Su Hua was hit by a car, and she knew nothing after that.
After an unknown amount of time, the endless darkness gradually dissipated. Su Hua opened her heavy eyes, and a woman’s gentle voice softly sounded in her ear: “Second Prince, you’re awake? It’s the perfect time.”
Second Prince? Su Hua felt her mind hadn’t worked in a long time; it was a little sluggish. She slowly turned her eyes, looking at the person in front of her with confusion. Who was the Second Prince?
The woman wore a blue and white floral cheongsam, her face round and slightly plump, looking very auspicious. She deftly parted the bright yellow curtains on the bed, and seeing that Su Hua still hadn’t moved, she added, “It’s already the hour of Yin (3-5 AM). The masters of Wuyi Zhai are all waiting. It would be disrespectful for the Second Prince to be late.”
Su Hua’s mind cleared, and she began to look around. This was an antique and extremely luxurious room. Outside the bright yellow silk curtains, several gilded candlesticks with carved dragons burned with thick white candles. Beaded curtains and brocade drapes adorned the room, and the floor was covered in white jade. In the four corners of the room, large, lustrous luminous pearls were casually placed like worthless trinkets.
Thanks to the flood of transmigration novels, Su Hua, though she hadn’t read many, knew she had transmigrated. Beyond shock, she felt fear, helplessness, and bewilderment.
Seeing Su Hua still motionless, the woman became worried: “Brother, are you feeling unwell? It suddenly got chilly last night; are the bedding warm enough?”
Su Hua withdrew her scrutinizing gaze and asked, “Where am I?” She was startled as soon as she finished speaking; it was a boy’s voice, clear and youthful yet slightly deep.
A flicker of suspicion crossed the woman’s eyes, but she still respectfully replied, “This is Yuqing Palace. You are in your own palace.”
Su Hua fell silent, her heart already churning with turmoil. The Second Prince! Yuqing Palace! Wu Yi Zhai! Her meager historical knowledge told her that this was no longer her original world; this was the Qing Dynasty!
Seeing that she had remained silent after asking that strange question, the woman became uneasy. The rules of Yuqing Palace were extremely strict, and the Crown Prince was a mature and dignified young man. Even though she was the wet nurse who had raised the Crown Prince, she dared not disturb him at this time.
Su Hua felt a round, transparent, luminous object in her mind gradually melting and shrinking. The small particles rapidly spread outwards, reaching every corner of her brain.
This was the memory of Crown Prince Yinreng.
The object shrank further and further, the gas expanded, and Su Hua’s head throbbed with pain. Soon, a fine layer of sweat appeared on her forehead. She gripped the brocade quilt tightly with both hands, her brows furrowed, and her lips lost their color. The wet nurse was alarmed and, disregarding etiquette, rushed to the outer room shouting, “Quickly, fetch the imperial physician! The Crown Prince seems unwell!”
The eunuch outside didn’t dare delay and rushed to the Imperial Hospital.
A quarter of an hour passed, and the headache gradually subsided. Su Hua was finally able to catch her breath. Immediately afterward, a commotion arose outside, and a man in a dark blue mandarin jacket strode forward. His face was concerned as he sat down beside Su Hua’s bed, wiping away the fine sweat from her brow. He asked softly, “What’s wrong? Where do you feel unwell?”
Su Hua raised her head, her listless eyes gradually focusing. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t utter a word, and then slumped back down. Kangxi’s expression darkened further. He frowned and examined her closely for a while, then angrily rebuked the kneeling maids and eunuchs in the hall, “How have you all been serving him? You’ve allowed the Crown Prince to fall so ill! What use are you!”
The maids and eunuchs repeatedly kowtowed and begged for mercy.
Kangxi’s imposing face, especially in the dim candlelight, was terrifying, and those below trembled with fear. Kangxi exhaled, gently patted Su Hua’s hand, and pointed to the leading eunuch, asking, “Where is the imperial physician?”
“He’s been sent to summon him,” the eunuch replied cautiously.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a young eunuch from the Eastern Palace led the imperial physician in. The physician was about to kneel and pay his respects when Kangxi interrupted him: “Check on the Crown Prince first.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The physician knelt forward, placing his hand on Su Hua’s pulse. Su Hua didn’t speak; all her senses were so clear—Kangxi’s voice, the feeling of the physician’s fingers on her pulse, her own heartbeat—everything was so real. This was absurd! How had she gotten here! Could she still go back…?
After a long pause, the imperial physician reported to the two emperors, “Your Majesty, the Crown Prince’s pulse is disordered, suggesting he may be feeling anxious. He also caught a chill last night, causing internal heat to accumulate without being released.”
Kangxi waved his hand dismissively, “Go and write a prescription!”
Su Hua stared blankly at him. The Emperor Kangxi, uh, no, I mean Emperor Kangxi, was sitting right beside her bed, and she had become the deposed Crown Prince Yinreng—oh, not yet deposed.
The imperial physician prepared the prescription and presented it. Kangxi and his sons were all accomplished individuals, and also had some medical knowledge. He naturally took it, glanced at it, and handed it back to him, saying, “Use this prescription.”
Immediately, a eunuch stepped forward to take the prescription and go to fetch the medicine.
Wei Zhu, the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, stepped forward and reported, “Your Majesty, the ministers are all waiting at the Qianqing Gate. You see…”
Kangxi seemed not to hear him and stared solemnly at Su Hua. Seeing that she was listless and pale, he became even angrier. Wei Zhu was used to serving Kangxi and was very perceptive. Seeing this, he quickly shut his mouth and stepped aside.
Emperor Kangxi, being a diligent ruler, turned back and said to Su Hua in a gentle voice, “I will go to attend to state affairs now and come to see you later.” He paused, and seeing that Su Hua still didn’t reply, he added softly, “If anything happens, send someone to find me, and I will come immediately.”
Su Hua felt as if a thousand horses had galloped through her chest; she was still in shock and couldn’t recover. Her lips trembled slightly, and after hesitating for a long time, she finally straightened herself as Kangxi rose and respectfully replied, “Your subject respectfully sees off Father Emperor.”
Kangxi turned and glanced at her, his stern and majestic face softened with a fatherly affection.
Su Hua remained depressed for three days, finally accepting reality: she was now Aisin Gioro Yinreng. She touched her bald head, then looked at the braid with a red tassel tied to her jade pillow, and sighed deeply. If she had truly died in that car accident, it would have been a clean break, but instead, she ended up in someone else’s body. Su Hua lay on the couch. Emperor Kangxi had granted the Crown Prince three days’ leave to recuperate, and he wouldn’t need to attend school for those days.
Transmigrating was bad enough, but being a man was already enough to terrify her. What was even more unsettling was that she had become Yinreng, the Crown Prince destined to be deposed and die a miserable death. What terrible luck! Who could she have transmigrated into? Even the fourth, eighth, third, or ninth prince—Kangxi had twenty or thirty sons, so many princes! She could have simply stayed away from the center of power and lived a carefree life as a prince, enjoying the scenery. But Yinreng, the heir apparent whom Emperor Kangxi had personally raised and nurtured since childhood—whoever became emperor would never let him go!
Was she here just to die again? Su Hua sighed heavily again.
Inside the Shi family mansion in the capital, a little girl counted on her fingers, muttering, “Twelve months, thirteen months…” She sighed heavily, her delicate voice sweet and endearing, “One year and three months…it seems I really can’t go back.”
“Miss, what are you saying? Where are we going back to?” Hua Yin asked curiously, her large, watery eyes wide. Xi Ze shook her head slightly, her mind racing. It was now the twenty-sixth year of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign. She had transmigrated in May of the twenty-fifth year of his reign; more than a year had passed in the blink of an eye. At first, she longed for the day she would fall down or take a nap and go back, but gradually, that thought faded. In truth, she hadn’t suffered any hardship or difficulty here. The original owner of this body was a lucky girl. Her family was a respectable and harmonious household. Her father, Shi Wenbing, was the commander of the Plain White Banner, inheriting the title of third-class earl. Her maternal grandfather, Shi Huashan, was the husband of the third daughter of Prince Yu, Dodo, and was granted the title of Heshuo Efu (Imperial Son-in-Law). He had even served as a Grand Minister, although he later angered Emperor Kangxi for some unknown reason, was stripped of his official position, and sent home to fend for himself.
Such a family, while not the most prestigious in the capital, was not to be underestimated.
In a way, fate had been kind to her, at least preventing her from being reborn into a poor and destitute family. Xi then plucked a handful of green leaves from beside the pavilion and threw them into the lake. The leaves scattered on the surface, swaying gently with the rippling blue water.
Hua Yin’s small eyes darted around, then she said with a sudden realization, “This servant understands. Miss wants to go back to Hangzhou? That place is truly beautiful. The water is green, the flowers are red, even the Han women on the streets have such radiant faces. Not to mention Miss, this servant also wants to go back.”
In the twenty-first year of Kangxi’s reign, Shi Wenbing was promoted to Deputy Commander-in-Chief and stationed in Hangzhou. He arrived with his wife and daughter. Later, in the twenty-third year of Kangxi’s reign, when the emperor visited Jiangnan, Shi Wenbing performed exceptionally well, and Kangxi ordered him to accompany the emperor back to Beijing. Afterwards, he was transferred to Beijing and became the Commander-in-Chief of the Plain White Banner, enjoying great favor from the emperor.
At that time, Xi Ze hadn’t arrived yet, and she didn’t even know what Hangzhou looked like during Kangxi’s reign. She gently shook her head again. Hua Yin let out a soft “Ah,” and said dejectedly, “Then this servant has no idea where Miss wants to go back to.”
“I don’t need you to know,” Xi Ze stood up, dusted her hands, and said, “I’m going to see what Mother is doing.”
After saying that, she walked out of the pavilion, along the path to the main road, and headed towards the main courtyard. After taking a few steps, she heard two men talking on the other side of the road, separated by a screen of green trees.
It was her father and eldest brother, Fu Dali.
Hua Yin was about to speak, but Xi Ze stopped her. She took two steps forward and listened intently to their conversation.
Shi Wenbing said in a deep voice, “Suo’etu is the Crown Prince’s great-uncle. It’s one thing for him to help the Crown Prince, but what is Mingzhu’s status? There are so many layers between them. He insists on putting the eldest prince and the Crown Prince in a power struggle, causing discord among the imperial family and unrest in the royal court. Just you wait and see, the master will definitely be unhappy.”
Fu Dali nodded repeatedly: “Indeed, I heard that the Crown Prince has been ill these past two days. His Majesty personally summoned Haha Zhuzi, the Crown Prince’s personal attendant, for questioning, and severely punished the Crown Prince’s teacher, saying that he was incompetent in his teaching and that the Crown Prince’s illness was caused by the shock. The Crown Prince was raised by His Majesty himself and is doted on like the apple of his eye. How could His Majesty be happy if someone were to fight against the Crown Prince?”
Xi Ze curled her lips. This unfortunate Crown Prince was destined to be deposed. The more Kangxi doted on him now, the more he would hate him later. She had watched many Qing Dynasty dramas and would definitely find an opportunity to remind her father and brothers to stay away from the Crown Prince, the First Prince, the Eighth Prince, the Fourteenth Prince, and absolutely not to offend the Fourth Prince.
“No,” Shi Wenbing shook his head and said, “The will of Heaven is unpredictable. We servants shouldn’t even try to guess what our master is thinking. Fudali, you must remember, while serving in the palace, you must not get close to the First Prince, nor to the Crown Prince. This applies to all princes in the future.”
Fudali solemnly replied, “Yes.”
Although the word “servant” made Xi Ze feel quite uncomfortable, she had to admit that her father had a very high level of political awareness. He knew to be a pure minister, not to form factions or engage in private affairs. Emperor Kangxi liked ministers like this the most. Xi Ze clicked her tongue in admiration. This was a deep understanding of the way of a minister. No wonder her father was so favored by Emperor Kangxi.
“Who’s there!” A sudden shout rang out, and Fudali darted through the soft branches and came over. Upon seeing her, he was immediately stunned: “Xize, how come it’s you?”
Xize stuck out her tongue and hurriedly curtsied to Shi Wenbing, who was walking over with his hands behind his back: “Daughter greets Father.”
Shi Wenbing stood with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed as he looked at her and said sternly: “What kind of behavior is it for a young lady to hide here and listen to her father and brothers talking!” Fu Dali also looked at her strangely.
Xi Ze argued, “I was just passing by; I didn’t eavesdrop.”
“You’re twelve already! The palace selection will be next year. Why aren’t you in your room learning etiquette? What are you doing here?”
“I want to see Mother. Father, elder brother, are you going too? Let’s go together.” Xi Ze winked at Fu Dali. Fu Dali understood, coughed, and stepped forward to Shi Wenbing, saying, “That’s right, Father. I haven’t seen Mother for many days and miss her dearly. Why don’t you go with my sister?” Shi Wenbing looked at his two children, one mischievous and the other following his sister’s lead, and felt helpless. He snorted and said, “Let’s go.”