Dan Qing didn’t expect that her unreliable father would really just leave her there in Cining Palace like that, after finishing dinner he simply flicked his sleeves and went back to see his own dear Imperial Noble Consort.
“Knowing something can’t be done, and yet still insisting on it, that Tongiya girl has always been stubborn, and His Majesty indulges her willfulness too.”
After Kangxi left, the Grand Empress Dowager sighed at length.
Dan Qing didn’t quite understand, and simply stared at her with a pair of bright, wide eyes.
“Our Fourth Princess mustn’t be like that in the future,”
The Grand Empress Dowager pinched her little great-granddaughter’s plump cheek. “In this life, sometimes you simply have to accept your fate, don’t force what isn’t meant to be yours, or you’ll only be the one who suffers for it.”
Dan Qing grew even more confused.
“Talking to the Fourth Princess about this, how could she possibly understand,”
Sumalagu, who had personally gone to see Kangxi off, came back with a girl of about ten trailing behind her. “This is He Miao, assigned over by the Imperial Household Department last year. She’s young, but she’s steady.”
He Miao stepped forward calmly and knelt to pay her respects.
Dan Qing craned her neck curiously to look, only noticing that though her features were fine and clear, not quite a beauty, there was a certain quality to her that put people at ease.
“She looks like a tidy, well brought-up child,”
The Grand Empress Dowager nodded. “From now on, you’ll follow the Fourth Princess. Remember, you’re to protect her well.”
So she was to be a maid assigned to her?
Dan Qing was rather surprised.
As a princess, she naturally had servants attending her, two wet nurses, two maids for sweeping and cleaning, and one young eunuch to run errands. During the New Year, when she’d been “ill,” one of the wet nurses had been driven out of the palace, and the other, Madam Sun, now served Noble Lady Guo instead.
The sweeping maids and the young eunuch were nominally hers, but in practice they were also ordered about by Noble Lady Guo, so there wasn’t a single servant truly dedicated to attending her alone.
Dan Qing hadn’t actually thought this was a bad thing, if anything she felt it was more relaxing this way, so she’d never once raised an objection about it.
She didn’t expect that the Grand Empress Dowager, upon their very first meeting, would already assign her a maid.
Was this because she disapproved of her running off to the Imperial Garden to intercept Kangxi today?
Dan Qing wasn’t quite sure what the Grand Empress Dowager meant by this, and felt a little uneasy, so she didn’t offer her thanks right away.
“What’s wrong with our Fourth Princess?”
Sumalagu came over and crouched down, gently holding Dan Qing’s hand. “Don’t you like this maid?”
Dan Qing shook her head and said softly, “I like her.”
He Miao didn’t look very old, but her conduct was measured and quite proper, no worse at all than Consort Yi’s own chief maid.
“If you like her, then keep her, there’s nothing else to think about,”
The Grand Empress Dowager also stroked Dan Qing’s head. “Consort Yi and your mother are both pregnant, so it’s only natural they can’t always attend to you. Since your Han Ama has sent you to Cining Palace, just settle in comfortably here. There’s also an elder sister here, she’s gone home for a while to see her mother, but when she comes back, have her play with you.”
Dan Qing nodded, understanding that the elder sister the Grand Empress Dowager meant was the Eldest Princess, originally the daughter of Prince Gong Changning, adopted by Kangxi, who had always lived in Cining Palace.
“Thank you, old ancestress.”
Dan Qing offered her thanks in a soft, gentle voice.
She didn’t know why, but while she could act coy and sweet with Kangxi, in front of the Grand Empress Dowager she always felt a certain wariness instead.
The Grand Empress Dowager had a pair of eyes that seemed able to see right through a person, as though they could see through her very body, all the way to the soul within that didn’t belong to this era.
“Don’t be so anxious, old ancestress, it’s only natural for the Fourth Princess to be a little shy on her first visit here to Cining Palace,”
Sumalagu comforted her gently. “Once she’s settled in, there will be plenty of times she gives you headaches.”
The Grand Empress Dowager naturally wouldn’t press the little girl either, and had Sumalagu take Dan Qing to settle into the side chamber first.
Before long, Sumalagu came back again.
“Rest easy, old ancestress, this servant checked carefully, the Fourth Princess is perfectly fine, only—”
She hesitated slightly, but still spoke plainly. “Only, the fabric of her outer clothes is quite fine, but her underclothes are somewhat worn, and a bit too small for her as well.”
“The people in this palace are always best at putting on a good show, poor child,”
The Grand Empress Dowager fingered the prayer beads in her hand. “Send some things over to Yikun Palace, and tell Consort Yi that the imperial heirs come first, and that she should take good care of her pregnancy from now on.”
The Grand Empress Dowager had never for a moment believed that a princess not yet even five years old could have run off to the Imperial Garden entirely on her own.
Whatever nonsense about being sent to feed wolves on the grasslands in the future, it was clearly just some small scheme by someone deliberately using the Fourth Princess to lure Kangxi over.
Noble Lady Guo had never been much favored and her rank was low, so she certainly wouldn’t dare do such a thing, which made it quite clear whose doing this was.
At her age, the Grand Empress Dowager had long since stopped caring about the petty affairs of the harem, if the women of the palace wanted to use some scheme or another to win the Emperor’s favor, so long as it didn’t harm anyone else, she wouldn’t interfere.
But she couldn’t bear to see a consort use a prince or princess to compete for favor, and worse still, having used the princess, only bother with putting on appearances, not to mention that the princess had no one properly attending her, she hadn’t even been given a single decent set of underclothes.
As unwilling as she was to involve herself in such matters normally, today she would have to step in.
Dan Qing naturally had no idea that the Grand Empress Dowager was standing up for her. She changed into a set of underclothes Sumalagu had found for her, looking around curiously.
“This used to be the Eldest Princess’s residence when she was young. After the Eldest Princess moved to Xisansuo, it’s been left empty ever since,”
He Miao brought over hot water for Dan Qing to wash her feet. “This nightgown you’re wearing was also made for the Eldest Princess before, though it was never actually worn. Grandmother Su said you should just make do with it for one night, and tomorrow they’ll have new ones made for you.”
Dan Qing tugged at the sleeve of the nightgown, the little flowers embroidered on the cuff were vividly bright, not showing the slightest sign of being an old garment.
It was better than any of her previous nightgowns.
From what the Grand Empress Dowager had said, it sounded like she meant to keep her here in Cining Palace to be raised, though she didn’t know how long she might stay, to her this was an opportunity she could never have asked for.
Since the princesses of the Great Qing couldn’t escape the fate of political marriage in the future anyway, she should fight for a good outcome for herself.
The Grand Empress Dowager’s own natal family seemed to be quite good, she should find a way to hold tight to the Grand Empress Dowager’s coattails.
“He Miao, I want to go find the old ancestress.”
Dan Qing had He Miao dry the water off her feet, then shuffled off in her slippers toward the Grand Empress Dowager’s bedchamber.
The Grand Empress Dowager had just let down her hair and gotten into bed, not yet lying down, when she saw a little dumpling of a girl dash in and scramble straight under her covers in a flash.
“Oh my, quick, stick your head out, aren’t you afraid of stuffiness,”
The Grand Empress Dowager patted the little girl through the blanket, amused. “What’s this about? Is the side chamber not comfortable?”
Dan Qing poked her little head out from under the covers, blinking her big eyes at the Grand Empress Dowager, and said in a soft, sweet voice, “Old ancestress, can I sleep with you?”
Sumalagu came over to add a pillow for Dan Qing, laughing, “It’s probably that the Fourth Princess isn’t used to being alone in the side chamber.”
Dan Qing nodded hard in agreement.
The Grand Empress Dowager had her lie down properly on the pillow, then said, “You can sleep with me if you like, just don’t regret it.”
Why would she regret it?
Dan Qing blinked in confusion, but the Grand Empress Dowager had already covered her mouth.
“Sleep now. If you can’t sleep in the night, just go back on your own.”
…
The next day, after morning court had ended, Kangxi came again to pay his respects to the Grand Empress Dowager, and looked around but didn’t see the little daughter he’d brought over the day before.
“Don’t bother looking, she’s still not up,”
The Grand Empress Dowager’s eyes were full of smiles. “She insisted on sleeping with me last night, and wouldn’t agree to go back on her own even when she couldn’t sleep. Her eyes had dark circles under them by morning, after breakfast I had someone coax her back to sleep again.”
Kangxi: …snort.
His poor little daughter had surely had no idea that the Grand Empress Dowager’s snoring shook the heavens.
Even the Eldest Princess couldn’t stand it and had moved out to Xisansuo, and yet Dan Qing had actually dared to sleep with the Grand Empress Dowager, truly, ignorance breeds fearlessness.
“Dan Qing just wanted to be close to you,”
Kangxi held back his laughter and made an excuse for his own daughter. “A child has to suffer a little to grow up, she’ll understand better after this.”
Grandmother and grandson then went on to discuss the several consorts in the palace awaiting childbirth.
“You’ve long since made preparations for the Imperial Noble Consort, that’s fine, but is Yikun Palace properly arranged?”
The Grand Empress Dowager asked. “Noble Lady Guo is at a disadvantage in rank, but she should still receive what’s due to her. I’ve noticed the Fourth Princess seems to be lacking in this and that, don’t let the child in her belly suffer for it either.”
Kangxi nodded. “Rest easy, Grandmother, your grandson already reminded Consort Yi about this yesterday.”
“They may be sisters by blood, but once they entered the palace, they’re both your consorts, how does it make sense to have one pregnant consort look after another pregnant consort?”
The Grand Empress Dowager didn’t agree. “I know you trust Consort Yi, but you must also think more of her situation.”
Kangxi knew that the Grand Empress Dowager had already sent someone to warn Consort Yi the night before, and privately felt Consort Yi was somewhat wronged by this, if he now went along with the Grand Empress Dowager’s wish to have Noble Lady Guo move out of Yikun Palace, he would feel rather reluctant about it.
Consort Yi might not care much about the child in Noble Lady Guo’s belly, but she was someone who cared a great deal about appearances, she was already seven months pregnant, and if her feelings grew too unsettled and something else went wrong, that wouldn’t be good either.
“Noble Lady Guo is due to give birth next month, so it’s not convenient to move her now, and besides, I’ve already had someone from the Gorolo family come into the palace to attend the birth, she’ll feel more at ease staying in Yikun Palace,”
Kangxi still did not agree. “Either way, with the Fourth Princess now living in Cining Palace, there should be more room in her quarters as well, let’s wait until she’s out of confinement before discussing anything else.”
The Grand Empress Dowager turned her prayer beads in her hand, but said nothing more, only telling Kangxi not to forget to look after the equally pregnant Noble Consort Niohuru and Consort De as well, before letting him go.
After Kangxi left, Sumalagu asked, “This servant gathers from His Majesty’s tone that he doesn’t want the Fourth Princess to go back?”
The Grand Empress Dowager closed her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious, he wants to trade his daughter for peace of mind.”
“This servant can see that you’re rather fond of the Fourth Princess yourself, why not just go along with His Majesty on this,”
Sumalagu urged. “The Empress Dowager is raising the Fifth Prince, and you’ll be raising the Fourth Princess, no one can say anything about that.”
The Grand Empress Dowager sighed. “It’s just that it’s a shame for the Fourth Princess. Every other princess can stay with her own birth mother, and yet she alone has to make room for a younger sibling not even born yet. I can see she’s the type who bears things in silence, no matter what hardship she faces, she just swallows it down.”
“Then dote on her all the more,”
Sumalagu said with a smile. “This child, whoever raises her, she’ll grow close to. If you love her this much, she’ll surely love you in return one day.”