"Father, my sister sent someone to say that Junyan must be sent away immediately and cannot stay in the capital." Shi Bingde of the Inspectorate was sitting in his study, holding a sandalwood teapot in his hand.
"What's the panic!" Shi Bingde scolded Cui as if he were his own son, his lips drooping involuntarily.
“Father, my sister said that, just in case, my cousin would be the best choice!” Shi Qingyong made a throat-slitting gesture.
“No need! I have already sent him to a secret place. If you want to find him, you will have to tell me yourself,” Shi Bingde said.
"Oh, that's good. Then you can rest assured, sister." Shi Qingyong was a third-rank imperial guard who could frequently enter and leave the palace, and he could often see his sister, who was the Crown Princess.
“Tell her to stop giving us random advice. At this time, it’s better to stay calm and not make any moves! The more she moves, the easier it is for someone to find fault with her!” Shi Bingde said.
“Yes, Father is right. What about that jailer in the Ministry of Justice prison? If they can’t find my cousin, they will definitely go looking for him,” Shi Qingyong said.
"Don't worry about that, I've already taken care of it," Shi Bingde said.
"Oh. Father, you've thought of everything so thoroughly." Shi Qingyong was truly impressed by his father's planning. With Shi Bingde's connections in the Inspectorate, he was certainly capable of handling these matters.
"Father, my sister wants the Fujin (principal wife) to find some handsome men," Shi Qingyong said, bowing his head.
"What are you doing?" Shi Bingde asked.
"They said it was for the Crown Prince!" Shi Qingyong's expression turned somewhat strange.
Shi Bingde was surprised and looked at Shi Qingyong suspiciously, noticing something amiss in his awkward expression.
"Nonsense!" Shi Bingde couldn't help but shout angrily.
“Father, my sister says that since the Crown Prince has a taste for this, we should cater to his preferences to better understand his intentions,” Shi Qingyong said.
"We can only send him in after he has been cleansed," Shi Bingde said.
“That’s right, how can you send someone in without first cleaning their body?” Shi Qingyong said.
“Go ahead and look. Go to the countryside and see if there are any handsome men there. I, your father, will not do such a thing,” Shi Bingde said.
“Yes, then I’ll go out and look for him,” Shi Qingyong said.
"Cui Da, who do you think the master ordered us to keep watch here?" Cui Da and Cui Er were keeping watch in a room opposite the Shi residence. It turned out that Fourth Master had gone back and arranged for Cui Da and Cui Er to rent a room opposite the Shi family's residence, and then keep an eye on the people coming in and out of the Shi residence every day.
“It’s the man in this portrait. But we’ve been staking out here for several days and haven’t actually seen him.” Cui Dadao said.
“That’s right. If we keep staking out like this, when will we be able to catch him?” Cui Er hesitated.
"Never mind, the master told us to keep an eye on things, so we'll keep an eye on things," Cui said dismissively.
“But the person in the portrait has never appeared!” Cui Er said. “On the other hand, that young man in brown is always coming and going. He looks like the young master of the Shi family.”
“This situation needs to be reported to the master,” Cui said.
After more than ten days of surveillance, Cui Da and Cui Er did not find any trace of the person in the portrait. Instead, they saw Shi Qingyong entering and leaving the Shi residence, and even saw him bringing some twelve or thirteen-year-old boys into the Shi residence.
Meanwhile, the Prefect of Jingzhao discovered the name Shi Junyan in the Shi family clan. He was a reserve member of a collateral branch of the Shi family and was Shi Bingde's uncle.
However, apart from this genealogy, the Prefect of Jingzhao could not find any records about Shi Junyan. He had never even participated in the preliminary examinations or the provincial examinations; there was absolutely no trace of him in these records. In other words, Shi Junyan, as a member of the Shi family, had never participated in any of the imperial examinations!
"Your Highness, I have searched for him in the Shi family's hometown and at the Imperial Academy in the capital, but I have not been able to find him!" Tang Bin said.
"That's strange. Why would the Shi family let him grow up without taking the imperial examinations or martial arts exams?" Fourth Master frowned. He hadn't expected that after finding this Shi Junyan, he would discover that he was a blank slate and that there was nothing to be found about him.
"Your Highness, why don't we take the Emperor's gold token and go directly to the Shi residence to investigate, and ask Shi Bingde directly? This Shi Junyan is indeed his nephew, and he can't deny that," Tang Bin said.
“No, if he says he’s never had any contact with this nephew, or that he’s already passed away, that’s all he can say. That’s why we can’t find any records about him,” Fourth Master said.
“What the prince said makes sense. If he tries to deny everything and we can’t find Shi Junyan, then things will be difficult,” Tang Bin said.
“That makes sense. Perhaps we should wait a little longer, sir. Could we send out a group of men to keep an eye on Shi Bingde and his son? Their every move must be under our surveillance,” said Fourth Master.
“That’s not difficult. I’ll arrange it right away,” Tang Bin said.
After leaving the Prefect's residence, the Fourth Prince stayed in the front courtyard and did not go to Lanqin's place for dinner. He needed to think carefully about how to tell Kangxi about this matter.
Just then, Lanqin sent someone to invite the Fourth Prince over. It turned out that the First Princess and her husband had come to the mansion. When the Fourth Prince heard that the First Princess had returned, accompanied by her husband and children, he was overjoyed.
When the Fourth Prince entered the South Courtyard, he saw Lanqin and Madam Song sitting in their respective positions, with the Eldest Princess and Xu Shaowu sitting below them. Madam Song was holding a chubby, endearing boy in her arms.
When the Fourth Master entered, everyone immediately stood up to pay their respects, but he stopped them.
"We're all family, no need for formalities. Yi Mo'er, is this Qiu Ge'er?" Fourth Master looked at the child in Madam Song's arms. He looked much older than Hongli and Hongzhou, about the same age as Hongsheng.
“Yes, Father, this is Qiu-ge’er. You haven’t met him yet,” said the eldest princess. Madam Song immediately carried Qiu-ge’er to the Fourth Master, letting him see his first nephew.
Fourth Master took the child from Madam Song, held him in his arms, and laughed, "This little guy looks just like Yi Mo'er!"
“They look just like Master. Look at those eyes, they’re exactly like his eyes,” Lanqin said as she walked over to the eldest princess and her husband. Seeing the harmonious relationship between the couple, Lanqin and Madam Song were both very happy.
The Fourth Prince was even happier to hear this. He held Qiu Ge'er for a while, then asked Lanqin to serve the meal, so that the eldest princess and her husband, as well as Madam Song, could finish their meal together there.
"Master, the eldest princess has come with something. Aren't you going to ask her?" Lanqin said after everyone was seated. Madam Song looked at Lanqin gratefully.
"Yi Mo'er, why did you come so suddenly? You didn't even send a letter to your mother." Fourth Master asked.
Lanqin looked at Xu Shaowen and saw him as a handsome, quiet, but very caring and promising young man who loved the eldest princess dearly.
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