught a lesson."
After this conversation, Kangxi calmed down a bit and gave a cold snort, "Elder, you speak."
The matter is actually very simple.
The Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince were caught red-handed by Emperor Kangxi while reading storybooks in the Imperial Study.
The timing isn't a problem; we can rest then.
However, the situation at the time was very problematic, the books they were reading were also very problematic, and their sources were even more questionable.
The romance novels I read were vulgar and tasteless.
Both the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince said they got it from the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince was completely bewildered and only said that his elder brother had given him several books, but he had not yet read them.
Baoqing recognized the book; the cover was exactly the same as the one he had given to his mother. However, he didn't say that. He only said that he had indeed given the Eighth Prince a few books a couple of days ago, and this book looked familiar, so it must have been the one he gave to the Eighth Prince.
After asking around in the Imperial Study and confirming that it was only related to those four, Kangxi told the remaining princes to study hard while he handled the matter.
After Baoqing recounted the whole story, Kangxi coldly asked, "Do you know what's written in this book?"
Bao Qing's voice was loud and clear, "Father, you know your son. I only look at the books and military strategy that I need to study in the Imperial Study. I get sleepy as soon as I look at anything else!"
Baoqing was indeed good at both civil and military affairs, but his literary skills only reached the average level of a prince. He was particularly good at military strategy, which raised his overall literary level by a lot.
Yunyun: ······
While this is true, Baoqing doesn't need to say it with such pride; it's really nothing to be proud of.
With such a good reputation, Kangxi immediately believed it and his tone softened, "Didn't you see why you gave the book to your eighth brother?"
Baoqing argued confidently, "It's precisely because it hasn't been read that it's clean, and that's why I can give it to my eighth brother. I can't possibly give my brother a book that I've used myself, that would be too stingy."
These remarks are impeccable.
Kangxi then asked the Eighth Prince, "Eighth Prince, have you read this book?"
The Eighth Prince shook his head. “These past few days I have been learning calligraphy from my Fourth Brother. I finish practicing every day and it’s almost dark by the time I finish. I haven’t had any time to read the books my Eldest Brother gave me. Today I brought two books to the Imperial Study so I could read them during my break.”
The result was two books in total.
He was reading the serious book himself, while the other one, which was on the table, was taken away by the Ninth Prince.
Then, the Ninth Prince saw something and called the Tenth Prince to look at it together, and Kangxi caught them red-handed.
After hearing the whole story, Consort Yi and Consort Gui felt that this was truly an undeserved disaster and breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing the anxious look on the messenger's face, they thought their son had beaten up the tutor in the Imperial Study. Fortunately, it was nothing serious, and the punishment would be over soon.
Yun Jun was relieved. Bao Qing was innocent because of her ignorance, and Xiao Ba was simply implicated. Ultimately, the root of the trouble did not lie with the two children.
This time, it was a complete case of trying to be clever but ending up making things worse.
Knowing that it wasn't his own son who had been mistreated at such a young age, nor was it the older one who spread vulgar ideas, Kangxi's mood gradually calmed down.
Thinking the matter was completely over, the four children slowly relaxed.
The next second, Kangxi suddenly launched an attack, "Baoqing, where did you get that book from?"
Baoqing's heart skipped a beat.
He dared not say that he got them from Bao Tai, the brother of Prince Yu, nor did he dare say that he had also given a few to his mother. So he had to rack his brains to come up with a legitimate reason.
"I bought this in a bookstore during my southern tour. I originally wanted to bring some travelogues for my eighth brother, but the shopkeeper recommended this one because many people buy it, so I just grabbed one."
This was half true and half false. That's how he really got the books he gave to his eighth brother, except for that one special one.
Kangxi didn't say whether he believed it or not, but he added another punishment to him—because of his unstable temperament, he had to study Confucian classics with a Han Chinese tutor for another six months.
This was a complete shock to Baoqing.
Didn't we agree that we'd assign him a job after the New Year?
He really didn't want to study for another six months, especially those long and tedious classics.
Just as he was about to bargain with his father, the Emperor, he was met with a cold glare from Kangxi, and Baoqing suddenly remembered that he seemed to be feeling guilty.
He had no choice but to accept the punishment dejectedly.
Back in the Imperial Study, the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince, completely forgetting their lesson, winked at Baoqing and secretly inquired, "Brother, do you still have that book? Can I borrow it from you?"
It turns out that the book was naturally taken away by Emperor Kangxi, and there's no way it will be returned.
Although Bao Qing didn't know what the book contained, his father's reaction after reading it was clear, especially when it was confiscated. His eyes were filled with anger as if he wanted to devour his ninth and tenth brothers alive. He could guess that the contents were probably not very proper.
Seeing that Ninth Brother was still begging to see, Baoqing's expression was a little strange: "You understood it?"
My ninth brother isn't even seven years old yet.
He was still catching bugs to play with when he was seven years old, but I didn't expect my ninth brother to be more mature than him.
The Ninth Prince felt that his elder brother was looking down on him: "How could I not know something as simple as recognizing characters!"
Bao Qing coughed, "That was bought from a shop outside. It's really sold out. This is the only copy."
"Alright then," the Ninth Prince said, somewhat disappointed. He was still curious about how the fox had become a spirit.
Baoqing patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, saying, "You'll experience it for yourself when you're older."
The Ninth Prince stood there, lost in thought.
If foxes outside the palace can become spirits, there's no reason why foxes inside the palace can't, right?
-
Baoqing had been behaving himself in the Imperial Study for more than half a year, hoping that his father would give him a job since he hadn't caused any trouble and stop keeping him confined to the Imperial Study.
Perhaps Heaven heard Baoqing's heartfelt words, for in July, Galdan invaded Ujumchin and launched a rebellion, shaking the court and the country.
The military officers were itching to fight, just waiting for the emperor's order to teach Galdan a lesson.
Emperor Kangxi was in his prime, with a full treasury and a strong army. After quelling the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories, he was in high spirits and immediately decided to lead a personal expedition.
Despite repeated attempts to persuade the emperor beforehand, and although there was a slight turmoil in the harem, it was an explicit decree that the harem should not interfere in politics. Their attitude towards this was simply to obey the emperor and do whatever he said.
"Mother, Mother, your son is going to war with Father Emperor!"
Before anyone could even step across the threshold of the main hall, Baoqing's loud and boisterous shouts could already be heard.
Fuling's voice rang out from the outer room, "Brother, please slow down. The master is taking a nap. Please come with me to the west side room for a while, have a cup of cool tea and rest your feet."
Baoqing, the head palace maid who was highly trusted by her mother, recognized her and knew that her mother always liked to take a nap in the afternoon. Not daring to really offend her, she had no choice but to stop and swallow the words that were on the tip of her tongue, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Well, I hope my mother won't be angry that he disturbed her sweet dreams.
Inside the inner room, Yunyun was fast asleep.
That familiar, heart-wrenching cry jolted her awake from her light sleep.
After lying quietly for a while, listening to Fuling outside urging Baoqing to go to the west side room, she raised her hand and rubbed her temples, "Someone come here."
With Baoqing around, she wouldn't be able to take a nap.
Fuling and Lingzhi were already guarding the outer room together. Upon hearing the summons, Fuling, who had just finished pouring tea for Baoqing, asked Lingzhi to go in and serve him first.
After a short while, Yunyun finished tidying up and, without delay, got up and headed towards the west side room.
Baoqing stared at her longingly, and hesitantly called out, "Mother."
"You're such a grown man, how come you're still so immature?" Yun Jun said to him in an annoyed tone.
Anyone who is woken up from a good night's sleep will inevitably feel angry.
Especially in the hot summer, even with ice chests, it doesn't achieve the same cooling effect as air conditioning, and it's still noticeably hot.
Fu Ling promptly served a bowl of sour plum soup to relieve the summer heat.
After taking a couple of sips, she felt her anger subside and regained her usual composure. She then asked Baoqing, "What were you shouting outside the hall just now?"
She was half asleep when she heard Baoqing shouting loudly, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.
Baoqing couldn't hide his excitement. "Father is going to personally lead the expedition against Galdan. He has appointed my uncle, Prince Yu, as the Grand General of Pacification, and I as his deputy. I finally have a proper job!"
He finally doesn't have to study in the Imperial Study anymore, hahaha.
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