In March of the 47th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, Crown Prince Yinren was deposed and demoted to the Second Prince, temporarily residing in Minqing Palace. The Kangxi Emperor instructed Fei Yuliu, the Vice Minister of Rites, to list eight major crimes committed by the Crown Prince, the most serious of which were disloyalty and filial impiety, and secondly, a lack of care for his brothers. Ultimately, the ambush incident was not mentioned.
Several princes far away in the northern desert also heard about Kangxi's decree to depose the crown prince. Their thoughts were different at the time, but the tenth prince and the fourteenth prince had no interest in vying for that position. They seemed to be more interested in fighting and training troops.
Shuhui gave birth to a son in the northern desert in early March, which made the Tenth Prince extremely happy. He immediately sent a letter back to the palace by carrier pigeon, requesting that Emperor Kangxi grant his second son an ancestral jade tablet. The Tenth Prince's wife had written several times, wanting to bring Shuhui back to take care of her pregnancy, but the Tenth Prince had refused each time. Now that Shuhui had given birth and both mother and child were safe, he decided to personally escort them back.
"Master, what's wrong?" Shuhui, her face flushed, asked when she saw the expression on the Tenth Master's face as he entered.
"It's nothing, I just overheard the waiter muttering a few words. It's something I didn't want to do. Hui'er, how are you feeling now? Are you still dizzy?" The Tenth Master was the man who had just brushed past the waiter. Because the Qing Dynasty was at war with foreign tribes, for safety's sake, the Tenth Master, Shuhui, and several maids had all dressed as foreigners to avoid any trouble on their way back.
"I'm fine now, but the baby spit up a little milk, probably from the bumpy ride," Shuhui said, looking happily at her son sleeping peacefully in her arms.
"Then let's rest here for a couple more days. We'll leave once you and Xiaobao have rested enough." Tenth Master said to Shuhui while still thinking about what he had overheard outside the house.
Now, the Tenth Prince had just overheard the waiter muttering something, which piqued his curiosity. He unconsciously walked to the room that Baoyue and the others had booked, only to overhear Baoyue's conversation with her maid.
The Tenth Prince had met Baoyue, but she suddenly disappeared after marrying the Emperor. How could she suddenly appear here? And what she said implied was that she had given birth to a child, and that it was related to Prince Zhi?
"Very well, I was just worried about delaying your journey, Master. The wind and sand here are very strong; staying here for another day feels like all the moisture in my body will evaporate," Shuhui said.
"It's alright. I've already written to Father Emperor. Once we get past this hurdle, we'll get closer and closer to the capital," said the Tenth Prince.
After the two finished their lunch, Shuhui wanted to rest for the afternoon. Since giving birth, she had become very sleepy.
"You all go and help Hui'er rest. I'm going out for a walk to digest my food!" the Tenth Prince said to the maids who were serving Shu Hui.
Actually, he wanted to check on Bao Yue's situation on the other side, since what she said was truly shocking.
After having lunch, Baoyue went to rest. Two maids stood guard outside. They couldn't accept Baoyue's plan, but dared not disobey her. The two were communicating in their tribe's language, completely unaware that someone was listening to their conversation outside.
After a while, Zhuoma said, "Why don't we go and inform Prince Zhi and ask him to persuade the princess?"
Jin Yang shook his head and said, "Now that we're here, where else can we go to find Prince Zhi?"
Zhuoma said, "Actually, it's very simple. We just need to contact their people, explain our identities, and Prince Zhi will be able to find us very quickly."
“Zhuoma, you are disobeying the princess’s orders. If the princess finds out, she will never forgive us easily.” Jin Yang was not as bold as Zhuoma. She did not want to send the young prince to Galdan, but she was also hesitant and worried about the consequences.
"We can't worry about that now. We need to find the prince's men as soon as possible, otherwise the princess might really do something like that," Zhuoma said.
Just then, the child inside suddenly woke up and started crying loudly. The two maids quickly went over to soothe the child back to sleep so as not to disturb Baoyue.
The Tenth Prince, who had been listening outside for a long time, clearly heard the baby crying inside. He thought to himself: Who did this Baoyue have a child with? Father Emperor hadn't specifically looked for her, yet I ran into her here.
Meanwhile, Prince Zhi, traveling towards the northern desert, was also inquiring about Bao Yue's whereabouts. He only heard the news of the Crown Prince's deposition six days after he set off. Why did the edict to depose the Crown Prince have to be announced only after he had departed? Did his father, the Emperor, never intend to pass the throne to him in the first place?
"Master, there's a small village ahead. Let's stop there for a rest," a man on horseback said as he rode up from in front of them.
“Who are those people up ahead? Don’t go into the Hu people’s den, or you’ll be slaughtered.” Prince Zhi wrapped himself in a black cloak.
“I’ve already checked, and they’re all local nomadic people. We can just say we’re merchants, and they won’t suspect anything,” the man said.
"Alright, let's go at full speed and try to find a place to get a good night's sleep before dark," said Prince Zhi. These past few days, he had been sending people everywhere to inquire about Bao Yue's whereabouts, but to no avail. He worried that his son, who was with Bao Yue, might not even survive. This woman was far too reckless. The thought of Bao Yue absconding with his son filled Prince Zhi with rage. Although he was infatuated with this woman, how could he, with his remaining rationality, have imagined that she would be so audacious as to take his son away?
When Prince Zhi and his confidants arrived at a small, yellowish-brown village, they found the largest house, threw silver at it, and indicated that they wanted to rent their house to rest.
Even though the host family was unwilling, they dared not say anything more when they saw that they were all carrying weapons.
"Master, news has arrived." A trusted guard's voice suddenly came from outside the house.
"What news?" Prince Zhi asked.
"This servant does not know. It should be related to the person Master is looking for," said the person outside the house.
Kua Dang~~
The door was opened by Prince Zhi, who quickly took the note from the man's hand. It was a message delivered by carrier pigeon.
Prince Zhi hurriedly opened the small note, unfolded it, and after reading just a few words, his expression changed drastically.
"That place isn't far from here. Let's go, everyone out! We've finally found them!" Prince Zhi shouted excitedly. It turned out that the people he had sent out had finally received news of Princess Baoyue. She was at a pass, no more than fifty li away from here, less than an hour's ride away.
In the darkness of night, Prince Zhi was seen riding a horse with his trusted confidants, speeding towards where Baoyue was.
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