Eighth Master led his group to the dining hall of Tantuo Temple, which was famous for its vegetarian food. As a result, more and more people came to eat there, and the temple grew larger and larger. At first, only worshippers who donated money could eat there, but now they had to pay for the vegetarian food again.
Ninth Master has always been a good eater, and he specially ordered a full vegetarian feast, which means that all the best vegetarian dishes in Tantuo Temple were served.
Lanqin naturally sat at one table with the Eighth and Ninth Masters, while the maids sat at another table.
The Eighth Prince noticed that the Ninth Prince's wife was chatting with Lanqin instead of sitting with his own wife. The Ninth Prince also realized that Dong'e Shi and the Eighth Prince's wife hadn't had any contact or eye contact since the Ninth Prince arrived.
"I wonder where Fourth Brother is with Father Emperor now?" Eighth Prince asked, setting aside these questions.
"Father left without saying a word, not even to the Fourteenth Prince!" Ninth Prince muttered in dissatisfaction.
So it turns out Kangxi was keeping it a secret! Maybe even the Fourteenth Prince didn't know where Kangxi was going? But how did the Fourth Prince know?!
"Consort Niu, do you know where Father Emperor and the others have gone?" Eighth Consort asked immediately when she saw the strange look on Lanqin's face.
"Eighth and Ninth Princes don't know, how could I possibly know! Fourth Prince only said he was accompanying Father Emperor on a private tour, but he didn't even know where we were going," Lanqin quickly explained. This secret couldn't be revealed. Kangxi's trip to Mount Wutai to meet Shunzhi must be top secret; otherwise, he wouldn't have kept it from even the Fourteenth Prince!
Eighth Prince smiled faintly: "Consort Niu has always been favored by Fourth Brother. Now that she is pregnant with twins, he can't possibly not send a message back."
Lanqin was startled, thinking to herself: "This Eighth Prince really hasn't given up yet. Even though Kangxi didn't take him, he's still very concerned about Kangxi's itinerary. He anticipated that the Fourth Prince would write to her, so those letters might reveal the Fourth Prince's whereabouts. He even thought of that! His mind is truly exceptionally meticulous! The Ninth Prince has no interest in participating in the struggle for the throne, and I can at least try to smooth things over for him in front of the Fourth Prince. But the Eighth Prince refuses to give up. How can I change his fate?"
"Fourth Master hasn't written to me yet, and I'm wondering where they've gone. Why haven't they even sent a letter?" Lanqin said truthfully. So far, Fourth Master indeed hadn't written to her.
"Father Emperor's departure this time was truly mysterious, he kept it so well hidden!" Ninth Prince said.
“Father has his reasons. He doesn’t want us to worry about him, so let’s not make any unfounded guesses,” said Ninth Princess Consort.
“What Ninth Princess Consort says is very true. Why not enjoy this vegetarian meal? It’s really delicious!” Lanqin quickly picked up some food to keep her mouth occupied, otherwise she would have to answer the question.
Eighth Prince glanced at Ninth Prince's wife, then fell silent. He exchanged a few casual words with Ninth Prince, then stopped mentioning Fourth Prince and the others. Lanqin was happy to keep quiet and ate quite a bit of vegetarian food by herself.
"Eighth Prince, Eighth Princess, Ninth Prince, Ninth Princess, I really should take my leave! I've been out for so long, it's time to go back to the manor," Lanqin said immediately.
"Why don't you come with us, Consort? After all, the Fourth Prince's residence is right next to the Eighth Prince's! We should head back too." The Eighth Prince seemed very enthusiastic.
Lanqin looked at the Eighth Prince's earnest expression and then at the Eighth Princess's silent demeanor. She wanted to refuse, but what he said made perfect sense, and it would seem a bit unreasonable for her to refuse again.
“Yintang, why don’t we escort Consort Niu back to her residence? I just made an appointment with her to go to her residence together. Isn’t that right?” Ninth Prince’s wife saw that Lanqin didn’t want the Eighth Prince and the others to escort her, so she immediately spoke up.
Ninth Prince uttered a sound of surprise, inwardly thinking that Lady Dong'e seemed quite strange all day, having barely slept a wink with Eighth Prince and his wife. Eighth Prince then gave Ninth Princess Consort a few more piercing glances, but she seemed not to notice.
"Yes, I promised to go to my courtyard with Ninth Prince Consort." Lanqin knew that Dong E was helping her, so she immediately replied.
"My lord, since that's the case, let's go. We're going in the same direction anyway!" The Eighth Prince's wife said to him, sounding impatient.
Eighth Master nodded, and then went out with Ninth Master, Lanqin and the others. They each got into their own carriages and headed in the same direction.
Lanqin helped Cui Niang and Nianxue into the carriage, and then Cui Niang and Nianxue followed. Ninth Master's carriage followed closely behind Lanqin's carriage, while Eighth Master's carriage lagged behind.
“My lady, today the Eighth Prince seemed very eager to get close to you?” Nianxue said. “However, the Eighth Princess Consort seemed a bit off.”
“Eighth Prince is a man of deep thoughts; we must be careful. Eighth Princess Consort will not tolerate any pregnant woman,” Lanqin said.
Cui Niang smiled and said, "I'm afraid that the Eighth Prince's wife is becoming more and more jealous. One of the crimes the Emperor has convicted the Eighth Prince of is being childless. But that doesn't actually refer to the Eighth Prince's wife, who has never been able to give him a legitimate son."
Lanqin nodded and said, "Our lord also doesn't have a legitimate son, so I wonder what His Majesty thinks?" Speaking of sonless, many of Kangxi's sons didn't have legitimate sons. The Prince of Zhi had no legitimate son, the deposed Crown Prince had no legitimate son, the Fourth Prince has none now, the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Princes have none, and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes are also childless. Why then did Kangxi specifically use this as one of the Eighth Prince's crimes? It shows how much he disliked him! Actually, the Manchus didn't value the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate sons as much as the Han Chinese. Kangxi himself wasn't Shunzhi's legitimate son. Before they entered the Central Plains, Nurhaci had several primary consorts, not called primary consorts at that time, but Grand Consorts. He would bestow the title of Grand Consort upon each princess he married. The sons born to each Grand Consort were his legitimate sons. However, Huang Taiji wasn't actually a legitimate son; his mother's status was low, reportedly just a maid. On the contrary, Dorgon and Dodo's mother was Abahai, one of Nurhaci's most favored Grand Consorts in his later years. The fact that Huang Taiji was able to inherit Nurhaci's Khanate as a son of a concubine whose status was not particularly prominent shows that the Manchus did not really value the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children.
“Our master is the adopted son of Empress Tong. In fact, apart from the deposed crown prince and the tenth prince, no one else can surpass our master in status,” said Cui Niang.
Lanqin nodded, but inwardly she was thinking: If even Cui Niang knew this, how could others not have thought of it? Why is Eighth Master repeatedly spying on Fourth Master and the others' whereabouts? What exactly does he want to do?
With these questions in mind, Lanqin leaned on Cui Niang's shoulder and dozed off.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
