Consort Yi had let Dan Qing out with the idea of luring Kangxi over, but in truth she hadn’t really held out much hope.
After all, Dan Qing was only a princess born of a Noble Lady, who had never been given much regard by Kangxi before, nine times out of ten, she wouldn’t even make it into Qianqing Palace.
So she had only sent someone to follow at a distance, instructing them that if it didn’t work out, they were to bring the child safely back.
Who would have thought that Dan Qing had actually succeeded in luring Kangxi over, and had even been carried back personally by Kangxi himself.
“Why has Your Majesty come so suddenly, this concubine has been remiss.”
Seeing Kangxi enter the room, Consort Yi hurried to get down from the couch, calling for Liu Ya to put her shoes on for her.
“Don’t trouble yourself, just sit properly,”
Kangxi stopped her. “Your belly’s so big now, you must be careful. Never mind the formalities.”
As he spoke, he set the little daughter in his arms down on the couch as well.
“We found this little thing in the Imperial Garden, and thought we’d bring her back along the way, and see how you’re doing.”
Consort Yi gave a coquettish smile, though heavy with child, she looked all the more full-figured and charming for it.
“This concubine is well, and the child in her belly is well-behaved too,”
Consort Yi reached out on her own to pull Kangxi down to sit. “Dan Qing is well-behaved, always keeping me company. Today it must have been too stifling for her, so she ran off to play.”
She deliberately winked at Kangxi. “Your Majesty need not worry, this concubine had someone following her the whole time.”
Hearing this, Kangxi laughed as well. “You’ve always been so thoughtful, you’ve raised Dan Qing beautifully.”
Seeing the two of them about to lean in close together, Dan Qing hurriedly turned her back and reached her hands out toward Liu Ya.
Liu Ya immediately came forward to carry Dan Qing up, then led the palace maids in the room out together.
“Fourth Princess, you’ve done a great service today!”
Liu Ya was overjoyed. “Tonight this servant will braid you a new cord to play with, how about it? We’ll do that double-fish kind you wanted before.”
Dan Qing nodded, then pointed a hand toward the rear courtyard. “I want to go back.”
Liu Ya, still delighted, didn’t hand her off to anyone else, personally carrying Dan Qing all the way to the doorway of the rear hall before setting her down, then crouching to instruct her, “Fourth Princess, stay with the little mistress for now today. Once His Majesty leaves, this servant will come fetch you.”
Dan Qing understood, this was to keep her from suddenly running to the front and interrupting Consort Yi and Kangxi’s long-awaited reunion.
Dan Qing didn’t say anything more, only nodded, then went into the room.
Noble Lady Guo was sprawled on a reclining chair, having her chief maid Liu Ye massage her legs, and didn’t even open her eyes when she heard Dan Qing come in, only saying mockingly, “Oh, our most impressive Fourth Princess is back? You really are Consort Yi’s good daughter, having the ability to lure His Majesty over for her.”
It was as if she had completely forgotten that she herself had just told Dan Qing to go find Kangxi and ask him a question.
Dan Qing knew that this was simply Noble Lady Guo being jealous and helpless about it, only able to vent with a few sour remarks.
She didn’t get angry either, only said, “Liu Ye, comb Mother’s hair for her.”
Consort Yi was born delicate and charming, though seven months pregnant, only her belly had grown round while her face hadn’t, and her hair falling loose actually added to her charm, naturally delighting Kangxi.
But Noble Lady Guo had only ever been passably pretty to begin with, and after this pregnancy she’d taken to nourishing herself heavily and had grown much heavier, her face swollen too, if she still went about with her hair undone, she might well draw Kangxi’s disdain.
Nothing else could be changed, but at the very least she should be tidied up properly, so as not to give anyone anything to pick at.
Noble Lady Guo still wouldn’t get up. “His Majesty isn’t here to see me, why should I comb my hair? Since you’ve been chased out by her, go find somewhere else to play, don’t stay here affecting my pregnancy rest.”
If this weren’t her own birth mother, Dan Qing certainly wouldn’t have stayed to endure such treatment.
But she was, after all, occupying this daughter’s body, so she owed her something in return.
“Han Ama might not come, but what if he does? Mother, are you really planning to let him see you looking like this?”
Dan Qing patiently urged, “Even if this pregnancy of yours is a prince, won’t you still have to rely on Han Ama to raise him? Do you want him to end up disliked by Han Ama because of you, having as hard a time even seeing Han Ama as I do?”
The moment the little prince in her belly was mentioned, Noble Lady Guo immediately sat up and told Liu Ye to fetch a comb to do her hair.
Dan Qing lowered her eyes to hide the disappointment in them.
That was how this era was, a “prince” who wasn’t even born yet still mattered far more than her, the actual princess standing right in front of her.
She actually hoped Noble Lady Guo would get her wish of a son this time, if only to spare herself further trouble down the road.
They waited for over an hour, and there was still no movement from the front, only seeing Liu Ya instructing the palace maids to have the meal served.
Noble Lady Guo finally lost her patience, reaching up to pull the hairpin from her hair, complaining, “I said His Majesty wasn’t going to come. You just had to make me get dressed up, is it because I scolded you a few words that you’re deliberately trying to torment me now? Look at how obedient the Second and Third Princesses are, no princess is like you, so full of scheming, just like that woman up front!”
As she spoke, she called Liu Ye over to take off her shoes for her. Liu Ye had just crouched down when Dan Qing, keeping watch at the door, spotted a flash of yellow coming around the corner up ahead and hurried to stop her, “Don’t take them off, Han Ama is coming this way!”
Noble Lady Guo was startled and grew flustered again. She had just put the hairpin she’d pulled out back in when Kangxi arrived at the door.
“Han Ama!”
Dan Qing reached out toward Kangxi with a smile, and Kangxi bent down and lifted his little daughter right up, letting her sit on his arm.
Noble Lady Guo, supported by Liu Ye, came forward and crouched down to pay her respects. After she had finished, Kangxi spoke, “Get up, your body is heavy, be careful.”
He looked her over a few times, and seeing that although her large belly made moving difficult, she was still neatly and properly dressed, not letting herself grow slack just because she was pregnant, he felt rather satisfied in his heart.
Once Kangxi was satisfied, he was naturally willing to sit a while longer, casually asking after the preparations for the birth, and instructing Liang Jiugong to have the Imperial Household Department make careful arrangements.
“Consort Yi mentioned earlier that she’d like the Gorolo family’s aunt who married into the capital to come into the palace to attend the birth. We thought, since the two of you are sisters after all, there’s no need to trouble two people for one matter,”
Kangxi wasn’t discussing this with Noble Lady Guo, only informing her of it in passing. “Have her look after you both together when the time comes. She can stay in the west wing, so it’s convenient to move between the front and back courtyards.”
Noble Lady Guo didn’t dare act willful in front of Kangxi, of course, and agreed to whatever he said.
“All right, we only came today to see how you’re doing. Since the pregnancy looks fine, we can rest easy,”
Kangxi stood up as he finished speaking. “We’re going to Cining Palace to have dinner with our imperial grandmother. We’ll come see you again when we have time.”
That was what he said, but by the time he next “had time,” it would likely be after Noble Lady Guo had already given birth.
Noble Lady Guo naturally didn’t dare try to stop him from leaving, thanking him for his grace in a meek, submissive tone, and having Liu Ye help her see him off at the door.
Dan Qing walked alongside on her short little legs too, wondering to herself how well today’s little scheme of “accidentally” running into him in the Imperial Garden had actually worked out, when suddenly her feet left the ground, startling her into a little yelp.
Kangxi deliberately bounced the daughter in his arms up and down, and after getting an adorable pouting glare from his little daughter in response, burst out laughing. “This little thing has quite the temper, daring to glare at us?”
Laughing as he spoke, he carried Dan Qing straight out the door, leaving behind only one parting line: “Noble Lady Guo, we’re borrowing the Fourth Princess for now, taking her to play with her great-grandmother for a few days!”
Noble Lady Guo: “If the Grand Empress Dowager likes her, she’s welcome to play with her as long as she likes!”
Dan Qing: …
Was this really her birth mother?
Was Consort Yi really not the one who’d swapped the child?
…
It was a rather sad thing to say, but having been here for several months, Dan Qing had not only never seen Kangxi, she’d also never seen the legendary Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.
But today, of all days, she’d managed to meet them both at once.
The Grand Empress Dowager was already seventy years old this year, her face round and dignified, the very image of someone blessed with the fortune to bring peace and prosperity to a nation.
Dan Qing, led by Kangxi, obediently knelt and kowtowed to the Grand Empress Dowager, who smiled and called her closer, taking a piece of milk curd candy for her to eat.
“The Fourth Princess was ill during the New Year, so we didn’t get to see her, the old ancestress has been fretting about it the whole time,”
Sumalagu personally brought over some steaming hot milk tea for Dan Qing to drink with the candy. “This servant sees that the Fourth Princess looks very well now, so the old ancestress can finally rest easy.”
“That one, she’s a right little monkey,”
Kangxi’s tone carried a note of fondness. “Do you know where your grandson found her today? She’d run off all by herself to the Imperial Garden and lay down on the ground to sleep. When we asked her about it, she leaned right into us and said she’d come looking for us!”
The Grand Empress Dowager laughed heartily. “That’s just like you when you were little, you loved hiding in the rockeries to sleep. The servants couldn’t find you and came to me in a panic, so I told them to look specifically in the gaps and crevices, and every time, they found you without fail.”
Sumalagu chimed in, “Indeed, this servant remembers one time when they searched until it was pitch dark, this servant was so anxious tears were falling, and it turned out Your Majesty was lying flat on the rockery right above this servant’s head, not making a sound, just watching this servant fret.”
Having his embarrassing past exposed, Kangxi coughed awkwardly a couple of times.
“And what did he say when they finally found him?”
The Grand Empress Dowager asked.
Sumalagu laughed until her face crinkled up like a chrysanthemum. “Your Majesty said the late Emperor had appeared to him in a dream and told him to go hide in the rockery, which made you so angry you chased him all over Cining Palace with a feather duster.”
The Grand Empress Dowager laughed even harder. “See, isn’t that just like him? Did something naughty and wouldn’t admit it, and had to go blame it on his own father instead!”
Perhaps used to this relaxed way the Grand Empress Dowager and Kangxi interacted as grandmother and grandson, the palace maids in Cining Palace weren’t so restrained either, and joined in with quiet laughter.
Kangxi couldn’t help complaining, “Imperial Grandmother, your grandson is a grown man now, and you still keep bringing up that embarrassing little thing from my childhood, and saying it right in front of Dan Qing too, where does that leave your grandson’s face as her father!”
The Grand Empress Dowager shook her head, still smiling. “No matter how old you are, in front of me, you’re still a little monkey. Isn’t that right, Fourth Princess?”
Dan Qing, having underestimated the power of the milk curd candy and now struggling to chew a mouthful of it: …
“This girl, what’s the rush, no one’s fighting you for it,”
The Grand Empress Dowager’s eyes were full of affection as she reached out and pinched Dan Qing’s round little cheek. “Are you hungry? We don’t even know what you like to eat, Sumalagu, ask the attendants and order a few dishes the Fourth Princess likes.”
Sumalagu glanced around, and seeing that the attendants waiting by the door were all familiar faces, she understood the situation at once, but didn’t say so outright, only saying, “This servant will go make it herself. What Your Majesty liked to eat as a child, the Fourth Princess will probably like too.”
The Grand Empress Dowager nodded, then looked toward Kangxi. “Your Majesty is busy with state affairs, and now that the Imperial Noble Consort and the Noble Consort are both pregnant, they don’t have the energy to manage minor matters, you’d best find someone reliable to take charge for the time being.”
Kangxi hadn’t thought much of it at first, but now it occurred to him that Dan Qing really had had no one properly assigned to her, and he couldn’t help but frown.
Two consorts in Yikun Palace, one her own birth mother, one her own maternal aunt, and yet they couldn’t even take proper care of one princess?
If he hadn’t happened to come across her today, Dan Qing would have just lain there on the cold ground of the Imperial Garden, what if she’d fallen ill!
“Imperial Grandmother speaks quite rightly. This year there are many high-ranking consorts pregnant in the palace, so palace affairs have inevitably grown a bit lax. Why don’t we let Consort Hui take charge for now.”
Kangxi considered.
Consort Hui was the birth mother of the First Prince Yinzhi, and also the most senior-ranking consort in the palace. Kangxi trusted her well enough.
Who would have thought the Grand Empress Dowager gave no clear answer. “Consort Hui is capable, but she alone might find it too exhausting.”
Kangxi understood. “Then let’s have Consort Rong manage it together with her. They’ve known each other for years and work well together, so they should surely manage it well.”
Only then did the Grand Empress Dowager nod, stroking Dan Qing’s fuzzy hair as she said, “This one seems affectionate to me, let her stay with me here in Cining Palace for a few days.”
Dan Qing, having finally managed to swallow the milk curd candy: ?
What had just happened?
She had the distinct feeling that Kangxi seemed to have just made some kind of deal involving her with the Grand Empress Dowager, but she couldn’t see through what exactly it meant.