"The thirteenth prince is here? Let him come aboard. We're all family, no need to be so formal." Yinzhen didn't seem to care.
Seeing that Yinzhen did not want to move, Qian Shengyan said, "Why is Fuerguochun's hair messed up by the wind? Your Majesty, I will take her next door to fix it."
"Alright." Yinzhen did not object.
Qian Shengyan took Ferguchun to the next cabin, but since they were on a ship with the doors and windows wide open, they could hear each other clearly if they spoke loudly.
As she watched Green Willow re-style Folgochun's hair, she heard Yinzhen shout angrily, "Outrageous!"
Folgochun was startled. He glanced at Qian Shengyan in the mirror. Qian Shengyan pursed her lips and shook her head. The group moved even more quietly, which made the conversation next door even clearer.
After listening for a while, Qian Shengyan almost made a "囧" expression.
What exactly is Hongshi thinking...?
Perhaps because he was too aware of the mistakes he had made, even though Yinzhen only made Hongshi kneel before the ancestors every day to reflect on his actions, Hongshi was uneasy and always felt that he was about to die.
So he appealed for help—to the Eighth Prince, Prince Lian, Yinzhi.
No one knows how he got in touch with them, but he sent a letter to Yinzhi and Hongwang. However, the reply was intercepted by Prime Minister Yinxiang, who happened to be in the palace on business.
Upon being stopped and reading the contents of the letter, Yinxiang was so frightened that he immediately rode his horse to the Yuanmingyuan without saying a word.
Yinzhen flew into a rage, causing a rumbling noise throughout the entire cruise ship. Just then, Hongli and Hongzhou, along with Hongshan, carefully navigated around the largest hall in front and found Qian Shengyan.
Hongshan was so frightened that his eyes turned red, and he rushed into his mother's arms as soon as he saw her.
While comforting Hongshan, Qian Shengyan glanced at Hongli questioningly.
Hongli and his mother exchanged glances, the smile on his lips almost impossible to conceal. He nodded slightly, then quickly looked away to hide his smile. When he turned back, his expression was one of anxiety and confusion, just like Hongzhou's, with a touch of fear.
Qian Shengyan: ...
She knew it all—Hongshi's letter had somehow been sent out—how else could it have been sent? It must have been Hongli who helped!
However, Prince Lian's reply came at just the right time, on their very first day after moving to the Yuanmingyuan. Perhaps he thought that the palace was in a state of chaos and people, making things easier to handle.
"Sigh, I had asked my thirteenth uncle to help me retrieve something today, but who knew he would encounter something like this..." Hongli sighed.
Qian Shengyan: ...
It seems that Yinxiang "coincidentally" returned to the palace today to intercept the message, and that Hongli was involved as well?
This child... is really...
"Mother, Hongshan is scared." Hongshan trembled with fear when he heard his father, the Emperor, throwing such a tantrum.
Qian Shengyan held him, comforting him as she walked towards the stern of the boat. Hongli obediently followed, saying, "Hongshan, don't be afraid. Look over there, there are water birds..."
"Soothe your brother." Qian Shengyan shoved Hongshan into Hongli's arms. Hongli smiled and took him, no longer hiding his delight, his eyes overflowing with joy: "He is the eldest son, and Father is willing to forgive him again and again, but..."
What do people say when they are in dire straits? Hongshi has never been a resilient person, and at this moment he probably has the heart to kneel on the ground and kowtow to Yinzhi, begging for mercy.
If the Emperor saw these words, would he still be able to forgive them?
Even if he is forgiven, Hongli will not be angry. There is a long road ahead, let's wait and see.
He didn't originally intend to go to such lengths, but who knew what went wrong with Hongshi that made him dare to injure Hongshan? He didn't consider himself a vindictive person, but how could he tolerate someone bullying him like this?
In fact, Qian Shengyan had the same idea, but she was a little slower than Hongli. However, when it came out, it was a bombshell that could kill Hongshi.
The mother and son smiled, patted Xiao Hongshan's head, and led him to look at the scenery of the Old Summer Palace, finally coaxing the chubby boy to smile again.
At this moment, Su Peisheng also rushed over: "Your Highness, His Majesty suddenly has an urgent matter to attend to and needs to return to the palace. He asked me to tell you that there is no need to wait for him to have his meal. Please have the princes and princess eat first."
"Alright, Your Majesty, please take care of your health," Qian Shengyan said with a worried expression.
Su Peisheng bowed, then quickly followed after covering his hat. The boat slowly moved towards the shore, and Qian Shengyan carried Hongshan back to the front. However, Yinzhen didn't have time to talk to her. He just nodded and, with a gloomy expression, took Yinxiang ashore and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
With Yinzhen absent, the children were actually more at ease. Qian Shengyan acted as if she knew nothing, taking the children boating on the lake and having a meal. Afterwards, she escorted Fuerguochun back to Wutong Courtyard, checked the room she had tidied up, and only felt somewhat relieved when she saw that everything was in order.
Afterwards, he walked all the way from Wutong Road to the depths of the cave, tightened the leather belts of the servants who served Hongshan, and gave Ji An a few more instructions—now that Ji An was also a senior eunuch by the prince's side, he probably cherished this hard-won opportunity and was very cautious in his actions.
On her way back, Qian Shengyan passed by a small courtyard with its gate tightly closed. She was a little surprised at first, but then she remembered that Fu Hui probably lived there.
Yinzhen had already said that the child was innocent and that he would find a noble family to adopt Fu Hui in the future so that he could live a worry-free life, thus fulfilling the father-son bond of the past few years.
Historically, Emperor Yongzheng did indeed have a sixth prince who was adopted out, but it was only in the third year of Emperor Qianlong's reign that Hongli (Emperor Qianlong) arranged for him to be adopted by his seventeenth uncle, Prince Guo, who had already passed away but had no children.
However, that would be more than a decade later. At that time, Prince Guo was still Prince Guo of the Second Rank, managing the affairs of the Princely Court. Yinzhen had praised him a few times and had a good impression of this younger brother. However, Prince Guo of the Second Rank was not yet thirty years old, and even if he had no son, there was still hope.
Perhaps, the course of history was already disrupted from the moment she gave birth to Hongshan.
"Master, you've walked a long way, are you tired? Why don't we send a sedan chair?" Qingxue suggested with some concern when she saw that she was walking slower and slower.
"No need," Qian Shengyan said, "The scenery in the garden is quite nice, and it's a good opportunity to walk around and think about things." But then she thought of Madam Nian.
If, as history has it, Lady Nian had gained Yinzhen's favor upon entering the palace, wouldn't she have avoided the repeated relapses that led to her eventual complete mental breakdown? Perhaps, with the prince's affection, Lady Nian could have become a true imperial concubine, as in history, capable of causing Yongzheng to suspend court for five days.
So perhaps, history changed from the moment she transmigrated into the body of Hongli's mother.
At this moment, in Qian Shengyan's mind, the Yinzhen beside her and the historical Emperor Yongzheng were two different people.
As she strolled back to Jiuzhou Qingyan, the Emperor's decree reached Yuanmingyuan. Yinzhen was to adopt his third son, Hongshi, who had been kneeling in the Fengxian Hall for a month, into Prince Lian, Yunsi, and order him to move out of the Forbidden City within three days.
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