Chapter 8. The Qianqing Palace was completely silent when Emperor Kangxi summoned Chen He...
The Qianqing Palace was completely silent. After Chen He entered, he performed a clean and crisp curtsy and said loudly, "This servant Chen He greets Your Majesty." His voice echoed twice around the roof beams, but no one above him called out to him for a long time. He didn't dare to breathe loudly, and soon his back was covered in sweat.
After a long while, Kangxi slowly said, "Get up." Chen He then stood up, head bowed and eyes lowered.
“Tell me the whole story from beginning to end without revealing a single detail.”
Chen He nodded and, having prepared his reply, began to speak: "The Second Prince woke up early today. After waking up, he seemed somewhat empty and paced around the study and main hall for a while. Later, he summoned Consort Li to speak with him, and then summoned Consort Cheng to serve him tea. He drank some wine in between. When His Majesty bestowed snacks, the Second Prince seemed quite happy, but then, for some reason, he suddenly went mad without warning. Consort Cheng immediately said that the Prince was having a nightmare, and quickly caught him. Afterwards, this servant and the Consort helped the Prince to rest."
He paused, took a breath, and continued, "When Princess Cheng hugged him, the prince seemed to recover. He went to bed and fell asleep shortly afterward, not waking up until the afternoon."
Kangxi listened with a furrowed brow, his brows furrowing more and more as he listened. After he finished speaking, he said nothing else, only saying, "I transferred you from the Qianqing Palace so that you could take good care of the Crown Prince!" Whether it was just a slip of the tongue or not, he did not call Yinreng the Second Prince, but still referred to him as the Crown Prince.
Chen He immediately broke out in a cold sweat, knelt down, kowtowed, and prostrated himself on the ground, saying, "This servant is guilty."
Kangxi let him kneel there for a moment before saying, "Go back and take good care of the Crown Prince."
Chen He then stood up and said in a deep voice, "Yes, this servant will do his utmost." Once outside the Qianqing Palace, a cold wind blew, and he felt completely chilled. However, he didn't go back, but instead took a detour to the Imperial Hospital; he still remembered his reason for leaving.
In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Kangxi rose from his dragon throne and paced around the pillars of the hall several times, his brow furrowed. He was exactly fifty years old this year, but his hair was gray, making him look like an old man in his sixties or seventies.
However, this was merely a facade; he remained the emperor who had reigned in the Qianqing Palace for decades. This emperor showed no mercy to any enemy who posed a threat, even his own son. Thus, he increasingly lashed out at the crown prince, reprimanding him for condoning Suo'etu's factionalism, for his extravagance, eccentricity, and tyranny, and for his lack of compassion towards his brothers. But when he had brought the crown prince down to a point where he could no longer rival him, his imperial authority gradually faded, and his affection for his son slowly took over.
The deposed crown prince was, after all, his son whom he had doted on for thirty years!
"Song'etu." After a long silence, Kangxi spoke slowly. When Chen He recounted the strange behavior of the deposed crown prince, the name Song'etu immediately came to mind. He was convinced that it was Song'etu's vengeful spirit and resentment that had caused the rift between father and son.
Emperor Kangxi clenched his fists tightly. He didn't regret killing Songgotu; he only regretted that he had done so too late. As a subject and a relative of the emperor, Songgotu had failed in his duty to offer advice and instead corrupted the crown prince. Even in death, he continued to cause trouble!
He walked out of the Qianqing Palace and looked at the slowly rising moon outside. He slowly said, "Send people to dig around the Yuqing Palace and Xian'an Palace to see if there are any evil spirits. Order Chen He to secretly search the Crown Prince and Crown Princess's storerooms. Take out everything related to Suo'etu, smash it, and burn it."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Try to keep it from the Crown Prince."
Liang Jiugong's ears had been perked up the moment before, and he quickly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, this servant obeys."
Kangxi continued, "That Consort Cheng, immediately send someone to investigate her background. Also, send her birth date and time to the Imperial Observatory; I want to see the report tomorrow."
Cheng Jia was originally someone he randomly chose on a whim—a woman with no family background but decent looks. Unexpectedly, she broke the Crown Prince's curse. Perhaps it was because of her good fortune. Thinking about it, that makes sense. If she didn't have a good fate, why would he have chosen her from dozens of women with no family background?
However, he was naturally suspicious and would investigate even the slightest doubt until he was completely at ease.
After a night, the red marks on Cheng Qianyue's neck had all disappeared, but the bruises on her elbows hadn't. She had indeed bumped and bruised herself when the Second Prince pushed her to the ground that day, but she hadn't noticed it that day. It wasn't until she moved this morning that she felt the pain. When she lifted her clothes, good heavens, both of her arms were covered in bruises.
Ruoyun asked the imperial physician for some safflower oil to apply to her, and told her to rub the bruises until they were smoothed out. Cheng Qianyue grimaced in pain, but Ruoyun kept muttering, "Serves you right. You should really remember this."
Cheng Qianyue: No, how can you talk like that? She pouted and threatened Ruoyun, "You still dare to say that? If you say it again, people will come to the front yard again!" Ruoyun was so frightened that she stuck out her tongue and refused to say anything more.
After applying the medicine, she still had a lingering smell on her body. She asked Ruoyun to open the window to ventilate the room. The wind blew in and circled the small side hall twice, carrying away all the smell of the medicine.
Cheng Qianyue sat by the window and let out a long sigh of relief. But she hadn't rested long; less than half the afternoon had passed when someone actually came to the front yard!
Cheng Qianyue was on the verge of tears: Ugh, I really have a jinx!
However, when Chen He came over from the front, he didn't invite her to the front yard. Instead, he said, "Gege Cheng, please tidy up and come with me."
Cheng Qianyue followed the same route when she first entered Xian'an Palace, but now she didn't think she would leave the palace. Suddenly, a chill ran through her, and she asked fearfully, "Eunuch Chen, can you tell me where to go?"
Chen He smiled slightly and said, "This servant invites you to the Imperial Garden?"
"The Imperial Garden?"
"Yes," Chen He said, dropping a bombshell, "His Majesty wants to see the Princess."
Oh dear. Cheng Qianyue's heart was like hot oil hitting cold water, crackling and popping.
Before long, Cheng Qianyue followed Chen He to the Qianqiu Pavilion in the Imperial Garden. In the distance, she could see a man dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe sitting inside, while a row of eunuchs stood on each side of the pavilion, making it look like a joint trial.
Cheng Qianyue felt a surge of excitement: This time travel was definitely worth it! Today I'm going to talk to some great historical figures! The imperial court etiquette she learned when she was a concubine finally came in handy. She calmly entered the room, lifted her cheongsam robe, and then knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "This servant, Cheng Jia, greets Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be blessed with ten thousand years of happiness and peace."
"Hmm," Kangxi said calmly, "Get up."
"Yes." Cheng Qianyue then stood up, her head bowed, not daring to glance at him out of the corner of her eye.
As if an old man were having a long chat with her, Emperor Kangxi asked, "Which family are you from, and how old are you this year?"
Cheng Qianyue replied, "Your Majesty, I am Cheng Jia from the Manchu Bordered White Banner. I live in an alley on East Fourth Street near Chaoyangmen. I am sixteen years old this year."
Emperor Kangxi nodded and asked, "Is there anyone in your household?"
Cheng Qianyue continued, "My family includes my father and mother, as well as an older brother who is four years older than me."
"Oh, your family isn't very large," Kangxi said. After a while, his tone suddenly changed, and he asked with an air of authority, "Do you know why I summoned you here today?"
Cheng Qianyue's heart skipped a beat, and she replied softly, "This servant does not know."
Emperor Kangxi picked up a string of sandalwood beads and began to manipulate them one by one. He asked slowly and deliberately, yet with an air of authority, "You said earlier that the Crown Prince was possessed by a nightmare. How did you know that?"
Cheng Qianyue hurriedly knelt down. For a moment, her heart seemed to stop beating. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Because this servant has also been nightmareed, I blurted it out when I saw the Second Prince's appearance."
"oh?"
Cheng Qianyue knelt on the ground, the icy air creeping up the floor tiles onto her body. "Speaking of which, that was when I was eight years old." Talking about the past, her memory seemed to return to the autumn of that year when she was eight.
She actually had more than one older brother; she also had an older sister who was a year older than her. Her sister's personality was different from hers; she had been raised by her mother, Lady Hitara, to be quiet and elegant from a young age. Lady Hitara would often say to her, "Your sister is much more demure than you. Why are you like a mischievous monkey, finding everything strange and interesting?"
Although her mother always compared her to her older sister, the two sisters always had a good relationship. Until the autumn of the year she turned eight, when the two sisters had to go to the smallpox clinic for vaccination.
Children from the Eight Banners families were all vaccinated against smallpox when they grew up, supposedly to protect them from the disease. Oh, a vaccine. Cheng Qianyue instinctively associated smallpox vaccination with going to the hospital for a vaccination.
In the month when the two sisters were to be vaccinated against smallpox, their mother, Xitala, went to the small Buddhist shrine every day to burn incense, saying, "I heard that the children of the Zuo Ling family are also going, which shows that this year's smallpox vaccination is mild. I hope that Buddha will bless my two daughters to return safely."
Cheng Qianyue overheard Xitala praying to Buddha, then ran back out to laugh and joke with her sister.
Later, the sisters went to the smallpox clinic. The person in charge of inoculating them blew something into their noses, and within two days, they developed chickenpox. They stayed there for a week before the blisters cleared. Once the blisters were gone, their family was able to take them home. However, on the very night they returned home, the older sister developed a fever. The next morning, when she went to visit her sister, she found her lying limply in bed, unresponsive to any calls. Upon closer inspection, she realized her sister was already dead.
“Ever since that day, I haven’t been able to sleep.” Cheng Qianyue lowered her head, tears dripping onto the floor tiles. “My family says that even when I’m asleep, my hands and feet will move around at night, and I’ll call out for my sister. Sometimes they can’t find me if they’re not careful. When they do find me, I’m either on my sister’s bed or in the closet.”
“My family was terrified. They invited lamas and monks to perform rituals.” Cheng Qianyue took a deep breath and continued, “They said I was having a nightmare, and that my sister liked me and wanted to take me with her.”
Kangxi nodded. What she said was indeed similar to what they had found out. Then he asked, "Did you know what you were doing at the time?"
Cheng Qianyue wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. "Sometimes I know, sometimes I only realize it when I come to my senses. Actually, during that period, I always felt like my sister was calling me, and I couldn't help but go to her room."
That was the first time she witnessed the cruelty of ancient times. Human life was so fragile there; a simple smallpox vaccination or a disease could be fatal. From that day on, she lived each day as if it were her last. She thought that since she had been given a second chance at life, she had to make the most of it. Who knew that one day she too might succumb to a minor ailment?
Kangxi remained silent for a long while. He thought of the commentary sent by the Imperial Observatory, which said that the woman's fate was originally Yin, but Cheng Jia's birth chart was Yang, so she carried righteous energy and could not be harmed by any evil.
After a long silence, he said in a deep voice, "From now on, you must take good care of the Crown Prince until the day his nightmare is completely cured!"
Cheng Qianyue finally managed to stop her tears, but as soon as she raised her head slightly, she was knocked down again by these words.
No, what does this mean? She just made up the story that the deposed crown prince was possessed by a nightmare. How did it reach Kangxi's ears and become a reality? But the deposed crown prince wasn't possessed by a nightmare; he was mentally disturbed. She's not a psychiatrist!
But did she have any room to object? When Cheng Qianyue was a concubine in the Northeast Third Imperial Palace, the first thing her nanny said was, "Thunder and rain, all are the Emperor's grace." At that time, she thought this was a warning to them that no matter how the superiors treated them, they could not cry out but had to kowtow and express their gratitude. But now this imperial grace had fallen on her head, and it was terrifying her.
Finally, she thought, since she had no choice but to try anything, she might as well give it a shot!
Cheng Qianyue took a deep breath, kowtowed heavily with a heavy heart, and said in a deep voice, "This servant obeys!"
A note from the author:
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