In fact, the eunuchs who had written the storybook hid nothing at all, the moment the torture began, they confessed the whole affair down to the last detail.
On one side, the beating continued as ordered, on the other, someone hurried to report back to Qianqing Palace.
When Kangxi heard that Yinreng had gotten this story from Dan Qing, he smashed a teacup on the spot in fury. “Absurd! Not only did these wretched slaves scheme against the Crown Prince, they even dared to pin it on the princess, do they take Us for a fool, that We’d believe a five-year-old could possibly have come up with such a filthy tale?”
If they’d claimed the story came from some consort, Kangxi might well have believed it, but Dan Qing was still so young, at an age where she couldn’t even tell the difference between marrying off for diplomacy and feeding wolves. How could she possibly know anything about such things!
When an emperor grew angry, it was only natural that blood and lives would be spilled to appease him. The Office of Punishments dared not let up, questioning them again and again, and in the process, they truly did uncover something else besides.
The chief eunuch Gu Wenxing personally brought the confessions to report to Kangxi. He had served at Kangxi’s side since childhood, trusted more than anyone, and once Liang Jiugong had proven capable enough to take over other duties, Gu Wenxing had gone on to oversee the Office of Palace Affairs, secretly gathering intelligence from every corner for Kangxi as well.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, among the eunuchs who wrote this storybook, one has been in frequent contact with the household of the Prince of Jian. The house he purchased in the capital was, in fact, provided by the Prince of Jian’s household.”
Hearing this, Kangxi gave a cold laugh. “So it’s these stubborn, unrepentant members of the imperial clan again, still fixated on the Crown Prince, did they truly believe We’d let old sentiment stay Our hand against them?”
But Gu Wenxing said, “The former Prince of Jian, Labu, passed away two years ago, and his only son died last year as well, so the title of Prince of Jian has remained vacant ever since. There are surely those eager to contend for it, this likely has nothing to do with the Crown Prince at all, merely an unfortunate coincidence.”
“Whatever the reason, anyone who dares plant someone at the Crown Prince’s side deserves death,”
Kangxi had no patience to dig into the finer details, and issued his decree at once. “The former Prince of Jian, Labu, disobeyed orders and delayed military operations during the suppression of the feudatories, his princely title is hereby stripped, and the title of Prince of Jian shall pass instead to Yabu, fifth son of Prince Jianchun, Jidu, who shall also take charge of the Court of the Imperial Clan.”
Kangxi had originally intended to give the matter of the Prince of Jian’s succession careful, deliberate thought, with no wish to rush the decision, but now that someone from the household of the Prince of Jian had dared to reach into matters concerning Yinreng, how could he possibly tolerate it any longer?
Although Yabu was Labu’s own younger brother, the two branches of the family had never gotten along, and Yabu himself had never been well regarded by Labu’s old retainers, by rights, he had little claim to the princely title at all. But Kangxi deliberately chose him regardless, and even had him take charge of the Court of the Imperial Clan besides, precisely to make those with devious intentions understand clearly, once and for all, exactly who truly ruled over this realm.
…
Yinreng had caught a chill kneeling in the Ancestral Hall and developed a fever. It was only when the Grand Empress Dowager sent Dan Qing to visit him at Qianqing Palace that she finally learned what had happened.
Hearing that Yinreng had been beaten and made to kneel before the ancestors, all because of reading some indecent text, Dan Qing was utterly struck dumb, unable to believe her ears.
She’d simply told Yinzhen, on a whim, a story that was purely innocent and rather funny, how in the world had it somehow turned into some illicit tale between an emperor of a previous dynasty and a consort of his harem, stirring up such an enormous commotion?
“Garu, you mustn’t go making up stories like that anymore,”
Yinreng, still shaken by the whole ordeal, pulled his little sister close and warned her quietly. “Han Ama was furious, he stripped the former Prince of Jian’s title and gave it to Yabu instead, and even had a good number of the Prince of Jian’s old retainers dealt with.”
Dan Qing: …
No, wait, she’d only told a simple, harmless little story, hadn’t she? How could that possibly have led to a whole princely title changing hands, and dragged so many other people down along with it?
Dan Qing didn’t understand any of it, and found the whole world felt suddenly, bewilderingly surreal.
Seeing Dan Qing standing there dazed, Yinreng thought he’d frightened her by saying too much, and hurried to reassure her. “Don’t think too much of it. The matter with the Prince of Jian is an entirely separate affair, it has nothing to do with that story.”
Dan Qing reached out and touched Yinreng’s forehead, her lips pressing thin, her eyes reddening.
She’d never imagined that something she’d said so carelessly could have caused such far-reaching consequences. Yinreng’s face was still a little swollen now, his forehead burning hot, and yet here he was, still worrying about comforting her, it truly weighed on her heart.
“You mustn’t cry, or I won’t know how to explain it to Han Ama,”
Yinreng grew anxious. “Garu, be good now, this has nothing at all to do with you. If I’d known, I never would have told you any of it.”
The story Dan Qing had told hadn’t even really been meant for Yinreng in the first place, it was only because he’d been curious yet too embarrassed to ask outright that things had spiraled into what they were now. When it came down to it, the punishment he’d received wasn’t unjust at all, and none of it could possibly be blamed on his little sister.
Yinreng coaxed and teased her for a good long while before he finally managed to bring a smile back to Dan Qing’s face, but the moment Kangxi came in to see them, Dan Qing burst into tears again and threw herself straight at him.
Yinreng: …disaster. All that coaxing, wasted for nothing!
With the matter having already blown up this large, Dan Qing no longer saw any point in hiding anything. Fearing that things would only get worse if Kangxi eventually uncovered the truth on his own, she simply told him everything, start to finish, without holding anything back.
Even Kangxi was momentarily at a loss, having never imagined that what those eunuchs had confessed under torture would actually turn out to be true, that the true source of this whole story really was this little dumpling of a girl standing before him now, her eyes red from crying.
“All right, all right, stop crying, it’s not such a big deal,”
Kangxi held Dan Qing in his lap, soothing her. “Han Ama understands now. Dan Qing only told an ordinary little story, it was those people who twisted and embellished it on their own. None of this is Dan Qing’s fault.”
However angry he might be, he certainly wasn’t about to hold it against his own little daughter over this.
His daughter was still so young, what kind of story could she possibly come up with, other than some innocent tale made up for fun, which others had then deliberately seized upon and exploited?
If anything, he might hold Yinreng somewhat responsible for not conducting himself properly, but he would never blame Dan Qing for any of it.
He himself had loved making up his own little stories as a child, and had even once written some down in a notebook, flipping through it now and then still filled him with nothing but pure, childlike innocence, not the slightest hint of any impure intent.
A child’s willingness to imagine and think was a good thing, one shouldn’t give up eating for fear of choking, cutting off her natural instincts just because someone with ill intentions happened to be lurking about.
“From now on, whatever stories Dan Qing has, she can tell them openly, in the light of day, Han Ama is happy to listen too,”
Kangxi said, comforting his daughter, then turned to Yinreng as well. “And you, Baocheng, if you want to hear more, just ask your sister to tell you directly. Do you really think We would forbid it? The more you sneak around trying to hide it, the easier it is for someone to exploit the gap.”
Yinreng bowed obediently in acknowledgment, and Dan Qing, too, finally wiped away her tears.
Having already punished his son and reduced his daughter to tears, Kangxi had no wish to frighten either of them any further, and so, in a lighter tone, teasingly coaxed Dan Qing into telling him exactly what kind of story it had been.
Dan Qing picked out the more interesting bits to share, and Yinreng listened with great relish, but Kangxi could only shake his head throughout.
Well, what kind of story could a child possibly come up with, after all, nothing but pure, innocent childish talk, through and through.
Things like a lost princess returning to the palace, that was probably just a reflection of her own less-than-happy time back at Yikun Palace. And a woman entering the palace on behalf of her tribe, wasn’t that obviously inspired by the whole business of princesses being married off for diplomacy?
As for the unrivaled beauty who gave off a natural fragrance, that was surely just a child’s fantasy of some fairy maiden or goddess. And the idea of a consort being secretly smuggled out of the palace by a princess, well, that part was simply pure invention, plain and simple.
When it came down to it, there wasn’t a single trace of any romance between an emperor and his consort anywhere in Dan Qing’s story at all, quite the opposite, in the end the emperor had granted the consort her wish and let her leave the palace to live freely. As far as Kangxi was concerned, this was clearly nothing more than a projection of Dan Qing’s own longing for freedom, with not a shred of impure thought behind it.
Yinreng, too, felt his face flush a little.
His sister had told such a pure, simple story, and yet he had somehow twisted it in his own mind into something like that storybook, that slap across the face really hadn’t been unjust after all.
“Dan Qing, ah, would you like to learn to ride a horse?”
Kangxi suddenly asked.
Dan Qing was puzzled, with her current short little arms and legs, could she really learn to ride a horse?
“The matter of Taiwan should be settled within the next few days. If it’s a great victory, We plan to hold a hunting event at Jingshan, how would you like to come along and see the excitement for yourself?”
When Kangxi had first brought Dan Qing to Cining Palace, his original intention had been for her to marry into the Khorchin someday, and that intention hadn’t changed, but seeing his daughter’s longing for freedom, he still felt a pang of tenderness toward her.
After thinking it over, he decided that if his daughter was destined to marry into Mongolia anyway, it would be better to cultivate in her a genuine fondness for it from a young age. If she could master riding and archery, then her future life on the grasslands would be all the richer and more vibrant for it, and she wouldn’t live in fear of it the way the Second Princess did.
The thought of the Second Princess, raised by Consort Rong into such a demure, sheltered young lady, still irritated him even now, and so he added, “We’ll have your second and third sisters come along too, and you can all learn to ride together!”
…
Perhaps heaven itself was cooperating, because the very next day after Kangxi mentioned this, the military dispatch from Taiwan arrived.
On the twenty-second day of the sixth month, the Fujian navy had utterly crushed the Taiwanese navy, seizing the entire island of Taiwan outright. Zheng Keshuang and his followers had surrendered and submitted, and were now already on their way under escort back to the capital.
“Grandmother, our Fourth Princess really did speak the truth after all, she said we’d conquer Taiwan within a month, and here it is, conquered within a month!”
Kangxi, thoroughly delighted, brought the military dispatch to Cining Palace to show off. “We’ve already had preparations made, in a few days We’ll head to Jingshan for a hunt, and let the princesses come along to see it for themselves!”
The Grand Empress Dowager raised no objection, only cautioning, “The princesses are all still young, do be careful with them, they mustn’t get hurt or bruised.”
“Rest assured, Grandmother, We’ll have Baocheng accompany them, and see to it that they’re kept perfectly safe.”
Kangxi promised solemnly.
Dan Qing was overjoyed at the prospect of getting to go out and have some fun, if there was any regret at all, it was only that Yinzhen couldn’t come along too.
For this hunting expedition, Kangxi had decided to bring the princesses, but not the princes, the only exception was Yinreng, who was assigned the task of looking after his sisters, with no actual hunting expected of him at all.
Yinzhen felt rather wronged by this, and even Yinreng let out a heavy, disgruntled sigh.
On the day of departure, Dan Qing wore a riding outfit the Grand Empress Dowager had specially had made for her, carrying a short little riding crop in her hand, looking every bit the part, but once she stepped down from the carriage, she found that the Second and Third Princesses had arrived in full, elaborate finery, looking as dignified and composed as two goddesses descended from heaven, more as if they’d come to be paid homage than to go horseback riding.
Dan Qing wasn’t especially familiar with either of these two elder sisters, having only met them a couple of times when they came to pay their respects at Cining Palace, exchanging barely a few words. Now, wanting to strike up a conversation, she found herself hesitating, seeing them holding themselves so aloof and composed, eyes fixed straight ahead without so much as a glance her way.
“I knew His Majesty wouldn’t hand me any good assignment, these princesses don’t even look like they’re here to ride horses at all—”
A man in armor came riding up, dismounting right beside the princesses, bowing to Yinreng and speaking to him with easy familiarity, “Crown Prince, do we really have to teach them to ride today?”
Those meant to learn riding didn’t look the least bit inclined to, and the one meant to teach clearly had no wish to teach either, the whole scene grew rather awkward all at once.