Highly recommended:
After the Fourth Prince specially dispatched secret guards to protect Hongli and Hongzhou's safety, Lanqin finally packed their belongings and let Hongli and Hongzhou set off.
Before his departure, the Seventeenth Prince made a special trip to Prince Yong's residence to bid farewell to the Fourth Prince. The disaster relief efforts had deeply resonated with the people, and the local disaster victims, having received aid from the imperial court, began snow removal and spring planting. They hailed the Seventeenth Prince, the imperial envoy, as a living bodhisattva, and the local magistrate and prefect also actively engaged in post-disaster spring planting to avoid any repercussions from the imperial court.
Seventeen recounted the strange events he encountered in the mountain village to Fourth Master and reported on the progress of Duolong's investigation there. Fourth Master instructed Seventeen to return and complete the tasks related to disaster relief and spring plowing.
After the seventeenth prince set off, the fourth prince resumed his busy work in the palace, and life returned to its previous routine. However, there was one thing that always troubled him: the matter that Emperor Kangxi had entrusted to him.
By using his secret guards, the Fourth Prince had confirmed that it was the Fourteenth Prince who had taken the woman away. However, he couldn't tell the Emperor yet, for he feared it would upset the Emperor and Consort De. The Fourth Prince kept everything the Fourteenth Prince had done a secret from them, simply because he didn't want the Emperor and Consort De to worry or fret.
He thought he could handle Fourteen, make him give up his obsession, and stop being swayed by the ulterior motives around him. But judging from the current situation, Fourteen's path is becoming more and more treacherous, and he's going further and further astray.
After some investigation, the Fourth Prince finally obtained the Fourteenth Prince's secret where he had hidden her. He did not actually bring her into the army, but instead hid her in one of his imperial estates.
Fourth Master was determined to take Zheng Chunhua away from the Fourteenth Prince's estate, so he sent people to monitor her day and night.
Zheng Chunhua was indeed intercepted from Changchun Garden by the Fourteenth Prince's men. At first, she thought they were the Crown Prince's men, but after she realized her situation, she refused to speak. No matter who asked her, she would not say a word.
Fourteenth Prince had no intention of getting anything out of her anyway; he simply ordered her to be kept under guard. Zheng Chunhua was hidden in a cellar on the imperial estate, where she never saw the light of day. She could only feel the sunlight when people brought her food and water.
In just a few days, Zheng Chunhua seemed to have aged rapidly. She was only in her thirties, but years of emotional distress had caused her to age prematurely. Now, locked in a dark cellar, her hair had turned mostly white.
She didn't know why anyone wanted to arrest her. She even thought it was the emperor, but then she realized it couldn't be him. If the emperor wanted to punish her, he would have done so long ago; why wait until now? She was terrified, terrified of the power struggles and turmoil within the court.
If it weren't for that child, Zheng Chunhua would have loved to end her own life so she could stop suffering. But the child prevented her from doing it. Moreover, to prevent her from committing suicide, the cellar was entirely made of earthen walls, with no stones on the ground and no beams overhead. Therefore, Zheng Chunhua had no other option but to bite her tongue and end her life.
"Dinner's ready!" came an impatient voice from outside the cell. Ever since this woman was brought here, he had to bring her extra meals every day.
"What kind of sky is it outside?" Zheng Chunhua suddenly asked. Her once stunningly beautiful face was now covered with wrinkles. She looked like a once gorgeous flower, now wrinkled and drooping after being ravaged by time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
