Dan Qing slept in a daze for a long time, and when she opened her eyes again, her whole mind was still foggy.
She never would have imagined that the Grand Empress Dowager’s snoring could have such power, but the night before, she’d been afraid that if she really slipped away it would upset the Grand Empress Dowager, so she’d forced herself to hold on until dawn, not sleeping a wink the entire night.
It really was true that trying to please an elder was no easy task for just anyone, the single hurdle of snoring while sleeping had already been enough to eliminate her.
Feeling as though her mission had already failed, Dan Qing listlessly let He Miao dress her and braid her a simple little plait, then was led off to the Grand Empress Dowager’s room.
The Grand Empress Dowager was looking over fabric with Sumalagu, with palace maids laying out bolts of cloth on the low table, removing one batch after they’d been looked over, then bringing in new ones.
“Garu is awake?”
The Grand Empress Dowager waved warmly at Dan Qing. “Come see if there’s anything you like.”
This was the first time Dan Qing had been called by her formal name, and she froze for a moment, not quite reacting.
Both Consort Yi and Noble Lady Guo were willing to call her by her childhood name, and Kangxi did too, the Grand Empress Dowager had called her “Fourth Princess” all day yesterday, so why the sudden change today?
“Why are you standing there frozen? Our Fourth Princess doesn’t not know her own name, does she?”
The Grand Empress Dowager pulled Dan Qing into her lap, sounding out the Manchu pronunciation of Garu for her one syllable at a time, “Ga——ru——, our Fourth Princess is a little swan.”
So her name meant swan.
Dan Qing suddenly felt that this slightly awkward-sounding name was actually quite lovely. A swan was such a fine thing to be, free and unrestrained.
“Once you’ve settled in properly these next few days, we’ll have your Grandmother Su teach you our Manchu and Mongolian languages, your Han Ama learned from her too when he was small,”
Since Kangxi had made it clear he wanted her to raise Dan Qing, the Grand Empress Dowager felt a greater sense of responsibility toward her now, not only should she dote on her, but educate her properly too. “What else does Garu want to learn? Reading and writing, or riding and archery?”
Dan Qing was rather surprised, but also felt this was how things ought to be.
Back at Yikun Palace, whenever there was nothing else to do, Noble Lady Guo had the wet nurses teach her things like brewing tea and embroidery, never mind that she wasn’t even five years old yet, and had never once considered having her learn to read or write, let alone riding and archery.
But she was a princess, even if she couldn’t escape a political marriage in the future, she was still a princess of the Great Qing, and it shouldn’t have fallen to her to brew tea or sew clothes.
So what was the point of learning those things?
Yet Noble Lady Guo always kept muttering that the Second Princess could already embroider handkerchiefs herself, and the Third Princess brewed tea just as well as the palace maids did, that a princess like that would surely have a good future.
Dan Qing had never understood why her mother thought this way, it was part of why she’d had to gamble on going to find Kangxi in the first place—
She didn’t want to be raised into some woman who only knew how to serve men in the inner chambers. Since she was already a princess of the Great Qing, she wanted to live the way a princess truly should.
Such as reading and knowing characters like the princes did, riding and shooting, so that once she went to the grasslands in the future, she too could hunt with hawk and hound, riding freely wherever she pleased.
“Can I learn all of it?”
Dan Qing looked at the Grand Empress Dowager with bright, expectant eyes.
And the Grand Empress Dowager didn’t disappoint her little great-granddaughter, nodding with a smile. “Of course you can. Garu can learn whatever she wants.”
By sending his daughter to be raised by her, Kangxi’s meaning was that this daughter was being given to the Khorchin.
A single Eldest Princess wasn’t enough to appease the Khorchin princes, there had to be a princess who was Kangxi’s own daughter as well.
The Grand Empress Dowager had originally favored Consort Rong’s Second Princess for this, first, because the Second Princess was older, and second, because her birth mother held a higher rank and she had the Third Prince as her own full brother, making her an ideal choice as far as Khorchin was concerned.
But since Kangxi had chosen the Fourth Princess instead, the Grand Empress Dowager had no objection either.
The Fourth Princess had a livelier temperament, and if raised personally by her own hand, she would surely grow to feel more attached to Khorchin in the future.
The Grand Empress Dowager naturally wouldn’t say any of this to Dan Qing, only telling her to pick out her own fabric for new clothes.
Dan Qing didn’t understand which fabrics were finer than others, and simply picked out two bolts in her favorite light purple and light pink, then stopped there.
As a person, one shouldn’t be too greedy.
Choosing only one bolt would seem too modest, but choosing two was just right, close enough without being overly demanding.
“Our Fourth Princess has a fine eye, this bright silk gauze is radiant and elegant, and this pearl satin is light and soft, all the more flattering on someone lively.”
Sumalagu had the rest taken away, leaving only the two bolts Dan Qing had chosen.
Dan Qing looked at her in confusion, clearly having no idea at all what this “bright silk gauze” or “pearl satin” she spoke of actually was.
“Talking to her about this, how could she understand,”
The Grand Empress Dowager laughed. “She just liked the color, that’s all.”
Dan Qing nodded in immediate agreement, feeling that her old ancestress really did understand her.
“Pick out a few more pieces in the colors she likes to make into clothes for her, and also choose some plain, soft fabric for her underclothes and nightgowns,”
The Grand Empress Dowager instructed. “I noticed her shoes are a little too big, have a few pairs made that fit her properly while we’re at it.”
These shoes of Dan Qing’s had been made according to measurements Consort Yi had had someone get from Noble Lady Guo.
Noble Lady Guo, wanting Dan Qing to be able to wear them for a longer stretch of time, had deliberately given a larger size, so the finished shoes were a bit loose on Dan Qing’s feet.
In fact, Dan Qing had never quite understood why Noble Lady Guo was so stingy toward her.
A princess had her own allowance, so her food and clothing didn’t need to be subsidized by Noble Lady Guo at all, and Consort Yi also gave her things now and then, by any reckoning, she had more than enough.
As for Noble Lady Guo herself, though she was only a Noble Lady, the Gorolo family was wealthy, when she and Consort Yi had entered the palace, they’d both brought generous dowries with them, and in terms of jewelry on her dressing table, Noble Lady Guo was no worse off than some of the ranked consorts in the palace.
As for the future, once she gave birth to a prince, there would be a separate allowance for that too, and Kangxi would give an additional subsidy as well, by rights, having a child in the palace was a profitable affair, and there was really no need for a mother to be so frugal and scrimp and save.
Thinking it over, it was probably simply that she didn’t want to spend any money on her.
Dan Qing felt a little unhappy, and unconsciously burrowed into the Grand Empress Dowager’s embrace, lying against her lap.
The Grand Empress Dowager was such a perceptive person that even without Dan Qing saying anything, she could more or less guess why she felt this way.
It was nothing more than the fact that she’d never had so many things before, and no one had ever truly been good to her, so she’d learned to live cautiously, knowing when to advance and when to hold back, at such a young age.
Just now, faced with that whole roomful of fabric in every color, if it had been the Crown Prince choosing, he surely would have taken more than half of it without any hesitation, and even things he had no use for, he wouldn’t have taken any less of.
But Dan Qing, who truly had nothing of her own, had only picked out two bolts and stopped there, sensible enough to break your heart.
Of the two children she was raising, the Eldest Princess, being an adopted daughter, was always cautious and careful, while the Fourth Princess, though a proper golden branch of jade leaf by birth, also lived so pitifully.
“Garu, ah, why don’t you stay here in Cining Palace with me from now on?”
The Grand Empress Dowager gently rocked the little girl. “Let’s keep each other company, the two of us, whatever you want, your old ancestress will give it to you.”
Dan Qing reached out and hugged the Grand Empress Dowager’s waist, nodding hard, and hid the tears that, for some reason, had begun falling.
This was a tremendous stroke of good fortune, why should she be crying?
She had gotten exactly what she wished for. She should be smiling.
And yet her chest felt tight and stifled, as though a soul that wasn’t hers was weeping within it, making her shudder and tremble uncontrollably.
Was it her?
Was it the original Fourth Princess crying?
Dan Qing didn’t know, but she was afraid, if the original Fourth Princess was still there, then what was she supposed to do?
Gradually, the tightness in Dan Qing’s chest spread through her entire body, and amid the trembling, she slowly lost consciousness.
…
When she opened her eyes again, Dan Qing was already back in her side chamber.
Kangxi’s voice came from outside the chamber. “Seeing her lying on the ground yesterday, I was already worried she’d fall ill, and sure enough, she caught a chill? Noble Lady Guo really wasn’t paying attention at all!”
“Enough, with a belly that big, how do you expect her to keep watch over the child?”
The Grand Empress Dowager spoke up. “Still, the servants in Yikun Palace ought to be given a warning. There are two pregnant consorts living there, and this kind of carelessness can’t continue.”
Kangxi nodded. “I’ve already had the whole of Yikun Palace’s staff docked half a month’s wages, and had the servants who were attending the Fourth Princess each given ten strokes of the board, then dismissed.”
Hearing this, Dan Qing’s heart gave a lurch, and she sat straight up.
Her movement immediately startled Kangxi and the Grand Empress Dowager. He Miao pulled back the gauze curtain, and Kangxi came directly to sit at the edge of the bed.
“Come, let Han Ama feel if you’re still warm.”
Kangxi’s large hand pressed against Dan Qing’s forehead, and then he smiled. “It’s fine, not warm at all anymore.”
Then, as punishment, he gave her little nose a pinch. “Let’s see if you dare lie down and sleep on stone paths after this!”
Dan Qing snapped her mouth toward Kangxi’s hand, but Kangxi dodged nimbly out of the way, then flicked her forehead in return. “Just like a little puppy! Still trying to bite people?”
The Grand Empress Dowager didn’t come closer, sitting some distance away on a chair and chiding gently, “She’s only just recovered, don’t you go bullying her!”
Kangxi laughed heartily a couple of times, tousling his daughter’s hair playfully, and seeing the little girl puff up her cheeks and glare with wide eyes, turned to tattle instead, “It’s fine, this girl’s plenty full of energy, she just tried to bite me!”
The Grand Empress Dowager picked up a red date and threw it at Kangxi. “If you didn’t provoke her, would she want to bite you? Behave yourself for once, do you think Garu is that little troublemaker Baocheng, letting you play around with her however you like?”
Kangxi wasn’t offended at all, catching the date and holding it up to tease Dan Qing, asking if she wanted to eat it.
Dan Qing stared fixedly at the date in Kangxi’s hand, making as if to bite it, but her mouth was clearly aimed at Kangxi’s hand instead.
Kangxi pressed a finger against Dan Qing’s forehead, and just as she opened her mouth to protest, stuffed the date right in. Sumalagu hurried over to stop him, “That won’t do, that date hasn’t had the pit removed, Fourth Princess, spit it out quickly!”
Dan Qing shook her head, mumbling as she chewed, “Grandmother Su, I know how to spit out the pit.”
Sumalagu personally fetched a handkerchief and caught the pit Dan Qing spat out, only then feeling reassured.
Kangxi laughed heartily, “Not bad, not bad, better than your second brother, at her age, Baocheng couldn’t even spit out a pit on his own, and once even choked on one!”
The Grand Empress Dowager: …
Sumalagu: …
Dan Qing: …Is that really something to boast about, raising a child this way?!
Just then, a young man came in from outside, saying with some displeasure, “Han Ama, can you please remember something good about me for once?!”