The Fourth Prince awoke after lying in bed for almost two hours, and Consort De ordered him to be carried to Yonghe Palace for the night. Although he was an adult prince, he was not allowed to stay overnight in the inner palace unless the emperor specifically requested it.
After Fourth Master woke up, Su Peisheng served him another dose of medicine before recounting what had happened after he fainted.
"Mother, what time is it now?" Fourth Master's face was a little red; he hadn't expected to faint.
"The Empress should be in her warm chamber. Master, it's already past 5 PM. You've scared me to death! Shall we have our meal now?" Su Peisheng said.
"No need, go see Mother." After hearing Su Peisheng's account, Fourth Master immediately threw off the covers and got out of bed.
"Let this servant help you!" Su Peisheng hurriedly supported the Fourth Master, who had just fainted and was still recovering. Sure enough, as soon as the Fourth Master stood up, he felt a little dizzy.
"What's wrong with me? What did the imperial physician say?" Fourth Master recalled what Doctor Liang had said. At the time, he thought it wasn't anything serious, just that his libido was a bit high.
Su Peisheng had deliberately omitted this part when he was speaking, but he didn't expect that Fourth Master would still ask about it.
Seeing Su Peisheng's stammering manner, Fourth Master knew that he was hiding something from him, and asked in a deep voice, "What is it? Don't hide it from me."
Su Peisheng felt anxious when he recalled the words the imperial physician had spoken to Consort De. He could only say, "Your Highness is just overworked, and the dry weather has caused you to have too much internal heat."
When Fourth Master heard this, it was similar to what Doctor Liang had said, but then he thought it was wrong. He was just a little tired and had too much internal heat, so why did he faint?
"Tell the truth!" Fourth Master shook off Su Peisheng's arm that was supporting him and shouted sternly.
Su Peisheng never lied to the Fourth Prince; his loyalty to the Fourth Prince was absolute. Now, seeing that he could no longer hide the truth, he tearfully said, "Your Highness, the imperial physician said that your Yin and Yang were out of balance, causing excessive internal heat, which damaged your body. The Yang heat caused the blood to flow backward and rush to your neck, almost blocking it. It blocked the blood vessels in your neck, but fortunately, Physician Shen gave you a few acupuncture needles, and it cleared up."
Fourth Master felt his hands and feet turn cold; did he realize he had almost died?
A silence fell over the room. For the first time, Fourth Master felt a sense of fear. Had he inexplicably contracted some strange illness? He hadn't even achieved his goal yet, and now he was going to die so inexplicably?
Meanwhile, Consort De was sitting in the West Warm Pavilion, reading the Buddhist scriptures she read every day.
"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince has arrived," a palace maid announced as she entered.
Consort De then raised her head and gestured to the palace maid to let the Fourth Prince in.
"Come sit here with me, you're not fully recovered yet," Consort De said as soon as the Fourth Prince walked in.
The Fourth Prince was taken aback, for Consort De had never allowed him to sit next to her.
"Come here, it's getting cold, it's warm up here." Consort De said with concern when she saw the Fourth Prince's bewildered expression. When she heard Imperial Physician Shen say that the Fourth Prince's health was not optimistic, and that for some reason, too much yang energy had accumulated in his body, almost blocking the blood vessels supplying blood to his brain.
Although Consort De did not love the Fourth Prince as much as she loved the Fourteenth Prince, he was still her son. Seeing that he was not yet thirty years old and had suddenly fallen ill, she was anxious, but she could not be too direct. So she said tactfully, "Take care of your health, but don't overdo it."
When the Fourth Prince heard Consort De say this, he was greatly embarrassed, but he couldn't explain himself. He could only nod silently and say, "I've remembered. Mother, how is your heart palpitation lately?"
"It's alright. The imperial physician prepared the medicine for Mother early this morning. As long as she takes the medicine on time, there will be no major problems. Fourth Prince, I heard that you have placed the Fujin under house arrest and stripped her of her power?" Consort De couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, I think she is not a qualified primary consort, but I don't intend to report this to Father Emperor. Let's just leave it at that," said the Fourth Prince.
"I heard that besides your concubine, you've recently been particularly fond of a Yehe woman and another woman surnamed Nian. Is that woman from the Nian family in Longxi?" the consort asked.
"That's right." The Fourth Prince felt a warmth in his heart when he saw Consort De asking him such a gentle question.
"Is the Yehe clan from the Yehe Nara clan?" Consort De recalled that this woman had originally stayed in the palace, but later, for some reason, Kangxi assigned her to the fourth prince.
"Yes. Your son knows that the Yehenara family and the Aixin Gioro family are sworn enemies, but how she entered your inner quarters is something I've always wanted to ask you, Mother," the Fourth Prince said.
"Many young women were selected last time, but very few actually stayed in the palace. That time, all of you adult princes, along with members of the imperial family, were chosen. The Yehe clan member entering your household was likely Consort Yi's doing. She supported the last selection. She's gone to great lengths to keep you from having a peaceful time; that rumor that circulated last time was also spread by her people." A hint of disgust flashed in Consort De's eyes; she rarely showed such an expression. Decades of palace life had long since hardened her into a calm, almost wooden, demeanor.
"The Guo Luo family mother and son are really troublesome. Her own son is not outstanding, so she keeps promoting the Eighth Prince. But there's been no movement from Yanxi Palace?" The Fourth Prince frowned and said.
“Consort Hui has never been particularly shrewd, Consort Liang was born into a lowly family, and neither of them holds much power. Only Consort Yi is cunning and mischievous at every turn,” Consort De said.
"Since the Third Prince acquired Changchun Garden, he has been quite popular with Father Emperor. Has Lady Magiya revealed anything about it in the palace?" the Fourth Prince asked.
“Consort Rong has been detached from worldly affairs for a long time. This incident was still caused by Lady Guo Luoluo. What’s most hateful is that we haven’t caught her with any evidence yet. Otherwise, when His Majesty returned to the palace this time, I would definitely have spoken to him about it,” said Consort De.
"Mother, there's no need to be upset over such trivial matters. Father Emperor must have heard about it long ago, but he hasn't taken any action against his son. It seems he doesn't believe it at all." The Fourth Prince felt a sense of pride thinking about the Emperor's trust in him.
"Alas, what's wrong with your health? Be careful of the women around you; they'll use any means to win your favor. You've always been very self-disciplined, so what happened this time? You've even lost your balance," Consort De said earnestly.
The Fourth Prince was startled by Consort De's words, and a thought began to form in his mind: Could it be that he had been drugged?
"Yes, son will follow Mother's teachings." Fourth Master wanted to say more, but quickly decided not to.
"The Nian family is of illustrious lineage; you must appease her properly. Do you understand what your mother means?" Consort De instructed.
"Mother, don't worry, your son understands." The Fourth Prince was gentle and warm-hearted. After this fainting spell, it seemed that the distance between him and Consort De had melted away a bit.
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