"I have done wrong, please punish me, Mother…"
After the Emperor left, Tong Lanshu's tense nerves finally relaxed. She leaned back on the kang, exhausted, and couldn't help rubbing her forehead.
This body was very weak; just concentrating to handle a few words had already drained much of her energy. Tong Lanshu was tired, but she forced herself to keep thinking—there were still many things she hadn't figured out.
However, fate did not comply with her wishes. After a short while, she couldn't resist and fell asleep.
Soon after the Emperor departed, Zhilan entered carrying medicine. She originally intended to report that Madam Hesheli had successfully left the palace, but unexpectedly found her master asleep.
She walked forward a few steps and noticed Tong Lanshu was sleeping deeply. After thinking for a moment, Zhilan took the medicine back out and instructed a young palace maid to keep it warm over the stove fire. Her master rarely slept well; taking the medicine a bit later wouldn't matter.
Zhilan stood in the covered corridor directing the eunuchs and palace maids to sweep the snow.
At that moment, the door of the East Side Hall opened, and Dong Zhu quickly walked over, whispering, "Is the Consort alright?"
"She's asleep now," Zhilan whispered back. As they spoke, they walked toward the main hall.
For a moment, Tong Lanshu couldn’t quite grasp what Consort De’s intentions were. Could it truly be, as recorded in history, that she disliked the Fourth Prince?
Just as Tong Lanshu was pondering this, a young palace maid entered from outside, announcing that the Fourth Prince wished to see her. “Your Highness, I noticed the Fourth Prince seemed to have been standing outside for quite some time.”
“Let him in quickly,” Tong Lanshu immediately said.
Soon, Yinzhen walked in from outside, holding a ferule in his hand.
This posture puzzled Tong Lanshu, but she had no time to dwell on it. Outside, heavy snow was falling, and Yinzhen, dressed in thin clothing, had long been chilled to the point where his cheeks were flushed red. It was unclear how long he had been standing there.
Tong Lanshu felt a pang of heartache and couldn’t help asking him, “The palace maid said you were standing outside. Why didn’t you come in?”
As soon as Tong Lanshu finished speaking, the three-year-old toddler began performing a formal salute with meticulous precision. “Greetings to Mother.”
“Come up quickly,” Tong Lanshu said softly. “Dong Zhu said you were asleep. Why did you suddenly come over?”
Yet this casual, ordinary sentence caused Yinzhen’s tears to fall. The toddler trembled slightly and swiftly wiped away his tears. “Your son… your son came to apologize to Mother.”
Yinzhen steadied his emotions and stood at a distance neither too close nor too far from Tong Lanshu. As he spoke, he knelt down, holding the ferule with both hands and raising it above his head. “Your son should not have offended Mother. Please punish me.”
It was no exaggeration to say Tong Lanshu was startled. After recovering her composure, she immediately instructed Dong Zhu to help him up. “Help the Fourth Prince rise.”
Dong Zhu promptly complied.
But Yinzhen was stubborn, kneeling on the ground and refusing to stand. “Your son has done wrong. Please punish me.”
Tong Lanshu: “…”
No one had ever told her that the future Emperor Yongzheng was such a stubborn child in his youth. Judging by this stance, if she didn’t agree, he would continue kneeling indefinitely.
Could she really have to whip him? But wouldn’t such a small child be harmed by a beating?
Yinzhen stubbornly knelt on the ground. No matter how Dong Zhu tried to persuade him, it was useless. As palace maids, they naturally dared not forcibly pull him up, so they helplessly looked toward Tong Lanshu.
Tong Lanshu was deeply troubled. After thinking briefly, she calmly said, “You refuse to let Zhilan and Dong Zhu help you up. Does that mean you want Mother to personally assist you?”
As Tong Lanshu spoke, she began to rise. This alarmed everyone in the room. For a moment, disregarding the Fourth Prince, they all rushed over to dissuade her. Yinzhen was even more speechless, staring blankly at his mother, but he was smoothly helped up by Dong Zhu.
“You two go out first. I have words to speak privately with the Fourth Prince,” Tong Lanshu calmly ordered. She intended to comfort the child but did not want the maids to notice her differences from before, so she sent them away.
Zhilan and Dong Zhu immediately withdrew.
Now only the two of them remained in the chamber. Yinzhen still stood dazedly aside, his small hands clutching the ferule, seemingly wanting to offer it to Tong Lanshu once more.
But those hands trembled slightly. Tong Lanshu couldn’t tell whether it was from fear or cold. She beckoned the child to sit on the heated kang, truly unable to bear seeing a three-year-old child shivering from the cold.
Yet Yinzhen seemed timid and hesitant, not daring to approach.
“Does Yinzhen now wish to distance himself from Mother?” Tong Lanshu spoke gently.
Yinzhen was a child who responded better to softness than harshness. Tong Lanshu’s gentle tone made him feel deeply remorseful.
"I am not, Your Majesty." Yinzhen replied swiftly, raising his eyes to look at Tong Lanshu. His gaze was timid now, the courage from earlier nowhere to be found. At this moment, he stood to the side like any child who had done something wrong.
Tong Lanshu, however, was patient, repeatedly urging him to come closer. "Does Yinzhen have many things he wants to ask?"
After Tong Lanshu's repeated requests, Yinzhen finally took small steps and climbed onto the kang. He held the ferule tightly in his hand, and as he approached Tong Lanshu, his first instinct was to offer it to her.
"Please punish me, Mother."
Tong Lanshu helplessly took the ferule. She had no fondness for punishing children, but Yinzhen was truly stubborn. Setting the ferule aside, she asked directly, "Yinzhen already knows about his origins, doesn't he?"
Upon hearing this, Yinzhen quickly lowered his head.
In truth, Yinzhen could no longer clearly recall how he felt the moment he learned the truth. He only remembered his desperate desire to know, yet when the truth was laid bare before him, he wanted to escape. He did not look at Tong Lanshu, only asking her in a weak voice, "Mother, it's not true, is it?"
His voice was filled with hope. He wished his mother would tell him that everything was false.
But his mother remained silent. Yinzhen keenly sensed a gaze fixed upon him, and his heart gradually sank.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, Tong Lanshu sighed and changed the question. "Can you tell Mother where you heard about this?"
This question was clearly much easier to answer, and Yinzhen was less resistant. "It was… Eldest Prince and Third Prince who said it."
Tong Lanshu frowned, beginning to ponder the birth mothers of Eldest Prince and Third Prince. Noble Consort Tong came from a noble background and had little interaction with these consorts, nor did she know their true natures.
The Emperor said it had come up during the children's play, and Tong Lanshu believed it.
Even if there was deliberate provocation, one would have to consider whether they could face Noble Consort Tong's wrath.
Tong Lanshu said nothing, and Yinzhen clearly did not know what was appropriate to say at such a moment. His thoughts drifted far away, recalling how Eldest Prince and Third Prince had said that when Mother was angry, all one needed to do was act spoiled.
But Yinzhen did not know how to act spoiled, nor did he know if it would work with his mother.
"Yinzhen…" Tong Lanshu herself did not know how to interact with children. Though she could not fully empathize, she knew the child must be suffering greatly. "Mother does not want to deceive you. Even if you did not learn of it today, you would come to know as you grow older."
"Rather than hearing rumors and making wild guesses, Mother would prefer you to ask directly."
"You can ask anything you wish to know." Tong Lanshu spoke with conviction, though inwardly she felt uncertain. She did not know how to interact with children and could only brace herself and proceed.
Encouraged repeatedly by his mother, Yinzhen finally mustered his courage. "Am I truly not born of you, Mother?"
Tong Lanshu nodded gently. "Your birth mother is Consort De."
Though Yinzhen had few memories of his birth mother, he knew very well who Consort De was. Yonghe Palace and Chengqian Palace were adjacent, and though Consort De kept a low profile, it was not as if Yinzhen had never encountered her.
And Yinzhen remembered that Consort De also had a young imperial prince.
That was his sixth brother, a child just over a year old.
At this thought, the little child felt a pang of sorrow in his heart. He looked up at his mother. Perhaps it was because his mother was unusually gentle today that Yinzhen felt somewhat dazed.
He asked many questions he had not dared to ask before, "Mother, was I given to you to raise by Consort De?"
How much malice was hidden in these words, Yinzhen did not yet understand. But even at such a young age, he already knew how to feel hurt and saddened by such things. His voice trembled, and as soon as he spoke, tears began to fall.
Upon hearing this, Tong Lanshu felt a surge of anger. What kind of talk was this? Was this something a child should hear?
If she had not insisted today, perhaps these words would have remained buried in the child's heart, and who knows how long they would have lingered there.
"It was your Imperial Father's idea to send you to Chengqian Palace to be raised," Tong Lanshu took a handkerchief and wiped away Yinzhen's tears, gently stroking his head as she spoke softly. "When Consort De gave birth to you, she was still only a Noble Lady and did not have the qualification to raise an Imperial Prince. The Prince's Residence was too cold and lonely, so your Imperial Father sent you to Chengqian Palace, hoping you would receive better care."
Tong Lanshu was not speaking falsely. If it weren't for caring about Consort De, why would she care about the child she bore?
Although the Prince's Residence was a place for raising Imperial Princes and Princesses, it was only staffed by serving mammies. Raising Yinzhen under the care of Noble Consort Tong was ultimately different from raising him in the Prince's Residence.
Among the children born before Yinzhen, which of them did not live in the Prince's Residence before their mothers were promoted?
Tong Lanshu's gentle and comforting words made Yinzhen's eyes light up.
He did not have many memories of his birth mother. His previous anxiety was merely the fear that he was a child disliked by his parents. Under Tong Lanshu's comfort, he gradually relaxed and, without realizing it, leaned closer to her side.
Seeing that he was somewhat drowsy, Tong Lanshu did not bring up any other topics. Instead, she gently patted his back to lull him to sleep.
Before long, the sound of even breathing reached her ears. Tong Lanshu pulled a nearby blanket over him.
She rubbed her forehead, thinking to herself that this matter had finally come to an end.