His Majesty's health had recovered after the Lunar New Year, but while his physical ailments had healed, his mental illnesses might not have.
It was around two days before the 40th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign that His Majesty's health was fully restored.
During these days when His Majesty is bedridden, the Crown Prince has been reviewing all the memorials from civil and military officials and even from all over the country.
The emperor was usually attended to by Prince Zhi when he was ill.
The two sides don't really have much of a chance to meet.
Even after being enlightened by his mother, the Fourth Prince still spent most of his time serving his father, the Emperor, with medicine every day. When the Prince of Zhi was present, he would supervise the decoction in the side hall.
After all, he had been diligently guarding his father for the past few days, and it would be even more noticeable if he suddenly became lax. So, just like the previous days, he only set aside half a day to go back to the Ministry of Revenue to finish up the tasks that had been left undone in the past few days.
His Majesty never asked about the princes. The younger princes were asked briefly, but apart from the Prince of Zhi and the Crown Prince, His Majesty seemed to have forgotten about the older princes.
The Fourth Prince stayed by his father's side without asking any questions until the Emperor recovered completely.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, he and his wife went to the palace early in the morning.
The Fourth Prince followed the Emperor to the altar outside the city of Beijing to perform a sacrificial ceremony to Heaven. The Emperor's grand procession arrived at the outskirts of Beijing just as dawn was breaking.
The Fourth Prince wasn't afraid of riding a horse, since he often had the task of inspecting the lives of people in the suburbs of Beijing when he was in the Ministry of Revenue.
In winter, all you can see are barren fields. Last year's harvest was good, and this year's snow came at the perfect time. When spring comes next year, the fields will be covered in white snow and lush greenery once again.
Fourth Master seems to be reminiscing about his days on the estate. He thinks it would be good to come and stay there for a while when spring arrives.
The Fourth Prince was in a relatively relaxed mood. Inside the imperial carriage at the very front, His Majesty's brows were furrowed, and his gaze was fixed on his right arm.
The arrow wound has fully healed, but whenever His Majesty recalls everything that happened at the horse farm that day, his right arm seems to ache faintly.
He watched as the prince under his wing grew up day by day, able to share the burden of state affairs, to plant spies around him, and to develop his own thoughts...
His Majesty's eyes gradually darkened. He raised his hand and coughed lightly twice, appearing to age considerably.
The Emperor closed his eyes, and many things floated and swayed before his eyes.
Only when Liang Jiugong outside shouted "Stop the carriage!" did the Emperor slowly open his eyes.
His eyes were sharp, and countless emotions seemed to flash through them in an instant. He sat still, as if waiting for something.
When he stood up again, His Majesty's tiger's mouth was slightly open. When he got off the carriage, his hand was slightly holding the edge of the carriage. The tassels and gems swayed gently, as if some light flashed by.
When His Majesty alighted from the carriage, the Crown Prince was already bowing and waiting at his side.
He led the way, and the princes stood in order of seniority.
The Emperor's left arm rested on the Crown Prince's raised right arm: "Baocheng, follow behind Father Emperor."
His Majesty seemed to smile.
The Crown Prince lagged half a step behind and simply said, "Yes."
A large group of princes followed behind, with Prince Zhi lagging behind His Majesty and the Crown Prince. That bright yellow robe pierced Prince Zhi's eyes.
The wind was a bit chilly in the outskirts of the capital, and the princes followed behind, each with their own thoughts.
...
Inside the Forbidden City, the Fujin (Prince Consort) and several children arrived early at Consort De's Yonghe Palace.
Consort De hadn't seen the princes for some time. Holding the Second Prince, she asked the maids and other maids about the princes' recent situation.
The eldest princess and the second princess huddled together on the other side. The eldest princess was already used to being neglected. After a hint of loneliness flashed across her eyes, she was pulled by the second princess to eat the pastries from Grandma's place.
Knowing that the children were coming, Consort De prepared soft and easy-to-digest cakes and pastries. The eldest princess, being her age, could eat more, but Consort De kept glancing at the second princess out of the corner of her eye, worried that she might choke.
The Second Princess didn't care about Consort De at all. After sweetly calling out to Granny Ma a few times, she ignored the whole thing.
The little girl is very carefree.
This time, when the Princess Consort came to the palace, she rode in one carriage with the Second Prince, while the First Prince and his wet nurse, and the Third Prince and his wet nurse rode in another carriage.
This time it was naturally the eldest princess and the second princess together.
Although the second princess wasn't speaking very fluently at the moment, the two girls had seen each other quite often, and the second princess wasn't shy, so they got along quite well.
Wang and Chen felt at ease watching from the sidelines.
Consort De was holding the Second Prince, while the First Prince, being clever, began to offer beautiful blessings, which made Consort De affectionately pat the First Prince.
The Third Prince appeared rather dull standing to the side.
The Fujin looked on with a smile, and when lunchtime arrived, she helped Consort De to the outer room for lunch and then brought up the matter of Xianxin.
Consort De had truly forgotten about this matter. Upon hearing the Fujin mention it, she paused slightly: "Did you mention this to the Fourth Prince?"
The princess's eyes flashed, and she said, "These days, the master has been busy with everything, and I haven't dared to disturb him."
Indeed, she dared not. Consort De smiled faintly, seemingly uninterested in the matter: "These days are chaotic with war, and you've done a good job. As for other things, let's talk about them after Fourth Prince has calmed down."
Consort De has once again passed the buck back to her.
Since Consort De had already said so, the Fujin naturally couldn't bring herself to say anything more, no matter how much she wanted to say. She said "yes" in a low voice, while she was probably plotting something else in her heart.
Consort De quickly changed the subject: "How is Lady Li's pregnancy going?"
The Fujin (Prince Consort) twitched the corners of her mouth and helped the Consort De to sit down in the outer room: "She is almost seven months pregnant. According to the imperial physician, the pregnancy is gradually becoming more stable, so Mother can rest assured."
Consort De nodded in satisfaction, and before starting her meal, she asked the Second Prince a question.
The princes and princesses are having their meal in a side hall right now.
“Starting tomorrow, everyone will have to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. The children will stay in Yonghe Palace then. The Second Prince's health is important, so it's fine for him to stay at the residence. We can bring him to the Fourth Prince's side after the fifth day.”
While the princess consort verbally agreed, she was naturally unwilling to leave the second prince behind.
There's only one New Year's celebration a year, so the Second Prince naturally has to go to the palace to let everyone know that the Fourth Prince's household has a legitimate son.
She wouldn't let her second prince be trampled on by the first prince.
Consort De glanced at the Fujin's expression and knew that the Fujin hadn't listened to her. She didn't say anything, and waited until after lunch when the nannies brought the children from the side hall. Consort De's smile returned.
After lunch, ladies from various noble families began to come to Yonghe Palace to pay their respects, and Consort Cheng also arrived.
The Fujin stared intently at the Second Prince, and by the end of the day, her shoulders and neck were sore.
The auspicious robes worn when entering the palace were quite cumbersome.
The Fourth Prince and his wife were both quite relaxed today, but Li Chenjiao was having a very easy time.
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