When Danqing returned to the small side hall that had once been hers, her expression was numb. She only asked Hemiao to retrieve a small box she had hidden by her pillow.
This was the place she had lived in ever since arriving in this world. Though small and furnished with somewhat old items, it was uniquely her own—a little nest where she could shut the door, keep everyone out, and privately digest her sorrows and unease.
But from today onward, this place would no longer belong to her.
It would become Noble Lady Guo’s birthing room and later the room for the child in her womb. They were the true family, while she, from beginning to end, was the unwanted one.
“Princess, should we pack your clothes and jewelry as well?”
Seeing Danqing’s unhappiness, Hemiao cautiously inquired.
Danqing shook her head. She only took out a pink tourmaline-inlaid hair comb from the bottom layer of her jewelry box and asked Hemiao to pin it in her hair.
This hair comb was the first gift Consort Yi had given her after she arrived here. Keeping it would serve as a memento. As for the rest, she would leave it all for Noble Lady Guo.
Though her jewelry was not abundant, it was still worth some silver. Noble Lady Guo had often complained that fine things were wasted on her. Now that she was leaving everything behind, Noble Lady Guo should be satisfied.
To help Danqing move, the Grand Empress Dowager had specially sent eight servants along. But when they returned, apart from the small box Hemiao carried in her hands, everyone else was empty-handed.
As she left, Danqing glanced back at the Rear Hall. The door was tightly shut—not even a palace maid came out to see her off, let alone Noble Lady Guo.
She couldn’t tell whether she felt sorrow or numbness, but she didn’t linger any longer and turned to walk away.
Inside the hall, Noble Lady Guo pressed herself against the door, straining to peer through the crack. Her tears had long since soaked the front of her robe.
Liuye, worried she might squeeze her belly, supported her from behind and advised, “If you’re reluctant to part with her, this servant will go catch up to the Princess and tell her you’d like her to visit often.”
Noble Lady Guo sniffled and finally straightened up once her daughter’s figure was out of sight. Shaking her head, she said, “It’s her good fortune that the Grand Empress Dowager has taken a liking to her. Why would you ask her to come back often? I wish she’d never return, that she’d stay in Cining Palace forever. Only then will she have a good future.”
Liuye helped her sit down, her heart aching as she wiped the sweat from Noble Lady Guo’s temples and the tears from her face.
“Didn’t the people sent by the Emperor say that because both you and Consort Yi are pregnant and truly unable to care for the Princess, she was to stay temporarily in Cining Palace? Why did you have to drive her away in anger? What if, after you give birth to a little Prince, the Emperor asks the Princess to return and keep you company?”
Noble Lady Guo suddenly gripped Liuye’s hand. “Don’t say such inauspicious things! You don’t understand. As long as I don’t want her, the Grand Empress Dowager won’t send her back. Look at the one before her—did she leave any room for the Fifth Prince? By leaving the Fourth Princess no way back, she can live a better life!”
Liuye’s eyes also reddened. “This servant just feels sorry for you.”
“There’s no need for pity. Don’t I still have one in my belly?”
Noble Lady Guo took the handkerchief and wiped her face clean. “Hurry and take people to clean up the western side hall. Make a big commotion—the louder, the better. Let the entire palace know.”
Liuye acknowledged the order and asked, “This servant noticed the Princess didn’t take much with her. What should we do with her belongings?”
Noble Lady Guo sighed, "Gather the useless bedding and such, take them away to be burned. Her clothes, jewelry, and the little trinkets she liked in daily life—quietly collect them and put them in my room."
…
When Danqing returned gloomily to Cining Palace, she saw a woman dressed in lake-blue clothing kneeling before the Grand Empress Dowager, seemingly tearfully pleading about something.
Seeing Danqing return, the Grand Empress Dowager interrupted the woman's words and told her to rise first.
"Princess, this is Consort Rong."
Hemiao whispered a reminder in Danqing's ear.
Danqing suddenly realized and hurriedly bowed in greeting, "Consort Rong, may you be well."
Consort Rong wiped away her tears and forced a smile, "Fourth Princess, greetings. Grand Ancestor, since the Fourth Princess has returned, this humble consort will take her leave first."
The Grand Empress Dowager waved her hand, allowing her to go as she pleased, then looked curiously at the group of empty-handed palace maids and eunuchs behind Danqing and asked, "Why didn't you bring anything? Was your mother unwilling to part with you?"
Danqing shook her head, sullenly replying, "I did bring something. Hemiao is holding it. As for the rest, there wasn't anything that absolutely had to be kept."
As she shook her head, the small bell attached to the tourmaline hair comb in her hair jingled softly. The Grand Empress Dowager glanced at it and began to understand.
When she had left earlier, Danqing hadn't been wearing this.
She had some recollection of this hair comb—it was one piece from a batch of tourmaline jewelry sent in by the Imperial Household Department during the New Year celebrations. At the time, she had told the princesses to choose what they liked themselves. Danqing had been ill and couldn't come, so she had asked Consort Yi to help select this one for her.
Although this hair comb was delicate and exquisite, it was merely a trinket for young girls to wear for fun, not considered particularly valuable. That Danqing had returned with only this single piece adorning her hair showed that there likely weren't many fine things on her dressing table ordinarily.
If that was the case, then it was just as well not to take the rest. A princess she was raising would certainly not lack for things to use, would she?
"Sumalagu, go to the storeroom and find some bright, lovely jewelry for the Fourth Princess to choose from,"
Feeling that Danqing had been wronged, the Grand Empress Dowager grew even more determined to treat her well and issued instructions in quick succession, "She likes soft, delicate colors like pink and purple. I recall there was also a pink-blue tourmaline bead bracelet—find that as well and let her have it to play with."
Sumalagu acknowledged the order and left. Danqing did not decline but squeezed in next to the Grand Empress Dowager to wait.
Seeing that Danqing still seemed unhappy, the Grand Empress Dowager took some milk curd from the table to coax her into eating. Danqing channeled her sorrow into appetite, clutching it with both hands and taking a bite.
When Kangxi arrived with Yinreng to pay their respects, they saw their daughter once again with her mouth full of milk curd, struggling to swallow it down.
Kangxi: …Pfft.
Yinreng: "Quick, bring water! Can't you see the Fourth Princess is choking?!"
After taking a few sips of warm water from the teacup Yinreng handed over, Danqing finally managed to swallow the milk curd in her mouth. She gave a grateful look to her brother who had rescued her in her moment of distress, then shot an angry glare at her bad father who only knew how to gloat.
Kangxi: "Hahaha!"
The Grand Empress Dowager patted Danqing's back to help her catch her breath, scolding her grandson as she did so, "Is this any way to be a father? If you hadn't suddenly come in, Galuo wouldn't have choked. And you have the nerve to laugh!"
Kangxi complained, "Grandmother, could you please be reasonable? It was you who gave her the milk curd that made her choke. What does that have to do with me?"
As the old saying goes, old people become like children again. When a person reaches old age, sometimes their temper becomes quite similar to that of a child.
The Grand Empress Dowager seemed particularly stubborn today, insisting that Emperor Kangxi admit Danqing had been frightened by him rather than having choked on her food. Kangxi, caught up in the playful argument, refused to concede. The grandmother and grandson were locked in a standoff, neither willing to yield.
Danqing glanced from one to the other, feeling utterly caught in the middle.
She was just a poor, innocent little princess—could these two powerful figures please stop bickering?!
Yinreng, as if accustomed to such scenes, quietly took Danqing’s hand and signaled for her to follow him without a word.
The two children tiptoed out of the main hall and slipped into Danqing’s warm chamber, where they both let out a long sigh of relief.
“Don’t mind them. In a little while, Emperor Kangxi will give in on his own,” Yinreng winked at his sister, finding the flower-like little girl especially adorable. He then took the initiative to ask, “Galuo, have you started learning characters yet?”
He had heard the Grand Empress Dowager call Danqing “Galuo” and thought the name suited her well, so he began using it too.
Danqing certainly knew characters—but they were simplified Chinese characters.
She could understand everyday sentences written in traditional characters when they were strung together, but if a character was presented alone, she became uncertain. And if it were written in classical Chinese, she would instantly become illiterate.
So, in response to Yinreng’s question, she decisively shook her head.
She wasn’t even five years old yet—what characters could she possibly know?
Yinreng wore an “I knew it” expression and pulled a small booklet from his robe. Opening it to the first page, he placed it in front of Danqing.
On it were simple characters with neat, upright handwriting.
“This is a practice booklet I specially wrote for you to learn characters,” Yinreng said with a smile, eager to take credit. “Nanny Su speaks Manchu and Mongolian fluently, but when it comes to Chinese characters, she barely recognizes any. Emperor Kangxi says there are far more Han Chinese than Manchus and Mongols in the world, so we must learn Chinese well and recognize Chinese characters to make the Han people obey.”
The principles of governance Kangxi had taught him were naturally far more complex, but he wasn’t here to show off, so he only shared what Danqing could understand.
“Galuo, your Chinese is already quite good. How about I teach you to recognize Chinese characters from now on? If one day you become proficient in Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese, you could become a highly respected princess and perhaps even help Emperor Kangxi!”
Danqing pondered for a moment. Was Yinreng suggesting she could become a translator in the future?
Regardless of whether this career path was realistic, learning characters was undoubtedly the right thing to do.
As a dignified princess of the Great Qing, she couldn’t remain illiterate like her mother, who had to rely on eunuchs to read even a family letter aloud.
“Alright, I’ll learn!”
Danqing took Yinreng’s hand and hooked her little finger with his, then pressed their thumbs together with great solemnity. “Pinky promise, sealed for a hundred years—no changing!”
Yinreng was momentarily stunned. Seeing his sister’s small hand stretched out insistently to press against his, a sudden sense of responsibility welled up in his heart.
Fourth Sister trusted him. She said, no changing for a hundred years.
“Alright, for a hundred years, no changing.”
Yinreng’s eyes grew even brighter.
This was his sister. He would teach her, protect her, and never betray her trust—for a hundred years, unchanging!
Outside the door, Kangxi murmured with emotion, “Baocheng has been raised by my side and has never been particularly close to his siblings. This is the first time I’ve seen him take such a liking to a princess. It seems sending Fourth Princess to Cining Palace was the right decision.”
Liang Jiugong said with a smile, "Our Crown Prince is actually the most considerate person, but he doesn’t interact much with the Princes and Princesses on a daily basis."
Kangxi snorted, "I would be willing to let them interact, but who knows what intentions they harbor? Go and tell Consort Rong to focus on recovering from her illness. For now, she need not worry about palace affairs—they are to be handled entirely by Consort Hui."
Liang Jiugong acknowledged the order, bowed, and withdrew.
Was Consort Rong ill?
Of course not. Just moments ago, on their way over, they had encountered Consort Rong walking back perfectly fine.
But if the Emperor said she was ill, then she must be ill.
Now, this Fourth Princess had caught the attention of the most esteemed figures in the Forbidden City. Better days were yet to come for her. At this moment, anyone who dared to scheme against her would face the consequences—
Well, they would have to bear them themselves.