The little guy hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "Let's go outside."
"Outside?" Jiaming was taken aback at first, then realized what she meant and frowned slightly.
"It's a token from Father, and there are guards too, so it's alright," the little guy quickly said.
Jiaming was silent for a while before instructing, "Then you must be careful too. Don't leave the person who accompanied you behind, and you must be back within the stipulated time."
Hongjing nodded hurriedly in agreement, then smiled at Jiaming and said, "Mother, go take a nap. When you wake up, have some snacks, drink some tea, enjoy the scenery, and then come back."
The Fourth Master has agreed, and he has personally arranged for people to accompany him, so there certainly won't be any problems.
Jiaming, who had great faith in Fourth Master's abilities, was indeed as Hongjing had said, and went to take a nap without worrying about him.
Waking up from her afternoon nap, she was enjoying the snowy scenery when, suddenly, she felt an urge to paint.
He immediately ordered someone to go back and fetch painting tools, not the usual sketching tools, but the tools for ink painting.
Although she was a beginner in ink painting and her skills weren't great, she was in high spirits. As long as she enjoyed painting, it didn't matter whether it was good or bad, since it was all for her to see.
Just as she was happily drawing, a maid ran over in a panic. Although she was in a hurry, she did not forget the rules and did not shout. Instead, she told Hongtao first, and Hongtao was also a little panicked when she heard it.
"What is it?" Jiaming asked without looking up after hearing the noise.
"Fifth Prince has been beaten by the Prince!" Hongtao exclaimed in alarm.
"Huh?" Jiaming slowly turned her head to look at Hongtao and the maid who had delivered the message, blinked, and asked with some doubt, "Just now, you said that Hongjing was beaten by the master? Did I hear wrong, or..."
“That’s right!” Red Peach hurriedly interrupted Jiaming before she could finish speaking.
"He really was beaten!" Jiaming exclaimed in surprise. She quickly put down her brush and ordered someone to tidy up the mess. Then, she stood up and walked towards the direction the maid had come from.
She quickly passed by Hongtao and the maid, leaving behind two words: "Follow me."
Hongtao and her maidservant quickly followed behind Jiaming, and then they heard a question tinged with curiosity.
"Do you know why the Prince hit the Fifth Prince?" Jiaming asked as they walked.
Upon hearing this, Hongtao also turned her gaze to the maid, wanting to know what the Fifth Prince had done wrong that the Prince had actually hit him.
The maid shook her head and replied, "I don't know. As soon as the prince arrived, he had the Fifth Prince arrested and personally beat him."
Jiaming: "I don't know!"
For some reason, Red Peach sensed a hint of disappointment in her master's words. Was it just her imagination?
Jiaming added, "Well, it's nothing really. We'll find out the reason when we get there."
Her tone carried a sense of self-consolation, so it really wasn't her imagination. Coupled with her master's initial curious tone, Red Peach's lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something.
It wasn't until they were almost back at their lodgings that she mustered the courage to ask, "Master, the Fifth Prince was beaten by the Prince, aren't you worried?" No matter how she thought about it, she felt that Master was more curious than anything else.
Jiaming nodded and replied with certainty, "That's right, don't worry."
"Huh?" Hongtao and the maid were dumbfounded. "How could we not be worried? Five..."
“Given the Prince’s character, the fact that he would lay a hand on Hongjing must mean that something Hongjing did that the Prince couldn’t stand.” Jiaming explained calmly as they walked, “Besides, it’s alright if the Prince disciplines him and hits him; the Prince knows his limits.”
As soon as Jiaming walked back to her courtyard, she heard a commotion coming from inside.
Upon closer listening, she recognized the voice as the master reprimanding Hongjing. As she entered the room where the master was disciplining Hongjing, she heard the sound of him being slapped repeatedly.
Then, as she continued walking into the house, she saw that Fourth Master had pressed Hongjing down on his knees, and his hand had just moved away from his buttocks, clearly having just finished hitting him.
Hongjing, who had been holding back his tears, burst into tears as soon as he saw Jiaming, called out "Mother!" and then cried out.
Upon seeing Jiaming and noticing Hongjing's reaction, Fourth Master assumed she had come to plead for mercy and immediately glared at her.
Jiaming was speechless. She was just curious and wanted to see what Hongjing had done wrong. She just wanted to come and see, so why was she glared at by the master for no reason?
Immediately, she thought of a possibility. After all, not every mother is as heartless as her, not coming to plead for her son but instead coming to watch the spectacle.
Oh well, let it be a misunderstanding! I got glared at, but nothing serious happened.
The important thing was to find out the truth, so Jiaming asked, "By the way, Master, what exactly did Hongjing do wrong?"
“You live in this garden, shouldn’t you know best what he did wrong?” Fourth Master said irritably.
Jiaming was speechless for a moment, and then she gave an honest reply.
"My lord, I really didn't know. He's been quite well-behaved these days. He even picked the vegetables you planted, and didn't I send them all to you?"
Is it because I did the work for you, leaving you with nothing to do, that you're feeling uncomfortable?
Having stayed at the Yuanmingyuan for a while, Jiaming, who had become accustomed to the relaxed atmosphere, inadvertently relaxed too much in front of the Fourth Prince and unconsciously revealed her true feelings.
Fourth Master's face twitched. "Am I that kind of person?"
Jiaming paused for a moment, then shook her head with a strong survival instinct, saying, "No."
"Hmph," Fourth Master snorted coldly, then glared angrily at Hongjing, "Do you know what this brat has done?"
Jiaming asked in confusion, "What did you do?"
After saying that, she remembered something and continued in a guessing tone, "By the way, he took the token you gave me today and went out with the guards. Did he do something when he went out?"
The moment this was mentioned, Fourth Master's face darkened, and he felt an itch in his palms, even wanting to spank Hongjing.
When Hongjing saw the Fourth Master rubbing his side with his right palm and the gaze fixed on him, he immediately shrank back and then cried even louder.
At the same time, he secretly hoped that his father would think he was in a lot of pain because he was crying so hard, and that he would not be able to hit him anymore.
Well, even if he still has the heart to do it, he can only hope that his mother will see how miserable he is and stop his father.
"He actually went out to sell vegetables!"
"Huh?" Jiaming thought she had misheard. "Selling vegetables? Didn't he have someone deliver them to you?"
"I also sent some to the master, but the rest were sold." As he spoke, the Fourth Master gritted his teeth and said with a dark face, "At first, when the servants reported it, the master did not believe it and asked again and again. Moreover, the guards who went with him saw it with their own eyes and even helped him check the scales and sell the goods."
Selling vegetables!
Hongjing actually took the vegetables to sell!
They even had their guards help them sell it!
Jiaming wanted to laugh, but she didn't dare to laugh in front of the Fourth Master, so she could only hold it in, until tears welled up in her eyes.
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