Chapter 74
The Imperial Concubine has been bedridden for quite some time. It should be said that her health has not been very good since the death of her daughter several years ago, and now she is even more ill.
As usual, the Fourth Prince told the Imperial Concubine to take care of herself and get better soon.
But today, the Imperial Concubine was a little strange. She suddenly told the Fourth Prince about his biological mother.
"You were not born by me, your biological mother is Consort De."
After the Imperial Concubine finished speaking, she smiled and said, "It seems that you already knew about this."
The Fourth Prince lowered his eyes and said, "I have been raised by you since I was young. I cannot repay you for your kindness. I would be no different from my own mother. I hope you are in good health. I will repay you for your kindness in the future."
The Imperial Concubine looked at the boy who had grown up, with relief and regret in her eyes. How great it would be if he was her own biological son.
She nodded to the Fourth Prince, and then said to him: "Mother is very happy about this mother-son relationship with you. My son is calm and attentive when doing things, and can endure hardships. He will be successful in the future."
"Go back. There's no need to waste any more time here with mother."
"Go back and study hard. Your father will see it."
The Imperial Concubine coughed a few more times and then let the Fourth Prince leave. The Fourth Prince felt a little uneasy when he heard the Imperial Concubine's cough.
However, the Imperial Concubine had been ill for a long time and had always been weak. It was probably because of the cold weather that she started coughing again.
.
The poisoning of the Sixth Prince implicated Crown Prince Soetu and the Eldest Prince Hui. Everyone thought it was finally over, but who could have known that someone else would be implicated.
When Kangxi came to the Imperial Noble Consort's palace, the palace people initially thought that the Emperor came to visit him, but gradually they felt that the atmosphere was not right. The palace maids waiting outside the house shuddered when they heard the voices of the Imperial Noble Consort and the Emperor inside.
At this time, the atmosphere in the house was quite tense.
The Imperial Concubine stopped laughing. Facing Kangxi's questioning, she was silent for a while and said softly, "That maid is not my concubine's, and the poison was not given by me. From the beginning to the end, I did not touch a finger in the matter of the Sixth Prince."
Kangxi sneered: "Yes, Imperial Concubine, you did not intervene from beginning to end. You just watched from the sidelines and watched Yinzuo being killed."
The room with burning charcoal seemed frozen. Kangxi's accusation made the imperial concubine silent again.
"Your Majesty has already punished Suo Etu and imprisoned Concubine Hui. Are you going to imprison me now? Don't you think that the fuss over the Sixth Prince is too big?"
"The Emperor dotes on the Sixth Prince too much, so it's no wonder he pierced someone's eye."
"I am just not that magnanimous and kind. I only vaguely knew about this matter, but I didn't take it seriously. Later, it happened."
"If the emperor punishes me for this, then I dare to say that I will not obey."
Kangxi looked at the Imperial Concubine, listened to her high-sounding words, listened to her sophistry, thought of the child who almost lost his breath that day, thought of the torment that day, and a anger burned in his chest.
"At first she watched coldly and did not get involved, and then she guided me to discover Concubine Hui's actions. The Imperial Noble Concubine is very smart. Concubine Hui wants to kill two birds with one stone, and the Imperial Noble Concubine wants to gain the advantage by fishing. They are all very smart." Kangxi stood up and took off the tea set on the table with his sleeves. The crisp sound of the teacup falling to the ground made people's hearts tremble.
This is indeed the case. There is no queen in the palace, and the empress dowager does not care about anything. The palace affairs have been managed by the imperial concubine for many years, so she had already noticed Concubine Hui's actions, but why did she want to stop her?
Concubine Hui wanted to do her part for her son, and she also wanted to move some stones for her Fourth Prince. Concubine Hui believed that her son was the eldest prince and had an extraordinary status, but in the eyes of the Imperial Noble Concubine, her Fourth Prince was also the prince with the highest status except for the Crown Prince whose mother died long ago.
Unfortunately, although she was the Imperial Noble Consort and the head of the six palaces, the Emperor never truly made her the Queen.
As for this incident, the Imperial Noble Consort did not feel that she had done anything wrong. She just misjudged that the Emperor would not stop even after finding out about Concubine Hui's back-up plan.
But she just watched coldly and didn't get involved.
Kangxi seemed to have noticed that the Imperial Concubine had no regrets, and he laughed in anger, "You are in charge of the harem and plotted to murder the heir, and you actually told me that I doted on the Sixth Prince too much?"
"In your eyes, the fact that you didn't interfere is a sign of your kindness as a royal concubine, right?"
"Do you feel you are innocent?"
Kangxi's tone had calmed down by the end of his speech. He said calmly, "Since you have not fulfilled your responsibility to manage the harem, I will take back your authority to manage the harem from today."
"Just take care of your illness."
The emperor went to Concubine Hui's place, where she was under house arrest. He then went to the Imperial Noble Concubine's palace, where she was stripped of her power to govern the harem. For a while, the number of people in the harem continued to shrink.
This time the Sixth Prince's poisoning has implicated too many people. The Emperor's anger has not yet subsided, and no one is having a good time.
But some people were very happy, such as Rong Fei. The power of the Imperial Noble Consort to manage the harem was taken back, not to mention Hui Fei, isn't it her who is next in line?
Moreover, this time, the Crown Prince, the eldest prince, and the fourth prince are all implicated, so isn't the only one left her own third prince?
Rong Fei happily gossiped with the Third Prince in the palace: "You said that the Imperial Noble Consort is really imaginative. The Crown Prince and the First Prince are both standing in front, and she actually wants to show up."
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
"She has a good plan, but how can the emperor, with his sharp eyes and sharp eyes, let her succeed?"
"This time she has lost all her dignity. I think she is getting even sicker from anger."
Then Rong Fei took advantage of this incident to teach the Third Prince a lesson: "Look, look, there are few honest people in this palace, and they all have evil hearts."
I wanted to tell the Third Prince to be more careful, but he retorted: "Mother also knows that the Emperor has a sharp eye, so don't learn from them in the future."
"Look, son, there is nothing in this palace that the Emperor doesn't know as long as he wants to know."
"So mother, just play with the cats and appreciate the flowers every day, and don't think about jumping around all the time."
The Third Prince lowered his voice and said, "The Emperor loves the Crown Prince very much. Mother, please don't let your imagination run wild." Don't always think that the Crown Prince has no mother and no one in the harem. Without a mother, the Emperor will pity him even more.
The third prince felt that the officials close to the eldest prince were dismissed not only because of Concubine Hui's anger, but also because of the crown prince.
Rong Fei didn't think she was daydreaming, as there was still a lot of life ahead. But she didn't argue with her son, as she thought the palace would be quiet for a while anyway.
The Third Prince stayed with Rong Fei for a while and said, "Mother, I'm leaving now. I still need to visit my Sixth Brother."
Rong Fei nodded: "Okay, that's right, go visit him more often, your Royal Father goes there every day, you should behave well."
The Third Prince felt uncomfortable after hearing what his mother said, as if he was looking at his Sixth Brother just to show off to the Emperor Father.
The Third Prince walked out, thinking that he had a chess manual that he could give to his Sixth Brother to help him pass the time, but chess manuals were a waste of brainpower and nerves, so he might as well change something else. What should he change to? A puppet similar to a shadow play could also be given to his Sixth Brother to play with for fun, as long as his Sixth Brother didn't mind the childishness...
Kangxi did come to Yinzuo again, helping him adjust the soft pillow so that he could sit more comfortably, and asked him, "Is the pain less severe today?"
Yinzuo: "A little better."
"The acupuncture treatment by Imperial Doctor Han and his colleagues will not be in vain. And the medicine I drink every day is about to become the bitter medicine for my son."
Yinzuo said as he opened his mouth wide and blew towards Kangxi: "Is it all bitter taste of medicine?"
Kangxi was amused and distressed: "Just bear with it a little longer."
Yin Zuo said: "Yes, son knows, son always drinks the medicine cleanly."
Kangxi touched Yinzuo's head.
Yinzuo felt Kangxi's warm palm, pursed his lips, and said to Kangxi after a moment of silence: "Father, I am a little sad."
Kangxi knew that Yinzuo knew about the Imperial Noble Consort's affairs.
The victim in this matter was Yinzuo, and Kangxi did not want to hide the matter from Yinzuo.
Kangxi himself knew that the palace was not a warm paradise. Everyone in the palace had his or her own thoughts, and now the peace and happiness of the past was broken in front of his sixth son.
He didn't want Yinzuo to be sad, but he also didn't want him to continue to be naive, now that his sons had grown up.
I was worried that he would change his personality, and I was also worried that he would be hurt again because of his sincerity and simplicity.
Kangxi stroked Yinzuo's head again and again to comfort him.
"Father, I did nothing wrong, didn't I?" Yinzuo asked Kangxi Zheng with his black and white eyes. It turned out that there were so many people who didn't want him to be well. Although he was not familiar with the Imperial Noble Consort, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
Kangxi said firmly: "Of course."
Kangxi finally promised Yinzuo: "This will never happen again."
"The Emperor is here."
Those people targeted Yinzuo because they were jealous of his achievements and the fact that he was favored by him. They were fighting for the position of crown prince and even the throne under him. When his sons grew up, people became happy and confused.
This incident also taught Kangxi a lesson in advance. He didn't expect that the dispute had already started. In his mind, his sons were not that old yet.
There was a dark change in Kangxi's eyes.
Yinzuo felt that there was something wrong with Kangxi's aura, so he grabbed the big hand on his head and pinched it, saying, "Well, Yinzuo can also protect himself."
"Talk to the Emperor Father for a while. My son is feeling much better now. The Emperor Father should not feel bad anymore."
Kangxi looked at Yinzuo and saw that his eyes were clear. He sighed slightly in his heart. It was rare that Yinzuo's temperament had not been changed after such a disaster. He didn't know if he was too generous.
Kangxi: "You don't blame us?"
Yinzuo: "Who?"
"I, your elder brother, and the prince."
"How can I blame the Emperor? The Crown Prince and my eldest brother didn't want to do that either, I know that. I hate the people who hurt me, but the Emperor helped me to punish them and get my money back, so I don't want to think about it anymore."
Yinzuo scratched Kangxi's hand and said, "Empress Hui is my eldest brother's mother, and Imperial Noble Consort is my fourth brother's mother. Imperial Noble Consort is still sick. Alas, let the emperor punish her, and let the past be the past."
"Son, take your medicine and take good care of yourself. I probably won't be able to go to the hunting competition next year, but the emperor has built a garden outside the palace that is so beautiful and big. Can I go and see it?"
Kangxi didn't want to talk about those things anymore, so he followed Yinzuo's words and said with a smile: "It's not even built yet, and you're already thinking about it. Okay, I'll let you live there when the time comes."
Yinzuo smiled and said to Kangxi, "My son wants a yard with bamboos, bamboo shoots, and he likes to listen to the rustling sound of bamboo leaves."
Kangxi: "Okay." Isn't it just planting bamboo? What's so difficult about that?
Yinzuo said to his father, "Father, you come here every day. Does it bother you?"
Kangxi: "Why? Are you annoyed that the Emperor comes every day?"
Yin Zuo: "No, you are blaming me, my father. In the past, it was always my son who went to see me, and my father was annoyed and didn't want to talk to me. But my son has never complained about me."
Kangxi curled his lips slightly, and found these words pleasing to hear.
However, his son had been playing with his hand for a long time. Kangxi finally took his hand back, looked around, and said, "Will I play chess with you?"
Yinzuo rolled his eyes and said, "My eldest brother always lets me have three pieces when playing chess. My father is better at chess than my eldest brother, so why not let my son have five pieces?" Oh, everyone is letting him have the chance now, so he has to seize the opportunity, otherwise he will miss it forever.
Kangxi: "Let me win five sons? Why don't you just let me lose to you?"
Yinzuo nodded immediately and said, "That's fine."
He also said to Kangxi: "My son heard that when playing chess with the emperor, you cannot win, and you have to lose gracefully. You can't let the master down. You have to fight evenly and then lose. And you must not let the master see that you lost on purpose."
"Father, do you always win when you play chess with others?"
"Which minister lost the game of chess in the most professional way?"
"Father, if you let your son win, it doesn't matter if he wins or not."
Kangxi: “…”
Kangxi wanted to be gentle to his sick son, but he ended up hitting Yinzuo on the forehead.
Kangxi laughed at his son and said, "Okay, I'll let you, my fifth son, win. It doesn't matter. If you win, I'll give you a reward. Come and show me."
After the game was over, Yinzuo looked at the chessboard and wondered how this was possible.
Yinzuo thought for a moment, then looked at Kangxi and said, "Father, do you think your son might have deliberately lost to you just now?"
Kangxi snorted and laughed: "You stinky chess player."
Yinzuo sighed, "The Emperor didn't let me win. If the Emperor pretended to lose to his son, his son would not be able to tell that the Emperor did it on purpose."
"Besides, since the emperor gave up five pieces just now, my son must think that he really won and he must be very happy."
"The Emperor doesn't even know how to make his son happy." Yinzuo shook his head and sighed. He looked at Kangxi with disappointment and felt that this father was very unreasonable.
Kangxi: “…”
Do you still want this?
Is it so difficult to be someone's emperor?
Kangxi was confused.
Kangxi had never had such experience.
(End of this chapter)
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