After meeting with the Fourth Prince, Emperor Kangxi ordered the Eighth Prince to interrogate the group of black-clad men who had surrendered. After severe torture, some of them couldn't hold back and revealed their origins—the Cao family was originally a branch of the former Ming dynasty royal family. After the fall of the Ming dynasty, they changed their surname to Cao. Because they controlled a portion of the former Ming imperial wealth, the Cao family was incredibly rich. Although the dynasty had changed, the Cao family was still unwilling to give up. Besides selecting young men from their family to enter officialdom, they also chose beautiful and suitable young women to enter the palace, naturally to get close to Emperor Kangxi. Cao Peining was one of the best among them. Before entering the palace, she had a man she admired, but unfortunately, for the sake of so-called national righteousness, her father forcibly separated them. Before her, the Cao family had sent several girls, but they all failed in the imperial concubine selection. After Cao Peining was selected, the Cao family began planning this assassination attempt. They considered infiltrating the palace many times, but all their plans were thwarted. It wasn't until Cao Peining announced that Emperor Kangxi would be taking her on an inspection tour that a plan to assassinate him outside the palace was put into action by Cao Peining's father.
Emperor Kangxi wrote several secret edicts and handed them to his spies, instructing them to deliver them to the governors-general of Hunan and Hubei provinces. These edicts were clearly directives to eliminate the Cao family's influence in the region. Furthermore, regarding the stronghold in Beijing revealed by the men in black, Kangxi had already sent a message by carrier pigeon to the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture to immediately lead troops to arrest and seal it off, ensuring that all these remnants of the former Ming dynasty lurking under the emperor's nose were wiped out in one fell swoop.
After dealing with these matters, Kangxi suddenly issued another decree, ordering the Eighth Prince, Ninth Prince, and Thirteenth Prince to continue westward to Zhengzhou to inspect the construction of the Yellow River channel. Furthermore, to increase the court's attention, Kangxi decided to send the Eighth Prince as an imperial envoy, escorting the emperor's entourage. A set of dragon robes, a dragon crown, and dragon boots would be placed in the imperial carriage to represent the emperor's arrival. After arriving in Zhengzhou, they would continue northwest to Yulin in Shaanxi, finally reaching Hekou, and then returning to Beijing via the grasslands. This was quite a long journey. The Thirteenth Prince, seeing that Kangxi had given him the order, and that this way he wouldn't have to return to face Lady Zhaojia, and could bring Luoge along, readily accepted the order.
When the Eighth Prince received this imperial decree, he felt a mix of emotions. He pondered Kangxi's decree several times, trying to guess the meaning of the imperial grace, but he couldn't quite grasp it.
Tao Hua Jiu naturally didn't want to go to the poor and arid Northwest to inspect the Yellow River channel, but since Kangxi had specifically requested it, he had no choice but to go. Fortunately, he had his myna bird with him along the way, so he figured it wouldn't be so boring.
And so, the Eighth Prince, the Ninth Prince, and the Thirteenth Prince, along with several trusted ministers who accompanied them, except for Zhang Tingyu, all continued their journey with the three princes, escorting the emperor's entourage, to inspect the Yellow River crossroads in the northwest of the Central Plains.
After they left, Kangxi changed into civilian clothes and, along with the Fourth Prince, Zhang Tingyu, and Liang Jiugong, headed to Jinan to find Lanqin and the others.
And so, a few light cavalrymen galloped along the dusty official road. Little did anyone know that the current emperor was among these riders.
Meanwhile, Doctor Meng had the Prefect of Jinan invite the best doctors in the entire city. After numerous tests to determine the poison, they finally cured Holland's poisoning. In fact, the poison she had ingested wasn't particularly difficult to treat; it was simply a mixture of several toxins that aggravated each other's toxicity, causing Holland's coma. After several days of recuperation, Holland finally opened her eyes, and with four doses of traditional Chinese medicine a day, she slowly recovered her health.
That day, Lanqin, supporting Nianxue's hand, arrived at Guanlan Garden, where Holland was staying. There, she saw the latter sitting on the bed, having her hair combed by Hui'an. Since falling ill, her hair had not been properly combed, and due to the poisoning, she looked much thinner.
"Sister, you look much better today. Have you tried to come down for a walk?" Lanqin visits Holland every day and has watched her recover little by little. Although the sisters' relationship was quite bad before, Holland seems to have changed since they went through this life-or-death experience together. Lanqin's attitude towards her has naturally changed as well, and she often shows genuine concern and laughter.
"If I keep lying like this, I won't be able to walk anymore. Come and help me get up and walk around," Holland said with a smile as he saw Lanqin arrive.
"Okay, sister, quickly comb your hair and get dressed. Shall I go with you to feed the fish? The red croakers in that little garden over there are so adorable!" Lanqin said with a smile. She always reciprocated kindness tenfold. Since Holland put aside the past and his attitude towards Lanqin improved, their relationship gradually became much closer, truly like that of two sisters.
"I wonder how His Majesty is doing now. Consort Hui is so cunning; I hope His Majesty has already seen through her true colors," Holland suddenly said, lowering his brow.
"Who is the Emperor? How could he be fooled by a mere Consort Hui? He must have already exposed Consort Hui and is sending people to fetch us right now!" Lanqin comforted him.
"Hmph, aren't you just worried about your Fourth Prince? I saw you lost in thought yesterday. Tell me honestly, were you thinking about your Fourth Prince?" Holland said with a sweet laugh. Looking at her younger sister, she found her much more agreeable than before. Perhaps it was because she had just gone through a life-or-death experience, but her sense of gain and loss wasn't as strong as before.
"Yes, I'm thinking about my fourth brother, and my sister is thinking about the Emperor. We're both thinking about our own men," Lanqin said with a charming smile. When she said this, it was as if the two men she was talking about were just ordinary people.
"Shameless! How can you say you want a man so directly!" Holland finished combing her hair and was putting her legs down on the bed, trying to stand up.
"Sister, be careful, let me help you walk." Lanqin quickly went over and helped Hui'an walk with Holland.
"It's alright, I'm not made of paper. Let me try walking on my own." Holland broke free from Huian and Lanqin's support and tried to take a few steps on her own. She felt weak all over and almost fell down, but she managed to stand up and continued to move forward.
"Don't worry, sister. Lanqin will walk with you every day, and you'll gradually recover your health." Seeing that Holland was having a hard time walking, Lanqin immediately stepped forward and helped him up.
Suddenly, the doors were pushed open by a palace maid, and Baoqin stumbled in.
"What are you busy with? Why are you running around like a headless fly!" Holland couldn't help but scold her. Lanqin looked at her, shook her head, and thought to herself: So that somewhat mean Holland has finally returned. It seems her health is slowly improving.
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