When Dan Qing found that she’d slipped out of Yikun Palace with surprising ease, with no one stopping her the entire way, she understood that this was Consort Yi’s doing.
In fact, Consort Yi had always been quite favored since entering the palace. Even though she was pregnant and couldn’t attend His Majesty at night, Kangxi should still have come by now and then to show concern, yet in the months since Dan Qing had arrived here, she had never once seen this legendary Han Ama of hers.
It wasn’t that Consort Yi had suddenly fallen out of favor, but rather that there were simply too many pregnant women in the Forbidden City right now.
Besides the two in Yikun Palace, Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya, Noble Consort Niohuru, and Consort De of the Uya clan were all pregnant as well.
The others were one thing, but Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya had entered the palace seven years ago and this was her first pregnancy, and the pregnancy itself was unstable, Kangxi simply wished he could be by her side every single day, so how could he possibly spare any thought for anyone else?
With Consort Yi’s shrewdness, she naturally wouldn’t insist on competing for attention with Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya at a time like this, but she was now seven months pregnant, and it was time to start preparing for the birth, if Kangxi kept failing to show any concern, the people below might grow careless too.
Consort Yi naturally wouldn’t say any of this outright to Dan Qing, but Noble Lady Guo was someone who didn’t care about such things, and had often muttered in Dan Qing’s ear about how the midwife the Imperial Household Department had sent her wasn’t to her liking and the like, so Dan Qing had roughly worked out Consort Yi’s intention in deliberately letting her out to find Kangxi.
She was a princess, Kangxi’s youngest daughter at present, whatever she did, Kangxi wouldn’t hold it against her.
And her real mission was to go show her face in front of Kangxi, to remind him that there were two pregnant women in Yikun Palace who would soon give birth.
In fact, this suited Dan Qing’s own purposes just as well.
Kangxi had far too many children, and she was only a Noble Lady’s daughter, if she wanted to live well, clinging to Consort Yi’s coattails alone wouldn’t be enough. She needed to leave a deep impression on her own father.
Right, not a good impression, but a very deep one, an impression unlike any of the other princesses.
Because there were far too many gentle, beautiful, virtuous, kind women in this palace already, by the palace maids’ accounts, her three older sisters were all this kind of good girl, and if she copied them too, she would simply fade into the crowd, with no chance at all of catching Kangxi’s eye.
So she decided to gamble.
She was only a small little girl right now anyway, even if she acted a bit outrageously, it shouldn’t cause any serious trouble.
After leaving Yikun Palace, Dan Qing pumped her short little legs and headed south toward the Imperial Garden.
Although Kangxi should have been at Qianqing Palace, the guard around Qianqing Palace was tight, and given her current standing, “accidentally” running into him there was impossible.
Ever since she’d had the idea of seeing Kangxi, she had spent many days studying the matter and learned that lately Kangxi went every day to rest at midday at Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya’s Jingren Palace, then returned to Qianqing Palace in the afternoon to review memorials, so she figured the best place to “accidentally” run into Kangxi would be the covered walkway between Jingren Palace and Qianqing Palace.
When the imperial procession came through, all the servants in the walkway would kneel and clear the way, and at that point, as long as she made a bit of a scene, she was sure to catch Kangxi’s attention.
The plan made sense, but she had overestimated her own short little legs.
In the past, whenever she went to the Imperial Garden to play with Consort Yi, palace attendants had always carried her, so she’d never needed to walk more than a few steps herself. Now, relying entirely on her own two legs, she finally remembered just how vast the Forbidden City was—
Just walking from Yikun Palace to the Imperial Garden left her so exhausted she wanted to sit down and stick out her tongue panting.
She’d been careless, but she was already out here, wouldn’t it be a shame to give up halfway?
Dan Qing crouched down on the ground and began looking around.
She spotted a figure lurking not far behind her, and knew it must be someone Consort Yi had sent to secretly follow her, so she waved a hand at them, but the person immediately vanished into hiding with a swish.
Dan Qing was so annoyed she wanted to roll her eyes.
How could Consort Yi have sent such a stubbornly literal-minded person to follow her?
She’d already made it so obvious she couldn’t walk any further, and yet he still hid!
Dan Qing pouted and simply plopped herself down on the ground.
Forget princess decorum, right now she needed a good rest, or at the very least, enough energy to walk all the way back to Yikun Palace!
After scheming for so long and finally working up the courage to act, only to have her plan fail before it even truly began, Dan Qing couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected.
She sat there catching her breath for a while, and seeing no one approaching, tilted her head back to look at the sky.
She’d always heard that the square patch of sky within the palace walls felt especially oppressive, but in fact, in this era before industrialization, the sky actually looked far bluer than in the world she’d come from.
Dan Qing loved looking at blue skies.
Back before, whenever she had time off, she would run out to the countryside or even mountain villages to stay for a few days, all just to properly look at blue skies and white clouds, and a night sky with no glare, only stars and moon.
Staring too long at the deep blue sky made her a little dizzy, but Dan Qing still hadn’t had enough of it, so she simply lay down, letting herself face the sky head-on.
When there was nothing else in her field of vision, only the vast sky, she felt her whole body relax.
No need to pretend to be a child anymore, no need to guess at anyone else’s intentions, she let herself go completely blank, and even her breathing grew slower and longer.
…
Kangxi did not go to Chengqian Palace for his midday rest today.
Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya’s condition had grown steadily worse. The imperial physicians had exhausted every method and could only barely manage to stop the bleeding, but she had to remain in bed for complete rest.
Even so, this child couldn’t be carried to full term, the physicians said that at most she could hold on for a little over another month before an early birth was inevitable, and the child was very likely to be born weak.
The physicians had put it mildly, but Kangxi understood their meaning: even if this child were somehow carried and delivered, it likely wouldn’t live long, wouldn’t grow up.
And forcibly continuing the pregnancy would do great harm to the mother’s body. For the sake of the future, the best course would be to induce labor early, first securing Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya’s safety, and leave the child entirely to fate.
Kangxi understood the reasoning perfectly well, but faced with a cousin who wanted this child with all her heart, he truly had no way to make her give up.
Never mind, if she never tried, she would never be able to let it go. Better to let her have her one shot.
Kangxi was in a poor mood, and so he walked aimlessly, without any destination.
Attendants ahead cleared the way, so that no idle bystanders would disturb his peace.
The chief eunuch Liang Jiugong led the way carefully up front, keeping the distracted Kangxi from stepping on any uneven ground. Just as they rounded an ancient pine tree, he suddenly caught sight of something white lying in the middle of the path not far ahead.
At first glance, he thought it was the Grand Empress Dowager’s big dog that had gotten loose, but looking more closely, he confirmed it was actually a small child.
Liang Jiugong’s odd behavior drew Kangxi’s attention, and when he came back to himself and looked ahead as well, he was somewhat startled, then raised his foot and kicked Liang Jiugong, scolding him, “What are you standing around for? Go check on her at once!”
Only then did Liang Jiugong react, trotting forward quickly, just in time to see the little girl lying on the ground yawn in boredom.
“Oh, my little ancestor, how did you end up lying here all by yourself?”
There were only four princesses in the whole palace, and the first three were all grown already, so this small a child could only be the Fourth Princess from Yikun Palace.
“Did you fall? May this servant carry you up?”
This truly was a golden branch of jade leaf, and Liang Jiugong dared not touch her carelessly, asking in a gentle, coaxing tone.
Dan Qing had also waited quite a long time for someone who could carry her back, so she nodded at once, spreading her arms toward Liang Jiugong and saying sweetly, “Can you take me back to Yikun Palace?”
She’d delayed so long that Kangxi had probably already returned to Qianqing Palace by now, going after him now would be pointless, better to go back first and think of another plan.
Liang Jiugong gently lifted Dan Qing up from the ground, letting her hold onto his shoulder while he brushed the blades of grass off the hem of her skirt.
Dan Qing looked back, and only then noticed a man in a dragon robe walking this way.
Wait, a dragon robe?
It was Kangxi!
Dan Qing’s eyes went wide with delight at once, and she especially wanted to ask, was this the legendary transmigration buff?
She’d planned to intercept Kangxi and the plan had failed, but here he was, delivering himself right to her door!
“Han Ama!”
Dan Qing waved her hand happily and vigorously, feeling her fighting spirit renewed all at once.
Kangxi looked at the little girl, still not even as tall as his leg, her fuzzy head of hair looking like a little dumpling fresh from the pot, and couldn’t help the corners of his mouth curling up.
This was his Fourth Princess, wasn’t it?
It had been so long since he’d seen her, and she really had grown taller, her temperament much more cheerful than before, bold enough to call out loudly to him, no longer afraid of him.
Consort Yi’s good nature really did suit raising children.
“Dan Qing, why did you run off here all by yourself?”
Kangxi walked up close, bent down and stroked his daughter’s fuzzy hair, asking with a smile.
Dan Qing thought about it, then simply spoke with childish innocence, “I came to find Han Ama!”
Kangxi was startled for a moment, his first thought being that Consort Yi wanted to use the princess to compete for favor.
He felt a bit displeased, but only frowned slightly, calculating in his mind that Consort Yi and Imperial Noble Consort Tongiya were roughly the same number of months along, and perhaps, seeing that he hadn’t visited, she had grown a little anxious.
“Dan Qing, did Consort Yi send you here? Then go back and tell her that Han Ama will come see her in a couple of days, all right?”
His daughter was still young, so Kangxi naturally wouldn’t blame her for such a thing, and coaxed her gently.
Who would have thought that Dan Qing shook her head, then nodded.
“Consort Yi didn’t send me, but I can pass along a message for Han Ama,”
Dan Qing felt she shouldn’t undermine her own backer, so she explained a sentence on Consort Yi’s behalf, then finally stated her real purpose, “Han Ama, I came to find you because I have something to ask—”
The little girl’s soft trailing voice deepened Kangxi’s smile, and he simply had his daughter wrap her arms around his neck and lifted her right up, then turned and walked toward Yikun Palace.
Never mind, no time like the present. Since it wasn’t Consort Yi’s doing, then he’d been suspecting her unfairly, and he’d go see her now while he was at it.
As he walked, he kept talking to Dan Qing. “What did you want to ask Han Ama?”
Dan Qing smiled with “pure innocence.” “Han Ama, when I grow up, are you going to throw me out onto the grasslands to feed wolves?”
Kangxi’s foot faltered, if Liang Jiugong hadn’t snapped to attention and caught him, he nearly would have flung the little daughter in his arms right out.
“What feeding wolves? Who told you this?”
Kangxi simply couldn’t believe it.
His daughter was only four years old, four!
Which heartless person dared say such a thing to her?
Truly deserving of death for such a remark!
Dan Qing held tight to Kangxi to steady herself, then blinked in confusion. “Mother said it. She said princesses all have to go feed wolves on the grasslands when they grow up. Han Ama, is feeding wolves fun?”
Sorry, dear mother, but this blame is yours alone to bear, since you really did say it yourself, and so many palace maids heard it too.
Anyway, you’re about to give birth, so Kangxi can’t do anything to you either way.
“Noble Lady Guo—”
Kangxi ground his teeth, but he couldn’t very well speak ill of her birth mother in front of his daughter, so he could only swallow his anger and coax her. “She was teasing you. Feeding wolves isn’t fun at all.”
His daughter was too young to understand, but how could he possibly fail to understand what Noble Lady Guo was really saying?
Manchu-Mongol intermarriage was an old custom, if he didn’t want Mongol consorts, then he couldn’t avoid sending princesses to marry there instead. The little daughter in his arms, too, would have to marry off to the grasslands once she grew up.
But this was a political marriage, how could it be called “feeding wolves”?
His daughter, even married far away, would never be bullied by anyone!
“Really not fun at all?”
Dan Qing’s tone sounded very disappointed. “I was hoping to grow up quickly so I could go feed wolves soon.”
The little girl’s innocent, naive words made Kangxi laugh despite himself. “You don’t even know what feeding wolves means, and you still want to go early?”
Dan Qing said as though it were obvious, “Of course I know. Isn’t it just like feeding Consort Yi’s cat? I give it food and drink, play with it, and then it’ll get close to me, and listen to me.”
Kangxi came to a complete stop, looking at his daughter with a gaze full of shock.
Childish words though they were, thinking it over, wasn’t that exactly the principle at work?
“And what if it eats and drinks what you give it, but still won’t get close to you, still won’t listen to you?”
Kangxi asked further.
Dan Qing waved her little steamed-bun-like fist. “Then I just won’t give it food and drink anymore, and once it’s hungry, it’ll naturally come begging me for it, all obedient.”
Kangxi: …
So, had he wronged Noble Lady Guo after all?
This wasn’t telling his daughter to go feed wolves at all, it was clearly telling her to go tame wolves!